CHAPTER FOUR : MR. TANNER IS DEAD !
❝ R. QUINN ❞

♪ crooked teeth by zach bryan ♫

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       ROSEMARY QUINN WOKE UP ON SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2009 WITH WINE BREATH AND FOND MEMORIES OF THE NIGHT PRIOR. She also awoke to the feeling of a wet tongue gliding across her cheek. The brunette groaned, wiping the slobber off her face and groaned even louder when she felt a heavy, warm mass press itself against her chest.

       She tried to raise her head up and managed to bang the tip of her nose against a much colder one. She huffed, cracking her hazelnut eyes open to see Sandy's similar colored eyes staring into her own with her tongue stuck out of her mouth eagerly.

       "Sandy, you weigh like two tons! You aren't a puppy anymore." The art teacher laid her head back against her soft pillows but rubbed between the animal's ears anyway.

       Sandy Quinn was a nearly four year old golden retriever with a love for peanut butter and causing messes. She had been a gift to the late Marjorie Quinn from her husband when she began chemotherapy and the loyal puppy quickly became the dying woman's best friend. Sandy remained so until the day she died and Rosemary truly believed that sometimes, the loveable dog missed the elderly woman.

       Eventually, Rosemary Quinn begrudgingly rose out of bed even though all she wanted was to cuddle with Sandy for the rest of the day. She stretched her body out as soon as her bare feet touched the hardwood floor, sighing in satisfaction when the bottom of her back cracked just right. One peek out of her semi-sheer voile curtains told the art teacher that she had woken up slightly before her alarm clock was supposed to go off.

       The morning sky was a light purple and it wasn't quite dusk yet but Rosemary bet that if she opened her bedroom window, she'd be able to hear the cows mooing already.

       The Quinn didn't bother brushing her teeth or washing her face yet, instead she pulled on a fleece jacket that had been laying across her dresser and put what was left of her long hair into a ponytail at the base of her neck. Her muddy work boots were on the porch, so she only had to worry about placing socks over her feet at the moment.

       Without even looking in her mirror, the twenty three year old began her journey down the stairs with a golden retriever practically tripping over herself in front of her. Rosemary sighed and rolled her eyes but a small smile was still plastered on her lips.

       When the art teacher reached the kitchen, Sandy was already waiting patiently by her food bowl. As soon as the brunette poured the kibble into the metal bowl, the golden retriever practically began devouring her food.

       "I wish you'd slow down, Sandy." Rosemary sighed, "You're gonna get choked one day."

       The Quinn family pet simply looked up at her with wide, classic puppy dog eyes before turning back to her food.

       Rosemary's useless scolding of the dog was interrupted by the kitchen's screen side door creaking open. The Quinn turned to see her father walking in with a frustrated expression on his face.

       "Good morning, Dad. What's wrong?" She was the first to speak between the two as he took a seat at the breakfast table.

       He tapped one of his fingers against the wooden surface, "One of those darn coyotes must've gotten into the rabbits again. Buttercup was missing."

       Around the farm, each Quinn had certain animals they took care of more than the others. Beverly was assigned to the pigs and goats. Rosemary had an affinity for the cows and sheep while Emery took care of his stupid donkeys and barn cats. June, she took care of the little animals─ the chickens and the ducks. The horses, they all took care of together because five horses was not a one person job.

       The rabbits, though, those were June and Emery's little project. When the youngest Quinn was just a little girl, she'd show them at 4-H fairs and everything. She would be heartbroken to know one of them had went missing.

       Rosemary shook her head, "We gotta get something done around here, Daddy. First, something got into the chicken coop and got one of our laying hens, now this?"

       "I know, I know." He grumbled.

       Rosemary made a mental note to ask Matt and Tyler to help put up new fencing whenever they got the chance but she wouldn't dare tell her father this─ he'd automatically deny any form of help.

       The farmer's daughter released a sigh, "I'm gonna go get all my chores done before I have to get ready for work."

       Rosemary didn't wait for his response before exiting the house through the side door, Sandy followed after her─ probably eager to harass the sheep.  She pulled on her boots without hesitation and took in the beautiful view of their acres as she laced them up.

