CHAPTER FOUR

"Why are you always in here?" Jay questions as she walks into her bedroom and sees Damon turning away from her sister's bed. But then she sees that Elena looks oddly pale. "Is she okay?"

"You missed a lot tonight." The raven-haired vampire says, and she raises her eyebrows. "Do you really want to know, kid?"

"Might as well find out now. It'll be better than finding out when it bites me in the ass." She says, and he nods as motions for her to sit with him on her bed.

"Klaus and Stefan came back, and then that hybrid bastard compelled Stefan to turn off his emotions." He tells her, and her eyes widen. "Klaus knows that Elena's alive, and it turns out that it's her blood that turns werewolves into hybrids; so, he wants her to stay alive for that reason, and he's made Stefan her personal bodyguard. And, uh... He turned Tyler into a hybrid tonight."

"What?!"

"Yeah." He nods. "Oh, and Klaus left town, but he left his bitchy, blonde sister behind."

"Is that everything?" She asks. "Please tell me that that's everything."

"Everything that's important for you to know before you go to school tomorrow."

She nods. "This town really is hell, isn't it?"

"Closest thing to it on earth is my guess." He shrugs. "We'll survive. We always do."

"Not all of us always do." She mutters and then stands up to walk around her bed.

"You okay, kid?" He asks, and she nods.

"It's just the close to another business-as-usual day in Mystic Falls. At least no one's getting buried six-feet-under this time." Jay says, and he leaves her alone after that, as that's obviously what she wants.

The next morning, Jeremy's banging on the bathroom door, irritated because his sisters have been hogging it all morning. The youngest opens the door that leads to his room and glares at him. "Other people live here too, you know?" He says, and she nods.

"Elena and I were up at five-fifteen this morning to train with Ric. You could've gotten your lazy ass out of bed to take your shower before we got back." She says, and he pushes his way past her. "Hey, can I borrow a t-shirt?" She calls after he closes the door between them.

"Knock yourself out!" He yells as he turns on the shower, and she walks over to his dresser.

At school, Jay runs through the parking lot and she sees Matt climbing out of his truck. She jumps on his back after he shuts the driver's door and he stumbles, then they both hit the ground. She starts laughing as he rolls over to look at her.

"Sorry."

"What are you doing?" Matt asks as he gets up, clearly amused as he looks down at the brunette.

"I refuse to let my first day get completely ruined. I spent all morning being sad that my mom isn't here to see me off for my first day as a Freshman, now I'm pushing past it." She tells him.

"So, you're pushing me down instead?" He asks as he holds his hands out to her.

"You're supposed to think fast Mr. Quarterback." She tells him as he pulls her up.

"Mhm."

"You look better." Tyler's voice catches their attention, and they both look over at him. "Even in your brother's clothes, you look good."

"Hey." The little brunette turns to face him. "Damon told me that Klaus turned you. How are you feeling?" She asks.

"Pretty good, actually. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh... Well, I wanted to look around campus — it being my first day here and all. Can I catch up with you later?" She glances between the two boys.

"Or I can show you around." He suggests.

"Or I can." Stefan walks over to them, gaining their attention. "We were good friends, and I did promise to help you out once you started school at, uh... What did you call it when we were talking that day?"

"I think I'm just gonna find Jeremy." Jay says. "Bye, Matt. I'll talk to you later, Ty." She tells them, and Stefan smirks as she walks away from them.

—

After school, Jay's running laps on the track while football and cheer practice is going on. She keeps stealing glances at Tyler whenever there's no risk of her falling and hurting herself when she does. She rounds the side of the track that the football players are on, and she hears their coach — the guy that replaced Tanner after Damon killed him last year — yelling at them.

"It's not the ballet, ladies! Let's move, let's move!"

"I think we're done here, Coach." Tyler says as Jay slows to a walk, trying to catch her breath.

"Did you have a mental breakdown, Lockwood?" He questions. "Get back in line."

"I have a better idea." He walks over and looks the coach in his eyes. "Shut the hell up so we can go get drunk at the bonfire." He says just loud enough that only his coach heard him.

"Hit the showers, gentlemen." Coach says, and Jay's eyebrows furrow.

"Tyler!" The little brunette calls, and he looks her way before walking over to her.

"Hey." He greets, a smile on his face.

"What the hell was that?" She questions. "Did you just compel him?"

His expression falls. "What?"

"And to think I was feeling sorry that Klaus turned you."

"Well, don't. Klaus has given me this...gift." He tells her.

"Gi—" She scoffs. "Wow. That's... Well, now that I know that you're perfectly okay, we can go back to not talking to each other." She says as she turns away from him.

"Whoa, hey." He's suddenly in front of her, and she sighs. "What's the matter?"

"That. This." She motions around them. "I can't— I can't believe you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You just screwed with his head, Tyler." She glances in the direction that his team disappeared in before looking back at him. "And it was so easy for you to do. There was no consideration, you just did it. One day, and you're already turning into them. Who cares what the humans want or think is best? No, let's all just bow to every petty whim of the vampires in this town."

