Chapter 10

Although she didn't technically need to sleep, Caroline was still tired when she woke up the next morning. She had been running on just under six hours of sleep and her morning seemed to drag on. Bonnie was back at school today, so she texted Matt and Alaric to see if they could meet at lunch so she could tell them all the update about the Originals.

There was no sign of Elena or Stefan all morning, which she was grateful about. She didn't feel like spending whatever time there was left of her lunch after the meeting being glared at.

Caroline met Bonnie at her locker and they headed to Alaric's empty classroom. Matt was already there, chatting with Rebekah. Bonnie raised her eyebrows at seeing the Original sister, but Caroline sent Rebekah a smile, which was returned. Alaric sat at his desk grading papers.

"Alright," Caroline began, a little unsure of herself; she wasn't the one who usually ran these types of meetings. "So we all agreed with the truce and I wanted to give you guys an update on the situation. Bonnie realized that she would need blood from all of the Original siblings, which kind of turned into an issue because Finn was MIA. Elijah and Klaus tracked down his old flame, Sage, who got here yesterday and promised to try to help us get Finn on our side and stop helping Ester. Klaus and the others know that we're the only ones who agreed to the truce, but still said that they aren't going to go against the others unless they are acting in self-defense. I also got it confirmed from Klaus that he will not be going after Elena's blood anymore." Several eyebrows went up at that statement, even Rebekah's. "Yeah, I was a little surprised too. That wasn't one of the things we talked about Saturday morning when we settled on the truce. I asked him about it later. He said that he doesn't want anymore of her blood, and I believe him."

There was silence once she finished speaking and Caroline wasn't a fan of it. "Do you guys have any thoughts on any of that?"

"Well," Alaric began, his eyes darting to Rebekah. "I can't say that I'm not surprised. Even though we agreed to this truce, I thought that Klaus was still going to be forcing Elena to give him some of her blood every so often. Have you told her about that part?"

"I haven't spoken to Elena since I left the Boarding House on Saturday." Caroline replied shortly. She noticed Rebekah narrow her eyes in thought at that information. She was obviously thinking back to what Caroline had told her happened at the meeting.

"Maybe it would help her see that this truce is a good idea?" Matt replied hopefully.

"I can try telling her if you want?" Alaric asked, his eyes on Caroline. She realized that he was offering her an out. He understood that she might not want to see her friend at the moment, and was trying to help her out.

Caroline nodded and gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Ric. That would actually be great."

"I have to admit," Matt spoke up again. "The past few days have actually been really great. It's nice not having to constantly be looking over my shoulder all the time. I was actually able to focus on my homework yesterday."

Bonnie grinned at him. "I know what you mean. My mom and I were talking yesterday and it was just about normal teen and mom stuff. Nothing about random spells or crazy psychos who are after my friends." She glanced at Rebekah, "No offense."

To everyone's surprise, except Caroline's, Rebekah laughed. "None taken. I think all of my siblings and I have called Nik a psycho at least once over the centuries."

Matt smiled at Rebekah and Caroline noticed her blush slightly.

"Well, yeah, that all sounds great." Alaric spoke. "Was there anything else?"

"Just that whenever Sage gets Finn to come back, Bonnie and I will go over to the mansion to do the spell for them. Klaus said he was hoping for that to happen sooner rather than later." Caroline replied.

"Sage called Finn last night. They talked for over 20 minutes on the phone. He said that he would be arriving sometime today. I haven't heard any updates from Nik yet though." Rebekah said as she checked her phone. "Even after Bonnie reverses the spell, I think all of us should still be vigilant. Just because her first attempt to get to my family and I failed, doesn't mean that she'll just quit."

"That makes sense," Alaric nodded. Everyone's eyes went to Caroline, waiting for her to say something.

"Oh, um, yeah," she started. "I guess that's it then? We can go back to our lunch and stuff."

Alaric picked up his grading pen again as the teens filed out of his room. They made their way to the cafeteria and found an empty table. Matt immediately put his bag down and headed off to get food. The three girls sat in a slightly awkward silence until Rebekah spoke up.

"So," she began, her eyes flicking nervously to Bonnie. "I know I might be biased and stuff because I didn't have regular school when I was still alive, but do you guys think that we'll actually ever need the stuff that we learn about in Chemistry and Trigonometry?"

Caroline immediately burst out laughing and Bonnie soon joined in. Matt returned to the table and gave all three girls a questioning look before shaking his head and digging into his food.

"What? What did I say?" Rebekah looked between them in confusion.

"That's one of the most frequently asked questions in any high school." Bonnie answered in between chuckles. "It's a typical teenage thought."

