Disclaimer: Bamon-centric and features Stelena/Klaroline.

Flame

Chapter 1: Welcome to College

A soft light trailed over a young girl immersed in a dream so strong, she had barely heard the obnoxious noise that was her alarm. It had been buzzing for at least ten minutes, because when she opened her eyes and turned them to the device, it was already nine-thirty five. She had promised her friends that she would meet them at nine-thirty to carpool to university.

Seconds after rubbing the salt from her eyes and brushing her dark hair from her face, another loud noise filled the room. She groaned and turned over to pick up a lime-green touch screen phone vibrating around on her dresser.

Before she could say hello, the voice on the other end spoke.

"Bonnie, did you oversleep?"

It was Elena.

Bonnie sighed. "I totally set my alarm for nine o'clock, I swear. I guess I was enjoying my dream a bit more than I thought," she chuckled. There was some ruffling going on and another voice spoke into the phone.

"We knew you would, which is why we decided to get to your house by nine. We're outside."

Bonnie recognized that snarky prep-school girl voice anywhere; it was Caroline Forbes. It went against every part of her existence to be tardy and she wasn't surprised at all that Caroline would pull a stunt like that. They knew Bonnie well, because this certainly wasn't the first time she had slept through her alarm.

Forcing herself from the comforts of her childhood room, she rushed to throw on some clothes and headed for the doors, dragging one large black suitcase behind her. As she opened the front door, she yelled to her grandmother. "Grams, the girls are here. I'm heading out now!"

Caroline rushed past Bonnie as soon as the door opened and grabbed a few of the bags she saw placed near the entrance to help her. "I'll take these to the car." She said. Bonnie could hear some shuffling from the second floor (where her grandmother's room was) and waited at the base of the carpeted stairs for her to come down.

She turned the corner, pushing her brown curls into place. She must've been taking a nap, because her eyes were puffy; but as she came close, Bonnie could see that she had been crying. Her face saddened.

"Oh, Grams don't do this. You know I can't do this." She said softly, trying to keep her composure.

The woman was well into her sixties, but her brown skin kept the youthful appearance of someone in their forties. She was a strong woman and very rarely got upset to the point of tears. Her Grams had raised her since her mother left her and her father took off after her when she was really young; she was all she knew and more than a mother to Bonnie. It broke her inside every time she thought of saying farewell to her Grams, but it was something that she knew she had to do.

The small woman reached the base of the stairs and embraced the young girl. "You be careful, now you hear?" she whispered.

Bonnie gripped her tightly; not wanting to believe this moment had really come. She wasn't going too far (Whitmore was only twelve miles from Mystic Falls), but to leave her for any distance felt terrifying.

"I will. We've talked about this, Grams. I have to go to school, so I can help support you. You've worked so hard for me to grow up safe and to make something of myself…this is my chance to make you proud." She choked on her words a bit. Saying farewell wasn't easy no matter how many times she practiced.

Her Grams gave her a watery smile. "I know, dear. I have no doubt that you will be great. Just remember to not let any boy distract you, now. College is where all you young folk like to gallivant and experiment with—"

"Graaaaaaams, please!" Bonnie's tears soon turned to awkward groans. "I thought we agreed to not talk about that kind of stuff. You know I won't let a guy get in my way of success." She exclaimed.

Her Grams smiled with an approving overtone this time and walked her to the door a couple feet away. "I was going to say it's where people experiment with who they are; it's where you will surely find yourself."

She waved to Elena and Caroline, who had mounted her luggage into the car and waited patiently against the doors. "Let me know when you girls get there, alright?"

They nodded and waved back at her with smiles, bidding her farewell. They had many sleepovers at Bonnie's house growing up and her Grams made the best pancakes. She was like a second mother to them, and her house a second home. It was a tall brick house that had been in Mystic Falls for almost forty-years and a lot of people in the town knew of its presence. The home was known for its landscaping (the trees rarely withered) and the garden was always healthy even when others were not. Townspeople had come to rely on Grams for remedies and tips on how to take care of their lawn and their health. She was one of those ladies that just seemed to know a bit of everything.

Grams stayed at the door until they locked themselves inside safely and drove out of the driveway. She put one hand against her heart and closed the white door, wiping a falling tear from her eyes as—whom felt like her 'second batch of daughters'—flew the nest for the first time.

Large patches of forest flew by the white Honda windows and what was left of a summer breeze reached all of the girls in the car.

Caroline readjusted the rear-view mirror and caught sight of Bonnie moving around uncomfortably in the back seat. "Bonnie, are you alright?" she asked.

