Hi everyone! I'm back with a new story. This one is based around life at Whitmore College. It's AU. I will say no more.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

If you are the one
then us meeting here is fate.
Future with a dog named Ben
buy a house with a fireplace.
This is the first I've seen your face
but there a chance we are soulmates.
I know that this might sound crazy
cuz you don't know my name.

- What If, Jason Derulo

"Ok, this dress is just gorgeous. I'm so glad I bought it." Caroline said as she rummaged through the contents of her shopping bags. Caroline and Elena had gone on a shopping trip for the day, feeling the need to have some girl time before the first week of college started. Of course it would have been more enjoyable if Bonnie could have come along as well, but she was currently overseas on a student exchange program in Australia. As Caroline continued through her bags, Elena kept her eyes on the road as she drove.

"It really did look great on you Care. It suits you perfectly."

"Crème has always gone well with my skin tone." Caroline said with a nod of her head. Caroline's phone rang and she searched through her bag. Finally finding the phone, she looked at the caller ID and squealed happily.

"It's Bonnie!"

"Bonnie? Well then put it on loud speaker. I want to say hi!"

Caroline answered the phone and put it on loud speaker so all three of them could talk.

"Hey Bon!" Caroline answered and Elena joined in.

"Hey guys. How are you?" Bonnie replied through the phone. There was an evident delay during the phone call, but it was expected with her practically being on the other side of the world.

"We're great. Just heading back to Whitmore from a massive shopping spree. Wish you were here to join us."

"I wish I was, too."

"So how's the land down under?" Elena asked.

"It's great! Definitely not what I was expecting. It's actually green and got lots of plants. I thought it would be red dirt and deserts." She replied with a laugh.

"Oh my God, have you seen any kangaroos?" Caroline asked. "What about koala bears? Oh my God, do they have petting zoos for them? Do they actually keep them as pets? Is it true that there are big bugs there? Do you have to live in a yurt like Stefan said?"

Caroline's questions were followed by the light sound of Bonnie's laughter. "Actually, no. Apparently you can only find all those famous Australian animals in the country and the outback. They don't keep them as pets; yes there are massive bugs – the spiders are seriously freaking me out and I have never seen flies so big in my life; and no, they don't live in yurts. They live in actual houses. And they have amazing beaches, too. It's so beautiful, guys. I wish you could see this."

"We wish we could see it too, Bon." Elena replied. "We're glad you're enjoying yourself."

"Thanks guys. Look, I've got to go. It's 3 a.m. here."

"Crap, that's late. OK, we'll let you go. Talk to you later, Bonnie. Night." Caroline said and ended the call. She put her phone away and frowned. "Well that's disappointing."

Elena raised a brow at her. "What's disappointing?"

"That they don't keep koalas and kangaroos as pets."

Once they found a park back at Whitmore, they piled out of Elena's car with their bags of shopping and headed for the boarding house. The boarding house was a very particular part of the college. It was always spotless, the cleaners coming in every night to give it the attention it needed. Though the style of it was sophisticated, it felt warm like a home that had been loved from the beginning.

The two girls headed up to their shared dorm and found a flier stuck up on the pin board in the corridor on their way. Caroline stopped Elena and they both had a quick read over it.

"'Come along to the annual Whitmore College Ball. Dress to impress and put your jazz shoes on to revisit the 1920's!' Huh, 1920's. Sounds alright." Elena said.

By this point, Caroline's eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open. "Are you serious? This sounds fantastic! We should go! Get dressed up in tasselled dresses, cute heels, feathers in our hair, and dance to jazz music. We should go together! You and me. Girl dates!"

Elena bit her lip in thought at the poster before turning to Caroline. Caroline was beaming, dying to be able to do something and go somewhere fun and exciting, and what better than a 1920's themed Ball?

Elena's voice was resigned. "I don't know if it's my ki–"

"No. None of that crap. It's the 1920's for crying out loud! We need to go." Caroline cut her off. "You have no choice. You're coming with me."

