Stefan was suddenly standing behind Elena. "What are you doing here?" he asked, seemingly pointedly at Damon.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in," he replied. He turned to me and grinned, "Or Clara, of course."

"Oh, yeah, you can... " Elena started to say but Stefan cut her off.

"No, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay. Can you, Damon?" he glared at his brother, and I frowned, raising an eyebrow at Stefan's treatment of his brother. What was going on with them?

"Get in here," Caroline said, which kind of pissed me off. You don't invite strangers into someone else's house.

"We're just...finishing up," Stefan said.

"But dessert sounds good,"I said brightly, trying to defuse the tension in the room with the two brothers staring at each other. They both turned to look at me, Stefan with worry in his eyes, Damon with a smirk.

Elena finally had enough. "It's fine. Just come on in," she said, and opened the door so Damon could step through. He took a minute to look around before turning back to us.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena," he said. He noticed a set of pictures hanging by the doorway. "Are these yours, Clara?" he asked. I nodded. "Beautiful," he said, with a smile.

"Thank you," Elena and I said in unison, then looked at each other and laughed.

We all gathered in the living room with dessert plates of the lemon cake that Damon and Caroline brought. I found that I was a huge fan of lemon cake, yet another note to be placed on my wall later. Somehow we had gotten on the subject, again, of Stefan having gotten a place on the football team.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it," Caroline told him, her fork waving in the air.

Damon smirked and leaned forward, Caroline practically sitting in his lap. "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it," he said.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines," Caroline despaired.

I rolled my eyes. Of course to Caroline, the world would simply end if someone didn't know the cheerleading routines. Damon caught me and smirked at me and I had to stifle a laugh, so I shoved a bit of cake in my mouth to keep myself quiet. Bonnie saved the moment with her own declaration, "I'll work with her. She'll get it."

Caroline sighed and nodded, "I guess we can put her in the back."

I scowled at her just as Damon spoke. "You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena."

Caroline just had to open her mouth. "Oh, it's just 'cause their parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. Clara too, although she was kind of a bitch." She suddenly seemed to realize what she'd said and to whom. "And I say that with complete sensitivity."

I snorted, anger and grief flowing through me. "Sensitivity? Caroline, you wouldn't know sensitivity if it bit you on the ass. Excuse me, please,"I said, standing and hobbling into the kitchen, carrying the desert plates. I could hear the conversation continue though the open doorway, Damon and Stefan's voices just loud enough to carry.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die," Damon said.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan replied.

"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm," Damon said. I blocked out the conversation, as I rinsed the dishes, preparing them for the dishwasher.

As I put the dishes into the dishwasher, Damon appeared. " One more," he said, holding up a glass. I smiled and reached out for it. "Thanks!"

I gasped when it slipped from my fingers, waiting for it to shatter on the floor. My mouth dropped open when I saw Damon catch it before it hit the floor.

"Wow, Nice save, Damon," I said.

He smiled, handing me the glass. Elena appeared in the doorway. "Nice save," she agreed.

"I like you," Damon said, looking at Elena. "You know how to laugh." He looked at both of us and smirked again, "And you make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."

"Earlier, did you mean...Katherine?" Elena asked.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded.

"How did she die?" Elena continued.

"In a fire. Tragic fire," he said, his voice normal, but I could see pain in his eyes. He had loved her, this Katherine, too. My heart hurt for him.

"Recently?" Elena just couldn't seem to stop herself from asking him these questions, and I just wanted to tell her to be quiet. Couldn't she see that it hurt him to answer, no matter how much he was pretending it didn't?

"It seems like it was yesterday," He replied.

"What was she like?"

Damon smiled, the first real smile I'd seen out of him in a while. "She was beautiful. A lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive," he answered. My eyebrows raised at how he was describing his brother's girlfriend. Elena caught on before I did, I'm sad to say.

"So which one of you dated her first?" she asked.

Oh...that makes more sense. No wonder he was so upset. He'd loved her and dated her, too.

The smirk was back. "Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." His mood suddenly changed, as did his topic of conversation. "I'd quit cheerleading if I were you," he said.

