The New Friend

~~~~~

"it's not my fault that your family has unbelievably good genetics."

~~~~~

When Alora walked downstairs the next morning after the football game, she was greeted by her father, who was standing in the kitchen with a cup of tea in his hand. In front of him, was a separate one, which he offered to her as soon as she made her way over towards him.

"Sleep well?" Alora questioned before taking a sip of her tea.

Her father was normally never up before her. He often woke up in the middle of night because of night terrors—not that she was supposed to know that. Because of that, he would attempt to sleep in later than normal, but it never really worked, which allowed for him to be up before her sometimes.

And when he was, Dean would make sure to brew her a cup of tea, so she would have it as soon as she ventured down the stairs.

"Well enough," Dean replied.

He was well aware that she knew about his difficulty to sleep. Alora wasn't the most subtle person when it came to asking questions. Besides, it wasn't like he was actually trying to hide it from her. He would just prefer that she didn't know.

Alora nodded and walked over to the fridge, pulling out her jar of overnight oats. She was finally happy to get into a good routine with school—one that included her being able to have her oats each morning.

"What dreadful flavor did you concote this morning?" Dean questioned, once again eyeing the jar with distaste.

"Apple pie," She replied, slipping onto one of the bar stools with her jar, a spoon, and her mug of tea.

"Yes, please, ruin one of the best desserts to ever exist by turning it into mushy, cold oats."

Alora playful rolled her eyes, "Mock all you want, but you have still yet to actually try it. That means you aren't allowed to diss it."

Dean laughed, a smile spreading across his face, "It's a free country, Lor, which means I can do whatever I damn want to."

"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another deadly animal attack," Both Alora and Dean looked towards the TV when they heard this. So far, neither of them had heard of new developments.

"The wild animal terrorizing the citizens has claimed another victim, the local high school histroy teacher and coach of the football team, William Tanner. His body was found outside the high school on Friday night before the first football game of the season."

"That's why the game didn't happen," Alora murmured.

"Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks. They also want to assure you that there is nothing to worry about and the problem will be dealt with swiftly before any more damage can be done."

Alora looked away from the man on the TV and towards her father. There was a crease between his brows and his lips were set in a deep frown. She could recognize that look.

He was planning something.

"What are you thinking about?" She questioned, taking another bite of her oats after.

"That this town is underestimating the capability of a vampire," Dean commented, looking away from the TV and at his kid. "Council or not, history with vampires or not, they don't stand a chance."

"...and you want to do something about it."

Dean shrugged, running tongue over his bottom lip, "Maybe."

Alora sipped her tea as she watched her father with an inquisitive look.

Dean continued to watch what the news reporter was saying. His muscle in his jaw ticked and his hand tighten around the handle on his mug, knuckles turning white.

Alore slipped off of her stool, having finished off her breakfast and her tea. She walked to the sink and rinsed the dishes. Once she was done washing thm, Alora used her magic to dry them and send them back into the cupboards in which they belonged.

"Just don't go into danger, guns blazing, and get yourself hurt, please," Alora appeared beside her father and placed a quick kiss to his cheek. She walked to the door.

Dean snapped out of his stare off with the screen.

He cleared his throat, "I won't. Do you need a ride?"

Alora turned back to her father, "No, no. I'm good. I planned to walk around town a bit this morning."

"Hence why you woke up earlier than you normally did," Dean realized.

"Yup."

"Well, off you go then, kid. Don't get into too much trouble and try to antagonize at least one of the insufferable townspeople for me!" He called after her.

Alora closed the door behind herself. She shook her head as she walked down the steps with a new instated pep in her step.

~~~~~

"To repeat, the animal terrorizing Mystic Falls has been caught," Logan announced on the TV.

In the Gilbert House, Jenna stood in front of the screen, glaring at the man. "Scum ball. Scum bucket," She muttered with distaste in her tone.

"Who are you talking to?" Elena asked her aunt as she came down the stairs.

"Him," Jenna glared at the man once more.

Elena looked over at the television, "The news guy?"

"Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell," Jenna looked towards Elena. "Did your mom ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?"

"Oh, no way. You and him? He's cute."

"He is not cute," Jenna retorted. "There's nothing cute about him."

"Okay....then how about the guy you were talking with the night of the comet. He was cute," Elena pivoted.

"That was just some guy," Jenna brushed off. "He's new to town. I was trying to be friendly."

"Uh-huh."

Elena didn't believe a word her aunt was saying.

Jenna's eyes then drifted to what Elena was carrying, glad to have found something that could switch the conversion topic. "What are you doing with that?" She questioned.

"I went yesterday and got it from the safety deposit box. Mom had told Mrs. Lockwood that she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display," Elena responded, setting the box down on the table.

"Is that grandma Beth's wedding ring?"

"Originally, it was great-great-grandma Mary's wedding ring."

Jeremy entered the room, making his way over to the two of them, "How much do you think this stuff is with? You know, like on eBay?"

"You're not going to find out," Elena snapped.

"That stuff is mom and dad's. You can't just give it away."

"I'm not giving it away. It's called a loan, Jeremy," Elena clarified what she was doing, though it still felt a little wrong to just hand away her parents' items to the council.

But everything was going to be fine.

