***WRITE BY alliehurry****

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Chapter 2

Caroline POV

I don't remember the last time I had ever felt this way. Nik's blue eyes twinkle as he casually eats his dinner completely unaware of the thunderstorm of emotions I am currently feeling. We've decided to be uncharacteristic and light candles around the dining table. Annabel had prepared shrimp fettuccini Alfredo, perfect seeing as both Nik and I adored Italian. Both of us had paired the dinner with a glass of '2006 Hanna Russian River Chardonnay' despite Ana's disapproving glares.

"It's getting late, babe"

"You're leaving?"

"I don't want to, but-"

"No buts baby. Please don't leave." I whisper softly. His eyes find mine, twinkling with amusement.

"Mother will worry if I go home too late"

"So don't go home. Stay the night"

Nik gets up and walks around the table, his gaze never leaving mine. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me up, close towards him. His eyes shining with reckless fire paired with a boyish grin that I can't resist.

"Let's do something crazy tonight babe"

The rest of the night is a blur of limo rides, shots of whiskey, and smoke and loud music. We've decided not to risk the embarrassment of drunken texting or dialling anyone by turning both our Blackberry's off, making it impossible to get our drivers to pick us up. Hand in hand we walk as gracefully as possible down the streets of Manhattan. Even in our drunken haze, we know where we're going. We've strolled these streets for ages.

Nik stops abruptly, staring off into a small dimly lit shop. "TATTOO'S & PIERCINGS" is lit in obnoxious neon lights. Nik looks at me pleadingly and I can't help but grin back rebelliously. Mother and father would be horrified. What a flawless idea. Well, perhaps not flawless, but truly brilliant. As tacky as it may seem we opt to have linked tattoos.

On my right hip, I now have the left side of the New York City skyline with 'city lights' written elegantly. On Nik's right hip, the right side of the New York City skyline with 'will blind you'scrawled across can now be found. As we both stumble into my bedroom and quickly shed our clothes, I don't regret a thing.

As I snuggle into Nik's chest, his arms encircling my back, I don't regret a thing.

As I imagine my parent's furious faces should they ever discover this tattoo, I still don't regret a thing.

I'm awoken by soft kisses on my face, neck and shoulder blades. Slowly slipping into consciousness, last nights events flash violently in my head. Usain Bolt himself couldn't have run faster than me at that moment. I look at my half naked body in the full-length mirror, softly tracing the broken off skyline now permanently etched onto my skin. I see Nik making his way towards me in the reflection in the mirror. I lean back into him as he pulls me into him, enveloping me in a backwards hug. I look down at our hips and gasp. Standing in this position, our tattoos complete themselves. It's beautiful, dangerous, wrong but oh so right just as Nik and I have always been.

"I feel like I'm doing the walk of shame," remarks Nik wryly as he slips on his uniform from last night. I snort at him before slipping on my own uniform and making my way towards my commode to do my hair. I have minimal energy, so I decide to let my golden blonde hair tumble down in soft waves. I apply minimal makeup, mostly due to the fact that I had Katherine to pick up and I hadn't even eaten yet.

"Come on tall, dark and mysterious, Ana's prepared a quick breakfast for us before we go pick up Kat." Nik answers with a snort and grabs my hand escorting me towards the dining room. Ana greets us warmly, with French toast and Orange Juice. Seeing my Russian nanny makes my blood run cold. Ana won't be coming with me on the project. I won't see her for four months. I haven't been without Ana for more than four weeks, at most, when I went off for a vacation down south with Katherine's family last summer. I had never imagined life without Annabel. I never had to! Since I was little, I knew that I would live in Manhattan my whole life. I figured that Ana would come live with me when I moved out. Suddenly I feel like my life have been flipped upside down.

During the drive towards the Kat's house, I kept my head facing the window. For the first time in a while I watched the streets and shops I passed on the roads I drove on everyday. I carefully examined every tree, every boutique and every skyscraper mentally etching it in my mind. Katherine gets in the car quickly and looks back and forth between Nik and I.

"I got my destination and information for the project, what about you guys?"

"I spent the night at Caroline's, as you can see."

"I didn't check the mail, damn. Where are you going, Kat?"

"I'm being sent to Jackson, Georgia to live with the Leefolt family. They have two kids and a dog. Oh, Care I don't know if I'll be able to do this. This town has a population of 3, 934 people. That's the amount of people in our school!"

I send Katherine a sympathetic look before letting my mind drift off, wondering where I would as destination. If I'm lucky, I'll get Los Angeles or Malibu. Somewhere where I had connections. Somehow I doubted that anyone would get a major city. It seems to me that Astoria is hell bent on making us all live like regular people.

We leave on Monday … Its Friday. Tonight's the big dance recital and secret after party. Then we have the weekend to pack and say goodbye before we leave the city. I've been dancing since I was four years old. When I was little, there wasn't a single dance recital that my parents missed. As I got older, they started to go less and less of them. Finally, they just stopped going to them all together.

Mother always wanted to be a ballerina but wasn't nearly as graceful enough. Daddy had always called me is Caroline-Ballerina. My name was very fitting for a dancer. Dancing was truly my passion, as fashion was my mothers and money was my father's. I idly wondered if my parents would be home for the weekend to see me off and quickly shook the thought away. It was silly to think that they would even notice my four-month absence.

The day was a breeze until it came time for the dance recital. In my ballet tutu, I stare at myself in the mirror. I'm brought back to when father brought me to my first ballet when I was a little girl. Suddenly I'm that little girl again, that little girl that loves her daddy and can't go a day without seeing him. Tears threaten to spill from the corners of my eyes and I quickly brush them away.

Caroline Forbes does not cry.

I take my place on stage with the other girls in the dance troop and wait for my cue. I don't think of the steps or the thousands of people in the audience. I don't think about my lines or being flawless. I hear the music, feel the music, and simply dance. I barely register that the dance is over until I can no longer see the blinding spotlights and I'm being tackled by the other dancers in a swarm of hugs and salty kisses, flowers and stuffed animals fly all over the room.

Katherine is waiting for me after I'm done changing with the limo behind her. Together we quickly get changed in the car as basically every other kid is doing. I slip on a tight strapless black dress that reaches mid thigh and quickly do a light makeup, slipping my street clothes back over my dress. Katherine wears a dark green long sleeved-backless dress that also reaches mid thigh and also slips on her street clothes. We ask Kat's driver, Richard to drop us off one street away from the party. The party is in the underground basement of a local convenience store. Howthe guys convinced this guy to let us turn his basement into and underground club solely for this one night is completely beyond me, but hey I'm not complaining.

"This is our night, okay Care?"

"Totally."

Keeping true to our promise, I spend the night dancing with Katherine, partying in Manhattan with my best friend for the last time in who knows how long. The night is a blur of strobe lights, loud music, body shots and dancing. The entire senior class is here. I dance and dance until I can't feel my feet. I dance with Nik, with Katherine, with Bonnie, with April and even with the nerdy guy with oversized glasses.

When I finally get home, I take a quick shower, slip on a pair of leggings and my Yale hoodie before making my way to Annabel's room. It doesn't surprise me to see that she's reading a book, Ana never goes to sleep until she knows I'm home safe. She looks up surprised to see me. I don't say a word but run to her bedside and crawl under the covers. Ana smiles and wraps her arms around me, singing a Russian lullaby about a tiny ballet dancer until I drift off into peaceful slumber.

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