❝𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛,
𝙱𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕'𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛.
𝙸𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚔.
𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐,
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔.❞
𝙸𝚌𝚎 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙺𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚜 — 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔

"No. That won't do," Cecilia grumbled to herself as she crossed it out. It didn't sound right to her, even imagining it in her friend, Dylan's singing voice, didn't sound right.

"Die trying or grow," Cecilia said.

"Die or grow," offered Aunt Jenna from the kitchen, as she got ready.

"Yeah, that works," said Cecilia, "Thanks Aunt Jenna." She really didn't know where she was going with that song, but it was going.

"When is Jack coming to pick you up?" asked Aunt Jenna.

Cecilia looked at a clock, "In five minutes."

"Do you have everything?" asked Aunt Jenna.

"Yes," replied Cecilia. "I have everything. I doubled check."

"Here, have some cereal bars," called Aunt Jenna, tossing an unopened box of cereal bars to Cecilia. "You can feed Jack too."

"Thank you," replied Cecilia, managing to catch the box before it could hit her in the face.

"Do you have a performance tonight?" asked Aunt Jenna.

"No, that's on Friday," replied Cecilia. "I'm going to see if the boys will perform Black Magic. It was a surprise hit."

"I thought you said that they hated it," replied Aunt Jenna.

"Alex and Dylan hate it. Jack liked it, but he only took my side because I liked it," replied Cecilia.

"I thought he has a crush on you," replied Aunt Jenna.

"I thought so too, but he said no, giving me a really unimpressed look," replied Cecilia.

"That boy...I swear," muttered Aunt Jenna.

Cecilia rolled her eyes. Jack didn't date or have sex with anyone, really. She and Jack had known each other for six years.

When they hit the party scene, Jack didn't even make out with anyone there; even looking unimpressed when girls came up to flirt with him.

However, she and Jack kissed once, because some girl had been hounding Jack and didn't take no for an answer, so Jack latched onto Cecilia and kissed her, claiming that she was his girlfriend. She played along with it.

Cecilia didn't really care about Jack's lack of interest in girls. He could be gay or bi, and wasn't ready to come out yet, but considering that Alex and Dylan was bi...

It didn't matter. Jack was still her friend, no matter what. Jack was her platonic soulmate after all. He even got them friendship bracelets; his was black and hers was red.

"Did you see the news report about that couple still being missing?" asked Jack when Cecilia got in the car.

She tossed her checkered blue messenger bag into the backseat of the car. It had safety pins decorating it, because Jack was the one who did it.

Jack had dark brown hair that went a little below his shoulders. He had a youthful face that made people assume that he was naïve and gullible. It also made him a target for people, more like Tyler, to try and bully him. It didn't work. He wore his black leather 'best friends' wristband and a silver studded wristband on his right wrist.

"Yeah, but I was watching it when I tried writing a song," said Cecilia. She opened the box of cereal bars and opened one so she can give it to her best friend as he drove. "You hate the news. Why are you watching it?"

"My mom refused to change the channel. You know how she really gets into that shit," replied Jack.

"Your mom's a total sweet heart," Cecilia said. "It's not her fault that she gave birth to a grumpy bitchy son."

"My dad was the one who impregnated her," replied Jack.

"Still not her fault," replied Cecilia.

"I'm just tired," replied Jack.

"You're always tired," Cecilia said. "You're perpetually tired."

"I know," replied Jack. "It fucking sucks."

Cecilia nodded, "It does."

After the death of her parents and nearly lost her twin sister, Elena, she had reoccurring nightmares where no one survived. It had resulted in her sharing a bed with Elena a couple of times during those nights. Cecilia thought it was nice with the two of them laying together, enjoying each other's company. There were times when Cecilia had gone to her younger brother, Jeremy, because she wanted him to know that she was there for him. That went well, until she found Vicki in Jeremy's bed and weed in his room, and yeah, that was enough for her.

