Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue

“Bonnie, come on!” Caroline groaned from the other side of the door.

“It won’t be the same without you!” Elena added from next to Caroline.

“I said no! Reruns of Glee are on all day tomorrow, and in my humble opinion that is a hundred times more important than some party!” Bonnie replied.

Bonnie Bennett was currently lounging on her full sized bed, picking at her nails as two of her best friends tried their damn hardest to convince her to go to The Last Splash, an end of summer celebration party that would be taking place the next day. 

Caroline had come up with the idea for it when Bonnie forced her to watch Aquamarine . Bad decision, Bonnie.

“Please, Bon? We’re going into Senior year! We need to experience things! Besides, some of the guys from Whitmore High are coming and we’re probably gonna go to college with them! You can’t make a good impression if you’re not there!” Caroline whined.

“Just because I’ll actually be at home watching Glee doesn’t mean I won’t be with you in spirit!”

“Bonnie, we all know your spirit will be with Quinn Fabray the second you see her.” Elena pointed out. She was right, Bonnie had a soft spot for the blonde.

Bonnie didn’t answer.

“You know she’s right.” Caroline agreed. “Now, let us in.”

Bonnie groaned and dragged her feet to the door, mumbling a string of profanities.

“There’s your beautiful face!” Caroline smiled.

Bonnie shot her a sarcastic smile. “Don’t try to butter me up, Forbes.”

“Back to the bed.” Elena said, pushing her friends towards it. 

They all landed on the bed, snuggling up. Bonnie was in her place between them, with Caroline to her left and Elena to her right.

Bonnie loved her friends more than anything, but she would do anything to get out of going to that party. She normally could deal with the parties (pretty much all of her friends were extroverted, so she didn’t really have a choice), but this specific one was going to go badly. She just knew it.

Bonnie wasn’t superstitious or anything, or maybe she was, she couldn’t really tell. Her grandmother definitely was, and that made her doubt. If Grams was so sure about this supernatural stuff, it could be true.

Grams was her sole guardian after her mom left to start a new family in Wisconsin and her dad chose to move to Chicago part time. 

Grams was a quirky old woman. She had a thing for witchy stuff. Grams owned an apothecary in Town Square; ‘Sheila’s Enchantments’. It was full of crystals and tarot cards. People called it ‘The Little Witch Shop’, which resulted in kids in school calling her ‘Little Witch’. It was great (note the sarcasm).

Bonnie liked to pretend that her Grandmother’s superstitions were a silly hoax, but sometimes they had her creeped out. She’d learned to always follow her gut instinct, and she had a horrible feeling about The Last Splash.

“Just because I let you in doesn’t mean I’m going to The Splash.” Bonnie said with a sigh. 

Caroline snuggled closer. “We can be very persuasive if we have to.”

And they were. The next day at 4 PM, Bonnie found herself grumpily answering the door for Elena and Caroline, who were holding three dresses, two makeup kits and a butt load of hair supplies.

On the bright side I’ll see what my bad feeling was about, she thought as her friends stepped inside.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1 - The Splash and the Attack

Elena winked at herself in the mirror and glared at Bonnie who cackled at her.

“Why are you so mean?” Elena pouted.

“I can’t help it! You’re ridiculous!” Bonnie wheezed. Caroline and Elena both couldn’t help but laugh along.

“Bonnie, you should start on your makeup. Or at least your hair, even though I would judge you for doing it first.” Caroline reminded her friend as she straightened a strand of her blonde locks.

“No. Glee.” Bonnie said, folding her arms and making a face that looked astoundingly similar to Grumpy Cat.

“You can watch Glee tomorrow, Bonnie.” Caroline said. 

Bonnie’s stubbornness was normally the cutest thing in the world, but right now, Caroline wanted to fling her best friend out the window.

Just then, Lucifer (Bonnie’s cat), waltzed into the room, hopping into Bonnie’s lap. Bonnie had two cats, Lucifer and Shrek. Luci was black with blue eyes. He was sneaky as hell, and seemed to hate every human except Bonnie and Grams. Shrek was white with green eyes. She named him Shrek because the color of his eyes perfectly reflected the animated ogre’s skin. He was sweet and cuddly, he loved everybody and he and Lucifer loved each other.

“Hello, my precious.” She cooed as she stroked her cat.

“You are seriously turning into a super villain.” Elena turned to her friend.

“I take that as a complement.”

“Okay, since you’re not going to do your own makeup, we have no choice but to do it for you.” Caroline said decidedly.

“Hell no.” Bonnie said, holding her cat tighter.

“Bonnie, come on. This party means a lot to me.” Caroline said, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

As evil as Bonnie liked to pretend she was, her heart was huge and couldn’t stand it if anybody else was sad or unhappy. She just couldn’t resist the puppy dog eyes.

“Fine.” She reluctantly agreed, putting Luci down. “Make me beautiful.”

Ten minutes later, the girls were all ready in their bathing suits. Caroline donned a teal polka dot one piece with a strappy back. 

Elena had a pastel pink string bikini and a matching sheer sarong.

Bonnie wore a periwinkle bikini. The top was sporty and the bottoms were high waisted and high cut.

Caroline insisted on doing hair and makeup, but Bonnie found it stupid. They were going to be in the water, for god's sake! But since Care knew more about ‘party attire’ than she did, she decided to let it go. 

“Are you ready to go?” Elena asked her friends. They both nodded. 

Bonnie let out a deep breath when she got to the car. She hoped that her gut feeling was wrong, even though she knew it wasn’t. They never were.

The girls bopped to Rihanna on the way there, Bonnie’s bad mood lifting a bit. Rihanna does that.

The Splash was at the swimming hole since nobody wanted to drive 3 hours to Virginia Beach. Not as authentic as the Splash from Aquamarine , but it had its own charm.

It was around 5 PM and the sun was still bright, so they’d be there for the sunset. 

The first thing Bonnie noticed when she stepped out of the car was that it was hot outside. Like burning hot. Maybe Caroline forgot to check the weather forecast, because this was going to be hard to survive. But like a trooper, Bonnie said: “This looks great, Care. I’m excited.”

She was marvelous at lying.

So far, only Rebekah Mikaelson and some of the football team were there already. When Caroline told Rebekah about The Last Splash, Rebekah had hopped on to her plans right away.

The blonde was currently bossing around the team; telling them to hang the streamers in the trees, organize the cups better, etc., as she lounged on a beach chair in her bathing suit.

When Rebekah noticed the girls she got up from her chair and moved to embrace them.

“Hi, darlings. Don’t you all look smashing?” She complimented.

“You too, Rebekah, nice and beachy.” Elena replied.

“It’s hot out today, though.” Caroline said, putting her hand above her eyes like a shield.

“Darn tootin’.” Bonnie agreed.

“Bonnie, dear, mother wants you over for dinner tonight or tomorrow night. You haven’t been home all week and the woman will freak if you don’t show.” Rebekah said, turning to Bonnie.

“Aye, aye, captain!” She replied.

The Mikaelsons had moved to Mystic Falls from some fancy English town when Bonnie was six. It was the year her mother left, and the Mikaelsons arrival was a blessing for her. When she and Rebekah met, they clicked right away. Rebekah took her home for a play date and her family had pretty much adopted Bonnie the second they laid their eyes on her.

Bonnie was happy to call Rebekah her sister because that’s what she was.

“Rebekah, I thought we agreed that the streamers were going to be yellow and blue, like the beach! Not pink and blue!” Caroline exclaimed.

“That was a cute idea, but it looked too much like Whitmore’s school colors. Don’t want to seem like we’re trying too hard, do we?” Rebekah reasoned. 

As the two blondes continued to argue about decorations, Bonnie took a look around. The swimming hole was looking pristine. 

The water was crystal clear and the sun reflected off of it perfectly. The sandy part had a few beach chairs resting on it and the grassy part had a line of picnic tables. There were fairy lights all over the place that would be turned on when it became dark outside and pink and blue streamers hanging from the trees that provided shade.

Most people wouldn’t arrive until around 5:30, but Bonnie and Elena came early with Caroline to help her and Rebekah set up. Though their help probably wouldn’t be needed since Rebekah somehow recruited half of the football team to help her.

Bonnie and Elena sat in beach chairs looking out at the water, their sweat beading and their makeup probably melting. Bonnie shut her eyes, enjoying the hot sun for a moment…

She felt a tap on her shoulder. Her eyes shot open and she sat up, turning to the brave soul who interrupted her nap. It was Katherine.

“Kitty, don’t make me kill you.” Bonnie said to her friend. She looked around. People were trickling in, and it was much more full than it was earlier. There were some people in the water and others listening to some remix that was no doubt made by Tyler Lockwood.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Katherine replied, sitting on the chair that Elena had been occupying when Bonnie fell asleep. Bonnie looked for Elena and found her chatting with Tiki on a picnic bench, so she wouldn’t miss her seat.

“Try me.” Bonnie replied. “It's too hot to give a crap.”

“Hmph. Somebody’s grumpy.” Katherine said.

“Mm-hm, yup, I’m feeling extra murderous today.”

“Well, what’s got your panties in a twist?”

Bonnie sighed considering continuing to joke, but decided to tell her friend the truth. “I have a bad feeling about tonight.”

“Uh oh.” Katherine said. She was the only person who took Grams’ superstitions seriously. Bonnie didn’t know if she was grateful for that or not.

“It’s okay, though. I’m gonna get through the night and nothing bad is going to happen.” Bonnie said surely.

“I like your confidence.” Katherine replied.

“Why thank you.” Bonnie gave a little bow. “I’m surprised you’re here as well. I thought you swore not to go to any event that Caroline was hosting.”

“I was going to live by that, until I realized just how many parties that girl throws. I have a social life to uphold, Bon.”

The thing about Katherine was that most people thought she was a raging B word. Well, she kind of was, but Bonnie found it loveable. Katherine didn’t get along with everyone and was okay with that.

The only people in their little friend group that Katherine tolerated and vice versa, were Bonnie, Stefan, Rebekah, Damon, Matt and Tyler. Everyone else was dead to her. Especially Elena and Caroline, which bummed Bonnie out.

Katherine and Elena were cousins, but they had just never gotten along. They didn’t hate each other, they just really didn’t like each other. Even though they had the same friends, they weren’t friends with each other. Bonnie would have loved it if they got along, but she wouldn’t push it. Not everyone was going to like each other, and as long as they were at least civil, it wasn’t her business.

Caroline and Katherine on the other hand, hated each other’s guts. They both had strong personalities and they clashed often. They could barely tolerate each other’s presence. Bonnie thought they could be friends if they had met under different circumstances. Caroline’s first impression of Katherine was that she was BFF Elena’s mean cousin and Katherine’s first impression of Caroline was that she was annoying cousin Elena’s whiny friend.

“Hello, ladies.” Rebekah said, approaching them.

“Hi, Bekah.” Katherine said, giving Rebekah a peck on the cheek.

“You look lovely, Kat. No need to hide it anymore. I know you love me.” Rebekah made kissy faces and Katherine did as well.

“I ship it.” Bonnie snorted.

“Haha. But seriously, Katherine. You look beautiful.” Rebekah said and Bonnie could’ve sworn she saw Katherine blush.

“Thanks, Bex.” Katherine said tenderly.

They kept eye contact for a second before looking away. 

“Ooh, look who’s here.” Katherine smirked, pointing at Stefan Salvatore, who just arrived.

Stefan was Bonnie’s long, long time crush. From the sandbox. Even through Bonnie’s boy hating phase (which she was still kind of going through, TBH). Ever since he stood up to some mean kids in preschool. Bonnie remembered it like it was yesterday.

The only problem was that Elena was head over heels for him as well. And he probably liked her back. So, as much as Bonnie loved Stefan, she wouldn’t go for him. She couldn’t do that to her best friend. Elena was the one person besides Stefan who didn’t know about Bonnie’s crush and she was going to keep it that way.

Rebekah smiled widely. “You should ask him to dance. We’re going to play ‘Island in the Sun’ like in the movie. I heard he loves that one.”

“He loves all Weezer songs. But I’m not asking him to dance.” Bonnie sighed.

“Why the hell not?” Katherine questioned.

“Because of Elena. I can’t do that to her.” Bonnie answered, ignoring the eye rolls from both other women.

Rebekah liked Elena, she thought she was a nice girl, but Elena was standing in the way of her sister's happiness with Stefan and that just wouldn’t do.

“If you like him, go for it. Don’t let Elena’s feelings outweigh yours.” Katherine said.

“Katherine’s right. Go talk to him.” Rebekah encouraged.

“My makeup is runny.” Bonnie excused.

“You look gorgeous.” Rebekah replied.

“He’s already talking to someone.”

“Screw them.” Katherine said.

“My… feet hurt?” Bonnie tried one last time. Her friends scoffed.

“Come on, Missy. Let’s go get your man.” Katherine said, as she and Rebekah grabbed each of her arms and dragged her towards Stefan.

“Oh, Stef!” Rebekah hollered. 

Stefan turned around and smiled seeing Rebekah. But when his eyes landed on Bonnie, his breath caught in his throat. She looked amazing.

“Hey, guys.” Stefan greeted them. He smiled at them all, but his eyes never left Bonnie.

“Sup.” Bonnie said, resting her elbow on Rebekah’s shoulder and crossing her legs.

“Wow, she does not have any game.” Katherine muttered. Bonnie heard and stomped on her foot.

“Bonnie wants to talk to you.” Rebekah said. She gave Bonnie a shove towards Stefan. “Katherine and I will be in the water if you need us.”

“I don’t think you will.” Katherine said with a wink.

“Uh, what’s up, Bon? You look great, by the way.” He smiled.

“Thanks, Stefan.” Bonnie replied with a similar smile.

Don’t let Elena’s feelings outweigh yours. Katherine’s words echoed in her head. Bonnie put on her brave face.

“I, uh… do you want to da-”

“Hey, Stef! I didn’t see you come in!” Elena said as she approached them.

“Oh, hey, Elena.” Stefan greeted.

Bonnie felt herself retreat back into her shell as Stefan and Elena smiled at each other.

“Do you want to come into the water with me? Care says it’s warm today.” Elena asked. Stefan glanced back at Bonnie.

“Was there something you wanted to ask me?” He asked Bonnie in a slightly hopeful tone.

“Oh, never mind, it wasn’t important.” She replied quietly.

Stefan looked disappointed, but Bonnie didn’t notice as she scurried down to the water. She dove in and doggy paddled towards some of her friends (she forgot how much she hated swimming).

Caroline, Tyler, Katherine, Rebekah and Matt were floating in the water. Katherine and Caroline were arguing and everyone else was laughing at Bonnie’s poor swimming skills. Haters.

“How did it go?” Rebekah inquired, putting an arm around Bonnie to keep her from sinking.

“Great! We’re planning a June wedding.” Bonnie sassed, out of breath as she treaded water for her dear life.

“She even manages to be sarcastic on the brink of drowning. Astounding.” Tyler remarked.

“What happened?” Katherine asked, jumping in on their conversation.

“I was going to ask him to dance, but Elena came over and asked him to swim. I chickened out.”

So this was what her bad feeling was about. She had to say she was relieved that it was just embarrassing herself and chickening out rather than something worse. Last time she had a bad feeling and didn’t listen, it ended with a broken arm and broken pride.

They all turned their heads towards Elena and Stefan who were a bit closer to the shore. Elena splashed Stefan and he laughed. Bonnie sighed.

Matt smiled sympathetically at Bonnie. He’d had a crush on Elena for as long as Bonnie had been crushing on Stefan, and he knew how it felt watching the two of them be all lovey with each other. “Sorry, Bon.”

“It’s fine. I’m happy for them.” She said wistfully.

Before anybody could respond, Jeremy's voice made their heads snap towards him. “Hey, Katherine! Somebody’s calling you!” He held Katherine’s phone up. 

“Oh, I should get this. It’s probably my dad. He’s driving back from Charlottesville tonight.” Katherine said, swimming towards the beach.

Bonnie watched her pick up the phone. Katherine’s expression fell when she answered the call. Bonnie furrowed her eyebrows when Katherine paced over to a more private spot, looking distressed as she spoke into the speaker.

Bonnie swam out to her friend. When she got out of the water, Katherine had just hung up the phone. There were tears in her eyes. Katherine never cried.

“What’s wrong? Do you want to talk about it?” She questioned.

“Bon, it's my dad… he had a heart attack.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 - Friends and Waffles

“Bon, it’s my dad… he had a heart attack.”

After Katherine weakly croaked those words, the night was a blur. Bonnie remembers pulling her friend into a hug, the hot weather feeling strangely cold in the moment.