"Yeah, Bekah," Caroline chimed in. "You said you wanted a normal teenage life, and you're well on your way and it's only, like, day 3. Imagine what you'll be like in a month." Rebekah's eyes widened when Caroline said her nickname. Caroline immediately tried to backtrack "Oh, I'm sorry, is that a family thing? Only something they can call you?"

"No," Rebekah responded quickly, a genuine smile on her face. "You can call me that if you want."

Bonnie was looking between the two of them oddly. "Ok, so I know that we're all in on this truce and everything, but since when have you two even been remotely civil to each other?"

"Well, with you not being here yesterday and Elena trying to stab me with her eyes, I didn't really have many options for lunch company yesterday. Rebekah asked if she could join me and we actually had a really good time. We decided that we could try the whole 'friends' thing." Caroline explained.

"Yes," Rebekah agreed. "Once we both put our claws away for five seconds, we realized that we can get along pretty well. The truce just gave us the push to take the chance to try. Plus," she said smirking over at Caroline, "what with you being friends with Nik already, I figured I'd be seeing more of you soon. And even more later down the line when he actually gets what he wants."

Bonnie raised her eyebrow at Caroline. "You're friends with him now too?"

"I, um, yeah, we are. I told you that we talked on Friday night… and Saturday afternoon… and yesterday." Caroline mumbled.

"So I'm assuming you two kissed and made up after the incident yesterday?" Rebekah asked, still smirking.

"You kissed him?" Matt asked with his mouth full.

"Ew, Matt don't talk with your mouth full." Caroline grimaced. "And no, we most definitely did not kiss." She sent Rebekah a small glare, which only made the Original's smirk widen. Must be a family trait. "We had a disagreement yesterday, but we talked and straightened it out."

Bonnie gave her a curious look before nodding. "Yeah, I actually had an Original visitor myself yesterday. Kol showed up when I got back from my mom's and decided that we needed to start looking at the spell together immediately. As helpful as he actually was with his knowledge of magic, I could definitely do without his constant flirting."

"Yes, Kol has never been one to pass up an opportunity to get in anyone's pants." Rebekah made a face. "I can try talking to him if you want? Or maybe I'll ask Nik to do it. Whenever I try to ask him not to do something, he sees it as a challenge to do it even more. I don't want him bugging any of my new friends." Rebekah concluded nervously looking at Bonnie.

"That would be great, actually. Thanks, Rebekah." Bonnie offered her a smile.

"See? Isn't this working out pretty well? I mean, I don't think you two have actually interacted that much, but Rebekah and I used to be at each others' throats all the time, especially at cheer practice." Caroline smiled.

"Thank God that that's over," Matt said in between mouthfuls of food. "You know, some of the football players were actually taking bets on which of you would bitch slap the other first."

They all laughed, except for Rebekah. " What's a bitch slap?"

"Oh man," Bonnie stared at her in shock. "You really have been living in a box for almost a century."

"Yeah, we have some major chick flick catch up that you need to take part in." Caroline nodded. "Maybe we can do that this weekend. Dress hunting too."

"I thought you already decided what dress you wanted for the decade dance?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, that was before Rebekah showed me the error in my logic." Caroline confessed.

Matt put down the slice of pizza he was about to inhale, looking shocked. "She got you to admit you made a mistake about a dance? This friendship really is serious."

"Oh be quiet and stuff your face with pizza!" Caroline teased him.

"So what type of dress are you thinking of now?" Bonnie asked.

"Well… see it's not just my dress that is going to need to be different." Caroline said as Bonnie raised her eyebrows. "Bekah and I kind of decided to change the decade theme from the 70s to the 20s."

"How in the world did you manage to convince her of that? She's been going on about the flowered dress she wants and John Lennon glasses for at least a month now." Bonnie smiled at Rebekah.

"It was simple logic, Bonnie." Rebekah explained. "While I'm sure Caroline's outfit would probably be fine, I was more worried about the rest of the school, specifically the boys."

"Hey!" Matt protested.

Rebekah rolled her eyes at him, "I don't know about you two, but I, for one, do not want to see our football team in bell bottoms or Elvis jumpsuits. The 20s were so much more stylish and decadent. Plus, I still have several dresses from the decade that I would be happy to let you both look through, if you were interested."

Bonnie and Caroline exchanged excited looks and nodded. "Yes!" Caroline said victoriously, taking out her notebook with all the lists she'd made the night before. "I was hoping you would have kept some of your stuff." She crossed that question off and let Rebekah and Bonnie look at the research she had done.

"Wow," Bonnie looked up at her. "We really are going to have to put some serious work in this weekend if we want all of this to get done and catch Rebekah up on at least 40 years of cinema gold."

Rebekah positively beamed at Bonnie, happy that the other girl had warmed up to her.

