The Owl Gilbert

3:6: Sophomore Year

I'm in my bed, staring blankly to my right and my alarm goes off, and I look at it, and see it's five in the morning, and turn it off. I sigh and get up, and throw my covers off me with my right hand, and sit up, and get out of bed, and walk over to my drawer, and turn the lamp on with my left hand, and look in the mirror at my bite marks, and grab my gray jacket, and walk out of my room, putting it on and roll up the sleeves, and see Dad. "Good morning." I say and he looks hungover as he puts his left hand up and walks down the stairs, as I follow him.

We're in the woods as he's training me, using one of his mannequins as an example and jabs it in the right breast with the wooden stakes from his sleeve launcher. "So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes." He says, stepping back. "Easy enough." I say and rub my hands together, stepping forward, and punch the mannequin using the stakes with my right hand, but nothing happens. "That's weird." I say and exhale, and punch again. Still nothing and I hit the sleeve. "Must be jammed or something." I say. "You're not strong enough." He says and I look up at him. "Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones of those pretzel stick arms." He says and I look at my arms, sigh, and look back up at him. "Thanks for not sugar coating it." I say and we're walking as he holds up a Vervain Grenade in his left hand. "You know what this is?" He asks. "A Vervain Grenade. I've used one before." I say and steps in front of me as we stop walking. "Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire." He says and takes the pin off with his right hand, and tosses it to me. "Surprise." He says. "Oh my God!" I exclaim and turn around, throwing it with my right hand and it explodes, and I turn back to him, and I take my sleeve off, mad. "This isn't a joke to me, Dad." I say and put it in his left hand. "You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature." He says. "You don't have to use pronouns. You can say Stefan." I say. "Look, I get why you're here. Stefan hurt you. You don't want it to happen again." He says. "But you think that I'm crazy. To believe that I can protect myself from a vampire who's flipped the switch on his Humanity." I say and nod. "I think you found a way to get out of bed this morning. And that makes you the strongest person I know. I think that you can do pretty much anything. You're pretty scary when it comes to intelligence." He says and offers me back the sleeve, and I look down, seeing it in his right hand and take it, and he walks off, and I nod, and put it back on my right hand. "Elena's training is after yours. She requested an hour before school." He says.

I'm headed to my locker, holding my phone in my left hand and it rings, and I see it's Damon, and answer it, putting it on my right shoulder, holding it with my ear, and open my locker with my right hand. "Hi. Are you checking up on me? Because I'm fine." I say. "Yeah, so.. you and Elena might not want to come here for a while. We have a new housemate. Barbie Klaus." He says as I put my bag in my locker. "Rebekah? She's living with you now? Why?" I ask. "She's stranded. Apparently Klaus left her in the dust after I name dropped Mikael." He says and I sigh. "What about Stefan? What's he up to?" I ask. "Oh, you know Stefan. Journaling, reading, shaping his hair." He says. "Come on, Damon. I can handle it. What?" I ask. "Is that the bell? Oh. Ring! Ring! Don't want to be late!" He exclaims and hangs up, and I sigh, and close my locker after pressing end call, and I see a flyer for the Spirit Squad Back To School Bonfire, being put up by Caroline and she begins to walk off, as I walk towards her. "I forgot about the bonfire." I say as she stops, looking at me. "You have to go. It's our first Spirit Squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year." She says. "Relax, Caroline. I'll be there. And so will Elena." I say, smiling. "Thank you. It's just that--" She says and gets interrupted by Tyler kissing her. "Happy first day." He says and I see a red stain on Tyler's shirt. "Is that blood?" I ask, quietly. "Oh, my God." Caroline says, quietly and pulls him into the Boys' Bathroom, and I follow them. "What's going on?!" Tyler exclaims as I walk over to the stalls, checking them. "Vampire one zero one. Don't wear your breakfast to school!" Tony exclaims. "Chill out. It was just a blood bag." Tyler says as I walk over to the sink, grabbing some paper towels. "From where?" Tony asks. "Rebekah. She hooked me up." Tyler says. "Rebekah? And what are you even talking to her for?" Caroline asks. "Klaus told her to keep a watch on me. Protect his new asset." Tyler says as I run some water over a few paper towels. "His what? Why are you amused by this?" Caroline asks. "I'm his first successful hybrid, Caroline. Don't you think that's the tiniest bit awesome?" Tyler asks. "Oh, wow! I cannot believe you just said that." Caroline says. "So, I'm going to go. Wipe that up." I say and hand Tyler the paper towels. "Good luck." I say and walk out of the bathroom, looking down at my phone and bump into someone, and see it's Stefan. "Hello, Adam." He says, smiling. "What are you doing here?" I ask. "What do you mean? I'm going back to school. Go Timberwolves!" He exclaims, extending his hands out. "What?! Why?" I ask and he puts his hands down. "Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you. I'm just doing what I'm told." He says. "I'm going to be late for class." I say, beginning to walk past him and he grabs my left arm. "Oh, class is this way." He says, pointing behind him with his right thumb and puts his hand down. "Let go of me, Stefan." I say and he grabs my arm with both hands. "Adam, do you think I want to be a senior for the hundreth time? No. But if I don't have a choice in the matter, then neither do you or Elena." He says, smiling. "I said let go of me." I say and hear footsteps behind me. "Let him go." Dad says and Stefan lets me go, putting his hands up and pushes Dad into a locker. "Stefan, stop it." I whisper. "You're not gonna want to get in my way. You hear me?" Stefan asks, putting his hands down and looks at me, and back to Dad, walking backwards. "I will see you both in History." He says and turns around, and walks off.