Replaceable [Damon x OC]

Chapter 3

   Aelynn, with her head titled back as she stared at the ceiling, listened to Mr. Tanner talk about the Battle at Willow Creek. His voice droned on and on as he spoke about the casualties.

"Ms. Gilbert," Mr. Tanner's voice shook her out of her thoughts as she looked straight ahead with wide eyes. Then she looked to Elena and tilted her head.

Aelynn eyed him, "which one?" Her voice was softer than she had meant for it to be, but still, it earned laughs from the rest of the class as Mr. Tanner looked between her and her sister.

"Elena," he nodded his head toward the slightly younger of the two, when Elena looked at him like a deer caught in headlights he repeated his question, "how many deaths resulted from the Battle of Willow Creek? One of the town's most significant historical events?" He gestured out to nothing in particular as Aelynn reclined more into her seat.

Elena shook her head, "uh- I'm sorry, I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year, for obvious reasons," Mr. Tanner started, "the but the personal excuses ended with summer break."

This caused Aelynn to look at Mr. Tanner with raised brows, something sharp on her tongue, but wasn't able to voice it when Stefan spoke.

"There were 364 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians."

"That's correct," Mr. Tanner replied, turning his head to the boy with a surprised look on his face, "Mr..."

"Salvatore." Aelynn couldn't get over how confident and relaxed he sounded responding.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

Stefan nodded, "distant."

"Very good, except of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," Mr. Tanner gestured before turning back to the board.

"Actually, there were 27, sir," Stefan stated, stopping Mr. Tanner in his tracks. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons, they were wrong," Aelynn hummed to herself, "it was a night of great loss. The historical documents are kept in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner."

Aelynn's eyes were wide as she went to put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. After what he had said to Elena, that went for both the sisters in his mind, this was well deserved and much better than anything she could have said on her own. Maybe, she thought, she could grow to enjoy Stefan if her sister did.

- - - -

"Aelynn, come on," Elena said, opening the door to her bed room, "we're going to be late."

Aelynn shot her sister a look as she put on her shirt, it was a long sleeved, sage green top. She thought it went well with the ripped skinny jeans she was wearing already. "It's a bonfire, it won't even be fun until it gets dark," she responded, adjusting the shirt on her torso in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back into a low bun, face framing pieces were out so she did not look like a founding father.

Elena came up next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I get it if you don't want to go."

Aelynn shook her head, "No, I want to go, I need to leave the house more anyways." She went to grab a jacket from her closet. She sifted through them before settling on one that matched her outfit pretty well, it was a light grey plaid with some light green in it as well with a sherpa lining.

"Ok, come on, Bonnie is meeting us there," Elena smiled and grabbed her sister's wrist and drug her from her room.

"Excited much?" Aelynn asked, "Or are you excited to see Stefan?" She teased, poking her sister's side.