Elena and I were both surprised. "Why do you say that?" she asked. I leaned back against the counter, wondering his reasoning, as well.

"Oh, I saw you at practice. You looked miserable," he answered.

Elena grimaced, "You saw that?"

"Am I wrong?" he asked.

"I used to love it. It was fun. Things are different this year. Everything that used to matter doesn't anymore," she answered. I understood what she meant. Ever since waking up, things that I'd been told about my past, things that I had once set such high store by, no longer mattered to me. My family, my art, my friends, those were the things that really mattered.

"So don't let it. Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta-da," Damon said, his voice lightly joking.

"Some things could matter again," Elena said, almost argumentatively.

"Maybe. But...seems a little unrealistic to me," he said, shrugging.

"I'm sorry. About Katherine. You lost her, too," Elena said suddenly, surprising Damon.

Bonnie suddenly appeared in the doorway, "Hey. Need some help?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" Damon said, as he turned to walk out of the kitchen. I hobbled after him, and was surprised to find him waiting for me around the bend of the kitchen to the living room.

"Need something, little Gilbert?" he asked.

I smiled up at him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry too, about Katherine. That you lost her as well, but no one thinks about your loss. I'm sorry they don't see you, Damon. But I see you. You're my friend, I'll always see you," I whispered to him, before pulling back.

He looked down at me, his eyes filled with emotion and confusion. "You are so strange, little Gilbert," he said, and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. I blushed and shivered as his fingertips glided along my cheek. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Clara," he whispered into my ear before pulling back and looking into my eyes. "Go upstairs and take your shower and go to bed, Clara," he said softly, his eyes strangely dilated.

Suddenly my brain felt numb and foggy. "I think I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. Good night, Damon," I said, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, which surprised him. I waved to the girls and Stefan, bidding them good night. Stefan looked at me strangely, but nodded to me, while Caroline, Bonnie and Elena all called out their good nights to me.

I did as I'd said, cleaning myself quickly with raspberry scented body wash, and washing my hair with matching raspberry scented shampoo and conditioner. I climbed into bed, and was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

I awoke early the next morning, washing my face and pulling my hair back into a quick twist at the base of my neck. I applied tinted moisturizer, winged eyeliner and a lightly pigmented malachite green eye shadow to my lids. I slicked on some Burt's Bees tinted lip balm in Sweet Violet and walked back into my room to dress. I pulled on a pair of comfortable worn-in old jeans, and a red Timberwolves sweatshirt in honor of the football game later that night. I pushed a pair of garnet studs into my ears and pulled my mother's locket over my head and was ready to go after I pulled on some red-and-white tennis shoes.

Knowing that there wasn't going to be a lot of time for making supper after school, I placed a frozen beef roast into the slow cooker, along with some canned jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. I turned it on low and put the lid on. It would slow cook all day while we were in school and Jenna was at class, but it would be ready to shred that night for shredded beef tacos.

Classes seemed to fly by, the teachers just as excited as the student for the game tonight. Everywhere in the halls were students wearing the school's colors of wine red and sweatshirts and jerseys depicting the Timberwolves. Not a single teacher assigned homework, knowing that win or lose, none of the students would be able to think of anything but the game all weekend.

The bell finally rang to signal the end of the school day. Bonnie drove me and Elena home quickly before she went home to have supper with her family. While Elena went to get dressed in her uniform, I made the shredded beef that I'd planned for that morning. I used two forks to shred the meat, like Mom had taught me. I quickly chopped tomatoes, onion, and black olives, shredded lettuce and grated cheese. I yelled upstairs for Jeremy and Elena just as Aunt Jenna walked into the door.

