Serena O'Conner is new in mystic falls. She meets the Salvatore brothers and all their friends and figures out quickly that she isn't the only magical creature to wander these woods.

I can't make dead men love me, and dead women hate me. That's how I know what you are."

Walking into the school, she sighed deeply. ~Let's hope I can stick around for a while.~ Serena wondered if she would ever be safe anywhere. Big cities never worked. You couldn't get lost enough. Hopefully small towns would be better.

Walking by the main office, she passed a group of three girls. She stopped when she could only hear one heart beat. There were a few things about Serena that people didn't know. One of them being that she had really good hearing, she could hear better than your average human.

Trying not to get caught by the girls she only paused momentarily, but one of them noticed anyway. The tall blonde girl looked friendly enough but the only thing she knew that walked around without a heartbeat was... ~seriously?! A vampire?~

"Hi, my name is Caroline. Are you Serena?" Serena only nodded cause if she spoke, chaos would erupt. The other two girls approached and gave their names as well. Bonnie, the dark skinned one smiled when she took Serena's hand in a shake but got a wide eyed look after one touch. Serena realized vampires weren't the only ones residing in this town. This witch in front of her might be an issue. Serena only smiled at her and faced the last girl. ~another vampire. Girl, you're screwed.~

"My name is Elena. We don't get to many new people so don't let Caroline scare you off." Elena smiled but it didn't reach her eyes like the other two. "Where is your first class? Maybe one of us could walk you there?" Serena pulled out her iPhone and started typing. ~no one here knows I'm mute? Oh geez this is gonna be fun to explain.~

-hey y'all. My first class is U.S. government. I'm typing because I can't talk. Mute. But I can sign and I hear just fine. It's very nice to meet y'all. :) - passing the phone to Bonnie on her left and watching Elena and Caroline's faces as Bonnie read it out loud was amusing. Smiles were a good sign. Serena smiled at the both of them and faced towards Elena when she commented that she was in that class as well. Serena smiled and followed her. Elena showed Serena to the teacher and introduced her.

"Mr. Timothy, this is Serena. She just moved here."

"Well hello Serena, welcome to my class. Let me see where we can sit you, oh, right there next to Mr. Salvatore. Stefan this is Serena. Share your book with her until she gets her own." Serena turned to look behind her and was caught in the most gorgeous gaze of all.

"Hi Serena." ~of course gorgeous eyes would have such a hypnotic voice!~ all she could do was smile shyly and sit down in the seat that was next to his. As the teacher started his lesson, Stefan slid his book closer to her desk. She looked up at him and smiled again. Of course he wasn't looking. ~only day one and I'm already crushing on someone. Ugh. Pathetic much.~ as she was yelling at herself, she heard Mr. Timothy's question and since no one else seemed to be raising their hand, she did.

"Miss Serena, please enlighten my class with the correct answer." Forgetting that she hadn't told her teacher she was a mute, she answered in sign language.

Her response was met with silence for a moment, but then she heard the interpretation of what she just signed coming from the gorgeous guy sitting next to her.

"She said checks and balances, Mr. Timothy."

Elena looked at Stefan, shocked that he even understood what was "said."