Vampire Diaries 1. Chapter 1

We stepped into the Mikaelson's house, completely amazed. The massive Great Hall had been detailed to perfection; fairy lights were entwined around the stairway case and, hundreds, if not thousands, of candles seemed to be the only source of light in the room. Half the population of Mystic Falls had shown up, all in their best attire, enhancing the grandness of the event.

"Pleased you came?" Abigail, my best friend, asked grinning from ear to ear.

I only nodded in response. My sister, Elena, and her boyfriend had been dead-set on me not going to the ball. But when the upcoming party was the only thing everyone in school was speaking about, it was hard to follow their orders, plus there was free food and drinks on offer. Not being one to turn down free food, I decided to go behind their backs and pretend I was at a sleepover with Abi. Surprisingly, they bought it, I guess they had other things on their minds.

"Jeez, I'd hate to be on clean-up duty." I joked. The house was so big, it would take hours to clean up the mess.

"They probably hire maids. That's what I'd do if I was this loaded."

A butler passed us carrying a sliver platter, filled with glasses of expensive looking champagne. We each grabbed a glass and he turned around to inspect our ages.

"Abigail and Ivy. Why am I not surprised? Put them back, you're under-aged." It was William Porter, a guy from our English class. He was barely recognisable in his outfit.

"C'mon Will! It's not like you've never drinked before." Abigail reasoned. It was true, William was part of the football team who were notorious for their parties and the amount of alcohol consumed at each one. We had crashed one as a joke once, but the amount of drinking that was going on and the rowdiness of the guys made us leave early.

He rolled his eyes at us and snatched the glasses from each of our hands, placing them back on his tray. We both shot him deadly glares for his hypocrisy. He rolled his eyes again.

"I don't want to get fired this early on if they find out I have been giving drinks to minors. Do know how much the pay per hour?" We both shook our heads. He lowered his voice as if letting us both into a big secret, "A lot. The only bad thing is that I miss out dancing with you two beautiful ladies." He smirked.

I scoffed, "Yeah. And you look like a penguin."

This earned a chuckle from Abi. His black overcoat with a slight tail, and white shirt and bow-tie really did make him resemble a penguin. It didn't help that his hair was black and slicked back with styling gel.

"The outfit was mandatory." He glared.

"You know what else is mandatory?" a female voice said from behind us, "That you actually serve drinks to the guests rather than flirt with these two girls."

William nodded sharply, looking slightly scared, and immediately turned from us, handing drinks to adults. We faced the stranger slightly confused as to why William followed her orders in such a hurry. She had long blonde hair and a beautiful dark green dress on. She would have looked very ladylike if it had not been for the massive scowl on her face, but when she saw us staring she brightened up ever so slightly.

"Sorry, I just want this night to go perfect." She apologised.

"Oh, so are you one of the hosts?" Abi asked. That would explain William's behaviour towards her.

"Rebekah Mikaelson." She extended her hands and we both took turns shaking it and we each shook it in turn and introduced ourselves to her. She frowned when she heard I was a Gilbert. Her and Elena must really hate each other.

"Your house is beautiful." I complimented, trying to get into her good books.

She properly smiled for the first time, smug with her creation. "Thank you. I did it all myself."

Me and Abigail were shocked.

"What? So no help from your family?" Abigail asked. This must have taken her weeks to do without any assistance, it didn't seem possible. We had thought they had hired a professional with the skill that had been involved. It seemed reasonable judging from the amount of money the family had.

Rebekah laughed at the comment, "My brothers are utterly useless. The only way they can ever help me is if they stay out of my way."

Me and Abi shared a secret look. Rebekah had an evil glint in her eye when she spoke about them. _She must have some deep-rooted family issues._

"Now Bekah, where would the fun be in that?" Another stranger approached us, this time a male who looked slightly older than her. He had dark brown hair and eyes to match, that seemed to dance with mischievousness. I felt Abigail let out a deep breathe of air slowly, I tried not to laugh, it was clear she thought he was hot. Anybody with eyes would find him attractive.

Rebekah's face morphed into a glare so spiteful it was practically the epitome of 'of-looks-could-kill'. "Why don't you go off and annoy Klaus or Elijah, Kol? I am trying to have a good time here."

Kol's grinned deviously, "But sister, that is what makes it so amusing."

They proceeded to have a stare-off, causing me and Abigail to feel rather awkward. I felt as if I was being caught up in a century old rivalry. _Yup, some serious family issues. _I finally spoke up when I could no longer handle the tense atmosphere, which was pretty quickly.

"I think me and Abigail are going to go look around for a bit. We need to find some of our friends. But we'll speak to you later, Rebekah." Abigail nodded along enthusiastically, eager to leave the squabbling siblings to their stare-off. They both quit at exactly the same time and turned to look at us, Rebekah looked disappointed and Kol seemed menacing.

"Oh, no. Please, do stay. I'd love to get to know Rebekah's friends more personally." He mocked, earning another glare from his sister.

"Maybe some other time, I really need the toilet." Abigail lied.

"I can show you both, if you'd-"

"I am sure we will find it eventually." I interrupted, not trusting him for a second. He smirked, seeming to sense this, whilst Rebekah gave us both a tight smile and we both returned it leaving them to their bickering.

"You scared them off!" We heard Rebekah spit, whilst we walked away slowly in order not to look like we were running away from them.

"I am afraid, dear sister, it may have been your face that did that trick."

* * *

"Well that was awkward." Abigail said after she left the bathroom. She felt guilty for lying to Rebekah so forced herself to go to the toilet so she told a 'half-truth'.

"Rebekah seems nice though. It isn't her fault her brother is a dick." I shrugged.

"You mean it is a shame he is so hot! I call dibs!" Abigail laughed. I shrugged halfheartedly, I didn't want to have a boyfriend until after graduation from High-school anyway. I saw the amount of drama Elena faces everyday with Stefan and decided to focus on getting into a good University. It didn't mean that I couldn't appreciate a good-looking specimen though. And Kol was pretty good-looking.

"And what the hell do you think you are doing here?" A familiar voice said, whilst his hand wrapped around my arm, spinning me toward him. _Speaking of people's brothers who are complete dicks._

"Damon." I growled, shaking his hand off of me. He looked rather dapper in his suit, it was a shame about his personality.

"Ooh, I just saw Jessica. I should probably say hello." Abigail purposely excused herself, leaving me with the jerk from Hell. She gave me a sympathetic look, knowing how much trouble I was in. _Traitor. _It was understandable though, when he first arrived at Mystic Falls he broke her heart, along with half the female population, by feigning interest and then forgetting her. The douche still doesn't know her name.

"Well isn't this funny? I could have sworn you told Stefan and Elena you were at a sleepover. Yet here you are. At a ball. With Stacy." He said sarcastically.

"Abigail." I corrected him, rolling my eyes.

He ignored it, "I am taking you home."

"You are not my father." I spat.

"Yeah, but your sister is dating my brother, which practically makes us family."

"Why can't you just leave me be?"

He chuckled darkly, "And let you get into trouble? I don't think so."

I sighed, defeated. "Please, I just want to know what goes on so I won't be left out at school." Sometimes, speaking to him was like speaking to a brick wall only a wall is less irritating.

Damon thought for a moment whilst I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes. He groaned after a few seconds, it had worked. "Fine." I smiled triumphant "You can stay at this party but if you think for one second that you are leaving my sight, you're deeply mistaken." My smile dropped. _Well, that's my night completely ruined._

* * *

Damon had kept to his word and forced me to stay with him. He even had the cheek to tell people to 'get lost' whenever I was asked for a dance. The night was going horrendously, and what was worse was that I could see Abigail laughing with my friends at the other-side of the hall. None of them dared to approach me whilst I was with the World's Biggest Douche Bag. I silently plotted revenge against them, desperate for them to feel the pain I was in while watching the whole town, apart for me, have a great time. _They are so dead on Monday. _

"You are intolerable." I stated after I could no longer stand watching him flirt with the town's cougars. I have a theory that the smaller the town is the more desperate the woman are.

"And you're a brat. Now lets skip the insults, I need to speak to the Mayor." Damon forcibly dragged me over to her, letting go of my arm as we reached her eyesight but kept his hand of the small of my back so I couldn't try to run off. Not that I could anyways, my heels were lethal.

"Hello Damon, Ivy you are looking beautiful today." Mayor Lockwood complimented when we reached her. I smiled at her in response, apart from Abigail she had been the only person to compliment my appearance.

Damon rolled his eyes at the small talk, he had never been a fan of it. "A private word, please?"

I had no choice but to stand around whilst they whispered secretly to one-another. At one stage I saw Elena enter with Stefan, both unaware of my presence. I scoffed at how she was allowed to go to the party but refused for me to go. _Hypocrite. _Damon tensed when they arrived, I was aware that he liked her more than he should. I would have felt sorry for him, if he wasn't so annoying. The night was getting worse with each passing second. From the corner of my eye I saw Kol approaching. _Great, just, great._

"Mayor Lockwood, we haven't formally met. Kol Mikaelson." He interrupted their conversation, introducing himself and kissing the Mayors hand. Carol blushed whilst Damon rolled his eyes dramatically, I did the same. This was quite a contrast to the Kol that was bickering with Rebekah. "I hope your lovely town embrace us, just as much as we plan to embrace it."