       The sun had just began to rise and dew still remained on each blade of grass.  The far back of the property near the small patch of woods that separated them from the Salvatore Boarding House was lined with berry bushes and fruit trees that grew in the region.  All of the vegetable gardens were lined at the back of the property as well and Rosemary knew that most of her morning tomorrow would be spent harvesting whatever was still growing of their summer crops.  Emery had already went through with a tractor and cut down the plants that were no longer bearing fruit, preparing room for the fall crops.

       The cornfield was the one garden that was far off from the rest of the produce─ it lined one side of the long, winding driveway while the horses' field lined the other.  A newly painted red barn was nestled near the cornfield that could be seen from the main road and beautiful stables had been built by the one and only Emery Quinn five summers ago just a few feet from the horse enclosure.

       The cows were right beside the horses in a separate roaming field.  The rest of the animals were scattered in different areas of the property, with the ducks roaming free primarily around the pond and the chickens being the closest animals to the actual farmhouse. 

       It sure was a pretty sight and Rosemary could only hope her mother was smiling down on it.

       It didn't take the Quinn long at all to complete the majority of her chores.  Most of the cows had learned long ago to stop charging at her when she entered their field and the sheep weren't that annoying to begin with.  They mostly left her alone because Sandy was a menace who thought she was a shepherd dog when in reality, she was a couch potato.

       Rosemary left the golden retriever to her own devices, knowing she wouldn't dare to hurt one of the sheep.  The most Sandy had ever done was nip at one of their hind legs to make them get a move on.  The art teacher made the short journey to the stables, her muddy boots crunching against the dry, dirt path.

       Upon her entrance, two of the family's horses stuck their heads out of their corridors to look at her.  They, too, knew when it was time for their food and to be let into their field.  Rosemary worked quickly to feed the three horses so she could exchange their places with the others who spent their nights in the field.

       She narrowly avoided Verona's teeth chomping onto her hair.  Verona was Beverly's horse and he was a problem child.  He was an absolutely gorgeous Holsteiner with a sleek brown coat and he did fabulously at her niece's events but God, was he annoying.  He was the definition of mischievous and loved playing tricks on the entire Quinn family, but especially the educator of the family.

       While the two young horses in the stables ate their morning portion of grain, Rosemary decided to open the gate on the horse's pasture which caught the attention of the remaining three giants─ the elders of the herd. 

       They also knew their specific schedule: a small portion of grain in the morning with the supplements their old bones needed, one more small portion of grain in the evening, and then they got to spend all night grazing in their pasture.  See, it was a rotational schedule.  The eldest horses got to enjoy the coolness of the night and rested in their stables throughout the day while the younger ones did the opposite.  The entire herd enjoyed a few hours in the evening to socialize and on certain days, the Quinns would take them all out on the trails. (Things were set up that way to prevent overgrazing.)

       Rosemary's very own horse, Charlotte, was the first to approach with the late Quinn mother's following closely behind.  Charlotte was an American Paint Horse with a beautiful sorrel tovero coat and a long, white mane that Rosemary kept up as well as she could.  She had one of the easiest temperaments of the herd and in the height of her career, she often won many awards for not only her beauty but for her record time speeds in horse barrel racing.  The gentle giant had been retired for roughly three months now and she thoroughly enjoyed her time roaming the property's pastures.

       Rosemary smiled as the mare she had been gifted as a small six year old pressed her forehead against her own.  They'd practically grown up together and goodness, how they had grown. 

      Rosemary patted the creature's neck and pressed a kiss to her face, "Good morning, pretty girl."

       A neigh reached her ears and she playfully rolled her eyes, Eden was such an attention seeker.  Her mother's mare was a red roan Appaloosa and considered unattractive by the equestrian society but the Quinn matriarch didn't care.  The twenty eight year old horse had been rescued by Marjorie Quinn from an abusive farm down in North Carolina.  Her unfair treatment was evident in the scars across her body and the chunk missing from her left ear.  Eden had never won any pageant awards but Marjorie Quinn loved her and she died loving her.  Now, it was up to the rest of the Quinn family to love the mare to the same caliber.

       "You're pretty too, Eden." The teacher scratched behind the Appaloosa's left ear.

       Rosemary made eye contact with the stallion standing as far away from her as possible and heaved a sigh.  She would have to get one of the girls or her dad to help with that one.

       The Quinn considered herself good with animals, especially with horses.  She'd been raised around the animals and before she went off to university, she'd practically lived and breathed equestrian
competitions─ she was experienced.  She could handle the gentle giants well, even June's skittish and scrawny one... But that horse... her dad's horse... was hellish.

