Lol, some of you want Lea to tell Elena off. All in due time. All in due time...

Chapter 8 – Lea's Back!

When Elena got a text from Lea during her first period class, she knew she couldn't ignore it.

"Come 2 the bathroom by the lunchroom. Need 2 tlk 2 u."

Granted, them talking in a bathroom seemed a little weird, but Elena wasn't going to complain. She and Lea didn't even look each other in the eye for the past two months and that was killing her. She wanted her friend back. She wanted everything between them to be okay again.

But she didn't see any traces of Lea inside the bathroom. The only thing keeping her company were the empty stalls, the sinks lined in a row, and the low hum of a heater placed in a corner.

"Where r u?" she texted back to her, growing a bit antsy at what was to come between them. Elena knew Lea was mad at her. Mad was probably an understatement. After listening to the things Lea told Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan about her, she couldn't imagine just what would happen once Lea talked to her face to face. And she wasn't sure how she'd react to Lea's insults. Damon may have been teaching her how to control herself, but she still wasn't in full command of her actions and emotions. The last thing she wanted to do was start a fight. In a filthy bathroom no less.

"Five minutes. Teacher is being a jerkoff. Won't let me leave."

Okay, Elena could do this. In five minutes she'd be face to face with someone who hated her and blamed her for the deaths of everyone. Didn't Lea think she felt guilty enough? She didn't need to constantly get attacked though. Elena couldn't stomach all the pain she put her friends through, but there was no erasing her actions. She could only apologize.

Why was it so hot in here? God, it was stuffy. Becoming a victim to the sudden influx in temperature, Elena turned on a sink, letting the cool water pool in her cupped fingers. She let the water wash over her face and alleviate her sudden sweaty state.

But as she opened her eyes, she staggered backwards at the sight that over took her vision.

Scribbled where her reflection should've been were the words, "I KNOW YOUR SECRET!" in what looked like blood. It streamed down the glass like raindrops on a window and stained the porcelain sinks until it dripped onto the floor.

Who could've know her secret? Damon made sure no one found out about them being together. Who figured it out? Oh god, was it Stefan?

This was a sign that Elena couldn't do this. She couldn't go through seeing Lea. Not right now. Running to the exit door, her legs stopped functioning upon seeing more words written in crimson streams of blood.

STEFAN WILL HATE YOU!

It took her to find an inner strength that she didn't know existed to ignore the jabs and she twisted and turned on the knob like a mad woman. She pulled and pushed and banged on its body, her hands now stained red from the scribble, but it didn't budge. She was confined inside this hell. Forced to face her demons head on.

The lightbulbs above her head shattered and cascaded to the ground like deadly pieces of confetti, each nicking her exposed skin as she tried defending herself.

She waded through the darkness, moving to the bathroom stalls for help. But like the door she once tried escaping from, each and every stall was locked shut. They didn't even crumble beneath her using every bit of vampiric strength she had to knock it down. Not only that, but they too had insults and taunts written on the face of the door.

She wished she weren't a vampire so she weren't able to decipher the words.

SLUT

TRAITOR

WHORE

MONSTER

"I-I'm sorry," she screamed, running away from the doors only to slip and crash onto the merciless floor now soaked from the overflowing faucets. Elena could only lay in the blackness, tears camouflaged by the flood of water drowning her. "I didn't mean to. Please stop this. I won't do it again. Please."

No one listened. No one heard her continuous screams and cries coming from outside the bathroom. Where was Lea at? She could've saved her! Please, she wouldn't sneak behind Stefan's back. She wouldn't continue seeing Damon. She's tell everyone about what she'd been doing. All she wanted was for this to stop.

"Elena! Elena! What's wrong!" The sounds of Lea's voice engulfing her snapped Elena's eyes open and every piece of torment she'd experience just now was nonexistent. Every single thing had reverted back to its old self, spiking Elena's fear. The water on the floor wasn't there anymore. Her body and the walls were no longer bloodied. The sinks were turned off. The stalls were open. The lightbulbs were no longer shattered and the temperature was at a normal degree.

It were as if nothing had happened. Like she'd just had a terrible dream and nothing else. That she'd been hallucinating.