Damon put his hand forward, taking a step in front of me, blocking Kol from my eyesight. I struggled to peer around him due to his build. "Damon Salvatore," he introduced himself. "Have we met?"

"I've met a lot of people," Kol paused. "And you don't particularly stand out."

I couldn't help but chuckle softly at this. Damon had been a real jerk to me, especially this evening, I knew that comment would have angered him. When I did so, Kol noticed my presence so I took a step around Damon to greet him. I smiled at finally being able to converse with somebody, since I had been forced to be quiet most of the night. Damon did not seem happy in the slightest. _Serves you right._

"One of Bekah's friends, right?" He asked politely, he didn't seem so bad now he was separated from his sibling. I nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Kol, her older brother."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that. I'm Ivy Gilbert." He held out his hand towards me to kiss it and I was in the process of placing it is his when Damon slapped my hand away.

"She doesn't touch strangers." He said, holding my hand down when he noticed I was attempting, again, to reach out to Kol.

Kol raised his brow and smirk, "Well then, Ivy and I will just have to get more acquainted with one-another. Won't we, love?"

Everyone turned to me expectantly for an answer. Damon was sending me glares, warning me on how to answer the question. If I said yes, I would be dead but if I said no, I would appear rude. I looked back and forth at both of them trying to weigh up my options. Kol's smirk widened when he saw my struggle. "Emm. Well, ehh-" I stumbled for an answer.

The sound of tapping glass saved me. I let out a large sigh of relief and Kol chuckled. I frowned, _how did he hear that?_

"My brother is going to give his speech, so I must be off. But I do hope we can continue our chat later, Ivy Gilbert." Kol left smirking at Damon and went to stand with his family on the stairway. Their family was pretty big, five children who all looked pretty grownup and their mother who seemed very young considering the ages of her kids. I felt sorry for Rebekah having four brothers. I only have Jeremy but he gets pretty annoying at times, especially when he went through his grunge-phase. _No wonder she has family conflicts, they must get on her nerves all the time._I decided to befriend her so we could rant about siblings together. Abigail doesn't have any so she has never fully understood the difficulties they bring. The Mayor left too, muttering something about speaking to a member of the council.

Damon turned to me furious whilst I tried to listen to the speech, keeping my eyes on Kol who's gaze was directed straight at me. I could have sworn I saw him wink. "You're going home. Now."

"What?" I was surprised, the ball was over half-finished and he had let me stay since near the beginning. I just wanted to do the Waltz with a partner, I was even willing to do it with Damon if I had to.

"Somehow you have the amazing ability to land yourself right in the middle of dangerous situations. And I refuse to risk it. I am taking you home." He grabbed my arm and began dragging me to the door whilst everyone was preoccupied listening to a short speech. This time he held on too tightly and I couldn't pull away. His viper-like grip was hurting my arm.

"Damon! Stop. Kol isn't dangerous." I whispered, trying not to get unwanted attention.

Damon growled, "You are seriously mistaken."

"He is just a dick. Reminds me of you!" I spat.

Damon stopped by the door to snap further at me, "I am glad you think so, because tomorrow I am telling Elena you were here."

_Crap. _That would mean endless amounts of nagging and no level of trust for years to come. I would constantly be reminded of 'that one time you went behind my back and went to a party.' I love Elena but she is far too over-protective, even more so than Damon. I instantly began to plead, "Please, Damon. You don't understand-"

"Is everything alright here, Ivy? This jerk seems to be harassing you. I can throw him out, if you'd like." Rebekah asked, glaring at Damon. From the inside I could see the couples dancing and I felt a twang of jealousy course through me.

"We're just leaving." Damon replied, returning the glare from Rebekah.

"I wasn't asking you." She looked back at me slightly concerned, "Ivy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I will speak to you in school." I said, shrugging Damon's hand off my arm. _Jeez, there'll be bruises there tomorrow._

"Like hell you will!" Damon grumbled, "Rebekah? Would you do us a favour and tell your brother, Kol, to leave Ivy alone? Thanks."

Rebekah just looked confused as Damon continued to drag me to his car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all for your lovely reviews, it means a lot since this is my first ever fanfiction. Anyways, I decided to keep Jeremy in Mystic Falls just to add to the plot line. Hope you don't mind!**

* * *

I sat with Jeremy and Alaric on the couch playing video games, the sound of the fake gun shots covered up the emptiness of the house now that Jenna was gone. We were all still coping with her sudden death. But she would have wanted us to move on, and that's what we were all trying to do. Some days hurt more than others though, and today was one of the more painful ones. Alaric had taken on the role as Guardian to all three of us, I am sure it wasn't something he would ever have imagined doing, so it meant a lot to us. It also felt natural, we all knew he cared about us and he had cared deeply about Jenna, in a way, he had been accepted into our family before any of the legal papers had been signed.

Elena let her presence be known to us all by letting out her signature deep sigh. Alaric and Jeremy looked at me, worriedly. I had already informed them about me sneaking off to the ball, and apparently now Elena had been told too, no doubt by Damon. _This will be a long day. _I kept my eyes forward, hoping that if I ignored her, she would delay the nagging session.

She walked in front of the television and switched it off. I jumped up in protest; I had been beating them both in the game for a change, and I was determined to overtake Jeremy, becoming number one on the leader board. Jeremy and Alaric looked frustrated too, but they knew better than to mess with Elena when she was on a rampage. They were going to be no help to me.

I sent my sister a glare which she returned, only angrier. _Correction- this will be a really long day. _

Suddenly, both Jeremy and Alaric seemed desperate to get out of the house, "Want to go to the Grill?"

"Yeah, sure." They both left in a hurry, grabbing their jackets on the way out. Leaving me to face Elena's wrath, alone.

"Damon said you went to the ball, last night." She stated, after a minute of staring angrily at one-another in silence.

I shrugged nonchalantly, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

She let out another deep sigh. "Ivy, I told you-"

"Stop being such a hypocrite!" I snapped at her, sick to death of her feelings of superiority. "I saw you there with Stefan. How come you are allowed to go and not me? It is completely unfair!"

Elena snapped back, "There are some things we haven't told you, Ivy. For your own protection. Could you just, please, do as I say and not approach the Mikaelson's again. They aren't good people."

I rolled my eyes at her speech. These days she would never justify her points or actions to me, just expect me to trust in them completely. The past few weeks Elena had been progressively taking on the role as a parent to me and Jer, it was becoming increasingly annoying for both of us. Especially, since she was just one year older. We could understand why she felt the need to, giving she was the eldest child, but with Alaric around it was unnecessary.

Everyone spoke about 'protecting me', but when you aren't aware of the dangers it is impossible to avoid them. I knew they were all hiding a secret from me, a big one, and they were adamant I would never find it out. It hurt a lot being left out within your own family, and I felt it had secluded me from the rest of them, meaning we all weren't as close anymore. I had been feeling this way ever since Stefan and Damon had moved into town. It had gotten a lot worse recently however, with the arrival of the Mikaelson's. Everybody seemed to loathe them, but nobody explained to me why.

"Why can't you just tell me why you hate them? No more of this 'protection' crap."

I watched Elena who remained silent. I could tell she was considering telling me, I waited patiently for her reply.

"Ivy, could you please just trust me in this?" she pleaded desperately, after a minute of deep contemplation. I knew there was no chance that she would be telling me the secret today.

I sighed, disappointed in her. "I am going to the Grill."

I grabbed my jacket and walked out the house. On the way out, I stole a glance at Elena. She was still stuck in her spot not speaking, looking out into space thinking about her options. I let out a deep sigh, _m__aybe her not telling me this 'secret', is causing her as much pain as it is doing me._

* * *

I entered Mystic Grill in a hurry, happy to be out of the cold, and searched the seats for Jeremy and Ric. Neither of them were there, so I figured they had left to go and train. They were both obsessed with hunting. I didn't think they were very good at it though, since they had never brought home any of their catches. I had told them that once, when I was miffed because their training had made them late for a family meal, but instead of being offended they had both laughed the comment off. I refused to mention their hobby to them again, feeling guilty that I had insulted their sport, even though if they had both found it hilarious.

I saw Caroline and Bonnie, two of my sisters friends, at the pool table in deep conversation. I contemplated joining them but decided against it. They were nice enough people, but they were Elena's friends more than mine. The amount of drama that went on within their group was crazy; drama seemed to follow the three of them around like a lost puppy, and I had no intention in getting involved in it.

Instead I took a seat at one of the empty booths and ordered a glass of coke. I was away to text Abigail to come round and keep me company when somebody unexpected approached.

"Mind if I sit here?" I looked up from my phone and it was Kol, who smiled down at me. I put my phone back into my jeans pocket, not wanting to be rude.

"No, sure, go ahead." I smiled back.

He sat down across from me so we faced each other. "What brings you here then, Ivy Gilbert, all alone?" In the low lighting levels of Mystic Grill his eyes seemed to sparkle with playfulness.

