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Chapter One
Dear Diary,
I'm so scared
My heart is pounding,I've faced so s I never iined were real And now I'm terrified
Why?
Si home
And I know that it's co hoe, only a few hours' drive fro house where I've lived since I was a baby
No, I' a room with Bonnie and Meredith, my two best friends in the whole world In the same dorm, only a couple of floors aill be my beloved Stefan My other best friend, Matt, will be just a short walk across campus Even Damon will be in an apartment in the town nearby
Honestly, I couldn't stick any closer to ho such a wiotexiled for so long, and now I suddenly have to leave again
I suppose I'm scared partly because these last feeeks of summer have been wonderful We packed all the enjoy these past fewto the Dark Di the jealousy phantos we've done - into three glorious weeks We had picnics and sleepovers and went swi We took a trip to the county fair, where Matt won Bonnie a stuffed tiger and turned bright red when she squealed and leaped into his arms Stefan even kissed uy ht
We were so happy So norain
That's what's frightening ht golden interlude and that now that things are changing, we'll be heading back into darkness and horror It's like that poeold can stay Not for me
Even Damon
The clatter of feet in the hal way downstairs distracted her, and Elena Gilbert's pen slowed She glanced up at the last couple of boxes scattered around her room Stefan and Damon must be here to pick her up
But she wanted to finish her thought, to express the last worry that had been nagging at her during these perfect weeks She turned back to her diary, writing faster so that she could get her thoughts down before she had to leave
Daed Ever since we defeated the jealousy phantom, he's beenkinder Not just to me, not just to Bonnie, who he's always had a soft spot for, but even to Matt and Meredith He can still be intensely irritating and unpredictable - he wouldn't be Dae to him Not like he used to
He and Stefan see They know I love them both, and yet they haven't let jealousy come between them
They're close, acting like true brothers in a way I haven't seen before There's this delicate balance between the three of us that's lasted through the end of the su it crashing down and that like their first love, Katherine, I'll tear the brothers apart And then we'll lose Damon forever
Aunt Judith cal ed up, sounding impatient, "Elena!"
"Co!" Elena replied She quickly scribbled a few more sentences in her diary
Still, it's possible that this new life will be wonderful Maybe I'll find everything I've been looking for I can't hold on to high school, or to my life here at hoold will stay
"Elena! Your ride is waiting!"
Aunt Judith was definitely getting stressed out now
She'd wanted to drive Elena up to school herself But Elena knew she wouldn't be able to say good-bye to her fa, so she'd asked Stefan and Da to get emotional here at home than to weep al over Dalcrest's cao up with the Salvatore brothers, Aunt Judith had been working herself up about every little detail, anxious that Elena's col ege career wouldn't start off perfectly without her there to supervise It was al because Aunt Judith loved her, Elena knew
Elena slammed the blue-velvet-covered journal shut and dropped it into an open box She climbed to her feet and headed for the door, but before she opened it, she turned to look at her room one last time
It was so e froone from her bookcase Only a few clothes remained in her dresser and closet The furniture was al stil in place But now that the room was stripped of most of her possessions, it felt more like an impersonal hotel room than the cozy haven of her childhood
Soup with her father on theseat to read together when she was a little girl She and Bonnie and Meredith - and Caroline, who had been her good friend, too, once - had spent at least a hundred nights here tel ing secrets, studying, dressing for dances, and just hanging out Stefan had kissed her here, early in the , and disappeared quickly when Aunt Judith came to wake her
Elena remembered Damon's cruel, triumphant smile as she invited hio And, not so long ago, her joy when he had appeared here one dark night, after they al thought he was dead
There was a quiet knock at the door, and it swung open
Stefan stood in the dooratching her
"About ready?" he said "Your aunt is a little worried
She thinks you're not going to have ti"
Elena stood and went over to wrap her arms around hiainst his shoulder "I'ood-bye, you know? Everything's changing" Stefan turned toward her and caught her mouth softly in a kiss "I know," he said when the kiss ended, and ran his finger gently along the curve of her bottoive you one more etting packed up"