       The jet black stallion was stubborn and wouldn't listen to a soul other than his equally as stubborn owner.  He was territorial and hated strangers─ especially those who tried to tell him what to do. Usually, the twenty three year old would've been able to handle such an animal but the Thoroughbred was huge and he was fast─ so fast he'd once been the fastest racehorse in the state of Virginia─ and that was a deadly combination for someone as tiny as Rosemary Quinn.

       "You need help, Rose?" The raspy voice of Beverly Quinn called out across the clearing and the aunt sighed in relief.

      "Not with these two, but I will with that one!" Rosemary responded and as if he knew she was referencing him, Laurie stomped his hooves on the ground.

       Rosemary made sure to close the gate behind her as she exited the pasture with Charlotte and Eden─ she did not need Laurie getting out and terrorizing every other living creature on the farm.

       The two elderly mares were easy to deal with, Rosemary didn't even need leads to take them to the stables.  They just trotted on either side of the twenty three year old like dogs would─ that's often what the brunette called horses to strangers, oversized puppy dogs.

       Rosemary quickly exchanged the places of Verona and Cash─ June's four year old Tennessee Walking Horse─ with Charlotte and Eden.  The two still needed leads and halters to walk around, as they were the youngest of the group and Rosemary didn't trust them to not run off.

       The twenty three year old was grateful to see her niece behind her grabbing the largest lead and halter they had which obviously belonged to the hothead they left in the field.  As the duo, along with Cash and Verona, walked back to where they'd been previously, Rosemary smiled at the sight of her father and June sprinkling feed by the chicken coop.  (Internally, she was wondering why her dad wasn't with them trying to deal with his demon of a horse.)

       Fastforward nearly fifteen minutes and all of the chores were done─ the horses were all fed and the most difficult part of Rosemary's morning was over with, except she was in rough shape when she entered the farmhouse kitchen alongside Beverly who was laughing her butt off.  Emery tried to hide the smile on his face behind his mug of coffee while June freely snickered as she finished her math homework.

       Rosemary's left cheek was covered in mud that Laurie had kicked at her and she had grass stains on her bare kneecaps from falling while trying to place the halter on his face.  The brunette looked absolutely done with her life in that moment and her glare only strengthened as her father finally burst out laughing.

       She pointed a finger at the sixty three year old man who appeared thoroughly amused, "YOU are gonna be the one putting up with that SPAWN OF SATAN from now on!"

       Her words only made him laugh even harder until tears were coming out of his eyes.

       She then pointed the same finger back and forth between her two nieces and stubborn father, "And STOP LAUGHING!"

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       It was later that very same morning and Rosemary Quinn had just entered her classroom with her Vera Bradley purse on her shoulder and an espresso from a local coffee shop in one of her hands.  She looked tired and it was obvious in the way she sluggishly moved through the school hallways.  A sigh left her lips when she realized she wasn't the only person in her classroom.  She loved the three high school juniors, she really did, but she was having a rough day and it was only 7:45 in the morning.

       "What are y'all doing here?" Her country accent was thick and frustration was evident in her tone.

       The trio in front of her smiled sheepishly, hands covered in grease from the fast food breakfast sandwiches they were devouring.  The most outspoken of the group, of course, spoke up first, "Just wanted to surprise you with breakfast, Ms. Q."

      Rosemary took the brown bag and scoffed at the sight of what was inside, "Yes.  Thank you, Tyler, so much for the half eaten cinnamon roll."

      The jock raised his hands up, backing off.  "It isn't my fault that the serial leftover thief got a craving for sugar on the way here."

      "Sorry, Ms. Q.  I couldn't resist." The sweet smile on Matt Donovan's face was enough for the art teacher to let her annoyance slip away.

      "Don't worry, Ro.  He tore a piece off, didn't bite it." Her youngest niece, June, spoke up softly.

      Rosemary took a seat on her organized yet cluttered desk, opening the cardboard box the pastry came in and taking a bite.  She swallowed it down before saying, "You guys do know that I could get in trouble for letting y'all eat in here, right?"

      Tyler or Matt would usually pick up one another and June for school everyday then make the ten minute drive to their favorite breakfast fast food place.  If they weren't late just because of the quick stop, the three would devour everything in her classroom which was against county wide school rules.