I paused, thinking about whether or not to tell him the truth. In the end I went for it, still being angry with Elena for her refusal to tell me the secret that everyone was hiding from me. "Just escaping my family. You?"

"Doing very much the same thing. They are all such a bore. But I have my entertainment now. You are far more interesting than all of them put together. " He smirked. He was charming, I'd give him that.

"So that's why you torment Rebekah, because you get bored." I stated, ignoring his attempt to flirt. I wasn't in the mood.

"My siblings and I have a complicated past. They deserve every insult I throw at them." I noticied that Kol's voice had taken on a dark undertone when he spoke about them, it almost seemed threatening. He, no longer wanting to talk about his brothers and sister, changed the subject to my family. "Let me guess, Elena is cause of your anger."

I hadn't realised I appeared angry until Kol pointed down to the wooden table and I saw my clenched fist. I automatically unclenched it, slightly embarrassed that Kol had noticed.

"You've guessed it." I hesitated before proceeding, my curiosity getting the better of me. "Kol? Why does Elena hate your family so much?"

Kol frowned deeply, "Do you honestly not know?"

"Know what?"

A large smirk crossed his face, from knowing something I didn't.

"Perhaps I will tell you someday, then." He looked towards the door of the Grill, somebody who entered caught his attention. "I must be off, nice meeting you Ivy Gilbert." He took my hand which was still lying on the table, and softly kissed my knuckles something he couldn't do when I was with Damon. I jokingly rolled my eyes at him, smiling. Kol grinned devilishly in response and left to join a male around his age on the bar-stools. The male looked at me for a few moments curiously, before turning his full attention to Kol.

"Was that Kol who just left?" Rebekah said out of nowhere, taking a seat where her brother had been a few moments ago.

"Yeah-"

"Sorry about him. He can be a real pain in the arse. I told him yesterday to leave you alone, so naturally he didn't listen."

"Oh." I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. I now wasn't sure completely, if he had spoken to me because he had wanted to, or because he had wanted to irritate Rebekah. Knowing Kol for the short period I had, I figured it was likely he just wanted to annoy Rebekah. But there was a small shred of hope within me, that he had wanted to talk to me too.

"Where's Damon? I thought he was your private body guard when you are in public."

I shrugged, looking around to see if he was at the bar. He wasn't. "Probably off comforting Elena, I upset her by going behind her back yesterday."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, "Oh yes well, everyone loves _Elena._" she looked at me, surprised, "Sorry! I forgot you guys were sisters."

"It's fine. I won't tell." It was oddly refreshing speaking to somebody who wasn't half-in-love with my sister, I felt I would be able to share more secrets without having the fear of Elena being told about them. Even Abigail wasn't completely trustworthy; she had informed my sister immediately when I told her I had a small crush on Tyler during his 'player-phase'. And everybody worked hard to keep us apart from one-another. Not that I wasn't thankful after, I only see Tyler as a friend and things would have gotten weird between us if we had begun dating.

Rebekah stared at me, searching for any hint that I was lying. Finding none she continued, "Everyone is desperate to sacrifice themselves for her. It's pathetic. Even Matt would, if he had to, and she broke his heart not that long ago."

"Matt would do that for anybody he's friends with." I shrugged, it was true. Matt was one of the nicest people in Mystic Falls, he would help anybody out with any problem they had.

"But why?" Rebekah asked, confused. I got a sad feeling that she had never had any proper friends before, she didn't seem to understand why people helped each other out in times of need.

"True friendship is a lot like love; you put someone else's needs before your own." I explained, pretty sure I had stolen that quote from a movie or television program somewhere.

"Well, it's stupid."

"Do you know where Matt is?" I asked changing the topic, it was clear Rebekah didn't agree with me. I hoped that one day she would, it must be lonely not having close friends. "I thought he was supposed to be working today."

"Kol crushed his hand at the party, so I don't think he will be able to work for awhile." Rebekah shrugged it off, as if it was no big deal.

"By accident?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink to hide my shock.

Rebekah shook her head, laughing at my comment. "Of course not!"

I choked. _Okay, so maybe Damon's right about Kol._

"What? Why?"

"How should I know? Kol does what he does because he is a psycho-lunatic."

I was astounded, "But Matt doesn't have medical insurance. How is he going to pay?"

Rebekah shrugged again, "I suppose he will just have to be off of work for a while."

"I need to go home, I think I need to apologise to Elena." I said leaving the table in a hurry, thinking about how right she had been to be concerned. I was in such a rush I didn't plan my exit route strategically, and tried going the quickest way, past the bar- where Kol was sitting. He jumped off the bar-stool and stood in front of me, blocking my exit. _Oh c__rap._

"You seem to be in a hurry to leave. Now, what ever has my darling, little sister done?" His tone was mocking, and the man who Kol had left to go and drink with seemed deeply amused, chuckling sinisterly at my bewilderment. I recognised him from the party, he was another member of the Mikaelson family. _Are they all psychopaths? _

"I simply informed her what you did to Matt." Rebekah said, standing beside me. She had been apparently following me out, but her footsteps were so quiet in the loud restaurant I must have not heard.

"Matt?" Kol looked confused.

"My date." Rebekah tried reminding him. Kol just stared back blankly. "You broke his hand yesterday."

A look of recognition crossed Kol's face. His brother was getting more amused with each passing second. "I simply held on too tight while shaking it." Kol denied his sister's accusation, who scoffed loudly in response. "I do apologise, Ivy, my sister has the tendency to over exaggerate."

This earned him a glare from Rebekah, "See what I mean?" Kol whispered to me, this time earning a punch from her. The man on the bar-stool could no longer contain his chuckles and laughed deeply.

"Oh shut up, Klaus." Rebekah sneered. Klaus put up his hands in a mock surrender.

Kol quickly changed the subject, trying to be the sole aggravator to his sister. "I heard you were quite the strumpet last night, sister. Will you be sleeping in your own bed tonight?"

Rebekah's glare was instantly replaced with a pleading look as she looked at me and then back at her brother. "Kol-" she warned.

"That Salvatore boy," my heart juddered, knowing instantly who he meant. I was scared Rebekah would think of the night more than a 'one-night stand' and have her heart broken like so many before her. "Damon, is it? That's you had them both now, albeit over slightly different time periods. You're nearly most as bad as dear Elena now, sister."

I instantly frowned, comprehending exactly what it was that Kol had said. I looked at her, horrified. _Rebekah has had sex with Damon and Stefan? __But her family has only been in town for a few weeks. Wait, did __Stefan cheat on Elena?_ I immediately felt incredibility guilty for not listening to my sister and began jumping to conclusions. _She obviously didn't want to tell me of her unfaithful boyfriend in case I would judge her for staying with him. _I thought it made perfect sense why she hated the Mikaelson's but I figured it was Stefan's fault more than anybody else's since he was the unfaithful one,_ Stefan is going to be dead by the time I am through with him. _

"Ivy, it is seriously not what it sounds like." Rebekah said desperately, as she saw the waves of anger cross over my face. I could barely bring myself to look at her. I was vexed that she had never told me, yet still pursued trying to befriend me. It seemed as if she was befriending me for some sick and twisted joke.

Kol smirked, "Do explain then, sister." I looked up at him, puzzled by his change in character. He had seemed so nice away from his siblings. I wasn't sure if the Kol I spoke to, or the Kol who was speaking now, was the real one.

"Ivy!" Caroline shouted, approaching the group. She glared at the three Mikaelson's but smiled brightly at me, _I guess she knows about Stefan being disloyal too_. I tried returning it but the attempt of smiling had failed, I was still too upset, especially since it seemed that Elena would rather tell her friends the secret more than her own sister. Caroline noticed my unease, "Ivy? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just planning on heading home." I felt sick. I couldn't believe she had never told me.

"What a coincidence, so am I. Would you like a lift?" Kol asked. I really didn't want to listen to anything else he had to say, I had the feeling whatever he would say, wouldn't be good. Thankfully, Caroline saved me.

"Kind offer but that really isn't necessary. I need to go over and speak to Elena anyways, so Ivy can get a lift with me." Caroline butted in, Kol shot daggers at Caroline for ruining his plan on giving me a lift, and she gave him a large fake smile, no doubt to annoy him further. She lightly took my arm and pulled me away from them; I was more than willing to follow.

* * *

We sat in her car in silence, waiting at a traffic light. I hadn't said a word since we left Mystic Grill and I could tell Caroline was curious to know the details. Surprisingly, she didn't push for answers; something she was notorious for doing.

"Kol said that Rebekah slept with Damon last night." I said, breaking the silence. I hadn't realised till then how much Caroline had changed over the year. She seemed much more caring, and selfless than she used to be. It was a drastic improvement, from the shallow girl I once knew.

"Oh," she frowned, "I didn't know you liked him that way."

I scoffed humorlessly, " I don't. But he also said that she had slept with Stefan."

The lights turned green and Caroline slammed down the acceleration causing my whole body to jolt forward, hitting the dashboard. I noticed Caroline's grip on the steering wheel had tightened, turning her knuckles white. Her face muscles had clenched.