Just then, the bell sounded that the period was over. Matt groaned as he stuffed an entire piece of pizza into his mouth hurriedly and began to clean up the rest of his things. The four of them headed off in the directions of their next classes.

Caroline was not looking forward to her afternoon classes. PE was fine, but art was the worst. She wasn't very good at drawing or painting. She supposed she was lucky that the teacher graded on effort rather than actual talent. Then there was also the fact that Tyler was in the class with her. The only reason she was even in it in the first place was because he had thought it would be fun to have a class together. She had tried switching to choir when he had left, but it was too late in the quarter to do so.

PE went by without an issue, but art seemed to drag on, just as her morning had.

About halfway through the period, she felt her phone buzz with a new text message. She surreptitiously slid her phone out of her pocket and checked it under her desk.

1:42 pm
K - Finn should be here sometime between 3 and 4 this afternoon. Will you be coming home with Rebekah to meet him?

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows and glanced up at the teacher before responding.

1:43 pm
C - Shouldn't this be more of a family thing?

She moved to put her phone back in her pocket when she felt it buzz with a response.

1:43 pm
K - Sage will be here, and she isn't family, Sweetheart.

She rolled her eyes, glancing at the teacher to make sure he was still going on about the symbolism of bowls of fruit. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Tyler glancing her way.

1:44 pm
C - Yeah because she's your brother's girlfriend and is the one person who he might listen to. I'm neither of those things.

1:45 pm
K - I'm very happy that you're not his girlfriend. You should be glad too; he's quite the bore. I'll see you when you get here.

1:46 pm
C - I didn't say I was coming! I just told you, there's no reason for me to be there.

1:48 pm
K - I'm asking you to be.

She didn't know how to respond to that. She knew that he liked having her around, but she really did think this was more of a family matter.

1:53 pm
C - I don't think that's a legitimate reason.

1:54 pm
K - It worked when Elijah asked you to stay yesterday when you didn't even want to. I know you want to come to this meeting. I'm telling you that you should come.

1:55 pm
C - It won't be weird?

1:56 pm
K - I can't promise that, Love. Kol will be here.

1:57 pm
C - Fine. I'll drive over with Rebekah after school. Should Bonnie come?

2:00 pm
K - Probably, if she's free. If Finn agrees to give us his blood, I would like the unlinking spell to be done as soon as possible.

2:01 pm
C - Alright. I'll bring her with us if she's available.

2:02 pm
K - Can't wait, Sweetheart. See you soon.

"Caroline." A voice said sharply. Her teacher was approaching her desk quickly. She tried to hide the phone from sight, realizing that at some point in the conversation, she had moved it out from under the desk.

"Yes, Mr. Maglue?" She tried to sound innocent.

"Phones are not allowed in class." He reprimanded, holding out his hand. She blushed and gave him her phone. He looked at it as he moved over to his desk to set it down. "Klaus will just have to wait to talk to you in person. You can get this back at the end of the day."

"Yes, Mr. Maglue." Caroline mumbled, her blush deepening. She felt someone glaring at her and looked to her left to see Tyler shooting daggers at her. She shot him a glare of her own before turning back to face the teacher counting down the minutes until she could leave the room.

As soon as the bell rang at 2:14, she bolted out of her seat. She thought she heard Tyler calling her name, but she kept on going. She made it to science without him catching up to her. She took her usual seat waiting for Bonnie to show up.

When she did, she gave Caroline a questioning look. "Why haven't you responded to my texts? Kol let me know that Finn was on his way there."

"Mr. Maglue confiscated my phone. I can get it after this class. I was in the middle of getting that same information from Klaus." It was Caroline's turn to raise her eyebrows at Bonnie. "When did you see Kol?"

"Oh, um," Bonnie looked away and began playing with the corner of her textbook. "He, uh, texted me last hour."

"And since when does Kol Mikaelson have your phone number, Bonnie Bennett?" She teased.

"About 24 hours after Klaus Mikaelson got yours, Caroline Forbes." Bonnie responded smugly.

"Whatever." Caroline said. "Klaus asked me to come over to be there when Finn arrives. He told me that he would appreciate you being there too just in case Finn agrees to give them his blood. Do you think you're ready to do the spell if he does?"

"Honestly, if Kol hadn't dropped by yesterday, I wouldn't be. He really knows his magic, like, maybe on level with Grams. I think I'll be able to do it as long as he's still okay with letting me channel him."

"Oh, I think he'd let you do more than channel him, if you know what I mean." Caroline wagged her eyebrows and noticed a faint blush on Bonnie's cheeks.

Just then the teacher began to start their lesson and both girls turned their attention to her.

Caroline couldn't believe her luck. Two days with no homework, it was practically a miracle. She and Bonnie quickly packed up their things and headed to the art classroom. Caroline sighed as she walked in to talk with Mr. Maglue.