~~~~~

Alora had been walking around town for quite a bit before she made her way to the Mystic Grill. She had wanted to get some food before she went home, besides, Bonnie had asked to meet up with her.

When she walked into the Mystic Grill, she didn't see Bonnie yet. She did, however, see Tyler and Vicki. More specifically, she saw Tyler being an absolute dick towards Vicki just because he was around his parents.

Alora sat on one of the barstools as she waited for Bonnie.

"I can't believe him," Vicki said as she rounded her way back to the bar. She picked up one the glasses and angrily began to wipe dried water spots off of it.

"What?" Alora questioned, confused. She wasn't quite sure if Vicki was talking to her or not.

"Tyler," Vicki glanced over at Tyler before looking back at Alora, who was waiting for her to continue. "He just makes me so angry. One moment, he's perfect, and the next...."

"...he's a complete asshole."

Vicki snorted and raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry," Alora smiled, sheepishly. "I'm just not into the whole 'sugar coating' thing."

"Thank god!" Vicki exclaimed, a smile making its way to her face.

Alora smiled back at her.

"I get he wants the respect from his parents, especially his dad, but just because they view me as less, doesn't give him the right to treat me that way," Vicki continued to rant. "What gives him the right, huh? Actually, what gives any man the right to act that way?"

"Beats me," Alora shrugged, "I don't know."

"How do you do it?" Vicki questioned, still wiping away at her glass.

"Do what?"

"You're pretty, smart, kind, helpful, and a ton of other stuff that I'm not," Vicki placed the glass down where it had once been. "You probably get loads of guys, and somehow you don't look like the type of person to ever have an issue with them."

Alora couldn't help but laugh at what Vicki said.

Vicki frowned, "I'm confused."

"I, uhm," Alora didn't want to tell people, but then again it didn't seem like Vicki would be the person to judge her or tell other people, "I don't, uhm, like guys."

"What?"

Vicki tilted her head like a lost puppy.

"I am not attracted to men at all."

Vicki's eyes widened as it finally dawned open her. Her lips parted in shock, "You're...Oh my god! I was actually jealous for a moment of how close you and Ty were the other day in here."

"Yeah," Alora bit back a smile, "you won't ever have to worry about that."

"Yeah," Vicki's smile grew again.

"You're gorgeous by the way and you have many great qualities, and if Tyler or his parents can't realize that, then they can go screw themselves, okay?" Alora told her.

Viciki shook her head as she laughed.

"You're like one of those really nice people, aren't you?" Vicki questioned. "Like the ones who believe that everything has a purpose in the world and all that bullshit?"

Alora bit her lip, "Try to be."

"That must be exhausting," She commented before she briefly walked away to pour a drink for one of the customers that had sat down. When she came back to where the younger girl was, Alora was twisting her many rings back in place the rocks and assorted crystals were facing up right.

"How are you? With the incident that happened at the party?"

"I'm good, better," Viciki replied.

It was so odd having someone other than her brother asking if she was alright.

"That's great," Alora was happy that the girl was doing better than she had been the past few days. "No more wandering off in the middle of the night?"

Vicki chuckled, smiling once more, "I think I'm over that."

"Glad to hear it," Alora then saw Bonnie walk through the door of the Grill. She just didn't expect Bonnie to be accompanied by Caroline, someone that Alora was pretty sure didn't like her.

"Let me guess," Viciki spoke, "the person you were meeting just arrived."

"Yeah," Alora nodded. "I'm sorry to cut the conversation short."

"Nah, it's fine."

"I can give you my number," Alora grabbed a napkin and Vicki gave her a pen. She scribbled down her number on the napkin before sliding it over to Vicki. "Here you go, uhm, you can call me anytime you like. I'm always available to talk if you need to."

Vicki looked down at the napkin before looking back at Alora, "Thanks."

"Any time," Alora flashed her a smile before getting off the barstool and walking over to where Bonnie and Caroline were sitting.

When she approached the table, Bonnie sent her an apologetic look.

"If it isn't my favorite cheerleader," Alora greeted Bonnie with a grin.

Bonnie bit back a smile and gestured for her to take a seat, which she did, trying her best to ignore the judging look Caroline was sending her.

"And if it isn't the cheerleader I'm trying to get in the good graces of," Alora commented, looking at Caroline, who seemed to be fighting back a smile of her own.

Progress.

"Seeing as you're new to town, you haven't heard about the Founder's Party, have you?" Caroline tilted her head as she looked at Alora.

"Founder's Party? Do you guys just throw an event like every single week or something?"

Bonnie sighed, "Basically."

"What's it for?"

"It celebrates the group of people that founded this town and their families," Bonnie told her.

"Ah," Alora widened her eyes in mock surprise, "That's a shocker. I should've been able to figure that one out."

She knew her father was going to get a kick out of going.

Or just lots of annoyance.

Probably both.

