A.N.: I'm watching the episode where Finn gets staked – I love the tequila scene with Sage. I don't like Finn as a character, but the actor has lovely hands. I'm a sucker for a guy with shoulders, deep voices and nice hands.

Drunken Binges, Funerals and Formals

35

Memories Are Made of This

"It won't be that bad, she said. We're just there to make sure Caroline doesn't turn into Hitler, she said," Ashlyn said lightly, groaning as she stretched out her back, gold hoops glinting as she twisted at the waist, swinging her arms, gathering her hair up as she panted, grunting from exertion helping Giulia move the concession-stand into a corner, six guys from the Varsity offensive-line helping, a couple of them eyeing the midriff bared by Ashlyn's borrowed vintage tee.

"I may have misrepresented Caroline's spirit for micro-managing," Giulia said, carrying a crate of cupcakes past her. Ashlyn had been helping set up a huge screen, onto which vintage 1950s movies were going to be shown, set up like a drive-in, and where a vintage-style concessions stand had literally been built by Giulia and a bunch of guys in wood-shop, complete with exclusively 1950s candy, a glittering cherry-red popcorn machine and a gumball machine, and Giulia had gone to the local printer to have vintage movie-posters and pictures of Fifties celebrities printed on glossy paper, papering the front of the concessions stand, and the wall behind, making it look like a movie-theatre foyer with naked light-bulbs in the frames she had made one night, decorated with elaborate framework details she had hand-painted. Car had wanted hot-fudge sundaes and Moon Pies – Giulia had found Moon Pies in bulk online with a tonne of other candy, had done her utmost to put her engineering- and carpentry-oriented, artistically-talented mind to the task of building a concessions stand that looked as fabulous as she knew Car wanted it, she'd put together the music playlist for the night using vintage songs and contemporary ones to give them a break, even let Car ride roughshod on the decoration theme – she was saving that fight for the Sixties dance. Giulia envisioned Mad Men: she knew the others would want hippies – and baked (and decorated) over two hundred cupcakes.

Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, frosted with plain or pink buttercream and either decorated with sprinkles or a glacé cherry. Two-hundred, within the last three days.

"Remind me why I agreed to make these, when we could've just ordered them from Safeway?" Giulia asked, glancing at Caroline, as she set the bakery boxes down. She'd had Damon compel the girl who worked at the local doughnut shop to give her the boxes she needed – they'd ordered a hundred plain sugared doughnuts and some chocolate-iced ones too – but she'd needed Car's help transporting them all to the school, to store in the cafeteria kitchens before the dance.

"Because you're an insomniac anyway," Caroline said brightly, smiling, "and there are twenty-four useable hours in every day, thank you! And I better not see you 'quality-controlling' them like you've been letting the others do with the candy!" Giulia stuck her tongue out at Caroline as her best-friend turned on her heel and strode off to tell off a bunch of guys for goofing off with the streamers.

The gym was looking great, streamers across the ceiling centred on a trio of disco-balls along the ceiling, vinyl records dangling from seemingly nowhere, the movie-theatre section decked out so kids could take a break from the nonstop sponsored dancing, the concessions stand taking up a corner with a few picnic benches brought in from the courtyard and decorated with carnations and pretty tablecloths. Yes, there were disgruntled teenagers everywhere moaning about sustained bodily harm as Caroline the slave-driver wielded her clipboard of authority, but the Gatorade was flowing, the candy had been unboxed and they were sampling to control quality, and in several sections, iPhones battled with each other for dominance playing music and YouTube videos keeping people entertained.

"How sturdy is this thing?" Ashlyn asked, slapping the countertop.

"I don't know. Shall we test it out?" Giulia asked, pondering the concession-stand. "Put something on." Ashlyn grinned, fiddling with her iPhone – charged while she and Giulia had been chatting – and Giulia leapt on top of the concession stand. 'Show Me How You Burlesque' from Burlesque started playing, and Giulia laughed – they had been chatting about memorising the routine from the show, Giulia because of Caroline's infatuation with the movie (okay, Giulia loved it too; she had a soft spot for Stanley Tucci, and Cam Giganet).

