Chapter Five – The Rewrite

Caroline had a massive hangover the day after the party. She met up with Bonnie at the local coffee shop for lunch — not that she wanted food; she just wanted coffee. She hadn't asked Elena because she wasn't sure if Elena was mad at her, or if she was mad at Elena; their current friendship status was too puzzling for her achy head to process and dissect right now. Caroline had mainlined alcohol the previous night; she needed to counteract that by consuming at least an excessive amount of caffeine today.

Bonnie laughed at her hung over friend. "I thought you were too 'highly evolved' to attend something as mundane and suburbanly social as one of Duke's parties." Bonnie spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, I know. Big mistake." Caroline was holding her head up using both of her hands. "I was trying to do a favour for Elena."

"Really?" When Bonnie heard that Caroline had gone to the party after all, she had wondered what — or who — had changed her friend's mind.

"And it backfired hugely."

"How so?"

Caroline's head was still in her hands and she was facing the tabletop — she spoke more to the table than to Bonnie. "I got wasted. I made a fool of myself. Then I got rejected. It was big fun. What a night." There was no enthusiasm in her voice — none whatsoever.

" 'Rejected'? By who?"

Caroline hadn't even noticed her slip-up until Bonnie mentioned it. Oops. "Ugh, it doesn't even matter."

Bonnie wasn't buying that, but she decided to be nice and not argue with Caroline when she had a hangover. "Poor Care. That sucks."

"Yep." Caroline lowered her arms and rested her head on the tabletop.

Despite her hangover, she could admit to herself that the only reason she went to the party was because of Klaus. For some unknown reason, he seemed to genuinely like her and he wanted to spend time with her.

And she didn't hate that.

Caroline realized that there was something narcissistic and even downright cruel about when you are the object of someone's affections. Even if you do not return those feelings, you bask and delight in the feeling of being admired and appreciated. And wanted.

Or, at least, Caroline did.

She enjoyed being first for once. Klaus never even looked in Elena's direction. Caroline didn't feel like she was second choice with Klaus; she felt like she actually mattered.

She had never experienced that before.

She could deny it, but she knew she wanted him. She knew she was drawn to him — she knew she felt a pull towards him and she felt the strong surge of electricity whenever he was near her.

But would she be a hypocrite if she went against the deal she had made with Elena? She knew Elena wanted to end the deal and honestly, Caroline didn't even care about it anymore. She wanted Elena to be happy, and if she thought Damon could bring her happiness, then good for Elena. But a part of Caroline felt like she should keep up with her part of the deal. She actually enjoyed her time alone; she felt strangely empowered by being single and not obsessing about someone else.

But wasn't she doing just that? Not obsessing, exactly, but she found herself almost constantly thinking about Klaus Mikaelson now.

So much for empowerment and independence…

She could even admit that she enjoyed spending time with him — she actually had a great time at the party when she was with him.

But then, he didn't kiss her last night, and she wasn't sure what to think of that. Had she misread his signals?

"What's going on with you and Elena?" Bonnie's words broke Caroline's reverie.

"We're fighting." Caroline sat up straight and looked across the table at her friend. "Did she tell you?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Since she's not here, I figured as much."

Caroline sighed; how much should she tell Bonnie? "She did something stupid, but she thinks I overreacted."

"You do have a tendency of doing that, Care."

She knew Bonnie was trying to be gentle, but Caroline still felt the sting of those words. Bonnie always stood up for Elena. Always — even when that meant standing against Caroline.

"But I didn't, Bon. Seriously. Not this time. I'm trying to look out for her."

"What do you mean?"

"I…" Caroline cut herself off. She didn't want to explain what had happened between her and Tyler to her friends. She was ashamed and wanted to just ignore it until it went away. Or until he went away. Gosh, graduation could not come soon enough. Then he could take his fancy scholarship and leave this town for good. (Caroline, on the other hand, had no idea yet where she was going or what she would be doing.) "Never mind." Caroline leaned back in her chair and looked around at the other coffee shop patrons.

Just then, Klaus entered. He walked over to the counter and placed his order. While he waited, he noticed Caroline and smiled at her. She tensed up and instantly looked away. She wasn't ready to see him or face him again.

Well, she didn't mind seeing him, but she had hoped it would be under such circumstances where he wouldn't know she could see him.

Bonnie noticed Caroline's reaction, and who she was reacting to, but remained silent.

Once he had his drink, he walked over to her table. "Hello, love." He smiled at her again.

Caroline quickly gathered her things and bolted out of the coffee shop. Klaus looked to Bonnie; she shrugged, slightly amused, and followed Caroline out the door.

