So, you may have noticed that I've been updating like crazy for the last two days, but I was home sick, and now that I'm feeling better I do have school to go to and everything. I will still update frequently, but probably not multiple chapters in one day. It will probably more like one chapter a day or every other day. The story is still one of my priorities, and updates will pick up again over Christmas break most likely. Actually, there's a certain chapter that I'm trying to time perfectly so that it gets posted as close to Christmas as possible, because I think it will be the perfect gift for my readers. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy chapter 6!

Bonnie

Even Bonnie had to admit; she didn't recognize the girl in the mirror. Her dark hair was piled high onto her head in a sexy up-do, allowing a few curls fall down to frame her face. Her warm brown eyes were accentuated with dark green eye shadow, and framed with dark lashes that cast shadows down her face in the dim lighting. Her light brown cheeks had a rosy glow to them, and her lips looked full and pouty. Gold chandelier earrings cascaded down from her ears, drawing attention to her neck. Her dress was deep blue and strapless, with a slit up the side that showed off her thin legs. What she loved the most, however, was the diamond hanging from her neck that completed the simple elegance of the look. Bonnie looked beautiful, and she was ready for the dance.

As Bonnie and Elena walked through the double doors of the school gym, they saw that most of the people had already arrived. Nearly everyone was out on the dance floor, and everyone was having a good time. A few of the guys on the outside of the dancing cluster paused to gape at Bonnie and Elena as they walked by, but quickly turned away when they saw Stefan walk over to them and link arms with Elena.

"You look beautiful, love." Stefan whispered to Elena as he whisked her away onto the dance floor.

They had been at the dance for two hours, and Bonnie was beginning to get tired. She had danced with a few guys during the slow songs, but no one special. She heard the song switch, yet again, to another slow song. Bonnie saw Tyler approaching her from across the gymnasium, and she made a quick escape to the hallway. Once outside, she could faintly hear the beat of the song, still on it's first verse. "It just isn't fair", Bonnie thought. "It seems like everyone has a date, except me." Bonnie sat down on a bench in the deserted hallway.

"So this is Stefan's school?" Bonnie heard a voice behind her, making her jump up off the bench, and she saw Damon. He was dressed similarly to how he had been dressed the other night, except his button-down shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, showing off his muscular forearms.

"Oh, god, you scared me." Bonnie gasped.

She waited for him to say something, but he said nothing. Instead, he was just… gazing at her. He looked her up and down, with eyes like...like an animal. His eyes traveled up her leg that was exposed from the slit in the dress, up her torso, until finally they reached her face. She felt uneasy, like he was about to attack her any moment, but she also felt hypnotized and even a little flattered, that he was looking at her like that. After what felt like years of silence, but was really only seconds, he spoke.

"Bella fanciulla," he said, in Italian. "What could a beautiful girl like you be doing sitting outside a dance? Shouldn't you be in there?" he asked. "Beautiful?" Bonnie thought, "He thinks I'm beautiful?" She had no idea what he had said in Italian, but it made her go weak at the knees.

"H-how did you get in? Do you have a date?" Bonnie asked.

"No, I don't have a date." Damon answered. "And I got in because…I can be very…persuasive sometimes." He took a step closer to her. "Do you have a date?" he asked.

"No." she said.

"Well then, would you like to dance?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Would you like to dance?" Damon repeated. Bonnie couldn't believe that Damon Salvatore, who could probably have any girl he wanted, was asking her to dance. It was unreal, like a scene out of a movie.

"Yes." She managed to squeak out.

As Bonnie Bennett reentered the gymnasium, the slow song still playing, every girl in the room's eyes turned to stare at her. Not because of her beautiful ruffled dress, or the way her makeup had been done to perfection, but because of the gorgeous young man who's arm was linked through her own.

Damon

Damon couldn't believe that he had resorted to this. But still, this was what teenagers did nowadays, and it was, under the circumstances, sort of enjoyable. Bonnie looked absolutely ravishing in her blue dress, and it clung to her in all the right places, not to mention the extremely tempting slit up the leg. He carefully placed a hand on either side of her slender waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He noticed that she was wearing the necklace that he had bought her, the one that he had seen her looking at in the jewelry store, and smiled, though he was unsure why it made him happy to see that she was wearing it.

At that moment, realization dawned on him. This girl that he was dancing with, this girl was much different than any other girl he had ever known. So different, in fact, that even Damon couldn't put a name to the way he felt about her. All he knew was, she was the most beautiful maiden he had ever laid eyes on, and he wanted her. And Damon Salvatore always gets what he wants.

