As promised, guys! The "prequel", in a sense, to Shiver. This begins from 1x01 and will continue until the Season 4 finale so long as everyone is still interested in it. Don't worry, this won't be taking from the time I write Shiver, but that means that everyone's got to be patient with this story. It's a second priority against the real thing. But I think this should be fun :)

This Pilot is...different from the actual show because I didn't want to go through the whole bonfire scene and unnecessary school scenes. Plus, Madeline copes in a different way than Elena and Jeremy, and it wouldn't make sense for her to go drinking so soon after her parents' deaths. First episode is always so boring so...apologies in advance.

Shiver is up next so stay tuned! Enjoy the chapter and make sure to review if you can when you're done reading!

Disclaimer: Only saying this once. I don't own anything of TVD's. I only own Madeline Gilbert, Audrey Forbes, any other OCs I decide to bring in, the storyline that comes from my own brain, and the writing.

Pilot

Tired…

Just so…so…tired.

You would think—looking like I did—that I would be the most active person on the entire planet. After all, I had the body for it. The small, thin figure; one that was only obtained by going on a diet that consists of nothing at dinner but a small little leaf of lettuce that was meant for rabbits.

Wrong.

I was the most inactive person anyone had ever known. Did my body look like I worked out twice a day for four hours? Sure. You know, why not? But, no. Truly, I hadn't ever been one to do any sort of activity—whether it was physical education at school, going for a light walk with the dog (that is, if we'd had one), and definitely not running. Running? In fact, if anyone were to ask me to go for a leisure jog with them at five in the morning six months ago, I would've laughed in their face and gone home to watch a movie or something.

I guess my hatred of physical activity was what had my mother suddenly decide to pull me out of bed every morning on Saturdays at five o'clock and go for a morning jog. Then, at night, I would go with her again. I wished, at the time, I had actually appreciated it. But life doesn't happen that way. Once something's gone forever, you tend to cherish those moments, and you wish that you had the chance to do them over again. This could happen with good or bad things—it just depended on your situation.

Mine, however, was on the bad side of things.

Every morning since the car accident that placed my parents at the bottom of Wickery Bridge, I had learned to appreciate the moments that I could have no more of.

I passed many older women on this lonesome jog—women just a little older than my mother was before she died three months ago. The only survivor of the crash was my sister, Elena. I still couldn't wrap my head around how she was able to get out of the car, but yet, I saw her every morning for these three painful months without our parents. I still had this feeling like they were going to walk through the door at any moment.

But that's just how life works.

Because life sucks.

I slowed my pace as I came up to the fence that surrounded our humble, suburban house that Jeremy, Elena, and I had all grown up in and was now home to our Aunt Jenna, who had bravely given up her care-free lifestyle to take care of us three. You would think, me being the oldest, that I would be old enough to take care of everyone. The sad truth of it was that I was still seventeen at the moment—and though that would change in roughly a month, I was not in the right place to take care of my two siblings. According to the legal law, when I turned eighteen, I could become Jeremy and Elena's sole guardian, but the truth of the matter was…I was still only a rising eleventh grader.

How is a seventeen/eighteen-year-old girl only an eleventh grader? No, I wasn't held back or anything. To be honest, I was probably smarter than the majority of my grade.

But, like I said before, life sucks.

When I was born, I had just missed the cutoff for school, which meant that I had to be held back a year before I went. Elena was conceived and born very quickly, and she was able to go to school on time. So, when Elena was ready to hit kindergarten, I was, too. I would be nineteen in senior year; she would be eighteen. Jeremy, however, would still be the little munchkin, as always.

I know. I'm old.

Although it worked for me, you know? I absorbed more information…I was more appreciative of the things I had…I was a good littlegirl. Did that still work—"little" girl? Probably not. Regardless, the statement is all the same. I was the good girl in our family. Not that Elena wasn't, either, but the thing was, she was that girl. The popular one. The beautiful one. The compassionate one. The considerate one. The gracious one.

There were just so many adjectives to describe my sister.

With heavy breathing—to my distaste, actually—I pushed open the door to our house and entered, never minding with the headphones that still resided inside of my ears. God, I hated running…but it was the only thing that helped me clear my head. Every time I shut my eyes and thought, I would just think of how miserable I was.

