Chapters

The summaries of each chapter of From the Sidelines.

Chapter 1 Summary
On the first day of the new school year at Mystic Falls High School, 28-year-old art teacher Claire Duval and her class briefly meet an intriguing stranger, though his identity remains a mystery to all. On her way home, Claire finds a stray kitten outside the Mystic Grill and adopts it, naming it Cicero. That night she has a vivid nightmare about a girl attacked in the woods, and although she can't recall much, it leaves her shaken.

Bits of the nightmare worm into her consciousness the next day, and after school Claire visits Sheila Bennett to talk.

Chapter 2 Summary
Claire hears of Vicki Donovan's being attacked by a wild animal during the annual Back-to-School Party the previous night. She doesn't have time to dwell on the fact, as her free periods are taken up by parent-teacher conferences. She meets with both her friend Jenna Sommers and Carol Lockwood, to discuss Jeremy Gilbert and Tyler Lockwood respectively. After school she meets up with Jenna and they go to Coffee Ground, where Jenna expresses her worries about Jeremy.

The next day Claire is in a very good mood, something that the school's Italian teacher remarks upon. After taking Cicero to the vet, Claire goes to the Night of the Comet Festival, held in the town square after dusk. She takes to sketching the scene and people around her. Leaving the celebration, she visits her father's  music teaching studio nearby, climbing to the roof to watch the square below. She calls her sister who lives in Baltimore, and as the two talk, Claire feels the energy that had fueled her during the day return. She begins waltzing alone, but stops abruptly, getting the sensation someone is watching her. Seeing no-one, she sits and sketches for a while.

Chapter 3 Summary
Claire has another dream of someone being attacked, not in the woods but in an open space, which leaves her shaken. This time flashes of the dream revisit her while she is teaching, visibly affecting her to the point of her students noticing. During lunch break she is told that the new student and football team wide receiver is a distant relation of one of the Founding Families of Mystic Falls, the Salvatores. That evening as Jenna's niece Elena invited her friend Bonnie and her new boyfriend Stefan to dinner, Claire and Jenna have a movie night at Claire's house, with Claire cooking.

The next evening Claire goes to the first school football match of the season, which is ultimately canceled due to history teacher and football coach William Tanner's being attacked and killed by a wild animal in the high school parking lot. The attack brings fragments of old memories to the forefront of Claire's mind, and she goes home in search of the boxed history notes of her mother, who is a historian researching Mystic Falls. She finds newspaper clippings concerning old animal attacks in town and remembers that her grandparents had found one of the victims in 1953. She also finds mention that Thomas and Honoria Fell were killed by a wild animal in 1864. The first doubts concerning the true nature of the attacks enter her mind.

A little over two weeks later, attending the Founder's Party at the Lockwood Mansion, Claire catches a brief glance of someone watching her as she dances with biology teacher Martin Cott, but when she looks again, no-one is there.

Chapter 4 Summary
A couple of days later, Claire takes Sheila to Wickery Pond for the latter's birthday, and they talk about Claire's dreams. Two days later, at the high school car wash fundraiser Claire sees Bonnie unknowingly use magic on a fellow student, and afterwards Sheila calls her to confirm a vision she had. That night Claire has a very vivid dream of a man looking for something in the woods. He comes upon a young man and a girl, shoots the man and raises what looks like a piece of wood over his heart. The dream shifts and Claire realizes there is a third man there, one she thinks looks somehow familiar, and the girl is now bent over a body. After suddenly jolting awake, Claire spends the day on edge, and then hears news of three bodies found burned beyond recognition in the old cemetery. She begins thinking that there is something off about the explanations given for this occurrence and the previous animal attacks — both recent and old. She recalls something her great-grandmother said, and the realization shocks her.

The rest of October passes without incident, the only news being Vicki Donovan's and Logan Fell's leaving town. Much of Claire's free time is taken up by preparations for the high school Halloween Party. She attends as a chaperone, manning the outdoor punch bar. Near the end of the evening she bumps into the stranger who had watched her class on the first day of school and feels a chill spread through her. An old conversation with her grandmother comes to the forefront of her mind, and realization hits once more.