citrussunkiss
This story has been told numerous times throughout literary history. You have the reformed mean girl who has an epiphany shortly after facing grief, her friends who help push the narrative, the hero who is a knight in shining armor, and the villain who may or may not become a love interest and a juxatapositon to the hero. It's a familiar story with trials and tribulations, a story everyone loves to sit down and re-read.
Mara Meadows is flawed. She's messy, she's dramatic, she's mean, but more importantly, she's just a girl; a girl trying to navigate the ups and downs of high school in a town surrounded by harbingers of death.
As she finds herself navigating the ups and downs of high school (friends, family, vampires, and witches), Mara finds herself growing up faster than she expected and maturing; becoming a woman she's going to be proud to show off to people.
[This story is based on the televison show 'The Vampire Diaries' so all plot credits go to the writers and directors of said CW television show. Credits to LJ.Smith for writing the book series from which the TV show got it's name and credits to the writers of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' as an inspiration for the television series and inspiring the creation of this story. I created the character of Mara and one of her friends, Jasmine, but as we'll see, Mara is our main character and we'll watch her grow as a person.]