ʙʟᴜᴇ » ᴛᴠᴅ ¹ ✓

three

Aunt Georgie left hours before Billie had woken up. A note was left under a fridge magnet, 'gone to work, sorry i couldnt be there for ur first day xx - g'

It didn't bother her. She was used to taking care of herself back home.

The walk to the school felt shorter this time, seeing as Billie wasn't stumbling around, asking directions at every turn.

She was preparing herself for the day, shaking out her shoulders and her doubts. She wanted to hold her head high.

Even though she made it a rule of hers not to believe anything Cara said, Billie really hoped she wasn't lying about this being temporary.

Mystic Falls High School, home of the Timberwolves. Rustic build on the outside, like most establishments in the town. It was a bit smaller than Harper was used to, after all, schools in Brooklyn were built to hold a lot more people.

She retrieved her schedule and locker details from the office, the woman vividly explaining to her that attendance was not optional, like many of the students apparently thought it was.

Billie was well aware that she'd already missed a month of school and catching up wouldn't be easy, but she pushed the thoughts behind her, ploughing through the hallways looking for room G13, AP History. She noticed the people in the hallways starting to thin out, but Billie was too stubborn to ask for help and too shy to trek back to the office and ask for a map.

So it was her fault when she showed up to class ten minutes late. A deep breath in and out was needed before she got the courage to knock.

Billie expected a stern giving out to by a stingy old man with a disturbingly deep passion for the past. But that's not what she found. He was in his late thirtys wearing a dark button up and worn jeans. He glanced at Billie with her flustered look and up at the clock above the chalkboard, a teasing smile on his face.

"So glad you could make it on time, Miss..."

"Harper, Billie Harper, I'm new." Billie smiled cutely, hoping he'd let her off just this once, even though she knew enough about herself to figure this would happen quite a few more times. She hoped her grin was charming enough to salvage even a small piece of her first impression.

He waved her to a seat at the very left corner like it wasn't a problem, letting Billie breathe a subtle sigh of relief, but she still had a few eyes on her.

"Everyone, Billie Harper from..." He looked down at a post-it attached to his textbook, "... Brooklyn. Wow, big change." His eyebrows rose slightly in surprise.

He looked up again to meet her eyes with a welcoming smile. "Welcome to Mystic Falls, I'm Alaric Saltzman."

Billie smiled slightly, pulling out her book to start paying attention to a class she would most likely fail. Mr. Saltzman resumed the class, writing out notes on the board while he talked his way through the subject with easy familiarity.

She opened her textbook, realising she had no idea what page, or even chapter they were doing, but a small shift of movement to her right caught her attention and she looked over. The cute dark skinned girl next to her silently tilted her book towards her, showing the page number, an easygoing grin sat under deep brown eyes.

Billie smiled happily at her, glad she'd met at least one friendly face so far, aside from the teacher. Unfortunately the rest of class was a hellish skid downhill.

»»»

After class, Billie couldn't help but sit at her desk for a second longer, just staring at the board in, what she hoped was concealed, horror. Following her second of confused hesitation, Billie promised herself to study History that night and catch up, though she had a feeling the rest of the day would be no better.