"That was years ago. Before he had met Elena." Caroline told me. I let out a big sigh of relief, then began feeling bad I had doubted Stefan.

Ignoring my guilt, I prodded Caroline for details."They used to know each other?"

Caroline groaned, "I should really not be the one telling you these things." I stared intently at her whilst she concentrated on the road. I was craving answers and I knew the only true hope I had was Caroline. It didn't take her long to crack. "Stefan, Klaus and Rebekah, all go way back. They recently had a.. disagreement. And now they hate each other. Just please, don't tell Elena I told you this, okay? She'd kill me."

"I won't." I frowned, "But how come they know each other? I thought the Mikaelson's just came over from England."

She shrugged still tense, "They move all over the place. They can afford too. Apparently, they were actually all born around this area."

"Oh."

We pulled into my driveway, and Caroline kept the engine rolling. I unbuckled my seat beat and was away to exit when Caroline began speaking again. "Listen, I am not going to tell you, who and who not to hang around with, alright? But just please, be wary of the Mikaelson's. Elena isn't exaggerating when she says they have done some pretty bad things in the past."

I nodded, "I will. Thanks."

I stepped out the car and saw Caroline wasn't moving, "Are you not coming inside?" I asked, confused. She had said she needed to speak with Elena.

Caroline shook her head, "Nah. I need to pop back to the Grill for a bit. But tell Elena I said hi."

She drove off and I stood watch her leave, wondering whether or not I had been speaking to a completely different Caroline.


	3. Chapter 3

The Principle had just spoken to me about my education, putting me in a really bad mood.

A few years ago, before my parents death, I was ahead in my learning so I got to skip the last part of Middle School and go into High School with my older sister. But due to all the recent traumas, I was behind on my work and the Principle wanted me to join Jeremy's year again. I was adamant not to let that happen; I didn't want to watch all my friend's leave for college without me.

It was lunch and I was in the mood to eat away all my problems, so I stormed towards the cafeteria, pushing past the hoards of Freshmen who stood around blocking my path, gossiping senselessly. I ignored all the insults that were shouted, too upset to even care. My parents had been so proud when I got placed a year ahead and it felt that getting moved back a year was in a way, dishonouring them.

I spotted Abigail easily when I got into the canteen; her hair was constantly being dyed bright colours, this time red. It was technically against the rules of the school to have unnatural hair colours but Abi had put up a massive fight saying they enhanced her 'creative skills'. She was the school's art prodigy, so they had let her off in fear of her dropping the subject due to a lack of 'creative juices'. Not that she ever would drop art, but she was an expert bluffer and easily tricked them.

Her art skills were actually the reason behind us meeting in the first place. She had helped Jeremy catch up on the course work after he stopped smoking dope and started caring about school again. He had invited her over for 'thank-you pizza' and we had instantly clicked. Abi, like many others, hadn't originally realised that I was twins with Jer and not Elena. It was a common mistake given me and him were in different years.

I looked quite a bit like Elena too. My hair was straight and dark brown too, and we both had a similar build. The only major difference was that I was slightly paler than Elena, not having her olive completion and also that my eyes were a greyish-green colour. She may have been blessed with the nicer skin tone, that wouldn't burn in the sun, but I definitely had the cooler eyes.

Abigail was near the front of the line. I sneaked in, thanking the people behind for not ratting me out to a cafeteria monitor. Hall monitors and cafeteria monitors were the things that terrified everyone in school more getting a bad grade, they were evil.

"What did he say?" Abi asked carefully, knowing she was treading on broken glass. We were both sitting in English annotating Shakespeare quotes when I had been called out through the intercom. It had been pretty embarrassing having the whole class turn and stare, thinking you were away to get into big trouble.

"He wants me to move back a year."

"What?" Abigail was surprised, it had always been me who had helped her out with school work, other than Art, of course. "But you always pass tests!"

I hadn't bothered telling her, or anyone for that matter, that I had actually failed 4 tests in the past few months. They were small ones so at the time I didn't think they had mattered that much, but apparently it was enough to worry Mr Webber. He had been sympathetic when it came to all the things me and my family have had to deal with, but I could tell it was only for his own benefit.

"He just wants me to get the best marks possible so I can get into an Ivy League School and make our school look better." Mr Webber didn't seem to realise that this was the only High school in Mystic Falls, so the residents didn't have much of a choice on where to put their children for education. He was still determined to make our school the best in the State.

"What a dick. How are we supposed to be room-mates in college, now?"

We had got to the front of the line and both grabbed the remaining slices of pizza. I could hear the people behind me groan so I decided giving my two slices to them, given that they had let me skip, and grabbed a chocolate pot and a salad instead. Abigail rolled her eyes at my good dead of the day, whilst I laughed seeing she had picked up five pieces. She constantly stuffed her face like a pig but somehow was unbelievably thin, metabolisms were completely unfair.

My short talk with Abi had already brightened up my mood. I decide to speak to Mr Webber about giving me extra work, so I could catch up with everyone. I knew it would be hard, but I was determined to leave High school this year.

"Abi, I thought you wanted to go to an Art college? I am not sure if you've noticed, but I really can't paint." I laughed.

She shrugged jokingly, "We'll just say it is some new art form. Trust me, you'll be fine. You're the future Picasso."

I scoffed, unconvinced.

We paid separately and took our seats at the corner table in the cafeteria. We thought it was the best place to sit because it wasn't too busy and crowded, so you could eaily get away with doing homework. You could also watch all the other cliques and what they were up to, which always managed to amuse us.

"Is Jess at school today?" I asked. The table was empty and she was usually always there before us since she made her own lunches.

"Yeah, I already saw her today." Abigail paused remembering something. "She has the biggest hickey on her neck! It's disgusting."

I grimaced thinking about it. "Do you know you did it?" I was curious. It wasn't often Jessica had gotten with a guy spontaneously, she usually wanted to become their girl friend before any kissing began and I knew for a fact she was single, looking down her Facebook page just the other day seeing what had happened at the party once I had been dragged away.

"She wouldn't say... Maybe she's with him now?" Abi waggled her eyebrows up and down and I let out a gasp of mock horror. "My parents are going out for their anniversary tonight, so the house is going to be empty. I figured you could come over and we could binge watch some films?"

"What so no open-house party?" I joked, "You really aren't making the most of your teenage years."

"Yeah, because Monday nights are the ideal times to get wasted." Abi said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'll be there." I thought for a moment. "Could we invite Rebekah along? I am not sure how well she is fitting in."

Abigail raised an eyebrow and turned her gaze to the table of cheerleaders. Rebekah was sitting in the middle of the table as the ring-leader of the group. Despite being surrounded by people and included in all the conversations, I thought she still looked lonely. There was some sad glint in her eyes that you could only see if you knew it was there. I knew it was there because I had seen the same glint, in my own eyes, ever since my parents had died.

"Well, she is way more popular than either of us." Abi said, taking a big big out of her pizza. I eyed it enviously, regretting my kind behaviour. She saw my look and passed me a slice, I took no time in finishing it. Abigail watched me devouring it, disgustedly.

I shrugged, as if to say 'what?' She ignored my gesture.

"She can come if she wants. But you have to invite her. There is no way in hell I am going over there." Abi shuddered.

The cheer-squad had hated her ever since they had convinced her to make the posters and banners to advertise the last football game of the season. Knowing nothing about football, Abi had painted on the opposing team's colours. By the time they had noticed Abi's mistake, the posters and banners had been put up all over the school, and the cheer-squad had been made a laughing stock. I had no idea how anyone could manage to paint the wrong colours on the poster, so I had a sneaky suspicion Abigail had done it on purpose, but I had never bothered asking her, knowing she would deny it.

I walked over to their table, wishing I had somebody with me. The cheerleaders were nice enough if you spoke to them individually, but as a whole group they could be incredibility intimidating.

Rebekah got up from her seat as soon as she saw me standing a few feet away. "I can explain-"

"There's no need," I said, interrupting her. "Caroline told me everything."

All the cheerleaders listened in curiously, Rebekah noticed and sent them a deadly glare. In an instant they began speaking to each other again. I frowned, she really was their ring leader even though she had only been at the school for a few weeks. With all that support she was getting from them, she would have no trouble in being voted the Prom Queen.

"Oh. So what did you come over here for?"

"I was actually wondering if you'd like to come over to Abi's house tonight? You know, the girl with luminous red hair?" I said pointing at her from across the room, she tried hiding behind another slice of pizza not wanting the cheerleader to see her. I let out a chuckle, she was genuinely terrified of them. "You guys met at your ball. Her parent's are out so we wanted to have a movie night."

Rebekah looked surprised at the sudden invite, but she quickly hid it. I smiled widely, trying to show her that I was really over her past with Stefan

"You want me to come?" She asked as if not fully believing it.

I shrugged, "Yeah, sure. It'll be fun. So are you in?"

"Okay, I guess."

"Great," I smiled. "Here, give me your phone number and I'll text you the directions later."

