Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by L.J. Smith, as portrayed in the TV series created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec. All rights to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Author's Note: Oops, this started out to be a pretty upbeat chapter, then… oh, well. Hope you'll enjoy it just the same : )

TWELVE NIGHTS

~ TEN ~

Wednesday.

Elena woke up in her own bed for the first time in over a week. She turned her head, expecting to find another bed with a sleeping Damon in it, but there was not. She was alone, in her old room at the Gilbert house. Her aunt Jenna was downstairs making breakfast – or burning toast. And Jeremy was back where he belonged – living a normal college life. Sharing a room with Damon Salvatore.

Elena felt a pang of guilt and a twinge of sadness when she thought about Damon. She had let him believe she was his friend, but she had lied to him from the moment they met. And now he thought she had betrayed him with Kat, when she hadn't. Kat kissed the real Jeremy – the Jeremy that wasn't Damon's friend, the Jeremy that didn't even know who Kat was. She had to talk to Jer, ask how his meeting with Damon went. Then she realized she hadn't turned her own phone back on. After what went down yesterday, she didn't want to deal with her real life just yet. But she knew she had to. She should let Bonnie and Caroline know she was back, and she needed to talk to the scholarship committee about late admission. So many things to cover. Oh, well, she might as well get started.

As Elena's phone booted up, it started receiving messages from the server – or however that stuff works – and Elena sighed at the amount. Most of them were from Stefan, and she chose to open the most recent.

I'm not giving up on us. I'm coming to see you.

Elena gasped in horror. He was on his way to campus? She immediately dialed Jeremy, but it went straight to voicemail. Then she tried Stefan's phone, but there was no reply. Elena got dressed in a hurry and headed towards the campus.

Jeremy's first meeting with his new roommate was tense to say the least. He had stayed away until evening, when he checked in with the RA and headed to his room. The phone Elena gave him – the one she'd been using as his – had been buzzing with text messages from Kat all day, and he finally just shut it off. Too much drama to deal with right now. Once he entered his room, it was empty. Damon had clearly taken off. Jeremy got settled and went to bed. When he awoke the next morning, the bed next to his was empty. Huh, he must have crashed someplace else, Jeremy said to himself. Soon enough, a still drunk Damon stumbled into the room.

"Uh… hey man," Jeremy said, biting his tongue before he went ahead and introduced himself. To Damon, they had been roommates for over a week. Introductions were redundant at this point.

"Yeah, whatever," Damon mumbled and kicked off his shoes, heading for the shower.

Damon had stripped down to his boxers when someone started banging on the door. "You mind getting that?" Damon growled.

"Uh… sure," Jeremy said, getting out of bed. It had been chilly last night, so he had slept in a long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants, much like Elena did when she was posing as him. Jeremy opened the door and frowned. "Stefan."

Jeremy had never been a fan of Elena's on-again-off-again boyfriend, and after hearing the reason they broke up this time, he was less than happy to see him.

Stefan instinctively took a step back when he saw Jeremy. Wow, Bonnie and Caroline really did a good job with Elena's disguise. He shook it off and focused on the reason he was here in the first place. "I've been calling and calling. Why won't you answer?"

"My phone's off," Jeremy shrugged. Why would Stefan be calling him?

"How convenient," Stefan huffed, brushing past Jeremy and stepping into the room. That's when he spotted Damon. "Oh, I see what's going on here… you're hot for your roommate, right? That's why you won't give us another chance? Why you're willing to throw all that we have away? But you can't deny you still have feelings for me – and I can prove it," Stefan said and grabbed Jeremy's face with his hands.

Before Jeremy had a chance to object, Stefan's lips crashed down on his. Disgusted, he shoved him away, wiping his mouth. "Dude!"

Stefan blinked. "Jeremy? Where's Elena?"

Damon had witnessed their interaction with great astonishment, but now he was riveted. What the hell was going on?

"Elena's at home," Jeremy replied.

"But… how are you here? You're supposed to be in rehab."

"Yeah, now I wish I'd stayed," Jeremy mumbled.

"Sorry to interrupt, but would anyone care to enlighten me as to what the hell is going on here?" Damon stepped forward.

Just then, the door flew open. "Stefan!" Elena exclaimed, not noticing all eyes were now on her.

"Elena?" Damon asked, incredulous. "What are you doing here?"

"So you do know my girlfriend?" Stefan said, glaring at Damon.

"Yeah, I met her this weekend," Damon said, focusing on Elena. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain everything, ok? I just have to talk to Stefan first," Elena said apologetically and gestured for Stefan to follow her outside.

"I thought I made myself perfectly clear, Stefan," Elena hissed as they walked outside. "You and I are over. What gives you the right to barge in and make a fool of yourself?"

"I'm the fool? What about you – dressing up as your brother?"

"You know why I did it, Stefan. We've already been over this. Now I would really appreciate it if you would just leave. You've done enough damage here."

"Well, what about the Miss Mystic Falls pageant? You still need me to be your escort, right?"

"I don't even know if I'm going, but I do know I will not be going with you." Elena huffed and turned her back on Stefan, walking back to Jeremy's dorm room. She took a deep breath before entering, bracing herself.

"I'm just gonna… yeah…" Jeremy excused himself and slipped out of the room as Elena entered, leaving her alone with Damon.

"It was you, wasn't it? This whole time – it's been you."

"Yes," Elena said, shame-faced.

"Why?"

"Jeremy's my brother and I love him. He was risking his scholarship. I had to take his place to make sure he didn't lose his spot while he was in rehab."

"So… everything you've told me – has been a lie?" Damon asked, betrayal in his voice.

"No! I'm still me. I may have tried to impersonate Jeremy, but everything else I told you was true."

"You let me make a fool of myself! You knew what Kat was doing, didn't you? Still you encouraged me to go for her."

"Yes, Kat told me – as Elena – that she was into Jeremy. She said she was using you to make him jealous. But I told her she was wrong for doing that."

"You could have told me!"

"How? I did what I thought was best for my brother."

"What? Making sure he had a girlfriend waiting for him when he got out of rehab? Keeping his bed warm?"

Slap.

"You're lucky you're not posing as your brother anymore, or you wouldn't be getting away with that," Damon growled.

"I never wanted you to get hurt, Damon. This was never about you."

"Of course it wasn't. Why would anyone ever care how the self-serving, arrogant player feels?"

"Damon…"

"Just go, Elena. Go back to your boyfriend. Have a nice life."

"I'm sorry," Elena said, her voice a mere whisper, as she left the room.

Author's Note: Yes, I know, another short chapter... sigh! Oh, well, there are two chapters left, and those will be longer. I will do a small jump in time to suit my purposes. Thanks for reading!