Chapter 9

'Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out.' Caroline repeated to herself.

Caroline hadn't been expecting to see him. Sure she knew that she was going to have to meet up with him eventually; she is his sober coach but that all was being threatened due to the fact that she had seen him naked. And boy did he look good naked.

"Oh my gosh. What the hell is wrong with me?" Caroline blurted out loud to no one in particular as she walked along the school.

Luckily no one took note of her slip. Although Caroline had to wonder if maybe her mind was slipping. After all she was thinking about Stefan and his naked body – not that she had never ever thought about it. She had on multiple occasions she had succumbed to her inner fantasy land where Stefan actually wanted her and not Elena. But still this was bordering on psycho lane … who thinks about their best friend's naked boyfriend after seeing said naked boyfriend and feeling terrible about doing so.

Maybe she was suffering from multiple personality disorder and in this instance her personality was likely going to kill her if she didn't catch a grip on her psyche. Caroline had to consider that maybe this was all a bad idea but at the same time more than anything else she wanted to help him and not just for Elena's sake but because he had always helped her in the past. How could she decline helping him?

Caroline was so preoccupied with her Stefan filled thoughts , that she ended up bumping into Tyler who was standing at her locker with a handful of flowers gripped in his hand.

"Caroline." Tyler greeted as Caroline pulled away from his body the minute she realized that she had made contact with him.

Caroline frowned at him and the flowers and gave him a pointed stare that just said, 'Seriously'.

Although that didn't stop Caroline voicing her disgust.

"Seriously?" She scowled.

Tyler looked taken back, his brown eyes were wide in their sockets as his tan cheeks turned a maroonish color. He hadn't been expecting her fury.

"I know what this looks like … I wasn't waiting to meet you." He answered.

"So you were just waiting at my locker to give your original her flowers. There's enough a trashy spots in this school to do that. Maybe you should consider hooking up with Rebekah in the drug yard. You know when you were hooking up with Vikki Donovan." Caroline easily shoved him out of her way and opened her locker and began retrieving her gym clothes for later.

"They're not for her. I was going to leave them in your locker. I wanted to apologize."

Caroline just huffed and continued to ignore him. Tyler was so the last thing on her mind right now.

"Please forgive me, Care. I screwed up big time. I should have never hooked up with her. It was just an animalistic thing there was no feelings involved." Tyler continued as he moved closer and spoke to her in a hushed tone. He didn't want people overhearing their conversation.

Unfortunately for him, Caroline had no problem speaking out aloud.

"Is that supposed to make it okay? Do me a favor go and listen to One Republic's song …. Your apology is too late and the fact that you did that to me just proves all along that I was right about the type of guy you are. You don't care about anyone but yourself." Caroline shrieked at the top of her lungs.

"Care …." Tyler tried to get her too quieten down.

"No. I don't want to hear it." Caroline slammed her locker shut and moved off.

"Caroline you can't deny you've also made mistakes. You're not perfect." Tyler's voice stopped her in her tracks.

He was right. She was just as guilty as him. He hadn't slept with Elena or Bonnie – he did sleep with Rebekah who she hated but if he had slept with Elena or Bonnie she would of killed him … because that would have been the cherry to the most explosive bomb on the planet.

Tyler realized that he hit a nerve, although he had no idea how he had done it. He'd expected Caroline to just walk away, after all the great Caroline never admitted to fault ever. He swooped his way in like an eagle about to retrieve his reward.

"I love you. Only you, Caroline. I've made so many mistakes and right now I need you. This whole transformation thing has me messed up. I don't know who I am anymore." Tyler said solemnly.

Caroline glanced towards him. How did she end up in this position? What should have been a slam dunk with Tyler was now turning into a sympathy ball game. More than anything she wanted to tell him to take a hike – to get out of her life and stay out for good. But she would be a hypocrite.

"I know I've done wrong but I can't do this right now, Tyler." Caroline croaked out.

"I'm not asking for us to be the same as before … I'm asking for us to be better than before and if that means more time … then I'll wait Care bear. I really love you and you know that." He replied.

She just nodded. Perhaps this was going to be her form of penance, she would have to forgive him and make this work between them.

"I need time. I don't want the flowers." Caroline answered and then proceeded on her way towards class.

Tyler couldn't stop the grin that appeared on his face. He had a feeling that Caroline had already forgiven him, seems he did have a way with the ladies. He walked off cockily and handed the flowers over to an attractive freshman and gave her a coy smile. Nothing wrong with keeping his options open now that he and Caroline were on the down low.

By the time the day had come to its anticlimactic end, Caroline was nothing more than a ball of nerves. Stefan and she would be alone in a room together. The idea frightened her more than anything else that had happened to her in her short span of life. Even finding out that she would be spending all eternity walking among others, craving their blood and constantly fighting with herself to not flip the switch on her humanity – was nothing compared to how Stefan made her feel. Scared, terrified, exhilarated, excited, cautious, lustful and something else. He made her feel like he could suck the life right out of her and she wouldn't have even cared. That was something that should have made her catch a wakeup call on how bad this whole idea was. Getting involved with Stefan was just going to make her life more complicated and more messed up than it already was.

But that didn't stop her from setting up the gym hall for him. Caroline was a sucker for punishment and she just proved it to herself by doing this. The minutes dragged as Caroline stood waiting for him. She had already changed into her cheerleading uniform – but she wasn't going to be participating in the routine she had set up for him. She was going to be the drill sergeant … 'wait that doesn't sound right' , Caroline thought as the gym doors suddenly banged opened – scaring the life out of her.

She was about to remark with a sarcastic retort when she saw Stefan standing in front of her but the words died on the tip of her tongue when she saw that his white shirt was caked in dry blood and he was looking at her like she was something to eat.

"Stefan?" She whispered.

An: So cliffhanger – what will happen next? You'll have to find out next week Thank you so much for the reviews! Really means the world to me.