      "That's such a stupid rule." June groaned, throwing her head back.  "Why does it matter if it's food from an outside business?  It's still food."

      "Yeah, especially because teachers get to have food delivered whenever they want!" Tyler noticed his best friend's aunt open her mouth to speak.  "Don't act like I haven't seen you eat loaded fries from The Grill when you think no one is watching!"

      "Still, school rules are rules." Rosemary tried to be stern, fighting the smile threatening to break through.

      "Come on, Ms. Q.  How else are we supposed to get JuJu to get some meat on her bones?" The ebony skinned football player patted June's flat tummy.

      "Yeah, Aunt Ro.  Surely you aren't going to deny a sick girl access to nutrition." June played along with Matt, a pout on her lips.

      "Surely you wouldn't be so discriminatory." The Lockwood shook his head with a hand against his mouth in faux shock.

      It always went like this with the trio that plagued every day of the art teacher's life.  She would scold them or tell them no and suddenly they would gang up on her until they got their way.  Usually, her niece's cystic fibrosis diagnosis was the center of the guilt tripping technique they used.  As much as they were annoying, they were also loved by Rosemary Quinn.

      "You don't ever listen." The art teacher smiled, taking another bite of her breakfast.

      "Nope."

      "Mhmm."

      "That's about right."

      Rosemary rolled her eyes─ she did that a lot when she was in the presence of her niece and her two jock friends.  She was about to speak again but the morning bell rang and she simply said, "Get to class.  If I found out you're late to first period, you're banned from each other for a week."

      "A WEEK?!"

      "TAKING ME AWAY FROM JUNE AND TYLER?  THAT'S LIKE TAKING AWAY A BABY FROM IT'S MOTHER!"

      "Weird comparison, bro, but alright."

      "Leave." And they did, all three either hugging the art teacher or kissing her cheek as they exited.

       The Quinn woman sighed at the crumbs their messy eating had left on the front table.  She grabbed a sanitizing wipe and wiped it down just as her first period students started piling into the room.

       Once everyone was in their seats, she finally addressed the freshman as she sat in her comfortable desk chair.  "Alright, y'all.  It's a Friday, there's a football game tonight, and I had to wrestle a demon horse that weighs nearly a ton this morning─"

       The gaggle of fourteen and fifteen year olds laughed at her words, especially Jeremy Gilbert who sat in the back row.

       "So let's have a free day, alright?  Heck, you can even be on your phones!  Just don't do anything illegal, alright?"

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       Rosemary Quinn kept a watchful eye on the crowd of high schoolers that had gathered around the gargantuan bonfire for the football tailgate.  The Mystic Falls High School bleachers were beginning to fill with spectators excited to watch the first football game of the season.

       The cheer coach was stood next to Mona Amiri who was stoked to enjoy her first football game being back in her hometown.  She hadn't been to one since her freshman year of high school.  A solo cup filled with orange soda was resting in her hands─ Rosemary had taste tested it for her to make sure it wasn't spiked─ and she had a patchwork blanket wrapped around her shoulders to keep her warm in the cool September air.

       The crowd was cheering wildly when Coach Tanner─ the oaf─ began his annual spiel and just the sound of his voice had both best friends rolling their eyes.

       "Wait, wait, wait.  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait." He attempted to tone down the shouts of the rambunctious teenagers.

       The Quinn spotted, out of her peripheral, her youngest niece standing beside Elena Gilbert as the both eyeballed the football team.  Elena with a lovestruck look in her eyes and June with a fiery one in her own.

       "Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" The crowd around the duo in their twenties booed.

       "But that is about to change!" Rosemary clapped as the teens began cheering once again.

       "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these." The art teacher shook her head with a sign at his words.

       She loved the seventeen year old he was referencing, she really did, but he did not deserve special treatment above the rest of the boys on the team.  He was new and no matter how talented he was, that did not give him superiority above those who had been committed to the football team for years.

       "Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!"

       Rosemary Quinn, despite how frustrated she was with the football coach, cheered for the Salvatore while turning her head to look for the teenage boys, or one boy in particular, who she knew would be seething at his announcement.

       The art teacher finally found Tyler Lockwood and based upon how harshly he was whispering to Matt and how furiously he glared at Stefan Salvatore, one wrong move from anybody on or off the field would set him off.

