Date: September 9, 2009.
Place: Mystic Falls High School.
Max sat in his seat, listening to the teacher's boring explanation, completely lost in his thoughts.
"Damn, Donovan… you look like shit. Did Elena dump you so hard that you forgot how to eat?"
Jackson's words echoed in Max's mind. Max clenched his fist as he thought about her words.
"I… I'm sorry, Max, but my parents died, and I think… I think I need some time on my own."
"Are… are you breaking up with me, Elena?"
"No, Max, I'm not breaking up with you. I just… need some time on my own."
"But… why? I mean, I know the pain of losing parents very well, Elena. I didn't even know my father when I was born, because he abandoned us a long time ago, and none of us knows where he went. And eight months ago, my mother abandoned me too and went chasing other men. I can understand your pain and be with you all the time, Elena."
"No, Max. It's different. I just… I just need some time to think."
"Mr. Donovan!!"
Max blinked as his mind snapped out of the memory of his unofficial breakup with Elena. Max looked at his teacher and said, "Yes, Mr. Faris?"
"I asked you, what is the chemical formula of the compound hydrogenase diphosphatase?"
Max looked at his teacher and said, "I… I don't know."
Mr. Faris sighed and said, "It's literally written on the board! If you were paying attention to the lesson, you would know the answer!"
Max looked at his teacher with no expression and said, "It doesn't matter."
"It doesn't matter? Fine, that's enough. Go to the principal's office now! I hope a few hours of detention will teach you to focus in class," Mr. Faris said coldly, then turned around and continued his explanation.
Max stood up without saying anything and headed toward the principal's office as he was told.
On his way, he saw a new student he had never seen before coming out of the restroom.
Max looked at the new student in surprise and felt something very strange inside him.
Max found himself bumping into the new student because he wasn't paying attention and was distracted, which caused him to stumble and fall to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you," Stefan apologized quickly and helped Max back onto his feet, even though technically Max was the one who bumped into him.
Max slowly stood up from the ground, then looked closely at Stefan and said, "Sorry, have we met before?"
Stefan looked at Max and said, "No, we haven't met before. I'm a new student here."
"Well, welcome to Mystic Falls High School, where dating and parties are all that students care about," Max said in a flat voice, while the strange feeling in his chest grew stronger the closer Stefan got.
Stefan laughed a little at Max's joke and said, "Well, that's good to know. I'm Stefan Salvatore, by the way."
Stefan extended his hand and shook Max's hand.
Max returned the handshake and said, "Max. Max Donovan."
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Max. Now excuse me, I'm very late for my class," Stefan said, then stepped away and was about to leave.
Max looked at Stefan as he walked away, then felt the strange feeling in his chest slowly fade away.
"Don't let him.... leave!"
Max heard the strange whisper that he was hearing from this morning in his mind again, and without realizing it, he immediately responded to the voice and said, "Hey, Stefan!"
Stefan stopped leaving and slowly turned toward Max and said, "Yes? Is something wrong, Max?"
Max looked at Stefan and continued, "You seem like a good guy, Stefan. How about you give me your number so we can keep in touch and get to know each other better later?"
"Yes! Keep him..... close!"
Max heard the voice again in his head.
What is this voice? this is the fourth time!, Am I starting to lose my mind?
Max asked himself as fear rose in his chest for the first time today, but he kept a neutral expression while trying to keep Stefan close.
Stefan looked at Max and hesitated a little, since he didn't like mixing with humans too much so he wouldn't lose control of himself. But befriending one of the students might be a good way to integrate more into society, and maybe getting to know Max would help him obtain more information about his target, which would help him learn more about "her."
Stefan smiled and said, "Of course, why not." Then he took out his phone, stepped closer to Max, and shared his number and contact information with him.
"Good! Now touch him again so the awakening can... finally..... begin!!"
Fear and anxiety rose in Max's chest again when he heard the voice for the sixth time in his head.
Stefan stopped talking and looked at Max in confusion, as he suddenly heard Max's heartbeat rise at a crazy speed and smelled a scent he knew very well coming from Max—fear.
"Max, are you okay? You look nervous," Stefan asked in confusion as he stepped back a little so the predator instincts inside him wouldn't react.