We swapped phone numbers and after I headed back to my table. The first thing I noticed was Jessica had arrived at her usual seat, and so did her horrific hickey. It was on her the side of her neck and was red and swollen. Never in my life had I seen a hickey that big before, it looked as if half her neck was missing.

"Jeez Jess! I think you need to get that thing checked out." I said seriously, pointing at her neck.

"It looks infected." Abigail commented.

Jessica tried hiding it under her hand but winced in pain, taking her hand away. "It'll be fine in a few days."

Abigail and I shared a look, doubting it would be gone fully for a week at least.

"It looks like it's bleeding." Abigail said, staring at it with disgust. Jessica grabbed a napkin and put it against her neck, sure enough some blood soaked through. _Gross._

"Oh crap. What am I going to tell my parents?" She looked worriedly at us. We were both useless, never having had to cover up a hickey before since neither of us had ever been given one.

"Just say some rabid dog bit you. That's what it looks like. Or that the Zombie Apocalypse has begun." Abigail suggested.

"Not funny." Jessica stated, still looking worried. I tried lightening up the atmosphere.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us who did it? I want to know who to avoid." I tried joking. Jessica just glared in response, she really wasn't in the laughing mood.

"Just some guy." She said, pausing as if to tell us both a secret." I am seeing him again tonight."

My eyes widened. If a guy had done that to my neck I would be making it my mission never to bump into him again, but Jessica had instead looked pleased with herself. We were both worried for her safety, given he given her the worst hickey possibly known to man, so Abigail decided to try bribe her into hanging around with us for the night instead.

"Too bad. You're going to miss out on the movie marathon. We are watching your favourite- Twilight."

Jessica laughed snarkily, "Yeah, it's not like I _don't _have the box-set at home. Besides, they barely compete with the real thing." With comment she grabbed her things and left. We both had no idea what she was on about. _So much for chicks before dicks. _

"Well. I think somebody is on her period."

* * *

"I don't understand." Rebekah said for the umpteenth time, "They sparkle in the sunlight?_ Sparkle?_"

"They're vampires." Abigail had been getting sick of her constant interruptions. I, on the other hand, found her confusion highly amusing. Her comments during the films were the best part of the night, for me, defiantly not for Abi.

"Well I was under the impression that vampires burned in the sunlight."

"Who cares? It is a movie." Abigail shouted, exasperated. I knew there wasn't any chance she would ever watch Twilight with Rebekah again. She had regretted showing the series to Rebekah within the first 15 minutes, but Rebekah refused to watch anything else, wanting to be educated further on teen pop-culture.

"Bekah how is it that you have never seen Twilight? Nearly teenager has seen it, or at least knows about it!" I asked in awe, it was as if she had been in a coma for most of her life but had woken up to complete the last year of High school.

"I just don't care that much for vampires." she shrugged loosely.

"But they're so perfect!" Abigail gushed, pointing at Edward who had just appeared on screen with his shirt off, away to stand in the sun.

Rebekah laughed, "Trust me. I think they are slightly more dangerous than they're portrayed by Hollywood."

"Are?" I joked. Rebecca smiled tightly, away to say something but got cut-off by Abi.

"Shush guys! This is my favourite part." Abigail said, clutching a cushion to her chest. I rolled my eyes at her, whenever we watch Twilight she turned into a love-sick teenager, which was funny since she had never experienced love.

Just as they film was climaxing the doorbell ringed. Abigail groaned but stayed seated, refusing to answer it. I went instead, leaving them both to continue with the film. We had seen it together so many times that I wasn't bothered about missing out on the ending. I opened the door, unsure as to who would be ringing at this late an hour. The person I found was a complete surprise.

It was Damon.

I glared angrily at him ready to give him a lecture about not telling me who I was permitted to be friends with, "What are you-"

"Alaric's been arrested."

My jaw dropped, "What?"

"Alaric's been arrested. Are you coming or not?" He asked aggravated.

I nodded, rushing into his car to see if Ric was okay.


	4. Chapter 4

"Elena, I think it's time we told your sister." Alaric said. He had been let out of jail since he had an alibi at the time of somebody's death. I couldn't understand how a doctor could have even come to the conclusion that Ric was a psychotic killer. He was a high school teacher. A teacher. It didn't make any sense.

My head whipped around to stare at her, demanding an answer. They had all kept the secret from me for too long, and I think they were all slowly beginning to realise it. Despite this, Elena shook her head.

"Ric," she paused. "We can't. I don't want Ivy being dragged into all of this."

"I think she was dragged into this ever since you became her sister." Alaric backfired. I was confused at his sentence. It was me that became her sister since she was older, not the other way around. I didn't speak up though, I was paying close attention to what they were saying, listening in for hints.

Jeremy jumped down from the kitchen counter which he had been perched on and stood in the space between Alaric and Elena, acting as an advocate for my feelings. "She won't forgive any of us if we tell her now. But she may hate us more if we don't tell her."

I spoke up from the kitchen bar stool, sick of them pretending I wasn't in the room. "Whatever you have been hiding from me, I can take it. You guys are my family. I just don't want there to be any more secrets."

Everybody was silent, it seemed everybody was tired of the secrets. They both turned to Elena, wanting her to make the final decision. She stood contemplating it for some time before finally shaking her head. "I don't want Ivy to get hurt."

"I am already hurt!" I laughed at the irony of her statement, tears filling up my eyes. "You guys are leaving me out on something important, it is as if you don't trust me."

"No-no! It's not that way at all!" Elena approached me, trying to give me a hug but I pushed her away angrily. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve trying to get rid of the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. I silently refused to get upset in front of them again. They had all hurt me too much, whether it was unintentional or not.

Alaric sighed, his words were once again directed at Elena. "I don't think she is safe here, at the moment."

"The Mikaelson's all find her amusing though. And I don't think Rebekah would let her brothers get away with harming her new friend." Jeremy said, again speaking on my behalf. Damon had revealed who I had been with as soon as Alaric was let out, so I had to explain to everyone that Bekah and I were friends and refuse to stop seeing her numerous times.

I frowned, I didn't know what the Mikaelson's had to do with my safety. I was friends with Bekah. And I knew Kol had done something to Matt's hand but it didn't seem like he was evil. None of them seemed evil, in truth, just a little.. different. I thought, from what Caroline had said, that they had wanted me to stay away because Stefan had had a falling out with them. The conversation was giving me random pieces of the puzzle. None of it made full sense yet.

"Speaking about that," Elena turned to me, with a serious expression. "Your association with them needs to end. Now."

I was just about to protest when Alaric spoke. "Maybe if we told her, she wouldn't want to hang around with them anymore."

It was weird seeing Elena without the protection of her two guard dogs. We had wanted this talk for family members only so she had sent them away. But without them she had no backup to her reasoning, she was finally outvoted. Sadly, I knew Jeremy and Alaric wouldn't act without her consent, so they were desperately trying to convince her to change her mind.

"I wasn't speaking about the Mikaelson's when I said that Ivy wasn't safe." Alaric stated after more silence. Jeremy's and Elena's head both whipped to face him in confusion.

"There aren't any other dangers," Elena said. "That killer isn't targeting the innocent as far as we are aware. If we get Ivy to stop running around with Rebekah, she will be fully safe."

I frowned, their conversation was all over the place to me. I didn't understand what they were speaking about.

"I don't think she is safe around me."

I thought that Alaric was speaking about him being our guardian now that Jenna was dead. We all knew that, at times, he didn't think he was capable, which was completely untrue, he was doing great. I was scared he was going to leave us and run away from his responsibility's, thinking somebody else better could take his place. Jenna had the same feelings after she took us in when our parent's had died. Thankfully, she had stayed with us and eventually gotten used to it.

"Ric," I butted into the talk. "You are being too hard on yourself. We all think you are doing great as our guardian. Really, we couldn't ask for anybody better... well nobody better that is still alive." I added, thinking about Jenna.

He smiled sadly, "I don't think I can stay here anymore."

"This is about what Meredith said. Isn't it?" Elena was shouting angrily. I looked at her, shocked. I hadn't seen her properly shout at anybody in ages.

"She's trying to trick you. We all know it is her. We just need the proof." Jeremy added. The only things I knew about her, was that she was the doctor who had got Alaric arrested. I gasped, they thought she was the actual killer.

"I think she is right. That's why we should tell Ivy, she needs to be safe. From me." Alaric continued, ignoring me.

I frowned again, thinking I might have misunderstood the part about Meredith being a murderer. There was no way Alaric was a killer. There was also no way that Alaric would ever try to hurt me. I still would never forgive her for calling the cops on Ric. She would be on my blacklist for life.

"Why don't you go home tonight and sleep on it?" Elena said, defeated. She knew she couldn't say anything else in my presence that wouldn't give away the whole secret. "It's been a long day. I come around tomorrow and we'll speak."

Alaric nodded hugging us all individually. I gave him a hug back, holding on tightly, scared that he would back-out of being our guardian and want to keep his distance. I didn't think I could cope with losing somebody else that I loved. He left and we all stood in the kitchen in silence.

