Hello, my lovely readers. This is the final chapter before "I Dare You" begins. Please, check the end-note for info on when our final story begins. On with the show…

Chapter 30: We'll Remember

2035:

"Do you remember graduation night?" Damon asked me. We were lying on top of the hood of his Camaro. He passed me his flask and I took a long swallow.

Pausing to think about what to say, I shook my head. "It all feels like a blur at this point."

"Yup," Damon nodded. "We had a lot good times. Aside from the people dying and the all-out-crazy."

"I thought you said the crazy was the best part?" I quirked an eyebrow and smirked at Damon.

"It was." Damon grinned. "To Dare Club. May it never end."

I nodded. Glancing at my watch, I groaned. "Sorry. Got to go. Caroline should be finishing with torturing our son."

"Shopping," Damon groaned. "Never going shopping with Care, again!" He pointed an accusatory finger at me. "You guys coming back from Europe?"

"When the time is right." I moved to open the passenger side door. Caroline and I had made a plan, years ago, to disappear from the area for a time. Wouldn't want to attract more suspicion than we already had. "Where are you off to?"

"Lena always wanted to check out Hong Kong. Isn't that where Elijah is now?" Damon settled behind the wheel. "Might stop by New York to visit Stef, Bekah and the kids."

"Right." I nodded. "Kol's already in Hungary. Finn and Sage are touring Kenya. Something to do with studying the mating of lions. Although Sage is probably just studying mating in general."

"Anybody hear from Aiden and Josh?" Damon asked.

"They're in Australia. Hayley told us last week. She's dropping by to spend a weekend with Caroline before we set off." I contemplated the night sky. "Nadia's run off. Again. I hear."

"Can't keep that girl in one place. Reminds me of someone," Damon grinned at me and I nodded. We stopped talking for a moment.

"Time to go," I said quietly.

~0~

2002:

"Time to go!" I called out. I stood at the end of the stairs. My eyes were on the top of them.

"We're almost ready! Stop rushing!" Rose shouted back down to me.

Caroline came to stand by my side, taking hold of my elbow. "They wouldn't even let me come up and see what they're up to." She rolled her eyes. "Lame."

A minute later Rose came out and stood at the top of the stairs. Her hands went to her hips and she lifted her chin. "May I present the graduating class of 2002?" she cried, a twinkle in her eyes as she turned and held out a hand in the direction of the person who came around the corner. "ANDIE STARR!"

We clapped as Andie came down the stairs, waving like she was part of Miss America. "Andie is well known for her kind heart and is no doubt going to make us proud as star reporter in our own Mystic Falls!" Rose continued.

"Mystic Falls!" Andie cried, turning to glare at Rose. "I plan on traveling."

"Moving on…" Rose continued to smile. "MASON LOCKWOOD!" She announced.

"You're not going in alphabetical order!" Caroline cried, folding her arms over her chest. She hissed to me, under her breath, "I should be the one doing this! I volunteered!"

"You'll get your turn when you graduate!" Rose called back like she could hear Caroline. Caroline blushed and leaned into my side while I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Mason is planning on playing football and drinking too much and embarrassing the good Lockwood name in college. After that he plans on backpacking across the States and fathering a new group football team."

Mason seemed pleased with Rose's assessment of his future as he came down the stairs and we cheered for him. "She's got me, spot on."

Andie rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"Next up… JENNA SOMMERS!" Jenna made her way forward with a slight limp that would go away in the months to come. Her face was clear of bruising and she looked happier than she did the night Elijah and I found her. Although something in the light of her eyes had dimmed a fraction. She would need time to heal.

"The lovely Miss Sommers will be pursuing a degree in psychology and we will all be seeing her again, for a little coach time. Our girl's got to pay off student loans somehow!" Rose clapped as Jenna made her way down the stairs with care. Mason moved to help her off the last stairs and Jenna turned to wait for the next graduating student.

"ALARIC SALTZMAN, get your cute arse out here!" Rose called, cupping her hands to her mouth. Jenna began to laugh as Alaric came running to stand at the top of the stairs and grinned at all of us, running a hand through his tousled hair. "Alaric will be working toward a degree is history, studying the legs of our friend, Jenna, and generally befriending more ridiculous people like us!"

Alaric grinned and high-fived Rose. "You bet I will." He slid down the staircase and moved to sweep Jenna into his arms. Somehow he made the gesture look gentle before he pressed a sweet kiss to her lips and set her down.

"They're so cute," Caroline whispered to me.

"Yes. They are. Just not as cute as we are," I added with a wink. Caroline giggled and we went back to watching the last of the graduates.

