Jenna and I left early for the Founder's party, but despite that we still had to wait in a long line. When it was finally our turn to be greeted by the host, I braced myself.

"Jenna! Melanie," Carol Lockwood greeted us, standing next to her husband the mayor. "So nice of you to come."

"Of course," I said, flashing her a fake smile. Sue me. This entire conversation was fake. Carol thought I wasn't a real Gilbert, and I thought she was pretentious.

"Elena called and said she couldn't find the pocket watch. I feel absolutely terrible," Carol said.

It looked like Elena had made the right decision after all. She'd given the watch back to Jeremy, the rightful owner.

"I'm sure it'll turn up," I reassured, my wide smile not so fake anymore.

Jenna and I went inside. The Lockwood mansion was still as beautiful as I remembered.

Jenna turned to me. "I'll go get us something to drink. Champagne for me, a soda for you."

I pointed at her. "If you see Fell: run."

"Trust me, I will."

She walked away to get us our drinks. As I waited, I noticed Caroline and Damon at the entrance. I approached them to go say hi. But, as I got closer, I found myself frowning at Damon.

He'd obviously told Caroline his biased re-telling of the Katherine fiasco knowing it would get back to Elena because of Care's inability to keep a secret. As a result, Elena was now doubtful about her relationship with Stefan. All because of him.

"Hey," I greeted, focusing solely on my friend and ignoring her date. "You look lovely, Care."

"Thank you." Caroline beamed at me before glancing at her mom. She looked at Damon. "I gotta sneak you past my mom. Mel, can you pretend he's your date for a few seconds?"

She hurried away, not bothering to wait for my answer. Belatedly, I said, "…Sure."

I turned to look at Damon, who, of course, was looking way too smug about this turn of events.

"Ugh." I walked towards the bar.

Damon followed. "Caroline forgot to mention how lovely you look, in turn."

I shook my head and turned around. "Don't you even start. I know what you've done."

He looked amused. "You're gonna have to be more specific."

"Listen, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have all these issues between you, I really am, but you have to stop involving Elena and me. Caroline too," I told him. "I really hope you two can work things out, but don't use us to antagonise him."

He considered me for a moment, face surprisingly serious, before he nodded.

"I hope so, too."

"Hope what?" I asked snappishly.

"That me and my brother work it out, of course," he told me, faker than Carol Lockwood.

"Really?" I asked, my voice dripping with disbelief. "Is that why you keep trying to sabotage his relationship with Elena?"

"Hey, Mel," Jenna interrupted us. "I got our drinks." She looked at Damon curiously. "Who's this?"

"No one," I said.

"Her date," Damon said, at the same time as me. I glared at him. He shrugged. "For a few minutes."

"He's Caroline's date, and I'm helping sneak him past her mom," I explained to Jenna while accepting my drink. "This is Damon Salvatore."

"Stefan's brother?" Jenna asked, surprised. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Only good things, I hope," