SEASON ONE — EPISODE ONE
"𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥"

‧˚꒰🍷꒱༘‧—

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

'✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ BROOKE'S SHIFT WAS FINALLY OVER and she decided to spend a short ten minutes sitting with her friends before she visited the grocery store and headed home. The new guy at school, Stefan Salvatore, had came to the Grill with Elena to guide him, ending with him being interrogated by the four girls.

"You don't have any siblings?" Brooke questioned, her hair still tied in a high ponytail and her body still clad in her work shirt and black skinny jeans. She looked a lot less presentable compared to her friends, but she couldn't care much about it, she was tired and hungry.

"None that I talk to." Stefan smiled, feeling a little awkward with all of the stares he was receiving not just from the girls at the table, and Elena pouted, feeling sympathetic towards the boy she'd quickly become friends with. His parents had died when he was young and he had no siblings, at least none that he had contact with, he was completely alone.

Brooke felt the same way, her parents were also gone too, her father might as well have been dead, she had no idea where he was, or what he was doing. But, she supposed she still had her brother, Nate was the person she loved most, she'd do anything for him, so, she wasn't entirely alone. She also had her friends there with her, stood by her side at all times.

"I live with my uncle." Stefan explained further, his eyes locked onto Elena's. Feeling jealous of the romantic tension between the two, Caroline spoke up from in between Brooke and Bonnie.

"So, Stefan, if you're new, then you wouldn't know about the party tomorrow." Caroline brought up the topic of the back-to-school party that always had the results of Caroline and Brooke drunk out of their minds and Bonnie would always have to be the mother of the group, helping them sober up whilst Elena went home with Matt.

"It's a back-to-school thing at the falls." Bonnie explained further, smiling over at Stefan and Brooke visibly grimaced, she could already feel the hangover coming the morning after.

"Hopefully I don't get blackout drunk like last time." Brooke mumbled and Caroline giggled loudly, it was a little annoying actually, it sounded like a squeaky ringing in Brooke's ears. It was intentional, Brooke knew Caroline like nobody else so it wasn't hard for the brunette to tell when she was being louder for attention.

Stefan tilted his head at Elena, who was unaware of his longing stare directed at the side of her face, "Are you going?" He questioned and Brooke's eyes drifted over, that was when she finally noticed the looks of adoration shared between the two. They liked each other, and as much as she was happy for her cousin, she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in her heart. But, she would never act on it and Stefan was far from her type anyways.

"Of course she is." Bonnie answered before Elena could, and the girls smiled at each other, the Gilbert letting out a small scoff. She looked down at the table and pushed some hair behind her ear, glancing back up into Stefan's deep green eyes.

"Right, that's enough awkwardness for one day. I'm gonna head out." Brooke smiled, speaking her thoughts without another care in the world and she grabbed her bag, placing the strap over her shoulder.

"Don't you have a jacket? Won't you be cold?" Stefan asked, a flicker of concern towards the girl he didn't even know the name of in his eyes and Brooke grinned, reaching into her bag and pulling out her favourite deep red leather jacket, causing the boy to smile.

"I always come prepared, Mr. Mysterious." Brooke smiled at all of her friends, waving to them before she headed out of the Grill, stuffing her jacket back into her bag as she strolled through the dark streets towards the local grocery store she used to work at.

"That's Brooke, we all love her to bits." Caroline explained to Stefan, feeling more than happy to introduce her best-friend and soon-to-be maid of honour. Elena smiled, nodding in agreement.

"She's my cousin." The brunette added, and Bonnie leaned forward, her arms crossed on the table in front of her with a large smile on her face, portraying her excitement about the topic of Brooke Elliot, "We don't get on much anymore, though."

"She's been through a lot and she says whatever's on her mind, just don't take it to heart if she ever does, okay?" Bonnie smiled sympathetically towards Stefan, whose small smile stayed the same on his lips, never faltering.

"Of course." Stefan nodded towards her before his eyes drifted back over to Elena, who was too stuck in her own thoughts about her cousin to notice.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"THE BATTLE OF WILLOW CREEK took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls." Tanner droned on about the battle, circling his desk and pacing around the front of the classroom with his hands shoved in his pockets, "How many casualties resulted in this battle? Miss Bennett?"

The sound of her name made Bonnie jump, she was too busy doodling on her notebook to even acknowledge what Tanner was speaking about, so she spat out the first words that came to mind, "Um... A lot?" A few students around the classroom chuckled at her reply, including Matt, "I'm not sure. But, like, a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett." Tanner spoke rather rudely and Brooke furrowed her eyebrows, opening her mouth to say something when it closed again as quickly as it opened, Tanner's eyes staring directly at her, "What about you, Miss Elliot? I noticed you opened your mouth to say something, this is your big moment to let everyone know your answer."

"Actually—" Brooke went to speak, only to be cut off by Tanner's loud and obnoxious voice, causing her expression to turn into a scowl of frustration.

"I'd like you to think twice before you say what I think you're gonna say, unless you want to end up in detention... again." Tanner rolled his eyes and Brooke felt defeated. He was right, she didn't want to sit in the freezing cold room with stinking students from the younger years who didn't know what a shower was for hours after her freedom was supposed to arrive.

Brooke stayed silent as Tanner picked on a few other students until it came to Elena, to which he was extremely rude to, causing Stefan Salvatore to finally make his existence known. Tanner had a habit of making students feel unseen or belittling them.

"There were three-hundred and forty-six casualties, unless you're counting the local civilians." Stefan answered before Tanner could insult Elena even more than he already had, and Brooke almost laughed at the shocked expression on Tanner's face.

"That's correct, Mr...?" He trailed off, unknowing of the new boy's name.