"Welcome HAYLEY MARSHALL. Miss Marshall intends on leaving us for the Big Apple in which she will be lost in a library, being mugged by a masked man on a moonlit night before she turns into a wolf and chases him down, retrieves her purse and trots off. We wish our favorite wolf the best of luck with her new journey." Rose said as Hayley came out and waved to Caroline.

"We will miss him so… ELIJAH MIKAELSON!" Rose announced. "We will miss Elijah because he is not going on an adventure that he deserves but is staying behind to enter a life of childcare and studying self-neglect. For this reason we both love him and fear for his sanity. We will come to visit." Rose waited as Elijah came out and offered a faux dark look before they hugged.

"Last, but in no way least… Our Queen of Mean! You know that you love to hate her! She'll break your heart and leave you in a million pieces, which happens to be the degree she's seeking, and possibly something in fashion design… KATHERINE GILBERT!" Rose shouted, holding out both arms and waiting for Kat.

Kat came out and threw her arms around Rose. "You forgot someone," Kat said, shooting us all a mocking look. "ROSE MARIE. The kind. The talented. The working toward becoming a bookworm and hiding away until all of us forget this pretty face," Kat took hold of Rose's face, squashing her cheeks together and making her lips purse. "One of my oldest and best-est friends on the planet." Kat tugged Rose down the stairs with her. "No one is leaving until midnight. Got me? Not one of you!" She eyed the group with a look that could still inspire terror. Then she smiled. "'Cause we are going to party! I dare all of you!"

"Oh, boy," Jenna giggled, laying her head on Ric's shoulder. "We're in so much trouble."

I found myself smiling. I would really miss this group. They were the oldest of us. And soon they would be gone. This brought us closer to high school. And then life beyond high school. One day, there would be one, last Dare Club meeting and I did not want to think of that day.

~0~

"Over here!" Damon shouted. He waved both his arms. He'd taken a seat high up the bleachers. Stefan and Bekah were already sitting up there with Damon. Kol sat a few bleachers down. He looked glum. I saw the reason why.

Jeremy Gilbert sat with his parents. They were on the other side of the bleachers. Elena sat with them. But the minute she saw that Caroline and I had arrived, she turned to her mom and said something before scooting off the bleacher, hurrying toward our group. "Hey!" she called.

"Up here!" Damon shouted.

Elena turned and hurried down to Damon while I turned to the others. "See you when you're finished, brother." I nodded at the rest of the group. Caroline marched up the stairs ahead of me like she owned them.

Once we got settled, Damon picked up a roll magazine and peered through it. "Bon's still not here. I think Matt got held up by his mom. Tyler may not show. Something to do with his mom dragging his ass to on some lame-ass European vacation." Damon continued to peer around. "Your dad's here!" he added.

I waved for him to give me that rolled up magazine. My eyes narrowed when I noted my father talking to Elijah's old English teacher. They were laughing about something. I didn't like how she placed a hand on his arm. Handing the mag back to Damon, I fell back, and crossed my arms over my chest.

"The ceremony is beginning," Caroline told us, holding up a finger to her lips to silence us.

Damon rolled his eyes at me but closed his mouth.

I exhaled as the principal of the high school began a speech which made me and Damon groan in boredom. I took Damon's magazine back and spied Henrik playing with an extra graduation cap. Aiden sat atop my father's lap. My father sat, his eyes on where Elijah sat between Kat and Alaric. Elijah's teacher was watching my father. My teeth set on edge.

"Give me," Caroline whispered to me. She took the mag and then elbowed me. "Bonnie," she whispered. She pointed to the bottom of the bleachers. Bonnie sat beside her Grams at the bottom of the bleachers. "Why isn't she up here, with us?" Caroline shot me a quick pout.

Frowning, I took Caroline's hand and squeezed it. Shelia Bennett never gave us any reason to believe she disapproved of our group. However, we were getting older. Damon and I were headed to high school while Bon, Care, Lena and the others still had years to go in the middle school and the elementaries.

The rest of the program bored me. I considered daring a club member to do something to break up the tedium but the boredom finally broke. The high school principal moved back to the platform. "And, now, I would like you to give your attention to this year's valedictorian: Jenna Sommers."

Jenna rose and made her way to the platform. "Hello, everyone," she called out. She offered her fellow students and the audience a wide smile. "Thank you all for coming. It means a lot more to my class that we have the support of our families and community members." She inhaled. "Sometimes we take for granted what it means to have people. Sometimes we forget what it is like for those who have no one." Her eyes went to Hayley and then to Kat. "How alone people that we see, every day can be and how they might be asking for help and we don't hear their cries."

Jenna broke into a smile. "That is why I dare everyone here, today, to see each other. To hold each other, just a little more tightly. To let each other know that we love each other. And thank you! Thank you for caring. Showing up, it counts more than you know." Taking a step backwards, Jenna stood just a little longer as the entire audience and students rose to their feet to applaud.

