[episode 1.1]

September 8, 2009

IT WAS THE NIGHT of the back-to-school bonfire, and Caroline Forbes was not going to allow any excuses to get out of attending. The back-to-school bonfire was "only the most important event of the year," per Caroline. Although I'd definitely heard her say that about at least four separate events last year.

Nevertheless, I was there, standing with Bonnie and Elena, and slowly starting to realize how much I'd missed the day before.

"I'm sorry, back up," I interrupted. "You have a crush, Elena?"

I smiled giddily for my sister when Bonnie's mouth lifted in a confirming smirk.

Elena stared into her cup of beer and laughed. "I don't think I'd call it a crush."

"Just admit it, Elena," Bonnie pushed, clearly not willing to accept Elena's half-hearted lies.

"Oh, okay, so he's a little pretty," she finally admitted.

Bonnie grinned, clearly very satisfied with Elena's newfound honesty. "He has that romance novel stare."

My own happy smile widened. "Girls, the anticipation is killing me," I said. "Who is this guy?"

"The new kid," Bonnie said in a dramatic whisper.

Ice instantly filled my stomach. Oh no.

"He has a name, Bonnie," Elena said and rolled her eyes playfully. "His name is Stefan Salvatore."

I blinked hard as if I'd been shocked. I didn't know why, but something about that name was haunting me. I knew that name somehow, I was sure of it.

"So, where is he?" Bonnie asked, looking around the hordes of people drinking and watching the fire. I glanced around too, anxiety eating at my insides.

"I don't know. You tell me, you're the psychic one."

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked to Bonnie for some sort of explanation of that comment, but Bonnie seemed intent on evading my eye contact.

"Right," she chuckled. "I forgot. Okay, so give me a sec. Grams said I have to concentrate."

I stared at her, feeling so totally lost, but Elena and Bonnie carried on as if I weren't there.

"Wait! You need a crystal ball," Elena joked, but I was still lost on the punchline. She picked up a glass beer bottle and showed it off proudly to Bonnie. "Ta da!"

Bonnie laughed along and reached out to take it from Elena, but the second their hands brushed against each other's, Bonnie's entire body became rigid and her eyes glazed over.

My eyes widened comically large, but Bonnie blinked and jerked her hand away not a second later. Her eyes looked haunted.

"What?" Elena asked, noticing the look in Bonnie's eyes as much as I was.

"That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow."

The color disappeared from Elena's face. "What?"

"A crow," Bonnie repeated. "There was fog, a man."

Now it was Elena's turn to look haunted, and I was still just as lost as I was when the conversation started.

Bonnie noticed our looks and was quick to say, "I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? Ok, I'm going to get a refill."

Without giving us a chance to respond, Bonnie turned and immediately darted off toward the woods, not in the direction of the drink refill.

Worried and still super confused, I immediately bolted after her. Behind me, Elena yelled, "Okay? Bonnie!"

I ran a little to catch up to her hurried steps and pleaded, "Slow down, Bonnie!"

Bonnie and I continued our hurried pace until we made it just out of the clearing, away from the party. She quickly sat down on a sawed down tree trunk and dropped her head in her hands. I cautiously sat down on the trunk too and put an arm around her. I decided not to say anything as I sat with her — mostly because I had no idea what to say.

The muffled sounds of the party and Bonnie's shaky breaths were the soundtrack for this confusing night. I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a lot more truth to Bonnie's earlier jokes than she was letting on.

"What's going on, Bon?" I asked after a few minutes of silence. "What happened back there?"

"I need to tell you something, and it's going to sound weird," she said, finally looking up at me again.

"Try me."

Bonnie chewed on her bottom lip and stared at me for a moment, presumably fighting an internal battle to work up the courage to say whatever it was. I smiled at her in encouragement.

"Grams said I'm a witch, and I..." Bonnie winced and looked away. "I kind of believe her."

Her confession left me stunned. Once the words were out in the open, her shoulders seemed to uncoil and her breaths slowed. I watched her reactions silently.

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

"I'm not sure I'm the person to ask that," I admitted. "But no."

Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe you haven't already heard," I said, surprised I had to explain the rumors about me to anyone in Mystic Falls. "All the rumors these days say I've gone crazy."

Her eyebrows flew up her forehead. "What?" she reacted instantly. "That is totally not true! Why would anyone say that about you?"

