Khushi: Haha I know that this update was very slow, and I apologize for that. I had one hell of a week, and time to write was not very available. But I'm not at school this week, so hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner.

maririzzo11: Well first of all, I'm glad that you like my fic. Klaus does seem to be the person that people are leaning towards for the villain, but I am glad that you think I am doing Caroline justice. In this chapter there is a bit of BonniexElenaxCaroline friendship, but that really builds in the next few chapters, and you'll see why soon. As for the flashback that you are talking about, there will be a big one when Caroline decides to tell her story, but that's obviously not for a while, so you may have to be a bit patient with that, and try to piece it together. Thanks for the review!

Guest: Thank you!

PrisonerHanley: Haha yes team Steroline all the way! But I'm with you, CarolinexHappiness is my number one OTP, glad you're enjoying my tale.

myla84: Well I'm glad that you liked the fluffy chapter of the two of them, thank you!

carebearforbes: Awe yay I'm so happy that you enjoyed it. Lost Boys will be continuously mentioned, so I'm glad you appreciated that!

Innevertheonly: Awe I love reading your reviews, so happy that you liked the chapter and my song choice! Yes them bonding, and Stefan helping her fight her flashbacks was amazing to write. So happy that you enjoyed it, and fear not, it was just Damon. Enzo? Hmm interesting guess.

fanaticalParadox: I love how everyone is like 'yep Klaus is evil' it makes me laugh. I'm glad that you're enjoying the story, and I hope you continue to.

I watched you sleepin' quietly in my bed

You don't know this now but

There's somethings that need to be said

And it's all that I can hear

It's more than I can bear

For the first time in years, Caroline actually woke up before her alarm. She could remember a time when she would constantly wake up before her alarm, and immediately jump out of bed. But whenever that happened she had always been excited about the day ahead, and when her phone rang beside her, she began to realize why she'd woken up early.

"Good morning," Stefan's voice greeted through the phone. "Ready to present our project today?"

The smile that graced Caroline's face came so naturally that she almost couldn't remember why it was never there. "Oh I'm so ready to stand up in front of everyone," she replied, sarcastically.

"You will do amazing," Stefan exclaimed, seemingly sensing the panic in her voice, "besides I'll be there the whole time. If you run a blank, I'll pick it right up."

Caroline was about to respond, when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. Quickly, she put Stefan on speaker and went to check her message, only to find that the group chat, titled 'The Gang,' was in full affect.

After the phone number scare last night, Caroline got everyone's phone number from Stefan and plugged them into her contacts. By the time she got home, Damon had already created a chat with Stefan, Bonnie, Elena, Caroline, and himself. Most of the conversation had been about useless things, but it made Caroline happy that she was a part of her first group chat.

She actually felt normal.

"So do you fancy a ride to school?" Stefan asked, apparently realizing that Caroline had zoned out.

"If you don't mind," the blonde grinned, typing a reply to Elena, as she got out of bed.

A scoff came through the phone, and Caroline could practically see Stefan rolling his eyes. "Why would I mind having you start my day off on a good note? Besides we can grab coffee so that you can calm down before our presentation. Sound good?"

"Perfect," Caroline replied, before hanging up and going to get in the shower.

For the rest of the morning, her phone seemed to be buzzing nonstop, and she found herself wondering how five people found time to text this early in the morning. However, it wasn't until Elena texted something, that Caroline realized just how amazing they all were.

Elena: Hey are we meeting at our tree before school? It's supposed to be sunny.

Elena was of course speaking about the lonely tree that had kept Caroline company for weeks. The mere fact that the group now called it their own, touched Caroline in a way that nothing else had before. It was like they were accepting her, and all of her problems, without even needing to be asked.

A honk came from outside, causing a smile to appear on Caroline's face, as she hurriedly slipped on her flats and reached for her bag. When she came out of her house, it was to see a grinning Stefan Salvatore sitting in his red Porsche, with Bon Jovi crooning in the background.

He looked like a real life James Dean, but that didn't stop Caroline from ignoring the butterflies that blossomed in her stomach.

"Hey," she greeted, as she got into the passenger seat, throwing her bag in the backseat next to his.

"Hey," Stefan replied, pulling away from the curb. "So I figure, coffee, then going to school, and quickly running through the project again."

The blonde nodded absentmindedly, while trying to ignore the nerves that accompanied the thought of their presentation. She knew that it was good presentation, after all they'd ensured that yesterday with how many hours they spent on it.

No the part that made Caroline's hands shake, was the realization that they were presenting it. Which meant that she was going to have to stand in front of everyone, and try to not throw up. All while they judged her silently, waiting for her to screw up, just so they could tear her down.

She could still hear him in her head. The ridicule that accompanied his voice, when she had left the stage for the first time. The high that came from the experience quickly wore off with his cruel poisonous words.