The English teacher was running late on Monday, so nearly everyone was in his or her seat when she did finally enter the classroom. She made no apologies, but simply sat down at her desk at the front of the room. "Well, now, did everyone have a good weekend?" She asked the question, but everyone knew she didn't care about the answers. She didn't even care if she received any answers.

Tyler spoke up, using this opportunity to embarrass the two people in class that he loved to target. "Maybe we should ask Mikaelson."

Klaus had just entered the classroom then, late, and quickly slunk into his seat. His usual seat near the door, not the one directly behind Caroline. She felt her face flush as she looked away — at the wall, at the front of the room; basically, she looked everywhere but at Klaus.

"Okay, then. Well. "The English teacher tried to remember what she was supposed to talk about. A moment passed. "Oh, yes."

She cleared her throat and stood. "I'd like you all to write you own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet #141."

The class groaned; the English teacher ignored their groans and continued explaining the parameters for the assignment.

"Any form you'd like. Rhyme, no rhyme, whatever. I would like to see you elaborate on his theme, however. Now, let's read it aloud, shall we? Anyone?"

No one dared to look up from his or her notebook.

The English teacher sighed, rather dramatically. "Fine. I'll choose. Dylan?"

He groaned.

"Just read the first quatrain, Dylan," the English teacher conceded.

"Okay."

He sat up straighter in his seat and read aloud:

"In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleas 'd to dote."

"Excellent. Thank you, Dylan. Any questions about the assignment?"

Caroline raised her hand. "Do you want this in iambic pentameter?"

The English teacher didn't respond right away; she just stood there, mouth hung open in shock over the fact that Caroline Forbes was actually asking a question about the assignment, rather than fighting her on it. "Uh, that's not necessary. But feel free to challenge yourself to that, if you'd like."

Caroline nodded and didn't look up from her notebook for the remainder of the class.

"What do you do to her?" Stefan asked Klaus as they walked through the hall with Matt at school.

"I don't know," Klaus answered immediately.

They walked in silence for a few moments. When neither Stefan nor Matt responded, he answered the question again. "I decided not to do anything when she was too drunk to remember it."

Matt and Stefan shared a look.

"You do realize that this puts the whole operation in peril, right?" Matt pointed out.

"Well obviously. She won't even look at me."

"Can't you just apologize?"

Klaus gave them a look that said that was not possible.

"No further insights from the one who's known her since their toddler days?" Stefan asked Matt.

He shrugged and shook his head. "She could need a day to cool off."

Klaus nodded at the idiotic help. "I'll give it a day." He responded in a sarcastic tone, but he actually meant what he said; he planned to give her time, in hopes that her anger would dissipate as time passed.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes.

As the three of them turned a corner, they entered a corridor where, at that exact moment, Caroline was supervising the hanging of a banner advertising the prom. When Klaus walked by with Stefan and Matt, she grabbed one of the loose ropes, which fell to the ground and tripped all three of them.

She glared at Klaus, gave a "harrumph," and walked away, leaving the two other prom committee members to hang the banner without her supervision.

Klaus watched her walk away from his spot, still on the hallway floor. "She may need two days," he thought aloud.

Elena couldn't help the huge smile that refused to leave her face when she saw Damon in the hallway at school on Monday. Even though they had been texting all weekend, she still smiled ridiculously when she caught sight of him.

He walked over to where she was standing, in front of her open locker. He returned her smile, leaned in, and kissed her cheek as he greeted her. She felt her heart skip a beat or two and her face heat up.

"Friday night was fun."

Elena nodded. "Yea, it was a good party."

"It was, but I was more referring to the company I had."

She blushed at his words.

"But the host guy, is he always so creepy?"

"That's Duke. And yea, he is." Elena made a face.

He was quiet while she grabbed her books from her locker. "So, I heard about some big, end-of-the-school-year dance thing that's coming up."

"You mean the prom?"

"Yes, that one." He smirked. "I was thinking about checking it out. Would you like to go with me?"

Elena groaned softly. "I would love to. But you know I can't go if Caroline doesn't. I'm sorry."

"And she won't be? Didn't you say she's on the dance committee?"

"Yes. But Caroline almost never attends these things, these 'mundane social functions,' as she refers to them. Plus, she hasn't said anything about going or even looking for a dress, so I don't think she's planning to attend."

Damon sighed, dejectedly. "Which means you can't either. At least, not without ruining your friendship."

"Wow, what a stupid deal I made."

"I won't disagree."