"What?" she cried, looking into the big hazel eyes of Lea's that had nothing but concern in them. "What happened."

"You were lying on this nasty ass floor in the fetal position, screaming about how you were sorry and that you wouldn't do it again," she said, offering a hand for Elena to take and pulled her onto her feet as she did.

Fuck. She heard her yelling that. That meant questions would be coming. Right. About. Now.

"What was that all about? What are you sorry about?"

Elena took in her hands that shook relentlessly and felt her heartbeat quickening so much that she swore it was going to explode. Was that just her subconscious getting to her? It had to have been. There was no other explaining it.

"I'm really sorry about the way we've been." Elena pulled Lea into a hug, further emphasizing her sorrow and guilt. She hated having to cover up what'd just happened to her but the last person who needed to know about her business was Lea. She'd go nuts. Besides, Elena was technically telling her the truth. She was really sorry about the way things had been between the two. "I just want us to be friends."

"That's what's got you collecting god knows how many germs on the floor? You and me?" Lea hugged her a little harder. She bought it. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Pulling away, Elena looked into the mirror that had just caused her horrification. Now it was just a regular mirror, showing her reflection, and her awful new hairdo. Laying on the ground had it looking like a bird's nest.

"I just wanted to say that I've been acting like a really big bitch-"

"You haven't done anything wrong. It was me."

Lea waved her off. "Really. I have to say this. I've said a lot of awful things about you and I woke up today thinking about how short life is, for me at least, and how I didn't want our friendship to be ruined over something so stupid. I'm sorry."

Wow. She wasn't expecting that at all. She'd been expecting her to yell and cuss her out or even hit her. But Lea was actually being the bigger person here.

And it was only downplayed because Elena still had no idea about what just happened to her. She knew it was a stupid hallucination. She knew it was just her mind coaxing her into telling the truth. But it still had frightened her. Would this continue until she told Stefan the truth.

"It's fine. Really. I understand exactly where you're coming from and why you wouldn't want to speak to me ever again. I'm just glad that, you know, you do." Elena let off an awkward laugh to fill the tension in the room. Except the tension was only one-sided.

And Lea picked up on it. "Seriously, something else is bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Elena couldn't. She couldn't speak a word of this to anyone but Damon. He'd have some encouraging words for her hopefully. "No really. I'm fine. Just panicking for my biology test third period."

Laughing, Lea ran her hands through her chin length blonde hair. "You mean the test that right now I'm skipping. Shit's hard."

Elena genuinely smiled. They were slowly getting back to their old selves. "Thank you for the...herbs you made for me and Stef."

She couldn't tell if they were working or not because she'd been feeding from humans. Something else Lea was to never find out. Lea would kill her if she did.

"Awww! Y'all smoked it without me!" she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "It was powerful ish though. It helped right?"

Elena told another half-truth. "They're calming Stefan down."

"Aight, well..." Lea glanced down to the floor. "I have to go back to my class and cheat some more off Chris. But I do want to hang out with you all soon."

"I know what'll do the trick. Sleepover!" Elena still couldn't believe Lea had come to her senses so quickly. It was nice of her. "We'll get the girls over at my place and we'll have one. We haven't done anything like that for a few years now. I think we're seriously overdue."

It would be just like old times. They'd gossip, do each other's hair, watch movies, be actual teenagers again. Everything Elena wanted.

"Sleepover it is." Lea gave Elena another quick hug before making her way over to the exit. "Just make sure Caroline doesn't bring over Titanic for us to watch. Don't nobody wanna watch that long, sad-ass movie."

"I won't let her. Besides, it's your turn to pick the movie. And Caroline said no Tim Burton or that one other guy you like." They all had such different movie tastes that they ended up not watching movies anyway.

"Quentin Tarantino. Got it," she said, leaving Elena once again alone in that creepy fucking bathroom.

So something good and something bad happened today for Elena.

Lea was back.

But Elena may have been losing her mind.

God, she needed someone to eat.

C . B . D

Not what you all expected I'm sure. But Lea ain't gonna just come out of the woodwork and attack Elena. Oh no. Elena's gonna admit to it.

Next chapter: Lot's of options. Delena. Stelena. Damon and Lea. Or Stefan and Lea.