I didn't want that. I didn't want to be miserable. But how does one really get over the death of their parents?

Elena had her ways of coping, Jeremy had his, and I…guess this was mine? Running? Elena's coping technique was, obviously, either trying to move on or writing in that diary that our mother gave her for her birthday. Jeremy…Jeremy was having some issues with his coping techniques. Don't get me wrong, he had them, but…well, they weren't all that brilliant. I wanted to do something about it, but for right now, all I could do was try and wait until this phase was over.

So I guess mine had to be running.

The thing was, it was hard for me. Of course, I would never say it was harder for me than it was for Jeremy and Elena. This affected us all—even Aunt Jenna, who had lost her sister.

But I was the one that spent the nights with our parents, unlike Elena and Jeremy who would always go out with their friends to some party. I would be the one that would stay in for Family Night. I would be the one who would sit down and play Monopoly or watch some cheesy movie. Not because I felt obligated to, but because I wanted to. I had always felt closer to my parents than Elena or Jeremy…for some unknown reason, honestly.

So, my methods of coping sucked, but they would have to suffice.

I ripped off my arm sleeve that harbored my phone, but I kept the headphones in as I began to take off my sweaty sneakers and socks. I desperately needed a shower. You know, this was another reason I hated running.

My body ached since I'd been running so much lately, and with slow joints, I carefully removed my sneakers and relaxed for just a moment before painfully making my way up to my bedroom, which was tucked into a nice little corner at the front end of the house. Elena's room was adjacent to mine, on the other side of the stairwell, of course. Jeremy's room connected with Elena's, and our parents' room—well, Jenna's room now—sort of hid mine.

There was one advantage and one advantage only when it came to being the eldest: I had my own bathroom while Elena and Jeremy had to share theirs. So, without wasting anymore of my already limited time, I stripped out of my disgusting clothes and stepped into the shower like there were ants crawling all over me. Which, in a sense, was a totally legitimate claim…if beads of sweat that made you feel disgusting were a code word for ants.

Everyone was up and about by the time I hopped out of the shower…and that was probably not a good thing. See, I take long showers—especially after feeling like I had drowned in a self-generated, more disgusting one. This meant that I had to have been in the shower for at least twenty minutes. So, as everyone was just groggily getting up, they had less than a half hour to get going.

I sighed to myself as I drained my hair in the shower. I wish I could be that way again—worriless. I was afraid that I would never be that way again.

"Toast," Aunt Jenna suggested as she desperately searched the fridge for something she could make so she wouldn't feel so unprepared. She looked back at Elena, who was pouring two cups of coffee while I made sure I had everything I needed for the school day. "I could make toast," she offered.

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," Elena moaned as she began to pour my cup. With a sigh, I turned around at her just as she extended the cup to me, and I took it graciously.

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy questioned as he entered the kitchen, his eyes fixated on the caffeine. Elena poured her cup next as I sipped on mine and watched as Jenna fretted around the kitchen.

"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared…" she said, dragging out the last word. Beside me, Jeremy stole the cup of coffee Elena had poured for herself, and she just gave up before grabbing another mug. All of a sudden, Aunt Jenna walked forward and held out money for us all to take. "Lunch money? " she offered.

"I'm okay," Elena said while I shook my head. Jeremy was the only one who grabbed the money—all of it, in fact, and Jenna walked over to her bag with a sigh.

"Anything else? A number two pencil?" she joked, looking over at us. "What am I missing?"

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Elena asked, which earned yet another sigh from our relative.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at…" Jenna trailed off, looking down at her watch before giving up. "Now." She quickly untied her hair from its messy bun. "Crap."

"Go," I said, walking over to her. "We're good here."

Jenna gave me a relieved look before rushing out of the house faster than I was able to brink. Beside me, Elena turned to Jeremy with a sigh of her own. "You okay?" she asked our brother.

Oh, no, I thought to myself. She poked the bear.

Jeremy, uninterested in Elena's pity pathway, just scoffed at her—quite rudely, might I add. "Don't start," he warned as he walked off to go to school, sipping his drink whilst leaving the kitchen. I bit down on my lip and watched as a frustrated Elena looked over towards him, wondering what she did wrong, and then she looked at me for answers.