"Y-yeah… yeah, I'm fine," Max said nervously as heavy sweat poured down his forehead.
Stefan looked at him suspiciously and said, "Are you sure? Because you look a bit pale."
"Yeah… I'm fine. No need to worry," Max replied in a tense voice.
Stefan looked at Max suspiciously and said, "Alright, I'll see you later, Max. I'll call you later."
"Touch him!!.... Now!!"
The voice screamed powerfully in Max's mind instead of whispering this time. And Max trembled from the voice echoing in his head, then quickly patted Stefan on the shoulder and said, "Alright, see you later."
The moment Max's hand touched Stefan's shoulder, something strange happened. Max felt a strange current flow from the hand that touched Stefan's shoulder, heading directly into his chest. Then Max heard the voice again, but stronger and clearer.
"AAAH!! YES! Finally—after 3000 years—I am officially alive again!!"
The voice screamed powerfully in Max's mind, then Max's vision changed. Stefan's face, the school halls, lockers, and ceiling were replaced by a strange mountain stained with red.
"Take this, Daikshi!! By the power granted to me as the guardian of the twelve talismans, I, Jackie Chan, banish you from the Earth!"
BOOM!!
"No!!! Damn you, Jackie Chan!!"
BOOM!!
Max's vision changed again and was replaced by twelve strange symbols floating around him in a circle. Then he saw a symbol in front of him—the Rabbit symbol—glowing with a faint light.
"You are the chosen one!! You must perform the spells and prepare for the coming evil!!"
"HAAAH!!"
Max gasped for air as the visions and voices disappeared from his head. He then looked ahead and found the hallway empty, and Stefan was no longer standing in front of him.
What the hell was that?!
Max thought to himself as his body trembled with fear and sweat poured from his head. He shook his head and thought that maybe doing drugs last night wasn't a good idea—he had started hallucinating and hearing things.
Max had used drugs last night because of the pressure of the beginning of school and the possibility of seeing Elena again. He had taken a very small amount just to stop overthinking, but it seemed that this small amount affected him greatly due to his break from drugs for a long time. But were those visions and voices really caused by the drugs? Or was it something else entirely?
Max sighed and headed toward the principal's office while thinking about what kind of person Stefan Salvatore was, and whether he would really be able to befriend him, since he hadn't befriended anyone for nearly two years now—without knowing that Stefan would become one of his most delicious enemies, and that he would wish death upon him many times.
---
[Meanwhile, with Stefan]
Stefan rushed quickly through the school hallways and slammed into the lockers hard.
Stefan groaned in pain and took a deep breath.
What the hell was that?!
Stefan thought to himself in terror, because when Max touched his shoulder, he felt his strength being drained from him, followed by an intense urge to feed on Max and kill him completely. But he resisted his urges and fled quickly to the other side of the school at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
RIIIIING!!
At that moment, the school bell rang, announcing the end of the first class. Students rushed out of their classrooms, and the hallways became completely filled with students.
Stefan's condition worsened as he began hearing every heartbeat of the students around him and smelling the scent of their blood flowing through their veins. Stefan's eyes changed, the whites of his eyes turning red, and black veins appeared beneath his eyes.
"No!!" Stefan thought forcefully, closing his eyes in pain and covering his face with his hands as he pushed through the students toward the nearest restroom.
Stefan entered the restroom forcefully, stood in front of the sink, turned on the cold water, and washed his face aggressively.
Stefan took a deep breath and looked at the mirror, finding himself staring at his reflection—and instead of his normal face, it was the face of a vampire.
Large black veins spread beneath Stefan's eyes, his eye color turned blood-red, his iris became dark black, and long white fangs protruded from his mouth.
Stefan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "This body is mine, and the blood is not my master."
"This body is mine, and the blood is not my master."
"This body is mine, and the blood is not my master."
Stefan repeated it out loud, then exhaled slowly. He opened his eyes and found that his face had returned to normal.
Stefan sighed in exhaustion, then thought, Who is Max Donovan? Why did my body react this way when he touched me? I should stay away from him so this doesn't happen again.
Stefan washed his face one last time and left the girls' restroom, without knowing that a girl had been inside the restroom the whole time, sitting behind him on a toilet and seeing everything he did.