She tried to be there for Jeremy, but he just didn't seem to want her help, but Cecilia kept pushing because she wanted him to know that he was there for her, but he finally relented and allowed her to try and help him. She hadn't seen Vicki around in about a month and she hadn't seen Jeremy look high in a while, however that didn't mean anything. Jeremy could've gotten better at hiding it, so she wasn't sure.

Cecilia was standing at Jack's locker when she noticed a boy walk by, wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. The boy seemed to stop and look at her. He took off his sunglasses and just stared at her like he never saw a girl before.

"Do you mind not staring at her like you're going to eat her?" asked Jack rather harshly.

"Uh, sorry, I was wondering where the office is," replied the guy. He looked a little to old to be going to high school. Although, considering Cecilia's other male friend, Alex, who also looked to old to be attending high school, it wasn't that strange, at least to her.

"Its right down there," said Cecilia. She pointed and then sighed. "I'll take you there."

She started leading the guy, who put his sunglasses back on, to the office. "I'm Cecilia Gilbert, by the way. The guy I was with is Jack Winters. He's my best friend, I'm sorry for his rudeness."

"Sorry for staring at you like that. You look like someone I knew. I'm Stefan," said Stefan.

"What brings you to Mystic Falls?" asked Cecilia.

"Oh, I'm staying with my uncle, Zach Salvatore," replied Stefan.

That didn't answer her question, but okay.

"Oh," replied Cecilia. She walked past her two friends, Alex and Dylan.

Dylan had long blond hair and wore a light denim jacket that hid his hands. He had been wearing a lot of long-sleeved shirts lately, Cecilia realized.

Alex had long black hair and wore a leather jacket and had a black band tee-shirt. He was leaning against someone's locker as Dylan looked through his locker. The two turned to look at Cecilia and Stefan. Alex gave Cecilia a weird look, so Cecilia gave him a weird look back, before continuing on.

"Sorry, they're friends of mine," said Cecilia.

Stefan turned to look at the two boys, lowering his sunglasses to look at them properly. Jack had gone up to them. Stefan looked at Cecilia.

She wore a band tee-shirt and a denim skirt with black knee-length leggings. She wore gray high-tops to go with the outfit.

"We're in a metal band together," replied Cecilia.

"Hey, as long as you're happy and having fun with it," replied Stefan.

"Thanks," replied Cecilia confused. "I am." She finally got to the office. "I'm sure you can find the receptionist easily."

"I can, thanks for the directions and conversation," replied Stefan.

"Yeah, hope you enjoy it here at Mystic Falls. If you want, you can bring your uncle and see my band, Burn the Witch! on Friday. There's a place called the Black Rose, which is where we're performing at, at nine," replied Cecilia.

Stefan seemed amused, "I'll try and see if I can make it."

"If you can't, that's fine," said Cecilia. "I better get back to my friends."

Stefan nodded and Cecilia turned to walk away, but stopped and looked at Stefan. She had to check him out because he was hot.

Well, that went better than she expected. She expected Stefan to give her a strange look for her saying she was in a metal band, but he didn't.

She walked back to her friends. Alex and Dylan gave her strange looks again. Dylan played with the sleeves of his jacket.

It made her wonder if the two of them knew...they had to have known that she liked the both of them. It had been obvious when Alex and Dylan got together two weeks ago, because she was jealous and sad. She wasn't sure of which one she had been jealous of and she was sad, because she felt like she missed out on something.

"Who was the guy?" asked Alex.

"Stefan, he's new here, and staying with his uncle," Cecilia told him. "He wanted directions to the office."

"He was cute," mumbled Dylan, playing with his fingers. Alex gave him an unimpressed look.

"He had a great ass though," replied Cecilia with a smirk. Alex gave her an unimpressed look.

Cecilia gave him a look too, because why...? Now Dylan just looked uncomfortable.

"Do we have any classes together?" asked Dylan. He took out his schedule and looked at it.

Cecilia took her schedule out and looked at Dylan's.