       Rosemary broke her gaze and tuned back into the speech the history teacher was still giving, "...that have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you...Your Timberwolves are hungry."

       Rosemary cringed and Mona mocked, "yOur TimBErwOlVeS aRe hUngRy!  So stupid."

       Rosemary's laugh at the Iranian woman's words was cut off by the sound of two very familiar voices shouting at one another.  The cheer coach released a huff and pushed her way through the crowd in the direction of wherever the two idiotic boys she loved were.

       If the two individuals were who she thought they were, they were fighting over the most absurd reason.

       The Quinn woman's eyes widened in genuine anger upon seeing Tyler Lockwood and Jeremy Gilbert throwing punches at each other.  "WHAT IN THE NAME OF JESUS DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE DOING?!"

       Vicki Donovan was stood off to the side, screaming for her on-and-off again fling pummeling her fifteen year old on-and-off again fling.  Rosemary rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the situation.

       She marched forward to break up the altercation but Stefan Salvatore beat her to it.  The farmer's daughter watched as he grabbed his teammate's wrist and shouted, "Hey, he's down! Enough!"

       Tyler punched Stefan but Rosemary watched in satisfaction as his expression turned fearful and confused when the hit had no effect on him.  The Quinn heard a set of footsteps coming up from behind her and she was not surprised to see Mona Amiri on a warpath.  "TYLER, I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS INTO OBLIVION!"

       Noticing that the Lockwood boy's eyes had went wide in genuine terror, Rosemary found out that then was a good enough time to finally break up the fight.  (She was not about to risk getting a black eye over a fight both of them would most likely forget about in a week.)

       Rosemary eventually pushed herself between Jeremy and Tyler, not that it took much of a struggle because the Lockwood boy had been pulled aside and was being scolded by Mona.

       "I'm gonna ask you two again.  What do you think you're doing fighting at─"

       The Salvatore vampire heard Jeremy pick something up from the asphalt and he was lucky he turned around in time to catch it.  If he hadn't, a glass bottle of soda would've been broken over Tyler Lockwood's head and the glass would've embedded itself into the faces of Rosemary and her pregnant companion.

       The glass bottle still shattered on impact as it hit his hand but it didn't harm anyone else.  Stefan could feel blood drip down his palm but it didn't hurt.

       "Jeremy, no!" The Gilbert's older sister called out.

       Rosemary's reaction to her best friend's nephew trying to break a bottle over her other best friend's nephew's head was slightly delayed.  Her eyes were opened wide, still in shock.  She couldn't comprehend little Jeremy Gilbert trying to knock someone out or worse, especially not caring if he hurt three other people in the process.

       But then again, Rosemary also didn't expect little Jeremy Gilbert to become a pill popper and pusher either.

       The art teacher could hear Elena fawning over her kid brother in the back of her mind but that wasn't at the forefront of her thoughts.  If Rosemary Quinn had been mad before, she was furious at that point.

       "That's it." Rosemary said through gritted teeth and stepped around Stefan Salvatore and his bleeding palm.

       She grabbed Jeremy Gilbert by the ear and pulled him down to her height so that her lips were right by the side of his head.  Then in a voice so deadly quiet, she told him.  "You're gonna come with me and you're gonna come with me right now because I swear to God, I will embarrass you right in front of all of your stoner friends right here and right now until you're beggin' for Jesus to just take you on home."

       She pulled back from him and she had that Quinn fire in her eyes that could have the most evil man on the planet quivering in his shoes.

       The fifteen year old nodded slowly with a genuine look of fear in those signature Gilbert browns.

       Before Rosemary left with Jenna Sommers' nephew in tow, she turned to make eye contact with Tyler Lockwood who was being scolded by his fierce Iranian aunt.  Rosemary's hazelnut eyes narrowed at the football player as she mouthed, "You're next."

       The twenty three year old woman marched away from the crowd with her hand gripping onto Jeremy's grey jacket so tight that she was close to ripping it.

       She waited until she was in a secluded area to let him have it.

       "You want to explain yourself, Jeremy Gilbert?"

       The stoner winced.  She never called him by his full name to his face, it had always been Jer or J.  Never Jeremy.

       "Tyler was saying some stuff about Vicki Donovan─"

       Rosemary finally let loose, "TO HELL WITH VICKI DONOVAN!"

       Jeremy flinched.  The Quinn had never cursed at him before.  Never.  She seemed to realize it too because she pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes at her actions.