Elena wanted to go, badly. Even though she currently was unsure of where her friendship with Caroline was — what with their argument/fight at the party —Elena still wanted to stick with the deal she made with Caroline. She did not want their friendship to be over.

Damon's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"I hope she decided to go."

Elena melted under the intensity of his stare. "Me, too."

Klaus found Tyler leaning against the side of his truck at the end of the school day.

"Can you not lean against my truck, mate? You'll leave a grease mark."

Tyler clenched his jaw but did as Klaus requested. He pushed away from the truck and stood right in front of Klaus, blocking the way to the driver's side door.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Lockwood."

Tyler didn't answer right away; he took out his wallet and handed two $100 bills to Klaus. "The party on Friday night was great; this should cover the prom."

"Forget it," Klaus said as he shook his head. "I'm no longer interested."

Tyler stepped closer to Klaus and put his hand out in front of him. "Hey, look, I know she's dreadful, but we have a deal here, dude."

Klaus clenched his jaw and his hand — he wanted nothing more than to punch Tyler right now (or break that hand, perhaps) for calling Caroline dreadful. She was anything but. And she deserved better than this, better than everything that was going on behind her back.

But before Klaus could respond — or take action — Tyler spoke again.

"Dude, I'll double it. You're not really going to say no to $400, are you?"

Klaus debated for a moment. He couldn't back out; what if Tyler found someone else? He wouldn't subject Caroline to that. Plus, he didn't want to. (To be honest, Klaus wasn't sure if 'didn't want to' meant that he still wanted to spend time with Caroline or still wanted to take money from Tyler Lockwood. The former option frightened him too much for him to explore the idea any further.)

Then he smirked. If he was going to be in this, then he was going to be really in it. "I don't know. I mean, there's the flowers, the limo, the tux…"

"Enough!" Tyler reopened his wallet, getting Klaus's hint for more money, and handed Klaus a wad of cash. "Take it."

Klaus did so, with another smirk and a laugh. Then he bumped Tyler's shoulder with his own as he passed Tyler to get into his truck.

"Just do it faster this time, Mikaelson." Tyler's voice caused Klaus to pause his movements; he had his hand just on the driver's door handle. "Don't doddle and take your sweet time again."

That's it! Klaus was officially at his boiling point with Tyler Lockwood. Who did this idiot think he was speaking with?!

He spun around, grabbed Tyler's shoulder, and shoved him into the side of the neighbouring van.

"Need I remind you, Lockwood, that you sought me out in this situation? So if I bow out now, you're screwed — or should I say, you won't be getting screwed. If you want to bring in someone else, I'll gladly walk away. But as long as I am still involved, I will do things my way. So back down. Now."

Tyler was furious, but he knew better than to pick a fight with Klaus. So he straightened up, smoothed out his shirt, and walked away.

Klaus got into his truck and drove off.

Stefan laughed as he and Matt walked out of the school at the end of the day.

"Look at my elbow," he said as he pointed said body part towards Matt. He had a wicked-looking bruise. "I don't think this is from football practice; I must have hit the floor hard when Caroline tripped us."

Matt didn't respond; he didn't even chuckle. He waited until they were inside his own truck, since he was giving Stefan a ride, before he spoke. "Dude, I need to ask you something. Why are you doing this? I know you told Tyler than you wanted more-instant popularity here, but I don't buy that, not completely. Why are you going through so much effort and hassle to help your brother get the girl?"

Stefan sighed and spoke softly. "Because it's my fault that we're here."

"In Mystic Falls?"

"Yes. When our father received the job opportunity here in Mystic Falls, he was torn between staying where we were for another year or two until Damon and I were finished high school or taking the job and uprooting us. Damon wanted to stay, but I wanted to move; I hated everything about my life back there, except for my best friend Lexi. I begged and pleaded with our father, privately, until he agreed to move us. Damon has no idea, and I want to keep it that way.

"But he blames our father, which is terrible, so I'm hoping that if he can find happiness here, he might forget his anger about moving. And I think Elena could be a large part of that happiness for Damon here."

Matt nodded. As a brother himself, he knew about wanting your older sibling to be happy. Matt constantly worried about his older sister Vicki and the choices she was making (mostly bad, in Matt's opinion — like drugs, alcohol, skipping school, and hanging out with some of the worst people that Mystic Falls had to offer).

"I get it, man."

Tyler saw Elena during their gym class and decided now was a good time to approach her, since that stupid dick-headed new guy wasn't around her — Tyler had seen them together more often than apart since Duke's party. Actually, he had spotted Elena a few moments ago, but he was enjoying the sight of her too much to move closer to her just yet.

