Title – Love and Other Hardships
Description – AU Klaroline. The story of how the birth of a child saved the life of a young couple, and the hardships the couple had to face to reach this point.
Disclaimer – I do not own vampire diaries, as if I did, it would be on much much later.
A/N – This story is set in the north of England. Also, I apologise for leaving my other story, and I will catch up with it! Soon. Maybe. No, I promise that I will!
The American poet, Carl Sandburg once said 'A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on' and to be honest, I have to agree. I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me and Nik. From our first meeting to this very day, our lives had been one downfall to the next. The worst time was when I was in my mid twenties. I was in a dark place. Probably the worse place that I have been, but she saved me. Nik helped us too, but my Daniella was the icing on the cake. It is hard to understand how I coped without her, but then I remember that my Niklaus was always there, spurring me on when things got bad.
I didn't really have a very good family dynamic as a child. My mother would always be arguing with my father, for stupid reasons, such as who had put the washing out, and whose turn it was to wash up. When my dad walked out, it wasn't that much of a surprise. I felt like my mum had been expecting it for a while. Despite the fact I was only ten, I was fairly perceptive. I think the reason why my dad walked out was the most surprising thing of all. I thought that it was because he couldn't put up with my mother anymore, but no. He had found somebody else, someone better. I supposed that it was to be expected that my father wasn't going to stay single for the rest of his life, but I never expected his next marriage to be with a man.
I never blamed my mother for being bitter after he left her. I mean, the comments that she got from the other women in her neighbourhood really hit her hard, and she grew tougher and more closed off than she already was. The only person who she would ever show her true side to, was me. It was still rare though, and I only saw it when she was in a good mood or I was in a bad mood. We were very similar, me and my mother, and that was probably the reason why we both argued so much. We weren't just similar in personalities though, we also looked very alike. With long blonde hair, blue eyes, and similar facial structure, it wasn't hard to tell that we were related. I remembered in my later years at school, I would often storm to Elena's or Bonnie's house and I would sleep at one of their houses to escape the nightmare that was my mother. Then, a few months after Nik came it to my life, I would often hide at his.
I'll start my story from my last year in secondary school, when everything seemed to change for me. I was a horrible person. I was smart, popular and totally bitchy. Most of it came from the bullying that I had put up with in my earlier years, as people gradually started to figure out the reason as to why my father had walked out. Bonnie and Elena were always there, and although I turned mean and hypocritical, I could always find the time for them. Everyone knew me as a bit of a slut, or as one girl called me to my face, the 'school bike'. I had to give her credit for not saying behind my back, the ballsy cow, but that was just Vicki Donovan. It didn't stop me from having a cat fight with her, but I didn't hurt her as much as I could have. I didn't pay attention in many lessons, except from History, and that was mainly because Mr Alaric Saltzman was really hot. I know, bad reason, but every word that came from his mouth just seemed to hang in my memory. Then he hooked up with Elena's guardian, Jenna, and became totally off limits, but it did mean that we were on a first name basis.
This one day I was sat in Ric's lesson, listening to him finish explaining about the work we were going to do on the Suffragettes, when there was a knock at the door. The whole room went quiet, as we turned to see who it was who had come in. A tall guy, with beautiful blue eyes and tousled dirty blonde hair emerged from the doorway, and walked straight to the front, showing sir a note. Ric looked pretty confused, well we all did really. No one really moved school when there was only one year left, unless it was for an exclusion or something along those lines, and kids who had been excluded didn't really end up in the top sets, but by no means was I complaining.
"You can sit next to Caroline." Alaric said, indicating to the empty seat next to me. "She will tell you what you need to do." Ric told him, passing the guy an empty exercise book, before handing out the text books. The new guy flashed me a grin, that gave him the cutest dimples ever, before taking his place. I guessed that Ric had thought the same as me, and decided that he would put him at the front, just in case he was the type of guy who would cause trouble. Whereas the reason I had originally sat at the front was so I got a perfect view of his beautiful face, but it was finally proving to have other benefits.
"I'm Caroline…" I spluttered, before remembering that Ric had already told him my name. I mentally face palmed myself, just hoping that the kid hadn't realised my mistake. He obviously had though, as that grin that made my tummy feel like it was housing a family of butterflies returned.
"Yeah, he just said that," he chuckled, referring to Ric. His voice was beautiful, way posher than anyone else at this school, and I guessed that he came from London or somewhere around that area. For a moment we sat there awkwardly both figuring out who should make the next move. "I'm Niklaus. Most people just call me Klaus though." He told me, stepping up to the plate. For some reason I burst out into erratic giggling, obviously from nerves. The people around me gave me a strange look, knowing that Caroline Forbes was not somebody who would get nervous from simply talking to a boy, even if the boy was as gorgeous as this guy was.
Just as I was about to start conversation, Tyler Lockwood, my last fling, leaned over and whispered something in Klaus's ear. I didn't hear it, but from the look that I received from both of the boys, I guessed that it was about me. Tyler's look was sneaky, and his smirk just made him look like an axe murderer from a slasher film. Klaus on the other hand, gave me a look that was a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. I decided that for a change, I would try to be the better person, so instead of a sarcastic comment that I would usually send in Tyler's direction, I instead opened my book and started doing the work.
"Mr Saltzman said that for the work we need to just answer the questions on page three hundred and ninety four." I said curtly, as I flicked through the text book trying to find the right page. "It shouldn't be too hard, all the information is on the page if you just look." I added hoping that I didn't come off as being rude. I didn't know why I suddenly cared what the opinions of this new kid was, but for some reason, as I sat doing work on the suffragettes, I could barely concentrate as I saw him sneak glances at me from time to time. I guess Tyler had quickly got across the message of my extra curriculum activities. I could of killed him. I didn't believe in love at first sight, but what I had with this guy was something good. I took a deep breath, composing myself, as she turned to Klaus once again.
"Where are you next? I'll make sure you don't get lost," I said with a soft smile, hoping to plant seeds of doubt in what he thought of me. "Erm, I have Art." He told me, pulling out a time table. I grabbed my bag from under the table and pulled out my own. "With Miss Powell?" I asked him, thinking of the horrible woman who I had next. I wasn't the best at art, but I was definitely better than how she made me out as being.
"Yeah, in room D8?" He confirmed. This was good, I thought. This would give me a chance to redeem myself and explain to him that Tyler was just a dick. Even though the things that he had told the new kid were probably true, it annoyed me that out of all the people to tell him, it was Tyler, who was practically the male version of me. When we went out, we used to compare scores that we had. I broke it off with him as the sex wasn't particularly satisfying. I also made clear the reason why I had ended the relationship adding salt to the wound.
We spent the rest of the lesson in silence, just getting on with the work. I kept having a quick look at his book, to see how Klaus was doing and he seemed pretty smart. That was probably going to be helpful, I thought, knowing that I sometimes would get stuck, plus I was an expert when it came down to copying off of people. I had never been so excited to leave history before, as I heard the bell ring. I jumped up, faster than I expected, and slipped my coat on waiting for him to follow. I knew for sure that this would be the first art lesson that would interest me.
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