A/N: another chapter… yay! Hopefully this will help Kelly with her vampire withdrawal :)

By the way, this is short. You've been warned.

Hazel's POV

I yawned, stretched, and rolled lazily out of my bed. It was morning. Last night had been the painfully boring, uneventful ball at the Original's house.

After Elena had explained the spell Esther wanted help with Stefan had gone to brood, Damon had gone to get drunk, and I had gone to bed. I wasn't sure what Stella was doing, but she had probably gone too bed as well.

I stretched again, reveling the felling of sunshine warming my back, pouring in from the window. When I had first become a vampire sunlight had been one of the things I missed desperately.

I donned a simple t-shirt that said, "Buffy staked Edward. The end." On it and a pair of cutoff jeans and headed downstairs, yawning all the way.

Downstairs there was a soft rustling noise and my head shot up just in time to see a half-dressed Rebekah grumbling to herself and making her way to the door. "Umm…"

"Oh, shut up." She snapped. "You never even saw me here, got it?"

"Sure, whatever." I said. I knew it was unwise to annoy her, but she didn't seem to care. When she vanished I raced into Damon's room and jumped on his bed, jarring him awake.

"Wha—" he sat up straight. "Rebekah?"

"No, Hazel here." I said. I waved my hand in front of his face. "Hi. May I just ask you what the hell you think you're doing sacking up with an Original, especially her?"

"No, you may not."

I frowned. "Too bad, because I just did."

"Well, you aren't getting an answer." He replied, sliding out of bed and heading to the closet for a shirt.

"Not fair." I whined, casting pouty eyes at him. He blatantly ignored them. "Oh, come on, Damon! Fair's fair. You sleep with an Original, you pay the price. Why would yo ever do something like that?"

"You know why." He said.

"What, you're jealous of Stefan because Elena still wants him back, because she still has faith in him? Suck it up." I said. Outside I could have sworn I heard Elena's voice.

He threw a shirt at my head. "There's more than that. Besides, Rebekah seemed willing enough."

"Oh, because that makes it okay." I snarked. When would he learn?

He growled, fangs sliding out as he whipped around to face me. "I don't want to talk about it, Haze. Go annoy your sister, okay?"

"Fine." I grumbled, jumping off the bed. I looked out the window again and nearly did a double-take; Elena was outside, and she appeared to be yelling at Rebekah. "Ummm… Damon?"

"What?"

I pointed. "Seems like Elena approves even less than I do."

He muttered a few curses even I hadn't heard before, finished dressing, and started down the stairs. I was right behind him and I could hear Elena's shrill complaints.

"Damon, what is wrong with you?" she said. "Rebekah? You had to sleep with her?"

Damon cringed at her tone. "No, that's not—"

"Why? Do you want to end up dead? Do you actually have a death wish?" she asked.

"Elena, we were both drunk, and not thinking, and—"

"You decided it would be a good idea to bang Klaus's sister? What, so now she's on our side?" she yelled. I couldn't believe it, but she sounded jealous.

Damon sighed, shoulders slumping dejectedly. "It's not like that, Elena. I made a very bad decision and it won't happen ever again, okay?"

Her eyes were still smoldering as though she could incinerate him on the spot. "Fine. Anyway, I came to tell you that I don't want to help Esther with the rest of the spell. You know, the one to kill all the Originals."

"Ad why wouldn't you want to do that?" asked Damon. I heard a soft rustle and saw Stella at the top of the stairs.

"Because they all have to die, and Elijah doesn't deserve said." Elena said. Of course she would veto that idea right away. She was to noble and goody-goody to help kill someone that had saved her before.

"She's right." Stella offered quietly. "They're not all evil… I don't know if Klaus is that bad…"

"Oh, he is." I said. "He likes screwing with people's heads."

She lowered her head, oddly sad. Why did she care about the Originals? I made a mental note to ask her where she'd been going off to while I had been with Jeremy.

"But Elijah doesn't deserve to do when he hasn't done anything." Elena persisted. "Okay, so maybe he did help Klaus get away, but he couldn't really help that. Klaus manipulated him into thinking he'd get his family. I would have done the same thing if I could have my parents back."

Damon started to protest but I cut him off before he could say something he would regret. "Look, Elena, I know that you think he's all noble and honorable, which he probably is, but there's nothing you can do. Esther only needed your blood, right? She had that now and there's no way you could undo what she's already done. You might as well get Elijah a goodbye present and get over it. You can't save everyone."

Elena met my gaze defiantly, clearly under the impression that she could. I returned the icy look calmly.

"I just don't think it's right…" she started, glancing at Damon for support. "He helped me, and I owe him."

I laughed. "Sure you do. Just pay him back in heaven or something. That's assuming he makes it there, of course."

"Oh my God." Damon groaned. "You are not helping."

"Not trying to."

Elena made a little huffing noise. "You're both maddening. You could be twin, if you were both boys or both girls."

"Ew, no thank you." I edged away from Damon. "there is no way I would ever be a guy."