Although, the words couldn't compare to what came after.

"Okay, we are here, what do you want?" Stefan asked, drawing Caroline out of her revere.

"Oh umm, just a coffee please," she said, still lost in memories. She blinked when she felt Stefan grab her hand, causing a shock across her body.

"Hey, you are going to do great today," Stefan assured her. "Besides, I always pegged you down for someone who would have a really complicated coffee order. Do you at least want a muffin or something."

Caroline was shaking his head before he even finished his sentence. "No just a black coffee please."

Stefan nodded, before heading into the store, assuring Caroline that she could stay in the car. It's not like she would've been great company anyway, she was too busy thinking about Stefan's comment. It was true that she had been the girl who always got specific orders, that always included caramel and a baked good of some sort.

She was a control freak after all.

Actually, up until about a year ago, she never even tried black coffee, exclaiming that it was boring and dark. But now she knew the truth. It was easier and healthier to stay out of everyone's way and go for a simple order. That way she didn't take up to much time, and didn't gain any weight, after all, she couldn't really afford to do that.

Once Stefan returned to the car, it was a blur of Stefan singing bad Bon Jovi, and Caroline giggling into her coffee. But before long they were walking through the doors, with Stefan oblivious to the stares, and Caroline too conscious of them.

She could swear that the beady eyes looked even more contempt when they looked her way. But whether they were or not, it was hard to be sad when she had Stefan laughing at some stupid joke next to her.

Together they headed straight for the tree in the back, and as they got closer the stares seemed to become kinder, until almost no one was looking at them. It made the blonde wonder if they were really turning away, or if Stefan just had a bigger effect on her than she thought.

"Morning!" Elena called from underneath the tree, her math book perched on her crossed legs.

Beside her, Damon was lounging with his legs outstretched. Caroline could see a math book, similar to Elena's, peaking out of his bag, but she doubted that he'd even looked at it.

"Good morning," Stefan answered, sitting down against the tree. "Catching up on some math homework?"

"Well I am," Elena answered, sending a small glare to Damon.

Caroline couldn't help but giggle when Damon responded with a shrug. "Hey it's not my fault you kept getting distracted. Not that I was complaining."

The innuendo wasn't missed by Elena, who proceeded to attack her boyfriend with her textbook. Stefan and Caroline were laughing at them, until Caroline realized that they were missing a member of their group.

"Hey, where's Bonnie?"

"Slept in again," Stefan responded, "I swear that, that girl is allergic to mornings."

Bonnie as it turned out had slept in, and she managed to appear two minutes before the bell rang. The group was still mocking her, as the loud chime echoed around the grounds, and Caroline's laugh immediately came to a halt.

Despite Stefan telling her that they would have extra time to look over their project before presenting, Caroline was still terrified. She would have to talk in front of a group of students, that she was 99% sure hated her.

As it turned out, Stefan was right, and upon entering Mr. Saltzman's class, they were given ten minutes to double check that their project was perfect. Stefan immediately, pulled out his laptop and opened up their powerpoint, speaking to her in an animated voice.

But Caroline couldn't hear him.

All she could hear was that Tyler kid from her first day joking about her to his friends. The group of them were all miming crying and running out of the room, and poor Caroline could already feel her palms shaking.

"Do you really think they actually liked your singing?"

"I'll be impressed if she makes it past the first slide," Tyler practically yelled.

"They were all just laughing at you."

"We should tell the first three rows that their the 'vomit splash zone'" a cheerleader jeered.

"You mean nothing."

"Hey!" Stefan yelled from beside her, making her jump. When she turned to him, it was to find him facing the group that were joking about her. He quickly stood up and stalked towards them. "You leave her alone. She will do great, and you're all just mad that we will get an A and you'll fail."

But to Stefan surprise the group just started to laugh, making his eyebrows furrow.

"Hard to get an A when you're down a partner," Tyler chuckled, mockingly.

Stefan whirled around, only to find that Caroline's seat was empty. His eyes closed in sadness, that she was so scared, and he made to run to the door before Mr. Saltzman stopped him.

"Mr. Salvatore, come here for a second," he commanded. Stefan in defeat headed over to his teachers desk, only to be shocked by what he said. "You have thirty minutes to get Miss Forbes back in here, you two can present last. But if you don't present I'll be forced to just give you a C, because this project was all about presenting."

Stefan was nodding and turning around before he even finished his sentence. He only stopped at the door when he heard his name being called yet again.

"Look after her," his teacher called, and Stefan found himself taking those words to heart, before practically running out of the room.

Meanwhile, Caroline had managed to lock herself inside of a bathroom stall, as she gasped desperately for air. Her hand was going wild on her wrist, as a small indent began to appear underneath the pressure of the rubber band. The plastic of the band was straining under the pressure whenever she snapped it, but she had no choice.

She just needed the pressure to be gone.