I waited with a little bit of impatience for the names to be called so we could leave. Tonight, there would a party for the first of our Dare Club members who were moving on and I wanted to begin the festivities.

Names began to be announced and I sat forward, rolling my eyes until they got to the G-s. "Katherine Gilbert…Mason Lockwood…Rose Marie…Hayley Marshall…Elijah Mikaelson…Alaric Saltzman…Jenna Sommers…Andie Starr…"

This would have been a little less dramatic if someone had not blown an air horn. That someone turned out to be Katherine. I did not know what it singled until Kat took off her robe and ran between the chairs of her former classmates. "School's out for the summer!" Katherine sang before scooting her naked butt toward the parking lot. My eyes widened as Andie, Rose, Mason, Jenna, Alaric, Hayley and Elijah also dropped their robes and ran through the rows of chairs to join Kat.

"Oh, my God!" Lena's parents were shouting.

I found myself laughing so hard, I fell into the unhappy-looking parent in front of me. "Sor-ry," I cried, getting up and herding my friends towards the stairs so we could join the nudists in the parking lot.

Damon caught my arm. "We're doing that when we graduate."

I shook my head. "You can do it," I told him.

"I dare you," Damon replied, a gleam in his eyes.

Shaking my head, I wondered what else we'd do that night.

~0~

"I dare you to call China!" Jenna shrieked at Rose who rolled her eyes.

"That's not very imaginative of you," Rose replied. "Anywhere specific?"

"Yes. Call the American embassy in China. Use this take-out menu and pretend to be Bill Clinton. He's a little drunk tonight," Jenna shouted.

Alaric burst out laughing. "Okay. I think Jenna's had a little too much."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Hi. Could I get a wanton soup? Three spring rolls and…" She rolled her eyes. "They hung up."

Kat came over to sit down beside Jenna. "Jenna, honey, I dare you to give me your credit card. I want to buy you something nice."

Jenna grinned and opened her purse. "O-kay."

Alaric stared at Kat. "Kat, I dare you take a plunger and stick it up your –" Jenna placed a hand over Alaric's mouth.

Kat smirked. "Niklaus, I dare you to eat this," she held up a piece of pizza.

"What did you do to it?" I demanded, eyeing the slice through narrowed eyes.

Kat simply smiled at me. I looked at Caroline who stared back at me. "I won't be kissing you, again, tonight," I warned Caroline before lifting the slice of pizza to my mouth.

"Noooo!" Caroline cried. She grabbed the pizza. "I'll take the dare." She took a bite and wrinkled her nose. "Oh, why!"

"I didn't do anything to it," Kat said. "I just wanted to know if Klaus would eat it." She gave us a happy smile before taking the pizza from Caroline and finished it off.

The doorbell rang and I noted that it was Bonnie. "I'll get it!" I shouted. I ran up the stairs and opened the door. "Hey, Bon. I didn't know you were allowed to come out and play with us anymore."

"I'm going to spend the summer with Dad. But Grams is letting me sleepover here. Tonight. If you're still hosting the sleepover." Bonnie looked around me.

"I am. Come in." I waved for Bonnie to come inside.

Music played from my room and I led her to the door as Stefan carried a two-litter of pop for Bekah who kept smiling at him in a way that made me want to dare Stefan to fall down the staircase. Something to do this summer. I made my way down and paused to look at all of my friends. They all looked so happy. This would be our last night together. I wanted us to remember it forever.

"Does anyone have a camera?" I called out.

"Me!" Jeremy called. His mouth was full of pizza.

"Great," I replied. "Can you take some shots for me?" I called. "We're doing Dare photos."

"Dare photos?" Elena looked confused, cupping a soda can between her palms. "What's a Dare photo?"

"It's a photo where you pose like you're in the middle of a dare," I told her.

"Or you are actually completing a dare," Kat suggested.

"Yes!" Damon cheered. "Dare Photos!"

"Right." I smirked. "Who wants to go first?"

"Me!" Kol cried, waving his hand. "I'll do anything."

"We know," I groaned. "Who wants to dare Kol to do something?"

"Me," Jeremy said. He moved to face Kol. "I dare you to play baseball with me."

"You want to play baseball?" Kol rolled his eyes. "That's lame."

Jeremy smirked. "Not like we're going to play it, it isn't."

"Fine," Kol rolled his eyes.

Our group marched out to the backyard and Jeremy brought a baseball bat. "We don't have a ball," Kol said, still looking unhappy.

Jeremy nodded. "Right. We're going to need something to hit."

Kol's eyes began to gleam. "Jeremy needs something to hit, everyone. Give me something."