The only person I was annoyed with now was Elena in my family. Everybody else appeared to want to tell me the secret now, and she was stopping them from doing it. Secretly, I was scared to find it out. I figured that there had to be a reason behind not telling me but I still needed to know. I had to know how to protect our family if anybody was in danger, and it sounded like they were all in danger.

"Ivy-"

"Are you going to tell me?" I interrupted her, tired of listening to her reasoning behind not saying.

Elena swallowed, building up courage. "I am going to tell you something, I should have told you a long time ago."

Jeremy and I stared at her in shock, waiting for her to speak.

"I am adopted."

* * *

I walked past her lunch table, ignoring her when she called out my name. I hadn't spoken to her or Jeremy for a full two days. They had found out over a year ago that Elena wasn't my sister, and then later on found out that she was instead, our cousin. They had no reason behind not telling me. Both of them had made up an excuse about not wanting to upset me, but I was only upset that they didn't think they could have told me about something so important. It didn't matter if we had different parents, we were still all siblings.

I sat down at my table, Jessica and Abigail were already there. There had been a few awkward moments in our past two lunches. I wasn't in the mood to joke around, Jessica apparently thought she was better than both of us and Abigail had no idea what was going on in either of our lives. I had yet to tell her about Elena being adopted or not seeing Alaric in two days either, except for in school.

Yesterday, I had tried hunting him doing at lunch but he wasn't in his classroom. I had done the same after school but again it was empty. He was avoiding me, and I knew if I went to his flat the chances were that he wouldn't open the door and speak to me. I wasn't even sure if he knew that I had found out about Elena being adopted. I needed him a lot, but he wasn't there for me.

They were still all hiding a big secret from me, bigger than this one. I knew that from the conversation they had. Elena being adopted had nothing to do with the my whole family and the Salvatore's hating the Mikaelson's, or me not being safe. Elena had told me that she was adopted to get a rough estimate at how I would react to the bigger secret, I worked that out yesterday when I thought back on the conversation. I knew I was slightly blowing my chances about finding it out by refusing to acknowledge them. But I was so hurt that I didn't care.

"So.. how was your date?" Abigail asked Jessica, breaking the silence. We had both noticed that Jessica was wearing scarves and longer tops to school, probably to hide more hickeys that her boyfriend was giving her. She had also begun wearing lipstick and tighter clothing, no doubt to impress him.

"It was good." she said, taking another bite of her salad.

"You must like him an awful lot."

She shrugged.

"Are you going to tell us who he is yet, then?" Abigail asked. Jessica still didn't want either of us to know.

"Nope." Her phone buzzed and she quickly took it out, eager to answer her message. We both knew immediately that it was the guy she had been dating. In a flash, Abigail grabbed the phone out of her hands and read the screen. She frowned and showed it to me. I, too frowned upon seeing it. It was Kol.

Jessica quickly snatched the phone back, glowering. "You had absolutely no right." She grabbed her things and stormed off. In the past few days she had gotten the hang of storming off from us. It was now deemed normal.

In a way I agreed with her statement, we didn't have a right to know who she was hanging around with. The last thing I wanted to do was to become Elena. Still, Abigail and I had been slightly concerned with her behaviour. Those hickey's seemed more like abuse than romance. We were both scared she was going to get into something she couldn't get out of.

"That ass! I am going to kill him."

"Don't," I said. "Jessica is nearly an adult. She can be with who she wants." If it hadn't been for Elena wanting me to stay away from Rebekah I would have definitely been on 'Team Kill Kol'. Abigail knew this too.

"Well, he doesn't deserve her."

"He makes her happy." Deep down, I knew he wasn't good for Jessica. He made her so happy that she was constantly annoyed and angry when she wasn't with him. I wanted my friend back, but I wanted her back willingly. I didn't want to force her to keep away from him.

"He is using her."

"They haven't seen each other for over a week. I am sure she'll come to her senses soon." I said, hopefully.

Abi scoffed. "I don't know what has happened between you and Elena, but all I know is that if I had some creepy boyfriend I would expect you to step in and break us up. Even if that meant I hated you for months. And I think Jessica would too, even if she is too blind to know that at the moment."

I frowned deeply. It was true. I didn't know what to do. Be as bad as Elena, or to let Jessica carry on with the risk of something seriously bad happening to her? Neither of us trusted Kol. Especially after all the stories that Rebekah told us before we watched the films.

I sighed after a minute of inner conflict, "Okay. So we approach Kol. And do what exactly? Tell him to back off?" I remembered what he said about liking annoying his siblings, I had the feeling he liked to annoy others too. "If we do that he will only be with Jess more."

Abigail frowned too, she was working out a plan. "Could we ask Bekah to speak to him?"

I shook my head, "That would be even worse than us doing it."

She thought for a minute and let out a smirk. "Maybe we don't _need_ to speak to him about Jessica. Maybe we _need_ to get him interested in someone _other_ than Jessica."

I smirked back, catching on to her plan, "I think I have just the person in mind."

* * *

I showed up in Mystic Grill, looking for Kol. I figured he would be at the bar, my only worry was Damon would be there too. I spotted Kol sitting on a stool, alone. Damon wasn't anywhere in sight, my luck was finally beginning to change.

Abi had gone to Jessica's to try convince her that she was way to good for him. We knew it wouldn't work but it would give me enough time to get him interested in somebody else- Meredith. The plan was pretty diabolical but I knew that Meredith was too smart to ever fall for Kol. I also knew that he would enjoy the chase, and would therefore give up on Jessica. It would hurt her a lot, but we both knew it was true that he was just using her. He was going to break her heart eventually, for fun, so we both thought it was better sooner rather than later. We had already bought a large ice-cream supply for Jess.

I sat in the seat next to him. Matt looked worried from across the counter. His hand was in a store-bought bandage and I could see him wince as he dried glasses. I smiled reassuringly at him, trying to signal that I knew what I was doing. Elena would be told about this by tomorrow, but I would be ignoring her anyway so I didn't care.

"Hey Kol." I smiled, brightly. My heart was pumping fast, I was nervous the plan would fail and that he would tell Jessica about it.

He frowned, "Hi."

"So," I said nudging him with my elbow, I really wasn't as good as acting as I thought I was. "Interested in any females at the moment?" I could hear Matt choke. Elena would definitely be finding out about this.

He smirked, "Why? Are you asking?"

My smile dropped. "No." I put it on again. I really wasn't good at acting. "I just thought there was no better way to settle into town than to get a respected citizen as your girlfriend. So I thought I could help you out on that."

"Who did you have in mind?" He asked, playing along with it. I could tell he knew I was up to something, but I was still hoping he would fall for the bait.

"Well, I am glad you asked Kol." I paused for effect. "There is this one person; really pretty, her name's Meredith. She's part of the council and a doctor, so extra brownie points for you. But the best thing is that she mature, but not too mature. You know what I mean? Fun, but with none of the stupid high school drama"

"Hmm. She sounds interesting." He said, amused.

"She is interesting!" I knew I was over doing it, perhaps Abi should have spoken to Kol instead of me, she could be much more subtle. "So what do you say?" I asked hopefully.

"Well. I am afraid I already have my eyes on somebody." I groaned internally, knowing that he was meaning Jessica. "Would you like me to describe her to you?"

"Go on." I urged, unenthusiastically.

"She is naïve, innocent, fiery.." He continued and I droned him out; disappointed that there was no chance I could get him to leave Jess alone. "And she is sitting right next to me."

_WHAT?!_

My jaw dropped and I heard Matt drop a glass in the background. It seemed as if the whole bar had slowed down, stopping for a moment in time and then sped up rapidly. Blood rushed to my ears, this was the very opposite of what I was expecting.

"But-but-" I stuttered, "You are with Jessica!"

He smirked, "So that is why you are here."

This time I groaned aloud. He had tricked me.

"Do you like her?" I asked. I wouldn't mind their relationship so much if I knew he wasn't using her, but I had some serious doubts.

"I like her body." He grinned, "She can be amusing. When she isn't constantly telling me about how annoying you guys are."

I frowned. He made it sound like Jessica was using _us, _"What? Does she not like us?"

He shook his head, "I'd say that she loathed you both. She told me that she can't wait to go finish High school to get away from you both. The only reason she hangs with the both of you is because she hates everybody else even more."

"You're lying." I said, denying it "Like when you said about Bekah and Stefan. They had sex ages ago, you made it seem like they had done it a few weeks back."

His grin increased, "But they still had sex, didn't they? I don't lie. I just twist the truth, slightly."

I glared at him, "Well I don't care if she likes us or not." I lied. "This isn't about our friendship. It is about your relationship. You have no right using her."

"Perhaps," he shrugged. "But until somebody more interesting comes my way I will stay with her."

"You're vile." I spat, leaving my seat to get away from him. The urge to punch him in the face was increasing every millisecond.

He picked up my bad and passed it to me. I tried taking it from him but he kept a firm grip on it, I looked him straight in the eyes, they seemed fascinated by me. "I don't lie, even when I said who I have my eyes on."

I yanked my bag out of his hands and left as quickly as I was able to. I could hear his laughter from outside.


