Note: story + chapter titles are from "Shouldn't Be a Good in Goodbye" by Jason Walker.

{ I own nothing }

… … …

Sometimes, she wonders how people define her in their minds. There are a million different ways it could be done. Elena Gilbert, youngest of three. Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore's best friend. Elena Gilbert, honor student. Elena Gilbert, cheerleader.

Elena Gilbert, orphan.

(Yep. She's pretty sure it's that last one.)

She's always loved the first day of school, she muses as she rearranges her things in her locker. It represents a fresh start, a new beginning. Every year for the last ten years, she's hoped that this will be the year that people stop treating her like a charity case. Poor Elena, they say, as if she has nothing, when really, she has everything.

She has Jenna, her young, determined aunt who became their guardian when their parents died. She has Jeremy, her big brother, and the sweet baby boy his wife Anna will give birth to in just a few weeks. She has a few good friends, and her job as a tutor, and cheerleading, a sport she took up to honor her mother.

And she has Stefan. Her best friend since they were in diapers. The boy who wiped her tears and walked her to the nurse when she broke her wrist on the playground in first grade. The boy who always let her play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with him and his brother, even if she didn't have a clue who Donatello was. The boy who sat with her in silence on the curb at recess in the weeks after her parents died, even though all his friends were calling for him to come play. He's been there for her through everything, and she doesn't know what she'd do without him.

So yeah, she thinks as she'd say that despite the tragedy of losing her parents, she's pretty damn lucky when it all comes down to it.

She's momentarily distracted by a flock of football players moving through the halls, talking and laughing loudly and plowing into people left and right, led by none other than Damon Salvatore himself. She can't help but roll her eyes. There was a time, way back when, that she considered Damon one of her best friends. Though he was always a year older than her and Stefan, he always included them in whatever he and his friends were doing. Granted, he was particularly fond of pulling her ponytails and playing silly tricks on her, but she didn't really mind. She doesn't know where that Damon went, but the one who just whistled crudely at an innocent girl who happened to pass him is not the same one she grew up with, and she really doesn't want anything to do with him.

Lucky for her, Stefan doesn't particularly like him, either, so she doesn't feel bad about it.

She looks up to finds him approaching her now, mimicking her eye-roll, and she smiles. "How did you end up so nice when he turned into such a jerk?"

He looks over his shoulder at his older brother. "He joined the football team and got popular, and I stuck to writing short stories. He gets to continue the family legacy, and I get to do my own thing."

"Sometimes I wonder how you two are even related."

"I should petition for a DNA test." She pulls one last textbook out of her locker and shuts the door, falling into step beside him as they walk toward their first class. "You know what I realized this morning?"

"I'm sure it's something completely new and groundbreaking."

"Today is our second-to-last first day of school together." He looks over at her. "Next year we'll be seniors, and who knows where we'll be the year after that."

"Leave it to you to get all sentimental a year early," she laughs. "I guess we should commemorate the occasion with our first-day-of-school tradition."

"Milkshakes from the Grill and secret predictions for the year," he recites. "It's a date."

"It was non-negotiable anyway." The bell rings just as they approach their classroom. "Good morning Mr. Saltzman," Elena calls.

"Good morning, Elena," he smirks, as if they didn't just replay an exchange from the breakfast table this morning. Sometimes she wonders if it's a conflict of interest, that her history teacher is also her aunt's fiancé, but in small town like Mystic Falls, it's practically unavoidable. Besides, he refuses to help her with her homework, and if anything, he expects more out of her than the other students, so it balances out.

"This will never not be weird," Stefan whispers to her as they take their seats, and she laughs.

"Good morning, juniors," Alaric - uh, Mr. Saltzman - greets the class. "Today is the first day of a new year, a clean slate, so let's make it a great one."

He's looking directly at her as he speaks. His words probably sound empty to everyone else, but it's going to be her mantra today. This year is going to be a great one. She's going to make sure of it.

… … …

The first thing she does when she gets home is make a bee-line for the answering machine. She doesn't have any messages on her phone, no texts or anything, but that doesn't mean there aren't any waiting for her on the home phone. (It's a long shot, but it's a possibility, okay?)

"He didn't call."

She looks up and scowls at Jenna. "How do you know? Have you just been sitting by the phone all day?"

Jenna rolls her eyes. "Elena, we would know if Anna went into labor. Jeremy would have called us by now."

