A/N: First things first, I want to thank all of you for the love you've showed me so far! Since a lot of you have been asking for a multiple-chapters story, here we go...

You should know that I started to write this story last summer, so it picks up right where season 3 ends. Also, rest assured, Caroline's and Bonnie's fans- things are not always as they seem… ;)

I also want to thank KaterinaPetrova for being my amazing beta! She did a wonderful job. If it wasn't for her tough love, my words wouldn't look that good. 3

I really hope you're all going to enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it and that you're going review to tell me what you think of it!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. This is a work of fiction written for entertainment purposes, but the original characters and original storylines present in "My Paper Heart" are my own work.

As soon as I arrived in Mystic Falls, I knew I hated it. Everything was so small, so quiet… so boring. It was like nothing compared to Chicago, where I had spent my entire life- until now.

My uncle and his wife had come back from Chile, leaving their three-year mission, Doctors Beyond Borders, to take care of me. I was supposed to spend the summer with them, organizing my move to this little town I had never heard of before. Once everything was settled, there were still three weeks before school started again. After a lot of convincing, I finally persuaded them to return to Chile. There were kids there who needed their help much more than I did. I assured them that everything would be fine and they finally came around with the idea, making me promise that if I needed anything, if I needed them, I would tell them right away- and they would be on the next flight to Mystic Falls.

I thought I had played my game perfectly. I didn't want them around. I couldn't deal with their overwhelming kindness. It was too much, their affection felt too inappropriate to me. But now that the movers had started piling my boxes around their empty home, my chest clenched a little. I was feeling more alone than ever, and I suddenly wished they were here, running around and asking me thousands of questions to try to make me more comfortable.

Before leaving, my aunt asked the town sheriff to come as often as she could to keep an eye on me, and to help me if I needed anything. My aunt was a member of one of the founders' families, so the sheriff agreed and had been taking her task very seriously. She came by almost every day for the first two weeks I had spent in Mystic Falls. She stayed long enough to have a cup of coffee with me and talk a little, but unfortunately for her, she was a cop. And I couldn't possibly force myself to be anything more than just polite with her. I had already seen too many cops in my life, when they came to my house to tell me that my parents had been killed.

Sheriff Forbes was constantly encouraging me to get out of the house, go shopping, mingle with the other teenagers, but I couldn't tell her that there was no point of doing shopping when the nearest mall was fifty miles away. Why would I want to leave the house? Where would I even go?

Every teenager I saw passing by my window seemed shallow, insignificant and naively happy. I knew ninety percent of them had never even met someone like me. It felt like they were living on a completely different planet and I didn't have any strength left to travel there. The global atmosphere of this town perfectly matched my lonely mood, my dark thoughts, and my desire to hide. I didn't want to change a single thing in my dreadful routine.

Until the first day of school.

It was like lightning. At first, I saw her from the back and admired her slim figure. She had long straight brown hair and was wearing a pale blue top with dark washed skinny jeans. A total plain Jane style- and yet I had instantly become curious about her. I slowed my pace when I neared her, trying to find out why my instincts made me stop for this girl out of a hundred new faces in the hallway.

I watched her. She was talking to a blond guy with beautiful blue eyes. They seemed like they were friends, and when he started to walk toward his class, she turned her face back to tell him goodbye before he disappeared. And she was beautiful.

Dark eyes with thick lashes, bow lips, and delicate features. I realized I had stopped walking and was just standing there, staring at her, when she suddenly turned her head again to look straight at me. When her determined eyes met mine, I felt a shockwave of heat crushing over me, but my body didn't seem to be able to move an inch.

Standing still in the middle of the hallway, she kept staring at me, confused. After a couple of seconds, probably realizing that I was new in town, a sudden glow of kindness flashed in her eyes, and she gave me a shy smile.

My mind barely registered any of these things, suddenly drawn instead to the sadness shining in her eyes, just behind the surface. The world around was fading away quickly. For the first time in so many months, I didn't feel alone anymore. And I couldn't really understand why. The voice in the back of my head was shouting at me to break eye contact, to move, to go to class, but I couldn't keep my eyes away from hers. She was still staring at me, but I wasn't able to decipher the emotions in her eyes anymore, too overwhelmed by the strange way I felt connected to this girl.

The sudden apparition of a pair of green eyes and fair hair broke my haze. His lips swiftly pecked hers and I immediately hated the guy. I closed my eyelids a few time quickly, trying to connect with the real world again, and rushed into the next hallway keeping my eyes on the ground. I could still hear him telling her sweet words, but at least, thanks to him, I now knew her name.

Elena.

After two weeks, I had already joined the basketball team. I was tall, athletic and had always loved sports. It didn't take long for the high school teams to come woo me.

I was at my very first basketball practice when I saw her for the first time. Honey blond cascade of curly hair, bright smile, shining blue eyes, and a toned body clearly visible in her skimpy cheerleading uniform.

