CASTLE OF THE ROSE
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | TO
Logan had come to one conclusion: she had to talk to Caroline.
There was no point in avoiding the subject. Tyler was gone, and although Logan would have much preferred to talk to him about it, there was no way she could. Logan did also want to hear Caroline's explanation as to why she'd kissed Tyler. Logan was fairly certain it was against the unwritten Girl Code to kiss your best friend's ex without asking permission or afterward admitting you did it.
Of course Logan had no clue how to broach the topic. It didn't help that, after Easter weekend, everyone was in school. Elena and Caroline stuck together most of the time, while Bonnie and Logan did; it was just sort of the way things had always worked out. Presently the four of them were on their way out to the junior lunch tables about mid-week, Elena and Caroline pulling ahead.
Bonnie sighed and pushed her hand through her hair. Logan glanced at her curiously. "What's up?"
"How am I supposed to tell Elena?" Bonnie asked in a low voice.
Logan frowned and looked ahead. Caroline and Elena were still talking about something and being animated in their gestures as they did so. Logan had to assume that Bonnie wanted to tell Elena that she wanted to date her little brother—unless there was something else Logan didn't know. Judging by the way everyone kept things from her, she wouldn't have put it past anyone. "That's a very good question," Logan said.
"I don't know what you're gonna tell her, either," Bonnie added with a slightly more ironic tone.
Logan laughed rather bitterly. "There isn't anything to tell her anymore," she said. It had been days and Elijah had yet to contact her. As of last night Logan had been attempting to come to terms with the idea that Elijah wasn't going to show up again.
And really, it made sense: he was an Original vampire, thousands of years old. He'd seen the world and changed history. His problems were psychotic brothers and false curses. Logan was seventeen, had left the country once on a trip to Canada, obsessed over historical events she had not experienced herself, and had problems like Owen Melbroke and playing tennis with her mom. It was actually sort of a miracle they'd had anything in common to begin with.
Oh, well. There was no point in thinking about it. "We're quite the pair," Bonnie remarked, as they reached the picnic table.
"Indeed," Logan agreed, dramatic about it. Bonnie snickered, and the two parted ways; Logan remained on Elena's side of the picnic table while Bonnie walked around to sit next to Caroline. "So," said Logan conversationally, as she swung her backpack down onto the bench, "what are you guys all studying for this stupid math test?"
Bonnie snorted as she set her paper bag lunch on the table. "Oh, not you," said Caroline, waving her hand dismissively at Bonnie. "You're in smart math."
"What does that make the rest of us?" asked Elena jokingly.
"Not smart?" guessed Bonnie.
"Hey!" Caroline complained. She turned, opening her mouth, to say more, but then her phone vibrated on the picnic table. At once she snatched it up to check it. "Aw," Caroline enthused a second later. "Sarah Ratkowski is so sweet! She bought me lunch!"
Caroline jumped up and dug her hand into her purse to whip out her pink wallet. "Be right back," Caroline said cheerfully, before turning and taking off across the lawn.
Sarah Ratkowski was one of Caroline's many and various cheerleading friends. Most of them were seniors, and it was only seniors who were allowed to leave campus during lunch. "Lucky," said Elena jealously, as she poked at the cafeteria lunch she'd gotten a few minutes ago. "We used to be on the squad too."
"Yeah, but we're not Caroline," Bonnie replied.
"My team doesn't buy me things," said Logan, pouting. She dropped her math textbook onto the picnic table, along with her notebook, and grabbed a pencil and her own paper bag lunch before sitting down. She opened the bag and pulled out her sandwich first. "Seriously, though," Logan said with her mouth half full, turning toward Elena, "how are you going to study for this test?"
Elena shrugged. "I usually just look over the formulas."
"Right, you're the smart one in math," Logan only half joked. Elena shrugged elaborately. Logan looked down at her book and, with her free hand, managed to flip it open.
While Logan attempted to locate the section she needed to study, Bonnie and Elena started to discuss something that had gone down with Ben Jamison, one of the various football jocks. He was friends with Tyler and Matt Donovan. Logan paused once she found the section she was looking for, intending to keep eating; instead she found herself yawning.
