"Charlotte, I need you to help me out here," Katherine said with frustration. They were walking back from school, which, by the way, was a disaster, since she had to compel each of the teachers to make them think she was a student at this school. And kids were starting to notice her sudden appearance at her school, and since she was with Charlotte she had gotten some weird looks from some of the teens.
It was Friday afternoon, and she was walking to the house with Charlotte next to her. Katherine was wearing her hair down today, and had borrowed a pair of Charlotte's black shorts and a white, flowy tank top that was tucked into her shorts. She wore worn-out black converse (thank God Charlotte was close enough to her size or she'd be going barefoot again). She looked, and felt, so different she barely recognized herself when she looked in the mirror. For a split second, she thought Elena was looking back at her, and she did not want to go down that road. The last thing she'd ever want to remind herself of was Elena Gilbert.
Charlotte was wearing a pair of skinny blue jeans, a floral t-shirt, a heavily-padded black jacket and her hair up in a messy bun. She was carrying around a bottle that used to have Kombucha in it, according to the label, but was now filled with tea. Her freckles and hazel eyes always shone happily in the sunlight, even when she was frowning or biting her lip in distress. It was really cute. But Katherine felt weird thinking that. Besides, she had so much more to think about, if she was going to get any answers about anything around here.
"I told you," she sighed, breaking Katherine from her thoughts. "I really can't remember what Rachel looked like. She had dark hair and tan skin, and I only just remembered that last night when we were talking. And besides, why is it so important? That girl is gone. Long gone."
Katherine bit her lip, wishing she could tell her what she was up to, but she couldn't. She knew this girl Rachel was a vampire, and had something to do with the murders a year ago. And then there was also the History teacher who randomly knew her name, and Mr. Waters not being able to be compelled, and her name randomly being on the registry. The only other things she had was that Charlotte was bitten and compelled by a possibly lesbian vampire who looked similar to her named Rachel. Gee, that helped a ton.
"Maybe she told you her last name?" Katherine asked. "Or where she lived, or at least came from?"
Charlotte shook her head. "Seriously, all she told me was that her name was Rachel, and that we should be friends because she could make me feel better about the depression I was feeling, so I became her friend. Well, for one day. But still."
"Just like that? No questions asked?" Katherine asked suspiciously. "Wasn't the fact that your mom died enough for you to deal with?"
They were getting close to Charlotte's house now. "I-I don't know... something about her was just so... attractive, you know? I mean, yeah, she was gorgeous, but also like I needed to be with her or I would never be happy again. And I was right. Being around her made me feel better, even if it was for one day."
Ahh, the joys of being compelled. A vampire can make you feel anything they want you to. "And what did you guys do for that one day?"
Charlotte smirked. "We drove far out of this town, and had fun at some bar. We spent the day there, until late at night, and when we got back to my house, well... that's when we started kissing."
Charlotte got out her keys and unlocked the door as they walked into the house. Today they wouldn't be bothered by Mr. Waters since he was working late and wouldn't be home until late. They made their way to the living room and Charlotte threw her backpack down on the floor and sighed, flopping down onto the couch.
"Well, let me know if you remember anything, okay?" said Katherine.
Charlotte nodded. "Promise."
"Hey, I hope you don't mind macaroni and cheese, because that's literally the only thing I know how to make," yelled Charlotte from the kitchen.
"Fine, whatever works," she yelled back, not taking her eyes off the TV as she flipped through channels. She flicked her eyes to the clock. 7:30. As she flipped through, she made quiet remarks on what was playing. Friends? "Too cheesy," she muttered. The religion channel? "God, no." Animal planet? Please. SpongeBob? A strange memory came to mind as she hesitated on this channel, watching the square yellow sponge talk in a nasal voice. She had once watched this when she was extremely drunk and trying to get over Stefan. She had thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen at the time. She smirked, then rolled her eyes at the memory and continued on flipping.
Twilight appeared on the screen and Katherine almost burst into laughter. It was just at the cheesiest part, where Bella was talking to Edward in the woods.
"Say it. Out loud." Edward rasped into Bella's ear.
"Vampire," she said with trepidation.
"Are you afraid?" he asked cautiously. She turns around, her eyes wide.
"No."
Katherine scoffed. These were possibly the worst movies of all times. They got it all wrong. I mean, sparkling in the sun? Come on. So not how it works.