I had never really paid attention to cheerleaders before, but I found myself kind of hating them in this small town. The hierarchy in this middle-of-nowhere school was so primitive…

Popular kids ruled the school. The popular girls were, of course, all beautiful, slim and cheerleaders; and were dating beautiful, muscled and popular guys who were all football players. It was so cliché it made me want to puke.

Where I was from, some of the popular kids were obviously beautiful or rich, but if you had a witty spirit, a remarkable sense of humor, a badass attitude, or a talent for creativity, you could have a spot inside the cool kids' world, too.

The cheerleaders were walking around the outside of the court when a player missed the ball one of my teammates threw at her. The ball was heading directly toward the curly haired blonde girl and I jumped a little farther than I probably should have to catch the ball just a few inches away from her face. The girl immediately yelled at my teammate angrily. There was nothing nice about her tone, and her attitude was disdainful. It pissed me off.

None of the cheerleaders were supposed to be around, since we still had ten minutes of practice left. They were especially not supposed to be standing right next to the court.

To make things worse, the girl she was yelling at had been really nice to me. She had introduced me to all the other girls on the team and had really encouraged me to join.

When the blonde girl had finally finished discharging her venom, she turned toward me with a bright cheeky smile, changing completely her attitude.

"Thank you!" she said in a cheerful voice. I shot her a nasty side glance and told her, "I didn't do it for you," while throwing the ball to one of my team mates. I wanted to emphasize the fact that I caught it earlier to keep the ball on my team's side.

I turned on my heels and ran toward the opposite basket, winking at the poor girl who had suffered her self-importance. I didn't know who this blonde girl was but I knew for sure that we weren't going to be friends.

Ten minutes later, one of the cheerleaders told me her name. But my teammate gave me even more valuable information in the locker room. "She's Caroline Forbes. The sheriff's daughter."

The sheriff's daughter! Fuck.

A month passed by before Elena invited me in her house to study for our English test together. I was really glad to finally be all alone with her but the situation was also making me freaking nervous.

About thirty minutes into our study session, there was a knock at the door. The look on Elena's face told me that whoever was interrupting had come unexpectedly.

I was cursing silently at the intrusion, hoping that it wouldn't be Caroline or her other friend Bonnie.

The cheerleader had turned out to be funny sometimes, but her desperate need for attention, her anxieties and her childish bitchiness was really getting on my nerves.

Bonnie was fine, I guess, but I immediately felt something off about her. I had spent the last couple of years learning how to recognize those people as quickly as possible and she was one of them. The judgemental kind. It instantly turned on a big red "keep as far away as possible" alert in my head.

"Damon," Elena said, opening the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello to you too, Elena. Your welcoming smile is always a ravishment," the boy drawled in a sarcastic tone. I rolled my eyes. I could already picture one of those muscled football players, showing up on her porch to flirt with her, desperately wanting to get into her pants.

I raised myself up, prepared to help Elena to get rid off the guy if needed.

"Come on in. I have company," I heard her say, closing the door behind him.

"Hmm and who would that be?" he asked, an amused flirtatious tone in his voice.

I was ready to answer when I saw him clearly for the first time, entering the living room. His smirk dropped instantly, just like mine. My eyes opened wide and my jaw dropped a little. I couldn't believe it, it was too surreal.

"Oh! Yeah... It's even weirder when you're both in the same room," Elena murmured, an amused smile on her lips.

Damon and I turned our heads towards her at the exact same time, a look of confusion on our faces. Weird wouldn't have been my choice of word. It was beyond weird, it was utterly shocking!

His hair was made in the same dark silk as mine. It was thick and straight just like mine.

His eyes were like looking in a mirror. A perfectly identical icy blue. The only differences between us both were that my hair was long and my skin was more caramel than milk.

It was incredibly disturbing.

"Do you think this is funny?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows at Elena. She tried to restrain herself, but finally let out a laugh.

"Who is she?" "Who is he?" we both asked at the same time, making Elena laugh even harder.

"Seriously, you already met right? You rehearsed together earlier to pull that stunt on me…" she chuckled, walking the few steps to go back toward the couch. "Because the resemblance is enough already, but the speaking-at-the-same-time-to-say-the-same-thing is a little bit too much!" she added in a laughing tone, turning around to look at us both. But her smile instantly dropped when she saw my face.

I hadn't said anything, but the thoughts storming inside my head were probably written all over my features. I could be his sister. I could have a brother. And that thought automatically reminded me that my parents were dead; that I didn't have any siblings. It reminded me I was all alone apart from an uncle somewhere in South America.

A flash of sympathy crossed her eyes.

Turning her head toward Damon and gesturing over to him, she made the introductions.

"This is Damon… Salvatore."

"As in Stefan-"

"Yes, unfortunately," Damon said, a smirk on his lips, cutting me off.

