Thank you all so much for your feedback! I know it's been long since I updated but I had some kind of a Glee fever…and all I did the entire day was basically watching Glee…sorry for that :)
Just so you're prepared, the end sucks, I wrote it past midnight to get it online now.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3
"Good evening Elena..."
She stared at him unable to say a word.
"I am sorry for showing up that late but I came to apologize...I should have told you right away. It wasn't fair to lie to you."
His eyes shone as the light from inside the house was reflected in them. He really seemed to have a guilty conscience because of what happened earlier.
Contrary to the moment when she realized who he really was, she had a hard time now seeing the monster in him. Right now she saw Kol, the handsome new student who was a great company at school. Yet everything about him seemed to scream vampire at the same time. How was that possible?
Kol squinted uncomfortably, obviously waiting for a reaction but there was none.
"Elena?"
She just nodded.
"Please understand...that everyone in your family tried to kill or at least threaten me to death at least once. Even Elijah whom I still trust with my life...As soon as someone turns out to be a vampire, they are usually there to kill me..."
Now it was his turn to nod. He wasn't surprised that she was actually terrified by vampires, except for those Salvatore brothers.
The awkward silence that settled seemed to embarrass both of them.
"Are you mad?" he asked after a while. Kol didn't know exactly why he cared. Even as a human he loved to cause havoc so he was used to people being mad at him so why should he care about the doppelganger's opinion? Truth was simple, he liked her, period. She didn't deserve to be treated the way Tina did in the morning and as he had heard from Elijah, the elder Salvatore -Damon?- didn't do any better. Quite frankly, he couldn't suppress the desire to help her, he wanted to support her not be subject of her anger or disappointment.
Furthermore he totally planned on living the life Klaus had taken from him a hundred years ago and maybe being friends with someone on the 'good' side wasn't a bad start.
Elena shrugged. "Not at you. No vampire goes around telling everyone what he is, I understand that so what right do I have to be angry with you for not doing it? I admit, when I realized who you are I was scared, I thought that I spent the entire day with someone who was probably there to kill me without me knowing it. But Elijah convinced me that this wasn't your intention. Anyway, please don't take it as an offence if I don't invite you in right away."
He chuckled. "None taken."
"May I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Your last brother...Finn, is it? Elijah said he won't come after me...Is it true or do I have to expect a run-in anytime soon?"
A slight laugh accompanied Kol's answer. "No, probably not. Finn doesn't give a damn. He's too old for high school and won't leave home unless he's forced."
Elena acknowledged this information with a nod.
"Thank you." She said after looking at him for a short moment.
"What for?"
"For coming by. For taking me seriously and for being honest."
He smiled at her and she couldn't help but return it. Just like Elijah's smile or even a bit more than it, it warmed her and sent a jolt down her spine.
"You're welcome. Thanks for listening. You have every right to hate my family. See you at school tomorrow?"
"Sure. Good Night, Kol."
"Good Night, Elena."
The next morning, Elena woke in a surprisingly good mood. For the first time in ages she had slept without nightmares hunting her. Although she knew that her life wouldn't be all 'rainbows and unicorns' from now on, she had the hope that it would become better.
After a big mug of steaming coffee she drove to school, secretly looking forward to see Kol again. She couldn't deny that she liked him - a little. Which vampire - Original even - she had just met would come by in the evening to apologize for something that might have scared her? He hadn't done anything wrong after all.
When she pulled in a parking space in front of the school, it was already pretty late. As her first lesson was French, she knew she wouldn't have to hurry, Madame Dupree was always late.
Not that this was a bad thing but especially when it was her first lesson that day, the room was still closed and the students stood in the corridor, waiting for their teacher which wasn't quite the most comfortable place to be.
Normally Elena would chat with Caroline who also sat beside her in French but today, Caroline wasn't there, which wasn't a surprise at all considering the circumstances.
"Good morning my dear Elena." A male voice came from beside her. She turned around just to face Kol. "Good morning. So you have French too?" she asked, a bit surprised. Although thinking about it, he probably spoke it fluently...
"Yes, indeed I have. I am glad you're here. I don't really feel like being stared at all the time."
"I told you Tina wouldn't leave you alone. I bet during your next lesson you have with her, she'll be back to her annoying self."
"I doubt it, her friends go on my nerves anyway."
Elena chuckled. Kol had no idea how persistent Tina could be. "She will...she never does as she's told...unless..." Suddenly realization hit her.
"Unless what Elena...?" Kol asked innocently.
"Oh my god...you...of course now it makes sense...you..." she lowered her voice. "You compelled her...didn't you?"
"100 points to Miss Gilbert! I'm sorry but even with a thousand years with siblings like Bekah and Nik, how was I supposed to survive her...?"
Although she normally didn't approve of compulsion in that case Elena could barely hide her satisfaction. Secretly, she thought, Tina deserved it.
During the French lesson that began only minutes later, she sat beside Kol and during the lunch break, the next time she saw him, they sat outside, talking undisturbedly.
Just as Kol had compelled her to do, Tina showed up and apologized to Elena. When she left, she looked at Kol and met his eyes. Both couldn't suppress a laugh.
The day just seemed to fly by...even the most boring subject was funny when quietly chatting with Kol.
Just like yesterday they walked to the parking lot together after the last lesson was over. It was amazing how comfortable Elena felt with Kol after getting to know him for only a few hours. Of course they hadn't shared the most intimate details but they had had fun, something she hadn't had in quite a while.
Just before she wanted to say Good Bye to him, another voice cut in.
"What are you doing Elena?" Damon. His gaze wandered between Kol and her, obviously shocked. "Don't you know who he is?"