Her eyes wandered from the page to the rest of the lawn. Tyler's group was messing around on the grass; both Matt and Tyler were missing from it, quite conspicuously. Logan hoped Tyler wasn't dead in a ravine somewhere—although he was a werewolf now, which probably meant his strength had at least doubled. Nobody could shank him.
Logan had no idea where Matt was, but she supposed it didn't matter nearly as much. Maybe Matt and Caroline had bumped into each other somewhere nearby, around the front of the school building. Logan snorted softly to herself. That would have been one hell of an awkward confrontation. She had no idea what was going on there and didn't even want to know.
What Logan did want to know was how she could corner Jeremy Gilbert to ask him about vervain. It struck her that maybe Stefan would give her some vervain, if she asked. After catching sight of Caitlin from Physics and waving at her, Logan returned her attention to the conversation at hand.
"Yeah, he's crazy," Bonnie was just saying, as Logan tuned back in.
"Ben Jamison?" asked Logan, flicking the page in her textbook over, having retained nothing.
Elena kind of laughed. "Definitely Ben Jamison," she said. Logan glanced over at her; Elena was shaking her head to herself in disbelief. "I don't know how he can get away without at least seven detentions in a day."
"A detention for every class," Bonnie said. "He deserves it." She widened her eyes significantly before looking back down at her own lunch.
Just then Caroline came galloping back over, white-blonde curls bouncing. She had a Chick-Fil-A drink in one hand and a Chick-Fil-A bag in the other. "I love cheerleading," Caroline declared as she sat back down at the table. She immediately curled up her legs under her, propping herself up a little more, and began to poke around in the Chick-Fil-A bag.
Elena snorted. "I'd love cheerleading, too, if Sarah gave me Chick-Fil-A for lunch."
"Oh, hush," said Caroline. She pulled out a chicken sandwich and opened its bag. "You know she liked you." She took a bite of her sandwich and turned toward Bonnie. "She liked you, too," Caroline said, though her voice was muffled by her full mouth.
Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "I thought I complained too much."
"Well, you did," Caroline said fairly, making Logan laugh and Bonnie frown. "Come on, you have to admit it," Caroline persisted. "You, like, never ran."
"Why does a cheerleader have to run?" asked Bonnie. "The only way I'm running is if it's from a werewolf."
Logan laughed. "Why not a vampire?"
There was a not-so-inconspicuous glance exchanged between Elena and Caroline that Logan caught then. Somehow, Logan thought, irritation prickling her, those two were keeping secrets again.
It made sense, though. Elena and Caroline had always been thick as thieves. Once, during the drama and trauma of seventh grade, their group had almost split down the middle. Bonnie and Logan had been "too best friend-y" for Caroline's comfort, even though Caroline and Elena had done nothing without the other present; it had led to many arguments and several visits to the school counselor.
All in all, Logan could sometimes see the battle lines that had been drawn then. Now they were just a little faded. "Because there's no point in running from a vampire," said Bonnie, as if this was obvious. "They have super speed."
"That's true," Elena agreed.
Logan glanced toward Caroline, who looked back at her. It seemed almost as though Caroline was preparing for Logan to do something—yell at her, maybe? Logan wasn't sure if Caroline knew that she knew about the kiss. "What does it feel like to move at the speed of light?" Logan asked, afterwards taking another bite of her sandwich.
Caroline brightened immediately. "Awesome," she said. "Like you're running on a conveyor belt that's already moving extremely fast."
The mental image made Logan laugh. It was probably good that Logan wasn't a vampire—she would have tripped and fallen every time she tried to run lightning-fast. She also probably would have accidentally showed off her sprinting powers in the middle of a volleyball game. It was a true wonder that Stefan had never done so during a football game last semester.
"That's so weird," said Bonnie. She shuddered noticeably and shook her head. "Ugh. No offense, but I don't like vampires."
"We know, Bon," said Elena dryly.
Caroline half smiled, looking from Bonnie to Elena and Logan, then back again. "It's okay if vampires make you uncomfortable," said Caroline encouragingly. "They're not supposed to be mingling with humans anyway."
"That's right," said Logan, turning a page in her textbook. She was still trying to vaguely skim even though she wasn't retaining anything. "You're supposed to be eating us instead." She glanced up to offer Caroline an eyebrow wiggle.
"I would never eat you guys!" Caroline exclaimed.