"Damon is Stefan's older brother," Elena added, shooting a nasty look at Damon.

"Oh! But… you two don't look alike at all," I stated simply.

"Someone has a good sense of observation," Damon answered in a sarcastic voice. "That's all Mother Nature gave me, so I eventually came around with the idea that he's my baby brother," he sing-songed with a cocky smile. Elena was clearly unhappy with his dry comments about her boyfriend.

"But you would totally rock that part. You could be my sister..." he added lowly, narrowing his curious eyes at me.

"Could it be… even… possible?" I heard myself ask, not really sure if I wanted the answer.

"You should ask that to your parents, honey," Damon laughed, obviously satisfied by his own sense of humour.

"Damon…" Elena warned.

"What? Oh, I get it… Daddy is indeed a lady killer, but nobody can talk about it!" Damon said in a half laughing tone, his eyes shining with mischief.

"Damon, shut up now!" Elena shouted.

"Oh come on… if a man can't joke around anymore! It's not like they're dead or anything. On the other hand, two cute teenagers, both orphans, helping each other to study their English test would be beautifully tragic. Heartbreaking," he said emphatically with a grin at the corner of his lips, a hand on his heart.

"Stop being a jerk!" Elena hit him hard in the arm, shooting him a furious look.

"Ouch! What's wrong with you? I was just…" he stopped suddenly, noticing something in Elena's eyes. He turned his head to look me intensely in the eye.

I was mute. Frozen in my spot. As soon as he said the words, my heart hurt like hell and it felt like a bucket of cold water had just been splashed on me.

The blood left his face, his brows furrowing together. He shot a quick glance at Elena again, realizing what was happening. His eyes finally landed on me. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. His jaw was clenched and his look was sad and full of pity. I had already seen that look so many times that I suddenly wanted to punch him in the face.

"Is it possible?" I asked again, in a forceful voice, anger dripping at the edges. Thankfully, he took the hint.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"I'm from Chicago. Both of my parents… were American. My father's parents were Canadian and my grand-grand-grand whatever parents on my mother's side were Latinos," I answered in a quick tone.

"Then we're not related," he stated simply.

"What?" I raised my brow at him. "How can you be so sure?" I noticed Elena and Damon exchanging a quick meaningful glance. What was that exactly?

"Damon knows his family history pretty well. He has actually spent a lot of time doing research on his relatives. Right, Damon?" Elena asked a little too forcefully.

"Absolutely. I've been able to go back until the late 17th century. I know every single official and non official," he paused to wink at me suggestively, "member of my family, if you know what I mean. So either we are related from before the 17th century, which doesn't even count as family anymore, or it's just an amazing coincidence. Sorry..."

My mind couldn't form a coherent response. I was completely overwhelmed by the situation. I was forced to admit to myself that I had felt lonelier than I thought because I was actually sad to learn that I wasn't related to a perfect stranger who seemed full of himself. I was baffled by Damon's comments, and his claim- that he knew his entire family's history over the past three centuries- seemed so unlikely that I couldn't help but feel that these two were hiding something. The incredible resemblance between Damon and I just added more fuel to the fire.

I was so deep in thought that I actually flinched when Damon suddenly added, "But actually it's pretty good news."He took a step toward me, a flirtatious smile on his lips.

"It would have been a shame to be brother and sister when we could totally rock as a couple…" he said with charm dripping from his low voice, his eyes roaming over my features.

"I think I can do better, but thank you," I shot back with a grin, finally snapping out of my haze.

"You do realize that since we look alike, by belittling me, you're belittling yourself, right?" he hissed, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Hmm no. I'm much prettier than you," I answered, a big provocative smile on my face.

"But I'm bigger and taller." he whispered, taking a step closer again, hovering over me in a vaguely dangerous manner.

"Okay, I think we all get it!" Elena spoke up, waving her hands between us. "You both love yourselves much more than you… tolerate each other."

Giving us no time to answer, Elena grabbed Damon's arm to turn him around. Placing both her hands on his back, she pushed him toward the door.

"Thanks for stopping by Damon! Time to get out," Elena added, dragging him cross the living room.

"What? But I just got here! You've interrupting a lovely chat, you know…"

"Goodbye Damon!" Elena shot, throwing him with of all her strength toward the door.

"Fine," he said, laughing at Elena's attempt to be bossy. Raising his head past her to look at me in the living room, he added, "Nice meeting you…"

He never got the chance to learn my name. And I wasn't planning to tell him. I opened my mouth to give him a snarky comment, but Elena beat me to it.

"Maya. Her name is Maya," she said in a smooth tone. A big smile grew on Damon's lips, his eyes shining with charm.

"Well, it was really nice to meet you Maya," he said softly, before Elena slammed the door right in his face. My first encounter with Damon Salvatore had pretty much determined the tone of our entire future relationship.

But all of this had happened almost two years ago. So many things had changed since then…