"Remember, if you fall off, leg extended, boobs out," Ashlyn grinned impishly. Giulia laughed as she danced, remembering the routine ingrained in her psyche by Caroline's drills this past summer, lots of shaking her ass, hair-whipping, snapping her fingers, grinning as she twirled on the precariously narrow platform, splits, contortion and thrusting her chest out – she would lustily admit she would adore performing with Aljaž in any burlesque show he put together. As long as she didn't have to sing.

There was a round of applause when she struck her final pose, slightly breathless from exertion but grinning, Ashlyn laughing and clapping – she spied Tyler with his phone trained on her, his expression serious.

"Giulia Salvatore! Get off there this minute, we have the Classic in a couple months and I need you to send the girls flyin', you're the only one with the build for it, and if you break something I will kill you," Caroline scolded, marching over. Giulia glanced down at Ashlyn, eyebrows raised.

"I don't know how I should take that. I'm the 'only one with the build'."

"Well…she's not Sue Sylvester, I'd take it as a backhanded compliment," Ashlyn shrugged nonchalantly. "I think she means you've got the strength from your MMA training and dance."

"Hm," Giulia said thoughtfully. She spied Tyler again, walking past. "Hey Tyler!" She flung herself off the concession-stand, twisting in mid-air so she landed in Tyler's spread arms. She laughed, dropping from his arms onto her feet, saying, "Wow, that was like a crazy trust-exercise."

"I didn't fuck up this time," Tyler said. She straightened out the skinny black baby-tee she was wearing, so the tiny gold bar at her navel couldn't be seen. Because Cade and her boys were helping out, and Car wouldn't tolerate her not looking her best even for dance setup duty. They had images to maintain. Hot from dancing, Giulia pulled her tousled hair up into a higher ponytail, wrapping a lock of hair around the band to conceal it, and yawned, leaning back against the concession-stand.

"So…that was your ex-boyfriend?" Ashlyn said quietly, peering past Giulia at Tyler, who was on his phone. "The one with the skirt-fetish?"

"That is Tyler, yes," Giulia said quietly.

"Huh." Ashlyn pulled a face, eyeing Tyler. Giulia smiled.

"What?"

"I…just pictured him different." Giulia laughed at Ashlyn's embarrassed expression.

"Different how?"

"I don't know… Okay, I envisioned one of the Hemsworth brothers." Giulia laughed richly, smirking.

"One of the Hemsworth brothers, huh?"

"If you did get with either of them, you might have to get Elijah to compel Aljaž to stop stalking you and making death-threats so he could take the tasty home, but…" Ashlyn trailed off as Giulia laughed deeply.

"But which brother?" Giulia asked, smirking. "Blonde or brunette? Tell you what, that sounds like a delicious sandwich though." Ashlyn giggled deliciously, and they hopped up on top of the concession stand to sit down for a little bit, sneaking a cupcake each, gossiping about the boys helping out and taking Instagram pictures, pulling faces, and going through the contents of their purses when Caroline had permitted them all to take a break, or risk child-labour law violations.

Before they had come over to the school, Ashlyn had brought out a box of goodies she had intended to send Giulia for her next part of their beauty exchange – Giulia had grabbed the box she was putting together for Ashlyn, and they'd spent a fun hour going through the bits and pieces – little bits of obscure jewellery, cute notepads, makeup they had fallen in love with, perfume tester bottles, magazines, even a decorative phone case (Gatsby-style), copies of recipes they'd found on the internet or in cookbooks and made pretty in handmade cards (Giulia had spent an afternoon scrapbooking with Caroline, putting together pages for Halloween and Homecoming, and Car had helped her design a few handmade cards to send to Ashlyn with her beauty-swaps). They'd done a quick video to show their blog-followers the gifts they'd received, and attempted working on freehand winged eyeliner using a soft grey gel liner as a stencil to follow later with black – and lipsticks: Ashlyn looked very pretty, her hair loose, gold hoops glinting among her balmy blonde mermaid locks, her face fresh, eyes wide, a pop of colour coming from the gorgeous, vibrant mandarin-pink lipstick had found and decided she could not live without passing on to Ashlyn, who had the skin-tone for it. Ash was still wearing her Star Wars tee and sparkly-toed Converses that Cara had surprised her with on her un-birthday celebration after a particularly bad date Cara herself had set Ashlyn up on, hadn't remembered to put on a bra before Giulia had frogmarched her out of the house to help put all the cupcakes in the back of Caroline's car, and when Jeremy strolled over, hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt, Ashlyn's cheeks warmed with colour, almost freezing as she stared breathlessly, like a rabbit sensing a fox. Only, Jeremy didn't realise he was the predator, she, the skittish girl who definitely thought he was cute, embarrassed merely by his nearness to her, when he shuffled over to say hi to Giulia.