"Perfect timing, Aunt Jenna. Supper's ready," I said, grabbing a jar of my mother's recipe for homemade fresh salsa that I'd made the weekend before after having a massive craving for tortilla chips and salsa. I put everything out on the table as Jeremy and Elena tromped down the stairs. We all sat down and began to eat, talking about how boring our day was with none of the teachers really paying that much attention to what the students were doing. I was just glad that I hadn't gotten picked out for any pranks while walking through the halls alone on my way to classes. Like the doomstick wasn't enough of a disadvantage, all I needed were a bunch of adrenaline-hopped-up teenage boys to decide that I was a new decoration to hang from the wall or something. Apparently Matt had made me off-limits to the jocks for picking on. No wonder I loved that guy!

I had been surprised when Elena came downstairs in regular clothes and not her uniform, but I stayed quiet about it. Cheerleading was her choice, whether she wanted to do it or not was none of my business. Jeremy and Aunt Jenna climbed into her car to go to the game while Bonnie, Elena and I piled into Bonnie's. We sang stupid pop songs and car-danced on the way to the game, all of us laughing at how silly we were being.

Elena went to look for Stefan while I helped Bonnie carry plastic cups and bottles of Gatorade for the cheerleaders to drink after their routines so they wouldn't get dehydrated: a rule Caroline had made up. She carried the grocery bags of Gatorade, while I somehow managed not to kill myself carrying the cups and hobbling along with the doomstick. Thank God it was only another week before I'd be rid of the blasted thing. I helped Bonnie set up and then went looking for my sister and Stefan.

I caught up to them as they were walking towards the field, waving at them. They smiled at me and waved back. Elena must have just found him, too, from the conversation they were having as I finally got to them.

"Ooh. Look at you. You look hot in your jersey," Elena was saying. I gave a "hmm," and walked around him like it was an inspection, he grinned when I gave him two thumbs up. "Thanks, Clara," he said, then turned to Elena, noticing her lack of cheerleading outfit.

"What happened? No more cheerleader?" he asked.

"I quit. I'm a quitter," she said, with a soft huff.

Stefan quickly defended her choice,"No, hey, you're not a quitter. You suffered a great loss. You're not the same person. You should be looking ahead. You should be starting over. Ok? I hope you don't think this is too soon or too weird, but...I, uh, I wanted you to have this."

Elena and I both stopped walking in surprise, and I nearly walked into her back as Stefan held out a box and opened it. Inside was a silver necklace.

"Oh, my God, it's beautiful!" Elena exclaimed.

"Wow, Steffie, you're giving out the jewelry already?" I said, teasingly. Elena scowled at me and smacked me lightly on the arm. "Abuse!" I gasped, making them both laugh.

Stefan smiled and looked at Elena, eyes shining with emotion, "It's something that I've had forever, and, uh, I've never wanted to give it to anyone until now. I'd very much like it if you'd wear it for me, for...good luck."

"Is that rose that I smell?" Elena asked, as a subtle, sweet scent wafted from the necklace.

Stefan was quick to correct her, "No, it's, uh...it's an herb. It's nice, huh?"

"Yeah it is," I said, the scent making me smile.

"I love it," Elena declared. She turned and allowed Stefan to help her put the necklace on.

"And, uh, I wanted to thank you for pushing me to try out for the team. It feels really good," Stefan said.

Elena sighed, "We're a pair. I quit, you start."

"Right. We're a work in progress. We'll figure it out," he said.

I closed my eyes, scrunching them shut as the two of them started kissing. "Ewww! Okay, lovebirds, let's get this show on the road, Stefan's got a crazy Coach Tanner to appease," I said, pushing them along from behind.

As the sky darkened, Tanner had given his speech about how Stefan was the greatest thing since sliced bread and how he was going to single-handedly defeat all the teams they'd come up against. I know it made Stefan uncomfortable, because he knew as well as I did that the team was going to be rough on him now, they always were to the new guy, especially with someone like Tyler on the team. I swear, his name should be Tyler "Asshole" Lockwood. He seriously needs to have his ego knocked down a few pegs.

I wandered along the walkway towards the concession stands, craving an ice cold cherry slushie. Suddenly I heard shouting and turned, hurrying along as fast as I could when I heard Jeremy's name being shouted. I came up to the ring of students around the fight, pushing through them just as Stefan pulled Tyler off of Jeremy.

