AN: First of all, thank you, everybody who's been reading/reviewing/alerting/... my stories! Your reviews really do work inspirational :) Also, thank you, Shadowfaxangel, for your help with this - I love our e-mail chats!

For those of you who are looking forward to finding out what happens with my other fic Elena's anger... I finally found my muse again, so I'll be updating that story very soon...

And for Shadowdancing... Caroline is about to find out about Elena's surprise dance partner... Enjoy!

When Elena headed to her locker at school, she saw Caroline waving at her. So she walked over, albeit a little reluctantly. She hadn't told Caroline about Stefan's refusal to participate in the dance contest yet…

"Hey, Elena, did you see the notice on the school board? We'll have to register for participation in the dance contest today by noon. Otherwise it'll be too late!" Caroline was bubbling with enthusiasm.

Elena smiled at her enthusiasm, and remarked, "So I take it you convinced Matt then?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and huffed. "Yes, finally! You can't imagine how hard it was though. You'd have thought he'd be delighted to be asked, but no such thing! Men! I had to use every trick in my book to convince him, and I mean every trick!" She winked at Elena conspiratorially.

Elena took her cue from Caroline and asked dutifully, "What tricks were those?"

Caroline bent over to Elena and lowered her voice, "Well, first I tried all the usual feminine wiles, you know, pouting, begging and tears, but that didn't work. Was Matt always so stubborn? No, don't answer that! I don't really want to know!"

Elena smiled slightly at that. It was amazing how Caroline could still be so very... Caroline, even as a vampire!

Caroline continued in a whisper, "So, when I'd exhausted all of those, I had to resort to the ultimate means of pressure..." When Elena lifted her eyebrows inquiringly, Caroline mouthed, "S-E-X", and rolled her eyes as if to say, Duh!

"Oh," Elena said. Using her feminine power tools to convince Stefan hadn't even entered her mind. Well, Caroline was nothing if not resourceful, especially when she wanted something.

"God, Elena, you're so lucky with Stefan. I bet you only had to bat your lashes at him to get him to agree!" Caroline said wistfully, but not really envious.

Elena dropped her gaze. She'd have to tell Caroline sometime, so it might as well be now. She mumbled, "Nope, he didn't agree at all. I'm not going to participate with Stefan."

Caroline was dismayed, "You're not going to participate? Oh no, Elena, you simply have to! I don't want to do this on my own!"

"You won't be on your own, or did you forget Matt?"

"That's not the same, and you know it. You have to try to convince him again! Oh, but the registration is only today! You know what, Elena? Since there isn't enough time now to ask Stefan again, you'll just have to register the two of you now, and work on convincing Stefan later, okay? I'm sure he'll reconsider once he's thought about it!"

Elena couldn't postpone the telling any longer. Besides, she wasn't doing anything wrong here, so what was the problem? She'd just tell Caroline and be done with it! "No, Caroline, I don't think he's going to reconsider. I know Stefan. But I'm still going to participate, only not with Stefan."

Caroline looked surprised. "Not with Stefan? Then who? ... Not with Jeremy?" She asked, an edge of compassion in her voice.

Elena shook her head, and smiled slightly. "No, definitely not with Jeremy!"

"Elena, you're not going to do it with Alaric!"

Elena pulled a face, "Ewww, no, and please watch out how you phrase your questions. No way in hell am I going to do it with Alaric! Although I'm sure Jenna would love to!" She laughed when she saw Caroline's horrified expression.

"That's so not funny! Now you've given me nightmares, just thinking about that! So, who else is there?" Caroline looked stumped.

Elena had thought about this long and hard. Was she really going to go through with this? But she wanted to participate so badly, and if Stefan didn't want to see that, at least Damon did. Stefan could go hang himself (wouldn't kill him anyway, she added as a vicious afterthought)! She nodded to herself, and turned back to Caroline. "I'm going to participate in the dance contest with Damon."

Caroline's mouth fell open. "With Damon? And Stefan is okay with that?"

Elena bristled. "Why wouldn't he be? It was actually Stefan's idea, and it's not like I didn't ask him first! And he refused, so he has no more say in the matter!"

Caroline looked doubtful at that. "But... but... Damon? Are you sure?"

Elena had to admit to having some misgivings herself, but she wasn't going to share them with Caroline. So she said to Caroline, with some exasperation, "Why not Damon? It's only dancing, for heaven's sake! It's not like I'm going to cheat on Stefan!"

"Only dancing, she says," Caroline said, "You don't seem to realize how much opportunity for hanky panky dancing entails... You'll have to practice, all those hours spent together, just the two of you... Then there's gonna be touching, and holding hands, and looking into each other's eyes, and bumping into one another by accident, or not so much by accident if I know Damon... You do know that some people say dancing is…" and here she lowered her voice again, "… vertical sex, right? I don't think you know what you're getting into, Elena."

Elena looked mulish. She did have some doubts about this, but surely it wouldn't be as bad as Caroline made it sound! "It doesn't have to be like that. I'll make sure he behaves himself!" She said hotly.

"Mhmm..." Caroline did not look convinced, "But will you?"

Elena swatted her friend on the arm, "Caroline! You know me! I wouldn't do that!"

"But I know Damon too! And I'm well acquainted with his powers of persuasion," Caroline cautioned. When Elena frowned, she added, "Hey, don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Okay, so consider me duly warned," Elena said, and they went to register for the contest.

Elena didn't know if it was significant that she and Damon got number 69...

AN: So sorry there was no D/E interaction in this one, but there will be in the next chapter! Please let me know if you liked it! Thanks :))

BTW, you can also follow me on Twitter... I'm val_victrix