This was my favourite time of the day: when school lets out. As much as I like school, I love when it finishes for the day and I get to walk home.

Every day, C offers to give me a ride home from school. And every day, I decline. I enjoy my walks home. I prefer the peacefulness and the solitude that I gain from walking home. That, and Mystic Falls uses a beautiful façade to cover its dark secrets.

Today, though, I didn't have to decline C's offer because she want unable to make one. She had cheer practice after school. Every time she tells me she'll be staying late after school for practice, I think about that morning of her cheer practice during my first week of school. The first time I heard C say she had cheer practice after school.

C was grabbing her coat from where it hung by the front door, nearly ready to head to school, when she realized she was missing something.

"Ri, can you grab my pompoms from my room for me?"

I put my hands on my hips. "Is this just a ruse so you can see me holding pompoms?"

C laughed. "No. I have cheer practice after school and I'll need them. But I won't pretend that I'm not going to enjoy the sight of you holding them either."

I stuck my tongue out at her and walked to her bedroom. Her pompoms were on her vanity. As I grabbed them, I saw a framed photograph of C and her father. Uncle Bill. I hadn't seen him in ages.

I sat down in C's chair, trying to remember the last time I had seen Uncle Bill when I heard C's voice.

"Seriously, Ri. It's not like I'm not going to use this as blackmail or anything just because you're holding my... pompoms," she trailed off when she entered her bedroom and saw me sitting at her vanity with her pompoms in my lap and the picture frame in my hand.

I turned the picture slightly more towards her, even though I was pretty sure she knew who was in the photo. "This is a great picture of the two of you."

She came closer, standing just behind me. "Yea, it is. That was my freshman year. The cheer squad had won State Regionals. He's the one who talked me into joining the squad — I was scared of trying out — and we took this photo to celebrate not only winning, but conquering fears. And this one," C opened the second drawer from the top of her vanity and pulled out another photograph. This one was unframed, "was taken about two months before..." She trailed off.

"Before what?"

When C didn't answer, I turned to look up at her. She had tears in her eyes.

"Caroline?"

"...Before he died." Aunt Liz's voice said from the doorway to C's bedroom.

I stood up, letting the pompoms fall to the floor, and looked from C to Aunt Liz. I felt as though I could hardly breathe. "He - He what?"

C wiped her eyes. "You didn't know?"

"No, I had no idea." I pulled C in for a hug and whispered again, "I had no idea."

Once we pulled away from the hug, I turned to Aunt Liz. "We didn't know. We had no idea." I know Aunt Liz knew who I was referring to when I said 'we.' "We would have been here, for both of you, if we had known."

I went over the Aunt Liz and hugged her, too. "I always wondered why my little sister never came for the funeral," she whispered as we hugged.

The hug didn't last very long before Aunt Liz quickly pulled away. "You two had better hurry; you don't want to be late for class."

"Right," I said as I put the photo back on C's vanity.

She picked up her pompoms and said, "Come on Ri, I'll give you a ride."

I normally walk to and from school, but because of our distraction that morning, I took C's offer for a ride.

I was halfway across the school parking lot, heading home, when someone fell into step beside me.

"I always found school to be both mundane and unnecessary."

"Just because I died doesn't mean I can't continue living my normal life, Klaus," I responded.

"You call going to school living?" his eyebrows knit in confusion. "Don't you know there's so much more you could do with your day?"

"I could say that same thing to you right now." I didn't feel the need to explain my choices to him.

He made a 'hmmph' sound that was more of laugh than anything.

"What do you want, Klaus?"

"That is a very broad question, Riley."

"Don't be cute. Just tell me and go. If anyone sees you—" I looked back behind us.

"They'll kill me? Very unlikely."

"It doesn't mean they won't try. It's certainly on their to-do lists."

"Are you worried about my safety or yours?"

"I thought it has already been established that we don't have to worry about your safety."

"You don't want your cousin or her friends to see you with me." He wasn't asking, but I asked anyway.

"Not particularly. It raises questions and concerns that I would rather not have to deal with."

"Such as?" When I looked away and didn't answer, he spoke again. "This morning you told me you would 'see me later.' I'm just helping that come true for you."

I rolled my eyes, but he was right.

Saturday morning, unfortunately, did not come peacefully.

"Riley!" I knew whatever came out of C's mouth next would be important; the only time she ever used my full name is when she's being serious. "Where did you go the other night when you left here? Instead of talking to Matt when he came by?"

"I walked around town for a bit. Why?"

"The entire time you were gone, you were just walking around?"

"No. I walked around and ended up at the Grill. Why?"

"You went to the Grill and sat there alone? For well over an hour?"

"Caroline, seriously, what is with the interrogation?"

"Why won't you admit who you were at the Grill with?"

"How do you know I was with someone?" I countered.

"Was it a secret get-together? Because if it was, you need to pick a less obvious location."

"I'm not hiding anything. I just don't feel the need to relay every moment of my time to you. You obviously know I was talking to Klaus at the Grill; who told you?"

"Elena told me." Elena? She was at the Grill? "Jeremy told her."

"Ah. I forgot Jeremy works there," I said, more to myself than to C, but I knew she heard. I looked at her, noticing how she was getting angry. "Why does this have you so upset?"

" 'Why?' Oh my god, Ri. I don't want my cousin anywhere near that psycho."

"What I do or who I choose to spend my time with is none of your business, C. I appreciate the concern, but it's unnecessary."

"It is my concern. You're a baby vampire, Ri. And you're my cousin."

"Again, I appreciate the familial solidarity, but I don't need your protection; I can take care of myself."

"Not against a thousand-year-old, Original vampire."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to have this argument with you, C. I'm going out. I'll see you later." And with that, before C could stop me, I walked out of the house.

Why did my weekend have to start with an argument?