      "Sorry..." The cheer coach took a brief pause.  "Do you realize you're a victim, Jeremy?"

       The fifteen year old rolled his eyes, "Not this again..."

       "Yes this again!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. "Because you're not listening to Jenna or your sister!  And if you don't listen to me, I swear to you, you will be answering to the police or to God."

       His eyes widened, "Rose, you wouldn't."

       "I will." She answered seriously. "I would rather you be in juvie than find you and Vicki somewhere in the middle of the woods OD'ed."

       He appeared in a state of surprise.

       "Oh, don't look so shocked, buddy.  I know all about you and Vicki Donovan."

       Jeremy looked utterly ashamed of himself and her tone softened considerably.  He was a victim.

       "You're a kid, Jeremy." She grabbed the palms of his hands she had held so often when he was a little boy.  "You're a kid and she's old enough to vote, to marry, to divorce, to buy a gun, enter the military.  You realize that?"

       He couldn't meet her gaze and it made her heartbreak but she knew that she had to continue anyway.  He needed to understand, he needed to listen.

       "You are a victim, Jer.  She is an adult now and she knows what she's doing.  Druggies are smart.  She's manipulating you for a good high and it's breaking my heart that you don't see it."

       "Please see it, Jer." She pleaded. "Not for me or for Jenna or Elena, but for you."

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       Rosemary didn't find it completely necessary to lecture Tyler Lockwood right then and there.  She knew that Matt and her niece, and especially Mona had already given him an earful.  Plus, after receiving the news that Tyler would be benched for the next three games, she assumed he had probably learned his lesson.

       And if he hadn't, well he would.  Real quick.

       Rosemary was in the parking lot by herself and had just unlocked the back car door to her 2006 Nissan Altima in order to retrieve a thermos of hot chocolate she had prepared for herself.  In all honesty, she should've spiked it with caffeine or something because she no longer had the energy to continue through the football game.  The energy from her power nap after work was swiftly running out.

       As she closed her door, she heard someone call out to her from afar.  The Quinn looked up to see Damon Salvatore walking across the parking lot in her direction.  He had a thicker coat on rather than his trademark leather jacket.  It was oddly cold for a September night in the southeastern region of the United States.

       She waved at him with a small smile in greeting and soon enough, he had reached her.

       "Hey Damon, you here for Stefan?" She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket while the thermos rested in the crook of her elbow, trying to keep warm.

       He released a sigh, "Not exactly.  I'm kinda hiding from him."

       Odd.  Rosemary furrowed her eyebrows.

       "And why is that?"

       The raven haired Salvatore kissed his teeth, "I needed a break.  Little brothers can be so annoying."

       Rosemary chuckled as she shuffled in her place, "That seems to be a running theme with younger siblings, not that I would know."

       Damon smirked, "You're lucky."

       The Quinn shrugged, "Not really.  I woulda killed for a younger sibling growing up."

       She now had Beverly and June but that still wasn't the same. 

       "Really?" Damon raised his eyebrows.

       Rosemary nodded slightly, "Yeah.  I practically begged my mom for a baby brother."

       "Duly noted."

       There was an awkward silence in the air after his words, but Damon being Damon, he, of course, broke it.

       "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, complaining about Stefan.  That's not my intention." He apologized but Rosemary wasn't sure she believed it, even if she wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest about Stefan being the topic of conversation.

       She playfully raised a brow, "You sure?  I mean, seems to me like you're trying to become my favorite Salvatore."

       A charming smirk grew on his lips, "You're right.  I do have other intentions, but so do you."

       Rosemary Quinn was puzzled by the twenty five year old's words.  What intentions?  To drink hot chocolate at a football game she had no energy for?

       "I do?"

       "Mm-hmm.  I see 'em.  You want me." Damon made the bold accusation.

       The art teacher visibly blanched, "Excuse me?"

       "I get to you. You're intrigued by me, but you're always attracted to the mysterious, aren't you? And right now..."

       Damon Salvatore locked his blues to her browns intently.  Rosemary watched through the light that a street lamp provided as his pupils expanded.  He finished, "You're obsessed with me."

       The Quinn felt a wave of nausea flow through her body but that feeling was quickly overpowered by the strong sense of confusion in her brain.  "Umm, no I'm not?"