"Hey," I said, holding up my hands in defense. "Don't look at me. I have nothing to do with his bad attitude." I walked over to the kitchen counter where she was standing, and Elena sighed as he pulled her coffee to her own lips.

"I think we both know what has to do with his bad attitude."

"Maybe it's just a phase, Elena."

"Or, maybe he's throwing his life away," Elena countered pointedly. I sighed. "We can't just sit around here and watch as he does, Madeline. We're responsible for him now."

My heart darkened as I set the cup of coffee I had in my hand down and thought about her words. When I looked up at her, I saw her waiting for my response, and I knew I couldn't evade this one. "We'll…" I trailed off, desperate. "We'll figure something out, Elena. Promise. Just give him time."

Elena was silent for a moment. "People are going to stop giving us breaks, Madeline," she warned me, peering up to see my reaction. I, however, had been ready for this moment ever since I'd gotten the will to step outside of the threshold of my room.

"Then they'll stop giving us breaks," I countered simply, shrugging. "It's not anybody else's problem. It's ours. And we'll deal with it," I promised her, nodding. "But just because the world is ready to move on doesn't mean that we're inclined to, Elena. It's hard for him."

Elena blinked at me. "Are you saying it's not hard for me?"

"I'm saying that I will handle Jeremy when I need to," I told her softly, trying not to explode at my persistent sister. "So let me do that, Elena. Okay?"

Elena stared at me for a long time—and I could tell that she was weighing the pros and cons in the back of her brain. But, though I was small and not that strong, when I got angry, I could blow up at people. I don't think she was going to leave that to chance. "Okay," she said, nodding. "Okay."

It was a little while later when Bonnie picked the two of us up from the house. Bonnie Bennett was our childhood friend—not as old of a friend as Caroline Forbes, but was still qualified to be a childhood friend. Truth be told, I'd always felt more close to Audrey Forbes, Caroline's younger sister, who was probably hitching a ride with Caroline. Audrey was a year younger than us all, and though she had friends of her own grade, we included her often. It was odd, actually, that Audrey was Caroline's sister. The sophomore had bright red hair in opposition to Caroline's beach-blonde look, but their facial features was the real giveaway.

But of the four of us—Caroline, Bonnie, Elena, and I—Caroline and I were definitely closer. Though Bonnie and I still had our defining moments. Bonnie and I shared a teddy bear—Harvey—ever since we were seven years old. The two of us spotted it in a window, but there was only one in stock at the quaint little shop that it was located in. So, we did what any desperate children would do. We bought the cute little bear and decided that every first of the year, we would switch. To this day, we kept switching the bear every New Year's Day.

It was my year to have his legendary bear. The bear rested on my window seat, tucked neatly into the thin curtains that draped over it. Honestly, it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I mean, it had a tiny little button for a nose…a painted-on smile that looked absolutely genuine…even on the saddest of days, that bear perked my mood up.

Well, probably not the saddest days. I guess that was a bad example.

"So," Bonnie began as she drove, peering at Elena, who was in the front seat. I, on the other hand, had been condemned to the back. Though I didn't really mind. It was refreshing to watch the outside world whip past as we drove by. "Grams is telling me I'm psychic." At this, I moved my head over to listen. "Our ancestors were from Salem—witches and all that. I know," Bonnie protested, seeing Elena's condescending glance, "Crazy! But she's going on and on about it and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" she laughed.

I gasped exaggeratedly. "Hey, maybe we should start like a psychic business thing! You know, give people palm readings in the town square or something?"

Bonnie laughed. "Oh my God! That would be a brilliant idea."

"You think you can make up some good predictions?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow teasingly.

To my surprise, Bonnie hesitated. "Well, you know…I did predict Obama. And I predicted Heath Ledger. And I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands!" she tried with a light tone.

I frowned. "That's not predictions, Bonnie, that's called using your head. Right, Elena?" Both Bonnie and I turned to hear Elena's side of this discussion, but my sister was zoned out completely, staring at the cemetery out the window. I sighed. For a girl who said she wanted to move on, she was doing nothing but wallowing in her own self-pity. At least I could slap a smile on my face and pretend like everything was okay. After all, that was my nature. Mom always said that I could be dying of cancer and no one would notice it until I was lying in the casket. "Hey," I said, tapping her shoulder. Elena jumped, but turned back to look at me. "You…good?" I tried, wanting to use something other than "okay" for the end of my question.