We began to look for something. Henrik came up with a rock which Elijah took away from him. Rebekah refused to look for anything. Stefan found a slug but Jenna talked him out of using it. Kat presented an old tube of lipstick but it would not go far.

Finally, Damon came out of the house with a carton of eggs. Kat began to grin as Jeremy began to hit the eggs all over the place. One of those places being my dad's bedroom window. Oops.

"Got the photo," Caroline told us. "My turn."

"Dress as Nik," Damon dared her.

Caroline rolled her eyes but she went inside with Lena and Bon. She came out and smiled. She looked cute in my jeans and one of my t-shirts.

"Forgive me," Kat said to Hayley. "I dare you to."

Hayley let out a shocked laugh. "I already did. In the woods. How did you even know we were there?"

"I went to Damon's. I went to go hide in one of the guest rooms. I saw you psycho adoptive dad headed into the woods with Aiden. Then I saw you go in, too. So, I went in search of a weapon. Found an axe. Didn't really have a plan." Kat shrugged. "But someone was going to hurt one of my girls. Couldn't let that go."

"Thank you," Hayley threw her arms around Kat and I took the camera from Care to take a quick pic.

"I dare you to eat that snail," Stefan told Jenna.

"Stefan!" Jenna cried in horror.

"What you do for love," Alaric said. He took the snail and I found myself wishing I hadn't eaten dinner. Slurping noises would haunt me for days.

"Fine. I dare you to give me your bra," Stefan said.

"What are you going to do with it?" Jenna asked, taking it off from under her shirt.

"That's between me and my maker," Stefan told her.

Jenna rolled her eyes. "I dare you to give me my bra back."

More photos were taken.

Rebekah sighed. "No one has dared me to do anything yet."

Stefan jumped in. "I dare you to –"

"Nope," Damon jumped in. "I dare you to stay silent for the next ten minutes."

I took a picture of a very red-faced Rebekah as she attempted not to speak.

So many dares went out on that night that I lost track of them. "I dare us all to go to sleep," I groaned, sometime after the fiftieth dare had taken place.

"Uh-huh," Damon groaned. He'd fallen down beside me. We were sleeping on the right side of the room. There was a sheet dividing the room. This way the girls could have some privacy. "It's been a long couple of years."

"High school begins after this summer," I replied. Then I went to sleep.

~0~

Waking up, I yawned and sat up. I looked around to find that almost everyone else had left. Except for Stefan. "Stef, there's something on your face," I told him. I got up and made my way over to peer at the word on his face. "Sucker," it read.

Blinking, I shook my head and then yawned again. Making my way to the stairs, I went up to find most of my friends were sitting in the living room. "Breakfast, Nik," Caroline said, coming up to me with a plate of pancakes. Then she looked at my forehead and giggled.

"What?" I demanded but Caroline had left me.

Damon came down the stairs. "It won't come off," he told me.

"What?" I asked him.

"This!" Damon pulled off the baseball cap he was wearing. "Ass" was written on his forehead. "Go find a mirror."

I went upstairs and almost dropped my plate when I saw the word: "Arse" on my own forehead. "Caroline!" I shouted. When I made my way to the stairs, I found Caroline, Elena and Bonnie giggling before running into the living room. I would revenge myself upon them.

~0~

Three Months Later:

"So, Dad says they're opening the boarding school next year and he already has kids coming this summer. Like today," Damon said.

"Really?" Lexi replied.

"You never told us why you came back," I said, sitting up and peering from Lexi to Anna.

The vampire girls looked at each other. "You're getting older," Lexi began.

"Which means you're going to do something stupid." Anna translated. "Plus, with Aiden, Josh, Nadia and Kat's baby-to-be-born; we have a cover-story. We're back in the babysitting business."

"Yeah?" I nodded. It made sense to me. I just wished Caroline and I would not be separated for another two years before she joined me at the high school.

Lexi parked the car and we got out. "Thanks for the lift, ladies," Damon said with a grin, closing the back door.

We made our way to his front door. Damon took out his key and unlocked the door before we entered. His father came out to meet us with a wide grin. "Boys, you're just in time. I want you to welcome the first two enrollees to the Salvatore Boarding School."

I peered around to see two boys coming toward us. "Miss us, mate?" Enzo quipped.

"Marcel?" I cried in shock.

"Nik. Damon," Marcel and Enzo came to face us. "Your dad came to get us. Looks like we're going to be living here, now."

"Wow," Damon looked happy and moved to hug Enzo.

"Mystic Falls has no idea what is in store for it," Enzo told us.

I continued to smile wondering all the while if I would have yet another fight to retain my club, my girl and my life coming my way. We would find out in the next chapter of my tale.

"I Dare You" will begin January 7, 2020; if all goes well. I hope all of you have a happy and safe holiday season!

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Peace,

-J