"How is it possible that you are even vertical and coherent right now?" Jeremy asked, completely stunned by Giulia's lack of hangover. Ashlyn folded her arms over her chest behind him, her cheeks warm with colour, her eyes darting between Giulia and Jeremy. "When we went to bed you could barely remember your Social Security number – and on a good drinking day you can recite an entire Shakespeare play by heart."

"Well, Jem, you know the old saying, you can't keep a Salvatore down," Giulia said.

"I think it's you can't keep a good girl down," Jeremy smiled, shaking his head.

"Hey, Giulia," someone said in greeting, and Giulia glanced around, sending a rich smile to the tall, blonde athletic sort who wandered past with his friends.

"Who was that?" Ashlyn asked curiously, eyes following Cade and his friends – they were all the beautiful, popular but edgy types.

"That's Cade," Jeremy said quietly, glancing at Giulia.

"That is Cade?" Ashlyn gasped, her jaw dropping as her gaze swung toward Cade; perched on the concession-stand, she blatantly checked Cade out. "Wow."

"Yeah," Giulia smirked, eyeing Cade lustily. "I tapped that. Hard. And – a lot." Ashlyn giggled richly as Jeremy sighed, shaking his head. "Must say, he was very enthusiastic. And impressive."

"I don't need to hear this," Jeremy winced.

"Ashlyn might," Giulia said, grinning like the devil. "Jeremy, this is my friend Ashlyn. Ashlyn, this is Jeremy Gilbert. Jeremy, Ashlyn likes Doctor Who, physics, boys with big hands, Coke-floats and ribs. She's also a C-cup and single."

"Giulia!" She cackled evilly, knowing she was really pushing some buttons with Ashlyn, the way her cheeks were flushing, eyes darting to Jeremy. She obviously liked the look of him – and Giulia, knowing the both of them, couldn't say she'd know any better pairing for either.

"So am I gonna have to be your sober-coach for tonight?" Jeremy asked, his own cheeks flushing, giving Ashlyn a sidelong look when he thought she might not notice.

"Don't worry – I may indulge in boys tonight, not booze," Giulia said thoughtfully, musing over Cade's ass in those jeans she liked him wearing. Why did boys have better asses than most girls, without even having to do weird yoga workouts?

"Uh… Considering what happened last time you…indulged, is that wise?" Ashlyn asked. "Maybe I should handcuff myself to you for the night."

Giulia blinked, considering the idea. "He might enjoy that – lemme check. Hey, Cade!"

"Giulia!"

"You two are harshing my mellow," Giulia pouted playfully. She grinned like the devil. "Maybe I should lock you two in a closet." Jeremy's lips twitched toward a smile, as Ashlyn blushed, hiding a grin.

"Uh… I'm gonna go to the restroom," Ashlyn said shyly, sliding off the concession-stand. She started to walk away, then paused, retracing her steps. "Um… Giulia, can you show me where the restroom actually is?" She narrowed her eyes at Giulia dangerously, though she was smiling.

"Er…" Giulia turned to Jeremy, even as Ashlyn latched onto her hand, gently tugging her away. "If I'm not back in five minutes…just wait longer. This may get dirty."

"You wish," Ashlyn muttered, pushing Giulia away with her hands at the small of Giulia's back. She whispered, "I'm going to kill you. First I'm gonna pluck out your belly-button piercing with my bare hands!"