She remembers Katherine clinging onto her throughout the whole car ride to the hospital. She remembers seeing Katherine try her hardest to hold in her tears but failing eventually. Giving into the grief and sobbing in Bonnie’s arms.

Now, they were sitting in the dull waiting room in the Mystic Falls Hospital ER. The doctors rarely gave updates, but they knew that Mr. Pierce was alive and recovering from the emergency bypass surgery they just performed on him.

Bonnie checked the clock on the wall. 12:30 AM .

Hm. It felt like it had been 10 minutes since they abruptly left The Splash, but in reality it had been seven hours. When the news that Katherine’s father had a heart attack, all of their close friends made their way to the hospital. Katherine may not have gotten along with all of them, but they were like a family no less. 

Matt, Tyler and Jeremy were all knocked out, empty cups of coffee in their hands. Even the caffeine couldn’t keep them up. Stefan and his brother Damon went out for another coffee run. Caroline was barely awake, and still a little tipsy from The Splash. Elena was sitting next to Caroline, texting somebody. Probably her mother, who was Mr. Pierce’s sister-in-law.

Rebekah was sitting next to Bonnie and Katherine. Katherine had been alternating between sleeping in Bonnie and Rebekah’s arms, and Bonnie’s shift was almost up.

Bonnie looked down at her friend who was snoring in her arms. Katherine’s eyebrows were furrowed, even in her sleep.

It was easy to tell that Katherine was worried about her father. She didn’t like to show her emotions, she kept a facade of cool and nonchalance, but Bonnie could tell that she was scared. 

Mark Pierce was a workaholic. He was rarely free, refused to take care of himself, and was always on a work call, but anyone who knew him knew that he cared. He cared very much about Katherine (and by extension, Rebekah and Bonnie).

Katherine’s mother, Sarah Sommers, had died a couple years ago. Her car flipped off of Wickery Bridge.

After that, Katherine and her father depended on each other a lot more. It was like they had their own secret language.

“Hey, Bonnie, um, can we talk?” Elena’s voice interrupted Bonnie’s musings. 

Bonnie looked down at Katherine’s sleeping figure. She didn’t want to wake her but she also didn’t want to impose on Rebekah’s resting time.

“You go talk. I got her.” Rebekah mumbled. She carefully took Bonnie's seat and laid Katherine’s head in her lap, smiling tiredly at the brunette in her arms.

“What’s up, Elena?” Bonnie asked when they turned the corner to a more private setting.

“I was a jerk.” Elena said.

“Huh?”

“At The Splash. You were talking to Stefan and I interrupted. I didn’t even acknowledge you.” Elena explained. “That was a jerk move. I’m sorry.”

To be honest Bonnie hadn’t really thought about how Elena was acting back at The Last Splash. She had bigger fish to fry since then.

“It’s okay, Lena. It’s no biggie.” Bonnie replied. She started to turn away, but her friend caught her arm.

“I know you love Stefan.” Elena blurted. She meant to ease into that, but she had never been good at hiding her intentions.

Bonnie turned back to Elena slowly with wide eyes. She was flabbergasted. “Um, what-? What are you even saying, I don’t love Stefan, why would-,” 

“Bonnie, it's okay. You don’t need to lie. It’s like the most obvious crush ever.” Elena reassured.

Bonnie didn’t know what to say. “How- uh, how long have you known?”

Elena sighed. “For a long time. Since we were like six.” She chuckled. “Whenever you looked at him, I think your pupils actually shaped into hearts.”

They both smiled for a moment, but then realized what they were talking about and sobered.

“But you knew that I liked him so you backed off.” Elena said. She took a deep breath. “I really like Stefan. But I love you more.”

“Elena, get to the point.” Bonnie snapped.

Oops. Elena’s words touched her, but Bonnie had never been a patient person and her friend being cryptic as hell wasn’t helping out. 

Still, she gave Elena an apologetic glance. She really needed to work on her temper. Elena just let out a little laugh. She was used to Bonnie’s crankiness.

“Bonnie, what I’m trying to say is that if you like Stefan, go for it. I won’t stand in the way.” 

Bonnie almost choked. This was the last thing she expected to hear that night. She appreciated the sentiment, but Stefan would never go for her. He liked Elena. Everybody liked Elena.

Besides, she was already feeling overwhelmed with Katherine’s dad in the hospital and senior year coming up and absolutely having no clue what she wanted to do with her life, so a relationship really wasn’t what she needed.

“Lena, really, thank you, but I can’t be in a relationship right now. Even if I could, Stefan would have to like me back.” Bonnie said as if it were the most impossible thing in the world.

Elena gave her a smile that seemed both sad and knowing at the same time. Bonnie didn’t understand her friends expression.

“Don’t feel pressured to make a move on him or anything. I just don’t want you to hold back because of me.”

Bonnie smiled gratefully at her and they embraced in a long hug.

•••

“Bonnie. Hey, Bon. Wake up.” Jeremy's constant poking of Bonnie’s shoulder is what sent her over the edge.

“What in the fresh f…” She realized that she was still in a public place. “ Heck do you want, Jeremy? I was sleeping, god damn it.”

“Damon’s gonna take us all out for breakfast. He claims he can pay for it with his, and I quote, ‘money paying job’.” Jeremy replied.

“Damon has a job?” Bonnie asked, amusement overpowering her tiredness.

“Hell yeah he does.” Damon answered, waltzing his way over to them and into their conversation. 

“I’m surprised.” Bonnie said genuinely.

“I’m sure you are, little witchy. You, like many others including my own father and brother, doubted my maturity. How does it feel to be proven wrong, Bennett?” He said.

“It feels… hungry. I guess I'm lucky that somebody here has a ‘money paying job’.” Bonnie quipped.

“Mockery. Cute.” Damon replied flatly as he strutted over to go bother someone else.

Bonnie checked the clock. It was 9:45 AM. She hadn’t seen this hour since school ended.

She must’ve fallen asleep after her conversation with Elena. 

Pretty much everybody else was up and buzzing, with the exception of Tyler, who was still sleeping. He took up three chairs and was snoring like a pig.

Stefan was chatting with Matt and Caroline was on a phone call in the corner of the waiting room. Elena had whisked Jeremy away to call their parents who were planning on visiting the hospital later that day.

By the looks of it, Katherine was visiting her father in his recovery room.

There were some strangers in there, most of them clearly annoyed with Tyler and his snores.

“Coffee?” She turned to Rebekah who was holding out a cup for her to take. 

“Why thank you.” Bonnie said, greedily taking the cup and downing half of the contents in it. She needed a booster.

“Easy.” Rebekah mused. Bonnie hummed in response.

“Should we call Essie and Papa?” Bonnie wondered. Essie and Papa were the names she created for Esther and Mikael Mikaelson when she was little. She had already called Grams and told her she would be spending the night at the hospital.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot to call them.” Rebekah let out an entertained laugh. “They’re probably worried sick.”

Bonnie shot Rebekah a disappointed look. Rebekah put the phone on speaker. It rang twice before Esther picked up.

“Look who decided to call.” Esther said disapprovingly.

“I’m sorry, mother. You know how spacey hospitals make me… oh, of course I’m not in the hospital. Katherine’s dad had a heart attack and I decided to stay with her overnight.” Rebekah replied.

“And you didn’t think to give your dear old mother a call before galavanting around the ER with the children of heart disease patients?” Ah, that was Essie. She didn’t have much of a filter. 

“You sound more irritated than concerned.” Rebekah remarked.

“Sheila called and told me where you were.” Esther said. “But if she hadn’t I would’ve thought you were dead or worse, Rebekah.” Esther’s tone became stern.

Rebekah sighed. “I know, mother. I’m sorry.”

“I bet you are. When will you be home?” She asked.

“Soon. Damon’s taking us out to breakfast.” Rebekah answered.

“Huh. How is he going to pay for that? Did he rob a bank?”

“He got a job.”

Esther snorted. “Tell him good luck with that. And send Katherine and her father my love. Is Bonnie with you?” Esther asked.

“She’s right here.” Rebekah answered, handing the phone to her sister.

“Hey, Essie.” Bonnie smiled.

“Hello, sweetie pie.” Esther said fondly. “You and your Grams are coming over for dinner tonight. Sheila, Mikael and I have a surprise planned for you two girls.”

“Ooh, like what?” Rebekah implored.

“Well if I told you it would be much of a surprise, now would it?” Esther replied in a singsong voice. “Listen, I have to get back to work, but I love you both. See you tonight.”

“Bye, mother.” Rebekah said.

“Later, Essie.” Bonnie hung up the phone and handed it back to Rebekah. 

“Ready to go waste Damon’s money?” Rebekah asked.

“You betcha.”

•••

There was a diner a couple blocks from the hospital, so the group decided to walk. 

Katherine visited her dad briefly. He was doing much better. There was still a tube down his throat, the doctors said they would remove it around 24 hours after the surgery he had, but they also said he was healing quickly which was great. He would be discharged from the hospital around a week and a half later. He wouldn’t get back to normal life completely, he may never, but at least he would be home.

Katherine was a bit hesitant to leave the hospital, but eventually decided that she needed a distraction. Just for a little bit.

Wearing nothing but a bathing suit that you slept in and a barely helpful cardigan that you got from the hospital lost and found in public wasn’t Bonnie’s favorite activity, but the walk was pretty short so she didn’t mind too much.

In fact, all of them were dressed down. The only people who had time to change were Stefan and Damon who stopped by their house while picking up the coffee. 

They reached the diner. It was very cute. The booths and walls were all pastel pink. The floor and everything else were light turquoise.

There were ten of them and none of the tables were quite big enough for them, so they all crammed together in one of the smaller ones.

Katherine was at the head of the table, Bonnie was to her left and Rebekah was to her right. 

Stefan was next to Bonnie, and Elena was next to Rebekah. 

Next to Stefan was Matt and next to Elena was Caroline. 

Damon was at the foot of the table and Jeremy and Tyler were next to him.

They were so close that their elbows were touching. 

“Hi, welcome to Mary Anne’s, my name is Vanessa. Can I get you guys anything to drink?” The waitress asked them. 

They ordered, and after she left, they started a conversation.

“So, Damon, are you ever going to tell us exactly what your job is?” Matt asked. 

Stefan did a little dance. “I already knooww.” He sang.

“Shut up, Stefan.” He turned to Matt. “What my job is isn’t important. What is important is that I’m rich now.”

“C’mon, Damon. At least give us a little hint.” Bonnie pouted.

“Yeah, don’t leave us hanging.” Caroline added.

Damon sighed. “Fine. I’m a mysichimascot…” He mumbled and trailed off.

“A what?” Tyler asked.

“The mysishischoolmascot…”

“Say it louder, Damon.” Stefan grinned. He was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“I’m the Mystic Falls High School mascot! There!” He shouted.

There was silence and then everybody broke into harmonious laughter. Rebekah literally fell off of her chair.

“You mean you’re the dog?” Katherine wheezed.

“It’s a timberwolf, Katherine, and you know that!” Damon scowled.

The fact that he had to wear that heavy ass costume wasn’t the funniest part, nor was it the fact that somehow the school trusted Damon to be around high schoolers as a job, but it was because of the tradition associated with the high school's mascot. At every game, the school's timberwolf had to perform a dance. It was a great dance. At least for the people watching.

Caroline could barely be understood through her laughs. “How- how the hell did you-” She wheezed. “How did you land that job?”

“The last guy quit and I swooped in. I started three weeks ago. They must’ve been really desperate because they pay well .” He answered.

“Why are you working so long before school starts?” Stefan asked, despite already knowing the answer to that question.

“Because, Stefan , I have to… rehearse.” Damon said through clenched teeth.

“Rehearse what, Damon?” Jeremy inquired innocently. Too innocently.

“I have to rehearse something. For the homecoming game halftime show.”

“Something… Something like a dance?” Elena asked with a sly smile on her face.

“I don’t want to answer that question.” He grumbled.

That was all the answer they needed. Bonnie laughed so hard that she thought her lungs were going to burst.

“Whoomp, there it is!” Rebekah sang.

After a few more minutes of relentlessly teasing Damon (lovingly of course), they decided to stop picking on him because he was paying for them.

Vanessa the waitress came back and took their orders for food. Bonnie got some waffles. You can never go wrong with waffles. She also ordered a milkshake which had just arrived.

All of their mouths watered as the waiters placed the breakfast foods on the table. None of them ate at or after the splash, so they were famished. 

Bonnie got her waffles and looked over at everybody else’s food.

“Bonnie, keep your predatory gaze off my breakfast burrito.” Katherine quipped. 

Bonnie rolled her eyes. Her lovely friends liked to make fun of her because she always ate other people's food but never shared hers with anyone else. But hey, at least she was self aware! At least she knew that she was a food hypocrite.

“Yeah, you look like a shark hunting a seal or something.” Caroline remarked.

“Be careful guys, she’s about to pounce.” Tyler said with mock fear.

“Let’s chill with all the animal metaphors. I’m just looking.” Bonnie hissed.

“Looking turns into tasting, tasting turns into taking more, and that turns into you slapping me for trying to take a bite of your ice cream when you just finished mine!” Damon chastised.

“That was one time, Damon!”

“And I’ll remember it forever.”

“Oh, and let’s not forget about the time she ate all of the cranberry sauce at thanksgiving and then refused to let anyone have the gravy she made for herself.” Elena mused.

“I feel very targeted right now.” Bonnie said.

“Good. Now you know how our food feels.” Stefan mumbled. 

Bonnie smacked his arm.

After a little while, the group broke into separate conversations, though since they were so squished together, none of them were very private.

“Bonnie,”

“Stefan,” She echoed.

“Why are you staring wistfully at my curly fries?” He asked. Bonnie kept her eyes on the fries.

“No reason.” She replied, though on the inside, she was fantasizing about what they would taste like. She just finished her pancakes and milkshake, but she was still hungry.

“You can have one if you want.” The soft spoken boy said.

Her eyes snapped to him. “Really?”

“Really.” He nodded. “But don’t go too crazy.”

“I seriously love you.” She squealed.

He chuckled and took one curly fry, dipped it in ketchup, and fed it to Bonnie.

She closed her eyes as she chewed and Stefan laughed a bit at her expression.

“What?” She peeked an eye open.

“Did my fry really make you that happy?” 

She shrugged. “It’s the little things.”

They shared a laugh, neither noticing Elena watching their interaction with a conflicted expression on her face.

•••

After breakfast, everybody went their separate ways. Katherine and Caroline were the only two left. 

Katherine decided to go home and take care of herself before visiting the hospital in the evening. Caroline was going home as well, her house was in the same direction as Katherine’s.

Things between them were strange. Not awkward, just different from what they were used to. 

Normally, they would pick at each other endlessly. When they were alone together (though they rarely ever were) there wouldn’t be a quiet moment. There would be constant chattering, constant insults and roasts, both girls clawing at each other and trying to tear each other down. If they could, they would argue forever. 

But now that Katherine’s dad was in the hospital, Caroline didn’t have the same motivation to knock her off of her pedestal. Caroline never thought she’d see the day where she looked at Katherine and she didn’t feel annoyance, anger, jealousy ; she just felt sorry. It was weird. It had never been like this between them. Not even when Caroline’s dad left.

Katherine on the other hand, just didn’t have the energy to be mean to Caroline. Not emotionally or physically. She just wanted her dad to be alright and to take a damn nap.

So for the first time since they met, they walked together in comfortable silence.

Neither of them were willing to admit it, but they both thought the same thing:

We should do this more .

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 - Family First

“Hey, Grams, I’m home!” Bonnie shouted as she shut the door to her house. Shrek and Lucifer scurried towards her.

“Hey, munchkins.” She cooed, petting her kitties. “Is Grams home?”

When they didn’t answer (which she half expected them to, she knew they were cats but sometimes she thought they were a bit more aware of what was going on than they let on), she figured that Grams decided to open up the shop.

Sheila Bennett was her own boss, so she liked to randomly pick up shifts at her shop. She refused to let anybody work there except for Bonnie and herself, and the store opened and closed sporadically. Whenever she felt like working, she opened the store and when she didn’t it was closed. Sometimes the store would go weeks without opening because Sheila simply didn’t feel like it.

That made the shop pretty unreliable and Bonnie had no clue if randomly opening and closing your store was even legal, but nobody called Grams out on it. 

The store kind of represented Grams in a way. She was impulsive, quirky and witchy . The store was her.

Owning a witchy themed shop had been a little dream of Sheila’s since she was young, but it was completely hypothetical because it was so unrealistic. Not many people had the same taste as Grams. In reality, the shop only got 2-3 customers per day, max. Except during the holidays. People loved crystals during Christmas, what can I say?