In fact, Tyler hated to go up and talk to Elena; it would interrupt his view of her long, lean legs — legs he often enjoyed imagining being wrapped around his own waist.

Soon, he told himself. Soon.

Prom was the plan; he'd have Elena on prom night.

"Hey, sweet cheeks."

Elena was in the middle of stretching before playing badminton. She looked around and saw Tyler approaching her. She had no idea why he would be calling her 'sweet cheeks.'

"Hi, Tyler." She hoped that didn't sound as confused and weirded out as she felt.

"I want to talk to you about the prom."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yea. Are you going?"

"I'm not sure yet. I have to work some… things… out before I'll know for sure."

"I have high hopes that you'll be there."

"Okay. Thanks." Elena felt even more creeped out now; Tyler was giving her a slimy smile and raking his eyes up and down her body. She pointed behind her, to the badminton net and the partner who was waiting for her to play. "I have to get back to gym class. I'll see you around, Tyler."

Tyler smirked. "You definitely will, Elena."

He walked backwards out of the gym, keeping his eyes on Elena and her long, sexy legs.

Elena couldn't stop the shiver of disgust that ran down her back. She felt bad because Tyler was her friend; she shouldn't be creeped out by her friend, right?

Caroline was at a store downtown buying art supplies for some more hand-painted signs and banners she would personally paint and then have posted around the school. She had just come from the printers, where the high-quality signs were being printed on neon, bright-coloured paper.

All the better to capture people's attention with.

She had tried to pick out some paper, but she couldn't decide, so she thought she's pick out some paint instead. As she walked over to the paint section, Klaus stepped into her path.

He greeted her with a smile.

Caroline gave him a scowl. "What are you doing here?"

"Buying art supplies," Klaus responded with a shrug.

"Ugh, right. So you're an artist now?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, not waiting for an answer. "Whatever. You know, you're so…"

"Charming?" Klaus provided with a smile, cutting her off. "Wholesome?"

"Unwelcome."

Caroline tried to side-step around him, but he blocked her path. "You're not as perfectly put together as you think you are, you know that love."

She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, slightly offended. "And you're not as much of a smooth-talking bad ass as you think you are."

He smirked at that. "Ooo, someone still has her knickers in a twist."

She stuck her index finger out, all but shoving it in his face. "Don't for one minute think you've had any effect whatsoever on my… knickers." She lowered her voice to say the last word.

"Then what did I have an effect on?"

Her response came immediately. "Nothing."

She pushed past him and headed out the door. She'd pick out paint and paper supplies some other time.

Caroline went over to the Gilbert house that evening. Not for dinner; she needed to clear the air with Elena. They hadn't spoken to each other since their fight at Duke's party. And to last basically an entire weekend was quite a long time for the two of them to go without speaking to each other.

She made a quick stop first to pick up Bonnie.

"Is Bonnie our buffer?" Elena asked when she saw Caroline standing on her front porch with Bonnie at her side.

"Do we need one?"

"You tell me, Care."

She scoffed. "No. I brought Bonnie because I need to tell you both something, and I would much prefer to say it only once."

Elena stepped outside and closed the front door behind her. Bonnie moved to position herself at an equal distance from each of her two best friends. They formed three points of a triangle.

Caroline took a deep breath before speaking. "I know you both have been wondering what happened between me and Tyler, and I know I've been uncharacteristically quiet about the matter." Caroline looked around her, suddenly aware of how out-in-the-open she felt on the Gilbert front porch. "Uh, can we talk somewhere else? Not here outside."

"Sure," Elena said with a nod. She would agree to almost anything right now; she would be lying if she said she hasn't been curious about what happened between Caroline and Tyler. Caroline never mentions it, as if it never happened. "How about my room?"

Caroline nodded. "Sure."

Once inside, Bonnie and Caroline said a quick hello to Mr and Mrs Gilbert before they went upstairs with Elena to her bedroom.

Caroline skipped over the preamble she had originally rehearsed and just dove right into it.

"So he was an ass pretty much the entire time we dated. I mean, he was sweet at first, full of flattering comments, soft touches, and sweet kisses. But he soon became more controlling." She paused to take a deep, calming breath and let it out before continuing on. Her friends were patient and quiet, waiting to hear what she had to say. "He pressured me and pressured me to have sex with him. We did, eventually, and I hated it. I wasn't ready to be with him like that. When I told him I didn't want to do it again, he slapped me across my face and stormed out. I went over to his house half an hour later and found him having sex with someone else."

Caroline instantly felt better, having told her friends the truth.