"That's not very nice."

"That's your friend Jeremy?" Ashlyn blurted, when they were cloistered in the girls' restroom, her expression desperate and mortified.

Giulia smiled, saying affectionately, "He's cute, isn't he?"

"I'm wearing a Star Wars t-shirt," Ashlyn whispered, mortified, raising her palms to her cheeks. "And I'm not even wearing a bra."

"At least you're flaunting what you've got," Giulia shrugged, smiling, trying to assuage Ashlyn's embarrassment.

"But – I haven't even brushed my hair since yesterday, and I'm tired, and…"

"Don't worry – Jeremy likes pretty, grungy girls with attitude," Giulia said, shrugging delicately. And that definition was a broad umbrella that encompassed both herself, as his friend, and Vicki Donovan, as his ex-girlfriend. Ashlyn blushed hotly. In the silence of the restroom, Giulia smirked, Ashlyn, blushing, glanced anywhere but at her face. Finally she mumbled, "I have to pee", and disappeared into a cubicle.

"I'll meet you back in the gym," Giulia yawned, dawdling back to the gymnasium. A bunch of the guys were clustered around Tyler, eyes on his phone like hawks.

"Hey, Giulia, c'mere!" he called, and Giulia wandered over.

"Yo?"

"You heard about Duke's party, right?"

"Ten kegs? Uh, yeah."

"Right. Dumb question."

"Yup." Further ignoring Tyler, Giulia wandered back to Jeremy, who was texting someone. Odd enough in itself, considering the only people in his Contacts were Giulia herself, Jenna and Elena.

"Who're you texting?" she asked curiously. "A new friend?"

"Uh, yeah," Jeremy said, tucking his phone away as Ashlyn walked over, a smile lingering on his lips as his eyes illuminated with interest at the sight of her. She was so pretty – the balmy, silky mermaid ash-blonde hair, the sultry eyes and unassuming prettiness, the delicate strip of tummy revealed by the vintage tee she had been so embarrassed about wearing in front of Jeremy seconds ago, her dark-wash skinnies and custom-painted TOMs decorated with the lantern scene from Tangled, the layered necklaces – she typified the festival-going, slightly grungy, pretty, laidback young-woman who accessorised, played with makeup, eye-stalked cute boys and was a driven student.

And there was Jeremy, a grieving orphan who'd hit rough patch after rough patch lately but was still here, smiling, looking adorable with his puppy-dog brown eyes and fingertips stained with artists' graphite.

Two very lonely teenagers, though one had a very rich internal life, the other, not so much: they were both here, they were the same age, and watching them together at the diner after Caroline had permitted them all to leave, the decorating done, Giulia smirked to herself as she fiddled with her straw, allowing the two to talk rapid-fire, almost ignoring her. They talked about movies, music, art especially, Jeremy's crazy Gilbert ancestor, Ashlyn's nutty eccentric 'aunt' Cara who was more like a sister to her, about Giulia first meeting Ashlyn less than a month ago when Lexi had dragged Giulia to Manhattan.

Their table was loaded with chilli-cheese fries, burgers, grilled-cheese, milkshakes, Coke-floats, mac 'n cheese, waffles and fruit-cups, littered with straw wrappers, a couple magazines, Jeremy's sketchbook, their cell-phones, they had been sat chatting for well over an hour, and Jeremy laughed as he checked his phone, buzzing with a text. He ignored the text, tucking his phone back into his pocket as he said, "So, you're staying the whole week?"

"Uh…I'm staying as long as Giulia lets me stay!" Ashlyn laughed shyly, glancing at Giulia, who smiled enigmatically. She herself was still waiting for her own phone to start ringing with a phone-call from Cara or Vera or Chocolat or Elijah – anyone who had noticed Ashlyn wasn't in her room.

"Who are you dodging?" Giulia asked curiously, as Jeremy's phone pinged again. "New friend?"

"Yeah. Anna," Jeremy sighed, glancing over at her. Giulia's eyebrows rose. Anna? "She, uh, I met her at the public library, she helped me with my extra-credit assignment."