The only reason the shop was still kind of afloat was because of Grams retirement savings from being an occult studies professor, and the large amount of money that Pops (Sheila’s late husband and Bonnie’s grandfather) had left towards the store in his will. He knew how much Grams wanted it.

Bonnie walked into the kitchen, fed her cats, and read the note that Grams left her on the counter.

Hey, baby. I’m working at the shop right now. I was feeling inspired ;). Come stop by when you get this!

Bonnie gave her cats one last pet before she headed off to the shop. It was a seven minute walk.

She opened the door to the little building, the bell at the door chiming lightly.

The shop was small but it was packed with items. The walls were painted white and there were plants on almost every possible surface. The shelves were stocked with crystals, potions, herbs, perfumes - anything that could be deemed witchy.

“Welcome to Sheila’s Enchantments! How can I help y- Oh, Bonnie, babe. There you are.” Grams greeted, waltzing over to her granddaughter.

The heavy necklaces Sheila wore around her neck clunked as she pulled Bonnie into a warm hug.

“How’s Mr. Pierce doing, baby?” Grams asked into the hug. Grams’ hugs normally lasted a couple minutes long, but Bonnie never complained.

“He’s doing better. I honestly think Katherine’s taking it harder than he is.”

“Oh, that poor girl. It’s really a shame what happened to her mother. And now her father too.” Sheila said sympathetically.

“I know. She doesn’t deserve it.” They finally pulled away from the hug.

“Alright, sweetie. Enough of the sad talk. Can you work the register while I put some things away in the back?”

“Sure. Just holler if you need help.” Bonnie replied.

“Psh, I can handle myself.” Sheila dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Not ten seconds later, there was a loud bang that came from the back. She totally can’t handle herself .

“Grams, you good?” Bonnie shouted. She rushed over to the back room where she saw her grandmother carrying two large boxes in her arms. Another was on the floor. She must’ve dropped it.

“What made you think that carrying three huge boxes full of yoga equipment all by yourself was the way to go?” Bonnie asked, picking up the box on the floor. 

“I told you I don’t need any help, Bonnie.” Sheila scolded.

“Grams, come on. You’re sixty years old. You can’t keep putting yourself in danger like this.” 

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

“I have you.” Sheila reminded her.

“I may be young but I’m not athletic at all. Sometimes I have trouble going up the stairs because it’s too hard.” 

“Stefan helps out.”

“Occasionally.” Bonnie replied as they carried the boxes over to the shelves in the right corner and set them down.

“All I‘m saying is that help isn’t a bad thing, Grams.”

“I know, baby. And I appreciate you for caring for me. But I can’t hire somebody else.”

“Why not?” Bonnie asked.

“Because not everybody’s a witch.” Sheila replied with a mischievous smirk. Bonnie rolled her eyes but had to chuckle.

•••

After breakfast, Stefan went to Matt’s house, so Damon went home by himself. He was feeling pretty good about himself. Even though everybody made fun of him, his new job was making him really happy. He got to buy a meal for his friends, he had something to do other than go to the bar and his parents were happy for him. His parents were never happy for him.

For once, he didn’t feel like he was the twenty-four year old college dropout who lived with his parents and whose only friends were seventeen year olds that went to school with his kid brother. For once he didn’t feel like a failure.

But his good mood was soured when he walked into the boarding house and heard sobs coming from the living room. He rushed in to find his mother on the couch, crying into her hands.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” He sat next to her, rubbing circles on her back.

“I think…” She sobbed. “I think your fathers having an affair.”

Damon froze. “Why- what makes you think that?”

“He’s just been so distant lately. He makes weird late night calls. I don’t want to jump to conclusions… I just…” 

“Shh, mom, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” Damon soothed.

Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if his father were cheating. As much as Damon hated to admit it, Giuseppe Salvatore was definitely the type to cheat.

He was cocky, privileged and selfish. By all means he thought he owned the world. All of Damon and Stefan’s negative traits came from Giuseppe; Damon’s arrogance, Stefan’s need to be in control - it all stemmed from their father.

Lily and Giuseppe were an arranged marriage, but down the line they learned to love each other. Or at least Lily learned to love him.

After a bit, Lily’s cries died down and she spoke up. “Damon, I don’t know what’s happening with your father, but please don’t tell Stefan about this. He’s sensitive and he’s just going to worry about me.”

“Mom, you know how Stefan is about lying…” Damon started.

“You won’t be lying. You just won’t be telling him about something. Please, Damon. He’s too young.”

Damon sighed. “Okay. I promise.”

•••

Bonnie and Grams opened the door to the Mikaelson Mansion with their key. This was practically their second home, so ringing the doorbell or knocking wasn’t necessary. 

Sheila insisted on bringing something, even though Esther told her not to. She was raised right, what can she say?

As soon as Bonnie and Grams entered the foyer, Anita (the Mikaelson’s maid) greeted them with a big smile.

“Hello, Sheila, Bonnie.” Anita said, taking the dish that Sheila brought.

“Hi, Anita.” Bonnie said and kissed her cheek. “I’m gonna go find Bex, okay?” 

Sheila and Anita nodded before they went off to go meet Esther.

“Rebekah?” Bonnie shouted as she navigated around the large rooms and hallways that she had memorized like the back of her hand. “Bex?”

She bumped into somebody’s chest. She looked up to see Klaus. Her eyes widened before her face lit up like a christmas tree and she jumped into his arms.

“You’re back!” She exclaimed.

He chuckled and hugged her back, squeezing her tightly. “It was supposed to be a surprise. Mother will have my head if she knows you saw me.”

“I won’t tell.” She said, her face still buried in his chest.

She rarely ever saw Klaus - he was an aspiring entrepreneur and decided to go to college halfway across the country. 

“When did you get here?” She asked him as they eventually pulled away.

“An hour ago. Mother told me to wander the halls and avoid you and Rebekah until dinner started.” He said.

“You broke the one rule she gave you. Some things never change.” 

“Hey! I am wandering the halls, so I’m doing something correctly.” They both chuckled.

“At least there’s that.”

“I’ve missed you.” He said.

“I missed you, too.” She replied. “So are you the surprise that Essie was being so cryptic about?”

“Oh, there’s more.” He answered with a grin. “You’ll just have to be patient.” 

“You and I both know I’m not good at that.” She scoffed.

“Yeah, asking you was kind of a shot in the dark.” Klaus remarked. She playfully hit his arm.

“I’m gonna go find Bekah.”

“I was never here.” 

“You were never here.” Bonnie echoed.

•••

Bonnie barged into Rebekah’s room. She found her sister sitting on the bed, reading a magazine.

“Ah, there you are, Bon.” Rebekah said. Bonnie flopped onto the bed next to her. “So, are we going to talk about it?”

“Um, talk about what?” She asked, confused.

“The elephant in the room!” Rebekah said like it was obvious.

“I didn’t notice an elephant.”

“Ugh, I’m talking about you and Stefan, of course! You were all over each other at breakfast! Oh, and Elena practically had smoke coming out of her ears. It was priceless.”

“What? Why would Elena be…” Bonnie sighed, “You know what, let’s talk about this another time.”

“Okay, but we will talk about it, Bonnie.”

“Eventually. So…” She smiled suggestively. “Do you want to talk about you and Katherine?”

Rebekah groaned and rolled onto her back. “I don’t know. I don’t know if she likes girls and even if she did I don’t know if she would like me back. It's just so complicated.”

Bonnie followed Rebekah’s lead and rolled onto her back as well. “If she does like girls she will come out when she’s ready. But are you saying that you like her?”

“I think so.” Rebekah smiled. 

Rebekah had known she was lesbian for a long time. She knew for sure when she kissed Tiki during spin the bottle in seventh grade. Living in closed minded Virginia, there were many people who didn’t approve of her sexuality, but all of her close friends and family did and that was all that mattered to her.

They smiled at each other and laid in comfortable silence until Esther knocked on the door. “Ladies, it’s time for dinner!”

“Coming!”

•••

When Bonnie and Rebekah made their way downstairs to the dining room, they were happily surprised to see all of their siblings at the table.

Unless it was a holiday, they were never all together. 

The table seated Klaus (who Bonnie had to pretend to be surprised to see… Esther saw right through the act and shot Klaus a dirty look), Elijah and his girlfriend Hayley, Kol, Finn and his wife Sage, and Freya and her girlfriend Keelin. 

Esther sat at the head of the table with Mikael and Sheila to her left and right.

After all of their excited greetings, Esther clinked her fork to her glass to signal a toast. “Everybody, thank you very much for coming to our family dinner. We haven’t all been together since Kol’s graduation which was months ago. I’m so happy that we’re all here. Thank you.”

They all raised their glasses and began to eat. Of course, the Mikaelsons hired a chef to do the cooking and the food was spectacular. 

Bonnie was sitting next to Rebekah and Kol, and she kept randomly hugging Kol. She missed him. After he graduated, he decided to spend the summer with his girlfriend in Costa Rica. Bonnie hadn’t seen him since he left. He was going to Whitmore for college, so Bonnie would be seeing a lot more of him.

“Bon, you know I love you, but if you keep hugging me while I chew I’m going to choke.” Kol said after she randomly embraced him again.

“Sorry. I just missed you a lot.” She apologized.

“I missed you too, darling, but I’m here now. Whitmore is only a half an hour away.” Kol replied.

“Yeah, I guess.” She nodded.

“Are you excited for senior year?”

“Yep. Are you excited for college?”

“Eh. I’m excited for the parties.” He shrugged.

“Please, you’ve been going to the Whitmore parties since your sophomore year of high school.” Bonnie said.

“I know.” He said smugly. “I was the most popular student at Whitmore before I even got in.”

“Don’t let it get to your head.” She chuckled.

“Too late.”

•••

During the dinner, Bonnie noticed Klaus’ weird behavior. He was sitting right next to Elijah and Hayley, who were being especially lovey dovey. Maybe he was just sad because he was single? He had just broken up with his high school sweetheart, Cami, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Elijah and Hayley had met three years before at a charity event in Georgia. They started dating immediately and their relationship excelled quickly. Bonnie liked Hayley. She thought she was a good match for her brother.

In fact, all of the Mikaelson sibling relationships had the Bonnie and Rebekah stamp of approval.

They were especially happy for Freya and Keelin. Freya was the oldest Mikaelson sibling, and she and Keelin were a match made in heaven.

Finn and Sage had been together for a long, long time. Since Rebekah and Bonnie were five. They had gotten married two years before, though.

Before Klaus broke up with her, they really liked Cami. She always took them shopping and she was a therapist so she was great to talk to.

Clink, clink, clink .

There was that noise, signaling another toast. This time, Elijah stood up.

“Before we get into dessert, Hayley and I have an announcement to make.” Hayley smiled widely and pulled a box out of purse. She opened the box, took out a dazzling ring and slid it onto her ring finger.

“We’re engaged!” She squealed.

Bonnie gasped happily as the couple beamed at each other. Esther jumped up from her seat and marched over to Hayley and Elijah and wrapped them into a big hug, Mikael’s face broke into an uncharacteristic smile, Grams started crying; everybody was happy. Or at least that’s what Bonnie thought until she saw the heartbroken look on Klaus’ face. 

She would’ve thought he’d be overjoyed - he and Elijah were very close. When Elijah was happy, he was happy and vice versa. She wanted to talk to him about it, but decided to wait and take this moment to celebrate Elijah and Hayley.

•••

After dinner, everybody gathered in the living room. 

When she got up to go to the bathroom, she noticed that Klaus was sitting on a bench in the foyer. He had a glass of bourbon in his hand as he stared solemnly at the ground. 

She held in her pee (a very hard task), to go talk to him.

“Nik?” She called gently, “You okay?”

“I’m peachy.” He replied sarcastically as he took another sip from his glass.

She sat next to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” 

“Do you want me to leave?”

“…No.”

“Okay.” She said quietly. She put her arm around him and he leaned his head on her shoulder.

After a few moments, she heard him sniff and felt a tear roll down his face and drip onto her shoulder. He was crying. Klaus never cried.

They stayed like that until she couldn’t hold her pee any longer and he felt well enough to go congratulate Elijah.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 - Senior Citizen

Bonnie nearly started crying as her phone rang, waking her up from her slumber. She roughly grabbed the buzzing phone.

“ What? ” She growled into the speaker.

“Dang. Good morning to you too, Bon.” Caroline’s chipper voice said through the phone.

Bonnie took a deep breath. “Sorry, Care. Not a morning person. What’s up?”

Caroline scoffed in disbelief. “What’s up? What’s up? It’s the first day of school, Bonnie! That’s what’s up!”

“The first day of- shoot, I forgot!” She exclaimed and fell out on her bed, landing in a heap of blankets.

“Well, somebody’s day is off to a rough start.” Caroline commented, hearing the thud that Bonnie made.

“Hm, you think?” 

“You’re mean in the morning.” 

“I try.”

Bonnie scrambled around her room, looking for nothing in particular. She checked the time. She still had a half an hour until school started. Phew . If she drove, she would make it in time.

“Bon, how does one forget about the first day of senior year? This is like the biggest day of our lives!” Caroline exclaimed.

“I didn’t forget! Okay, well, I did forget, but my alarm clock was supposed to remind me!” 

“Are you sure you didn’t beat it up in your sleep?”

“Yes, Caroline. I’m sure I didn’t beat up my alarm clock while I was sleeping . ” Bonnie scoffed.

“You say it like it’s not something you would do.”

“It’s not something I would- You know what? I’m above this. I’m gonna get ready for school, feed my cats and get there on time.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Yes it does. Are you wearing your fancy pants today?” Bonnie asked, her mood settling.

“Oh, yeah. Get ready, Bon.”

“I’m ready, all right. I’m more than ready. I’m excited.” Bonnie said. She held the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she struggled to put a pair of jeans on.

“Do you need a ride to school? I know your cars in the shop and if I hurry I can make it to your house.” Bonnie asked.

“Actually, Katherine’s giving me a ride today.” Caroline said casually.

“Katherine’s giving you a ride?” Bonnie asked, surprise evident in her voice.

“Well, don’t sound so surprised. We’re becoming sort of friends. And we live so close together, it’s really practical. At least until I get my car back.”

“That’s great, Care!” Bonnie said. She was glad that two of her closest friends were becoming friends as well. Or at least hating each other less.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna hang up so you can get your butt moving. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

•••

After Bonnie’s rushed morning, she finally made it to school. 

“Hey, Bonster!” A voice called out. Bonnie turned to see Vicki Donovan.

“Hey, Vick.” Bonnie crossed the parking lot to go say hi. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in college?”

“Where I should be and where I am are two different things.” She said. Bonnie chuckled. “I’m just here to see Matty on his first day of senior year. They grow up so fast.”

“They really do, don’t they?” Bonnie agreed. Vicki slung an arm around her shoulder and messed up the hair that she spent the majority of her short morning fixing.

“Hey!” Bonnie exclaimed, desperately trying to straighten out her hair.

Vicki just laughed. “Sorry, kid. I couldn’t resist.”

“Watch your back, Donovan. I’m coming for you when you least expect it.”

“Looking forward to it.” Vicki smiled. “Hey, I gotta go, but, uh, make sure Matt doesn’t get into trouble, alright? He doesn’t have me looking out for him anymore.” 

“You got it, Vick.”

“Bye.”

Vicki walked off to her car. Vicki and Matt were always close with Bonnie. Their lack of family pulled them together. Vicki and her two best friends, Anna and Kai were always hanging around the school. It would be weird without them.

Bonnie turned back to the school and walked in, ready to take on her senior year.

•••

Most people wouldn’t assume this, but Stefan actually enjoyed learning. He acted like he didn’t. He acted like being a jock was his only personality trait - like learning about history didn't fascinate him, or that writing wasn’t his favorite way to pass time. And people let him. Nobody really cared about his inner thoughts and feelings because they already had him as a quarterback. They didn’t need another sensitive guy who liked to write.

High schoolers loved to categorize, and once he was put in this box of being a jock, he couldn’t escape it. One time, he and Amber Bradley went on a date. They went out to get ice cream. She was a cheerleader, he was a football player - it had to work out. But throughout the whole date, Stefan tried to talk to her. Like, really to her. About his interests, about her interests, but it came up blank. All she wanted to do was fake laugh at his lame jokes and touch his muscles. They didn’t have a second date. 

There were so many other instances like this. Every relationship he had outside of his close friends and family wasn’t him and someone else, it was quarterback and cheerleader, teenage boy and teenage girl, jock and homecoming queen. 