Despite the eight-year age gap between them, she's always been close to Jeremy. He never treated her like a nuisance, though it couldn't have been fun being thirteen and having a five-year-old following him around like a lost puppy. She was devastated when he left for college right after their parents died, but Jenna insisted that he get his degree, because it was what their parents wanted for him. When he graduated from Whitmore and moved to Grove Hill with Anna, his college sweetheart, Elena was thrilled.

She remembers Jeremy and Anna's announcement like it was yesterday. They'd been married for two years and trying for at least half of that, and when they finally told the family they were expecting, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. (Or maybe that was just Elena. She's pretty sure she cried enough for all of them.) After all the tragedy their family has been through, she knows her little nephew is going to be the burst of sunshine they need. Anna's due any day now, and Elena's having a little trouble curbing her enthusiasm.

Elena lets out a huff and opens the fridge for a snack instead. "I don't understand what's taking so long."

"Unfortunately, babies aren't type A like you, miss four-point-oh," Jenna teases. "They come whenever they damn well please, and baby boy Gilbert is pretty comfortable where he is."

"I'm just excited, okay?" she whines. "It feels like we've been waiting forever."

"Honey, I'm home!" Alaric sing-songs, closing the front door behind him and making his way to the kitchen. "Elena, did you tell Jenna how you got suspended today?"

"Alaric, did you tell Jenna how you got fired today?"

"Ha-ha, you're both so funny," Jenna deadpans, rolling her eyes as Alaric leans in to kiss her cheek. "You picked the wrong sister. Katherine, I would have believed."

"Katherine probably has been suspended from university already and just won't tell us," Elena jokes.

"You joke, but you just never know with that one," Jenna reminds her. "Of the three children my sister left me with, she's the one I worry about the most."

Elena wants to laugh, but she knows Jenna's not joking. She and Katherine look like they could be twins, but they're separated by three years and are polar opposites in personality. (In fact, growing up, Katherine pretended to be Elena to get her in trouble more than once. Bitch.) Where Elena tends to stick close to the straight and narrow, Katherine just wants to party and have fun. She flirted her way through high school and followed a bunch of her friends to a small community college across the state. Elena wonders if she's even cracked a book since she left over a year ago.

"She's not all bad," Alaric reminds them. "You have to admit, she makes for some pretty entertaining holiday stories."

Elena rolls her eyes. "That might be her only redeeming quality, if it even counts."

"Hey, come on, now," says Jenna. "I know you two don't get along, but she's still your sister, and that counts for something. She's one of only two people who knows exactly what you've been through."

"She has a hell of a way of showing it," Elena scoffs.

"Enough about Katherine when she's not even here to defend herself," Alaric insists. "How was your first day?"

"Let's see, my favorite part was… none of it, and my least favorite part was history class, Mr. Saltzman."

She likes to give him a hard time, but really she doesn't know what she'd do without Alaric. Jenna was practically drowning when she met him five years ago. She was young, too young to be raising her sister's three kids on her own, and between her Ph.D. program in psychology and her part-time job waiting tables at the Grill, she was barely keeping her head above water. That is, until she was tending bar one night and met the new history teacher in town. They fell head over heels for each other, and Alaric has been a fixture in Elena's life ever since. Somehow, he and Jenna strike the right balance between concerned parental figures and understanding confidants. Without their advice and guidance, she doesn't know how she would've made it through these last few years.

Alaric scowls at her. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? Like the Grill?"

"Milkshakes and predictions," Jenna remembers.

"I'll be back later!" Elena calls on her way out.

"Was she really okay today?" Jenna worries. "She won't ever admit it, but you know the first day of school is always hard for her."

Alaric leans in to kiss her. "She's a big girl, Jenna. She can handle it." He kisses her again. "She's been handling it for a long time now."

Jenna sighs and leans into him. "She's only seventeen. She shouldn't have to handle it."

"Yeah, well, that's why she has us," he reminds her. "We'll pick up the slack if it becomes too much."

She leans back and smiles at him. "You ever regret chatting me up that day at the bar five years ago? I'm pretty sure you didn't expect to jump straight into parenting."

He smiles down at her. "I've never regretted it. Not for a second."

… … …

Stefan hears the voices as soon as he comes through the front door and feels the familiar dread fill his stomach.

"What do you mean, you might not start this season?"

"Don't worry, Dad. I'll handle it."

"Like hell you will. I'm calling that joke you call a coach tomorrow morning. You're a senior, and a Salvatore at that. Salvatores don't get beat out by underclassmen, Damon."

"I won't. I'll make sure I get the starting spot, even if I have to sprain his ankle myself."