	5. Chapter 5

**So I need to change the synopsis, which I didn't like to begin with. I just kinda suck at writing them. It makes the story sound like a really cheesy love story, which isn't what I am going for. Of course there will be Ivy/Kol, it just isn't going to be what it sounds like from the synopsis. Anyways, if anybody could help me out with it message me or do your idea in the review section. Otherwise, I will just change it myself.. eventually.. hopefully.. Anyways, thanks for all the lovely reviews and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

I sat on the lid on the toilet seat, playing Tetris on my phone. I had heard a rumour that my Gym class was going to be forced to run five laps of the field, so I took my chances and decided to skip it. There was no way that I would willingly step into torture like that.

Suddenly, somebody banged forcefully on the toilet cubicle door causing me to jump up from my game. I was terrified it was a teacher. Mr Webber had only just let me carry on with the year, if he found out I had skipped class as well as failed some tests there would be no way to convince him to not to move me back a year.

The person banged on the door again. This time louder.

"Just a minute!" I called out, putting my phone into my jeans pocket. Quietly, I stood and put up the lid of the seat. Then I flushed the toilet, hoping to convince the person that I had actually been needing to pee. Slowly, I unlocked the door and opened it, bracing myself for whatever trouble I was going to be in.

I let out a huge sigh of relief when I saw it was Jessica.

"Jesus, Jess! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

She stood in the doorway, effectively blocking my exit from the toilet cubicle. Her hand was place on her hip and her face was morphed into a scowl. Jessica looked seriously pissed off. I had a gut feeling that it had something to do with me.

"I figured you'd be in here." Jessica said, her voice sounded as angry as her face looked. "Abigail told me that you were missing Gym class."

I stayed silent, not wanting to say anything wrong that would cause her to explode.

"Kol told me about last night. How you tried to get him interested in other girls." she sneered. "I want you to back off. Now."

"Jess, he is using you!" I said exasperated. She liked him far too much for such a short period of time that they had been together. She was making it seem like she loved him, but love isn't like in the stories; nobody can like each other that much after just a few days. "Did he tell you that?"

She shook her head frantically, in denial. "You're lying." she spat, "You just want him for yourself!"

"No!" I answered, my heart dropping that she mistrusted me that much. I really regretted that Abigail hadn't spoken to him instead of me, she would put Jessica straight in a matter of seconds given they had known each other for so long. I, on the other hand, didn't have that benefit of being in the same class from Pre-school. It wasn't a secret who Jessica liked more out of us both.

"Sure." she laughed darkly, "Kol thinks that you're just jealous of me. After all, how many boyfriends have you had in your whole life?"

Ouch. It was a low blow. Everyone knew how self-conscious I was when it came to barely getting any male attention, they all seemed to view me as a friend, or worse, sister. It was one of the reasons why I made up the rule of 'no guys before college', it gave me a slight excuse on why nobody appeared to like me in that way.

Instead of snapping back, or getting defensive, I tried to reason with her. "Jessica, you can think I am jealous if it makes you feel better, but the truth is Kol doesn't like you nearly half as much as you like him. And, I think you know that." It was almost heart-breaking to see a look of sadness cross her face for a brief moment, Jessica knew it. Still, I carried on with my talk, wanting to get my friend away from him. "You've got to trust us, when we say he isn't good for you."

Suddenly, her sad look was replace with a furious one.

"NO!" Jessica shouted out, "You guys just want me to be single! You're jealous no guys will come near you."

She raised her hand to slap me but I caught it before it came into contact. Her expression changed into a painful look and she winced loudly. My brows furrowed, in one swipe I rolled up the sleeves of her top and I gasped at what I saw. Along her arm were painful bruises that matched the hickey she had on her neck. There were tons of them, I peered closer and thought I could even see teeth marks, faintly indented into her skin.

"What the fu-"

Violently, Jessica pulled her arm away. "You had no right! Absolutely, no right!"

"Jess, what are those things? Did Kol do that to you?" I pleaded, frightened for the safety of my friend. I wasn't sure what to do, and whether or not the police should be informed. So many thoughts were rolling through my head that I could barely concentrate on what she was saying.

"They're just hickeys!"

I shook my head, "Jess, I know what a hickey looks like and those things look like bite marks. Are you scared of him? Because we can go to the cops if-"

"No." she said instantly, "No cops. You just don't understand our relationship."

"Relationship?" I cried. "From what it seems like, he hurts you. Really badly. Jess, please just tell me what to do! I want to help you."

"I don't need any help." she said, annoyed. "We have a deal."

"A deal? What sort of deal?" Whatever it was, it didn't sound good. I was anxious to know what it was, hoping it would help me get her away from him.

Jessica rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't understand."

"Tell me, and I promise I won't tell anyone about this." I offered, trying to understand why she was staying with him. I didn't think Jessica would stay with anybody who abused her, she wasn't scared of anything so I knew there had to be a true reason behind it all.

"You won't believe me."

"Try me."

She thought about it for a second, "You won't tell anybody about the bites, even if you don't believe me?"

"I promise." I swore, picking up on the fact that she said they were bites and not hickeys.

"Fine," she paused. "Kol's a vampire and so long as I am his personal blood-bank he will consider turning me into a vampire too." She said it quickly and it took me some time to work out if I had heard the words correctly.

I stared at her, waiting for her face to crack into a smile and for her to start laughing. Instead, her face stayed perfectly serious. My eyes widened when I realised she wasn't lying.

"Kol thinks he is a vampire?"

She rolled her eyes again at me, "He _is_ a vampire."

Instantly, I regretted my promise. He was deranged, and had somehow tricked my friend into believing his crazy fantasy. Kol wasn't safe, and I needed to get Jessica away from him immediately. I couldn't back out of my promise, they mattered a lot to me, but I could come up with another way of getting them apart.

"So he says he's a vampire, and you let him bite you?" I was trying to wrap it around my head how somebody as intelligent as Jessica could fall for his lies in less than a week. He was surely a master manipulator because I knew Jessica believed him with all her heart; she was a worse liar than me.

"_Is_!" Jess groaned. "And I told you, I'm not doing it for nothing, he said he'll turn me."

"No, you said he'd 'consider' it." I corrected.

"You just don't understand!" Jessica said infuriated, regretting ever telling me. "Or believe it. "

"I believe that you think he is one." I said, picking my words carefully. I placed my hand sympathetically on her shoulder, she whined in pain so I took it off quickly. "But Jess, there are no such things as vampires... And even if there were I doubt they'd be like the ones in your favourite films."

"No. You're right." She paused. "They are so much cooler."

"Jess-"

"Save it." The angry look had returned to her face. "I want you to back off. Kol. Is. Mine."

"Jess-" I begged, desperate for her to see sense.

"If you approach him again about me, there will be consequences." she threatened, meaning every single word. Her face was void of all emotions, it was chilling to see. Jessica wasn't the same person anymore.

"But-"

"I will not hesitate to hurt you, if you try and ruin my chances of living forever."

"Jessica!" I said, shocked. She was delusional.

"Nobody is going to stand in my-"

A familiar person stood behind her and spoke, "I think it's time you got back to class now. Don't you?"

Jessica turned and faced him, "And what if I don't want to?" she taunted.

"Leave." Stefan hissed, looking her straight in the eyes. Automatically, she walked out of the toilets and headed back to class. I stared in wonder and then looked back at Stefan in confusion. We were in the Girl's Toilets.

"Stefan, why are you in here?"

He shrugged and smiled. "I heard some shouting and thought I should check it out. I'm trying to be a Good Samaritan. Are you okay?" his voice held underlying concern. I had the feeling he had heard more than he was letting on.

I nodded frantically, scared my voice would break. I wasn't okay. I was far from okay. Everything had been building up the last few days. Jenna was dead. Alaric had left. Elena and Jeremy had kept a massive secret from me and still were keeping another one. One of my closest friends had just threatened me. She also happened to have an abusive boyfriend, who tricked her into thinking he was a vampire. But, I wasn't sure who I could speak to anymore especially since most of the people I trusted most were either gone, or weren't being truthful.

I began tearing up, all my emotions getting to me at once. Stefan awkwardly held out his arms and I, feeling empty inside, enveloped him into a hug; clinging on to him for dear life.

* * *

I stared up at my bedroom ceiling, my mind blank. I heard somebody knock at the door but I didn't bother answering. I couldn't be bothered doing anything in my sorrow. I knew it was Elena from the soft footsteps that approached the bed. She sat down on the edge of it, and I kept my focus on my ceiling light.

"Stefan told me about today. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, sounding worried. It had been four days now that I hadn't spoken to either her or Jeremy. They were beginning to get anxious, especially now Alaric wasn't looking after us. Nobody knew how long my upset with them would last, and in truth, neither did I.

I didn't answer.

"Listen, I know you're annoyed with me. You have every right to be, but I just didn't want to hurt you." Elena paused. "Okay, that is a slight lie. I didn't want you to hurt me. I thought there might have been a chance, a tiny chance, that you would start treating me differently. Just not like your sister anymore. Stupid, huh?" she let out a humourless laugh at her stupidity.

Again, I didn't answer.