In reality, Stefan was horrible with girls. He was awkward and always stuttered, especially if he really liked them. He was sensitive and took things personally a lot, but was always too scared of confrontation to talk to people about it. He was funny, not the kind of funny bravado that people expected him to have, but actually funny. 

He wanted a real bond where he could express that side of himself without being afraid of rejection or disappointment. He had some real friendships, but the only time he really clicked with a girl was with Bonnie.

Which was why he was walking towards her, getting ready to ask her to the founders party. He didn’t know if she would say yes (he was really bad at picking up signals), but he was going to put on his big boy pants and ask her anyway. 

She was at her locker, putting away some books when he got to her.

“Bonnie!” He called, jogging towards her.

“Stefan.” She greeted him. He caught up to her and they smiled at each other. She looked really pretty today.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Um, so how are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.” He asked. Stefan mentally patted himself on his back for not stuttering.

“I’m pretty good. I know, we haven’t spent much time together lately. What about you?”

“Uh, I’m good as well. Listen, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” He said. Here goes nothing .

She nodded for him to continue.

“Do you… uh, so you know the founder’s party that’s coming up next week?”

Oh dear. Keep it together, Bon. Bonnie’s heart was racing. “Yeah.” She tried to keep her voice calm.

“Well, um, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?” 

“Yes.” She answered a little too quickly. He chuckled. “I mean, yes. I’d love to go with you.”

Stefan beamed. “Great. I’ll pick you up at six.” 

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked to his first period class with a huge grin on his face.

•••

Hayley went upstairs to her room after her and Elijah’s awkward phone call with Klaus. She didn’t think Elijah knew that it was awkward - he was normally a perceptive person, but in this case he seemed absolutely oblivious - but there was very much a tension between Hayley and Klaus.

It had been around two weeks since the dinner where they announced their engagement, and Klaus and Elijah had been talking less and less. Elijah was confused as to why, so he called Klaus earlier to catch up. It was going fine until Hayley walked in the room. Elijah urged her to say hi to Klaus and after she did, Klaus’ mood very obviously soured.

He kept making passive aggressive comments towards both Hayley and Elijah. Elijah somehow managed to think the phone call went well, but Hayley disagreed. 

A few months after Hayley started dating Elijah, she met his brother Klaus. He was charming, sweet and funny. He also ‘fancied’ her. He said so himself in his little British accent ( ‘Hayley, it’s a shame you're dating my brother. If you couldn’t tell, I fancy you very much’ ). 

Granted, he was tipsy at the time, so she just brushed it off for being a drunken lie.

But as time went on, they grew closer. Sometimes they would go out with just the two of them, no Elijah. She grew to like him. Not like him , but as a good friend. Klaus apparently didn’t read that right and decided to kiss her one day. She’s ashamed to say that she kissed back.

It went on for a moment until she realized what she was doing and was disgusted with herself. She rambled out an apology and ran off.

She felt terrible for her past actions and planned on telling Elijah right after, but convinced herself that it would just cause problems between her and Elijah and Klaus and Elijah. 

After the kiss, he acted like it never happened. But when Elijah and Hayley announced their engagement, Klaus clearly took it hard. She wanted to comfort him, but decided it was better not to. Thankfully, Bonnie took care of him instead. Hopefully he didn’t tell her.

Hayley was sure Klaus would get over it. 

I mean, it was just one kiss, right?

•••

Rebekah narrowed her eyes as she saw Katherine and Caroline laughing about something.

When did they get so close?

She walked up to them. “Hi, guys.”

“Oh, hey, Bex. Care and I were just talking about Mr. Tanner’s new mustache.”

“Oh, it’s ridiculous isn’t it?” Rebekah giggled.

“Yeah, he looks like a catfish!” Caroline exclaimed. 

“Catfish? Which one is that?”

“They have those little whiskers, y’know?”

“Oh, I was thinking of the TV show!”

They started laughing and got sucked into their own little world, leaving Rebekah to watch them with a forced smile.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 - Confrontation Station

For once, Bonnie woke up in a good mood. She had pep in her step and a smile on her face. She was extra active in all of her classes (Mr. Saltzman said she was being phenomenal), she wasn’t pointing out negatives in everything; she was a whole new bitch.

It wasn’t just because of Stefan - well, he did play a big part in it, but it was more because of the confidence that Stefan asking her to the founders event gave her.

Speaking of, there he was.

“Hey, Bons.”

“Hi, Stef.” She replied. They embraced in a short hug, smiling at each other when they pulled away.

“You’re walking on sunshine today, huh?” He teased, nudging Bonnie’s shoulder.

“Oh, yeah. I’m feeling invincible!” She started to punch and kick the air. It looked like some mix of Karate and boxing. 

“I like that you’re happy.” He didn’t mean to say that out loud, but seeing the way she blushed he didn’t regret it.

Before she could respond, Tyler and Matt approached them.

“Hate to break this up, but we need Stefan.” Tyler said. “Come on, lover boy.” 

Stefan waved goodbye to her as Matt and Tyler dragged him down the hall.

She chuckled and waved to him as she turned to put her books in her locker. 

“Bonnie.” Elena said. 

Bonnie jumped. “Wah, you scared me!”

“Sorry.” She chuckled.

“What’s up, Lena?” Bonnie asked. She could tell Elena wanted to ask her something by the look on her face. Knowing somebody your whole life cuts back on a lot of beating around the bush.

“I- uh, I just wanted to ask you how it’s going with Stefan.” Elena hoped her voice was even when she spoke. 

She had seen Bonnie and Stefan today, they looked close. And Bonnie was in a weirdly good mood. So, it was natural for her to suspect things. She knew she told Bonnie to go for Stefan, she just didn’t think they would jump into each other’s arms so quickly.

“Um, pretty good.” Bonnie replied. Suddenly, she was nervous. She didn’t know how much she should tell Elena. She didn’t want her to be sad or uncomfortable. Or even worse, angry. Angry Elena was hard to heal. She decided that honesty was the best policy. “He, uh, asked me to the founders party.”

Elena audibly gasped. “Really?” She asked before she could stop herself.

“Yeah.” Bonnie answered. Too late to back down now.

“Oh.” 

“Oh?”

“I’m just a little shocked.” Elena said.

Bonnie didn’t want to ask why, she knew she wouldn’t like the answer, but she did anyway. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” She said tightly. 

Bonnie panicked. She could hear the crabbiness in Elena’s voice. She really didn’t want conflict, her day was going so well. “Um, if you’re not okay with us going together-”

“No, Bonnie, it's fine that you and Stefan are so close all the sudden. It’s not like I told you it wasn’t okay to make a move on him. I just didn’t think…” She stopped herself and took a deep breath in an unsuccessful attempt to calm her rage.

Bonnie swallowed. “You didn’t think he would like me back.” She finished quietly.

Bonnie begged, pleaded with her eyes for Elena to disagree. But she just stood there, looking at her childhood friend guiltily. Her silence gave Bonnie all the confirmation she needed.

It’s funny how your day can be ruined in an instant.

•••

Katherine and Rebekah sat on a picnic bench at lunch. It was weird, there was a tension there that had never been present before. They were both being strangely quiet.

“So…” Katherine started. 

They both wished Bonnie would show up to break the awkward tension, but the Bennett girl told them that she would be in the library at lunch rather aggressively. She was in such a good mood that morning - it was crazy how quickly that girl's emotions changed.

“So…” Rebekah echoed. “Um, what’s going on with you and Caroline?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re friends all the sudden.” Rebekah clarified.

“Oh.” Katherine grew a smile on her face that made Rebekah’s stomach churn with jealousy. “We’re friends, yeah. She’s pretty cool.”

“Yep.” Rebekah agreed with a half-hearted laugh. “Caroline’s great.”

It was quiet again.

“Uh, who are you going to the founders' event with?” Rebekah asked.

“I don’t know.” Katherine shrugged. “Bonnie’s going with Stefan,” They both grinned. “Caroline’s going with Matt, I think Elena’s going with Tyler, Jeremy’s going with some girl in his grade - everybody’s taken.”

“Would you…” She cleared her throat. “Do you want to go with me?”

Why did Katherine’s stomach do a flip right then? 

“Yeah. That would be fun. Uh, as friends, right?”

“Yeah.” Rebekah said quietly. “As friends.”

Katherine nodded and smiled and they continued to eat their lunch in silence.

•••

Bonnie angrily scribbled the answers to her Calculus homework while she sat in the library at lunch. She chowed down two PB&J’s and was still hungry, but decided not to get back into the habit of eating her feelings. 

She was an extremist. When she was happy, she was ecstatic, when she was sad she was miserable, and when she was in the middle, you can bet she was in the most mundane, dull mood you’ve ever seen.

So after Elena, her best friend, basically told her that she was undesirable, she wasn’t just angry. She was boiling hot livid.

Or maybe you’re just pretending to be mad to mask the heartbrokenness that you’re feeling, the stupid voice in the back of her head said stupidly.

“Shut up, stupid voice!” She whisper-shouted.

“Uh, Bon? You okay there?” Caroline asked cautiously as she approached her friend's table. 

Bonnie’s head snapped towards her. “Yep! Fine!” She said a little too enthusiastically.

“You were talking to yourself.” The blonde mused.

“No, you were talking to yourself.” Bonnie retorted like a three year old.

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.” Caroline smirked. “Come on, what’s wrong?”

Caroline sat in the chair across from Bonnie.

“I don’t want to say.” Bonnie replied. She may be angry with Elena, but she didn’t doubt that her friend felt guilty. Telling Caroline would just make Elena feel worse.

“Okay. But at least tell me what you’re feeling so I can help with that.”

“I’m feeling… not good.”

“Can you go into detail?” Caroline pushed.

“I’m angry. Well, I’m more sad. Betrayed.”

“Damn. Betrayed.” 

“Yeah.” Bonnie nodded.

“What can I do to help?”

“Hug?”

Caroline chuckled and wrapped her friend up in her arms. They stayed like that until the bell rang. 

•••

Stefan opened the door to the Salvatore house. The door was unlocked and he heard voices coming from the living room, so he knew someone was home.

He followed the voices to the living room.

He heard his mom and brother talking, and he was going to enter the room and let them know he was home, but before he could, he heard a snippet of their conversation.

“…Come on, mom. He’s doing something shady, I know it. I don’t want to keep pretending everything’s fine and I don’t want to keep lying to Stefan!”

Stefan’s eyebrows furrowed and he stepped into the room. “Lying to me about what?”

Damon and Lily’s twin blue eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights.

“Stefan, honey! I didn’t know you were home!” Lily exclaimed.

“I am.” He said dryly.

“Uh, we can explain.” Damon said and looked to his mother.

“Stefan, come sit.” Lily said.

He sat on the couch and looked suspiciously at his mother and brother who each had guilty looks on their faces. 

“So, for the past few weeks, Damon and I have been… speculating your father.”

“Speculating him how?” Stefan asked.

“Well, uh, we think he’s hiding something from us. He could possibly be cheating.” Damon replied.

“Do you have any evidence?” 

“He takes late night phone calls to unknown numbers, he’s never home, whenever I talk to him he acts suspicious, the list goes on.” Lily said.

“Okay, why didn’t you just tell me that?” 

Stefan had always had a thing about lying. He hated it when people lied to him, it’s the worst feeling ever knowing somebody you trust… isn’t somebody you should trust.

“You’re just kinda sensitive. We thought you might cry or something.” Damon said. He had never been good at saying what he meant.

“I mean, yeah, maybe I would’ve cried, but I’m not a baby anymore, guys. You can tell me things.” Stefan explained.

“We know you’re not a baby, Stef. It's just that sometimes your reactions to things are really big and we didn’t want to tell you anything until we were sure.”

“We didn’t want to have to deal with you throwing a fit until we were sure dad was actually guilty.”

Stefan glared at his brother.

“Sorry, that’s not what I meant-” Damon started.

“Nope, it’s fine. I get it. Just please, no more lying, okay?”

That night, Stefan laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t help but still be frustrated with his mom and Damon. 

He knew that he was only seventeen and it wasn’t a good idea to tell him anything until they were sure about his dad, and it wasn’t even the lying that made him upset this time, it’s what they said about why they didn’t tell him.

He knew that Damon was bad at getting his messages across, but some part of what he said had to be true right? Even his mom said his ‘reactions were big sometimes’.

Maybe he did cry too much, maybe he was too sensitive and took things too personally.

The worst part isn’t that they said it, it was that they were right.

He took a deep breath and decided that he should calm down. He wasn’t going to go down a self hate spiral in the middle of the night.

He got up from his bed and paced around his room, thinking of happy things, like Bonnie. Think about Bonnie. She’s gorgeous, and smart, and even though she wouldn’t admit it, a really good person. And she was so happy today.

Great. He had calmed down a bit and was about to climb back into bed when he heard a creak at his window. He furrowed his brows and went to check it out. 

When he looked out the window, he saw his best friend, Lexi Branson, struggling to sneak into his room. 

Lexi was three years older than him, and his parents used to hire her to babysit him when Damon was out being irresponsible. When they got older they became besties. She was like the sister he never had.

Instead of helping her, he smirked and leaned against the wall, watching her wrestle her way up.

She opened the window and tumbled in, glaring at him. 

“Thanks for the help, Stef.” She smiled fakely at him.

“Anytime, Lex.” He pulled her up and they hugged each other.

“I’m back!” She squealed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 - Class and Charm

“That one! That one!” Bonnie exclaimed, hopping up from her place on Rebekah’s bed. 

Rebekah twirled one more time in her pastel yellow dress, beaming at Bonnie’s reaction. They were trying on dresses for the founders event later that night. This was by far Bonnie’s most enthusiastic response.

“Are you sure?” Rebekah asked.

“Yes! You look like a friggin goddess!” Bonnie jumped up and down.

“Okay!” Rebekah said, jumping around just like Bonnie. “I’m so excited!”

They jumped until they were out of breath, then they collapsed on the bed next to each other. 

“Look at us. You’re going with Stefan, I’m going with Katherine, we got what we wanted.”

Bonnie couldn’t stop her small frown. Rebekah of course took notice and looked at Bonnie questioningly.

“What’s wrong, darling?” 

Bonnie contemplated telling Rebekah about what happened with Elena. She hadn’t talked to the brunette since Thursday - it was Saturday. 

Elena had tried to reach out to Bonnie in every possible way. Through texts, calls, she cornered her at school and came to her house, but Bonnie refused to reply to anything Elena did. She ignored the texts and calls, walked away from her at school and didn’t answer the door when Elena pounded on it demanding Bonnie hear her out.

She just didn’t think she could get back to the place she was before with Elena. Her entire view on her had changed. Gone were the days when she saw Elena as her compassionate best friend. What kind of ‘compassionate best friend’ would think so low of her?

Rebekah and Elena weren’t all that close, so if Bonnie told Rebekah about what happened she wouldn’t be ruining a close friendship or putting Rebekah in the middle like she would be if she told Caroline. And it would be nice to have somebody to confide in.

But on the other hand, Rebekah had a big mouth and would probably tell everybody about Elena’s misdeeds. Bonnie had always put Elena’s needs before her own. Everybody did, something about Elena just made people forget themselves and put her on a pedestal. Bonnie was already having a hard time ignoring Elena herself, if everyone else was angry with Elena she would feel 100 times worse and would probably end up caving to her doe eyed friend.

But as she looked into Rebekah’s concerned eyes, she sighed and told her everything Elena said to her.

Rebekah’s expression darkened but she didn’t scream or throw a fit like Bonnie thought she would. She was eerily calm, which was worse. 

“Bex, please don’t tell anyone. I just needed to talk to someone about it. If you tell anyone it’ll all be worse than it has to be.”

Rebekah’s expression softened. As much as she wanted to give Elena a piece of her mind in a public setting, followed by snapping that backstabbing bitches neck, she knew it would just cause Bonnie to feel worse than she already was.

“I won’t. Promise.”

“Thanks, Rebekah. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

•••

Stefan and Katherine stood next to each other at the front door of the Mikaelson mansion. 

“Stefan? Are you going to ring the doorbell?” Katherine asked.

“Uh, I was kinda thinking that was more of a you job.” He replied. Yeah, he was nervous as hell.

Katherine scoffed, muttering something along the lines of ‘wimp’ under her breath and rang the bell. 

Bonnie and Rebekah were scurrying around Rebekah’s room. They spent too long talking and were now rushing their asses. They heard the doorbell ring and grew more frantic.

“ Bonnie, where the hell is the mascara?! I need the mascara! ” Rebekah hissed.

“ I don’t know! Stop asking stupid questions and go find it! ”

Freya and Keelin entered the room amidst the girls’ scrambling. They looked at each other knowingly and approached Bonnie who was struggling to put her heels on and Rebekah who was aggressively applying the mascara that she finally found.