It looked like she only had history class with Dylan and Jack, which was first period. Damn.

"Oh, it's with Mr. Tanner," replied Alex. "That's unfortunate. For you guys. I have Mrs. Warren for history."

"Lucky," replied Jack.

"For me," replied Alex, "Still sucks for you three."

Cecilia really didn't appreciate Alex rubbing it in their faces. Mr. Tanner was an all around asshole by insulting his students, which was called 'Tannered' because of it. No one was safe, not even Elena. Mrs. Warren was the other history teacher who was just a lot nicer and didn't insult anyone.

The bell rang and it was time for school...

Stefan had history class with them and Elena. It had been a surprise because Cecilia hadn't shared a class with her sister since the second grade when their parents figured it was time for them to separate from each other.

She sat down in a desk, getting sandwiched in between her two friends. She looked at what Mr. Tanner was wearing; a regular dark blue button shirt with regular slacks. She stuck her hand out to Dylan and smiled at him, "Pay up." Dylan handed her a folded up bill. She stuck her hand out to Jack, "Your turn, dick bag."

"I'll get it back eventually, scrotum lips," replied Jack, giving her money.

Cecilia did a loud laugh, but instantly covered her mouth as it felt everyone turned to look at her.

"Keep dreaming, donkey legs," Cecilia replied to him as she put her money in her bag.

Jack smirked at her in response.

Mr. Tanner started talking, "Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional Deep South—"

"You mean racism and slavery?" asked Cecilia. "I wouldn't call that 'traditional' and I wouldn't be proud of it either. It wasn't a good thing."

Mr. Tanner seemed to glare at her. "Right you are, Miss Gilbert, I was getting to that." He continued his lesson.

After school, both Alex and Jack couldn't hang out because they had part time jobs to go to. So it just left her and Dylan to walk home alone. It was nice.

"Can I stay at your place?" asked Dylan as they came to a stop on a corner. One was in the direction of the apartment building where Dylan and Jack lived. "I don't want to go home and be alone. I still think my dad haven't forgiven me for bringing home Marissa."

"That wasn't your fault," replied Cecilia, upset at how Dylan blamed himself for it.

Dylan's mother had run away with Dylan's now ex-girlfriend, who had been at least two year older than him. A few weeks later, Dylan's dad had gotten divorce papers in the mail.

"It feels like it," replied Dylan. He turned to head home, but Cecilia grabbed his hand.

She ignored the warning of how she shouldn't be taking his hand in her head that she got from grabbing Dylan's hand. She said, "Come on. You can stay with me."

Dylan allowed Cecilia to lead him to her home. He just allowed her to hold his hand, and he seemed to tighten his hold on her hand.

She tried to tell herself that it was more for comfort and nothing else, even if she wished it was more.

"Hey, Cecilia," greeted Aunt Jenna when the two got home. She added, "...and Dylan."

"Nice save," replied Dylan.

"Want anything to eat?" asked Aunt Jenna.

"Yeah," replied Cecilia.

"Not really," Dylan said.

Cecilia hadn't seen Dylan eat lunch. "Come on, you haven't eaten lunch today."

"I'll get you both something to eat. Maybe some hamburgers," said Aunt Jenna.

"Just fries would be good," said Dylan. "Maybe some mozzarella sticks too. If you want."

Jenna looked at him and seemed to examine him. "Okay, both work." She spoke to herself, "Fries and mozzarella sticks for Dylan." She added, "Don't stay here too late, it's a school night."

"Right," Dylan responded.

Elena walked by, "I'm meeting Bonnie at the Grill." She seemed to notice Dylan and smiled at him, "Hey, Dylan."

"Okay, have fun. Wait, don't stay out to late, it's a school night," replied Jenna.

"Well done, Aunt Jenna," replied Elena.

Dylan and Cecilia went upstairs to her room. 

Cecilia tossed her bag on her bed. She motioned to her desk. "Sit at the desk, I'll take my bed."

