- Damon Salvatore: Your hair's different, I like it.
- Stefan Salvatore: It's been 15 years, Damon.
- Damon Salvatore: Thank God! Couldn't take another day of the 90's. That horrible grunge look did not suit you. Remember Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads.
- Stefan Salvatore: What are you doing here?
- Damon Salvatore: I missed my little brother.
- Stefan Salvatore: You hate small towns, they're boring, there's nothing for you to do.
- Damon Salvatore: I've been keeping myself busy.
- Stefan Salvatore: You left that girl alive tonight. That was very careless of you.
- Damon Salvatore: Yeah, that could be a problem... for you.
- Caroline Forbes: His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini and his favorite color is blue.
- Bonnie Bennett: You got all of that in one day?
- Caroline Forbes: Oh, please. I got all of that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding.
- Stefan Salvatore: Crow's a bit much, don't you think?
- Damon Salvatore: Wait till you see what I can do with the fog.
- Stefan Salvatore: I know it's late. But uh... I needed to know that you were okay.
- Elena Gilbert: You know, for months, that's all anyone's wondered about me. If I'll be okay.
- Stefan Salvatore: What do you tell them?
- Elena Gilbert: That I'll be fine.
- Stefan Salvatore: Do you ever mean it?
- Elena Gilbert: Ask me tomorrow.
- Elena Gilbert: It's warmer in the house. We can talk. Would you like to come in?
- Stefan Salvatore: Yes.
- Stefan Salvatore: I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier, I know it was... strange.
- Elena Gilbert: No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish.
- Stefan Salvatore: Um, something like that.
- Mr. Tanner: The battle of Willow Creek happened right here in our very Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Miss Bennett?
- Bonnie Bennett: A lot? I'm not sure, but like a whole lot.
- Mr. Tanner: Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Miss Bennett. Mr. Donovan, maybe you can take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype.
- Matt Donovan: That's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it.
- Mr. Tanner: Elena? Surely you can enlighten us on one of the town's most historic events.
- Elena Gilbert: I'm sorry, I don't know.
- Mr. Tanner: I was willing to be lenient last year, for obvious reasons, but the personal reasons ended with summer break.
- Stefan Salvatore: There was 346 causalities, unless you're counting civilians.
- Mr. Tanner: That's correct, Mr...?
- Stefan Salvatore: Salvatore.
- Mr. Tanner: Salvatore? Any relation to the original settlers here in Mystic Falls?
- Stefan Salvatore: Distant.
- Mr. Tanner: Very good, except that there were no civilian casualties in this battle.
- Stefan Salvatore: Actually there were 27 civilian casualties. Confederate soldiers fired on the church believing it to be hiding weapons, but they were wrong. It's a night of great loss. The founders' records are stored in civil hall if you want to brush up on your facts... Mr. Tanner.
- [first lines]
- Stefan Salvatore: For over a century I have lived in secret, hiding in the shadows, alone in the world, until now. I am a vampire. And this is my story.
- Stefan Salvatore: I shouldn't have come home, I know the risk, but I had no choice, I have to know her.
- Elena Gilbert: Dear Diary, I made it through the day! I must have said "I'm fine, thanks!" at least 37 times, and I didn't mean it once. And no one noticed. When someone asks how are you, they really don't want an answer...
- Elena Gilbert: You know, you're kinda the talk of the town.
- Stefan Salvatore: Am I?
- Elena Gilbert: Mysterious new guy, oh yeah.
- Stefan Salvatore: Well, you have the mysterious thing going on too, with a twinge of sadness.
- Elena Gilbert: What makes you think I'm sad?
- Stefan Salvatore: Well, we did meet in a graveyard.
- Elena Gilbert: Right. No, technically we met in the men's room.
- Damon Salvatore: I was impressed. I'll give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face thing, it was good.
- Stefan Salvatore: It's all fun and games, huh, Damon? But wherever you go, people die.
- Damon Salvatore: That's a given.
- Stefan Salvatore: Not here, I won't allow it.
- Damon Salvatore: I take that as an invitation.
- Stefan Salvatore: Damon, please, after all these years, can't we just give it a rest?
- Damon Salvatore: I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word.
- Bonnie Bennett: You sober yet?
- Caroline Forbes: Nope.
- Bonnie Bennett: Come on, I need to get you home, I need to get me home.
- Caroline Forbes: Why didn't he go for me?
- Bonnie Bennett: I'm not touching that.
- Caroline Forbes: Why is it that the guys I want, never go for me? I try so hard, maybe because I'm inappropriate and I always say the wrong things and Elena always says the right things. I mean, she doesn't even try and he just picks her!
