"Hey, wait up!"
Bonnie turned around and smiled when she saw Jeremy jogging towards her. "Hey," she grinned, holding her books to her chest. "What's up?"
He smiled back at her, but carefully looked around before speaking. "I was kinda wondering if we could talk…in private."
"Uh, sure," Bonnie frowned as she followed him to a bench in the courtyard. They sat opposite each other, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw Jeremy glance discreetly around again. She leaned forward and said in a mock whisper, "Who are we hiding from?
"Oh, it's not like that," Jeremy said quickly, "I just don't want the wrong people to overhear, ya know?"
"Okay…" Bonnie placed her books on the table. "You're starting to scare me, Jer. Did something happen? What is this about?"
He took a deep breath, and began talking in a low voice. "It's about Elena. I don't know who else to talk to…if I told Stefan or Damon, I know they would freak. And that wouldn't help anyone. In fact, it would probably make things worse."
"Make what worse?" Bonnie demanded, beginning to get worried. His hand was resting on the table so she instinctively covered it with her own and squeezed it lightly. "You can trust me, Jeremy. You know that, right?"
He glanced down at their hands, and Bonnie felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her. She removed her hand as subtly as possible, but not before Jeremy flashed her a brief smile. "I know, I trust you," he began. "Look, last night I was talking to Elena because she had been holed up in her room all day, and we got to talking about Katherine..."
.
.
"Mind if I sit down?"
Caroline looked up from her yogurt in surprise. "Oh hey, Tyler," she smiled at him and quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching. "How's it going?"
Tyler took a seat across from her, looking uncomfortable. "Did you know the next full moon is in two weeks?"
Caroline paused, the spoon halfway to her mouth. "It is? Oh my god Tyler, I didn't even think about that!" She leaned forward, whispering now, "Do you think..."
"I know it's going to happen," he said tightly, his fists clenching the table. "Once the curse has been activated, there's no going back."
Caroline looked around to make sure no one she knew was watching—or listening, for that matter. Using her vampiric vision, she could see Bonnie and Jeremy seated at a bench on the other side of the courtyard. She squinted, slightly surprised to see that they appeared to be holding hands across the table.
"...part of the Lockwood property, when I asked..."
Caroline nodded to act like she was paying attention to Tyler, and subtly tilted her head in the direction of Bonnie and Jeremy so she could hear what they were talking about. A snatch of their conversation reached her ears, '...holed up in her room all day, and we got to talking about Katherine...'
"...wanted to know if you would come down there with me to check it out? I think that's where my Uncle Mason used to chain himself up during the full moon..."
"Oh!" Caroline blinked when she realized Tyler was waiting for her response. "Yeah, of course I'll go with you," she agreed quickly, not knowing exactly what Tyler had been talking about.
He looked extremely relieved. "Thanks, Caroline. It's good to know that there's someone in my life that can understand what's going on..." As he kept talking, Caroline caught a scent of something familiar. She glanced to her right, and her eyes widened.
Matt.
He was standing some distance away, his expression confused as he watched Tyler and Caroline talking.
Oh great.
.
.
"Well, I can always go check up on Isobel's research again," Alaric offered as he walked out of the school with Stefan.
"Do you think there's anything useful in there? I don't know if Isobel would have known anything about the Originals..."
Alaric shrugged, "It can't hurt to check. Damon and I can go, if you need to hold down the fort over here."
"Yeah, I should probably stay," Stefan agreed. He happened to glance across the courtyard, and his gaze landed on Caroline and Tyler. "I don't believe it," he muttered, a scowl darkening his features. How many times did they have to warn her to stay away from werewolves?
"What's wrong?" Alaric asked, looking confused.
"I have to go," Stefan said abruptly. As he began walking towards Caroline, he glanced to his left and raised an eyebrow when he saw Bonnie and Jeremy sitting together. Stefan paused curiously, tilting his head in their direction.
'She feels connected to Katherine?' Bonnie whispered incredulously. 'Elena actually said that?'
'Not only that,' Jeremy muttered back, 'But she confessed that she's actually considered becoming a vampire to get rid of this whole Petrova doppelganger mess...'
Stefan's head snapped up in alarm. From the corner of his eye, he saw Caroline suddenly stand up, too. Obviously she had also been eavesdropping on Bonnie and Jeremy's conversation. As Stefan began to make his way over to Bonnie, Matt suddenly appeared in front of him, looking tense. "Hey, man. What's up?"
Stefan stared at him, slightly annoyed. "Not much," he answered distractedly. "Actually, I have somewhere to be—"
"This won't take long," Matt said quickly. He glanced over his shoulder discreetly, "But do you know what's going on with Tyler and Caroline? They seem awfully friendly all of a sudden..."
"Um..." Stefan looked back over at Bonnie and Jeremy, not entirely surprised to see Caroline had joined them. She was waving her arms, and appeared to be causing a scene. As he watched, Bonnie and Jeremy both stood up and said something to Caroline. She didn't look happy, but she followed them into the parking lot and out of sight.
"...because that's not normal, you know what I mean?" Matt was saying, "Two people who hate each other don't just randomly start being friends..."
.
.
Elena sighed as she walked out of the school library, juggling her books in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She had multiple unread text messages from Stefan, Jeremy, Bonnie, and Caroline. She reached her locker, and winced as she accidently dropped her books in her attempt to use her phone at the same time. "Never try to multi-task, Elena," she chided herself in mild annoyance. She slid her phone into her pocket and let the rest of her books fall to the ground as she fumbled with her locker combination. After several moments, she finally cranked it open.
She reached down to collect her books, but stopped short in surprise.
They weren't there anymore.
She looked around in confusion, but there was no one there. "Hello?" she called down the hallway uncertainly, but the only sound that came back to her was the echo of her own voice.
Feeling slightly nervous, she reached out to close her locker door.
And nearly had a heart attack.
"Why hello Elena," Damon drawled, grinning at her stunned expression. He was leaning casually next to her locker, as if it was perfectly normal that he was there.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed, her hand over her chest to calm her pounding heart. "You nearly scared me half to death!"
Damon smirked and held out his hand, in which he was balancing all her books. "Half to death, huh? Isn't that what you want?"
Elena frowned, confused. "What are you talking about?"
Damon merely raised an eyebrow and carelessly let her books fall to the ground again. She swallowed as he began walking closer to her, until she was backed up against the lockers. "Word on the street is that you want to be turned into a vampire, Elena," he murmured, leaning into her neck. He grinned when he heard her heart rate increase dramatically, and brought his lips to her ear. "Silly girl, all you had to do is ask..."
Three things then happened simultaneously.
He raised his head and vamped out; Elena opened her mouth to scream, and Stefan appeared at the end of the hallway.
Within the next second, Stefan was by Elena's side protectively.
And Damon had disappeared.
* the votes for Caroline/Tyler or Caroline/Stefan are really close! haha or should i just make it a love triangle? =P cast your vote if you haven't yet! :)