Dylan sat at the desk and Cecilia sat down on her bed, and took off her shoes. "Oh, here..." She opened her backpack and took out her song book. "Here's the song I was working on. You can make edits." She passed the song journal to Dylan.

Dylan took it and looked at it. He handed it back to her, "Sorry, not right now. I'm just tired, too."

"You and Jack both," replied Cecilia.

"Jack is perpetually tired," replied Dylan.

"And he's rubbing off on you, if you're getting tired too," Cecilia joked.

Dylan chuckled, "Maybe." He smiled at her.

Cecilia smiled back at him, then she looked away, because it lasted a few seconds to long and Dylan was taken.

"How's your dad doing?" Cecilia asked Dylan.

"He's working long hours. I wish he wasn't avoiding me," Dylan said.

"What makes you think he's avoiding you?" Cecilia asked.

Dylan didn't say anything, so Cecilia figured that Dylan didn't have an answer.

A few minutes later, Dylan finally spoke, "He's been working extremely long hours, and when he's home, he barely talks to me. He doesn't really look at me much either. A few days ago, I called him an idiot and I didn't really mean to. I apologized to him, and he just nodded at me. I just got mad at him because he's not really paying attention to me and I hate saying that. I just don't want to stress him out anymore than necessary. And maybe I should get a part-time job to help him out so he can stop working long hours."

Cecilia thought about it, "Yeah. In my opinion, I think you should get a part-time job. It would help out your dad and it would help you avoid being home alone."

Dylan nodded, "Yeah. I'll think about it. Thanks for listening to me bitch about it."

"You're not bitching," replied Cecilia. "You just needed to get it off your chest. It's fine."

Aunt Jenna did return with a hamburger and fries for Cecilia and mozzarella sticks and fries for Dylan.

"Thank you, Miss Jenna," Dylan said to Jenna.

Jenna smiled at him, "You're welcome, Dylan."

Jeremy walked in and past the kitchen where they were at, from being who knows where.

"Hey, where were you?" Jenna asked him, before Jeremy could start going rupstairs.

Jeremy turned around and looked at her, "Just out." He walked over, grabbed some fries from Cecilia, and took a mozzarella stick from Dylan. "I also heard that the person hung up more nooses in the woods."

"Who does that?" asked Jenna. "Who puts nooses in the woods?"

"A Woods Weirdo," replied Dylan.

Cecilia gave him a strange look and shrugged, "Okay."

It was the second day of school when Cecilia sat under a tree. She took out a school library book to read.

Jack walked up to Cecilia, looking exhausted, which was nothing new.

"What's up, bitch?" Cecilia asked, glancing up at him.

"Nothing, shit bag," replied Jack with a small smile. He sat down next to Cecilia, put his backpack on her lap, and laid his head on his backpack. "Wake me up when the bell rings."

Cecilia nodded, and patted his head as she went back to reading.

She only looked up when she heard people walk up. Alex was giving her a strange look.

"What the hell is that look for?" Cecilia asked.

Alex just shook his head, "Nothing."

Cecilia looked at Dylan, who looked tired. "You tired too?"

"Either I sleep too much or I sleep too little. There's no in between," replied Dylan.

"His neighbor got bitchy because I was knocking on the door to loudly because he wouldn't wake up," replied Alex.

"Skipped breakfast," replied Dylan.

"Oh, here, eat a granola bar," Cecilia said. She took a granola bar out of her bag and tossed it at Dylan, hitting him in the chest with it.

Alex seemed amused.

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" Mr. Tanner said. He looked at the class, "Miss Bennett?"

Bonnie replied, "Um...a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett," replied Mr. Tanner. "Mr. Donovan? Would you like take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"Its okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it," replied Matt.

Mr. Tanner looked around and zeroed in on Jack. "What about you, future rock star? You plan on going to college?"

"I can barely count sometimes, so there's no way in hell I'm going to college. Why do you think I'm in a band?" asked Jack.