“Girls? Your date’s are here. Do you need some help?” Freya inquired softly.

“What do you think, bitch?!” Rebekah screeched.

“She means yes!” Bonnie said.

Freya helped Bonnie with her shoes and Keelin cleaned up Rebekah’s makeup. When they were all done, Keelin and Freya looked at the two highschoolers proudly.

“You two look beautiful.” Freya smiled.

“You do.” Keelin agreed. “Now go get 'em.”

Both Stefan and Katherine shifted underneath Mikael Mikaelson’s gaze. He was watching them quietly as they waited for Bonnie and Rebekah to come down the stairs. They exchanged a look when he tilted his head to the side. Yikes.

They heard a loud bang coming from upstairs, then an ‘ouch!’ and a ‘it’s not my fault you can’t walk in heels!’. After some more thumps and bangs (what in the world was going on up there?), Rebekah and Bonnie appeared at the top of the large marble staircase.

Stefan gulped when he laid his eyes on Bonnie. He could say extremely confidently that she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world. He already knew that though, this was just confirmation. Her hair was natural and curly and her blue dress made her skin glow, but he had the privilege to know that all clothing did that to her. Her warm, emerald eyes glistened in the chandelier light, and once he looked into them he couldn’t look away. She was like a goddess. Their green eyes stayed connected as they gazed at each other, forgetting everyone else in the room.

Katherine felt the familiar sensation of butterflies when she looked at Rebekah. She didn’t know why the blonde always sparked a reaction in her, but a part of her loved it. Loved the way her dress complemented her peach colored skin, the way her full lips were pulled into a graceful smile that Katherine could stare at forever - oh, crap. I can’t feel this for her. I can’t and I don’t . She averted her eyes from Rebekah and turned to look at Bonnie who was sharing an intimate gaze with Stefan.

Rebekah frowned when Katherine looked away from her. She thought they were having a moment, but apparently not.

Mikael cleared his throat. Katherine looked at him eagerly, Rebekah looked annoyed and Bonnie and Stefan were still ogling each other. Mikael cleared his throat louder this time and Stefan and Bonnie reluctantly looked away from each other.

“Have fun, children. And don’t forget that we’ll be there as well.” He motioned to himself and Esther.

With that, they were out the door.

•••

Rebekah exhaled deeply as they pulled up to the Lockwood Mansion. The car ride there was physically painful for her. They all decided to ride in Stefan’s car, so Stefan and Bonnie were trading longing stares the whole time (Rebekah could grudgingly admit that that made her happy), but Katherine refused to look her way. 

She didn’t know why Katherine was ignoring her, things were fine between them up until that weird moment when she looked away during their eye contact. 

She opened the door to the back seat and walked over to Katherine’s side of the car and opened the door for her while Stefan did the same for Bonnie.

Katherine looked at her hesitantly and then reluctantly took her hand. 

“Thanks.” The brunette muttered quietly.

Rebekah sighed. “No problem.”

The girls walked beside each other in silence towards the entrance. They reached the front doors which were open with Carol and Richard Lockwood greeting guests.

The sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful greyish blue color. The lighting inside the mansion was warm and it was a nice contrast from outside. 

“Katherine, Rebekah!” Carol Lockwood smiled tightly from her place at the door. Her eyes swept over the girls distastefully. Her already fake smile dimmed. “Are you here together?”

“Yes.” Rebekah said, making confident eye contact with the judgy Mrs. Lockwood. Katherine didn’t look so confident.

“I see.” She frowned. “I can’t say I didn’t expect this. There’s always at least two of them.” She sighed. “Enjoy the party, ladies.”

Katherine and Rebekah were speechless as they were mindlessly nudged through the crowd. 

Rebekah was angry. Red, hot, angry. Who did that bitch think she was? Just because her relationship with Mr. Lockwood was probably withering away, didn’t mean she could judge anyone else on who they chose to love.

Katherine was dreadful. She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready for people to know yet. She just wanted to curl into a little ball and let the world forget her.

A thousand emotions and thoughts swirled in the brunette's head. “I have to go. I can’t be out here with you.” Was all she could manage to say before running off to an empty room.

Rebekah’s heart dropped. She held back her tears and ran after her. Because even though she may have loved Katherine romantically, first and foremost they were best friends, and right now that’s what Katherine needed.

•••

Stefan and Bonnie were all giggles as they got out of the car. Their arms were linked and and their smiles were bright as they sauntered over to the entrance.

Bonnie looked up at Stefan and for the first time noticed how damn hot he was. Obviously she had noticed before - his good looks were very hard to miss - but that wasn’t what had attracted her to him at first. In the faint light of the sun, his kind, considerate, goofy, loveable nature and his handsomeness combined was almost too much to take.

Of course, Stefan was having similar thoughts. The pair's smiles grew when they met green eyes. Bonnie’s eyes were more hazel while Stefan’s were more emerald, but both were equally gorgeous.

They walked up the few steps to greet Carol and Richard Lockwood. 

“Stefan, you look dashing as always!” Carol cooed. Stefan grimaced. “And Bonnie, I didn’t know you could wear makeup and dress up! I always figured you were allergic to looking nice, since you avoid it like the plague.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes. What a bitch.

“It’s interesting that you say that, Mrs. Lockwood. I find that she always looks nice.” Stefan defended. He looked at Bonnie softly. “Maybe you just aren’t looking hard enough.”

Bonnie was grateful for her dark complexion or else she’d be as red as a tomato.

Carol swallowed. “Maybe.”

The pair entered the party, little smirks on their faces.

Bonnie’s smirk dropped when Elena started walking towards them. 

Elena tried not to frown when she saw Bonnie and Stefan’s intertwined hands. She put on her poker face and looked back up at Bonnie. She wasn’t here for Stefan, she was here to get her best friend back. Bonnie had to understand that she was angry that day and anything that she said or innuendoed to, she absolutely didn’t mean.

“Hi, guys!” She greeted with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

“Hi, Elena.” Stefan smiled politely. Elena was a good friend, but they were never that close. She was Bonnie’s best friend, though, so he guessed he would have to be around her more. That is, if Bonnie would want to keep hanging out.

“Elena.” Bonnie said with a flat smile. 

“Bonnie, you look beautiful.” She complemented. And she wasn’t lying. Bonnie looked gorgeous. She was almost jealous.

“Thanks. So do you.”

Elena smiled. There was silence for a moment.

“Okay, well I’ll see you guys around.” The brunette said disappointedly. She would try again another time, but she knew this conversation wouldn’t be getting anywhere.

Bonnie’s heart broke at the look on Elena’s face, but she knew that she shouldn’t just let this go because she felt bad.

Stefan noticed the awkwardness of their interaction and the dampen in Bonnie’s mood, and he assumed the girls were fighting or something. He would ask Bonnie if she was okay, but he didn’t want to make it worse, so he just rubbed the back of her hand with his.

She looked up at him with tears glistening in her eyes slightly and smiled somberly at him.

It had never been harder for him not to kiss her.

•••

Lexi (who was already halfway drunk), stumbled around the party. She considered herself an intellectual when she was drunk. She noticed things more. 

She was also incredibly nosy. Drunk Lexi didn’t know how to mind her own business.

So when she saw Klaus Mikaelson’s face when he watched his brother and his brother's fiancé enter together, she knew something was up.

It was time for investigator Lexi to come out and play.

She snuck behind a big potted plant to watch Klaus’ interaction with them once they came up and greeted him.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying but she could easily see how uncomfortable Klaus and Hayley were. It was insane how Elijah hadn’t seemed to notice. One time Bonnie invited her over for dinner and the dynamic between the three was completely normal. She wondered what changed.

Lexi felt a presence behind her and turned to see Vicki Donovan, Anna Zhu and Kai Parker looking at her. Ah, she remembered them. The three of them were thick as thieves - and they kind of were thieves. 

They were always always engaging in criminal activity, whether they were graffitiing government owned buildings or TPing their enemies houses, they were always up to something when they were together. This particular night, they were slowly collecting (stealing) all of the jewelry that was passed down through the Lockwood family.

“Hey, party people.” Lexi said, taking another sip of her drink.

Anna’s eyebrows raised. “Lexi. You’re back.”

“That’s right, I'm back.” She gave a little twirl.

“And you’re drunk.” Kai pointed out.

“Right again.” She took another gulp, emptying out her glass.

“Why are you hiding behind a plant?” Vicki inquired.

“I’m people watching.”

“You mean stalking?” Kai deadpanned.

“No, Malachai , I mean people watching.” Lexi sassed. She tried to take another sip but frowned when she realized the glass was empty. 

“Okay, I’m just gonna take that from you.” Anna said, taking the glass from Lexi’s clutches.

“Who are you watching?” Vicki asked.

“Those things.” She said, pointing to Klaus, Elijah and Hayley who were still awkwardly conversing.

The three of them looked to where Lexi was pointing and immediately noticed the tension between Klaus and Hayley. They all inched closer, so that the plant was hiding all four of them.

“Y’know, I’m thinking Hayley and Klaus had an affair or something but it ended.” Vicki guessed.

“Yeah, or maybe Klaus confessed his love to her and she didn’t feel the same.” Anna suggested.

“Or both.” Kai agreed.

Klaus kept his eyes on Hayley while she tried to act normally, but was clearly failing. She was gripping onto her bag with acute force and kept flickering her eyes to Klaus, as if he was going to do something she didn’t want him to do. Elijah just looked absolutely thrilled that he got to talk to his two favorite people at once. He clearly didn’t notice the awkwardness.

Hayley nodded towards the bar and Elijah smiled at her. She scurried off to the bar and took a big sigh of relief when she got some alcohol in her.

Klaus and Elijah were talking alone now. Klaus looked more relaxed and Elijah still looked ecstatic. 

“Wait a minute,” Lexi slurred. “I’m uber duber drunk. I’m not ‘of sound and mind’, so I have an excuse not to mind my business. You’re all as sober as a… sober… person. What’s your excuse?” She asked with a scrunched up face.

“We’re nosy.” Kai said simply.

Lexi thought for a second, then shrugged. “Good enough for me.” She turned her attention back to Klaus and Elijah. The four of them stood watching them with rapt attention.

•••

“So, where’s Lexi?” Bonnie asked. She hadn’t seen the blonde yet and she wanted to say hi.

Stefan and Bonnie sat at a table together, just chit chatting. Neither of them were particularly fond of dancing, so they decided to talk instead.

“I think I saw her hiding behind a bush with Vicki, Kai and Anna.” Stefan answered. He had no idea what Lexi was up to but as long as she wasn’t committing a Class A offense, he didn’t care.

“So she’s drunk.” Bonnie said.

“Definitely.” Stefan agreed. They chuckled.

“Hey, guys.” Damon said, approaching them.

“Hey, Damon.” Bonnie smiled.

Stefan smiled tightly. “Hey.”

Truthfully, Stefan was still a little bit angry with Damon because of the other day, but when he was mad he didn’t confront people, he just waited until it simmered down and chose to forget it. And that’s what he was planning on doing.

Damon could tell his little brother was kind of mad at him, and he was keeping his distance pretty well. But he wanted to talk this out. He was sure it was because of what he said about Stefan being too sensitive, but really, that’s not what he meant! He didn’t really know what he meant. But he would never say anything to hurt his baby bro on purpose, and Stefan needed to know that.

“Bon, do you want to dance?” Stefan asked.

She looked at him in confusion, but when he saw the urgency in his eyes, she agreed. “Uh, sure. Bye, Damon.”

Damon watched Stefan drag Bonnie to the dance floor. “Bye, guys.” He sighed.

•••

Rebekah found Katherine sitting on a bed in a random empty guest room. She looked like she had just been crying. Rebekah slowly approached her and sat next to her on the bed.

She didn’t know what to say to comfort her, so she just sat silently. They were quiet for around five minutes. Then, Katherine broke it.

“I like you, Rebekah.” She whispered. Rebekah’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“I like you.”

Rebekah swallowed. She wanted to ask for clarification, just so she could hear it out loud, but she knew what Katherine meant. “I like you, too.” She replied just as quietly.

“But I’m not ready yet.”

“You don’t have to be.” Rebekah assured.

Katherine leaned her head on Rebekah’s shoulder and Rebekah wrapped her arm around her. Rebekah stroked Katherine’s brown locks. “I will be ready one day.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

•••

After dancing clumsily for a little while, Bonnie and Stefan decided to go home. Bonnie gave Esther, Grams and Mikael hugs (they were hanging around the bar the whole night), waved awkwardly to Elena, kissed Caroline, Matt, Tyler, Jeremy, etc. on the cheek, hugged all of her pseudo Mikaelson siblings and searched for a little while for Rebekah and Katherine but couldn’t find them so just sent them texts asking where they were.

Rebekah replied saying that she and Katherine would catch a ride with Esther and Mikael.

So it was just Bonnie and Stefan on the ride home. She didn’t question him about his weirdness with Damon and he didn’t question her about her weirdness with Elena. They sat in comfortable silence the whole way to Bonnie’s house. He pulled up in the driveway to the house.

“Thanks for driving me. I had a lot of fun.” She smiled.

“I did too.” He hummed. “Do you want me to walk you to the door?”

“Sure.” She grinned at the idea of stretching out their time together.

Neither of them moved to get out of the car, though. They just stared. There was a lot of staring that night. Their smiles dropped as the moment intensified.

Faces inched closer and eyes started drooping. They were so close that they could feel each other’s minty breaths.

Bonnie made the first move and left a soft kiss on his even softer lips. Both of their eyes snapped open and blood rushed to Bonnie’s face.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what-” She started apologizing but he cut her off by crashing their lips together.

She melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms around him. He placed his hands on her hips and they fought to get closer to each other, even in the awkward angle of the car.

They pulled away to catch their breaths. “I should probably go inside now.” She said, breathing heavily.

“I’ll walk you.” They got out of the car and stood on her front porch with wide smiles in place.

She placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “Goodnight, Stefan.”

“Goodnight, Bonnie.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 - Sweater Weather

“What did you get?” A thirteen year old Bonnie asked eagerly. She and Stefan were meeting up at a picnic bench behind the middle school to discuss halloween candy.

Stefan sighed seriously as he sat down across from her. “I don’t know if there’s much I can do for you, Bons.”

“Come on, Stefan, there has to be something!” She exclaimed, slamming her hands on the table.

He sighed again and took out a brown paper bag from his backpack. He dumped the contents out. “This is all I got. And I want to keep most of it.”

“Stefan, that's not fair! You promised.” Bonnie whined.

“I’m sorry, Bonnie. But I didn’t get that much this year because Damon took me trick or treating and he had to get back early so he could go to some party.” Stefan said, remembering how angry he was with his brother for cutting his halloween short. He wanted to yell at Damon but he knew from experience that his voice would crack and he wasn’t up for that. Puberty sucked.

“Stef, if you’re going to get a Kit Kat, I need a Reese’s in return. That’s just the way law works.”

Stefan furrowed his brows in confusion. “Reese’s? I thought you would want my Laffy Taffy.” He remarked.

“I can’t.” She said somberly, “Braces.”

He frowned when he saw her sad face. He didn’t like it when Bonnie was sad.

He sighed. “You can have my Reese’s. I don’t need a Kit Kat in return.” He said with a melancholic smile.

She sniffed. “Really?”

“Yeah. Anything to turn that frown upside down.” He shrugged.

“Stefan, you’re the best!” She jumped up and attacked him with a big hug.

Any sadness he felt about losing his candy evaporated when they embraced. He was the luckiest guy in the seventh grade.

•••

Bonnie smiled as she walked towards the Grill. It was fall. Her favorite season. The crisp October air made her cheeks feel all prickly. 

She was on her way to have lunch with Katherine at the Grill. It was nice to have a break, she had been working at her Grams’ shop all day. Stefan dropped by and Grams accepted his help, strangely. Bonnie didn’t know why but it was great to have help around.

Her cheeks became even pricklier, but not because of the cold weather. This time, it was from thinking about Stefan.

Stefan, her boyfriend .

Woop woop!

Around a week had passed since that very eventful Founder’s party. After Stefan and Bonnie shared a kiss, she walked inside her house feeling like she was floating on clouds. Around ten minutes afterwards, she heard a knock on the door and opened it to find a nervous looking Stefan. He asked her to be his girlfriend and the rest is history. 

That moment replayed in her mind on loop.

She and Stefan were happier than ever, but she noticed that when Elena found out, she stopped her efforts to try to refriend Bonnie. They hadn’t spoken or even made eye contact since the founder’s event.