Jessica slowly removed her hand from her mouth as tears streamed down her face—she had seen something truly terrifying for the first time in her life.
[After School]
Elena walked slowly between the gravestones in the cemetery, then sat in front of her parents' grave, opened her diary, and began writing in it:
"My dear diary, I managed to get through today. I must have said 'I'm fine, thanks' at least thirty-seven times, and I didn't mean it even once. But no one noticed. I think when someone asks, 'How are you?' they don't really want an answer."
Craaaw.
Elena stopped writing in her diary when she heard the sound of a crow. She looked toward the source of the sound and found a strange black crow standing on top of a gravestone, staring at her in a frightening way.
Elena smiled nervously and said, "Okay… hello there, bird. That's not creepy or anything. Shoo, go away!"
Elena stood up and chased the crow away. The crow flew off and disappeared among the trees. Elena smiled sarcastically and said, "Yeah, that's what I thought." But she didn't feel relieved for long, as a thick white fog suddenly spread across the cemetery and covered everything.
What the hell is this?… Elena thought in fear, then she saw a man with unclear features standing behind a gravestone a short distance away from her.
Fear rose even more in Elena's heart. She quickly grabbed her bag and ran toward the cemetery gate as fast as she could.
Elena looked back while running and saw the strange man slowly approaching her.
Fear and adrenaline surged inside Elena to higher levels. She increased her speed, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get away from the man behind her.
Elena suddenly stumbled and fell down a short slope.
"Aaah!" Elena screamed in pain, then slowly stood up, shaking her head and looking behind her in worry.
Elena turned forward and suddenly saw Stefan standing in front of her.
"Aaah!" Elena screamed in fear.
Stefan looked at Elena and said worriedly, "Are you okay?"
Elena looked at Stefan in surprise and said sharply, "Were you following me?!"
"No, I just saw you fall," Stefan replied.
Elena smiled sarcastically and said, "Oh, right. And you just happened to be in the cemetery by coincidence."
Stefan looked at Elena and said, "I'm visiting family here."
Elena's eyes widened and she said, "Oh my God! I'm sorry, that was rude of me. It's the fog—it messed with my head. And then there was that bird, and I felt like I was in a Hitchcock movie. That's The movie name, right? The Hitchcock? . And then there was that man and— and—"
Elena stopped talking and stuttering when she saw Stefan's amused smile.
Elena sighed, then smiled and said, "I'm Elena."
Stefan smiled and said, "I'm Stefan."
Elena looked at Stefan and said, "I know. You're the new student everyone's talking about."
"Oh really? What do people say about me?" Stefan asked curiously.
Elena waved her hand and said, "Nothing specific. Just a mysterious, intriguing new guy who's become the talk of the girls."
Stefan smiled and said, "Intriguing? Do you find me intriguing?"
Elena looked at Stefan and said, "Hmm… let me think about it." Then she looked Stefan up and down and said, "I'll give you a 3 out of 10."
Stefan laughed and said, "3 out of 10? Really? Then I guess I'll have to triple that number."
Elena laughed and playfully hit his shoulder, saying, "Don't push your luck too much."
Stefan smiled and was about to reply, but he stopped when he smelled a scent he knew very well.
Blood.
Stefan looked at Elena and said, "Did you hurt yourself?"
Elena looked at Stefan in confusion and said, "Did I hurt myself? Oh, wait a second."
Elena then sat down and lifted her pant leg slightly, and saw a large wound on her leg bleeding heavily.
Stefan's features twisted when he saw Elena's blood. Large black veins appeared beneath his eyes, his eye color turned red with dark sclera. Stefan quickly turned away, inhaled deeply, and tried to control himself—before he could pounce on Elena and..... tear her apart.
"Oh, look at this. That's definitely not pretty. How didn't I feel this? Hey, Stefan, do you have some tissues—" Elena said in a puzzled voice, then looked to the place where Stefan had been standing, only to find him gone.
"Stefan?" Elena looked around in confusion but didn't see anyone. She shook her head tiredly and headed and went toward home.
Without knowing that this was the beginning of a complicated love story full of drama chaos, confusion، and cheating.