September 6th

The only thing on Cassie's mind as she got ready for school was Rhonda. Braxton and herself had left her house a few hours after they found out about her granddad, comforting her and telling her that he would be fine. But only Braxton said those things to Rhonda, Cassie just comforted, hugging her friend whenever she needed it. She couldn't lie and say everything would be fine, what was the point in doing that? Everything might not be fine, he might die. Although Cassie hated the thought of that, she couldn't say that everything would be fine to Rhonda, she just couldn't. They had said that about her parents, and they weren't okay. They died, they left.

So in the end, the only thing she could do was rub Rhonda's back as she sobbed. Braxton had watched on, feeling completely useless. Their afternoon was meant to be happy, celebrating the end of another school day, and now Rhonda's granddad had been attacked. Who on earth would hurt a defenseless old man like Rhonda's granddad? Who could be that cruel? He never hurt anyone, ever.

And if that wasn't enough, Elena had started a full-out mission to win Stefan. A plan had formed in her sister's head, one that would ensure her capturing Stefan's heart. The determination in her eyes when she had left the house told Cassie that, and the way Elena dressed- her prettiest clothes, fresh from the shopping malls of Paris. As had shut the door behind them, she looked at Elena as the handle turned up again. Her sister only smiled at her secretively, but coolly, like Elena always was nowadays.

"What?" she said.

Cassie eyes narrowed.

"You're... different. This isn't to do with Stefan is it?" Cassie asked, her sweet voice alerting the hot teenage neighbor, making him look up from where he stood in the porch, watching the two girls as they walked down their pathway.

The previous night, Cassie had pondered over what Elena felt for the new boy. It wasn't like her to act like this, not at all. Whenever she wanted a boy, she got him, then dumped him once he got boring, it was just what she did. But this time... this time it couldn't be more different. Stefan wasn't interested, apparently, and Elena had made it her job to get him in the end. But why the sudden shyness and breathlessness around him? It was something new. Did she love him, already? But when she thought of that, Cassie scolded herself. It had only been a few days since the boy came here! Love like that was something that you see in the movies or... anywhere that wasn't Fell's Church!

"I may have a plan, yes. I'll tell you at lunch, sit with us," Elena said, ignoring the next door neighbor, who was openly staring at them. His friend was coming out of the door, asking what the hell he was looking at, then staring at the girls too.

"Why can't you tell me now? I'm your sister," Cassie protested, using her well practiced puppy-look. No-one so far could resist it, her brown eyes caused them to melt.

"Don't look at me like that," Elena cried, throwing her hands to her eyes, walking blind, to avoid looking directly at the innocence of her sister.

"Oh come on, Elena, pretty please," Cassie pleaded, teasing her sister now, speeding up after her when she tried in vain to escape.

"You only have to wait a couple of hours! And I'll give you... a cookie?" Elena took her hands away from her face, and looked at Cassie questioningly, a smirk on her lips. She knew that Cassie would say yes.

"Damn, you know me too well. I'll have to change my personality sometime," Cassie sulked, but secretly she was delighted about the cookie.

***

Frances's eyes were blazing, and her cheeks were flushed with color as she approached the three girls at the table.

"Oh, Elena, you've got to hear this!"

Elena smiled at her, polite but not too intimate. Frances ducked her brown head. "I mean... can I join you? I've just heard the wildest thing about Stefan Salvatore.

"Have a seat," Elena said graciously. "But," she added, buttering a roll, "we're not really interested in the news."

"You-?" Frances stared. She looked at Meredith, then Bonnie.

"Alright, spill," a bag plonked down on the table, startling everyone but Elena. Cassie sat in the seat next to her sister, taking the bread that she just made and nibbling at it while Elena scowled.

"Hey, I spent quite a bit of my lunch money to buy this badge," she said in defense, pointing to a badge on her chest that read; 'I did it, but I'm blaming you.'

Everyone at the table laughed, Elena rolling her eyes while doing so, thinking to herself that the badge matched Cassie's personality perfectly. That was when Cassie noticed the newcomer at the table, and raised her eyebrows in surprise: Elena never let anyone sit at their table. Ever.

"Hey, Cassie," Frances said, blushing slightly and looking down. Then a thought seemed to occur to the brown haired girl, and she looked from Meredith to Bonnie.

"You guys were joking right?"

"Not at all," Meredith speared a green bean and eyed it thoughtfully. "We have other things on our mind today."

"Exactly," Bonnie said, after a sudden start. "Stefan's old news, you know. Passé." She bent down and rubbed her ankle.

"Er, what?" Cassie said, in complete shock. "Are you serious? You're giving up already?" She gaped at Elena, feeling that, in that moment, she didn't know her. Why give up so soon? Cassie hated giving up, and that trait was passed on to Elena, who sometimes gave up too quickly. And she had said that she had a plan this morning, this couldn't have been it, could it?

Elena looked at her coolly, before turning back to Frances, who had said that during the previous days, she had wanted to know all about him.

"Curiosity," Elena said. "After all, he is a visitor, and I wanted to welcome him to Fell's Church. But of course I have to be loyal to Jean Claude."

"Who the Dickens is Jean Claude?" Cassie exclaimed, eyes widening in confusion and staring at Elena, trying to uncover her secret.

Elena took a photo out of her backpack, being careful to hit Cassie with it softly before turning back to the girls.

"Here he is, standing in front of the cottage where we stayed. Right afterward, he picked me a flower and... well"- she smiled mysteriously- "I shouldn't repeat it."

Under the table, Elena kicked her sister's shin, causing her to gasp and shut up for the time being.

Cassie was so confused she was incapable of speech. That wasn't the cottage they stayed in while in France, and that was their neighbor who was married with kids.

While she glared at her sister, who was purposefully ignoring her for the moment, the conversation continued. Eventually, listening to Elena's rant after Frances left, she realized that Jean Claude was a cover-up. A way to get Stefan jealous.

Hopefully it would work, Elena was a horrible person to get on the wrong side of. And she still hadn't given Cassie her well-earned cookie yet...

I think this is my most crap chapter yet, I'm so sorry. I promise the next one will be better! Pinky promise! I used a bit of the dialogue from the book in here, but not too much I think. I hit a MAJOR writer's block, that's why it's so crappy =-(

Please review! =-) my new smiles hehe.