Bonnie didn’t like to dwell on that fact, it made her feel sick. The thought of losing Elena, her best friend of fifteen years over a boy was nauseating. But she wasn’t going to make the first move. She wasn’t in the wrong.

“Bon Bon!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

“Kit Kat!” Bonnie responded with just as much energy. The girls ran to each other in the middle of the street, ignoring the beeping cars.

They interlocked hands and walked into the Grill.

Katherine and Bonnie had barely interacted since The Splash, which was like a hundred years before, and they wanted to remedy it immediately.

They sat in a booth across from each other. “Waiter! I’d like your finest liquor, please!” Katherine yelled loudly at poor Matt who was working the bar. 

“Are you drunk?” Bonnie asked, amused.

“Believe it or not, no. I think it’s the caffeine. I had coffee this morning.” The brunette said.

“Wow. How unlike you. I’ve always pegged you as a tea typa gal.”

“People change, Bon.” She said, looking around hyperly. “I want more coffee.”

“By the way you’re shaking,” She pointed to Katherine’s jittery hand, “I’d say you’ve had enough.”

Katherine sent Bonnie a sarcastic smile, which turned into a smirk when she noticed a smudge in Bonnie’s lipstick.

“Bonnie…” She started playfully.

“Yes, Katherine?” Bonnie asked with her eyebrows raised.

“You’re wearing lipstick for once.”

“I am.” Bonnie said, not knowing where her friend was going with this.

“It’s smudged.”

Bonnie quickly whipped out her phone and looked into the camera.

“Why is it smudged, Bon?” Katherine asked in a singsong voice.

Bonnie deadpanned. “If you’re suggesting what I think you are, we were just kissing.”

“Boo.” Katherine pouted.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Well, I think you guys make a very cute couple. Especially since it makes Elena so mad.” Katherine giggled.

“Elena’s mad?” Bonnie asked, furrowing her brows.

Katherine rolled her eyes. “She seems pissed. Knowing her she probably thinks it’s inconsiderate that you started dating Stefan knowing she likes him. Even though she gave you a pass. I swear I could kill that bitch sometimes.”

Any remorse Bonnie felt for Elena flew away like a bird set free. How could Elena think something like that, knowing that Bonnie put her feelings for Stefan on hold for her for years ? And Elena said clearly that Bonnie could make a move on Stefan. Even if she didn’t think Stefan would like her back, she still said what she said, and she couldn’t blame Bonnie for dating him when she gave her permission.

“Oh no. Did I kill the mood?” Katherine asked warily, seeing the creepy ass twitch in Bonnie’s left eye.

“No. No, it's fine. Let’s talk about you. How’s your dad?”

Katherine smiled widely. “Much better. He’s walking, getting back to normal. We just can’t have him eating junk food anymore. He’s not happy about that.”

“I bet.” Bonnie muttered, thinking back to all the times she saw Mr. Pierce eating some sort of wildly unhealthy contraption he bought from his weird secretary, Mrs. Dawson. “But I’m happy he’s getting better. He’s a survivor, just like you.”

Katherine smiled at her friend. Her face lit up when she remembered something else she was dying to share with Bon. “Also, I saw Damon practicing in his timberwolf costume yesterday after school.” Katherine said.

“No way.” Bonnie gasped.

“Yes way.”

“Tell me everything!”

“He had to use the pom poms. That’s all I saw.”

Bonnie made a noise that was somewhere in between a Jurassic animal's screech and a laugh. “I have never been more excited for the next pep rally in my life.”

“We need to bring a camera crew and everything. We should get Stefan in on this.” Katherine suggested.

“Yeah… But Stef’s been really weird about Damon lately.” Bonnie admitted. She noticed how Stefan never wanted to be over at his house, and that he rarely ever talked to his brother anymore, even though they had always been as thick as thieves. She wondered if this had to do with his weirdness towards Damon at the founders event. She hadn’t forgotten Stefan dragging her to the dance floor after they agreed not to dance, just to get rid of Damon.

“How so?”

“He’s avoiding talking about him, seeing him, being in the same house as him - I’m worried about their relationship. I know it’s none of my business but I’m still scared that they’ll lose their bond or something.”

“Bonnie,” Katherine placed her hand on Bonnie’s. “It’s normal for siblings to fight. You and Beks fight all the time. Damon and Stefan have been through a lot together. Whatever it is between them won’t break that.”

“Thanks, Kat. Hopefully they’ll get back together before the pep rally, though, because Stefan’s rich and camera crews cost a lot.”

•••

Elena sighed as she lay in bed, stopping herself from hopping over to her desktop and scrolling through Bonnie’s social media. She was becoming kind of a stalker.

She underestimated how horrible being separated from her best friend would be.

She found herself questioning if Stefan was really worth it. Was he enough for her to lose Bonnie? Now that Stefan and Bonnie were official… she gritted her teeth, took a deep breath and started again… Now that Stefan and Bonnie were official , there would be no way for her to get with Stefan without breaking him and Bonnie up. She didn’t want to be a homewrecking bitch, but she loved Stefan. She loved him. So, why didn’t he choose her?

That was the question that echoed in her distressed mind day and night. Why wasn’t she the one he picked?

She was everybody’s first choice. Everybody except for the love of her life, apparently. It wasn’t fair! Why did the one person who picked Bonnie have to be her person? Was it payback for something she did? Bad karma?

Elena had created this perfect vision in her head. Her and Stefan married with green eyed, brown haired babies, living in a suburban house with a white picket fence. Caroline happy with Matt or something, Katherine finally getting over herself, Rebekah and the rest of the Mikaelson’s doing whatever they do, and Bonnie with genuinely anyone . Anyone except for Stefan . She’d even be happy if Bonnie dated Jeremy!

The thing about Elena’s fantasies, such as that one, was that she put all of her faith into them. They were less of fantasies and more of goals. She did everything in her power to get them to happen.

So why did she tell Bonnie to go for it with Stefan, you ask?

Because she wasn’t heartless, that’s why! She saw the way Bonnie looked at Stefan ( what she missed is the way Stefan looked at Bonnie, she thought bitterly). She thought that if Bonnie was open about her feelings with Stefan, he would let her down easily. He would admit his feelings for Elena to her and the Gilbert girl and Salvatore boy would get together and live happily ever after. That way Bonnie would eventually move on with someone else because she would have closure from Stefan.

But imagine Elena’s surprise when Bonnie and Stefan get flirty and flirty, and then they go to the founder’s event together, and then they start dating !

Elena’s fantasies - goals - were foiled and she didn’t know what to do so she took her anger out on Bonnie. And here they were. 

A part of her wanted to run over to Bonnie’s and grovel for her forgiveness, but she couldn’t do that until she was absolutely sure that it wouldn’t work out with herself and Stefan. She needed to try a little harder to get her goal, and if it didn’t work out she would beg for Bonnie to be her friend again.

After all, it never was hard to achieve Bonnie’s forgiveness. 

•••

When lunch with Katherine ended, Bonnie met Stefan to go on a walk. They stayed out for a while, practically covering the whole town while they were lost in conversation. After the couple reluctantly traded their goodbyes, Bonnie headed over to the Mikaelson’s house for the evening.

Freya and Keelin had left, so had Hayley, Elijah, Finn and Sage. Klaus was visiting for the weekend (he realized how much he missed being home after his first arrival) and so was Kol. 

Kol and Rebekah were in a heated game of chess, while Bonnie and Klaus were watching a show on the TV. Neither of them knew what was going on on the screen because Rebekah and Kol requested absolute silence around them. Esther, Grams and Mikael were all reading their respective books while sitting on the couch.

The fireplace was blazing and providing the only light in the room. Everybody was either bundled in a blanket or drinking tea. The mood was cozy and peaceful. A perfect ending to an October day, in Bonnie’s opinion. 

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang. The family looked at each other in confusion. Who would be knocking on their door at 10:30 PM?

“Not it.” Klaus and Bonnie said in synch, tapping their noses.

“Bekah and I are chessing. We can’t.” Kol defended weakly.

“I’m elderly.” Mikael motioned to himself without even looking up from his book.

“So am I.” Grams said idly.

“Lazy. You’re all lazy.” Esther groaned, getting up from her place on the couch. She walked the short distance to the front door (they were in the downstairs living room so the commute really wasn’t that far).

“Elijah?” Esther’s voice rang after she flung the door open. Everybody’s ears perked up. What was Elijah doing here? “What’s wrong, darling?”

“Mother,” There was obvious pain etched in his voice. “Hayley called off the engagement.”

Everybody who was eavesdropping from the living room either dropped something or made an audible gasp. Nobody saw that coming. Nobody except for Klaus, whose face went pale and heart dropped with guilt.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8 - Truth Hurts

“I wasn’t scared.” Stefan defended as he shook his head vehemently.

“Then why did you jump?” Bonnie questioned with a giggle.

“I was surprised! There was no buildup! It was totally uncalled for!” He exclaimed.

The two were walking out of the projection room at the movie theater hand in hand. They had seen a poorly written horror movie and Stefan was a little more rattled by it then he’d like to admit. When Bonnie continued to laugh at him, he sent her a playful glare.

“Maybe I was a little scared.” He confessed.

“You were. It was cute.” Bonnie replied, looking at him fondly.

His cheeks tinted red and he smiled down at her, the same adoring expression on his face. “ You’re cute.”

“I know.” She shrugged with a smile.

He chuckled and leaned down to press a kiss to her lips. Even in short pecks like this one, their affection for each other was apparent. Butterflies never failed to swarm the stomachs of both lovesick teenagers when they met lips.

They gazed at each other for a minute and then realized they were standing in the middle of a crowded theater lobby. A group of prepubescent boys, all dressed in neon green or neon orange shorts passed by them with looks of disgust on their faces. One specific little red head pointed to the couple and made a gagging noise.

Neither Bonnie or Stefan understood the fuss, it was just a peck. However, Stefan thought their reaction was funny so he awarded them with a smirk. Bonnie actually hissed at them.

Bonnie turned to her boyfriend. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom before we leave. Meet you in the car?”

“Sure.” He gave her one last kiss and turned to go wait in his car.

•••

Bonnie left the bathroom stall and walked over to the sink to wash her hands. The theater was packed today and the bathroom was no different. She had to wait in a long line to get into the bathroom and she wanted to be speedy so that she wouldn’t hold anyone up.

Just as she was going to make her quick exit, she halted in her tracks because she saw a very familiar face. Camille O’Connell. 

“Cami?” She blurted loudly.

“Bonnie?” Cami responded with the same genuine surprise.

They ran towards each other and embraced in a big hug. It had been so long since they’d seen each other, and they were finally realizing how much they’d missed each other. Bonnie was first to pull away when she realized that they were being too affectionate. As much as Bonnie loved Cami, Klaus had won the custody battle when he and the blonde broke up.

Cami didn’t seem to notice Bonnie’s abrupt halt of affection. If she did she wasn’t phased by it. “Why don’t we get out of this bathroom? We can catch up outside.”

Bonnie nodded as she pulled her out of the bathroom and back out to the lobby.

“So how have you been, girl?” Cami asked with a beam. “Are you here with Stefan?”

Bonnie looked at her brother’s ex in confusion. “How did you know?”

“Oh, come on. It was only a matter of time. I remember how you guys were together.”

Bonnie tried to stop her blush. “I really like him.” She admitted.

“I know you do.” Cami replied, smiling softly.

“So, how are you? Are you here alone?” Bonnie had to ask. Cami and Klaus had broken up in late May, and it was early October, so she wouldn’t be offended on Klaus’ behalf if Cami was seeing someone else.

“Uh, actually, no.” Cami pointed to a handsome man who was laughing while he had a conversation with the guy giving out popcorn. “His name is Marcel. This is our first date.”

“Oh. He’s hot.” 

“He is, isn’t he? He’s really extroverted. He can make conversation with anybody.”

Bonnie thought for a second. “Do you like him?” She knew she was getting too close with Klaus’ ex, but she was more than just ‘Klaus’ ex’ . She was a really great person. And Bonnie’s friend.

“I do.” Cami said, almost in a whisper.

“Are you-” Bonnie shook off her question. Why would she even think of asking that? “Nevermind.”

“You were going to ask if I was over Klaus, weren’t you?” Cami asked, tearing her eyes away from Marcel and back to Bonnie.

Bonnie nodded wordlessly.

Cami sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be completely over him.” She looked Bonnie in the eyes. “You know I thought he was the love of my life.”

Bonnie knew. She thought Klaus and Cami would get married and have babies and all that but maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

“But I’m over him enough to want to start something with Marcel.” Cami said decidedly. “Klaus and I loved each other - love each other, but sometimes you need more than just love.”

“What do you mean?” Bonnie inquired.

“Love and loyalty don’t come hand in hand, Bonnie.”

When Bonnie continued to look at Cami like she had three heads, the blonde elaborated.

“He was in love with someone else.” Cami said simply.

Bonnie’s mouth went dry. “He what?!”

•••

Damon’s jaw was in a full tick as he held his mother in his arms as she sobbed. 

He wasn’t surprised. They had been talking about this for a while and even if they hadn’t been, he knew his dad would do it eventually. 

“I don’t know why I’m so sad!” Lily cried. “I knew he was going to do this!”

“It’s okay to be sad, mom. What he did was horrible. You didn't deserve that.” 

He and his mom had gone full undercover cop mode and followed his father to the scene of the crime the night before. Giuseppe told them he was going to a boys night with his best (and only) friend, Richard Lockwood. It seemed believable, but then Lily got a call from Carol Lockwood. While they were on the phone, Carol asked Lily if she wanted to say hi to Richard who was watching the game at home.

Lily was naturally confused - Richard was supposed to be out bowling with Giuseppe, not watching the game at home! - but she tried her best to stay calm and not jump to conclusions as she summoned Damon. It was just the two of them home that night since Stefan was sleeping over at Bonnie’s. 

Damon’s first reaction was anger. His mother was coming up with every unrealistic rationalization in the book for his sorry excuse of a father.

“That’s it, mom.” He said with finality and seriousness in his voice that was rare for Damon. “Let’s follow him. Then you’ll see that he’s no good for you. No good for any of us.”

Lily was reluctant at first. She had spent so much time preparing for it all to be over. For her marriage to be a distant memory. But it was still so hard. She knew that if she caught him cheating tonight, she wouldn’t be able to get back with him. The question was if she wanted to live in blissful denial or not. But really, as she thought about how un blissful the denial was, she knew there wasn’t a choice. 

They caught him. He begged for Lily’s forgiveness (she had to admit she liked that part), but she wouldn’t grant it to him. As empowering as it was to kick him out - he was staying at a hotel for now - she was still heartbroken.

She cried and cried into Damon’s arms, not noticing how stiff with anger he was as he comforted her.

Damon had been red hot furious since the previous night. He was angry with his dad for cheating, somehow resentful of his mother for kicking his dad out, even though he was the one who encouraged it and mad at Stefan for staying out of it. Really, he was sad, though. But anger was easier than sadness, so he stuck with that.

He wished his dad was a nice and gentle and supportive man instead of the spawn of hell that he got. In anger or in sadness, that fact stayed true.

He knew that the next step was to tell Stefan about what happened. He knew his mom wouldn’t, she would probably be immoble for a few days. Understandably. He never gave her enough credit - she was a strong woman. But even strong women needed to take a few days.

Telling Stefan would be tough, especially since he was so happy with Bonnie. Stefan was finally starting to be less weird with Damon about what he said last time they talked about Giuseppe cheating, and this would probably ruin that.

Stefan had such strong emotions - when he found out about this he would isolate himself to be miserable, or throw a tantrum and start vandalizing things and become a delinquent. The possibilities were endless when it came to that kid. Damon didn’t want that for his brother. So, he decided that for as long as he could, he wouldn’t tell Stefan about what Giuseppe did.

It was for everyone's good.

•••

“He was in love with someone else?” Stefan questioned when Bonnie filled him in about her conversation with Cami.

“I know! So weird!” Bonnie said, still in shock.

They were laying in Bonnie’s bed, Stefan’s arm around his girlfriend, Bonnie’s head snuggled in his chest. 

Her conversation with Cami ended pretty quickly (Cami didn’t realize that she phazed Bonnie at all. For a therapist, you’d think she’d be more intuitive) and Bonnie sat the entire car ride home looking like she saw a ghost. When they got to Bonnie’s house, Stefan finally asked her what the hell was wrong with her and she told him about running into her brother's ex.

“Wow.” Stefan mused.

“He always seemed so hopelessly in love with Cams, I just don’t know what’s going on! He didn’t tell anyone why he and Cami broke up, so I- I guess it could be a possibility.” 

