Chapter 1: Caroline

Caroline sat at her desk at homeroom, bored out of her wits. She felt twitchy, not used to the vampire version of herself and grateful as she played with the dark blue ring on her right pointer finger.

Finally the half asleep teacher walked in the classroom and started droning about an upcoming student exchange project, blah, blah, blah until he yammered her name

"The student elected is our very own miss Mystic Falls. Caroline Forbes"

"I'm sorry, WHAT?"

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Caroline was pacing up and down in her mother's office at the police station.

"Why would you do that mom?"

"A change of environment will be good for you"

Liz said in a condescending tone. She really hoped it wouldn't attract her daughter's attention but she was wrong

"What aren't you telling me?"

Liz groaned.

"It was Elena alright? She was chosen to go but we thought it'd be better if you went. You just got out of the hospital"

"Mom, I..."

"You're going and it's final. Your flight leaves tonight so I suggest you get ready"

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Stefan and Caroline were at the airport, both fighting to stay awake.

"Thank you for dropping me off"

She told him looking childish.

"What's wrong Caroline?"

"What isn't wrong?"

She scoffed.

"Miranda decides to ship off Elena but since she died Elena decided to give me the spot and my mother lets her! To top it all I don't know if I can control myself Stefan! I attacked my own boyfriend last night!"

She wailed. Stefan hugged the girl to calm her down and wished her a good time.

-*-*-*- Scene breaker -*-*-*-

Caroline was in her seat reading Vogue when the pilot announced they're descending to a tiny town called Port Angeles. she stood up ignoring the 'keep the seatbelts on' warning and from the compartment above her head she grabbed her makeup bag. sitting back down she opened it and started checking her reflex ion. squinting she added a layer of mascara and then a dab of lip-gloss. she blew her reflex ion a kiss and closed the lid with a snap.

"let's see how it is to live with a man"

Caroline was the first out when the plane landed. She took her luggage and walked to the reception area. It was filled with people and a man holding a cardboard with her name.

"great! A cop"

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Charlie had just left Caroline in Bella's room to unpack and he had given her the rules. Caroline looked at the not so big room in distaste. She hanged her clothes in the closet muttering to herself

"its two weeks, only two weeks"

then she pulled the card with Damon's man in Seattle and made plans to visit him. she already felt twitchy but part of the program was no contact with her own world.

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After getting to know the town and she and Charlie went out to dinner. The town had only one diner and much to her surprise the dingy diner had salads. after dinner they returned to the house and as soon as Charlie began snoring (quite loudly may I add) Caroline slipped her boots on and left the house.

In the driveway was an old faded red truck that she was allowed to use while she was there. She got in the driver's seat and turned the engine on. it sounded like a gunshot. the snoring in Charlie's room died down and his heartbeat sped.

"shit!"

the blond teenage vampire exclaimed and made a jump from the truck to her new bedroom window and to the bed. She grabbed the covers to just cover her clothes just barely to Charlie opening her door and peeking inside. she heard his footsteps go downstairs and out the door. moments later Charlie went back to bed and Caroline exhaled in relief.

"for a small-town cop he has good reaction time"

she waited to hear the loud snoring and jumped out the window again. This time she pushed the truck to the end of the street before turning the engine on and driving away.

she was never any good at reading maps but drive helped her drive the ancient loud truck the four hour drive to Seattle. the man worked at a large hospital and was a vampire himself. For the right price he filled a medium size cooler with enough blood to last her a month. After a quick dessert she decided to hit a bar.

"that's life"

she muttered as she cruised back to the small town named after a cutlery.

"who names a town 'Forks'?"

the radio in the ancient truck worked perfectly but the car itself didn't. it died on her just as she neared the house. she had to push it. AGAIN.

-*-*-*- Scene breaker -*-*-*-

"Were where you?"

Charlie rounded on her the moment she walked into the kitchen

"out"

she shrugged. Charlie nodded to himself and got up to face the blond girl

"Caroline, I know I'm not your family and you're away from home but you're under my roof"

having heard similar lectures from Liz, her mother, Caroline rolled her blue eyes

"Bella has a curfew. You get that curfew. you're back at home at 11pm. I told you that yesterday and you ignored me. Now I want you at the station right after school ends, you can help out"

Charlie smiled at her and walked to the front door.

"come on, I'll drop you off at school"

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School went by fast. People turned all the way from their seats to look at her. she liked it! at lunch she sat at the same table with a bunch of perfectly normal and human kids.

A blond boy that reminded her terribly of Matt, a quiet nice girl with glasses that reminded her of a quiet version of Bonnie, a loud and obnoxious blond girl with black roots and a brunette girl who knew all the gossip. She refused to admit to herself whom the two girls reminded her off. The last one was an African American guy who reminded her of Tyler. ironically enough, his name was also Tyler.

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the last class of the day was biology. she was paired with a weird guy with copper hair who kept glaring at her. he creeped her out but she ignored him. Later she was told by her new friends that he's Bella's (the girl whom she's paired with for this program) boyfriend. that made her miss matt

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the first week ended with a big beach trip. the local kids, used to the awful weather, planned a weekend full of surfing, bonfires and dancing.

She asked permission to go.

she was granted permission.

the group she met during lunch got blond guy's, mike's, SUV and drove down to the local Indian rez and its secluded beach. the boys surfed, the girls did facials or sunbathed under the weak sun. On a whim Caroline took off her sunlight ring cringing but the seriously weak sunlight didn't harm her at all.

"figures"

-*-*-*- Scene breaker -*-*-*-

Charlie made her work atthe station doing paperwork and inventory only the first week she was there. After the last day she told him about the dead truck.

"oh well"

was all he said and asked her if she wanted to help him pick out a new car for his daughter. He wanted an SUV, she wanted a tiny cute car. She won!

-*-*-*- scene breaker-*-*-*-

The days passed fast. Faster than she thought possible. For the first time since she literally woke up to her new life as a vampire Caroline Forbes had fun. She went out with her new friends, she kept away from the strange guy who kept glaring at her every chance he got. okay he missed his girlfriend, not Caroline's fault, it's not like she actually asked to be taken away from her own life!

Charlie proved to be a really nice guy. Sure he grounded her but if she was honest with herself, Caroline needed it. Since the day her father walked out on her and her mom, she had been practically parentless. Liz worked a lot and she had busied herself with her friends.

she missed having a father.

That's when the crazy idea hit her... Could she get Charlie together with Liz?