- Bonnie Bennett: Caroline, it isn't a competition.
- Caroline Forbes: Yeah, it is.
- Caroline Forbes: Elena, oh my God! How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you.
- [to Bonnie]
- Caroline Forbes: How is she, is she good?
- Elena Gilbert: Caroline, I'm right here. And, I'm fine. Thank you.
- Caroline Forbes: Really?
- Elena Gilbert: Yes! Much better.
- Caroline Forbes: You poor thing.
- [hugs Elena]
- Caroline Forbes: See you guys later?
- [walks away]
- Elena Gilbert: [to Bonnie] No comment.
- Caroline Forbes: Why didn't he go for me? How come the guys that I want never want me? I'm inappropriate, always say the wrong thing and Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try, and he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks. For everything. And I try so hard and I'm never the one...
- [in voiceover narration]
- Elena Gilbert: Dear diary, I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that I could smile, nod my way through it; pretend like it would all be okay.
- Stefan Salvatore: I had a plan. I wanted to change who I was; create a life as someone new, someone without the past.
- Elena Gilbert: Without the pain.
- Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert: Someone alive.
- Elena Gilbert: But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you.
- Stefan Salvatore: They follow you. You can't escape them, as much as you want to.
- Elena Gilbert: All you can do is be ready for the good. So when it comes, you invite it in, because you need it. I need it.
- Bonnie Bennett: So, where is he?
- Elena Gilbert: I don't know, you tell me. You're the psychic one, remember?
- Bonnie Bennett: Oh, right, I forgot. Give me a sec, Gran says I need to concentrate.
- Elena Gilbert: Wait, you need a crystal ball.
- [hands her a beer bottle]
- Stefan Salvatore: How's your leg?
- Elena Gilbert: Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch, barely. How did you know where I lived?
- Stefan Salvatore: It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back.
- Elena Gilbert: [he returns her journal] Oh, I must have dropped it. I... thank you.
- Stefan Salvatore: Don't worry, I didn't... read it.
- Elena Gilbert: No? Why not? Most people would have.
- Stefan Salvatore: Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine.
- Elena Gilbert: You keep a journal?
- Stefan Salvatore: Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important.
- Zach Salvatore: What's going on?
- Stefan Salvatore: Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me.
- Elena Gilbert: Dear Diary, today will be different, it has to be, I will smile and it will be believable. A smile that will say "I am fine, thank you... Yes I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents, I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I can make it through.
- Bonnie Bennett: [surveying the other kids in school:] Major lack of male real estate.
- [critical of girl coming down hallway:]
- Bonnie Bennett: Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks a lot... Can I still say, "trannie mess"?
- Elena Gilbert: No, it's over.
- Bonnie Bennett: Ugh. Find a man and coin a phrase. It's a busy year.
- Elena Gilbert: [ex-boyfriend Matt doesn't return her wave, and she slumps against the lockers] He hates me.
- Bonnie Bennett: That's not hate. That's "you dumped me but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits."
- Elena Gilbert: [to the cawing crow perched on the tombstone] Okay. Hi, bird.
- [muttering:]
- Elena Gilbert: That's not creepy or anything.
- Elena Gilbert: Dear Diary, today will be different. It has to be. I will smile, and it will be believable. My smile will say, "I'm fine, thank you. Yes, I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl that lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through.
- Bonnie Bennett: Hold up, who's this?
- Elena Gilbert: All I see is back.
- Bonnie Bennett: It's a hot back! I'm sensing Seattle and he plays a guitar.
- Elena Gilbert: You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?
- Bonnie Bennett: Pretty much.
- Stefan Salvatore: You okay?
- Elena Gilbert: [gasping for breath] Were you following me?
- Stefan Salvatore: No, I just... I saw you fall.
- Elena Gilbert: Oh, and you just happened to be... hanging out in a cemetery.
- Stefan Salvatore: I'm visiting, I have, uh, family here.
- Elena Gilbert: [regretfully] Oh. Wow, tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog. It's making me foggy. And then, back there,
- [points]
- Elena Gilbert: there was this... this bird. And it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right? The Hitchcock...?
- [giggles self-consciously as he looks at her]
- Elena Gilbert: I'm Elena.
- Stefan Salvatore: I'm Stefan.
- Elena Gilbert: I know. We have History together.
- Stefan Salvatore: And English and French.
- Elena Gilbert: Right.
- [as he wipes away at a twig still clinging to her clothes:]
- Elena Gilbert: Thanks.
- Matt Donovan: [sitting at her hospital bedside when she wakes up] Vicki. Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay.