The smile froze on Elena's face. Sometimes she wondered how Damon could have the nerve to act like he did. "Yes, I do. Although he took me quite a while to find out and without Elijah's hint I wouldn't know because a certain person who knew that the entire Original family is in town forgot to tell me." Her tone dripped from sarcasm.
"Which is exactly why you should get away, now! Come on, I take you to the boarding house."
"Actually, I already have plans with Kol here. I want to show him Mystic Falls. See you then, Damon." She shot him a last faked smile as she dragged Kol towards her car.
He played along and took his seat on the passenger side without a word, yet - just to annoy Damon a little more - he waved him goodbye and smiled at him.
"Thanks for playing along, Kol." Elena said as soon as they were on the street.
"You're welcome. So where're we going?"
She shot him a surprised glance. "I thought I could give you a ride home. Except you suddenly have a car at the school's parking lot..."
"What makes you think I don't?"
"Well, first Elijah picked you up just yesterday and if you didn't get your driving licence between last night and now which I highly doubt, then you don't have one..." Elena explained grinning at him triumphantly due to her obviously logical thinking.
"Vampires are fast learners, the older the better so I bet I could learn how to drive within a few hours. Besides, the car was already invented before Nik daggered me." he shot back but his voice betrayed his amusement.
Although their conversation had lacked every bit of seriousness, Elena's expression hardened and she couldn't hide her sympathy when she gave him another quick look.
"What is it?" Kol asked, oblivious to the reason for her sudden change of mood.
"May I ask you something? When did Klaus kill you?" Her question was barely audible but Kol got it nonetheless. Supernatural senses and all...
"When, for the first, second or currently last time? I doubt that this was the last time, though..." he tried to make a joke to ease her mood but failed, she just shot him a shocked glance.
"He put in you into a coffin three times? I mean Rebekah said all of you pissed him off at least once but seriously, does he kill you every time he disagrees with you?" Elena knew that Klaus was capable of pretty much anything but she didn't expect him to treat his loved ones the same way.
"Yeah, well that's Nik. And as you see, he never really killed me otherwise I wouldn't be here. To get to your actual question, first time was not long after we turned, think it was in the 60s of the 12th century...unlike Finn I didn't stay too long in that state...just 20 years or so...I really don't know. If you're a vampire your perception of time is different. Second time was when the second doppelganger appeared. Guess Nik didn't want any of us around to mess it up. Except for Elijah we were all … well out of commission. When Nik revived Bekah and me to help him find Katarina a decade later, I declined. Hadn't seen afterwards until he came around in 1899 to dagger me for the third time and as you say, third time's a charm..."
By now they had come to a halt in front of the Grill.
"So that's the local pub? Doesn't look too impressive..."
"How is it, that although you've been here for only about 36 hours you seem to know everything?" Elena asked slightly confused. She couldn't believe that this guy had actually missed more than a century and yet seemed to know Mystic Falls like he'd lived here for weeks at least.
"Oh, Nik told me about it. He said our liquor supplies were better stocked than theirs." Kol shrugged.
"Another alcohol addict in town..." she murmured. "Great."
"Hey, better than a blood addict. Believe me, it helps, as soon as you are forced to be in the same room with lots of humans, it keeps your attention away from all the throbbing veins and the strong heartbeats..."
"Okay, too much information!", she said to change the subject. Although she really didn't want to know about these things, she was happy that Kol contrary to the others seemed to have no problem with telling her the truth about certain things.
He just grinned at her. In the next moment a realization hit her and it made her grin as well. The barkeeper at Grill was on vervain, all waiters were.
"What is it?" he asked when he saw her expression.
"Well, let's just say, enjoy your coffee because you won't get anything stronger today. Sorry but you just look too young."
"I'll compel them..."
"You'd have to kill them and that's surely not what you want to do." Her grin grew wider.
"Dammit. Why didn't Nik get rid of that stupid vervain?!" he cursed but there were already hints of amusement back in his voice. "Alright, coffee it is..."
They got out of the car and made their way to the entrance.
Inside there weren't too many people yet, but that would change in a few hours. At one table, Elena saw Matt who had obviously just commenced his shift. When he saw them he waved them over and both took a seat in the part of the Grill he was responsible for.
"Hey guys, sorry I didn't make it this morning, I stayed at Caroline's..." he apologized, his gaze mostly directed to Elena.
"No problem. How is she?"
"She's as good as one can be after such a loss. Maybe you should look after her later on." he suggested.
"I will", she promised.
Elena and Matt looked at each other for a moment, smiling, before Kol interrupted them by coughing more or less conspicuously.
"Do you already know what you want?" Matt asked, getting back to what he was actually here for.
"Coffee!" the two guests answered in unison.
"Okay...coffee it is..." Matt couldn't hide a grin.
When he went off to get their order, Kol looked at his new friend curiously.
"Does he know about all the things going on?" he asked just to get a conversation flowing. Not that he cared about this guy in particular.
"Of course. His sister got turned by Damon a year ago or so but she was killed when she tried to kill me...and he's been with Caroline so...he knows everything but he hates it...he's the only normal person around and that's hard for him..." Elena didn't know why she told Kol all of this but she felt like he should know.
Their talk was interrupted by Matt bringing two steaming mugs of coffee.
"By the way, Kol..." he said as if something suddenly came to his mind. "I didn't realize it earlier but you really remind me of someone...just have to say that..."
Kol and Elena exchanged worried glances. "Elena, don't you think he looks like that friend of yours, Elijah...?"
Elena sighed. Why did Matt have to have these realizations at the most inappropriate moments. She had no idea where that came from anyway, as far as she knew Matt hadn't really met Elijah so far.
She looked at Kol again, silently asking him what she should do.
"Yeah well...I tend to remind people of my elder brother, lucky me, I didn't get the looks of my father. Mikael wasn't really that handsome..."
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