Elena pushed her straight brown hair behind one ear and turned to view her. Bonnie looked to them and smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. It just feels a little weird to be going to college, you know."

Elena gave her a sympathetic smile. "Telling them goodbye is always hard; I couldn't stop crying when I told Jeremy I was leaving this morning. But Whitmore isn't far at all, we can come back and visit whenever we need to."

"Yeah, and think of all the freedom we have now!" Interjected Caroline. "Think of the parties, the boys, the hookups and drama, the boys…"

This caused a series of laughter to break out amongst them. Caroline was usually very honest about her feelings, never sugarcoating anything. She knew what she wanted to do from the second she was accepted. To be honest, it was a time that they all needed to experience; they needed to get out of Mystic Falls for once and meet new people and explore new things. They had a lot to learn and they had to start sometime.

It wasn't long before they pulled up to the gated entrance (which had been opened for move-in) to the university. On their way in, crowds of people—students and their families—roamed the sidewalks carrying pillows, large crates and suitcases to the dorms. They parked in a small parking lot in which they were granted thirty minutes of free parking to carry their belongings inside.

"Thirty minutes?! Are you serious, that's not nearly enough time to take my stuff up!" she complained. Elena and Bonnie shook their heads; she had packed the most stuff out of all three of them. Caroline had one suitcase just for her shoes.

They got out of the car and began pulling their luggage from the backseat and the trunk. Elena was struggling to take out one of Caroline's bags, pulled a little too hard and it fell to the ground, releasing (you guessed it) a lot of her shoes.

"Elennnaa!" Caroline threw her arms up and put two furry pillows under them securely.

"It's fine, Caroline. I'll fix it, you go ahead." Elena spoke, kneeling down to pick up the fallen heels.

Bonnie paid little attention to this as the sites of the campus had taken her hold. She looked around at the vast lawns where students played football and soccer and where some girls had taken it upon themselves to sunbathe. She could smell the Diner food—which didn't smell all that healthy, but it did smell delicious. She felt excited to be in this new arena where she would make something wonderful of herself.

"Hey there, let me help you with that!"

Bonnie turned to the source of the noise. There was a man in his early twenties that hurried over to Elena, who was still picking up shoes and placing them back into the suitcase. Bonnie said nothing, but examined him as he approached. He had slightly pale skin, seemed about six foot with medium brown hair combed back in what reminded her of Danny from Grease. He was slim in figure and looked like he took good care of himself. His voice was calm.

He knelt down next to Elena and picked up some of the shoes he saw her reaching for, smiling. Elena noticed him instantly and blushed a bit. "Thank you so much. I just…underestimated how heavy it would be. My friend has way too many shoes." She mumbled.

The man laughed. "She must be high-maintenance with all of these. Certainly going to fit in good around here."

Elena studied the curves of his face. He seemed chiseled and strong—two things she adored in a man. When they had finished packing the shoes into the suitcase, they stood to their feet. Bonnie came around to meet them at this point with Caroline not too far behind. They gave her a look to introduce them. She choked on her words a bit, holding her arm out in their direction.

"Uh sorry, these are my best friends, Bonnie and Caroline." She said.

The man gave them both mannered handshakes and smiled. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Stefan."

He then turned to Elena, who had been staring at him. "And…you are?" he laughed as she shot back into reality.

"Um, right! Ha, I'm Elena Gilbert." She shook his hand, holding it for a bit longer than normal.

"Well it's nice to meet you ladies. Freshman, are we?" he asked.

Caroline nodded. "Yes, we are and we have no idea how to unload all this stuff in thirty minutes—which is probably twenty-five by now."

Stefan let go of Elena's hand gently. "Well, I'm happy to help if you need an extra hand." He spoke. Caroline instantly replied. "That's so nice of you, thanks! We'd love your help!"

Bonnie grabbed onto her arm, tugged at her sleeve and pulled her closer. "What are you doing, you know we can't just show him where our room is! That's how dangerous things happen, Caroline. We literally just met the guy." She whispered.

Caroline shrugged. "Oh relax, Bonnie. We aren't giving him the keys or anything. What's the worst that could happen? He knows where our dorm is, but so will like…every other person that we meet here." Bonnie said nothing and proceeded to grab what bags she could lift. She followed swiftly behind Stefan, examining him as best she could. Other than his good looks, he seemed—so far—harmless, but she couldn't shake this feeling that there was something different about this guy.