"Hey, he's down! Enough!" Stefan shouted at Tyler. I gasped as Tyler hauled back and punched Stefan. I had kneeled down beside Jeremy, but he moved too quickly for me to stop as he reached out and grabbed a broken beer bottle, striking at Tyler. But Tyler moved out of the way and the bottle got Stefan instead.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena shouted.

Matt was suddenly there, pulling Tyler back, "Tyler, knock it off! Stop!"

"What the hell, Jeremy? Put your head up, you're bleeding," Elena said, both worried and angry at him.

"I'm fine!" Jeremy said, pushing her away.

Elena growled out in anger, "Yeah, you smell fine."

"Just stop, ok?" Jeremy said, stomping away.

Matt helped me up off the ground before turning to Tyler and hauling him away. Tyler looked at me for a moment, as if concerned and I scowled at him. He sighed and let Matt pull him along. "Come on, man. Come on."

Suddenly I heard Elena freaking out. "Oh, my God, your hand," she said, staring at Stefan's hand the bottle had cut.

Like a little kid, Stefan put his hand behind his back to hide it. "No, no, no, it's fine," he declared.

But Elena wasn't to be deterred."Is it deep? How bad is it? Come on!" she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and opening his palm. There was nothing there, not a single mark. "But...I saw it, it was... "

"He missed," Stefan said. "It's not my blood. See? I'm fine."

"No, no, no. I...I saw it. The glass cut your hand. It was... " Elena said, looking confused and upset.

Stefan was quick to calm her. "It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you after the game."

We both nodded and watched as he jogged towards the field. Elena sighed and looked at me. "It's kind of warm, I'm going to go put my jacket in the car. Do you want to come with?" she asked.

"I'll meet you there. I'm going to go get that cherry slushie I was after before the concession stand gets overwhelmed with people," I replied. She nodded and headed up the walkway towards the student parking lot. I walked to the concession stand, and got my drink, before making my way up to student parking. I was surprised by what I saw next. Damon was standing by Elena. I could hear their voices carrying on the slight breeze. Something made me stop and watch them, so I stood there, my slushie in my hand.

"You scared me. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm hiding from Caroline," he explained.

"And why is that?"

Damon shrugged, "I needed a break. She talks more than I can listen."

"That could be a sign," Elena said.

"Well, she's awfully young," Damon excused for Caroline.

"Not much younger than you are," Elena commented.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she'd drive me crazy," Damon confessed.

Elena defended our friend. "Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since the first grade and that means something to me."

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention," Damon said, trying to seem sincere.

"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say," Elena said, annoyed.

"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you," he said.

Elena raised a brow at him, "Really?"

"Mm-hmm. I see 'em. You want me," Damon replied. My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. What? When had Elena ever shown interest in Damon as anything other than Stefan's brother? I thought.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who though so. "Excuse me?" Elena exclaimed, shocked.

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me. And right now...You want to kiss me," he said seductively, moving closer to my sister. Something in my heart seemed to twist at Damon's words, and my chest hurt. I didn't want to watch what would happen next, but I couldn't seem to make my legs move.

Damon stepped in closer to Elena, staring into her eyes as he leaned forward. Then Elena surprised all of us when she slapped him.

"What the hell?" Elena objected, "I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight...I am not Katherine." She said and stomped off towards the other end of the parking lot.

There was a crumpling sound, and suddenly Damon's head snapped up, his eyes angry. But they changed to something resembling remorse when they saw me. Suddenly as a thought, he was in front of me. He reached down and took something from my hand. I looked down and saw that I had crushed my slushie cup and it was running down over my hand. Damon tossed it away and looked into my eyes worriedly.

Something hot was running down my cheek and I didn't realize it was tears until Damon used his thumb to wipe them away. "No, no, no. Oh Clara, no." He leaned his forehead against mine. "I'm sorry, Clara. But I'm not good for you. I don't want to drag you into all this. I am your friend, Clara, and only your friend. Do you understand?"