"Really?" Giulia said, eyebrows still raised. His new pal Anna had helped him with a vampire essay? Anna. Annabel. Knew it, she thought smugly, texting Damon. "That is very interesting."

Her phone buzzed with a text – it was from Caroline, not Damon, asking where Giulia was: she was parked outside the Boarding House, too "ooged" to knock on the door and go inside. Car had always said the Boarding House reminded her of the Bluebeard fairytale.

"Alright, we'd better get going," Giulia said, dusting off her hands after picking at the leftover chilli-cheese fries. "Car's going to have an aneurysm if we cut back on her prep-time."

"I'll see you guys there," Jeremy said, as Ashlyn gathered a few of their bits that had scattered across the table amongst the plates and dirtied glasses, and Giulia pulled enough cash to cover their bill out of her purse, leaving a handsome tip.

Getting ready with Caroline was a lot of fun – they did a joint "GRWU" video and made faces as they did flirty eyeliner and tried to put on false eyelashes – and Giulia received a few gasps as she brought out the vintage dress of her great-grandmother Doll's that she had found to wear. A frothing, corseted strapless gown of embroidered black tulle and satin, with a dramatic sweetheart neckline, a waistline emphasised with a black satin sash, the full skirt fully lined, with matching petticoats. Giulia definitely had a bigger bust than her great-grandmother, but Doll had had a tinier waistline – at least, she could stand to wear her dresses this fitted, as most of them that Giulia had tried on were the same, structured bodices… She had found a rose-pink tiered tulle dress for Ashlyn to wear of Doll's, and they had fun, setting Caroline's hair in an elaborate up-'do, curling Ashlyn's hair for texture before putting it up in a high ponytail, a lock of hair wrapped around the band; Giulia's hair, she put into glossy vintage waves. Caroline had matched her outfit right down to her underwear – she had had a manicure at the salon especially, bought new false eyelashes, had Giulia do her winged eyeliner, and sat fretting over the success of the Dance-a-thon as Giulia poured her a drink just to get her to stop making her nervous with her jittery energy.

It didn't help that Caroline had Matt on the brain – she felt they had peaked as friends, but was anxious about proposing a next step in their relationship if Matt wasn't into it. She'd feel utterly mortified, and lose what they had been building lately.

Caroline told us all this as she focused on applying her false eyelashes – Ashlyn, she'd gone full-on vintage but in a neutral palette, glamorous but understated; Giulia, she'd added half falsies to emphasise her lashes with dramatic winged liner, but she'd used a brand-new hot red lipstick from Esteé Lauder instead of a nude one, with gold hoops rather than the fat pearl studs Ashlyn had borrowed, and both girls had borrowed a pair of Giulia's dance heels to wear. They'd had 1950s music on as they got ready, pumping them up for the dance, Giulia teased that they may have to carry her home only because she might expire from lack of oxygen due to the pressure of Doll's boned bodice on her ribcage!

But her boobs looked amazing in Doll's dress! So she sucked it up, and jangled her keys, toting her new favourite tiny sharp-cornered YSL black leather purse, scarlet fingernails flashing in the foyer light, and as Ashlyn and Car giggled and skipped toward her Beetle, her phone rang. It was Damon.

"Hi? Where are you?" she asked – he had just literally been at the house.

"Gilbert House of Horrors," Damon answered. "So, check it – a vampire attacked Elena tonight." Giulia raised her eyebrows.

"Interesting," she said thoughtfully. Given Damon's irreverent tone, she knew Elena was fine. "The vampire she hit with her car the other night, I'm assuming."

"It would seem – Jeremy invited him into the house last night when he posed as a pizza-delivery guy,"Damon said thoughtfully.

"Well, that's rather clever," Giulia said. "Stefan put on his Hero Hair to save the damsel?"

"Got there just in time before the vamp got a bite in," Damon said, and she could practically hear him shrugging and smirking irreverently.

"Did Elena get a good look at him?"

"Nope. Too busy defending her honour." Giulia snorted.

"She's got none left."