They entered the eight-story building and unloaded at the seventh, where their triple was located. In the elevator, they had learned that Stefan was a junior engineer major who traveled from South Carolina to attend Whitmore. When they walked in, they were surprised to see how spacious it was. "I told you I'd get us a nice room." Caroline smiled to herself. She always did know how to get her way.

The room was larger than most typical dorm rooms with plenty of room in the center for a couch or three yoga mats. Elena had a thing for yoga at six in the morning, so that would most likely be what they did. The room had two large windows, which faced the sun and invited much natural lighting. There was one bed on the east side of the room and a bunk bed on the west. Caroline had already unloaded her stuff on the single, so there wasn't much negotiating. Bonnie and Elena didn't mind though; it was probably better to have the picky one in a space all to herself.

Stefan came in and placed what he had in his arms on the floor beside the closet and turned to the girls. "Well numbers helped a lot; was that everything?" he asked.

Elena nodded. "Thank you for your help, Stefan." He headed for the door but Elena spoke again before he could leave. "Hopefully, we'll see you around campus."

Stefan smiled at her. "I'm sure we will, Elena." They all knew that she was referring to her personal interest in him; her flirting could not have been more obvious. Stefan left the room and accidently brushed up against Bonnie's arm, sending a cold shiver through her entire body. Images of young women in old English attire dancing around a open bonfire came to her mind. Then flashes of laughter turned to screaming; she saw blood running down their arms and a dark figure standing over them. A slight pain hitched at her abdomen and she snapped back into reality. When she came to, Stefan had already been well down the hallway.

She looked around the room in confusion. "Bonnie?" Elena paused.

Bonnie shook her head a bit, trying to get her bearings and began unpacking. She looked around and noticed that Caroline was not there. "Where did Caroline go? She inquired.

"She went to go move the car. She'll be back. You were standing right beside her when she said it. Are you alright? You looked kind of dazed." She spoke.

Bonnie ran her fingers through her dark straightened hair. She had recently cut it in celebration of this new chapter of her life and was still adjusting to short hair. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just zoned out for a second."

The clock read eight thirty now and the girls had just gotten back from eating at the diner. The food seemed healthy at first, but since Bonnie was a vegetarian, nothing seemed edible. Luckily, they'd learned that there were more options in the student center on the other side of campus. They finished their unpacking to Caroline's story about how she met a really cute guy when she got lost on her way back to the dorm earlier that morning.

Elena spent hours surfing the Internet for Stefan's profile and Bonnie was lying on the top bunk, staring off. She thought back to Stefan and tried to come to grips with what just happened. What was that? Was she daydreaming or something?

Not minutes later, they could hear other girls on the floor giggling and commenting on each other's outfits. Caroline, being naturally curious, poked her head out of the already open door to find a group of girls dressed to go out. She had recognized one of the voices from the diner. She looked at the Victoria Secret wannabe blonde bombshell and her tight black dress and called to her. "Rebecca!"

The girl turned in response and went to hug Caroline. They talked for a minute and soon informed the others that she and her friends were going to one of the nightclubs. It didn't take Caroline long at all to decide that she wanted to go and urge the other two to come along. It would be their first college party experience and they were not going to miss it.

It took around fifteen minutes for the girls to get ready. Caroline had something packed for that exact occasion for days now. She was wearing a short skirt (not too different in style from Rebecca's dress) and a chique white top with black heels to match. Elena dressed in dark skinny jeans, a floral top and dark heels. Bonnie took the less dramatic route and opted for a graphic cutout top with black shorts and wedges.

The group had become familiar in no time at all. They had learned that Rebecca was a transfer student from London and the youngest of five—and the only girl. Most of her brothers had long since graduated. She had been to Whitmore to visit one elder brother before, so she knew her way around pretty well. The moon was bright now and the clouds moved slowly in front of it. Time seemed to pass slowly when they looked to the stars and a chilled breeze brushed against their exposed skin. Bonnie said little for most of the journey; she was too preoccupied in thoughts of Stefan and what she saw when she touched him. She wondered if he'd experienced it also.

When they arrived at the nightclub, there was a long line of both guys and girls in similar attire waiting to enter. The bouncer was checking I.D. at the front, which alarmed Elena. Caroline had found some 'Caroline way' of obtaining fakes before they got to campus, but they had never used them before.

"Caroline, what if these don't work? Bouncers are supposed to be good at these kinds of things." Rebecca smirked. "Don't worry about that, darling. I know these guys well." And she wasn't kidding, because as they approached the gates, she pointed out all the girls in her group and they opened the ropes to let them pass. "Remind me to take you wherever I go." Caroline joked.