That was somewhat of a lie, Cecilia knew that. Jack was practically a math genius, being in AP calculus and how he loved doing Soduku puzzles.

"How about you, Cecilia?" prompted Mr. Tanner.

Cecilia tried to think about it and looked over at Jack. Mr. Tanner looked at Jack, who was pretty much giving him a murderous glare. Cecilia had seen that look once, when that naked man got on stage with them and that was after Jack pushed him off the stage.

"Never mind," replied Mr. Tanner. He looked at Dylan who was rolling his pencil down his desk. He sighed at Dylan, "How about you, Mr. Croft?"

All Dylan did was give him a thumb's up, getting a few chuckles in return.

"Pay attention next time, instead of staring off into space," replied Mr. Tanner. He looked at Elena, "How about you, Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events."

"I'm sorry, I – I don't know," replied Elena.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena and Cecilia. But the personal excuses ended with summer break," replied Mr. Tanner.

This time Dylan and Jack both glared at Mr. Tanner.

"There were three-hundred-forty-six casualties, unless you're counting local civilians," Stefan said.

"That's correct, Mister..." prompted Mr. Tanner.

"Salvatore," replied Stefan.

"Salvatore..." said Mr. Tanner. "Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant," replied Stefan.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle," replied Mr. Tanner.

"Actually, there were twenty-seven, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr. Tanner," replied Stefan.

Mr. Tanner hummed in response.

After school, Elena said to Cecilia, "Hey, go to the party with us at the Falls."

"What? No," replied Cecilia. She knew that her friends weren't going to the party and she wasn't the partying type.

"Come on, you can find someone there that might catch your interest," replied Elena.

"I'm perfectly fine being single, thank you," replied Cecilia.

"You mean perfectly fine pining after Dylan and Alex?" pointed out Elena.

"I'm getting over them," replied Cecilia.

"Then go to this party," replied Elena. "You can find someone worth you time. I heard from Caroline that Ricky is interested in you."

"Ricky?" prompted Cecilia.

"Rosenberg," said Elena. "Give him a chance. He's sweet."

"Then you give Stefan a chance," replied Cecilia. "He seems interested in you."

"Why should I give him a chance when there's nothing there," replied Elena.

"You're okay with me butting in my nonexistent love-life but it's not okay with me butting into yours?" asked Cecilia.

"Celia," replied Elena. "All right, fine, he's pretty and I wouldn't mind having an epic romance with him. At least, talk to Ricky. At least he'll give you the time of day and it'll probably stop from Dylan and Alex giving you strange looks."

"You noticed that too?" asked Cecilia.

"Yeah," replied Elena. "It was noticeable when Jack was sleeping on your lap."

"They know that I like them," replied Cecilia. "They're just trying to figure out how to let me know that they're not interested since they're dating."

"They are?" replied Elena surprised.

"Yeah, I know that it seems like they aren't, but they are," replied Cecilia.

"Good for them," replied Elena with a nod.

Needless to say, Cecilia ended up at the party. She told her friends that she was going to it, because she didn't want to lie to them. And maybe Elena was right...maybe she needed to move on from her crushes.

Jeremy had decided to stay home and Cecilia went to get something to drink, before going over to stand by a bonfire with Elena and Bonnie.

"He has that romance novel stare," Bonnie told Elena.

"And he uses it on you a lot," Cecilia told Elena with a smile.

"Yeah," said Bonnie. "So, where is he?"

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

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

"Wait, you need a crystal ball," replied Elena. She looked at the full bottle of beer that Cecilia held but was not going to drink. "Are you drinking that?"

Cecilia held it out to Bonnie, "You can use it."

Bonnie took it and accidentally grabbed Cecilia's hand. Bonnie gasped and her eyes widened.

Cecilia tried to shake her hand free, feeling a little uncomfortable with what was going on.

"Hey, earth to Bonnie. You're freaking out my sister," Elena said. She took Bonnie's hand to pry it loose.