"Speak for yourself." He countered. "Now, since Klaus gets to die today, don't you think that we should go and celebrate?"

Elena said, "No."

"Exactly!" he said, like she had yelled "YES!" instead of no. "We should have a party at the Grill. We can invite everyone in Mystic Falls, so they'll be out of the way of this big, fancy spell Esther's doing."

"I guess…" Elena was clearly caving in to the idea.

"It's settled." Damon turned to me. "Go compel the guy there to let us have the party and get lots of alcohol."

"I like this idea." I said. "Can I get drunk?"

Elena looked horrified. "You're only sixteen, right?"

"Seventeen."

"Damon!" she protested.

"She can compel the bartender if she wants, I don't care." Said Damon. "I mean, technically she's around two hundred years old. It's not illegal."

"Yeah, it's not illegal." I mimicked Damon. "It already suck that I'm stuck at this age, I should be able to drink."

Elena left it at that and left, saying she would be at the Grill around eight. We decided that would be the time of the party.

I was lazy the whole day. I soaked in a bayberry-scented bath—it was an old fragrance and I loved it—and the whole time I wondered if Jeremy would be at the party. I hoped so. I hadn't seen him in the last few days and I desperately missed him. Elena had been very firm about Damon keeping me away from her house so she always came to the boardinghouse to talk to him. At a party she wouldn't be able to tell me to get away from her brother as easily, and that was exactly what I wanted.

After I dried off I decided to wear a soft blue dress that ended somewhere between my knees and my hips. It was the same electric blue of my eyes, making them brighter. I left my hair hanging in straight black waves. The overall affect actually looked good, and I was sure if Jeremy was there I might get to kiss him for once.

When I finally reached the Grill it was already crowded, and I spotted Jeremy at a table with Elena and Damon. Crap. I walked over on the pretense of wanting to sit next to Damon. Jeremy winked at me when I say down, mouthing, "You look great" to me when Elena wasn't watching. I smiled.

"So, you finally decided to show up?" asked Damon. I nodded. "This is fun. Who's up for a drink?"

Elena shot him a withering stare. "Sorry. I'll go get drunk by myself."

I followed him, casually motioning to Jeremy, who followed me. Elena looked highly disapproving but Caroline stepped into her line of view before she could see where Jeremy was going. I forced him onto a seat at the bar next to me, laughing just because was near me.

"I miss some joke?" he asked, perplexed.

"Nope. Up for a drink?"

He was hesitant. "I don't know…"

"C'mon, a few drinks won't hurt you." I pleaded. Elena came over and sat next to Damon effectively silencing Jeremy.

"You could use a drink too, you know." Damon said to her. "You're too uptight."

"Am not." She said, pouting. "And you're stupid, so… ha."

"Come on, Elena, a few drinks won't hurt you." said Damon, repeating my exact words.

She gave in at last, letting rebellion take over as she drank the glass of something unknown that he gave her in one gulp. "Fine."

I managed to get the bartender to give Jeremy and I drinks too, and by then Elena was to drunk to care. Her eyes were glazed over, and she kept talking to Damon about nonsense and Stefan.

"He just got me, you know?" she slurred, leaning her head on the bar counter. "And now he wants nothing to do with me."

"Isn't that always the way." Damon said. He downed another shot.

"They… are so… drunk." Jeremy said. He laughed.

I giggled. "You are drunk, mister, they're just out of it."

"You're pretty." He said, propping his head up with his hands and ogling my dress in a manner that made me hit him.

"Hey! What was that for? Why would you do that?"

"Don't be a disgusting drunk." I said.

His eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. Your dress is just all shimmery, like your eyes. I like you eyes."

I relaxed. "Oh, okay."

"You want to go somewhere else?" he asked. "I shouldn't have anymore drinks."

"You shouldn't." I agreed. A plan started to form in my mind. "How about we head outside for some air?"

"Yeah."

I had to half carry him out, past a madly giggling Elena, but we made it, and found a nice, empty bench. We sat there. I smiled at the way he would look at me and then look away when I looked at him. It was so romance novel-esque I started to laugh at the cheesiness of it all.

"What?"

I grinned. "You, me, some alcohol and the stars… I've never been this normal in my life."

"Oh." Jeremy regarded me with serious expression. "Do you like it?"

"I love it."

Before he could say another thing I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. His breath tasted like alcohol, spurring me forward, the way he smelled and how his hands left trails of fire at my waist only making the feeling even headier. I let him take the lead, tugging at my hair while I ran my finger through the short strands on his head.

"What the hell?"

I jumped back to see Bonnie standing there. "Oh."

She hadn't said it, though. Elena was standing next to her, pure horror written all over her face. Bonnie, on the other hand, looked grief stricken.

"What happened?" I asked Bonnie, pointedly ignoring Elena.

Bonnie gulped. "Mom ands I were helping with Esther's spell, but I guess Klaus threatened to hurt Elena because Stefan t-turned my Mom to stop the ritual." She started to cry. "She's a vampire."

A/N: No, in this version Elena didn't get kidnapped.