Caroline grabbed Elena by the wrist and dragged her down the hall to their dorm room, rambling on about buying tasselled dresses and silk gloves while Elena rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Come on. Hurry up Elena. We're going to be late for our first class!"

"I'm coming! Just let me get my art pencils."

Caroline wasn't one to be late, and waiting for Elena right up until the last minute was making her anxious. She was always on time, and waiting for her best friend had turned out to be a mistake. Yes, she loved Elena, but the girl seriously needed to get her priorities right. She had spent a good twenty minutes on the phone talking to Damon freaking Salvatore that morning while Caroline was eagerly getting ready for their first day of college. Elena taking her time was making Caroline continuously bounce up and down on her toes nervously. Safe to say, if they were going to be late for their first class, Caroline was going to haemorrhage.

Elena finally appeared through the door and Caroline didn't waste any time grabbing hold of her friend's wrist and dragging her out of the boarding house and towards the building that held the art rooms. As soon as they arrived, Caroline looked at the time on her phone and released a sigh of relief.

"We've still got two minutes until the lesson starts. Thank god." She said then pointed a finger accusingly at Elena. "If you do that again, I swear I will leave without you next time. You almost made me late, Elena."

"I'm sorry, Care, but Damon called and –"

"Damon can survive another two hours without talking to you, and so can you." She said then released a resigned sigh, knowing that she was probably sounding like a total bitch. "I'm just looking out for you, Elena. Don't sacrifice college when it's only just started. You're always calling him. It's not like Damon is going anywhere but to his wine cellar and the Mystic Grill. Call him during our lunch break. I just want this year to be great for both of us, you know?"

Elena took a deep breath and nodded, giving Caroline a small smile. "I know. I need to stop with the clingy girlfriend charade. I'm sorry."

"Hey," Caroline put a hand on her friend's arm, "No need to apologise. Let's just get through our first day of college alive."

They followed another student in the door and found that half the room was already full, the other half of the students not having arrived yet. Caroline didn't know how they could just show up late and carry on like nothing happened. She internally scoffed at the idea of horrible punctuality and searched for two seats beside each other for the two girls to take. Elena pointed out two chairs and headed over to them, Caroline following close behind her. They walked past a guy with dark hair and brown eyes, and he had stubble gracing his jawline. He gave Caroline a once over before giving her a troublesome smirk.

"Hello gorgeous."

Caroline raised a brow at him and scoffed, rolling her eyes in the process.

They sat a row behind him, and Caroline took her place between Elena and a reserved-looking guy with sandy blonde hair. This guy also had stubble along his jawline like the earlier guy, but what made him stand out was the colour of his piercing blue eyes that were locked on her. He had predominant cheekbones and plump red lips. Caroline bit down on her bottom lip anxiously before quickly turning her gaze down to her books and stationary on her desk, her inner neurotic control freak taking over and making her sort and place her equipment as accordingly as possible on her desk.

Caroline fought the urge to look back at him, not letting her curiosity get the better of her, and was thankful when their art tutor walked into the room. She forced her attention to the front as their tutor introduced herself as Lexi Branson and started explaining what she was going to teach them during the semester. Lexi was a beautiful woman, Caroline noted, and she seemed like the calm and casual type. As she told them about the folio of research they would have to do later in the semester for their theory work, Caroline snuck a glance from the corner of her eye at the blue-eyed guy next to her and found him still watching her. He made her nervous, knowing that he was watching her, but she wasn't any better than him since she was doing the same thing to him as well. She swallowed and forced her gaze back to the front of the room where Lexi was, trying to focus on what the tutor was saying.

Caroline spent most of the lesson looking back and forth between Lexi and the blue-eyed boy next to her. To say that he was attractive was an understatement. He was hot in a sexy, dangerous kind of way. Mysterious, even, since Caroline knew nothing about him. To fix that issue, Caroline quickly grabbed a pen and a sticky note and scribbled down a message on it to pass to Elena.

Who's the guy with the blue eyes next to me? Do you know anything about him? He keeps staring at me. It's weirding me out.

