14:11 – Mystic Falls High School – Charity Carnival

"Hey! The dance team are meeting on the front lawn for a last-minute rehearsal. They've been looking for you. Where's your costume?" Elena asked, interrupting my conversation with Stefan.

He'd assured me he'd look into my freakish fire punching abilities, ask around his circle discretely, and I was going to follow up the lead on the journals Jeremy had provided. Stefan implored me to not use my powers, if I could help it, to not attract any unwelcome attention, at least until they knew a little more. It made sense. I simply raised the bag beside me in response to my sister's question.

"The Pink Ladies need their Sandy." Stefan rasped, attempting to continue the conversation between us all, and cut into the glares being exchanged.

"How long are you going to ice me out? You know what I was doing, and all I have ever done…I was just trying to protect you both from all of this. And you're not protecting me from anything, you're punishing me! And I need to know what's going on with you so that I can keep you safe!" Elena asked, standing sassily with her clipboard in hand.

"Tell me more, tell me more…" Stefan rasped.

"Right, because you did such a great job keeping Jeremy safe. You're the one who invited Damon into our lives." I scoffed and sauntered away.

Stefan made a motion to speak but Elena cut him off and mirrored my snotty departure.

"You know, you are kind of cutting into my routine, kid." Jeremy uttered as he caught up with me, clearly overhearing my blowout with Elena.

"You're three minutes older than me." I uttered back.

"Best three minutes of my life." Jeremy scoffed and read the response, opting for a different tone. "I know since I'm the one who died…most recently, and all, I should be super pissed, but I think you've got that one covered for the both of us."

"I'm not…okay, yeah I'm pissed…but, without that stupid ring, you'd be dead."

"Valid point, yeah."

"But this…I don't know, it's like inside my chest, it was fine, and now I'm so damn mad."

"You think this is a…fire punch thing?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know, I just need time to process this! I haven't even done that yet, I can't keep going over it with everyone and getting badgered with a million questions, that I can't even answer if I wanted to!" I whined.

"Hey. It's alright. Preaching to the choir. Go get your Grease on." Jeremy said and ushered me away with a sympathetic smile.

14:49 – Mystic Falls High School – Charity Carnival – Main Stage

"Rosanna!" Bonnie called out and scarpered over to where I was pulling myself into a pink jacket. I glanced around and asked Freddie to give us a minute.

"Warm-ups. Don't be long." He whispered and gave us some privacy.

"Hi." Bonnie uttered simply.

"I'm kind of down to the wire here, Bon." I uttered and glanced around at the dance team, stretching, and preparing for the show.

"Okay." Bonnie uttered, and bit her cheek.

"It's okay." I uttered.

"I just don't even know what to say."

"It's okay. You didn't know. I didn't know. No one knew." I uttered.

"But, I'm the reason you went down!"

"No, I think I was going down anyway-" I sighed, pensively.

"Rosanna!" Coach Hanley barked. She was taking over the Dance Team until Coach Jeffords returned from paternity leave.

"Look, I'm sorry." I uttered, "I've really gotta go."

"We're okay?" Bonnie blurted out.

"We're okay." I nodded.

"I'm going to help, look into it."

"Thank you." I replied and joined the team's preparations.

19:24 – Mystic Falls High School – Charity Carnival

"Well…you look-" Tyler uttered but froze as he looked me up at down.

"Electrifying?" I scoffed at the super tight Sandy number from the final act.

"I was gonna say smoking, but that works too." Tyler rasped.

"Uh, did you see the show?" I uttered, blushing at the way his eyes were dancing all over me.

"Yeah, I was with Mason all day but…I caught the end of it. You were amazing." Tyler said.

"Tyler-" I uttered.

Tyler stepped up to me and brushed a hand against my cheek, pulling me into him, his lips met mine. He kissed me, gently at first, waiting for my response. I kissed him back, and he took that as permission to lose himself in the moment. I didn't think about any of it; the heartbreak; the icing out; the burning to death and rising from the ashes; none of it. It just felt really good to be kissing him again.

"Tyler! Come on, man. You gotta defend your title!" Tyler's uncle barked over at him from the arm-wrestling booth. Tyler sighed at the interruption, and called back, "Yeah, yeah."

He glanced down at me and whispered, "I wanna…see you more."

"That's okay with me." I uttered back.

He kissed me once more for good measure and said he'd find me later. I nodded and bit my lip, watching as he sauntered up to the crowd, inviting his next opponent to step forward. He seemed…different, lighter.

"Little Gilbert." Damon grinned maniacally and dragged me around the corner.

"Ow. Damon!" I scorned and yanked my arm out of his grasp harshly.

He glared at where he had held me, and back to where I now stood, in sheer confusion. He scorned, "What's with all the freakishly strong teenagers?!"

"Maybe you're just past your prime." I sneered at him.

Damon snarled and scoffed, "Whatever. Hilarious. Look, here's the deal, you are going to stay away from Tyler Lockwood until I give you the greenlight. Clear? Great." Damon smirked, patted my head, and turned to leave.

"No." I stated plainly and folded my arms in defiance.

"No?" Damon scoffed.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?" He scorned.

"I'm not going to do anything you say."

"Little Gilbert, do not test my patience-" Damon growled.

"Or what?" I laughed, "Last time we tussled you left with your tail between your legs."

"Stefan intervened-" Damon scorned.

"Oh, is that right?" I scoffed and stepped up to him, "Well, Stefan is-"

"Right here." Stefan sighed and stood between us, pushing Damon a little further back. Damon's wild eyes were piercing into mine, waiting for the smallest flicker of movement. Stefan rolled his eyes and turned to me, "We are concerned about Tyler, his dad was affected by the Gilbert device, as were you, but he wasn't a vampire, so we just want to be sure his family isn't-"

"Something nastier." Damon smirked.

"Right. I think I've proven that I can handle myself." I uttered and sauntered away.