"Hi, Mr. Maglue. May I please have my phone back?" She asked as he looked up from the papers he was looking over.

He nodded and took it out of his top drawer. "Here you are. If I catch you with it again in my class, it'll be a detention. You should tell Klaus to stop texting you during school."

"Yes, sir." She grabbed it and practically ran out of the room blushing.

"You alright?" Bonnie asked when she saw Caroline's expression.

"Yeah, Mr. Maglue is just a snooper. He saw one of my messages as he took my phone and said that Klaus would have to wait to talk to me until after school. In front of the whole class." Caroline glowered.

"Isn't Tyler in your art class?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep." Caroline responded, popping the 'p' sound.

"Ooof, I bet that didn't go over well. What did he say?"

"I ran away before he was able to say anything. I know he'll find a way to talk to me sooner or later, but I managed to avoid it for the time being."

Bonnie chuckled as they made their way through the crowded halls towards her locker. Caroline sent Rebekah a quick text telling her the update from Klaus and offering her a ride home. Rebekah responded and said that she'd meet them at Caroline's locker.

"Hey, Care? I think that later might be now..."

"Huh?" Caroline looked over at her best friend. Bonnie gestured towards the set of lockers they were headed to. Tyler was leaning against them with his arms folded across his chest staring right at her.

"Shit." Caroline exhaled.

The girls walked over to Tyler and waited for him to say something.

"What's going on, Caroline? What was that about you texting Klaus?" He asked, obviously annoyed.

"Nothing's going on, Tyler. I was just texting him." Caroline sighed, putting in her locker combo to avoid looking at him.

"Why were you texting him? Last I checked, he was the enemy. You broke up with me because I'm sired to him, remember?" Tyler bit out, his anger apparent.

Caroline felt her own anger bubbling up. "No, Tyler, I broke up with you because you bailed after my dad died." She growled. "And not that it's any of your business, but he's not the enemy anymore. We all made a truce with him."

"Hey Caroline, Bonnie!" Rebekah chose that moment to walk up to them, obviously not having seen Tyler yet. "Oh… did I interrupt something?"

Tyler shot her a glare before looking back to Caroline. "Really? Your best friends with all of the Originals now?"

"I'm friends with some of them, yes" Caroline responded, glaring up at him defiantly. "Rebekah and Klaus have actually been really helpful the past week or so. They've been there for me when I needed something."

Tyler clenched his fists. "Yeah, I'm sure this will work out great for you. But then again, you always have been starved for attention from anyone that would give it to you for five minutes."

"Tyler!" Bonnie snapped at him, shooting him a glare of her own.

Rebekah moved to stand in front of both of the other girls. "Leave." She said, getting into Tyler's face. "If you know what's good for you, Mutt, you'll leave now and stay away from all of us."

Tyler stared back at her for several seconds before shooting one last glare at Caroline and storming off down the hallway.

"Well, that was fun," Rebekah said, turning to face Caroline and Bonnie. "I haven't gotten to threaten someone in far too long."

Caroline laughed and Bonnie sent the Original a wary glance. "What? I was joking. Mostly."

Bonnie smiled and rolled her eyes before looking at Caroline. "How long has he been back?

"Not sure. I saw him at lunch yesterday for the first time since the day before my dad's wake." Caroline sighed, turning back to her locker and putting her books away. "I don't really want to know though. As you could see, we didn't part on the best of terms."

"Does Nik know anything about this?" Rebekah asked as they all walked to Bonnie's locker a few yards away.

"About me and Tyler breaking up or about Tyler being back?"

"Both."

"He's known about the breakup since your family's ball. Not sure if he knows that Tyler's back. He's the one that has a sire bond to him. Shouldn't he be able to feel it when Tyler's near?" Caroline asked.

"It doesn't work that way," Rebekah chuckled. "Can I be there when you tell him that Tyler's back in your life?"

"Tyler isn't back in my anything. He's just back in town. Why would Klaus care about that?" Caroline asked.

"Oh trust me, Nik will care about Tyler being anywhere within a hundred mile radius of you." Rebekah smirked.

"Yeah right." Caroline shook her head as they made their way out into the parking lot.

"Think what you want," Rebekah said knowingly, "But Nik will care very much if he hears he has competition again."

They all got into Caroline's car, and she turned the radio on, hoping that it would end the conversation about her and Klaus.

As Rebekah and Bonnie chatted about different things from school to music to the movies they hoped to watch over the weekend, Caroline couldn't help but think about Rebekah's comments. Klaus might think that he fancied her, but she was sure that Rebekah was blowing things out of proportion. Yeah, that's why he promised he would always protect you and make sure you were safe, a nagging voice said in her head. She shook her head to try to get rid of the thoughts as she pulled up to the mansion.