Charlotte walked in with two bowls in her hands and a decorative blue and green apron tied loosely around her waist. She set the bowl of macaroni in front of her and smiled.
"Thanks," Katherine muttered, her eyes glued to the unrealistic representations of vampires. Charlotte noticed what she was watching and laughed out loud. "Why are you watching Twilight?"
Katherine shrugged. "Nothing else is on," she sighed, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV. She grabbed the bowl and started stuffing macaroni in her mouth. She was starving. And, unfortunately, not just for food... And staying around a really sweet smelling human 24/7 wasn't really helping. But she promised herself she would never drink Charlotte's blood unless she was completely and utterly desperate.
Katherine looked over at Charlotte's apron skeptically. "Why are you wearing an apron?" she muffled between bites of macaroni.
Charlotte looked down at the apron. "...I-it was my mom's. She used to wear it all of the time."
She stopped chewing her large mouthful of macaroni and swallowed awkwardly. "Oh," Katherine said.
Charlotte started dusting invisible crumbs off of it. "Yeah. It reminds me of her whenever I put it on."
Katherine desperately wanted to change the subject, but she didn't know how or what to change it to. She took her fork and swirled the contents of the bowl with it.
She sighed. "I know, I know, I bring her up too much. Sorry."
Katherine shook her head. "No, it's totally fine, you have a right to. I mean, it was your mother. That must be really hard."
Charlotte smiled. "Thanks."
The rest of the following 5 or so minutes was consisted of silent eating while they turned the TV back on and watched reruns of Glee. Charlotte said it was one of her favorite shows, so Katherine decided to be nice and watch an episode with her. Katherine particularly liked Santana Lopez, seeing a little bit of herself in the Latina girl with her fiery insults and sassy tone. And the best part was that they were funny, too. After they were done, when Katherine asked her for something sugary, and Charlotte gave Katherine and herself a cherry coughdrop, claiming it was the only candy-related thing they had in the house. They continued to watch TV.
But soon Charlotte suddenly turned off the TV and turned towards Katherine. "I just realized something," she said.
Katherine looked at her with hopeful brown eyes. "What? Something about Rachel?"
Charlotte shook her head. "No, no, nothing about that. I realized that, well..." she looked down, her cheeks flushing a little. "...I mean, I've told you so much about my past, and I know nothing about yours. Like, your life in Mystic Falls, and why you were so desperate to get to New York."
Katherine chuckled. "Trust me, you don't want to know about my past. You really don't. It's way to complicated."
She smiled a little, her hazel eyes sparkling in the dim light. "Try me."
The brunette shook her head. "No, I'm serious, you really don't want to know."
Charlotte frowned. "Why not?"
Katherine bit the corner of her lip. She was so tempted to spill her guts and tell Charlotte everything. How old she really was, not just how she looked, and about vampires, werewolves, witches, everything. Then maybe she could find out more about this whole Rachel mess more easily, like convincing Charlotte to let her compel her into remembering, and Katherine would feel okay with compelling her. Katherine felt like she could trust Charlotte with all of this information-but it was just too dangerous. She could get Charlotte involved in something terrible- who knows whats going on in this town and what would happen if Charlotte was aware of it all.
"I can't get you involved with my past. Just... trust me."
Charlotte slid her body closer. "But I... want to be involved with you."
Katherine's heart skipped a beat and a warm feeling coursed through her veins. Did she just mean that in the way I think she meant it?
She looked at Charlotte slowly, Katherine's eyes making their way to hers. Charlotte's eyes had a steady, calm look inside of them, but they quickly filled with panic and looked away. "I mean, I want to be involved with your life. Not you. T-That's not what I meant."
Something told Katherine that Charlotte was lying, and surprisingly, Katherine didn't care. In fact, she kind of liked it...
Before she knew what was happening, Charlotte was slowly leaning over her, her sand-colored hair spilling over her freckled face and her face leaning towards hers. Her body was facing Katherine, basically on top of her. Katherine was too stunned to do anything. Charlotte put her hands on Katherine's face and lightly pressed her lips to hers.