"Easy there, lushy," Damon smirked, "I've heard utterances about you that would make Stefan's Hero Hair fall out for good."

"Yes, well, at least I'm fabulous in bed," Giulia sighed, stifling a yawn. "I'm not vanilla, unlike our favourite couple."

"And I'm officially not even hungry again. Ever," Damon grunted. "How d'you know what they're like in bed?"

"I read it in Elena's diary," Giulia smirked. "Ask Elena 'dear god I hope Stefan does…' something again."

"Ooh. Ammo to torture her with," Damon snickered. "Love it."

"So you've no idea who this vampire could be?" Giulia asked, thinking of her chat with Jeremy earlier.

"No clue."

"Well, in a startling but not entirely unexpected development, Jeremy has made a new friend, who helped him with his extra-credit vampire essay. Her name's Anna."

"Huh. I'll be damned. You were right," Damon said thoughtfully.

Giulia grinned to herself. "I like the sound of that. Say it again?"

"So, we're gonna nab Piece-'a Elena guy at the dance," Damon said, sniffing, ignoring Giulia's request.

"Lure a vampire into a high-school dance. Yes, that doesn't raise any red flags at all," Giulia said sardonically. "Really, Damon? Who's dumbass idea was that?"

"Mine," Damon said easily. "This guy's obsessed with Elena – he's bound to show up. Plenty of innocent little lambs he can use as leverage over her… Anyway, I'm chaperoning."

"Oh jeez!" Giulia exclaimed. She let out a huge huff, unlocking her car. Ashlyn climbed into the back seat, Car the passenger seat, immediately flipping the visor down to check her makeup in the tiny old mirror. "Just don't do anything that I'd end up having to clean up, please."

"I'll do my best, but, y'know, when Stef gets his forehead-brooding hero-hair on, there's nothing else that matters," Damon sighed. "Who knows what could happen." Giulia rolled her eyes. "Where are you, anyway?"

"We're just piling into the car. We'll be at school in about fifteen minutes. Oh – Car says try to convince Elena to actually put an effort into her outfit, Car's seen her outfit and she does not approve."

"I'll do my best," Damon promised. "She really could use some curlers and a petticoat and a lick of eyeliner. Yes, I'm talking to you, pouty. Save a dance for me."

"When you hear Ella Fitzgerald," Giulia promised, hanging up the phone, and she drove them to the dance. The parking-lot was full of cars, and kids in varsity jackets, jeans turned up at the ankle and combed hair – Hallelujah, if this dance had done one thing, it had gotten half the boys at MFHS to comb their hair – and poodle-skirts and low stilettos – and Elvis was already playing in the gym. Jeremy stood behind the concessions stand, handing out popcorn and cupcakes in exchange for cash, refilling the punch bowl and trying to live down the reputation that he'd spike it.

Given what she knew about the tomb, the vampires, Emily Bennett, Giulia let Damon take care of the supernatural aspect of the evening. She had put a huge amount of effort into helping Car put this event together, and she was having fun: she didn't care to go running around in darkened hallways to escape a vampire bent on punishing Elena for looking like Katherine Pierce's identical twin. For Giulia was certain that, given it was Annabel orchestrating a mystical assault of the tomb, she had gathered minions around her who may have survived the purge of Mystic Falls in 1864. Perhaps others who had escaped the fires but had loved-ones inside the tomb – or minions, like Logan Fell, whom she was using in order to obtain what she wanted.

So it was a safe guess of Giulia's that Elena's new tormenter was a Civil War vampire, probably turned by Katherine herself if Stefan had been right that Katherine turned most of the twenty-seven who had perished in the fire.

Why torment Elena? Because Katherine was a hideous little slut, that's why, Giulia thought. And she could only imagine how Damon would react if he discovered…what she feared. The niggling feeling in the pit of her stomach as the pieces had started to fit together like Tetris.

People believed the opposite of love was hate – Giulia believed it was indifference. To feel nothing for someone who had once captivated every minute part of your soul. She was no indifferent to Tyler: she had once loved him. Hate had been the transitory emotion she had passed through to cope with his betrayal.