"Salvatore." Stefan nodded, his face firm and serious but respectful, not wanting to end up in detention himself.

"Salvatore." Tanner repeated, attempting to make a mental note of his name in the back of his mind, but anybody that knew Mr. Tanner knew that he couldn't care less, "Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant." Stefan replied, sending the teacher a tight-lipped smile.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Tanner turned around, his back to his students as he rounded his desk again and Stefan furrowed his brows, a history teacher should know his history, right?

"Actually, there were twenty-seven, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church believing it to be housing weapons. And they were wrong. It was a night of great loss." Stefan explained, slapping the smirk right off of Tanner's face, so much as to the point where Tanner was staring down at his hands in not only embarrassment, but also shame, "The founder's archives are, uh, stored in Civic Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts... Mr. Tanner."

Almost all of the students around the room scoffed, trying to stifle their laughter. Nobody had ever successfully stood up to Mr. Tanner in that way before, of course Brooke had tried, but she always failed miserably.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN THIRTY MINUTES into the party and Brooke was already on her third bottle of beer, she hated the bitter taste of it but the high it gave her after chugging down the final contents of it was worth everything.

It wasn't her first rodeo, she'd gotten heavily drunk before, resulting in her having to be sobered up by either Bonnie or Nate. Her brother was very protective, but he was laid back a lot of the time, he just cared about her and didn't want her to hurt herself because she didn't have any parents.

Brooke was chugging down the last of her beer at the entrance of the large wooden gazebo when the bottle was snatched from her hand and thrown on the ground. She looked up to see Caroline, who grabbed onto her arm and dragged her over to Mr. Salvatore without a word.

"Hey, you made it." Caroline grinned at Stefan, her arm hooked with Brooke's. The brunette held onto her head, rubbing it gently, the sudden movements causing her vision to go slightly blurry.

"I did... Is she okay?" Stefan pointed at Brooke, the girl was practically dangling off of Caroline's arm like a bracelet and it concerned Stefan.

"Uh, yeah! She's just had a little bit too much to drink. Speaking of, let's get you a drink." Caroline brushed the worries of her best-friend off, tilting her head a little in a seductive manner towards Stefan. Anybody could see she was acting a little desperate, even the drunk Brooke could.

"If you want to jump into his bed, why don't you just say so?" Brooke mumbled, and she reached up, rubbing her eyes tiredly and suddenly, she began to giggle, causing Caroline to groan in frustration, helping Brooke stand back up straight.

"Why I brought you, I'll never know." Caroline squeezed her eyes shut out of annoyance and when she opened her eyes again, Stefan was gone, making her huff, "Well, thanks a lot, B."

"My pleasure, munchkin." Brooke reached up with a smile, booping Caroline's nose gently and the blonde swatted her hand away before leading her over to where she saw Bonnie and Matt talking.

"Could you guys babysit for a minute?" Caroline placed Brooke's limp arm onto Matt's shoulder and he dropped his half-full drink to completely hold onto Brooke, his hands on her waist to help her stand straight.

"Uh, sure..." Bonnie trailed off, watching as Caroline muttered a quick 'thanks' before rushing away from them. The two looked over at Brooke, who leaned tiredly into Matt's chest, his hands placed firmly on her hips in case she fell, "Why does she always do this?"

"My best guess is to hide the pain." Matt assumed, unsure of why she drank herself to this state whenever she had the access to alcohol but he knew that she cried a lot of the time about not only her deceased mother, but her father too. About her living situation and the financial difficulties that came with it.

"I'm right here, 'ya know?" Brooke rolled her hazel eyes and pushed herself off of Matt, almost stumbling over in the process but she composed herself, regaining her balance again, "I need to move my legs." Before any of the two could protest, she had already walked off into the woods, stumbling over her own feet but she hadn't fallen over yet, so that was a good sign.

The woods were empty and dark, and it got quieter the further into the forest she got. Twigs snapped under her feet and she had to move branches out of the way at times, but eventually she got to a clearing of just mud with no trees. Her eyes drifted down to her feet to watch her step, and that was when Brooke noticed the fog surrounding her.

"Well, that's not weird at all." Brooke spoke sarcastically to herself, glancing around through the trees when a low chuckle erupted in her ear, causing her to jump with a scream, but it was muffled by a hand.

Her back was pressed against the man's chest, one arm was around her neck and the other was over her mouth. She kicked, flailing around in his grip when he turned her around fully, looking into her eyes with a sinister smirk.

"Hello, again, beautiful." He wiggled his eyebrows and Brooke's face scrunched up. She knew him, she recognised his face, and then she remembered — he was the asshole that ordered a bourbon the day prior and just left before he even received it, completely wasting her time.

"You. Why did you leave?" Brooke slurred on her words, her head starting to feel as if she was continuously being bashed with a hammer and she squinted her eyes a little, her vision a little blurry. He chuckled, looking into her eyes seductively.

"I think you're pretty, I like you. Now, you're coming home with me." He demanded, and before she could process the information he had previously fed to her, he had already picked her up bridal style and began to speed out of the woods, ignoring the sounds of yells and screams in the background caused by himself.

"Where are you taking me?" Brooke mumbled into the crook of his neck, she wasn't sure if the whole situation was a kidnapping, but if it was, it wasn't as if she could do anything about it. She was drunk, she could hardly even walk and she had no idea where she was, just that she was being carried by a stranger further into the misty forest.

The man groaned in frustration, rolling his eyes, "I just told you." He stated, his tone impolite. Any other time, Brooke would've used her bad mouth to scold him for being disrespectful for absolutely no reason, but unfortunately, the alcohol running through her veins chose otherwise, "Just be quiet." He told her, and she obeyed, much to her dismay.

@amxliewrites || starring role
2024