"So I had him cut one practice short. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you see no problem with using compulsion to get your way. Just like Damon controlling Caroline, or deciding what memories we get to keep and what's altered. Like Klaus forcing Stefan to turn off his humanity..." She shakes her head. "It's called free will, Tyler, and human beings deserve to have it. Now, when I turn around, please don't appear in front of me."

"Jay!" He calls after her as she walks away from him. "Come on, Jay!" He sighs as she keeps going, and he reluctantly lets her leave.

Later that night, Jay goes to the bonfire and makes a beeline for the keg. She sees a blonde girl having a hard time and she smiles as she walks over to her. "Need help?" The little brunette asks, immediately earning her attention.

"Uh, sure." She nods, and the British accent takes her by surprise.

Stefan walks over a couple minutes later, interrupting their conversation. "You know who you're talking to, right?" He asks, and Jay sighs as she looks at him.

"A heartless dick — goodbye, Stefan." She turns away from him, but he grabs her arm to make her stop.

"That isn't very nice."

"Let go of me."

"Where are your manners?"

"Where are yours?" She counters, and he chuckles.

"It's so cute when the weak pretend to be brave." He says, and her jaw tightens as she looks into his green eyes. "You really are adorable."

"I thought you were supposed to be stalking Elena, not harassing me." Jay says, and he nods.

"Would you rather I go find your sister?" He asks.

"Personally, I'd rather you just got the hell out of my town. You're not my friend anymore. You don't care about anyone anymore, not even yourself."

"You're the doppelganger's sister?" The blonde asks, and Jay turns her head to look at her.

"Oh, right." Stefan smirks. "Jay, this is Rebekah — Klaus' sister." He tells her, and the little brunette stumbles back, right into his chest.

"You're that afraid of my brother?"

"He killed my mother." Jay says, and the amusement immediately fades from the blonde's face.

"And it was so sad — the way sweet little Jay here ran over and held Jenna's dead body in her arms. The way she sobbed and begged her to wake up." Stefan says tauntingly, and the brunette starts struggling against his hold again.

Rebekah leans forward and grabs Stefan's face under his chin, making him look at her. "Let go of the girl." She compels him, and Jay falls once Stefan releases his hold on her.

The little brunette quickly gets to her feet and then takes off running, wanting to get as far away from the party in the woods as possible as quickly as she can. Without having even decided to go there, Jay ends up on Tyler's doorstep, but Caroline's the one who answers the door.

"Jay?" The blonde's eyebrows furrow as she looks at her. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?" Tyler echoes as he moves past Caroline. "What happened?" He asks as he stops in front of her and wipes tears from her cheeks. "Are you hurt?"

"I ran into Stefan again, and he's an even bigger dick than Damon now." She tells them, and he sighs as he takes a step closer to her.

"Are you okay?"

"He started talking about my mom, and he..." She takes a deep breath as she wipes her hands across her cheeks. "He was there that night. He saw everything — me with my mom after..." She covers her face with her hands and he pulls her to him as he wraps his arms around her.

"Look, I know that I ruined your friendship before by sticking my nose where it didn't belong, and I'm sorry for that." Caroline starts as she looks at the two of them. "But, Tyler, everything that I said about her getting hurt is even more true now than it was then. You won't be able to put her first — at least, not before Klaus. Not based on everything that Damon said."

"What?" Jay pulls away from Tyler so that she can look at Caroline, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"She said that I'm sired to Klaus." Tyler tells her.

"He's basically Tyler's master now." The blonde explains.

"And that's why he's been acting like his old self?" Jay asks, and she nods.

"Wait, what?" He questions.

"It's the reason I got so mad at you earlier." She says as she looks back at him. "You're acting like the old Tyler. The one who was a dick and didn't care about anyone but himself."

"I don't wanna be him. I hated that guy."

"You're a vampire now, Tyler. Everything about your personality is heightened." Caroline tells him, and he nods as he processes what she's saying. "So, you have to be careful."

"I will." He promises, and then looks back at the little brunette that's standing in front of him.

"I'm gonna go." The blonde says before moving past them, and then she disappears.

"You think we can talk now?" Tyler asks, and Jay nods. "Come inside."

The two of them go into his dad's old office and sit on the couch there. "So, you've been wanting to talk. What about?" She asks as she looks at him.

"I pushed you away before because I thought that it was the right thing to do, not because I don't feel the same way that you do." He turns to face her, and the surprise is evident on her face.

"What?"

"I've known Elena since we were kids, and you're her little sister. I feel like I'm not supposed to have these feelings for you, but I do." He tells her. "And thinking that you hate me is killing me."

She shakes her head as she looks at him. "I don't hate you, Tyler."

"Good." He nods. "Because it has been damn near impossible to keep from doing this since I first saw you at school this morning." Tyler leans over suddenly and presses his lips against hers. She smiles into the kiss as she rests her hand on the side of his face.