She hated disappointing Stefan by not doing the presentation, but it was sort of his own fault. After all, who in their right mind would want to partner with her? A girl who has millions of issues and can't even present in front of a small group of people, without having flashbacks.

She was a burden that Stefan didn't need to bare.

"Caroline," she heard from the other side of the door, making her jump, and pull the rubber band even quicker. "Caroline open the door."

She was shaking her head, as Elena's voice echoed around the room.

"Caroline please," that was Bonnie, who was speaking in a kinder and less desperate voice.

"I can't," came Caroline's hoarse voice.

Her throat was dry from the amount of tears that she'd released and she was exhausted. Having a panic attack this early had completely drained her, and the thought of anyone seeing her in this position scared her. Even though Stefan already had.

"Yes you can Caroline," Elena argued, "we are right here, let us help you."

"We believe in you, we know you can do this," Bonnie said. "If we didn't believe in you, we wouldn't be here."

The rubber band began slowing, as her breath began to even out. She could feel their fierce loyalty from inside the stall.

"Look Stefan and Damon are right outside the door," Bonnie informed her.

"We are all here, because we are on your side, always." Elena vowed.

Without realizing what she was doing, Caroline was turning the lock and slowly opening the door. Upon opening it, she began understanding why she did, for on the other side were two friends that were missing classes just to calm her down.

With another sob, Caroline practically fell into the arms of the two brunettes who grasped her tightly. Together they whispered sweetly into her ear, all while stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," Caroline confessed, as if pleading with them to forgive her.

"You don't have to apologize for anything," Bonnie replied, sweetly.

"But I do," Caroline said, snuggling closer to them. "I keep letting them affect me, and I don't know how to stop it."

"They are just a bunch of jocks, that are bullies, don't listen to them," Elena told her.

"I'm not just talking about them," Caroline confessed, but before the others could respond, Stefan and Damon came rushing in.

"Look I hate to cut this short, but Barbie has five minutes to get back to class," Damon announced.

Caroline's blue eyes went wide at the thought, immediately retracting from the two girls and looking at the group. Out of habit, she began to gnaw on her bottom lip.

"Caroline, you don't have to present if you don't have to," Stefan told her.

But she was shaking her head. "Yes I do. Not only for you, but for me too."

The look of pride in Stefan's seemed to make it all worth it. But caroline didn't catch the looks that Bonnie and Elena sent each other, both suddenly realizing just how deep Caroline's demons were.

"And thank you for coming," Caroline suddenly said. "I don't know how all of you guys knew to come, but I really appreciate it."

"It's the SOS text," Damon explained. "Every single time one of us needs everyone, we text SOS and then a location."

"But I didn't-" Caroline started.

"You didn't, but Stefan did," Elena replied, making Caroline give the sweetest smile, before pulling her partner into a hug. A hug that was all Stefan, and for some reason made her heart race.

"Okay enough with the mushy stuff, you have a presentation to rock!" Damon announced, causing everyone to cheer.

Caroline giggled, as the gang escorted her back to class, and left her and Stefan at the door. "Ready?" he asked, Caroline just nodded.

So together they entered the room, meeting the many stares head on. Stefan looked at his teacher, who nodded, causing the young Salvatore to start setting up their presentation.

When it was all done, he glanced at Caroline, who seemed to have folded in on herself, under the pressure of all of the stares. Without thinking he went over to her, and gripped her shoulders. "Pretend it's just you and me, you can do it."

The blonde nodded, before Stefan headed to the other side of the screen. "I am Caroline Forbes, with Stefan Salvatore, and we are presenting 'The Tragedy of Congo,'" she announced, confidently.

Stefan went onto the next slide before talking. "In 1885 a man named King Leopold took over the ownership of a land in Africa named Congo. This man was in possession of every area that the Congo river fed out to, which also included the people."

Again Stefan clicked to the next slide, which had pictures of rubber, and money. "King Leopold told Belgium that he wanted to do good, but really he just wanted to get rich," Caroline explained. "He used the indigenous people as slaves to harvest rubber that was a precious commodity back then."

The next slide came up, as Stefan began to talk. "His ruling was fierce, and if people didn't agree with him or do their job, they lost limbs. They are still finding hands to this day, and the people who lost limbs, still had to work."

Caroline opened her mouth to talk, when she saw the group chuckling away, all while whispering. She tried to ignore it, but it was all she could hear, and without meaning to, her hands began to shake.

"Miss Forbes?" Mr. Saltzman asked.

But she was already backing up, that is until her eyes were drawn to Stefan. She could feel it, she could feel her demons already overpowering her. The darkness was coming, but she couldn't let it, she had to finish this for Stefan.

But instead of using the cue cards, she began speaking from memory.