I nodded, the tears still coming. I sniffled and tried to smile, but failed spectacularly. "I understand, Damon. I'm just a kid. This is just some schoolgirl crush, right? Besides, I'm no Elena. She's beautiful and kind, and I'm just Clara. The crazy coma girl with the camera." I reached out and grabbed his hand, putting it over my heart, so he could feel the uneven beating. "But why does it hurt so much, Damon, if it's just some crush?" I asked.

As if burned, Damon pulled his hand away, making me look up at him. He looked shocked, and slightly angry. Then he looked sad and regretful again. "You are so much more than that, Clara. You are smart, beautiful, bright, talented. You're pure sunshine. And I am the darkness. I don't want to snuff out your light, beautiful girl." He placed a hand under my chin, raising my face so that our eyes met. His eyes dialated and filled my vision. "You saw nothing tonight between myself and Elena. Do you understand? You saw me and waved hello before you decided you didn't want to stay for the party with the cheerleaders, you just wanted to head home. Go get your Aunt Jenna and go home, Clara." Damon leaned in and kissed my cheek before vamp-speeding away.

I shook off the brain fog that suddenly seemed to have developed. I realized that all the sugar and the cold from the slushie had given me a headache. I didn't want to hang around for the party after the game. I found Jenna in the stands and we drove home. I climbed into bed and read until there was a commotion downstairs. Elena was home, and I walked downstairs to find out what was going on.

"Mr. Tanner's dead! Some wild animal killed him just outside the locker rooms at the field!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh!" I said. Mr. Tanner was dead? I knew every student he'd ever had had wished him dead at some point or other, but for him to really be dead was a true shock. We sat around with Aunt Jenna talking to her about it for a while longer before we all started to yawn. I hugged Aunt Jenna and Elena good night and climbed the stairs back to my room. I wrote a few quick notes to pin to my wall. "Loves Cherry Slushies." "Corn dogs are awesome!" "Write down more of Mom's recipes from her recipe book into a new one of your own!" I quickly pinned them to their particular spots on the board before I wandered to my dresser and pulled out a long Ivory nightgown with 1-inch thick straps. I tugged it over my head after I had divested myself of my clothes from the day.

I sat down at the vanity table I had found just the weekend before. Jeremy had helped me strip it of the old paint, sand it down a little, then paint it with ivory paint, and we'd found some beautiful antiqued gold drawer pulls that we were able to change out with no problem. It even had a beautiful old mirror attached at the back, with beautiful magnolia blossoms printed along the right side of the mirror. I brushed my hair with care, trying not to snag any tangles. I left it loose and hanging down my back as I used wipes to remove my makeup. I carefully removed my earrings, putting them in the little drawer on the right side. I took off my mother's locket and hung it on the finial of the mirror. I smiled at myself once in the mirror before climbing into bed. I picked up a book, put on my reading glasses and began to read, unsure of when exactly I fell asleep.

The house was dark and quiet as Damon entered, making no sound. He stood in the hallway between the bedrooms. Elena's door was open, she lay sprawled on her bed, her hair splayed out behind her, dark on the pillows. He stepped forward towards her room before stopping. He turned to the other side of the hallway, carefully opening the door to Clara's room. He smiled when he saw that she had fallen asleep with a book in her hands, sitting up against the pillows, her reading glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose.

He pulled the glasses gently from her face, folding them and putting them on her bedside table. He closed the book, dog-earring the page so she wouldn't lose her place. It was obviously a well-loved book because it was already dog-earred many times. He smiled when he read the title: Gone with the Wind. One of his favorite books as well. He lifted the younger Gilbert daughter carefully into his arms, using one hand to push back the blankets. He settled her into the bed so she wasn't propped so high up on the pillows and wouldn't hurt her back and neck. He pulled the blankets up around her shoulders, and shut off the light. He turned to leave before sighing and turning back to her.

"I'm sorry, Clara," he whispered, stroking his finger along her cheek softly, before vanishing into the night.

Clara opened her eyes, looking around, her heart racing. The room was dark, and sleep quickly overcame her again. She pulled the blanket back around her shoulders and was once again in Morpheus's embrace.