"Back in the car," Bonnie laughed, giving Elena a warm smile.

Elena sighed heavily. "I did it again, didn't I? I-I'm sorry, guys." She looked at Bonnie. "You were saying that…"

"That…I'm psychic now," Bonnie said with her head held high and a mischievous smile on her face."

"Right," patronized Elena, "…okay…then, predict something about me," she challenged.

Bonnie sighed. "I see—"

Almost everyone—including myself, though I'll admit mine came out more like a scream—gasped when a loud noise cracked on the windshield and Bonnie slammed her foot down on the break so fast that I nearly went flying through the windshield. Luckily, though, I gripped onto the head seats so hard that I'm sure my nails would be forever embedded into the hard leather. The car finally came to a stop, swerving in the slightest over the tire squealing that brought it to its still.

"What was that?" Bonnie breathed out, panting from the attack. I clutched my own chest as I let go of the head seats and collapsed down onto the middle hump of the back seat, cursing Karl Benz for creating this goddamn thing we call a car.

"A freaking bird," I choked out, finding such surprise that I was able to form words. I knew it was probably more striking for Elena than it was for me, but still. I needed a few seconds before I could return to sisterly duties. "A bird. A bird! Goddamn nature!" I sighed and straightened myself before turning to Elena, who was recovering from her panic attack. "Are you okay?" I asked.

Elena nodded slightly. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"It came out of nowhere," Bonnie rushed out, obviously feeling sorry for doing this. But, after all, it wasn't her fault.

"Really," Elena pushed. "I-I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life."

I shook my head. "You don't need to have been in a car accident to be freaked out by cars, Elena, these little suckers are deadly. Almost thirty thousand deaths in the US are caused by car accidents. It's okay to be afraid," I promised.

Elena looked over at me, her eyes soft. "Always with the trivia, sis?"

I gave her a small smile. "I wouldn't be Madeline Gilbert without trivia, would I?" I returned, and Elena just gave a light laugh in response, but her expression gave an indication that she was anything but fine.

A moment of silence deafened us all until Bonnie spoke. "You know what," she said, pulling my attention, along with Elena's, back to her. "I predict this year is going to be kick ass. For all three of us. I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy."

Elena gave her friend a smile, but I frowned. "See? More of a 'common sense' thing than a 'prediction' thing, am I right?" I turned at Elena for confirmation, but she just laughed and turned away from me, and when I returned to being a civil person and actually buckling my seatbelt, Bonnie began to drive to school again.

It was a few minutes when we finally arrived at Mystic Falls High, which was a synonym for prison. I mean, think about it—really think about it. You're forced to do work that you'll never need to know how to do, there are mean people everywhere, we get a designated time for lunch and other things of that nature, no one trusted us, and even some of the teachers have been prison guards before. If that didn't spell out the word "prison", I have no idea what would.

"Major lack of male real estate," Bonnie complained with a disgusted look as the three of us walked down the hallway, watching as people we knew floated around the hallways carelessly. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech! She looks a hot—can I still say 'tranny mess'?"

Bonnie looked behind her to say this pointedly to the two of us and in response, I just wrinkled my face while Elena answered, "No…that's over."

"Why would you even want to use that, anyway?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds like something a grandmother would say."

Bonnie groaned. "Find a man, coin a phrase," she complained again in an amusing tone. "It's a busy year."

All of a sudden, her gaze flickered over to someone else in the hallway, and at this, Elena immediately turned around to see what had caught her best friend's attention. I, too, had turned around to see Elena look at Matt Donovan, her ex-boyfriend. Honestly, Matt (in my opinion) was the most attractive guy in Mystic Falls so far. I mean, really…the gorgeous blue eyes, the soft blonde hair, the fact that he was practically the spitting image of any guy any girl had ever imagined themselves with.

Elena had her chance to be that girl—the lucky one. Instead, the death of our parents had gotten to her so much, that she threw any future that she had away with Matt. She claimed it was because she didn't want to string him along; that she needed time, but I thought the whole relationship was a mess.