"You may be wondering how this tragedy could happen," Caroline spoke, staring straight at Tyler. "How could this whole civilization break to this ruler, well it's actually quite simple. King Leopold trapped them. The men would go out and work, while the women and children were held captive. If the men didn't work, then the women and children would die," she wasn't sure if she was talking about Congo, or just trying to get the people to understand her. "No one had time to hunt, and so majority of people died from starvation or malnourishment. The whole civilization collapsed, and we still don't talk about it.

"When we speak of genocide, we speak of Hitler, and while that was important, so is this! Millions of people died, and there's no one to remember them, how is that fair? How is one mass killing more important than another? To be completely controlled, that's never fun, and these people experienced it for years," Caroline explained, passion leaking into her voice.

Stefan, who had been switching slides based on Caroline topic, finally spoke up. "Also, when it was discovered what King Leopold was doing, Belgium immediately pulled him out. But then they continued what he did for another few years."

Caroline was nodding before he even finished speaking. "Exactly, giving them hope, and then doing the exact same thing again. And when Belgium finally stopped and the people were freed, they were a shadow of what they once were. How do you come back from that?"

The bell rang once Caroline was done speaking, but before everyone grabbed their stuff, the pair of them were given a round of applause. Tyler's groups just rolled their eyes before leaving the class, but everyone else was clapping wildly, including Mr. Saltzman.

A smile graced Caroline's face, as everyone began leaving the class and Stefan was shutting down their presentation. Once he was down he walked over to the giggling blonde.

"We did it," she laughed.

"No, you did it," Stefan answered, pulling her into his arms for a hug. He could feel her laughter hitting his chest, as he placed a loving kiss on her forehead. The burn that the kiss caused, made Caroline sigh.

"Hey," Mr. Saltzman said. "I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but you two got the highest mark in the class," he handed them a piece of paper with some notes on it. "A+ congratulations."

"Thank you," Caroline replied, before grinning up at Stefan.

"Okay come on smiley, you have English class to get to," Stefan chuckled, grabbing her hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The pair of them walked down the hallways, books in hand, and for the first time in forever, Caroline felt invincible.

"So will I be seeing you at lunch?" Caroline asked, when they reached the door to the English classroom.

"Not until the end of lunch, but I will be there."

Caroline was about to ask why he wasn't going to be there the whole time, when the warning bell rang, and Stefan had to practically run to his next class. The blonde was still smiling when she entered English, and it was as if she was untouchable.

The whole class went by quite quickly, and Caroline found herself actually looking forward to lunch, she wanted to tell everyone about what happened in history, because she was so proud of herself. It wasn't until the bell rang, that Caroline realized that this was the first time in a long time that she actually had friends to talk to.

It was a nice feeling.

Although when she reached the tree, it was to discover that her only company was Bonnie and Elena. Immediately, they began questioning her about the presentation, and they squealed like happy parents when she held up her A+.

"Ugh that's amazing Care, good job!" Elena, screamed for the third time.

A blush appeared on Caroline's face, at the thought of the nickname, and how proud they were of her. "You sound like Stefan."

"What is going on between the two of you?" Bonnie asked.

Caroline's eyes immediately became misty, and the butterflies that appeared in her stomach was not unexpected.

"Oh my gosh," Elena gasped. "You like him."

"What?" Caroline shrieked. "Me like Stefan? No way."

It was impossible. Sure the last crush she had was when she was fifteen, but she would've realized. Besides Stefan was just helping her, the butterflies meant nothing.

"I sure hope you're right," Bonnie sighed, sadly.

"Why?" Caroline asked.

The two brunettes gave each other looks, before Elena began to speak, "Well-"

"We're back bitches!" Damon yelled, coming around the corner towards the group.

Caroline began to smile, until she saw what followed him. It was Stefan, with a girl glued to his side. She was stunning, with golden skin and cat like eyes, with a permanent grin on her face. Caroline could hardly feel Damon sit down next to her, as the feeling of happiness began to leek out of her body.

"Caroline this is Katherine," Stefan announced proudly. "She's my girlfriend.

The burn that hit Caroline when they kissed didn't surprise her in the slightest.

What if I fall and hurt myself

Would you know how to fix me?

What if I went and lost myself

Would you know where to find me?

If I forgot who I am

Would you please remind me?

Oh, cause without you things go hazy

Hey guys!

This chapter was titled after the song Hazy by Rosi Golan, and it's an amazing song. For the record, when I pick songs, it's normally for the most important event in the chapter, or at least the part that I see as most important. So in this chapter I pictured it as background music for the bathroom scene, but that's just me. Also, I finally got the urls to work, whenever it says dot, it's actually just a period because this website hates me.

So yes, that was the big reveal, Stefan actually has a girlfriend. But where has she been? And how will Caroline deal with it, especially since she swears that she doesn't like him.

Find out next time, which will hopefully be a lot sooner than this one was!

~Lizzie

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