Elena sighed, finally getting to whatever it was that was really on her mind. "Matt said you were with Kol recently. I know that now maybe isn't the time but-"

"You're right it isn't."

"Can we talk about this?"

"No."

"Please, Ivy!" she said, sadness filled up her voice it sounded broken. "I want things to go back like they used to be, for all of us. Before these secrets tore us apart."

I took my attention away from the ceiling and stared at her, rage filling my eyes. "The last time I checked, it was you guys that were keeping all the secrets. Not me."

Elena's face broke down like her voice had, tears filled up her eyes. I stared back with the exact same expression. Everything seemed to be going against us, like the whole world didn't want the Gilbert family to be happy.

Deep down, we both knew that no matter what happens in the future, our family would never be the same again. Too many bad things had happened to us all for our bonds to be magically tied together. We were like a china plate, it can't be glued back together if it became too broken. And even if it did get fixed, the cracks would still be visible for everyone else to see.

"Can we not just try and be a family again?" She asked when she had regained control over her unhappiness.

I thought about it deeply, for a minute or two. Softly, I shook my head, and gave her a sad half-smile trying to make sure my next words would not sting as much, though that seemed impossible. "I think it is a bit too late."

That night, I knew that we both cried ourselves to sleep.

* * *

_Want to come over?-_ Bekah

I read the text message again, my fingers hovering over the keypad deciding on my reply. I was still in bed. I hadn't moved since my talk with Elena last night. Rebekah, unbeknown to her, had just offered me the perfect chance to take my mind off of it.

_Sure :) _

I was pretty positive that Kol would be out given it was the weekend so I wouldn't bump into him. I was also desperate to question Bekah on her brother's behaviour. Jessica's deal was for me to not tell anybody about the bite marks on her skin, but she never said I couldn't say anything about his twisted vampire fantasy.

It took over forty minutes to get changed and walk to her house, but the weather was nice so I didn't mind. It also beat asking anybody for a lift. I wasn't sure how to deal with the situation with our family, so ignoring them seemed like the best option. After all, Alaric seemed to be doing that too. We could probably win every prize out there, when it comes to running away from our problems.

The entrance to their house seemed even bigger now that the driveway was clear of all cars. You couldn't help but feel tiny in comparison to the estate. The grandness of the house also made you feel really out of place. I didn't think that I would ever get used to their lifestyle, it was far too extravagant.

I rang the doorbell, expecting it to take a while to be answered since the house was so huge. Almost instantly a maid opened the door and ushered me inside. Rebekah must have told them that they were expecting somebody.

I waited on a velvet chair in their front-porch for Bekah to show up. The front-porch was bigger than my living room. It was also much fancier, with paintings handing up from every corner. I expected they had cost a lot, but then again what was a lot for me, must have been pocket money in comparison to what they have in the bank.

"My brother painted those." Rebekah said, out of nowhere. She must have snuck up on me as I was gazing at the portrait of her family tree.

"Kol?" I was astonished, I didn't take him for a painter.

She laughed, "He wouldn't pick up a paintbrush unless it was secretly a weapon. Klaus is the painter of our family."

"Oh." I inspected the family tree further, they seemed to all be wearing medieval costumes and all of Bekah's brothers had much longer hair. "So what's with the outfits and hair?" I asked, unsure whether it was an inside joke they all shared.

"Klaus just wanted it to be slightly different." Bekah didn't give me much explanation but I didn't press the matter as I noticed the man at the top of the tree.

"So where's your dad?" I questioned, not recalling ever seeing him or him being mentioned at the ball.

"Dead."

My face fell instantly, I knew the pain of losing parent's. "I am so sor-"

"He was a jerk." Rebekah shrugged, not seeming affected by her father's death. She actually looked slightly relieved but I ignored it, thinking I had mistook her expression.

"Families can suck."

"Tell me about it." She said agreeing.

We stood in mutual agreement looking at all of Klaus' art pieces. They were really good, perhaps even expert. I thought he could easily hold a successful art exhibition. Abigail would kill to speak to him about different painting styles. I was slightly tempted to take a photo of one of his pieces and show it to her later, but I didn't want to puzzle Bekah. I figured I could sneak a photograph on my way out.

"Want to go to my room?" Bekah asked, bored of looking at the work.

"Yeah, sure."

We walked up the stairs and through a series of halls. The house could have been made into a fancy hotel and would have made a fortune from it. That is if Mystic Falls was a popular tourist destination.

We finally got into her room and it wasn't what I expected. Instead of being full of random trinkets which most teenage girls collect, it was practically empty. The room itself had a four-poster bed, a large walk in closet, chest of drawers, bookcase, television, and a comfortable sofa, but there wasn't any indication other than that, that somebody lived there. I felt that if the whole house burned down, so long as every lost item was compensated for, Bekah wouldn't care. It didn't look like she had any sort of connection with the house, or any of the items within it.

"It's kinda empty." I stated, kicking my shoes of and climbing onto the bed which she had launched herself on. It was big enough that we could both cross our legs and be pretty far away from one-another.

"It is?" Rebekah said, curiously.

"Most people have posters and photo's covering their walls."

"Oh."

"So where is everyone?" I asked, moving away from the subject. Rebekah didn't seem to be very sentimental when it came to the past so there was no point in quizzing her on it. Especially, if it contained Stefan. I really wasn't eager to find out about his previous sex-life, given he was with my sister and his previous partner was now my friend.

"Klaus is either painting, trying to court that blonde chic, or scheming a way to take over the world." I nodded along, jokingly. Who doesn't have a plan to take over the world? "Elijah will be trying to save our family," Rebekah continued. "And who knows where Kol is?"

"Save your family?" I had forgotten that Bekah had some family issues too, I was hoping that I could confide in her about my own. I couldn't do it properly with Abi, she was a single child so no matter how hard she tried she would never fully understand sibling quarrels.

Rebekah rolled her eyes, "Our mother would happily see us all dead, and Elijah want to save us all from each other. It is a pretty long story."

"Your mother hates you all?" I was surprised, she had seemed like a really nice person at the ball.

"She hates what we've all become."

Although Rebekah had tried hard to hide it, I saw the fleeting look that passed through her face, a deep and dark sadness. She put up a facade making her out to be this cold person, but underneath she was terrified of being hurt. It reminded me of what Jer was like after our parents had died. He had pretended not to care, but by not caring he had only hurt himself and others, even more. A sharp pain hit my heart, reminding me of how much I missed them both and us all being a family. I ignored it. Still hurt by them.

"Well, she happens to be missing out. Big time." I smiled, lighting up the mood. Bekah returned it, grateful.

Rebekah was just away to say something when a knock on the door interrupted her.

"Come in!" she yelled.

A man in a black suit entered, he looked like Kol only older and far more mature. He wore a serious expression that seemed follow him around everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if he was born with it. I recognised him as the man who gave a speech at the ball. I figured this was Elijah, also seeing his resemblance to one of the portraits on the family tree which was in the porch.

"I do apologise, I didn't realise you had company." Elijah said politely, slowly backing out of the room. Rebekah waved him back in.

"Elijah this is Ivy Gilbert." she introduced me.

Elijah nodded in response, "Pleasure to meet you, Ivy."

"You too." I smiled.

"What was it you are in for?" Bekah said, not bothered with pleasantries. She reminded me of Damon in that way, it didn't shock me that they slept together. They were pretty similar. Bekah wasn't a douche though.

Elijah looked back to his sister, "I find it difficult to solve our current situation, if I have to keep my eyes on Kol all of the time. He doesn't seem to understand the seriousness of it all." I knew he picked his words carefully, not wanting me to understand what he was speaking about.

Rebekah groaned, "What is he up to now?"

Elijah's eyes flickered back to me momentarily before moving back to Bekah. "I think they are better unmentioned."

"Ohh." Bekah understood him, glancing at me. I felt like I was stopping a very important conversation from happening and considered excusing myself for a few minutes so they could continue it in private. Then I thought about Kol and Jess.

I decided to speak up in the conversation, thinking it was the perfect opportunity to speak about Kol's behaviour, to his family. "My friend Jessica is hanging around with him at the moment," Both of their attention turned fully onto me. "She thinks he is a vampire." my voice dropped slightly towards the end, knowing how foolish it all sounded. They both heard it fully judging from their facial expressions.

"I will have words with him today." Elijah stated, more serious than ever.

"So this is normal?" I asked in disbelief.

Elijah was away to speak but Bekah butted in, "Kol likes to play games. It keeps his sick mind entertained."

Elijah frowned at Bekah and they seemed to have a conversation with their eyes. A look of realisation swept across his face and his mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"Well, how can I stop it?"

"Ivy, my dear, Kol will move on when he gets bored. Until then, I am afraid there is nothing any of us can do." Elijah said.

"Sorry." Bekah smiled sympathetically.

My heart dropped. Somehow, I was expecting his own family to say this was the case. As previously expected, Kol wouldn't leave her alone until he either got bored of her, or somebody else who peaked his interest came along. I couldn't deal with Jessica being hurt by him any longer and no matter what threats she said to me, it was time for me to step in. I was going to be his new interest.


End file.

Vampire Diaries, Drama, Romance