All right, so here's were the real truth comes out about me. No one other than Elena, Jeremy, Aunt Jenna, knew this—my parents had known this, as well—but I, Madeline Gilbert, was a virgin.

Shocker, I know.

Truth be told, it was quite a shocker in the town of Mystic Falls. I mean, what else was there to do here besides sex, you know? Caroline was wayyy past her first time, Elena's had been with Matt, and Bonnie wasn't quite the angel, either. I was the only one that hadn't been…oh, for lack of a better word, I just won't say it. Bottom line, I haven't had sex yet.

But was it really such a bad thing? My parents told me that it was okay if I thought it was the right time for such a brave act. Elena certainly seemed to take that advice at heart, unlike me. I had decided that no one at the time was really even worth dating. I tried it a few times with a few boys that I was interested in, but it wasn't all that great. To be honest, dating kind of sucked. I mean, there was so much effort into it! I honestly wondered if I wanted to date at all.

My mother had sat both Elena and me before the first day of ninth grade and explained that there would come a time when we would be faced with the possibility of loving someone. And there was a fine line between love and lust—and only we could differentiate that line. "Love" was something you could share with someone who knew all your secrets, who you trusted with your life, who you wanted to be with every second of the day, and who you accepted no matter the circumstance. "Lust" was purely its definition—a very strong desire, often of a sexual nature.

I hadn't thought of there ever being a "rush", per say, with my…status, I guess. But, I wasn't Elena, and Elena had chosen differently than I did. After a spending half of freshman year and almost half of sophomore year together, they'd finally sealed the deal. Now, it wasn't my place to judge—and I was not judging, merely opinionating—but I just didn't understand it. With or without our mom's advisement to be absolutely positive about the person you wanted to share that first experience with, I just didn't know how Elena could do it. Having sex with someone was something that shouldn't be done until you're absolutely sure that you want it. If not, then it becomes almost like a chore…and when you really do end up loving someone fully, they're just one of the many that you've bedded. It may seem odd or weird or stupid, but I frankly couldn't give a shit less about what anyone else thought of the matter.

Was it a religious thing? Hell no. Yeah, sure, Christians keep themselves virgins until marriage and everything, and…in a way, my philosophy was like that, too, sure. Except, I didn't really care if it came before or after marriage—if I was even going to get married, that is—it just had to be under the right circumstances. Unlike Christians, though, it wasn't because of a God that I was doing this; it was because of me. There are so many risks in just having oral sex…let alone having actual sex. It's not worth the risk unless it's someone you are honestly sure about giving it up to.

So far, I haven't met that someone. Honestly, I was skeptical that I ever would.

Even Jeremy didn't take my advice, but I was okay with it. Everyone in the town of Mystic Falls seemed to enjoy having sex, and that was perfectly okay with me…just as long as I wasn't included. No STDs for me, thank you.

After my sister tried to wave at Matt and he just turned away from her and remained grabbing his things, Elena turned back at Bonnie with a sigh. "He hates me."

"That's not hate. That's, 'You dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it…but secretly, I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits,'" Bonnie pointed out.

I scowled. "I'm sure it's not Air Supply." I looked over at Elena and judged her reaction. "All right, there's a possibility of it."

"Can you go talk to him?" Elena asked, practically whining at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Please, Mads? Please? I need to know he's doing okay."

"What makes you think he'll talk to me?"

"You're his friend!"

I scoffed and gestured to Bonnie. "She is, too!" Elena just frowned at me, and I sighed heavily. "All right, fine. But you owe me," I pointed at her before fixing my backpack and spinning around on my heel to go over to Matt, who was at his locker. With a small smile, I greeted him, "Hey, Matt."

His dazzling blue eyes expectantly looked up to meet my brown ones. "Hi, Mads," he returned, with a solemn tone. God, I thought, depressed. Definitely not okay. "Did Elena send you over here?"

"Pfft…no."

Matt just snorted and turned back to his locker, but Bonnie was right—he was majorly depressed. "You will always be a bad liar."

I sighed and leaned against the locker next to his. "She's worried about you, Matt. Are you okay?"

