A/N: Still with me? I hope so. Finally here is chapter one. Things are looking as if Monday's will be my new chapter days if I keep with this schedule. This week is kinda busy for me with finals and such coming up so we will see. And last time I forgot to thank my beta and bestie Maitressaint for all of her help and encouragement. Also all of my pre-readers.

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me but if Julie Plec decides to step down I'll be right there to pick up the slack.

Onward!

Chapter One - Can't Hardly Wait

This was it for them. Everything they worked hard at for the past four years. All the late night study sessions, extracurricular activities, clubs and student council meetings were finally going to mean something. Sitting under May's blazing sun and the breeze brushing their tassels against their faces, Caroline squinted out against the glare to see her best friend since diapers, in the front row. She could barely contain the smile that was on her face as Bonnie gave her the thumbs up.

Caroline Forbes was far from being valedictorian for their graduating class, but she was student body president, captain of the pep squad, homecoming queen, prom queen and even Miss Mystic Falls two years in a row. To say she was popular was an understatement. Your typical blonde beauty, Caroline did what she thought was expected of her from as far back as she could remember. Being the daughter of Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes she had standards to live by, and Caroline tackled them all head on, so it was no surprise to anyone when she was chosen to speak for her class at graduation.

"Thank you, Vicki," Principal Saltzman said to Vicki Donovan, the valedictorian. "Next I'd like to introduce our senior class speaker, Caroline Forbes." The audience erupted into applause with a few students hooting. The nerves she was feeling all morning, up until that point, started to vanish the moment she walked from her seat on stage to the podium.

"As Ferris Bueller said, 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.' That one line basically sums up high school if you think about it. You come in as freshmen, trying to find your footing. Some soar and some get lost in the crowd. But the common denominator in that is that it is forever moving. One test to the next, the fall formal to the junior prom; Memories that we categorize into little snippets for when we look back in ten years when we can say that that was what high school was about.

From the moment we entered those doors we worked toward this moment. Every person we met has helped shaped us into the people we will become and I for one will never forget. Although college may come close to this experience, high school came at an important stage in our lives, the interval between childhood and adulthood. The point where we are old enough to make decisions which will shape the rest of our lives, the point where we decide who we are and where we will go. And if I've learned anything in high school, it's that our friends can be really influencing factors in what we do, so I leave you with this my fellow students and friends," Caroline cleared her throat and started to sing

"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."

Once finished she blew a kiss to everyone and everyone applauded. Caroline returned to her seat for the rest of the ceremony; it went by in a blur. Next thing she knew she was hugging Bonnie as their parents stood off to the side chatting.

"I can't believe you actually sang up there," Bonnie exclaimed, to her friend. Bonnie was proud of her Caroline. Friend was a term they both used loosely. They were more like sisters than anything else, both of them always having each other's back.

Bonnie ran her fingers through her curls as she took a glance back at her parents. Unbeknownst to Bonnie they promised to keep the fighting at the bare minimum for their daughter's sake. She knew that her parents were having issues and she wished they would just do the mature thing about it instead of hushed whispers and arguments behind closed doors. But she couldn't let that cloud today. Today she was a high school graduate and that was what mattered, and it still mattered as her stomach started doing somersaults when the last person she expected to show up approached them.

"Congratulations guys." Jeremy Gilbert flashed both of them smiles and went in to hug Bonnie. To say the hug was awkward was like saying the Titanic was a tug boat.

"Thanks Jer!" Caroline replied, a little too enthusiastically. Once Bonnie was detangled from her on and off again boyfriend, Caroline gave her a look saying that she was here if she wanted to bail. Bonnie understood the wordless exchange they just had and nodded, conveying that she would be fine.

Giving her friend one last hug before going to tug her mom away from whatever she was going on about. They had plans for lunch and she didn't want to miss them.

~BoB~

"Are you sure you girls are going to be okay for the weekend?" Elizabeth said to her daughter as they shared a basket of fries at The Grill.

"I am positive mom. Bonnie and I have been saving for this exact weekend for months. We want to get a feel for the town before being thrust down there for the next four years," Caroline said. She and Bonnie planned to spend the next weekend down in Durham, North Carolina. Both girls had been accepted to Duke University and couldn't wait to start in the fall. It was true that they planned to get familiar with the town over the weekend, but that was during the day. What her mother didn't know was that they also had a bunch of end of the semester parties lined up.

Katherine, the head squad leader before Caroline had invited them down for the weekend and guaranteed that they would have access to any party they wanted to go on campus. She was excited to see what Greek life was like. Sorority life was something Caroline always envisioned being part of. Having a whole sisterhood of girls that she could lean on was something she thought she would embrace easily. Being an only child hasn't always been easy on her, hence, why Bonnie was her partner for life.

"I know, honey, but I won't lie and say that I'm a hundred percent okay with this," Liz said.

"I don't want to be a brat, but you promised and it would be really messed up for you to back out of it now. I'm practically eighteen; I can assure you that everything will be okay." Caroline reassured her.

Reluctantly Elizabeth dropped the issue. Mentally Caroline was checking off everything they would need for their trip.

Swimsuit? Check. Red wrap dress? Check. Black pumps? Check. Box of condoms? Double check.

A/N: Just a little bit. See you guys next week! I'm going to spend the weekend with Supernatural boys. *Drools* Read and Review please! Reviews are like Stefan in your bed...naked.