He wonders, for the millionth time, how two brothers could live such parallel but completely different lives. He and Damon share two parents and a hallway between their bedrooms, but the similarities stop there. The way things stand now, he finds it hard to believe there was a time when the two of them were thick as thieves. As children, they were inseparable. They were more than best friends; they were the true definition of brothers. Then middle school rolled around, and Damon joined the football team, and everything changed.

It feels strange to hear their father berating Damon. Ever since it became clear at a young age that Damon was the more athletically gifted of the two of them, their father has favored him over Stefan at every turn. Stefan never liked sports - he didn't care about what team was playing in the Super Bowl, and he never wanted to join in on the pick-up games the other kids in the neighborhood always played. He would much rather sit in his room with a good book, or write a story, or draw a picture. Their father, who led the Mystic Falls Timberwolves to three straight state championship games and who 'could have been the best college QB in the country, if he hadn't blown his knee out', couldn't understand Stefan's interests and cast him aside in favor of his brother. It started out as a joke between them, a jab that Damon would throw at him playfully to rile him up, but when Damon agreed to live out the family legacy as the starting quarterback, he let their father's favoritism go to his head, and their relationship hasn't been the same since.

"Stefan? Is that you?" His mother emerges from the kitchen with a forced smile. "There's snacks in the kitchen if you're hungry. Come say hello to your father."

I'd rather bite off my own tongue. He debates saying it out loud, but he knows better than to rock the boat. "Sure, Mom."

"Hello, brother," Damon says lazily from his perch on the kitchen counter when Stefan enters. He's eating straight from a box of cereal with his annoying smirk firmly in place. "How nice of you to lower yourself to interact with your family for once."

"You say that like we've missed him." There's a teasing lilt to Giuseppe's voice, but Stefan knows a dig when he hears one, and he forces himself not to wince. He should be used to it by now, honestly. "Sometimes it's like you're not even here, Stefan."

"Oh, now," Lily laughs. "How is Elena these days, dear?"

"She's… fine," he answers warily. "We actually have plans this afternoon."

"Actually, son, there is a pressing matter I've been meaning to discuss with you."

"Uh, Dad, I have somewhere to-"

"Listen to your father, Stefan," Lily urges.

He fights the urge to roll his eyes. He fills a glass of water from the dispenser in the fridge door. "I'm listening."

"Well, your brother has done a fantastic job living up to the Salvatore name for the Timberwolves, but he's a senior this year," Giuseppe explains. "And while I have no doubts that he will lead this year's team to a state title - just like your old man did back in the day - I'm thinking it's about time you took your rightful place on the team."

Stefan's head snaps up. "What?"

"I've let you play around with this silly writing hobby of yours for years now, but it's never going to get you anywhere." His father crosses his arms and leans against the counter next to Damon. "Salvatores are meant to be on the field, Stefan. Don't you want to make your family proud?"

Stefan blanches. "I-"

"Of course you do," Giuseppe continues. "That's why I've already arranged a try-out for you, tomorrow afternoon after school. And by try-out, I mean an exhibition, because you're already on the team."

"Dad." Stefan tries to formulate an argument, even though he knows it's futile. "You know I'm no good-"

"This is not a discussion, Stefan," Giuseppe says sternly. "You are expected to show up to practice tomorrow. It's time to get serious about your future, son. College scouts don't come looking for players who aren't even on a team."

"Dad, I don't want… I can't…" He looks to his mother for help, but the weight of Lily's forced smile keeps her mouth from moving in his defense. He wants to scream, and yell, and throw something, but it won't help anything. If anything, it'll just make things worse. So he closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath. "Fine."

"Good man." Giuseppe claps him on the shoulder a little harder than necessary and Stefan tries not to wince. "Nice to see you finally coming to your senses. This way maybe you can actually make something of yourself."

His father leaves the room, and his mother squeezes Stefan's hand as she follows. Stefan looks to his brother, who looks unimpressed.

Damon shrugs. "Congratulations, brother. Or should I say, teammate," he smirks.

He hops off the counter and walks out of the room, leaving Stefan in shock to wonder what just happened, and why the hell he just stood there and let it.

… … …

Note: hi friends! this is a little different than anything I've written before, partially because it's much longer and partially because I've kind of created my own alternate universe here. the idea came from my obsession with One Tree Hill, and wondering which characters on TVD would match up with characters on OTH. see if you can figure out who's who. ;-) i loved writing this and it's gonna be a fun ride so buckle up and let me know what you think!