That night, Damon and Bonnie danced three times. It wasn't that either of them particularly liked dancing, but Damon felt compelled to keep her away from every boy there. He could not think of one person there that deserved to dance with this beautiful girl. More than that, there was something that was just so perfect about the way she fit into his arms, like the piece of a puzzle. As the night went on, he noticed Bonnie begin to yawn more and more often.

"Tired?" he asked her.

"Just a bit." She responded wearily.

"Would you like to leave?"

"Oh, um, well, yes, but I came with Elena, and I don't think she's ready to leave yet."

"I'll take you home. It's no trouble, really." He said with a charming smile. Bonnie tilted her head to the side, smiling that signature magnificent smile again, Damon noticed, and it warmed his heart. "Or whatever is in the place of my heart, after 145 years of killing." He thought.

"That would be nice of you." Bonnie said. This made Damon freeze, because he hadn't done anything nice in a long, long time. Maybe erasing Jeremy's memory of Vicki had been helpful, but it was his fault that Vicki died anyway. And here this girl was, calling him nice. Bonnie always had such an odd effect on him.

As they approached Stefan and Elena, the sight of Stefan's head resting on Elena's while they danced struck a familiar cord in Damon's mind, one that he refused to let enter his memory again, but Stefan abruptly stopped dancing when he saw Damon and Bonnie together and his face turned from shock to suspicion in a flash. Elena pulled away when she noticed Stefan stop, and her expression mirrored his.

"You know," Damon began, "You two are starting to look alike, like those people who look like their dogs. Be careful, Elena, I think your starting to have the brooding forehead thing going on." Damon teased nonchalantly. When he looked over at Bonnie, he saw that she was biting her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Why are you here, Damon?" Stefan questioned angrily.

"Why not? It's a dance, isn't it?"

"And what have you been doing?" Elena cut in.

"Dancing with Bonnie." Damon responded. He noticed how Elena and Stefan and Elena's eyes popped open wider at that, and smiled with satisfaction.

"You…were dancing with him?" Elena asked Bonnie incredulously.

"Yes, she was, in fact, dancing with me" Damon said, mocking Elena's tone of disbelief. "And we were having a great time, too, but now she wants to go home, and I intend to drive her home myself."

"Actually," Elena began, "we were planning on… meeting up for coffee after the dance, so…" Elena kept pausing throughout the sentence, as if she was making this all up as she went along, and Damon was sure that she was, just trying to figure out a way to keep Damon as far away from Bonnie as possible.

"Well that sounds fun, and we would be happy to meet you there, but Bonnie needs her sleep. I'll take her to our place, Stefan, and she can rest there." Damon said while smirking at his brother, flaunting his ability to get what he wanted out of every situation. Before either of them had time to object, he took Bonnie's hand and led her outside.

The drive to the Salvatore house was quiet, but not tense. Neither of them felt there was any need to fill the gaps in conversation. Damon had the heat turned up and the radio turned on to a low volume, and Bonnie had Damon's jacket draped around her thin shoulders. Although she tried to be sneaky about it, Damon was aware of every single time she cast a furtive glance at him.

"We're here." Damon said, his voice breaking the silence. Carefully, he unbuckled Bonnie's seatbelt and opened his car door, and was around the other side of the car to hold her door open for her before she could even lay a hand on the door's handle. Despite Damon's selfish ways, he had been raised a gentleman, so he extended one hand in assistance, and Bonnie held it graciously as she stepped out of the car.

"You go inside." He told her. "I'll be right in."

"Okay." She said, and he watched as the beautiful girl disappeared through the door of the Salvatore boarding house.

Who else loved how Damon compared Stefan and Elena to the people who look like their dogs?

I think Damonnie fans are really going to enjoy the next chapter! A pretty important event happens. It was actually kind of hard to pick a section to put in the "preview for the next chapter" thing without giving too much away.

P.S. – "bella fanciulla" means " beautiful maiden" in Italian.

Preview for the next chapter:

"I trust you." Bonnie said, and something unidentifiable tugged at Damon's heart.

And for some reason, that made everything okay. He wanted her blood, but more than that, he wanted her, and that meant preventing anyone from hurting her. Even preventing himself from hurting her, but he was weak, and losing strength quickly. Damon let himself be pulled up so that his lips were just centimeters away from her throat. And then he…

CLIFFHANGER! *diabolical laugh*