Heavy in Your Arms

Charm doesn't travel. Like spontaneous wit it tends to need the full surround of being there and sexual allure and without heed seems even more problematic. So when Elena lay in bed with Stefan, trying to explain the return of her childhood friend and all the memories that surrounded her; it was easier said than done.

"Sounds like you two had a lot of fun, why did she move away?"

Elena shrugged, and nuzzled closer to Stefan, "Her parent's got divorced and her dad re-married within a couple of weeks and moved to Europe, her mother had her own love life to really give any sort of care and took her to New Zealand with her."

"Doesn't sound like a very good life."

She shrugged again, but looked up at Stefan, "I know. Hayden made me so grateful for having my mum and dad because all I remember growing up, that when I went over to her house, was that her parent's didn't care. Sure, they loved Hayden, but they were way too self-absorbed to give any real love. It was why she was so close with me, and I can't imagine what kind of life she had in New Zealand."

Sure, Stefan felt sorry for this girl for having to live a life so lonely, but in no way could it have been as lonely as his life had been before he had met Elena. At least Hayden still had an actual family.

"I'm worried about something else though," Elena brought Stefan out of his train of thought, "There is so much shit going on at the moment that, I don't know if I want to bring her into this. Bonnie and Caroline are already in it, everyone I love, is in this. And Hayden, she doesn't have to be. I mean, Hayden is gorgeous, I can only imagine what kind of trouble that she could get into."

Stefan laughed, and squeezed his girlfriend closer to his body, "Not as pretty as you though."

She giggled and kissed her boyfriend's lips.

This was how Hayden's world ended, the first step to eternal life was that she had to get out of bed and head to school, because that place was her own personal hell.

She had hardly ever gone to school in New Zealand, her private school didn't care much for the students and how much they attended classes, as long as their parent's still paid the bills they were fine with most sorts of immorality. Hayden woke up to someone ringing her phone, and in her tired stupor she reached out and put her cell phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hayden, it's Elena!"

"Oh," Hayden had expected to hear from her earlier than Monday morning, but alas, she knew she was probably busy and couldn't just drop everything to attend to her lonely needs. Hayden had wanted to check out the town a little more. She wanted to see how much it had changed, if, it had changed at all. It was nice to be back in a quiet town; Auckland City was always busy with traffic, parties and all other sorts of debauchery. You could go to a fast food joint and get a snack in the middle of the night with no problem, but here, they didn't even have a fast food restaurant. I mean, what did these people eat? "Hey, what's up?"

"Not much," Elena's voice could be heard over the voice of her brother's and Jenna's, and she guessed that she was in the kitchen. "I was wondering if you wanted a lift to school, you know, help you to remember the town before you start driving there yourself."

"Sure."

"Okay, so you're at your old house, right? I'll be by in half an hour."

Hayden rubbed her eyes, and said her goodbyes before hopping out of bed and making her way lazily down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Hayden," Julian smiled and placed a coffee in front of Hayden as she sat down at the breakfast island. She sipped from the cup and sighed; strong with heaps of cream and sugar, just how she liked it.

"I feel like shit." She coughed and her head fell onto the marble counter.

Julian only ignored her and pulled some food from the counter behind him, "I packed your lunch for you; chicken salad sandwiches, an apple, some orange juice with pulp and some white chocolate chip cookies freshly made this morning."

She moaned and reached for the food but it was quickly snatched from beneath her fingers, and instead a plate of food was placed in front of her. "No, lunch is for lunch. I don't want you eating your food before you even get to school."

Julian knew her too well.

She finished her pancakes with fresh fruit and cream and maple syrup. She felt herself getting full but she simply couldn't stop herself, and kept on eating. Walking up to her room she grabbed a random pair of jeans and a plain white v-neck shirt off the floor.

"Nice outfit," Elena said from behind her as Hayden threw her hair into a ponytail.

Hayden smiled and walked over to her friend, greeting her with a hug, "You remember where my room is! Even after all these years."

Elena shrugged with a smile on her face, "Are you kidding me? I practically lived here as a kid!"

The two were out of her room in a couple of minutes of Elena awing over all her gadgets, and they went out to her car where she drove the two of them to school. "So, Lena, talk to me about the talent in town."

"Talent?"

Hayden's hand hit her face. She had to remember to refrain from using the New Zealand lingo she had picked up over the years since she was now in America again. "Talent as in hot guys around here. Talk to me about all the good looking people," and as the two passed an elderly couple walking down the street, "And where they all hang out."

"I think you have forgotten that I am spoken for," Elena sent her a playful look; "Stefan's the only boy for me, Hades."

Hayden made a noise of disgust and looked out the window, "C'mon! You don't even look at other guys? What about that guy Matt that always wanted to hang around you, and his little friend Tyler. That guy was such a fucking asshole, I loved it! How are those guys, and more importantly, how did they grow up?"

Elena laughed, shaking her head as they pulled into the high school parking lot and found a park, "Matt is good actually, and Tyler..." she gave it a thought, "Hasn't changed that much."

People stared at Hayden as she walked through the corridors and towards the reception area, and while she was used it to it, Elena wasn't, and she pegged it down to her coming back to town.

Her first day of school had been highly uneventful, just like she thought it would be. The best part was lunch time when she could lay on the grass, and just get to know everyone better. She hadn't seen Bonnie, Caroline and Elena in so long, she liked being able to know what they had been up to and compare it to how she had spent the last years of her life. She was looking forward to meeting Stefan, the boy Elena had talked about a lot considering the two of them had only talked to each other twice since she had come back to Mystic Falls but he called saying he had an emergency with his brother and that he would meet up with the rest of them after school at the Mystic Grill.

Hayden was resting against Elena's car, waiting for her to get out of class when someone came up behind her.

"Hayden Romanov?" She had been getting that all day, to say she was sick of it was an understatement. She turned at the noise, to face a boy around her age with brown eyes and brown hair. He was tall, about six feet which towered over Hayden's five foot four figure.

"Yeah, who are you?"

A small smirk was visible on his lips, "It's Tyler."

Before she knew it she had thrown herself into his arms, and hugged him tightly. While everyone thought Tyler was a complete wanker, she had always though he was just misunderstood; just like herself. Everyone pegged her for a rich, loner kid, but Hayden was so much more than that.

"Oh my god," she didn't know what to say when she held him at arms length.

"Tell me about it. You really grew up, you know that?" He looked her body over, "Really filled out."

She squeezed his biceps for effect, "Same to you, Lockwood."

"Tyler," Elena walked up behind Hayden and gave him a firm nod before hopping into her car without another word. And Hayden took that as her cue to leave. She bid goodbye to Tyler and jumped into Elena's car, and she peeled from the parking lot without another word.

"God," Hayden laughed, "You kinda left out the part about Tyler being really fucking hot."