TRUST, the vampire diaries

t w o

It was the next day and Avery was back in History as Mr Tanner fired questions left, right and centre. This was the only class that Avery had with her... Cousin? She wasn't entirely sure what ruse her father and Stefan had decided on. Her dad often called Stefan "Uncle", which completely weirded Avery out in all honesty. It looks strange, a full-grown man calling a seventeen year old teenager his uncle... despite that seventeen year old teenager being that age for the last a hundred years or so. Either way, Avery hadn't been directly asked about her relation to Stefan Salvatore as of yet and for that she was thankful. She had a bad feeling about him being here and her gut instinct was that Damon Salvatore would not be far behind. Either way, there was nothing she could do about it. She just needed to keep her head down and focusing on graduating high school so she could move far, far away from this god-forsaken town.

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" Mr Tanner asked, focusing his full attention on the girl.

"Um... a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." Bonnie mumbled in response, clearly a little embarrassed about being put on the spot.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Mr Tanner jeered, as he turned his attention to his next victim. "Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

Matt smiled, "It's ok, Mr Tanner, I'm cool with it."

Mr Tanner nodded, annoyance flashing across his face at the blasé response, "Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?"

Elena glanced up abruptly, stuttering a reply, "I'm sorry, I-I don't know."

Mr Tanner stopped pacing, "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena. But the personal excuses ended with summer break."

Avery frowned slightly, a small crinkle appearing between her brows. The other classmates had also failed to answer the same question, but their personal life was not brought to the front and centre. Sure, Mr Tanner had joked about Matt being a stereotypical jock but bringing up Elena's dead parents? It left a sour taste in Avery's mouth. She glanced around quickly, ready to step in with the correct answer to save Elena from any further seconds under the gaze of the teacher and the rest of the class, when she was interrupted by Stefan, "There were 346 casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians."

Mr Tanner looked surprised, turning his attention to him, "That's correct. Mister...?"

"Salvatore." Stefan replied, filling in the pause obviously left for him to introduce himself.

"Salvatore?" Mr Tanner and a few others looked over at Avery, who moved her gaze back to her desk. "Any relations to the original settlers of Mystic Falls, like Avery?"

Stefan looked over at her before replying, "Uh, we're cousins." Ah, so the cousin ruse it was then.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Mr Tanner said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Actually, there were 27, sir." Stefan interrupted. Mr Tanner turned back towards Stefan, having begun to walk back to the board. There was a small silence, so Stefan continued. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

Mr Tanner looked mildly aggravated at Stefan's response. Seeing the opportunity to get back at him for being so rude to Elena, Stefan smugly added, "The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."

"Hmm." Mr Tanner grumbled.

***

The 'back to school' bonfire was tonight, but Avery had decided not to go. It was more of a thing you would go to with friends, which Avery didn't have any of. Not that she minded, really. She just wanted to graduate high school and get the hell out of there. The less people she knew, the less people she would be leaving behind. Stefan had been invited by Elena and the rest of her gang, of course, and had invited Avery along (as a courtesy, or course). However, Avery still wasn't certain about Stefan's involvement or lack-of in the recent murders, something that made her wildly uncomfortable. Avery knew that Stefan planned to spend some alone time with Elena, a thought that also made Avery very nervous. She really did hope that Stefan wasn't responsible for the recent attacks and that he did have everything under control. The Gilbert family had suffered too much loss recently, and the death of golden girl Elena Gilbert would no doubt throw the town into turmoil. Especially considering her lucky escape from the recent family tragedy.

Grabbing a tub of ice-cream from the freezer, Avery had set off upstairs. She moved the tub between her hands quickly, the cold sensation numbing her hands. She planned on watching some garbage TV and having a relaxed night.

***

Avery was half asleep when she heard the sound of glass shattering, which made her throw back her covers and run downstairs. She was on the bottom few steps when she saw the figure. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart instantly began to beat so hard she could hear the blood rushing in her ears.

"Hey, Avery," Damon Salvatore greeted teasingly. "Long time no see."

"Damon." Avery replied stiffly, clutching the bannister to still her shaking hands.

"You were expecting me, weren't you?" Avery didn't reply, avoiding his gaze. "... Of course you were."

He stalked towards her, but she didn't move. In that moment she wasn't sure she could move. So much for fight or flight instincts. He growled tauntingly in her ear as he walked past, and she turned her head as she watched her dad come down the stairs behind her.

"I told you." she breathed.

____

A.N.: updated 14/04/2022

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