It was just then that—of course—Owen Melbroke decided to make his appearance. "What?" he asked as he stopped at the end of the picnic table, by Elena and Caroline. His chestnut-colored hair was rumpled and he looked around at all of them in confusion.
Logan stifled a sigh. "Hi, Owen," she said, raising a hand in greeting.
"Are you eating people now?" Owen asked Caroline. "I don't know if you knew this, but cannibalism is frowned upon in most societies."
And there was that classic Owen humor. Logan stood up, looking toward Owen, while Caroline stared openly at him and Elena picked at her food, visibly trying not to laugh. Logan didn't even want to know what sort of expression Bonnie was wearing. "Do you want to talk or something?" Logan asked.
"Oh, yeah," said Owen, as if he'd only just remembered. Logan stepped out from the picnic bench and then grabbed her Gatorade before walking around the table to reach Owen. "Um. We could go sit on the bleachers."
"Why not," said Logan with some irony.
"See you later," Owen said to the table as he and Logan walked away. Caroline said "Bye" brightly back, but Bonnie and Elena said nothing. Logan took a swig of her Gatorade as they cut across the grass, in the direction of the back of the school. The gymnasium and the athletic fields were located behind it.
Logan really hoped Owen would not ask about Elijah. She would have preferred he ask about literally anything else. All right, except maybe her biological father. She didn't want to talk about him with anyone.
"How've you been?" Owen asked, after the silence had already stretched on for too long. "I haven't seen you in a while."
It had only been about a week. Logan decided she did not care to define this nuance. "Pretty good," Logan said noncommittally. "Lots of schoolwork, dying in Physics, the usual." She half glanced at Owen, sort of afraid to meet his eye. "What about you?"
"Oh, the same," he said. Then he laughed slightly. "Although not with Physics."
Logan tried not to roll her eyes. She knew Owen was in AP Physics. She had no idea why anyone would ever want to do that to themselves.
The two of them walked around the back of the building now, reaching the edge of the athletic fields and the track. Logan silently thanked God that there were other people out here: there were a few people jogging around the track, and there was what looked like a PE class taking place in the middle of the football field.
Owen led the way over to the bleachers. There were a few stoners hanging around under them; Logan definitely smelled marijuana on their way to seats on the bleachers. Logan had no idea how none of them had been caught, especially with a PE class happening out here.
They sat down near the top of the bleachers. Logan immediately moved to sit one row lower than Owen, and then leaned back against the row behind her, beside Owen's legs. To put even more distance between them Logan scooted over as inconspicuously as she could. "What the heck did you want to talk about?" Logan asked, when she couldn't stand the dread anymore.
"Elijah," said Owen, confirming Logan's deepest fear. Logan sighed reflexively and then hoped he hadn't heard her. "I just," Owen said, clearly floundering for the right words, "I'm just worried about you, Logan. I've known you forever, and you've never done anything like this before."
"I was only allowed to start dating at sixteen," Logan pointed out. "And I went out with Tyler Lockwood last year."
Owen was startled into silence. "You—what?"
"I went out with Tyler Lockwood last year," Logan repeated patiently. "I'm very good at keeping a relationship a secret, Owen."
"Apparently," muttered Owen, who was evidently bitter about it. Logan tried very hard not to roll her eyes and drank her Gatorade for something to do other than shoot help me looks at the passing joggers on the track. "Is he a good guy?" Owen asked, a few moments later.
Logan didn't even have to think about it. "Of course he is," she said. She twisted around to give Owen a skeptical look. "I might have dated Tyler, but we broke up for a reason." Probably because Logan hadn't wanted to fulfill Tyler's manly 'needs' or whatever. He'd gone for Vicki Donovan, Matt's sister and renowned slut, immediately after breaking up with Logan.
Of course now Vicki was dead and Tyler had run away. Logan wondered if it was her hand in these things that had caused such destruction. It would have made sense, sort of, with the divorce and Aaron in consideration.
Hanging around Owen did not lead to the most wondrous trains of thought. "Where does he work?" Owen asked presently.
Logan hated him for asking. The lie was already hard enough to maintain, especially since Elijah had vanished out of the picture. She gritted her teeth thinking about it. There would never be any answer about the puzzle piece thing, and he'd left her hanging with all those gentlemanly actions and the freaking kisses on her hand and the whole hand-holding deal. Maybe he wasn't such a great guy after all.