"Anyways," Caroline waved off both of them with a flippant manner of her hand, "Bonnie is freaking out because she had no one to go with and—"

"I was going to go with you," Bonnie interrupted.

"Yeah, until Damon invited me," Caroline reminded her friend in a 'duh' tone.

Alora tensed a little at the time.

Damon.

That was Stefan's brother, which means that he was way over age to be taking Caroline anywhere. Plus, that also meant that Caroline was most likely being compelled by the older vampire.

That was something she would need to deal with.

"Then I advised her to go with Elena," Caroline continued.

"But she's going with Stefan."

Another vampire.

Great.

Caroline sent Bonnie a look before turning her attention back to Alora, "So, I then suggested that Bonnie go with you, seeing as she is always so smiley and giggly around you."

Bonnie hid her face in her hands.

This was one of the most embarrassing conversations she had to endure in a long time.

"However, she insisted that you wouldn't want to go to the party and that you wouldn't want to go with her," Caroline missed her friend's look of despair. "But I am 110% confident that you would love to go with her, am I right?"

The smile on Caroline's face was almost unnerving. It was like she was in on some secret, like she knew something that she wasn't supposed to.

But at the same time, it was like she knew nothing at all.

"I didn't even know this party existed until a few minutes ago, but yes, Caroline, you are completely correct. I would love to accompany Bonnie," Alora responded and then turned to Bonnie with a cheeky smile. "That is, if she'll have me."

Alora nudged Bonnie's foot with her own underneath the table, gaining the girl's attention.

Bonnie removed her hands from her face, sending Caroline a quick glare. The blonde just gave her best friend an innocent look.

"You seriously don't have to."

"I want to," Alora affirmed with a nod of her head. "How else would I ever be able to get through such a dreadful party without your company?"

Bonnie's lips tugged up into a smile and her eyes lit up as well.

Caroline clapped her hands together, excitedly, "Now, that that it settled, I can finally stop listen to you complaining about how you'd be alone the entire time."

"Gee, thanks," Bonnie muttered, even though she was glad that her friend did what she was too afraid to do. "What about your mom? Is she even okay with you bringing Damon?"

No sensible parent should be okay with their sixteen year old going out with someone who was in their middle to late twenties, regardless if they were a vampire or not.

"And I'm supposed to care why?"

"He's older sexy danger guy."

Alora refrained from snickering at the name.

"Older sexy danger guy?" Caroline questioned. "Is that an official witch Twitter tweet?"

"No more witch jokes, okay?" Bonnie sighed. "That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked."

Alora was pretty sure that every witch was freaked out the first time they predicted something terrible. She knew that she was when she did. Then again, she was only six when it happened, she didn't know any better.

"Okay. And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother," Caroline's tone turned serious.

Alora noted the sudden shift.

Compulsion.

It was as clear as day.

God! She wanted to give Damon a piece of her mind.

"You know, like major, deep-rooted drama," Caroline continued.

Alora wondered if she was supposed to be even hearing all this. It wasn't like she was friends with Caroline or Damon or Stefan. She was just a bystander, standing outside the glass, watching their lives from the sidelines.

But soon enough, she was going to be a major part of them.

"Like...?"

"I'm not really supposed to say anything."

"Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" Bonnie questioned, incredulously.

"Okay," Caroline caved, a lot quicker than anticipated. "But you can't tell Elena."

"No."

Alora shook her head, knowing nothing good was going to come from whatever rumor Caroline was about to start.

~~~~~

As soon as Alora returned home, she made her way into the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cabinet. When she turned around to place the glass on the countertop, she was met with Hades sitting on the edge of it, glaring at her.

Alora ignored the cat.

She walked to the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of iced tea that she had previously made, closing the door behind her. She turned back to the counter, only to be once again met with a menacing glare from her father's cat, Hades.

Again.

She gave the cat a smile, earning a hiss in return.

Alora grabbed the glass from the counter and filled it with ice before placing it on the counter and fiddling it with tea. She then put the pitcher back into the fridge.

Hades had scooted forward and was sitting oddly close to the glass of tea she had just poured.

Alora reached her hand forward to grab the cup, only for Hades to bat his paw at her, claws extended. She retracted her hand, quickly, holding it to her chest. "Nice kitty," She muttered, reaching her hand out slowly again.

Hades watched her with a calculated look, tilting his head as her fingers wrapped around the already condensating glass. He didn't make any other moves towards her, letting her pick up the glass from the counter.

"Thank you," Alora mumbled before she walked out of the kitchen, leaving Hades to glare at her retreating figure.

Instead of going up the stairs, she walked down to the end of the hall before turning left, passing a few more doors before once again reaching the end. She lightly knocked against the door, hearing a faint 'come in.'

She turned the knob and pushed the door open.

Dean looked up from his computer when he noticed his daughter walking into the room. His hands where still resting on the keyboard, but his serious expression had turned into a half-smile as his lips tugged upwards at the sight of her.

Alora loitered by the entrance of the room, half her body still behind the door.

She never really ever went into his office room. She viewed it as his sacred space, one where she wasn't supposed to go into, even though Dean had reassured her plenty of times