The two-story club was loud, obnoxious and packed with people already. Different colored lights flashed against the crowds on the dance floor and glided over those on the balcony above. People were dancing rather provocatively for what they had been used to, but Caroline and Rebecca seemed to adapt well. Elena and Bonnie climbed their way to the second floor balcony and sat down on one of the leather couches in the corner. There were couples making out against the walls and friends playing pool together near the edge. "Who knows what stuff could've happened on this couch." Bonnie spoke. It was difficult to hear anything each other were saying because the music was so loud. Elena tucked her long hair behind her head and caught a glimpse of combed back brown hair in the distance. "Stefan!" she yelled.

The man turned his head in the direction the words were coming from and met eyes with Elena and Bonnie. He walked over to them with the same mannered smile as before. He had his hands behind his back and opened them to embrace Elena. "I told you, we'd see each other again." He spoke.

She blushed. Bonnie wanted to roll her eyes, but instead, she focused in on his eyes. Nothing about him seemed abnormal, but what she saw was too hard to ignore. She followed a bit farther behind them as the two walked towards the edge of the iron balcony when they were suddenly interrupted. A pale, strong arm latched itself around Stefan's shoulders and a pair of icy blue eyes came out of the darkness.

"Well who do we have here…?" the man asked, staring hard at Elena's body.

Stefan did roll his eyes and pushed the arm from around his shoulders. "What are you doing here, Damon." He groaned. Damon was a little shorter than Stefan, with dark hair that met the nape of his neck in slight waves. His eyes were an icy blue and pierced through everyone who met with them.

There was something attractive, but…strangely terrifying about him. He looked like exactly the type of stereotypical guy that her Grams had warned her about hanging around. This thought became more apparent as a couple of drunken blondes wiggled themselves under his arms. He smiled at them and took a gulp of his beer. "What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm having fun! Let's party!" his eyes went back to Elena.

"So you gonna introduce me or what, brother?"

"Brother?" Elena questioned.

Stefan sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Ladies, meet Damon; Damon meet Elena and Bonnie. I met them this morning when they were moving in."

Damon examined Elena again with a devious look on his face. "Elena…" he whispered.

Stefan pushed him away. "Get, Damon. Take your girls elsewhere." He urged.

Damon shot back another batch of the beer in his hands and put on a fake frown. "Aww, you want her all to yourself, ha? Okay, little brother. I'll give you this one. I'm hungry, anyway." He spoke and turned away.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and watched him (and his groupies) disappear into the crowds of multi-colored lights. She soon left Stefan and Elena to talk and headed for the bathroom to catch her breath.

The hallway was a dark, crowded alleyway with trash on the floor and diluted party music going on. It looked exactly like what she thought it would; vile and unsanitary. Welcome to college, she thought to herself. The line for the girls' bathroom was far too long and she felt impatient, so she decided to find the boys'. She reversed in direction and turned the corner, somewhat unknowingly to find herself in an empty hallway with a dark green door at the end. The more Bonnie stared at this door, the more the entire hallway began to shift through her eyes. Images of blood and the sounds of screaming girls rushed to her ears again, causing her to panic and run towards the door.

When she reached it, she turned to find an open room with old furniture, chipped floral wallpaper, scattered clothing and in the center, two girls. They were lying—one piled on top of the other—in a pool of blood that stained into the old beige carpet. Their eyes were still open, but unmoving. In shock, Bonnie froze; she could hardly breathe. She didn't want to believe that what she was seeing was real.

Suddenly, a thud was heard in an adjoining room, which frightened her back into reality. It sounded as if someone was groaning. With a shaking body, she gripped onto the wall and slowly slid herself towards the source of the noise. She turned her head slowly around the doorframe to find a man passed out on the floor with his head on the toilet seat. Bonnie rushed down to his side, grabbed his head in her palms and turned it to face her. Her lips quivered and she nearly dropped him when she realized who it was.

The man groaned in pain and Bonnie met with a pair of piercing blue eyes once again—each time, they came to her from the darkness. It was Damon—the guy she'd met not an hour ago. Covered in blood, he stretched his arm out and grabbed onto a gold necklace she was wearing.

"I didn't—" his voice trailed off soon after and the room began to shake around them. In the distance, they could hear screams and someone yelling to call 911. Someone would soon find them. Suddenly, the ground started to shake beneath them and Bonnie's vision blurred—the last thing she caught sight of was Damon's eyes fading into a darkness that surrounded them both.

Everything went black.