At first, Katherine wasn't sure what to do. She didn't think she was going to like it, but actually she did. She liked this a lot. So she let the moment go by a little longer, soaking in the moment. She could hear Charlotte's heartbeat racing underneath her skin and her soft hair brushing against her cheeks. As Charlotte leaned in a little more and made the kiss deeper, she could feel her hands slide down further, and her mouth was cool and tasted like cherry cough drops.
But she couldn't let this go on. No, this was way too confusing for her to deal with right now. So, even though she hated to do it, she pulled away. "
Charlotte hesitated before pulling away as well. "Ohmygod," she said, quickly getting off of her. "I am so sorry. In no way was it okay for me to kiss you. That was totally stepping over the line, I-"
Katherine laughed. "Hey, hey, don't worry about it," she said, trying to shrug it off casually. "Besides," she sighed. "I... I kinda liked it."
Katherine had to admit it was the best kiss she had in a really long time. She even could safely say that Charlotte was a better kisser than Stefan. And her lips were so much softer, and her hands and body were so much... gentler. Katherine couldn't help but like the feeling of being kissed by a boy suddenly a lot less than being kissed by a girl, and this terrified her. Nothing terrifies Katherine Pierce, but this did.
What was happening?!
It was 9:30 pm now, and Katherine was getting really irritated. She could always find answers when she needed them. She was Katherine Pierce. But they weren't coming nearly as easily as she wanted them to. Then again, she had never done anything related to helping a human before, either. They were sitting in Charlotte's room, trying to ignore what had happened between them 2 hours ago, and deal with this whole Rachel situation even more. Katherine had asked her just about every question she could think of, and just when she started to thing there was no use trying anymore, she sighed, looking at Charlotte sitting on the bed.
"Well, I'm assuming you don't have a picture of her or anything like that, right?" asked Katherine. She was guessing if Charlotte had anything like that she would have spoken up a long time ago.
But, to her surprise, Charlotte nodded hesitantly. "Actually, yeah, I do. She had me take a polaroid of her when we were at the bar."
Katherine almost fell over. "What?! Seriously, this entire time you've had a picture of her and you didn't tell me? And the reason for that is because...?" Katherine shook her head. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Just show me the picture."
Charlotte's facial expression hardened. "No."
Katherine jutted out a hip and raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"Yes, no. I can't show it to you."
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because... I just can't, alright?"
Katherine threw her arms up in exasperation. "Could you just tell me a reason why?"
Charlotte knitted her eyebrows and frowned, trying to concentrate. "I... I don't know. I just can't show it to you. And... well, I can't look at it, either."
Katherine was now extremely confused. She walked over to Charlotte and sat down right next to her, looking her in the eyes. "What do you mean?"
"Rachel told me I couldn't look at the picture ever again or show it to anyone," she said. She looked frustrated with herself and she let out a breath of annoyance. "Look, all I know is that you can't see it, okay?"
Compulsion. Rachel used compulsion on her not only to make her forget what Rachel looked like and forget about the neck bite, but also for her to never look at the picture. Katherine's mind felt like an exploded puzzle finally beginning to put the pieces together. But so far she only had the edge pieces. She had a feeling this photo was going to help her figure out the middle of the most confusing puzzle she's ever had to solve. She really didn't want to have to do this, but there was no other way that wasn't harmful. She would have to use compulsion on her. She looked Charlotte in the eyes and locked her own with hers.
"I don't care about what Rachel told you. Show me the picture."
Charlotte looked dazed at first, but then smiled a little and nodded. "Okay," she said. "It's in that top drawer." She pointed to a small wooden cabinet on her desk.
Katherine rushed over to it, pulling the drawer open hard and forcefully rummaging through all of the pieces of paper and other things that were in it. After a few moments, her hand came in contact with what felt like the soft, glossy front of a photo, and she smiled. She pulled it out, not quite wanting to look at the front yet, building up tension. On the back, faint pencil writing in cute, cursive letters read, Rachel at Raven's Pub, Philadelphia 4/09. She flipped it around, and what she saw made her blood turn to ice and her face become several shades paler. The photograph almost felt out of her cold hands.
The picture was of a brunette girl, smiling seductively into the camera, holding a frosty glass of beer in a lively bar.
And the brunette girl, who seemed to be smiling tauntingly at Katherine, was... her. Olive skin, brunette ringlets, chocolate brown eyes, slender frame and all-the girl in the picture looked exactly like her.
