Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Those were the words running through people's minds as Caroline Forbes walked into the hallways of Mystic Falls High School, anger brimming in her eyes and a scowl on her lips. She looked ready to kill and the stomp, stomp, stomp of her high heels thudded in the hallway as she made her way to her locker. Opening the lock, she searched for her books and pulled them out hastily, wanting to chuck them at the nearest person. Oh, if only murder wasn't a crime.
Closing her locker with a loud bang!, she swept past other students and made her way to the History classroom where Mr. Tanner was seizing up the students and searching for his latest victim like a hungry tiger. Caroline took her usual seat, slamming her books on the table and imagining it was his face instead. Her friends noticed her mood and warily approached her, taking their seats beside her.
"Are you okay, Care?" Bonnie asked quietly, eying her like she was a puma in the wild and was going to pounce on her if she wasn't careful. She wasn't too off the mark.
"Just peachy." Caroline bit out.
Her face turned red when she saw him enter the room. Satan, Hitler, Attila the Hun – none of those bastards compared to this bastard – Kol fucking Mikaelson, the bane of her existence, the pebble in her shoe, the sand in her sandwich, the nail on her bedpost. He was everything despicable, repulsive, hateful, terrible, horrifying in this world and she wanted to kill him, slowly and painfully. She wanted him to suffer the most gruesome, most painful death ever recorded in human history. She wanted him dead – period.
He noticed her glaring murderously at him as he approached. "Now, now, Forbes, we're in public, don't look at me with those lovey-dovey eyes."
She continued to glare at him, wanting to chuck her books at his head. It was no use. He'd just dodge them being the athlete that he was with his quick reflexes. She'd tried it before so she knew. She just fumed as he took his seat behind her.
She could feel his smugness like it was a cancer spreading into her system. He was like a virus, a flesh-eating virus that ate her insides and made everything go wrong. He was a tick sucking her blood, draining her of life. He was a terrible person, pure evil!
She stiffened, her spine going ramrod straight when he tapped her on the shoulder with his finger. "Hey Forbes, do you have a pen?"
She turned her head slowly to look at him, his toxic dark eyes mockingly glinting at her. Her hands fisted as she resisted the urge to reach over and smack him in the face. It would do well to mark that pretty face of his. Oh the fantasies were too sweet.
"What?" She said through her teeth.
"Well, you're slow today," He remarked. "I said: Do you have a pen I could borrow?"
"No," Why the fuck would she help him? "Do you honestly think that after what you did this morning I will ever let you borrow anything of mine ever again?"
"I spray painted 'Hot Mess' on your car. It was nothing. It'll wash off."
She bristled. Nothing? Nothing? "It was hot pink with glitter!"
"I thought you liked pink," He responded. "I was trying to make sure it went with your tastes."
Oh God, please give her the patience to handle this fool with grace and poise. She prayed for a moment, closing her eyes and muttering a few Hail Mary's in French before opening her eyes and seeing his smug face, mockingly staring back at her. Fuck poise and grace.
"Listen here, you son of a cock-loving whore-"
"Miss Forbes!" She stopped when she heard Mr. Tanner's voice boom. She turned around and found him glaring at her. "I hate to interrupt this lovers' spat but we have more important matters to take care of today then your teenage problems."
She blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, sir,"
Mr. Tanner ignored her and started the class, often times calling on Caroline and trying to embarrass her but she wasn't on the Honor's List for no reason, she was able to answer even when flustered. He never called on Kol since he was the star student when it came to History, he just knew everything and he could never be beaten. Caroline knew, she tried every day and always lost. Yet one of the many reasons she hated Kol Mikaelson.
Caroline was on her way to French class when Kol started walking with her and slung his arm around her shoulders. "So, Forbes, how are you?"
"Fuck off." She spat and loosened his arm on her.
"Now, now, Forbes, that's not very nice."
"And so is this." She turned to him and stepped on his foot, hard. He yelped and staggered away from her, jumping up and down and clutching his foot. "Ow! Forbes!"