It occurred to Logan, though, that Elijah might not have disappeared by his own will. The thing was that if Klaus had showed up in Mystic Falls and sent Elijah out to sea with his brothers and sister, they would know about it, because Klaus would be after Elena next.
Argh—Logan didn't want to think about it. "Allstate," she decided to say. "He's a manager."
"Really?" said Owen.
No, I'm lying to you, thought Logan. Then she bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt not to laugh, because she actually was lying to the poor guy. "Yep," said Logan bracingly. "He works in the office downtown." She hoped Owen would not try to stalk a nonexistent Elijah there.
"That's cool," said Owen. Logan twisted around to give him another funny look and he shrugged back at her. "I don't know what to say about him," Owen said defensively. "He's dating the girl I like."
Oh, awkward, thought Logan, fidgeting with the edge of her shorts. "Sorry," Owen mumbled a second later. "I'm not trying to put you in an awkward position or anything." Really now. "Really I just wanted to talk to you to get your advice about something."
"Sure," said Logan, leaping at the chance for a subject change and hoping the conversation would turn academic.
God answered her prayers. "I'm thinking about taking a gap year," Owen admitted. Logan glanced up at him in surprise; she'd expected Owen would want to do something more along the lines of staying in school forever, and possibly gaining three or four PHDs. "I've been looking into some international programs, and I've found a few that seem promising."
"Really?" said Logan. Then she realized that she was repeating what Owen had said earlier and probably sounded silly herself. "What kind of programs?" Logan asked. "What do you want to do with your life?"
Owen laughed. "That's a little broad," he said. Logan just shrugged. "I'm thinking about volunteering."
If he said he wanted to volunteer in Guatemala, Logan was going to—do something drastic. She didn't know what, but she'd go crazy.
"There's a program for teaching in Cape Town," Owen continued. Logan released a small breath of relief. "There's another one in India, and I'm thinking about an opportunity in Japan for business."
"I didn't know you wanted to go into business," said Logan, who felt rather badly about her lack of knowledge. Owen probably knew everything about her and she barely knew what he wanted to do after high school. She decided that despite their severe awkwardness she needed to hang out with him more.
"I didn't either," Owen replied. Logan felt significantly better. "I might want to teach, too. I was thinking about becoming a microbiologist as well. And I've always wanted to become Secretary of State."
Logan hoped Owen would not become Secretary of State. He would make foreign affairs intensely awkward. "I can see you in a managerial position in business," Logan offered. "Or as a microbiologist, definitely."
"My parents want me to be a doctor," said Owen. He kicked the bleacher in front of him. "I haven't told them I don't want to do it yet."
"Don't worry about that," Logan said, waving one hand in the air dismissively. "Take a gap year to figure yourself out. Do what you want to do and tell them later."
Owen kind of laughed. "I wonder how our parents managed to alienate both of us so well."
Logan snorted. "I don't," she said somewhat darkly. Before Owen could ask the question, Logan added, "The divorce."
"Ah," said Owen. "Makes sense." He seemed to think about it for a few minutes. "It was probably my older sisters for me," he decided aloud. "My parents were more interested in Laura and Sarah than they ever were in anything I did."
Logan nodded, understanding. "And now they're both graduated, so they're pushing all of their expectations off on you."
"Precisely."
"Parents," said Logan, and sighed.
"Parents," Owen agreed. "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." Logan thought nothing he had ever said had ever rung so true. "We can go back, if you want," Owen said. "You were studying for something, right?"
Logan nodded. "Math test," she said as she stood. Owen straightened up at the same time. "We'll have to see how that goes."
"I'm sure it'll go well," said Owen. "You'll pass, anyway."
Logan let out a startled laugh. "Um, thanks?"
"You're welcome," said Owen brightly, as he led the way down the bleachers. Logan paused to raise her eyes to the sky before following him. She couldn't believe that conversation had ended well—God had to have been looking out for her.
She thought maybe God was looking out for her in the realm of Elijah, too. Maybe it was better that he was gone.
AUTHOR'S NOTE | Hey, y'all, look at this, I'm updating in a timely manner! xD We'll be seeing Elijah again sooner rather than later, don't you worry ;) Hope y'all have a great week!
DISCLAIMER | I don't own The Vampire Diaries.