Chapter 1
Elena’s pov
My name is Elena Gilbert, I am 17 years old, I live with my twin brother Jeremy and our Aunt Jenna. Our parents were murdered when we were little by a bear. Aunt Jenna took us in.
I miss my parents everyday but I’m glad Aunt Jenna is here to look after us or we’d be in a foster home which isn’t a great place for any kid to grow up in. They need to be with their family.
Today is the first day back to school, the summer holidays just finished. It was a great summer because I got to spend time with my best friends Bonnie and Caroline. It was also a difficult summer because I broke up with my boyfriend Matt, things just weren’t working out. Matt disagreed and didn’t want to break up but accepted it in the end.
My alarm clock woke me up and I groaned. I was so not ready to go back to school after 6 weeks of sleeping in and waking up in the afternoon.
The alarm kept going and going, that’s what is so annoying about alarm clocks, once the alarm goes off it doesn’t end until you push the alarm button down.
5 minutes later and the alarm was still going.
“ELENA SHUT THAT DAMN THING OFF,” Jeremy shouted from the room beside mine.
“NO WAY! I CAN’T BE BOTHERED,” I shouted back and the alarm kept going.
A minute later, Jeremy barged into my room with messy brown hair and nothing on but his boxers.
“Eww Jeremy! You’re not wearing any clothes,” I groaned and covered my eyes with my hands, Jeremy in that state wasn’t a sight I was expecting to see early in the morning.
“It’s your own fault, I did tell you to shut that damn thing off,” Jeremy replied. He walked to my bedside table and pressed the alarm button down and then there was silence, at last.
“Next time I’ll smash the bloody thing to pieces,” Jeremy warned and I heard his footsteps walk out of the room.
When I heard the door slam shut, I uncovered my eyes and got out of bed.
I rushed into the shower. I came out with my underwear on and my hair wet. I blow dried my long brown hair and then had to straighten it or there would be a bush on my head, there’s no way I’m going to school looking like that.
When I was done, I applied some foundation and a little eye liner around my black eyes. I got dressed into black skinny jeans and a dark purple top. I slipped on some black flat shoes and headed downstairs for breakfast where Jeremy and Aunt Jenna were already seated. They were eating breakfast which today was porridge and there was a warm bowl full waiting for me.
“So what are you guys doing today?” Aunt Jenna asked as she put a hand through her brown hair that was exactly like mine and how my Mom’s had been which was natural because Aunt Jenna is my Mom’s younger sister.
“We have school obviously but I’ll be back late because I have cheerleading practice,” I said and took a spoonful of porridge.
“I’ll be late too because I’m hanging out with Tyler,” Jeremy said.
“So I have the house to myself then,” Aunt Jenna said.
“Yep so you can invite Alarik over,” I said and Aunt Jenna blushed, she has been dating Alarik for a while now. They both seem happy together and Alarik is a pretty cool guy. I wouldn’t mind if he asked Aunt Jenna to marry him some day if that’s what they both wanted. When I mean someday, I mean when Jeremy and I can look after ourselves which is only a few years away. As soon as we’re both 21 we can move out if we want to but I’m happy living at home for now.
After breakfast, I grabbed my bag and put on my jacket then Jeremy and I walked to school together. Only because neither of our friends lived nearby so it was better to walk together than alone if we were headed to the same place.
Once we reached school, we separated to enter separate buildings because our A level subjects were different.
Caroline and bonnie were waiting in the canteen for me. They usually came really early to school and had breakfast there.
“Hi guys,” I said cheerfully.
“Hi Elena,” my friends replied in unison.
“So are you guys glad to be back?” I asked.
“Not really,” Caroline said as she pushed her blonde hair to the side.
“Me either but at least we get to see each other,” Bonnie added as she tied her curly black hair back into a ponytail with a hair band.
Then the bell rang and we headed to class.
~***~
When school ended that day, the three of us headed to the gym for cheerleading practice. I don’t know why I auditioned for this, the practice is really tough to keep up with. Bonnie’s lucky she’s not a cheerleader. It’s not her thing, she’s just here for support.
After an hour of practice, I headed home and went straight into the shower. I was completely exhausted and I knew I couldn’t keep it up week after week. I’m going to have to quit cheerleading. I’d much rather concentrate on my studies so I can go to a great university some day. Caroline will be disappointed because we got into cheerleading together but I hope she understands.
I got dressed into my Pjs and lay in bed until Aunt Jenna came back from work. I don’t know if Jeremy is home yet but he has to be before Aunt Jenna gets home or he’ll be in trouble. That’s one of Aunt Jenna’s rules, we have to be home before her or we’ll be grounded for a week no matter what the reason for our lateness.
An hour later, Aunt Jenna returned.
“Where’s Jeremy?” she asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Is he home?”
“I don’t know, I was tired when I came back from cheerleading practice. Actually, I’m thinking of quitting,”
“Really?” Aunt Jenna looked surprised.
“Yeah. It’s not really me and I think it’s better if I concentrate on my studies,”
“That’s very wise, your parents would be proud,” Aunt Jenna said. “I’ll put dinner on, can you call Jeremy?”
“Yeah sure,” I said and went upstairs.
“Jeremy?” I called from outside his bedroom door.
“What?” Jeremy asked. I sighed in relief that he was home.
“Dinner will be ready in a bit,” I explained..
“Ok,”
After dinner, I went straight to bed happily because of my exhaustion but I wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow when I had to tell Caroline that I was quitting cheerleading.