“Well, maybe Cami was only suspecting something. Just because she said so doesn’t mean it’s true.” He offered.

“I know. She just seemed so sure. I know it’s not my business. It was just weird.”

“It’s normal to be extra nosy with him. You’re family.”

“Yeah.” She sighed.

He waited for a beat. “You okay?”

She smiled up at him. That conversation rattled her a bit, but it wasn’t enough to completely shatter her mood. “I’m great.” She grinned.

“That’s too bad, I had something in mind to cheer you up.” Stefan smirked handsomely.

Bonnie grinned, catching on. She bit her lip and sat up, climbing on top of him. “And what exactly was that?”

He grabbed her hips and kissed her deeply. He smiled innocently. “Milkshakes at the grille?” 

“That’s not really what I had in mind.” Bonnie deadpanned.

Stefan chuckled. “We can do that too. After the milkshakes of course.”

•••

Klaus had to pop a ‘Tums’. His stomach wouldn’t stop flipping about. It wasn’t because he got sick or ate something bad, it was because of the whole roller coaster of emotions that he was feeling. His gut was currently flipping between guilt and happiness.

Hayley called off the engagement. She left Elijah.

He was feeling guilty because he kissed her. He kissed his brother’s fiancée. Ex- fiancée, girlfriend at the time, it made no difference. Betraying someone you love never leaves you, even if it was just a kiss.

He was feeling happy because the part of him that loved Hayley - that was in love with Hayley, thought that it was because of him. Thought that she wanted to be with him, not Elijah. The fact that that made him happy made the guilt worsen.

The guilt drove him so crazy that he marched to his car and sped his way over to Hayley’s mothers house. He knew she would be there. He knew Hayley.

He pounded on the front door. All this remorse for things he’d done, all for Hayley, made him need to see her. He needed to see her because then it would be worth it. He would take one look into her hazel eyes and the happiness would win over the guilt.

She opened the door timidly, furrowing her brows when she saw Klaus on her mother’s doorstep looking helpless.

“What are you doing here, Klaus?”

He didn't answer her question because he was too busy trying to find that part of her that would make the guilt go away. Where was it?

He snapped out of it and made eye contact again. “Why did you do it?”

Hayley knew immediately what he was talking about. She hesitated before inviting him in.

He sat in the living room in a floral decorated loveseat across from her. Her hair was in a messy bun and her face was bare. She looked beautiful as she sipped her tea, but still wasn’t easing his pain. 

“Mom’s not home.” She said.

He nodded. “Are you going to answer my question?”

No, was at the tip of her tongue, but looking at his broken eyes made her realize that she needed to set the record straight. The look in his eyes mirrored the look that she wore for months and months. Painful remorse.

“Remember why you broke up with Cami?” Hayley inquired.

He had to chuckle. “Of course I do.” 

He’d never forget breaking up with Cami. It was the hardest decision of his life. At one point he’d loved her more than anyone. But she didn’t deserve him. She deserved someone that gave her all of them - all of their pain, adoration, love . He loved her so much, but he loved Hayley too, and Cami was too good for someone who wasn’t putting their all into their relationship.

“It’s like that. I couldn’t let Elijah fully commit to me knowing that I wasn’t fully committed to him.” She said quietly.

“You aren’t fully…” He trailed off. “What do you mean?”

She scoffed. “I mean that I’m not going to get married to him if I’m in love with his brother. Even if it’s only a little bit.”

Klaus swallowed. “You love me?”

“Look, Klaus, I’m not going to have a sappy romantic moment with you. I do love you. I kissed you. Even if you kissed me first, I kissed back. You’re funny and charming and handsome… you’re great. But Elijah is the love of my life. If I’m self aware enough to realize that being with the love of my life is wrong, then I’m self aware enough to know that being with his brother is wrong.”

“So you’re just giving up? On Elijah, on me, on all of us?” Klaus asked bitterly.

“I’m not giving up. I’m stepping away because it’s the right thing to do, Klaus. Maybe one day Elijah and I will reunite. But I can’t be with him until my feelings are sorted out.”

“And did you tell that to Elijah? Or are you just letting him think that he’s the problem?”

She stayed silent. He scoffed.

“It seems that we’re not all perfect, hm? I’ll see myself out.”

He stormed out of the small house without looking back.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9 - Parental Problems

Damon needed some alcohol. Now.

He didn’t know what in the living hell made him think that he could hide the fact that his dumbass father cheated on his mother from Stefan.

If he just told Stefan the truth, he wouldn’t be in his current predicament - which was driving to the nearest bar with his jaw clenched and tears brimming his eyes.

It all started when Stefan sauntered smugly into the house earlier that day. He had gone to the movies with Bonnie and then spent the rest of the day with her, and he had clearly gotten laid… he had that famous sexually satisfied Salvatore smirk. Damon practically wore that smirk everywhere, so it wasn’t hard to recognize. 

Of course, the grin was wiped off of Stefan’s face when Giuseppe stormed out of the house with a suitcase in his hand. Lily had just told the patriarch of the Salvatore family to take a long walk off a short pier, and he hadn’t taken that very well.

“I’m sorry, Stefan.” Giuseppe said gravely to his youngest son before marching out the door and slamming it loudly behind him.

Stefan came into the living room with a confused expression on his face.

That was when Damon made his first mistake.

Instead of sitting his baby brother down and calmly explaining what happened, he attempted to lie. 

“What was that about?” Stefan questioned.

“Stefan, honey-” Lily started, but Damon interrupted her. 

“It was nothing, Stefan. Mom and dad just got into a little fight and dad’s being dramatic.” Damon lied.

He didn’t know why he lied, but at that moment, all he could think about was how Stefan would react once he found out. He had this gruesome image of his little brother going into a depressive spiral, crying day and night about how his family was falling apart. 

In that moment, when Damon looked at Stefan, regrettably, he didn’t see a senior in highschool who could drive and had a girlfriend - he saw a ten year old boy being yelled at by his father because he accidentally broke an expensive vase. 

He was snapped out of that vision when he heard his mother’s voice. 

“Damon, what are you talking about?” Lily asked. She turned to her youngest son. “Stefan, there are some things we need to discuss with you.”

“I’m confused.” Stefan said, looking at his mother and brother with questioning eyes.

“I know, honey. Just let me explain what’s going on.” Lily said and sat on the couch, patting the spot next to her for Stefan to join.

He sat next to her tentatively. Damon scoffed, looking at his mother. Wasn’t it her idea to keep this from Stefan in the first place? “Mom, what are you doing? He doesn’t need to know!” Damon exclaimed.

“I don’t need to know what?” Stefan inquired, looking back and forth between his family members.

“Damon, he didn’t need to know when we weren’t sure, but now that we are, Stefan has a right to know.” Lily reasoned.

“That’s BS.” Damon hissed. He would not have his brother’s life ruined. Not in the way HIS life was ruined. 

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell is happening?” Stefan asked, his temper rising.

“No, Stefan. You don’t need to know. Just go to your room.” Damon tried to order. That was his next mistake.

“Why won’t you just tell me what’s happening? How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not a child?”

“Stefan, we’re not having this conversation!” Damon yelled.

“Boys, calm down-” Lily tried to mediate but was cut off by her sons arguing.

“Lately we can’t have ANY conversation without you treating me like a bomb that’s about to go off!” Stefan replied angrily, standing up.

“Because you’re finally happy! I don’t want to ruin that!” 

“Damon, the only thing that you’re doing that’s keeping me from being happy is hiding things from me!”

“You say that now, but-”

“Abbastanza!” (enough) Lily shouted, jumping up from her spot on the couch.

The Salvatore brothers' heads snapped towards their mother. When Lily spoke in Italian it meant… for a lack of better words…she was pissed.

“Entrambi dovete stare zitti e sedervi! Urlare avanti e indietro non causa altro che più conflitto! Ho avuto una lunga giornata e non ho più la pazienza di affrontare due bambini di cinque anni! Sei cresciuto, quindi comportati come tale!” (You both need to shut up and sit down! Screaming back and forth causes nothing but more conflict! I've had a long day and no longer have the patience to deal with two five-year-olds! You have grown up, so act like it!)  

Stefan and Damon were both much smarter than to disobey their mother, so they silently sat on the couch as Lily paced in front of them. Though the brothers were quiet, there were noticeable ticks in both of their jaws and their fists were both clenched. 

“Much better. Thank you.” She said calmly. “Stefan, I’m sorry to tell you that your father and I are getting a divorce. He’s been cheating on me for the past few months and I’m done with him.”

Stefan swallowed. He knew it was only a matter of time… Giuseppe was bound to make a big mistake some day. But it hurt in an indescribable way. It was scary… like he missed a step going down the stairs. But he wouldn’t let Damon see that he was in pain. He needed to show his brother that he could handle things.

He turned to Damon. “You weren’t going to tell me?”

Damon’s jaw locked in place and he shook his head. 

Stefan scoffed, got up and walked out the front door before his mother or brother could stop him or even realize what he was doing.

Stefan hadn’t come back home. It’d been hours, and his little brother was nowhere to be found. Lily was freaking out - she called Bonnie, Matt, Tyler - hell, she even called Elena . When Lily called Lexi, who was being extremely suspicious, she realized that she was who Stefan was with. She also figured that her youngest son didn’t want to come home, and she respected that. At least for the night.

Damon, on the other hand, was drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Just the way he liked it. He knew he should deal with his shit, but for now, it just felt so good to put it off.

•••

Bonnie stayed in her bed hours after Stefan left, just staring at the ceiling. She said she wasn’t going to get involved with the Klaus/Cami situation, but she was just so curious.

Who was it that Klaus loved so much to break up with Cami?

Bonnie, it’s none of your business, was the mantra that she repeated to herself as she plopped herself on her desk chair and got a piece of paper and a pen from the drawer.

She scribbled out in her sloppy handwriting: ‘Klaus’ possible love interests’.

She bit her lip as she tried to come up with her first candidate. 

Maybe it was Sybil? Sybil worked at the local library and Klaus spent a lot of time there - the quiet library was a much more peaceful workplace than the crowded Mikaelson house, even if it was a mansion.

Or perhaps it was Davina Claire. She’d had a crush on Klaus for years, and maybe she finally got her paws on him when he was with Cami.

Bonnie wrote both names down but crossed them each out a minute later.

Sybil was in a committed relationship with this dude named Markos that she met on a dating website. And as big of a crush Davina had on Klaus, she didn’t seem like the type to sabotage he and Cami’s relationship, so neither of them could work.

Maybe it was Valerie Tulle? She and Klaus could’ve bonded over being British or something. Or Qetsiyah, Bonnie’s cousin that visited from Greece once. Bonnie was like 90% sure that her cousin and Klaus had a little something going on.

It could’ve been that foreign exchange student named Nadia or the lady (Rose-Marie) who worked at the grocery store! 

The options were endless, and Bonnie, who was still chanting ‘it’s none of your business’ in her head, just had to get to the bottom of it.

She grabbed her phone and clicked on Lexi Branson’s familiar contact. In order to figure this mystery out, she’d need some help.

•••

Lexi sang loudly to the tune of the rock song blasting from her mini speaker, taking a big sip from her wine glass. She was livin’ the life.

She was staying in a rental apartment outside Mystic Falls. Her neighbors were most definitely annoyed to hell and back with her - she spent most of her time getting drunk or blasting music. She didn’t miss the scornful glares the old lady who lived in the apartment below her, Mrs. Decker, sent her

She grew up in Mystic Falls, went to high school there, but when her dad died when she was in her senior year, she fled the town to look for something new. She’d spent the last three years traveling around using the trust fund money from her rich grandparents.

She turned the music down when her phone rang. It was Bonnie.

“Hello?” She said in a singsong voice when she picked up.

“Lex Luthor, I need your investigator skills.” Bonnie said, sparing the formalities.

“Alrighty then.” Lexi plopped down on the couch. “What’s the case?”

Bonnie sighed. “It’s pretty complicated. Basically, I’m suspecting that Klaus had another lover when he was with Cami.”

Lexi squinted her eyes as she tried to recall something. For some reason, that rang a bell in her head.

“Y’know what, I feel like I know something about that.” Lexi remarked. “Maybe I spotted him with someone on one of those many night’s where I was wasted. I don’t know how, but you know how nosy I can be when I’m drunk. ”

Bonnie chuckled. “That’s what I love about you, snoopy.”

Lexi smiled. “Can you come over?” She asked.

“I’ll be there in ten.” Bonnie hung up the phone.

Lexi snorted at the fact that Bonnie had called her without saying hello, demanded that she solve a mystery for her and then hung up, again, without saying bye. Manners, Bonnie, manners.

Not even five minutes later, Lexi received a knock on her door. She opened it to reveal an upset looking Stefan. There were tears glistening in his eyes and his hands were stuffed in his pockets, trying to imitate some sense of casualty.

“Stef? You okay?” She questioned.

He frowned and shook his head. Lexi stepped out the door, enveloping him in her arms. She let him cry for a minute, and then they went back inside and sat on the couch. She let out a humorless laugh when he wiped away his tears quickly, as if it would hide the fact that he’d been crying from her. 

Lexi cleared her throat. “Do you, uh, do you want to talk about it?” She wasn’t great at emotional talks but Stefan looked heartbroken, and she’d do anything for that kid.

He sniffed and shrugged. She raised her eyebrows. “Is that supposed to be an answer?”

Stefan chuckled a bit, and Lexi smirked. Hey, she got him to laugh. “My parents are getting a divorce.”

“Oh, shit.” She frowned and hugged him again. “I’m so sorry, Stefan.”

“And Damon and I got into a fight. He thinks I’m a baby or something.” Stefan said with a dejected look. 

Lexi neglected to point out that at the moment he did kind of look like a baby with his eyes puffy and a pout on his face,  but decided to kiss his forehead instead. That was a bit more moment appropriate. He stayed in her arms until another knock sounded on the door. 

“Who the hell is it now?” Lexi muttered to herself as she squeezed Stefan one last time before getting up to open the door.

It was Bonnie.

“Okay, so I have four main suspects for Klaus’ side h-” Bonnie started, holding up the list that she scribbled down earlier. She cut herself off when she saw Lexi’s grim expression. 

“What’s wrong Lex?” She asked with furrowed brows.

Lexi took Bonnie’s hand and led her into the living room where Stefan was sitting. When he noticed Bonnie’s presence, he mindlessly got up from the cozy couch and engulfed her in his arms. She automatically wrapped her arms around him and began rubbing circles in his back. Stefan immediately felt better.

Bonnie pulled away to look at her boyfriend’s face. His beautiful green eyes were red and lined with tears and his lips were parted - he had to breathe through his mouth since his nose was clogged from all the crying.

She didn’t know why he was sad. All she knew is that she wanted to punch whoever did this to him. She also knew that she never wanted to see him in pain ever again, whether it be physical or mental. She wouldn’t be able to take it. She sighed. “I’m so sorry, baby.” She whispered as she met their foreheads.

Stefan had a firm grip on her waist as he dragged her in for a deep kiss and then another hug. “I’m okay now that you’re here.” He responded in the same hushed tone.

Lexi beamed as she watched them. We’ve established how nosy she was, she really didn’t want to stop snooping, but eventually she sighed and turned to go into the kitchen, letting her friends enjoy the privacy of their intimate moment.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10 - Unwanted

Lexi decided that she would have to add looking for a chiropractor to her to-do list, because sleeping on that couch did a number to her back. Seriously, aren’t sofas supposed to be comfortable? She felt like she slept on cardboard.

She moved like the tin man to go check on Bonnie and Stefan.

The night before, after the happy couple cried for twenty minutes in each other's arms, Lexi decided to be the adult of the group and tell them to go to bed since they had school in the morning.

Grams was called, so she knew that Bonnie was safe and sound. Lily already knew Stefan was there, but she expected him to be home after school. She allowed him one night away from his family, but she wouldn’t let him hide forever.

The reason Lexi was sleeping on the couch was because she, being the martyr she was, let Stefan and Bonnie sleep in her bed for the night. Stef had had a rough day and he didn’t deserve to sleep on the couch from hell. And Bon refused to leave his side, so they were kind of a package deal.

Lexi, of course, didn’t know how uncomfortable the linen couch from Pottery Barn would be to sleep on, but she sucked it up. She was happy to provide a nice sleep for her best friend and his girlfriend. Unless they had sex on her bed. Then she would kill them.

She knocked on the door to the bedroom. “Stef, Bon? You guys awake?”

When they didn’t answer, she crossed her fingers, praying they were fully clothed, and opened the door.