Caroline waited as Elena read over the note with a contorted expression before writing a response on it. Caroline took the note back from her and read over it.

Why wouldn't he be staring at you? You're Caroline Forbes. You're gorgeous! Even that guy from earlier said so, too. And his name is Klaus. I think his surname is Michaels or Mikaelson. One of the two. Oh, and he's British too. That's all I know so far.

Caroline folded up the sticky note and clenched it in her hands to hide it. She snuck another look in his direction and noticed he was looking at her fist where she held the note. His eyes wavered from her hands to her face for a moment, the two of them making brief eye contact, before he turned his gaze to the front of the room and kept it there for the rest of the lesson.

By the end of the lesson, Lexi had set them a weekly assignment where she would give them a theme to sketch to hand up in their lesson each week. This week's theme was opposites and Caroline would have to think of something to sketch before the week was up. A part of her wished that she didn't have to do visual art for her degree. She just wanted to study photography and become a professional photographer. That's all.

Klaus noticed her as soon as she walked in, and for the rest of the lesson, it was a struggle to keep his eyes off of her. She was exquisite. She radiated beauty without even having to try. Her eyes were a stunning shade of blue and shone with the rest of her presence. Her skin was a soft creamy colour that allowed the blush in her cheeks to show. Her blonde curls cascaded around her gorgeous face and shoulders, and her lips were a soft shade of pink. She was absolutely breath-taking.

He watched her and her friend as they made their way towards the row of seats he sat at, passing by a guy he remembered saying earlier that his name was Enzo. Klaus watched as Enzo smirked at the girl and heard his 'Hello gorgeous' remark. Klaus pursed his lips, oddly enough not liking the fact that Enzo spoke to the girl. He watched as the beauty scoffed and rolled her bright blue eyes at Enzo and, to Klaus' delight, walked over and took a seat at the desk right next to him. He wanted to say something to her, but he was sure he was just going to receive the same response that Enzo got, so he stayed silent and simply observed.

Klaus gave all of his attention to the girl during the entire class, ignoring Lexi who was speaking out the front of the classroom. He watched as he noticed the beautiful blonde sneak glances in his direction every now and then. He knew nothing about this girl, but he wanted to know everything about her now. He didn't know why. He was probably just bored, but she fascinated him. She intrigued him. He wanted to know her name, what she was studying for, what she wanted in life, her hopes and dreams. He wanted to know it all.

He saw her take out a pen and a sticky note pad and scribbled something down on it before passing it to her brunette friend. Klaus saw her friend's expression contort and he gnawed on the inside of his mouth, curious as to what was written on the paper. Once the girl wrote something back and handed it to the blonde again, he noticed her looking in his direction once again. He was almost certain after that quick glance that the note said something about him.

He stared at the note in her fist for a moment before looking back at her briefly. He wanted to say something to her, but he resisted and finally turned his gaze to Lexi who was talking about the weekly assignment, his mind still focussed on the thought of the beautiful blonde next to him.

Once the class was over, Klaus took his time collecting his books, seeing as the girl had plenty to pack up. He wanted to pull her aside and speak with her, at least get a name, so he stayed back and collected his belongings at the same pace as her. However, he noticed her friend was patiently waiting for the blonde to finish, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to get her alone. Putting his sketch book down, he took the few steps he needed to reach her table and put his hands in his jeans pockets.

"Good afternoon ladies." Klaus said with his dimpled smile, the one he knew worked well on women. "I believe we haven't formally met. I'm Klaus Mikaelson."

The two girls exchanged a glance, the brunette's face covered with an unsure expression while the blonde beauty bit down on her bottom lip. The brunette introduced herself as Elena, but Klaus didn't particularly care about her. He wanted to know the name of the blonde.

"I'm Caroline," she finally replied, "Caroline Forbes."

Klaus smiled and took her hand to kiss the top of it. He felt her hand jerk slightly in his and he saw the blush that was overcoming her cheeks. It only made him grin even more.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Forbes."

Let me know what you think in reviews! :) I'll write the next chapter as soon as possible!

Celeste xoxo