"Why didn't you tell us, Care?" Elena asked.

"Because I was ashamed of my actions. And because the girl he cheated on me with was the sister of the guy you were dating at the time, Elena."

"Vicky Donovan?"

"Yeah."

"Care…"

She shook her head slightly. "I'm not looking for your pity, Elena. But I see the way he's been acting around you and the way he looks at you. And then, when I saw him whispering in your ear at that stupid party, I just panicked and freaked out because you're obviously his next target. I don't want you to end up as another notch on Tyler Lockwood's bedpost. You deserve more than that."

"So do you, Care." Elena stepped forward and pulled Caroline in for a hug.

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief; she had no idea how much the truth of what happened had been weighing on her until she let it go. She hated keeping her friends in the dark about what she had gone through.

She smiled when she felt Bonnie's arms wrap around her and Elena.

Group hug.

When they finally pulled away and detangled their arms, Elena spoke first. "Thanks for being concerned, Care, but I would never sleep with Tyler. Ever. I don't see him that way. He's just a friend."

"Plus, she wants to sleep with Damon," Bonnie added.

"What?"

"Oh, don't deny it!"

They all laughed at that, and Caroline was glad that she finally told her friends. She didn't even mind that the conversation had now shifted to centre around Elena, as it inevitably always did. She was just glad to not have this huge, secrety thing standing between her and her friends, blocking or shadowing over their connection anymore.

Bonnie spoke up then and asked the so-far unspoken question to Caroline. "Why didn't you say anything, Care? Did you report him for abuse?"

"No," Caroline said with a scoff. "It was his word against mine. And he's a Lockwood. I would never stand a chance."

Klaus sat in the cafeteria the next day at lunch. He was alone, as usual. But his seat offered him the ideal view of Caroline. She was sitting with the other prom committee members. She was giving out orders and she looked lovely doing so.

She was still pissed at him. That much was obvious; Klaus didn't need Matt's 'insight' to figure that bit out.

But what to do?

She was humiliated, clearly. Caroline went from flat-out refusing him to actually kind of agreeing to go to the party with him. She got drunk at the party and admitted some personal things to him. Then she put herself even further out there by wanting to kiss him.

And he had to reject her.

It was bad enough that he was getting paid by an ass to spend time with her; he couldn't take advantage of her any further by kissing her. It would have been even more inappropriate than the situation already was.

He should just leave her alone. That would be the best thing to do. Leave her alone, and forget about this stupid deal he had going on with Tyler Lockwood.

But he couldn't. He didn't want to cut her out of his life. She had barely spent any time with him, but she had already burrowed her way in. She left in imprint now, a permanent mark.

Klaus has never cared to have anyone around him, except his siblings. He's never needed to have anyone with him, outside of his family. He was perfectly fine on his own. He even enjoyed being alone.

Or, at least he thought he was.

The right thing here — the noble thing — would be to stop whatever this was and go back to how things were before the idiotic Lockwood offered him money. Klaus didn't even care that he would be letting down Stefan and his brother; he hardly knew Stefan and couldn't care less about him or his brother. But Klaus needed to money. And now that he had it, he wasn't sure he would be able to give it back to Lockwood; it just felt so good to take something from that spoiled brat.

It wasn't that he was simply in this because of the money — he was at first, but after spending some time with Caroline (mostly following her or tailing after her), he found that he actually enjoyed being around her.

The stupid money from the stupid Lockwood.

That was where this all goes to shit.

If there was no money, he would be fine. But money changes everything.

And, if offered again, Klaus would take it — he knew he would; it was his only source of income. None of the managers or business owners in town trusted him enough to hire him because of his reputation — not that he wanted to work at a lame job in Mystic Falls anyway — and he didn't receive an allowance. And since he wanted to leave this one-pony town immediately after graduating high school and turning 18, he would need money somehow.

Enter Tyler Lockwood.

Klaus clenched his jaw, trying to come up with a way out of this. But he couldn't find any. He was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. It was beginning to feel like home to him; he had been here often.

So if he couldn't avoid all of this — and now that he had the money, it seemed unlikely that he could avoid any of this — he could at least smooth things over with Caroline.

But it would have to be something substantial. He had embarrassed her; in the schoolyard tit-for-tat scheme, he'd have to embarrass himself in order to even their playing field. Better yet, he could embarrass himself on an even larger scale, not only to match her embarrassment, but to go beyond it, in the hopes of making her feel better.

That seemed like the safer route to take.

Klaus gritted his teeth again when he came to this conclusion.

This is going to be unpleasant.