Bonnie seemed to come to and looked at Cecilia, "I saw two guys wearing face-paint."

Cecilia frowned at that. "Okay?"

"And when Elena grabbed me, I saw fog, a crow, and a man," replied Bonnie.

"So I get two dudes and my sister gets a foggy crow-man?" replied Cecilia confused.

"I'm drunk," replied Bonnie. "It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah, okay, I'm going to get a refill."

"You don't seem that drunk to me," replied Cecilia.

Bonnie walked away.

"Okay? Bonnie!" Elena replied.

"Two guys wearing face-paint?" asked Cecilia.

"Doesn't your band wear face-paint during your concerts?" asked Elena.

When their parents were alive, Cecilia said that she was in a band, but she hadn't told them that it was a metal band.

Her parents, Elena, and Jeremy ended up tracking them down to one of their gigs as surprise support. Unfortunately it was the one she chose to wear face-paint that night and their opening song started off with a guttural growl from Dylan.

At the end of the gig, Cecilia's family said that they supported her choose in music.

"Well, we do, but I don't wear it for every gig," replied Cecilia. "Where's that guy, Ricky?" Elena looked around and motioned with her head, "There he is." She gently pushed Cecilia to him.

Cecilia tried not to whimper in nervousness. She went to the dark-haired boy, "Hey, I'm Cecilia."

"I'm Ricky," replied the boy with a smile.

The small-talk was going terrible, Cecilia knew that. Ricky looked almost as bored as she was feeling.

He was nice, Cecilia would give him that. If she wasn't crushing on Dylan and Alex, she would like Ricky.

However...maybe she could make herself like him.

Tyler came up to them looking confused, "Have any of you seen Vicki?"

"I'll look for her," Cecilia said, jumping at the chance to get away from Ricky.

"I'll go with you," replied Ricky.

"All right," Cecilia said slowly.

The three of them walked in the woods. It seemed like something out of a murder-mystery or a horror movie.

"Vicki!" Cecilia called out.

Ricky and Tyler started calling out Vicki's name.

Tyler had to bat a noose out of his way. "Who the hell is putting nooses up? I ought to hang them with it!"

Cecilia rolled her eyes. She wasn't exactly close friends with Tyler like how Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, and Matt were. But Tyler just stopped hanging out with them except for Matt.

She tripped over something.

"Are you okay?" asked Ricky as he helped her up.

"Oh, my god, its Vicki," replied Tyler. Cecilia looked at the body. It looked like Vicki had been bitten by something.

"Oh shit, oh shit," replied Cecilia horrified.

"Help me, Gilbert!" ordered Tyler. Cecilia nodded and went to help Vicki. He glared at Ricky, "You too, Rosenberg!" Tyler didn't help carry Vicki, because he was busy barking orders at them, and telling them where to step.

When they emerged to where the party was, Tyler started yelling for help.

Matt was instantly over to where they were at, "Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?"

Elena was over there, "What happened?"

"Somebody, call an ambulance!" yelled Matt as people started gathering around them.

"Everybody back up, give her some space!" yelled Tyler at someone.

"Oh my god, it's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood fast," Elena noted.

A boy handed Elena a shirt, "Put this on her neck."

Cecilia looked at Vicki and felt like her world was tilting. Something felt...wrong. What was it that bit her on the neck? Why the neck and not anywhere else?

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

The party started breaking up and an ambulance arrived for Vicki. Matt took off with her.

"Hey, we're going to Mainline Coffee," Bonnie told them, "Wait for news."

"I'd rather go home," said Cecilia. She looked at her hands, which had some blood on it from carrying Vicki.

"Yeah," replied Elena. "I have to make sure that Celia is all right."

"You two, there's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw or I think I saw. I have this feeling..." Bonnie started.

Elena asked, "Bonnie, what?"

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Cecilia.

"That this is just the beginning," replied Bonnie.