So how would Damon cope? How long would he remain in the hateful phase? After what Katherine had done to him, would he ever be able to get to the freeing indifference she had welcomed after being bitter and hurt, crushed?

Giulia danced, and chose not to worry about the supernatural element of the evening. The vampires could handle themselves far better than any human could: Damon certainly wouldn't shy away from doing what needed to be done, and given the threat posed to Elena, Giulia knew Stefan wouldn't either – she just wondered whether Stefan would try to sabotage any attempt Damon might make to ply information from the other vampire.

Damon, who danced with any pretty girl left without a partner for two seconds, had disappeared for twenty minutes after Elena and Stefan suspiciously split up – given Giulia didn't leave the dance-floor except during the mandatory break, she didn't notice much of what went on, only that Jeremy's new little friend Anna had shown up, looking like she was pestering him even as she helped restock the tiered cupcake stand. Dancing to Elvis with Ashlyn and Caroline, Giulia did a double-take back at Jeremy when she saw Anna's eyes flicker – red bleeding out from her irises, veins beneath her eyes throbbing – a blink, that was all it took, and Jeremy to stare, wide-eyed, asking her if she was okay, and Annabel's vampire traits subsided as she whirled away, concentrating. Giulia saw her mumble something over her shoulder to Jeremy, before hot-footing it away.

Admirable control, she thought, watching tiny Anna's retreating back. She couldn't have been more than sixteen at the oldest. She had only looked out of place in the gym due to her skinny-jeans and dark hoodie, a fresh-faced, pretty little thing, petite in build. She was over six hundred and fifty years old.

And she was putting her faith, her mother's life, in the mental dexterity of a fifteen-year-old Xbox-playing boy? When the song changed, Giulia wandered over to the concessions stand – she was so proud of it, it looked fantastic – and beamed at Jeremy, leaning on the counter with a few dollar notes in her hand, and he gave her one of his impish little smiles.

"So who was that?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder in the direction Annabel had fled.

"Oh. That was Anna," Jeremy said, shrugging disinterestedly as he filled cups with fresh popcorn. "She, uh…I think maybe she had an allergic reaction or something, anyway…I think she's gone for the night."

"Did you invite her to the dance?" Giulia asked, smiling. He chuckled.

"No. She just sorta showed up," he smiled sweetly. "She does that."

"What's that?"

"Er. Well, stalk me, I guess," he chuckled good-naturedly. "I don't know, maybe she's a little overenthusiastic, maybe she thinks we're…whatever…"

"Maybe she thinks you're dating?" Giulia smiled warmly. "Well, she's cute. Do you like her?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's clever, and she's kinda lurky and weird, but…"

"Well, there's normal-person weird and there's me weird," Giulia said, and Jeremy smirked, handing some guy a cupcake for his complaining girlfriend. "And since you're almost a PhD in Giulia Weirdness, I think you can handle it." She eyed him, scrutinising his body language and expression. "Unless you don't want to have to?"

"I…like Anna, I just…" Jeremy sighed heavily, handing over a can of Coke. "After Vicki, I don't…I just think maybe it's too soon."

"You're not on any timeline but your own, Jem," Giulia said gently. "If you want to move on, you're allowed to. Nobody will think the less of you for getting on with your life." He gave her a sweet smile.

"So, your new friend just shows up out of nowhere?" he said, and Giulia glanced over her shoulder at Ashlyn, dancing with some guy on the JV basketball team.

"I think she's having a hard time at home," Giulia said honestly. She was still waiting for a panicked phone-call from Elijah or Cara. But she wasn't going to pick up the phone to call them – she had a feeling Ashlyn was trying to prove a point to them, her calling them would cross a line somewhere.

"Have you been in the photo-booth yet?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes, but, I still haven't had any pictures with you," Giulia coaxed, grinning teasingly. "I'll get some pictures of you before the night is out, see if I don't."

"So…is Ashlyn staying the whole week?" Jeremy asked, glancing over at Ashlyn again. She did look very pretty tonight.