I chuckled and looked back forward the little glimpses of the party we could see through the trees and the roar of the orange flames I could see through the trees.

"Because I believe vampires are real," I told her. I looked back to see her wide-eyed expression. I chuckled a little at the reaction and teased, "Is now the time when I ask if you think I'm crazy?"

**********

After leaving a flabbergasted Bonnie behind to have a moment with her thoughts, I decided to wander through the woods on the outskirts of the party where other students were stumbling along on the dimly lit trail.

Up ahead, I saw someone walking who looked a lot like my brother, so I quickened my pace to catch up to him, but my steps faltered instantly when I heard the panicked cries of Vicki Donovan in distress.

"It's not going to happen, not here, not like this. No. I said no. I said no! Ow, that hurts!" she'd cried, her voice filling with panic and anger that I knew all too well.

Jeremy was a few steps ahead of me and hurried forward, yelling, "Hey! Leave her alone!"

Warmth filled me to see Jeremy standing up for Vicki. I'd always known that Jeremy was a good kid, and this just confirmed it all over again.

"You know, you're starting to get on my nerves, Gilbert," Tyler spat.

I quickly hurried up to the trio to give Jeremy and Vicki extra support.

"Just go, Tyler," Vicki said, shoving Tyler and stepping closer to Jeremy. "Get the hell away from me!"

Vicki glanced at me as I crossed my arms and stepped up to her side in solidarity. I hoped my glare made Tyler uncomfortable. Heaven knows I rarely used it.

"Wow. Vicki Donovan says no. That's a first."

"Do not ever treat her that way, Lockwood," I snapped, stepping in front of Vicki now. "Do you hear me?"

"Why would I listen to the crazy girl?" he asked, leaning closer in a way that made me feel nauseous. "Do us all a favor and crawl back to your little psych ward."

I felt Jeremy try to lunge at him around me, but luckily Vicki and I had the same idea and held onto him. Tyler scoffed and walked off back toward the party. I watched him go warily until I saw that he was gone.

"I didn't need your help," Vicki said, turning to Jeremy. "Either of you."

"It seems like you did," Jeremy said.

"He was just drunk," she protested.

"I'm drunk," Jeremy said. "Am I throwing myself at you?"

"No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul, and screw and screw and screw until you're done with me."

My mouth twisted in sadness.

"Is that what you think?" Jeremy asked, hurt flashing in his eyes.

"That's what I know."

My eyes glossed over with tears from seeing how badly Vicki Donovan was hurting. I had no idea how much she needed a friend. I blinked my tears away right as Vicki turned to me.

"And tell me," she demanded, "why do you care?"

"Because you didn't deserve what he was trying to do to you," I said, bracing myself for what I was about to say, "and because my last boyfriend did the same to me...but there was no one around to help me that day."

"What?" Anger flooded Jeremy's voice, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I didn't intend for him to ever know about what happened to me, but I knew Vicki needed to hear it in that moment. To know she wasn't alone.

The defensive look on Vicki's face slowly relaxed, and I saw a hint of pity and sadness in her eyes. "Well, that didn't happen to me," she said weakly. 

I nodded. "I understand." I motioned back to the party. "If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me."

I started to walk away, back toward the sounds of happiness and loud music, and I sensed Jeremy's momentary hesitation on whether he should follow me or stay with Vicki.

He decided to follow me.

"Margot, wait!"

I slowed down to allow him to catch up with me and finally stole a glance at his face. I couldn't figure out what he was thinking from what I saw there. Emotions were swirling too violently in his gaze for me to pick apart a single one.

"I didn't mean for you to find out like that," I admitted as we fell in step silently. "I sort of hoped you never would."

Jeremy suddenly stopped walking and grabbed onto my arm, turning me toward him. I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing, but then he pulled me into a hug, and I instantly burst into tears.

I couldn't remember the last time Jeremy hugged me. Even in the days after mom and dad died, we didn't hug like this.

Jeremy held me as I cried into his shirt. I wished I could have been stronger. I didn't want him to worry about me. I was the oldest sibling. I was supposed to be the strong one.

"I'm so sorry, Mar," he said, holding onto me tightly. "I'm so sorry I left you that night."

I pulled back and stared at him as well as I could through my tears. "What?"