Matt pursed his lips and looked me over, and I waited for his response. "I think I should be asking you the same thing," he said, his voice quieter this time. I suddenly realized what he meant, and I tried to maintain keeping a cool outlook. I might not be a good liar, but I was a good deceiver.

I nodded once. "I'm fine, Matt," I said, nodding again. "Thank you." I cleared my throat before continuing, "Now it's your turn."

Matt turned his lips up into a small smile as he looked behind me, and I didn't get the chance to see what was there before he spoke again, "I'll…see you later, Mads," he said before giving me his sorrow smile and walking in the other direction. I braced myself to speak, but I felt another two presences beside me. "

"He does hate me," Elena grumbled, watching as Matt walked away. "Is he okay, at least?"

I turned to her and pondered on what to say. I could tell her the truth…or I could lie. But could I lie? Like, physically? Considering Matt's earlier statement, I guess not. "No," I said truthfully, giving her a small shrug. "But, with time…"

"He'll come around," Bonnie promised, better at lying than I was. Elena sighed deeply again before we all took off in the direction of our next class, only to be stopped by Bonnie, who caught the sight of something that sparked her interest. "Hold up," she said, pulling Elena to a stop, which eventually pulled me to a stop. "Who's this?"

Inside of the office where Bonnie was peering into stood a male in a hoodie/leather jacket combination. "All I see is back," Elena stated.

"It's a hot back," Bonnie corrected, earning a chuckle from Elena.

"Is there really such a thing as a 'hot back'?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow to Bonnie. Bonnie nodded at me.

"Oh, yeah. I mean, for example…" She gestured inside of the office. "Whoever he is."

I almost pressed my hand to my face in pity. Wow. See, personally, I just didn't understand why butts were so cute.

"I'm sensing Seattle," Bonnie said in a dull, mocking tone. "And he plays the guitar."

Elena scoffed. "You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?"

"Pretty much."

Bonnie's laughs echoed in my ear as I waited for this mystery guy to turn around and show himself, but my sister, who tugged on my jacket like a little girl, crushed my dreams. "Madeline, you need to take care of this."

"Take care of wha—?" I stopped at the end of my sentence when I turned to see Jeremy going into the school bathroom, and I realized what I needed to do. Elena looked at me with firm eyes.

"If you won't do it, I will."

I thought, for just a moment, about the credibility of her statement, but then I realized that Elena wasn't messing around. Obviously, she thought this was much more than just a phase, so I had to cave in.

"All right," I agreed with a sigh, beckoning her with me. Elena turned to Bonnie and warned her of our absence before the two of us went off and entered the boy's bathroom after our brother, who was most likely stoned.

"Whoa!" a boy said as Elena and I entered the bathroom. He looked at us like he'd never seen women before. "Pants down, chicks!"

"That doesn't even make sense," I protested, knotting my eyebrows in confusion of the stupidity some boys had these days. The boy just walked out of the bathroom without another word, and I turned around to find Elena so not happy with our brother.

"Great," she said, scoffing. "It's the first day of school and you're stoned."

"No, I'm not," Jeremy returned with that same Gilbert scoff.

"Where is it?" insisted Elena, who began to run her hands along Jeremy to find his stash. "Is it on you?"

"Stop!" Jeremy protested, trying to swat her hands away. "All right! You need to chill yourself, all right!"

"Guys—" I tried to get a word in, but neither one of them would listen to me.

"Chill myself?" Elena snapped. "What is that? Stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool," she mocked and began to search him again.

"Elena," I tried yet again, but she wouldn't listen to me. Jeremy screamed his protests, but she wouldn't listen.

"Stop! I don't have anything on me! Are you crazy?"

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy," Elena snapped again, this time harder than before. "I gave you a summer pass, but I am done watching you destroy yourself!" Jeremy tried to leave, but Elena stopped him from doing so. "No, no, no! You know what? Go ahead. Keep it up. But just know that I am going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, you got it?"

Jeremy shook his head. "You don't own me, Elena," he warned her icily, and Elena's mouth fell slack at the statement.

"I don't own you?"

"No, you—"

"Are you kidding me, Jeremy? I don't own you? That's your excuse for throwing your life away—?"

"I'm not throwing my life away!"