"Yeah," Giulia shrugged delicately, smiling. "Think she is. What're you guys doing for break?"

"Jenna's kinda freaking out about it… It's our first holiday without Mom and Dad," Jeremy said, his voice dropping low. "And you know how crappy a cook Jenna is."

"I like to think of it as 'culinary-challenged'," a voice said, and Jenna appeared, bearing dollar-bills for concessions, flanked by Mr Saltzman in a vintage Varsity jacket – his own, Giulia suspected. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi Jenna," Giulia smiled, leaning in for the hug Jenna offered her. "You're rocking the hell out of that lipstick."

"Thank you!" Jenna beamed. "Are you two having fun?"

"Tonnes," Jeremy said drily. Giulia smirked.

"I am," she said, loading up on Cokes, Charleston Chews and popcorn – she couldn't look at those cupcakes one more time or she might end up flinging them against a wall. On the plus side, they looked fantastic and were going literally like hot-cakes.

"So, what were you two talking about? Not the curry incident."

"I don't think Mr Saltzman needs to know about that," Giulia grimaced.

"Unless he has health-insurance and doesn't mind a trip to the ER with food poisoning," Jeremy winced. Mr Saltzman chuckled.

"I shouldn't laugh – my culinary skills are limited to pasta and ordering Thai takeout," he said, smiling charmingly. "And brisket and meatloaf. I've been told I make a damn good brisket, and my Austrian nana's pork meatloaf."

"Well, I know where I'm going for Thanksgiving dinner," Giulia joked, smiling.

"Jeremy says you had a surprise visit from a new friend," Jenna smiled warmly. "Packed day for you – dealing with the mother of all hangovers on top of it all."

"Well, I learned from the best," Giulia said, grinning meaningfully at Jenna.

"And the student surpasses the teacher," Jenna smiled. "Those days are sadly, behind me."

"Don't worry, I picked up the proverbial torch in your honour," Giulia said, smiling.

"I'd wondered where my shot-glasses had gone," Jenna chuckled.

"I gotta say, I've never seen anyone get over such a horrific hangover so quickly," Mr Saltzman said, giving Giulia a contemplative look.

"It's my super-power," Giulia said, and he chuckled. Ever since seeing his ring, realising his connection to Professor Flemming, she had been a little, to use Caroline's term, ooged out about Mr Saltzman's reasons for coming to Mystic Falls – but he was an enthusiastic teacher and as far as Giulia could tell, a good man. She liked him a lot, and didn't want to have to think badly of him.

Caroline disappeared with Bonnie halfway through the dance – Car always tended to enjoy the planning of parties rather than the actual execution – and anyway, she had to get home to pack last-minute bits ready for her dad to pick her up in the morning. Giulia had been in charge of planning and setup but not of clean-up, and she and Ashlyn weren't the last to leave – but neither had left the dance-floor for more than one song together, unless it was to go to the bathroom, or flirt bashfully with Jeremy. Ashlyn had managed to drag him onto the dance-floor for a few songs, and they'd had fun in the photo-booth together – pictures taken on an iPad were saved with a photo-booth App, and over the holiday Giulia was in charge of uploading the best ones to the school's Facebook account for everyone to find and tag themselves, the way she had done the Homecoming photos.

"So…what's going on?" Ashlyn asked, glancing across at her, as Giulia drove them back to the Boarding House.

"What do you mean?"

"The text," Ashlyn said, giving Giulia a look. Just before they had left the dance, Giulia had received a text from Damon. Vampire searching for grimoire through Founders' journals. Hero-Hair took the bait, offered to help me get the grimoire, get Katherine out.

Giulia had thought, Let the games begin.

A.N.: After my blitz of updates, I know this one is a little late, but, it's here! I couldn't be bothered to write the whole Elena-squealing-and-pencil-stabbing scene, because it's redundant, we've all seen it. Nobody likes Elena anyway… And I have got to not ever watch Ric's death-scene in season three ever again. It makes me sob every time. And I am devastated that not only did Showtime cancel The Borgias, but Alcide perishes in the crossfire in season seven of True Blood… Hannah sad.