A Fresh Start (Damon, OC, Klaus)

2. New Friends

The alarm woke me at 7 am. I quickly got washed, dressed and headed downstairs to have breakfast with mom. I was nervous about my first day not knowing anyone.

We got to the school early, well about twenty minutes early. Mom wanted to meet the other teachers. I went around to the back of the football field and lit a cigarette. I took my first pull when I heard a voice; some guy was stepping out from behind the bleachers.

"I know you!"

I took him in, bit taller than me, maybe five foot ten or eleven, dark brown hair, and blue eyes, well built and dressed all in black.

"Sorry, but I just moved here yesterday. I don't know anyone yet!"

He smiled a stoner's smile at me, "Yeah I know. You moved in next door from me. I saw you yesterday from my window. My name is Jeremy Gilbert."

He stuck out his hand. I couldn't help but smile back, I shook his hand. "My name is Jessica Bird. But you can call me Jessi. It's nice to meet you Jeremy. I was afraid I wouldn't get to know anyone here." He smiled again.

"Well now you know me. What year are you in?" he inquired.

"I'm a senior. What about you? Maybe we share some classes?"

He laughed, "Nah, I'm a junior. I guess you're a year older than me. But hey, I'll introduce you to my sister Elena. You'll love her. She's a senior, so she can show you around and stuff. But don't tell her I smoke."  Now I laughed, "Thank you, and don't worry. My mom doesn't know I smoke either."

We finished our cigarettes and headed back to the school. Jeremy led me to a group, three girls and a guy. They looked up as we approached. Jeremy introduced me first to the brunette closest to me.

"Elena this is Jessi, Jessi this is my sister Elena," he turned to Elena, "Jessi just moved here yesterday. She's living in the house next door to us. This is her first day and she's a senior like you, so I thought you could show her around."

The whole group smiled at me, Elena spoke, "Of course, what are neighbours for?"

Suddenly she stopped speaking and sniffed, looking at Jeremy, "Have you been smoking?"

I could tell he would be in a lot of trouble, so I held up my pack of cigarettes. "I'm sorry, that was me. I've been trying to quit. But with the move and losing all my old friends, I've been stress smoking."

Elena turned to me, "Oh that's ok. Of course I understand. Who knows, maybe we can help you quit once you get to know us and we become friends." Now she turned to Jeremy, "Sorry Jer, I'm just on edge a bit."

He told her it was ok, and then snuck me an appreciative smile before speaking to the group. "Right, well I have to get to class, so I'll see you all later." And with that he took off.

Elena introduced me to the rest of her group, the other brunette was Bonnie Bennett, the blonde girl was Caroline Forbes and the guy was Stefan Salvatore. His eyes looked so familiar but that was it, weird. I then realised Bonnie was speaking to me.

"Have you got your class schedule there?" I handed it over. She read through it, and then looked at me in surprise. "These are nearly all AP classes."

I shrugged, "My mother is the new English teacher here. And growing up with a teacher for a mother you spend a lot of time studying."

"Well, I have one of these classes, so does Caroline, Elena has two of them and Stefan has the rest so at least you'll know some-one in all of your classes."

I thanked them all and we headed in. First class we had was history, and we all shared it. I took the only empty seat; it was in the front row. Of course it was. The teacher came into the class then, his name was Mr. Tanner and I knew immediately that I wouldn't like him. When he started the class by insulting the students I knew I was right. He faced the class, and droned in a monotone voice, for what felt like eternity, one of the chapters from the history book in his hand. When he finished he slammed shut the book and looked around the class.