       She quickly added, "I didn't mean to give you a false impression but I'm really not.  I mean I barely know you, you know?"

       The eldest Salvatore brother's face turned from smug to a mixture of confusion and disbelief.  How had she resisted compulsion?

       Damon internally groaned.  Stefan.

       He still appeared surprised but responded, "Yeah, yeah.  I misread things."

       The Quinn added more salt to his wounded ego by saying, "I mean, you're attractive and all but I'm not interested in you...Or anyone really!  And I'm your brother's teacher...I think it's better if we stay friends."

       He nodded with a faux smile to hide his frustration, "No, no, yeah.  I get it!  You're right.  Friends sounds good!

       Clearly pleased with his reaction, the farmer's daughter nodded with a small smile.  She awkwardly pointed to the football stadium with her thumb, "I'm gonna head back in, you coming or?"

       Damon shook his head politely with an ever present artificial smile, "No, I'm gonna go find Stefan."

       "He's probably in the locker rooms.  Oh, and check on his hand!  He cut it up pretty bad."

       He thanked her and with a final nod, Rosemary walked away.  Damon Salvatore's polite facade dropped immediately as he stared after her retreating figure.

       During times like these, he really wanted to murder his brother or at least snap his neck.

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       Rosemary watched in disbelief as a stretcher with a lifeless figure on it was pushed into the back of an awaiting ambulance. 

       Coach Tanner was dead. 

       She wasn't sure how it happened or why it dead but Matt Donovan was the one who found him and there was no pulse.

       First, the rogue animal attacks around the time school started.  Then, Vicki Donovan.  Then, this.

       Evil things were lurking in Mystic Falls now, she just didn't know what.

     ═ஓ๑♡๑ஓ═

DELETED SCENE!

[Matt Donovan exits the locker room after a heart to heart with Stefan Salvatore]

[Damon Salvatore is in the corner. He claps for Stefan.]

Damon: Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend. It's all so, "rah, rah, go team, yeah!"

Stefan: Not tonight. I'm done with you.

Damon: Nice trick with Rosemary. Let me guess...vervain in the necklace?  You spiked her wine last night?  I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion. Where'd you get it?

Stefan [Confused]: What do you mean?

Damon: The vervain?  I tried to compel her, it didn't work? 

Stefan: But I didn't...

[Stefan now wondered where Rosemary could have ingested vervain.]

Damon: Oh well, I guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just...eat her.

[Damon is mostly joking.]

Stefan: No. You're not gonna hurt her, Damon.

[Damon becomes annoyed. Damon doesn't like when people tell him what to do.]

Damon: No?

Stefan: Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her and maybe even Elena.  A part of you that feels safe around Rose, that doesn't want to hurt her just like me! I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be but then I saw you last night─

[Damon doesn't like Stefan being right.  He wants to prove him wrong.]

Damon: Who's pretending?

Stefan: Then kill me.

Damon: Well, I'm...I'm tempted.

Stefan: No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After 145 years. Katherine is dead. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity.

[Damon becomes angrier just as a human heartbeat reaches his ears that Stefan apparently doesn't hear.  Damon blames it on his brother's bunny muncher diet.]

Tanner: Salvatore! What the hell? We've got a game to play!

Damon: If that's my humanity...then what's this?

[Damon kills Tanner.]

Tanner: Aah!

Stefan: No!

Damon: Anyone, anytime, any place.

[Damon flees the scene and Stefan reluctantly does the same, avoiding getting caught at a murder scene.]

══════ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══════

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

this was 6k words omg— so proud of myself!!

so much happened in this chapter 😳 so many cuts between scenes— i still love this chapter tho !!

i felt that the opening portion of the farm was very key to this chapter tbh— i don't want to simply write stuff surrounding the tvd plot!!  i want rose to have development and depth outside of that!

rosemary's interactions with all of the characters in this chapter are so important, too!! we saw her express so many different emotions in just one chapter and i think that's pretty cool.  rosemary is not happy all the time!!  no character is happy all the time!!

also a disclaimer: the way i handle and treat cystic fibrosis in writing is because of my experiences with it.  my older and only female cousin has cystic fibrosis so i kind of mold my treatment and june's treatment of the illness based upon that.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as i loved writing it— i need to go to bed, i'm so tired— i have school in the morning— see you next update!!!

SEVERELY UNEDITED, Y'ALL!!