She sighed a breath of relief when she saw them cuddled up, fast asleep, wearing enough clothes not to allude to something. Thank god she wouldn’t have to burn her sheets.

She smiled at the way they were snuggling. Bonnie’s head was buried in Stefan’s chest and his arms were gripping her tightly. Bonnie’s arms were wrapped around his torso and her legs were wrapped around his waist. They looked like they were squeezing the hell out of each other - probably scared that the other would get up and go in the middle of the night. Lexi wondered if they always slept like that or if it was because of the previous night’s happenings.

Maybe she was staring too loudly, because the lovebirds began to stir and they finally woke up.

“Guys, I’m going to start making some breakfast. You have a couple hours until you have to leave for school so you have time to get ready.” She smiled at them one last time and closed the door behind her.

Bonnie and Stefan looked at each other and grinned fondly. The weight of the previous day came crashing down on them and their smiles dimmed but only a bit.

Bonnie was sure she had horrendous morning breath when Stefan kissed her passionately but he didn’t seem to care, so she didn’t either.

“Let’s get up.” He whispered in her ear and left another kiss to her cheek.

She bit her lip and fought the urge to touch the burning spot on her cheek that he had kissed.

He got dressed in a few things he left there last time he stayed and she was forced into a dress that belonged to Lexi. (“You look so cute!” Lexi cooed, making the scowling Bonnie do another 360 turn).  

The dress itself was very cute, but it was really low cut which was causing Bonnie all kinds of trouble that morning. Stefan accidentally poured hot coffee on himself when he saw her boobs in that dress.

The trio ate breakfast together at Lexi’s round kitchen table, the mood lightening a bit. Stefan was in a surprisingly good place - they spent breakfast engaging in light and happy conversation.

The sun filtering in from the kitchen window was beautiful and the sound of birds chirping could be heard from outside. It was a peaceful and lovely morning.

Until there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” Bonnie asked with a mouthful of pancake.

“Probably my mom. Or Damon.” Stefan said, a tick settling in his jaw. He knew his family wouldn’t be able to leave him alone - his day just had to be ruined before it even started.

Lexi got up to answer it, and to everyone’s surprise it wasn’t Damon or Lily. It was Elena.

“Hey, Lexi. Um, can I come in?” Elena asked hopefully, her brown doe eyes settling into her infamous puppy dog stare.

Lexi saw right through Elena’s pout, but she let her in anyway. Albeit reluctantly.

“Is Stefan here?” The brunette questioned as soon as Lexi let her in.

Lexi raised a brow. “He is.” Elena’s face lit up. “So is Bonnie.” Elena’s expression fell. “They’re in the kitchen. Keep up, Bambi.” 

Lexi led Elena to the kitchen where Bonnie and Stefan were sitting at the table, waiting to see their visitor.

“Guys, Elena’s here.” Lexi pointed out the obvious. She kept her eyes trained on Elena. She used to be indifferent to the brunette, but she easily sensed the crush she had in Stefan and now that Stefan and Bonnie were together she didn’t want Elena ruining that. 

Even if she and Bonnie were best friends, Elena definitely seemed like the type to throw her friendship in the trash for a boy.

“Uh, hi, guys.” Elena looked at Bonnie and Stefan.

Bonnie looked angry and Stefan looked confused. Why was Elena here? He thought. She and Lexi weren’t that close.

“Uh, I wanted to see how you were, Stef. My mom told me what happened with your parents. I asked your mom where you were and she said you were here. You have my complete sympathy.” She said, taking a seat at the table and placing her hand on top of his.

Lexi scoffed. Bonnie’s brows shot up. Elena looked over at Bonnie and gave her a passive smile. Stefan looked between the women with furrowed brows.

“Thanks for stopping by, Elena.” Bonnie dismissed. “Do you want me to walk you to the door?”

“Oh, well since we have school soon and I’m already here, I was hoping I could ride with you guys to school. I walked here.” Elena suggested.

Stefan, being the oblivious gentleman he was, replied with an affirmative, “Yeah, of course! Do you want some breakfast?”

“I would love some, Stefan. You’re such a sweetie pie.” Elena grinned.

Bonnie let out a sharp breath. “Be right back.” She huffed and grabbed Lexi, who was watching the interaction from the doorway, into the living room.

“She’s trying to steal your man.” Lexi said with a disgusted shake of her head.

“No shit, Sherlock!” Bonnie wheezed. She looked like she was going to explode.

After being best friends - almost sisters - with Elena for some fifteen years, Bonnie began to notice a pattern. What Elena wants, Elena gets. And Elena most definitely wanted Stefan. Caroline always complained that out of Bonnie, Elena and herself, she was always the second choice. Well Bonnie was never even classified as a choice! Nobody really ever showed interest in her except for Stefan, and she didn’t want to lose that. She didn’t really blame anyone for not liking her - she could admit that she was moody and sassy and honestly a challenge to be around sometimes, as opposed to Elena who was agreeable and charming, but for once, somebody saw her for the person underneath all the bravado, and she thought that her best friend would be happy for her, but apparently not.

And now Elena would seduce Stefan with her innocent little smile and he’d dump Bonnie so he could date Elena and they’d become doctors together and get married and have kids, probably a boy and a girl - Stefan Jr. and Stella - they’d grow old and be buried next to each other and-

“Bonnie, I know what you’re thinking. But give Stef a little more credit. He’s just being nice.” Lexi said. They tilted their heads to look at Stefan and Elena who were engaged in what looked like polite conversation at the table.

“You’re right. I’m just being dramatic.” Bonnie sighed. Stefan wouldn’t leave her for Elena. Those thoughts were just her pesky abandonment issues talking. Damn you for those, mom, Bonnie thought.

“So what are you going to do?” Lexi asked.

“I don’t know. But… I trust Stefan. Whatever Elena’s trying to do… it won’t work out for her.”

Lexi nodded and they trailed back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Lexi’s eyes were calculating, she never took them off of Elena. Bonnie was determined to keep her poker face on.

Bonnie looked at the clock. Exactly sixty minutes until they had to get to school.

It was going to be a long hour.

•••

Katherine got a call from Caroline around an hour before school started. She was making a healthy breakfast for her father when she got the call.

“Good morning, Katherine!” Caroline chirped.

“Good morning, Caroline!” The brunette mocked in the same falsetto tone.

“Are you up to play hooky today?” Care asked, ignoring Katherine’s snarkiness.

“Depends. What’s the plan?”

“Well, there’s a new shop opening in town square, and I want to be one of the first ones there. You in?” 

Katherine thought for a second. They were seniors (and delinquents at that) so skipping wasn’t really a big deal. The only dilemma would be Rebekah. She and Rebekah started hanging out… platonically. She promised Bex that they would eat lunch together in the library, and with what Caroline was suggesting, they wouldn’t be in school at that time of day.

“Can we bring Rebekah along?” Katherine inquired.

Caroline thought. “Hmm. Sure. Ring her up and see if she wants to come.”

“I will. Later, Caroline.”

“Bye bye.”

Caroline hung up and Katherine sighed. She knew Rebekah wouldn’t want to ditch, she was too much of a goodie two shoes. But she didn’t want to leave her hanging, so if Bex didn’t want to ditch, she’d just tell Caroline that she wouldn’t either.

Time for another call.

But first, she turned the stove off and flipped the omelet she was making for her dad. 

Dialing Rebekah’s number, Katherine sighed.

Rebekah picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey, Bex.”

“Morning, Kat. What can I do for you?” Rebekah smiled. She felt giddy that Katherine would call her this early in the morning. 

“Hey, Bex. So… I was thinking. There’s a new shop opening up in town square and Caroline wants to go. Uh, do you want to come with?” She tried to keep her voice as casual as she could. 

Rebekah was silent for a moment. “Uh, didn’t you and I have something else planned for today?” Her voice seemed to go up an octave.

A pang of guilt stabbed through Katherine. “Yeah, but this way we could spend more than just lunchtime together.”

“Together…” Rebekah said the word clumsily, as if it were the first time she said it. “With Caroline.”

Katherine sucked in a breath. “Yeah. With Caroline.”

Rebekah wasn’t one to skip school - she was privileged enough to have an education and she valued that - but she had been looking forward to this lunch with Katherine for ages. Well, they had only planned it three days before, but all three of those days were consumed with excitement for that one forty five minute lunch period. They could have just rescheduled the lunch, but then came up the idea of Katherine spending the entire day alone with Caroline.

Rebekah couldn’t have that.

So, she replied in her cheeriest voice, “Of course I’ll come!”

Katherine obviously noticed the ingenuity in Rebekah’s voice, but chose to ignore it. “Great. We’ll come pick you up.”

Rebekah sighed. “Okay. I’ll see you then, Kat.”

“See ya then. Bye, Bex.” Katherine hung up the phone.

She looked down at the burnt omelet she was making for her father. Today will definitely be interesting, she thought with a sigh. 

•••

Have you ever done anything to spare someone’s feelings but you just end up causing more problems? And then in the end you’re left hating yourself because you thought you were doing something nice but now everyone else is unhappy?

Stefan was in that position.

When he let Elena stay and catch a ride to school with them, all he was thinking about was how it would suck if Elena had to walk all the way to school in the cold just because she came to check on him. He completely forgot that Bonnie and Elena were currently on the outs and that Bonnie was avoiding her brunette (ex) friend like the plague.

He really could be so stupid.

Now, he was sitting on the couch with Bonnie and Elena, drowning in awkwardness. They’d spent a half an hour finishing up breakfast and cleaning, and that was awkward as well, but at least Lexi was there to keep some semblance of normalcy flowing. The second Stefan realized that Bonnie didn’t want Elena here, he stopped trying to make conversation and just sat quietly.

The group moved to the living room to sit down until it was time to leave for school. 

Lexi left for the bathroom, so now they were left with a horrible silence.

Elena kept trying to make conversation with Stefan, but he only replied with short, clipped responses. He was trying to make eye contact with Bonnie who was staring at the wall with a clenched jaw.

Meanwhile, Lexi was hiding out in the bathroom.

She did feel bad for leaving them out there, but she needed a break from carrying that conversation, damn it! She couldn’t do everything.

She peeked her head out of the bathroom to look at the clock on the wall. Only twenty-eight minutes until it would be an appropriate time to drop all the teen drama that had somehow infiltrated her life off at school.

She lived a little outside of town so the drive to the highschool was like fifteen minutes away. If they left now and drove slow, the kiddos would only be thirteen minutes early. She could work with that. Lexi sighed and peaked her head out the door again, only this time to watch the teenagers on the couch in the living room.

She saw Elena scoot closer to Stefan causing Stefan to scoot closer to Bonnie.

How could Stefan be so clueless? He genuinely didn’t realize that Elena was trying to make a move on him. He didn’t realize Bonnie liked him either until she agreed to going to the founders party. Lexi knew he had low self esteem, but could he really not take a hint? Her boy needed a confidence booster.

It’s time to wrap this up, she thought determinedly. 

“Babies! Why don’t we get a head start on school?” She suggested, sauntering into the living room. 

“Yes! Yes, that.” Bonnie jumped up from the couch and zoomed like a vampire over to her shoes. Finally she would be saved from this madness.

“What’s the rush? We don’t want to be too early.” Elena tried to reason.

“Oh, but we won’t. There’s so much traffic lately.” Bonnie said, rushing over to her backpack. She crammed her binders and books into it, threw it on her back and smiled a kool aid grin. “Ready to go!”

Stefan wanted to let her know how cute she was, but decided that he would leave that for later and get ready for school right now. 

Once everybody was ready to roll (although Elena made a point of taking a long time with a pout on her face), they got into Lexi’s Volvo. Lexi driving, Stefan in the passenger seat and Elena and Bonnie in the back.

In order to ease the uncomfortableness, Lexi put on music. Nirvana to be specific.

The silence was still deafening. Lexi turned up Kurt Cobain’s screaming voice to try to overpower it.

“I love this song!” The blonde who was driving the car almost shouted.

“Yeah, it’s a great one!” Stefan agreed.

“Our next hit from the 90s is a spicy one!” The voice blasted from the radio.

And on came Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Bonnie and Elena both squealed and looked at each other excitedly. In eight grade, they, along with Caroline, Katherine and Rebekah sang this song for the school talent show and got first place.

Hearing the song always sent them down memory lane, but before they could start singing it together like they always did, they realized what they were doing and shut themselves up.

The rest of the car ride was even more awkward than before.

•••

Rebekah stood at the front of her house eagerly, waiting for Katherine to arrive. She had packed a bag for the day. Three PB&Js in case all the class skipping made the girls hungry, and of course three packs of baby carrots. Sunscreen, water bottles, a first aid kit, lotion and bug spray… wait did she forget the bug spray?

She had to go get that.

Right as she was about to leave the spot in front of her front door that she had been standing at for the past fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang.

All thoughts of bug spray left her mind when she heard the familiar ‘ding, dong’ . Katherine was on the other side of that door, and no insect repellent meant as much to her as that.

She flung the door open and tried not to show her disappointment when she saw Caroline standing on her front porch instead of Katherine.

“Hey, Rebekah!” Caroline smiled, “Kat’s in the car.”

They walked down to the car together.

“Hey, Bexy.” Katherine, who was sitting in the driver's seat grinned. “Are you wearing a sunhat? It’s October. It’s like 50 degrees outside.”

“I like to be prepared.” Rebekah shrugged, tossing her backpack into the backseat next to her.

Caroline, who was in the passenger seat chuckled. “And what’s in that backpack? You know that when you skip school you don’t have to bring a school bag.”

“This is just stuff that we might need for our escapades. Criminal’s need to be put together.” She replied.

Katherine and Caroline just exchanged an amused look, before Katherine drove off.

•••

Two hours later, Katherine, Caroline and Rebekah were pooped.

They went to the new store, but it turns out they weren’t the only people who had the idea of skipping school to be there at the opening.

Mystic Falls was a small town, and they didn’t have very many clothes stores that kept up with the teenage trends. Normally, teens had to go out of town to buy clothes that satisfied them, but finally, a clothing store that was opening up in town square seemed promising, and the high schoolers of Mystic Falls weren’t taking that for granted.

They should’ve known better.

Waves of teenagers weaved through the store, taking everything in sight. It was like black Friday.

The trio only got a few things, they were scared that if they went for anything else they’d be bitten or scratched by someone a little too eager for new clothes.

After they got out of there, Caroline suggested they go get something to eat.

“Oh, no need, I brought sandwiches!” Rebekah smiled, happy to be helpful.

“After that store, I think maybe we need some real food.” Care said.

“Yeah.” Katherine agreed, “But thanks for packing those, Bex. It was really helpful.”

Rebekah frowned. “Uh, yeah. Of course.”

They hopped in the car again to head to the grill.

•••

Finally school had ended.

As soon as the bell rang, Bonnie felt 100 pounds lighter. She shared a good chunk of her classes with Elena, which was awkward enough as it is, but Caroline, Katherine and Rebekah were nowhere to be found, and they were her buffers.

She sighed and got up from her seat, quickly packing her things and speed walking outside to wait for Stefan.

She wasn’t upset with him for inviting Elena to stay with them, he didn’t know any better. But she couldn’t help but be a little annoyed.

“Hey, Bon.” Stefan beamed when he saw her.

He pulled her in for a big hug and kissed the top of her head.

“How are you feeling?” She asked as they embraced. She knew he had to go back to his own home tonight and he was still angry with his family.

“I’m okay. I’m better.” He kissed the top of her head again and pulled away. “Bon, I’m so sorry about today. I completely forgot that you two weren’t speaking and if I-”

“Stef, it’s okay. You did it because you didn’t want Elena to have to walk all the way to school. You care about other people’s feelings. Which is part of why you’re so amazing.”

“I care about other people’s feelings, yes, but you’re my top priority, Bon. If you’re uncomfortable with someone then I don’t want them around.”

“I know.” She pressed a chaste kiss to his soft lips. They looked into each other's eyes.

“Bonnie, if you don’t mind me asking… What happened between you and Elena?”

He did find it kind of weird how Bonnie refused to tell him. They told each other everything. But if she didn’t want to say anything, he wouldn’t push her. He knew she wouldn’t keep something from him if it wasn’t important.

She expected this question sooner or later.

“I’ll tell you,” She promised, “But not right now.”

Bonnie didn’t want to cause Stefan any more stress. He was already going through his parents divorce and Damon being an ass, she knew how guilty he would feel if he knew that he was the cause of Elena and Bonnie’s falling out.

He was disappointed, but nodded.

“Thanks for being so understanding.” She said.

He kissed her again. 

They walked to the car in silence, the words ‘I love you’ on the tip of both of their tongues.