"Like hell you're not—!" The conversation was getting too heated, and I soon realized that I needed to step in as soon as I could. So, I stepped forward and yelled for them to stop, finding my voice surprisingly commanding and cold. Both Elena and Jeremy stepped away as I wedged myself between them, and they fell silent at my abrasiveness.

Like I said, I could blow up at someone if I got angry enough.

Our conversation halted when a toilet flushed, and an embarrassed male walked out very quickly, leaving the bathroom as soon as he'd finished his business. I shifted, waiting for the boy to leave, and that's when I spoke again.

"I will not let something as dumb as drugs"—I gave a pointed look at Jeremy, and then turned to Elena—"or as stupid as pride get in the way of this family. We all know that this is not what they would've wanted," I snapped. I fully turned to face Elena now, who was biting her cheek and crossing her arms at me in a defensive stance. "Go," I said softly, trying to make it so that I wasn't angry with her…and, I wasn't, really. I was more peeved that this had to happen now. "I'll handle this," I promised.

With her jaw locked, Elena turned on her heel and left the bathroom, leaving me to turn around to Jeremy. "I don't need a lecture from you, too, Mads," Jeremy warned me, avoiding my gaze.

"I'm not Elena," I said, shaking my head. "I won't give you a lecture. It's your life and you're going to do whatever the hell you want with it. You're right—Elena doesn't own you. She doesn't handle the right to throw away your life or not; you do." Jeremy stared at me, as if wondering where I was getting at. I crossed my arms and pointed a finger at him. "I thought this was a phase, but Elena seems to think that it's for real. And she may be right. Now," I started, relaxing, "I can't make your decisions for you, Jer, but I can sure as hell tell you what I think about them. And what I think is that you're being dumb and irrational and just a downright…" I strained myself for the right word. "…idiot!"

Jeremy stared at me, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. "Did you just call me an idiot?"

I frowned. "I'm serious."

"Since when?"

"Please don't throw away your life, Jeremy?" I tried, exhausted now. "Please? I don't know what else to do but ask. I need you to realize what you're doing here. Drug overdoses kill over thirty-eight thousand people, Jeremy—"

"Enough," Jeremy snapped at me, almost groaning. I stared back at him incredulously and shook my head.

"You don't get the right to talk to me that way," I said, crossing my arms and taking a defensive stance. "I am your sister, Jeremy. And I will attempt to do this the right way, but if you don't stop this, you and I will have one hell of an issue here." Jeremy just fell silent at my words, realizing that I wasn't joking around. Way to ruin my day before it even began, Jer. "Now go, Jeremy. I'll see you later," I mumbled and just watched as he brushed past me, exiting the bathroom in an angry stance.

To be honest, I couldn't give a rat's ass about how he felt. Drugs? Seriously? What kind of idiot—

"Oops," I said, stumbling away from the person I'd run into while leaving the boy's bathroom. There were concerning stares from other boys around the entrance as well as from the boy who I had accidentally collided with. "Sorry."

The boy laughed, and I realized that I'd never seen him before. No, I thought, realizing. This is the guy? The new guy? Wow…Not too shabby, actually.

"It's all right. Um, are the signs switched or something because…" He gestured behind him and I saw the tail end of my sister turning the corner.

I let out an awkward laugh. "Nope. Just…had some business to take care of. Carry on," I said, giving the new boy a light, kind smile before brushing past him and jogging to meet up with Elena. "You ran into him too?" I hissed in her ear.

"Yeah," she said, blood creeping onto her cheeks. "He's…"

"Yep," I said, shaking my head. "Yep. I totally agree."

School was school…boring, as usual. Elena decided to walk home afterwards, and I caught a ride with Caroline and Audrey back to the house, where I spent the night inside while Elena went out with everyone else. Apparently, she had invited Stefan Salvatore, the new boy at school, to come with her. Props to her for hooking into that one. He was so nice and sweet. Easy on the eyes, too. She asked me to go with her and Stefan to the Grill, but I declined. AP classes weren't going to pass themselves.

So, the next day of school dreaded on as usual. God, it was just so boring. Even though it was junior year, I was highly doubtful that I would last until senior year. Really, it was torture going through the every day routine of high school. It was the same thing over and over again! But, I said nothing, and just entertained others with my various fun facts. Sometimes, they worked as conversation starters. Other times, they were deadbeats.

