0.1 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝙀𝙉𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃 
"ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠."

꧁𒊹︎꧂

𝗔𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲, jaclyn wished that she could be like them. Free to fly away from their homes and make a new one somewhere else, somewhere that isn't Mystic Falls.

'Nothing ever happens here,' Natalie Graystone would tell her sixteen year old daughter. All while jaclyn wished her mother wasn't so oblivious to the darkness that seeped through the town and into its people.

Maybe that's why she felt the way she did about leaving the town behind, just like her father did. At least he had the sense to leave before it was too late, sadly, he didn't have the sense to take her with him.

Because of him, Jaclyn knew all about the things that's go bump in the night. The monster under the bed was really your next door neighbor, and for the Graystones that was true.

They lived in a large home, at the edge of town. The house had moss growing up the sides, the grass has been overgrown on account that nobody mowed it. On the inside, dust scattered most corners, steps creaked with the tiniest bit of pressure to them, sheets covered different pieces of furniture. The house wasn't the best place to have had grown up in.

Next door to their home lived the two mysterious brothers that seemed to appear out of nowhere, the Salvatores. Each family knew not to bother each other after the first interaction. Which for an odd reason, jaclyn nor her mother could not remember. Almost as if it had been wiped from their memories.

It had to have been the sun shinning into her room that woke Jaclyn, otherwise she would have slept the whole day. The alarm clock was smashed against the wall from the morning before, the sound of it annoying her to no extent. Natalie had told her that she would be getting a new one by the end of the day, one that would surely end up in the same position as the last.

"Your going to be late," the eldest Graystone said to her daughter. Jaclyn barely opened her eyes to look at her mother, rolling over in her messy bed to face away from the disapproving look. "I'm not doing this with you, get your ass to school," Natalie turned on her heel before walking down the stairs and out the front door.

Looking up at her ceiling, Jaclyn thought of the hours that laid ahead of her. She would have to be stuck in her a classroom with people she didn't talk to, go to lunch and sit by herself. Maybe, staying home wouldn't be so bad, she thought. Deciding against the idea, she rolled onto the floor.

Standing up, looking at the clothes that lined the floor. She needed to clean her room, her mother had been pressuring her to for the past month and yet, it was still the same. There wasn't much to choose from, everything she owned seemed to disappear in the black hole of her room. The best she could do was a pit of loose jeans, a white t-shirt, and her jacket that seemed glued to her body.

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There was usually little to no interaction with Jaclyn and her fellow peers. People seemed to not notice the brown haired girl, almost as if she was a ghost that could be walked right through. It didn't bother her, in fact, she quite liked it.

The only person who had tried to befriend the Graystone girl was Caroline Forbes. She had been her locker buddy since Jaclyn was a freshman. Even though Jaclyn had shut down any advances of a friendship happening, she had relatively enjoyed the daily conversations between her and the Forbes girl.

Worry seeped through her veins when she noticed the lack of the blonde girls presence. Not once had Jaclyn seen Caroline miss a whole day of school, she may be late every other day but she was never absent.

The hallways had been emptied due to late bell ringing, only a few stragglers were hanging around. One of the stragglers being Elena Gilbert.

Jaclyn had known the girl since elementary school, even if they haven't ever actually interacted. Unless you count the time when Jaclyn had accidentally witnessed Elena break up with Matt Donovan, that was an awkward incident when it happened and it still was.

Slowly but surely, Jaclyn turned her body to face the girl who were behind her. Her back pressed against the cold metal of the lockers, books pressed against her chest in a protective fashion.

Elena Gilbert had felt a gaze on her, she angled her head back to see who it was staring. She was surprised to see Jaclyn looking directly at her. Normally she would approach someone who had set their gaze on her, but with Jaclyn it was different. Elena knew about her temper, everyone did. It made her wonder if she had done something that set her off.

"Did you say something?" Elena asked the girl who had spoken. She cursed herself at the fact that her thoughts had clouded her mind so much that she didn't her the Graystone girl speak.
     "Sorry, I was lost in my thoughts," Elena apologized while taking a few steps forward in order to be closer to the brunette girl.

Jaclyns eyes rolled, her stoic facade doing nothing to the awkward tension in the air, "I was just wondering if you've heard from Caroline?"

"Uh, yeah, actually. She's, um- in the hospital." Jaclyn's face faltered at Elena's words. The Gilbert girl must have noticed the look on Jaclyn's face, she was quick to reassure her.
    "She'll be okay, her mom said she's doing fine. So, don't worry," Elena finished with an odd look in her eyes.

Bidding her a thanks and a see you later, Jaclyn scurried away. Leaving Elena Gilbert standing in the hallway utterly confused by the enigma that is Jaclyn Graystone.

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