The vampire diaries part 1 (The Awakening)

Chapter Four

By the time Elena reached her locker, the numbness was wearing off and the lump in her throat was trying to dissolve into tears. 

But she wouldn't cry at school, she told herself, she wouldn't . After closing her locker, she made for the main exit .For the second day in a row, she was coming home from school right after the last bell, and alone. Aunt Judith wouldn't be able to cope.

But when Elena reached her house, Aunt Judith's car was not in the driveway; she and Margaret must have gone out to the market.

 The house was still and peaceful as Elena let herself in. She was glad for that stillness; she wanted to be alone right now. 

But, on the other hand, she didn't exactly know what to do with herself. Now that she finally could cry, she found that tears wouldn't come. 

She let her backpack sag to the floor in the front hall and walked slowly into the living room. It was a handsome, impressive room, the only part of the house besides Elena's bedroom that belonged to the original structure.

 That first house had been built before 1861, and had been almost completely burned in the Civil War. All that could be saved was this room, with its elaborate fireplace framed by scrolled molding, and the big bedroom above. Elena's father's great grandfather had built a new house, and Gilberts had lived in it ever since.

 Elena turned to look out of one of the ceiling-to-floor windows. The glass was so old that it was thick and wavery, and everything outside was distorted, looking slightly tipsy. She remembered the first time her father had showed her that wavery old glass, when she had been younger than Margaret was now. The fullness in her throat was back, but still no tears would come. 

Everything inside her was contradictory. She didn't want company, and yet she was achingly lonely. She did want to think, but now that she was trying to, her thoughts eluded her like mice running from a white owl. White owl... hunting bird... flesh eater... crow, she thought. "Biggest crow I've ever seen," Matt had said. Her eyes stung again. Poor Matt. She'd hurt him, but he'd been so nice about it. 

He'd even been nice to Stefan. Stefan. Her heart thudded once, hard, squeezing two hot tears out of her eyes. There, she was crying at last. She was crying with anger and humiliation and frustration—and what else? 

What had she really lost today?

 What did she really feel for this stranger, this Stefan Salvatore? He was a challenge, yes, and that made him different, interesting.

 Stefan was exotic... exciting. Funny, that was what guys had sometimes told Elena she was.

 And later she heard from them, or from their friends or sisters, how nervous they were before going out with her, how their palms got sweaty and their stomachs were full of butterflies. Elena had always found such stories amusing. 

No boy she'd ever met in her life had made her nervous. But when she'd spoken to Stefan today, her pulse had been racing, her knees weak. Her palms had been wet. And there hadn't been butterflies in her stomach—there had been bats.

 She was interested in the guy because he made her feel nervous? Not a very good reason, Elena, she told herself. In fact, a very bad reason. But there was also that mouth. That sculpted mouth that made her knees weak with something entirely different than nervousness.

 And that night-dark hair—her fingers itched to weave themselves into its softness. That lithe, flat-muscled body, those long legs... and that voice . It was his voice that had decided her yesterday, making her absolutely determined to have him. 

His voice had been cool and disdainful when talking to Mr. Tanner, but strangely compelling for all that. 

She wondered if it could turn night-dark as well, and how it would sound saying her name, whispering her name...