"Sorry," She said, not sorry at all and went into the classroom. Bonnie and Elena were taking Spanish and that left Caroline alone to face Kol who entered the classroom a second later, none too happy. He looked like he wanted to kill her, nothing new there.
The French teacher, Mrs. Mikaelson (yes, Kol's mom of all people) started her lesson. She was a tall woman with a pretty face and copper hair. Kol had her chin and nose but the rest of him was all his dad. Caroline's mom, Sheriff Forbes, was best friends with her and that's how Caroline met Kol when they were about three years old and he threw his toy car at her face. The rest as they say was history.
In between verbs and vowels, Mrs. Mikaelson made an announcement. "Our sister school in France has agreed on an exchange program. Two students from this class, a boy and a girl will go on a two month stay in Paris." The class started to buzz at the news, students eagerly talking about it as the woman continued. "I've already chosen the participants and they are…"
Caroline looked up hopefully. French wasn't her best subject but her French was great enough that no French native would laugh at her. She was an Honor student and she did well in all her subjects. She was on numerous committees and she was very personable with great leadership skills. She was outstanding and the perfect candidate, they had to pick her!
"Caroline Forbes…" Caroline smiled widely as her classmates congratulated her, disappointed they weren't chosen but happy for her anyway. "….and of course…"
But wait, who was the other student? Matt's French was terrible, Tyler took Spanish and Stefan was okay. But wait, the only other student who was as good as her was-
"Kol Mikaelson,"
"That's not fair, he's your son!" A jock pointed out in outrage. Caroline didn't find it in herself to agree with him. Kol, besides being an extremely lucky bastard, was the brightest student in that class. Despite his mom being biased (and she wasn't) he was brilliant, there really was no one else.
"Nepotism is for the weak," Kol remarked. "That's what my birthday cards said anyway."
"Of course, Mister Summers," Mrs. Mikaelson replied to the jock. "I didn't choose Kol because he's my son. I chose him because of his exceptional qualities."
Like what? Making an ass of himself? Caroline snorted. Academics and sports aside, Kol was best at was making other people miserable.
"Congratulations, Caroline and Kol," She continued. "I expect that you two will work well together and make sure our school's name is held up well."
Yeah right. Her and Kol working well together? This was going to be disastrous. She just knew it.
Class went by in a blur and Caroline stayed behind to talk with Mrs. Mikaelson. She approached the redhead as she erased the blackboard. "Yes, dear?" She asked as Caroline stood in front of her.
"Mrs. Mikaelson-"
"Oh Caroline, please call me Esther, I'm your godmother after all."
"Right. Esther, I don't think this is gonna work out."
The older woman looked confused. "Why not? You'll be perfect for the exchange. Your French is fantastic!"
"No, it's not that," - It's just your son is an asshole and I can't take spending two seconds with him, let alone any long period of time- "I don't think Kol and I are the perfect partners for this. We don't get along, we hate each other!"
Esther laughed. "Oh Caroline, you don't hate Kol. There's just tension between you two, I must admit it makes for a very passionate relationship. Oh I remember when you were younger and you two used to fight all the time…"
Tension? Passion? What was her crazy godmother going on about? She was nuts, she had to be.
Caroline frowned as the woman continued to babble about how 'adorable' Caroline and Kol's little feud was. At some point, marriage was talked about and she squirmed at the thought. Marrying Kol? Eww!
"I'm sure you'll be fine in Paris," Esther smiled, patting her on the arm. "You'll have a lovely time, believe me."
I really doubt that. "Thank you, Esther." She turned around and walked out the door, the smile dropping from her face as she entered the hallway. Well that was no help.
Now here was the problem. She was going to spend two months with Kol Mikaelson with only his crazy mother as a chaperone. She had no one to keep her sane and from killing Kol and he was going to make her life miserable while they were in Paris. Somebody kill her now, please?
I've been watching and reading way too many romantic comedies. "Nepotism is for the weak" is from Grey's Anatomy.