Caroline had begged and begged for me to go to the back-to-school bonfire, but I declined and declined as often as she asked. Don't get me wrong, drinking alcohol was amazing, but there was just something to be said about doing it in front of your younger brother and younger sister so soon after your parents passed away. Elena seemed intent upon moving forward, Jeremy was still stuck in his druggie phase. And I…

Well, I went running, of course.

The music blasted through my ears as I ran…and ran, and ran, and ran. Actually, I think that song "I Ran (So Far Away" actually came up on my playlist once. My workout routine was getting longer every day, but I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and do nothing. My life now consisted of keeping myself busy: ranging from an early-morning jog, school, homework, dinner, an evening jog, a hot shower, and a movie to put myself to bed. Not once did I let myself have time to begin to think about what happened. It just wasn't healthy for me right now.

My volunteering at the high school would start up on the second week back, so I had to keep myself preoccupied. And, since Elena was at the bonfire with Jeremy and all my friends were gone, I had pulled on a pair of sweatpants and hooked my phone up to the arm sleeve. Twenty minutes later, I was still running, until I finally took a break and walked. A song that I wasn't particularly fond of came across my phone on the shuffled playlist, so I pulled it from my arm and hit the "next" button, still blazing from the heavy metal music that Jeremy thought had been funny to put on my phone.

That's when it happened.

I gasped loudly when I felt my phone slipping from my hand after I collided with someone on the street. Damn my nonexistent coordination. I braced myself for the impact, but instead, it was saved.

I let myself breathe again as I looked up to meet a pair of electrically vibrant blue eyes and a smirk that let me know I was dealing with the real thing. He said something to me with that infamous smirk, but I couldn't hear anything. I ripped an ear bud out of my ear and asked him, "Huh?"

"I said, you better be careful there," the man said, extending his hand which bore my phone. "Wouldn't want this to crack, now, would you?"

I shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't mind a new one," I teased, but grabbed the phone from his hand regardless. "Um…thanks. How did you…" The phone was too fast to be nabbed back—and that thought dawned on me now.

The man shrugged. "Just call me Superman," he retorted, a light smile ghosting across his lips. I couldn't help but laugh, but I knew that my cheeks were growing hot just as my laugh became nervous. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

His tone was amused. Playful, almost. "I'm out here for a jog. You know, a lot of studies show that it's better for most people to take jogs at night. It's not uncommon. I mean, I jog both in the morning and the night…which is weird, if you think about it…and possibly unhealthy—" I took in a deep breath and realized quickly that I was rambling. The smile that widened on his lips gave it away. "I-I'm sorry, you need to stop me. If I get nervous, I start babbling and then my words mush together and no one knows what I'm saying—"

"Relax," he said, mocking a deep breath. I took one at his chuckle, and at this, he grinned. I don't know why I was so nervous, but…I mean…I guess it had something to do with the fact that he looked like a Victoria's Secret model…but the male version. Wait, did they have male Victoria's Secret models? No, you dumb idiot, I snapped at myself. Let me rephrase: he appealed to me like high school boys were appealed to Victoria's Secret models.

"Right," I said, taking in a deep breath. "Sorry about that. I'll just…" I tapped my phone in my hand and waited for a split—a very split—moment until I brushed past him and tried to breathe evenly. I didn't know whether he was staring at me or not as I left, and this bothered the hell out of me. I snuck a glance behind me, but when I saw the absence of this mystery character, I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

Where the hell…I trailed off in thought, glancing all around me but found no sight of the person I'd just talked to. He couldn't have been a figment of my imagination. I mean…I'm not that crazy!

But, regardless, I brushed the thought from my mind and sighed before I slipped my headphones back into my ear and began to run again.

Like I said, different, right? Yes, the actual meeting of Madeline and Damon happened to be in the first episode. I didn't really feel like waiting three episodes for them to meet so...here we are. What's good about this is that I'll be able to write things that I wasn't going to originally do in flashbacks. Some things will be familiar to you all when we come across them because I've already written them in flashback.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! I will make sure to update ASAP. Review if you can :)

Love,

BellaSalvatore1918

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