"It happened that night, didn't it?" he asked. "The night of the accident?"

I swallowed hard as more silent tears flooded my cheeks.

"I never realized it was more than just mom and dad's accident changing you, but I should have figured it out." He ran a hand through his hair and laughed exasperatedly. "You hardly even go into the living room these days, and you flinch whenever anyone enters the same room as you."

I stared at him sadly.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Only my therapist and now Vicki, I guess," I said, wiping away my tears. "Do you...do you view me differently now?"

"Not at all," he said quickly. "You're still Margot. Now I only understand what you've been going through."

I gave him a watery smile and tried to stop tearing up at everything he said. "Thanks, Jer. I'm sorry we don't talk more these days."

"It's a two-way street, sis," he said, walking backward toward the party. "I'm sorry too."

**********

After the events in the woods and my conversation with Jeremy, I decided to break my months-long sobriety and grabbed a bottle of beer. I knew it was a poor idea because the last time I got drunk, Enzo appeared, but I needed something to get my mind off everything.

Bonnie was back, talking to Caroline near the keg, and Elena was talking to Stefan Salvatore, and I was struggling to decide if I needed to intervene. Maybe if I just kept an eye on them, everything would be okay. So, I opted to stare at him while I drank my beer, probably looking like a freak in the process, but I didn't care. I would do anything to keep my family safe.

I watched as Elena followed Jeremy into the woods, and I mentally debated if I should go with them, but then Stefan stepped up in front of me, and I knew the decision had been made for me.

"Margot, walk away right now."

I wished I could. Mystic Falls didn't work that way, and being dismissive was likely to draw even more attention to myself than sitting back and suffering through the small talk.

I shook my head slightly in response to Enzo. I hoped he understood I couldn't.

"Hi. Margot, right?" Stefan asked. "I've heard a lot about you."

"All great things I'm sure," I said into my beer bottle.

His face faltered only slightly. He pressed on, "Your sister talks highly of you."

"She does?" I beamed. "She's pretty amazing herself."

"She is." He smiled, and I smiled back. Silence filled all the dead air between us. "Well, I'm Stefan Salvatore," he said finally, offering me a hand.

"I know," I said, not missing the way he tensed when I said it. I shook his hand and smiled. "You're the talk of the town. We don't get a lot of new guys these days."

He relaxed. "Yeah, I'm pretty used to it. Military family and all."

I nodded. "That's cool. Why is your family stationed here?"

"Oh, they're not," he replied easily. "I'm living with my uncle."

I noticed the weird way he said uncle and narrowed my eyes. "Oh, cool. And your parents are okay with that?"

"My parents passed away actually," he said, shifting his stance uncomfortably.

My eyes softened. "I'm sorry to hear that. Mine too. I—we live with our aunt. Wow, what an insensitive thing to ask, I'm so sorry—"

"It's okay," he cut me off with a smile. "I get it. It's unusual for someone our age to not have parents."

I nodded.

I opened my mouth to say something more, but then Elena and Jeremy came rushing out of the woods, yelling, and I jumped to my feet. I pushed through the bodies to get to them, gasping when I saw why they were yelling.

Vicki Donovan was lying unconscious in Jeremy's arms.

"Somebody help!" Elena screamed. I pulled out my phone to call 9-1-1 as I stumbled over to them.

"Vicki? Vicki!" Matt panicked, running up to the table they'd laid her out on.

"Oh my god." Vicki was unconscious and bleeding out on the table. The sight of it made me nauseous. She was okay an hour ago.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Matt yelled.

"On it, Matt," I told him, listening for the operator. "Elena, what happened?"

Elena shook her head helplessly. "It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood."

"Everybody back up! Give her some space!"

One of my classmates stepped up and said, "Here, put this on her neck to stop the bleeding."

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"Vicki, Vicki, come on, open your eyes, look at me."

"Hello, we need an ambulance. We're at the falls in Mystic Falls having a bonfire, and a girl's been attacked by an animal of some kind."

Everything was a blur of chaos and panic, but through the mess of activity, I found Bonnie's eyes. She was already looking at me. I wondered if she might have believed me now.

"This was the work of a vampire," Enzo whispered in my mind.

I nodded. I know, I desperately wanted to tell him back. But who?

My breath stuttered as Enzo spoke again.

"Damon Salvatore."