- Vicki Donovan: [weakly] Matt...
- Matt Donovan: Shh. Hey, don't try to talk, okay? You're fine.
- Vicki Donovan: Vampire.
- Elena Gilbert: Great. It's the first day of school and you're stoned.
- Jeremy Gilbert: No, I'm not.
- Elena Gilbert: Where is it? Is it on you?
- Jeremy Gilbert: [she starts searching his pockets] Stop, all right? You need to chill yourself, all right?
- Elena Gilbert: Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool.
- Jeremy Gilbert: Look, stop! I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?
- Elena Gilbert: You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy! I gave you a summer pass, but I am done watching you destroy yourself.
- [stopping him as he tries to leave]
- Elena Gilbert: No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead. Keep it up. But just know that I am going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, you got it?
- Stefan Salvatore: I like Bonnie. She seems like a good friend.
- Elena Gilbert: Best friend in the world.
- Stefan Salvatore: And Matt, he can't seem to, uh, take his eyes off of us.
- Elena Gilbert: Matt's that friend since childhood that you start dating because you owe it to yourselves to see if you can be more.
- Stefan Salvatore: And?
- Elena Gilbert: And then my parents died, and everything changes. Anyway, Matt and I, together we just, I don't know, it wasn't, um...
- [looking for the right words]
- Elena Gilbert: It wasn't...
- Stefan Salvatore: Passionate.
- Elena Gilbert: No. No, it wasn't passionate.
- Jeremy Gilbert: Hey, what's your deal? I mean, summer you act one way, and then school starts and you can't be bothered.
- Vicki Donovan: Look, Jeremy, I really appreciate all the pharmaceuticals, but you can't keep following me around like a lost puppy.
- Jeremy Gilbert: When's the last time you had sex with a puppy?
- Vicki Donovan: Hey, keep it down. I don't want to tell the whole world I deflowered Elena's kid brother.
- Jeremy Gilbert: Yeah, and deflowered and deflowered.
- Vicki Donovan: We hooked up a few times in a drug haze. It's over. You gotta back off before you ruin things between me and Tyler.
- Jeremy Gilbert: Oh, come on, the guy's a total douche. He only wants you for your ass.
- Vicki Donovan: Yeah? What do you want me for?
- Vicki Donovan: I didn't need your help.
- Jeremy Gilbert: It seems like you did.
- Vicki Donovan: He was just drunk.
- Jeremy Gilbert: I'm drunk. Am I throwing myself at you?
- Vicki Donovan: No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul, and screw and screw and screw until you're done with me.
- Jeremy Gilbert: Is that what you think?
- Vicki Donovan: That's what I know.
- Zach Salvatore: You promised.
- Stefan Salvatore: [taking and glancing at a newspaper article] This was an animal attack.
- Zach Salvatore: Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough, they always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control.
- Stefan Salvatore: And I do.
- Zach Salvatore: Please, Uncle Stefan. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet here for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just gonna stir things up.
- Stefan Salvatore: It's not my intention.
- Zach Salvatore: Then what is? Why did you come back? After all this time, why now?
- Stefan Salvatore: I don't have to explain myself.
- Zach Salvatore: I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore.
- Stefan Salvatore: Where do I belong?
- Zach Salvatore: I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake.
- Jenna Sommers: Toast. I can make toast.
- Elena Gilbert: It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna.
- Jeremy Gilbert: [coming in] Is there coffee?
- Jenna Sommers: Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared. Lunch money?
- Elena Gilbert: I'm good.
- Jenna Sommers: [Jeremy takes a couple of bills] Anything else? A number-two pencil? What am I missing?
- Elena Gilbert: Don't you have a big presentation today?
- Jenna Sommers: I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at...
- [checking her watch]
- Jenna Sommers: Now. Crap!
- Elena Gilbert: Then go. We'll be fine.
- Vicki Donovan: No, Ty. I'm not having sex against a tree.
- Tyler Lockwood: Oh, come on, it would be hot.
- Vicki Donovan: For who? No, it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen, not here, not like this. No. I-I said no! I said no! Ow, that hurts!
- Jeremy Gilbert: Hey, leave her alone.
- Tyler Lockwood: You know, you're starting to get on my nerves, Gilbert.
- Vicki Donovan: Just go, Tyler. Get the hell away from me.
- Tyler Lockwood: Wow. Vicki Donovan says no. That's a first.
- Bonnie Bennett: Elena... there's no way I'm psychic... I know that. But whatever I saw... or think I saw... I have this feeling...
- Elena Gilbert: Bonnie, what?
- Bonnie Bennett: This is just the beginning.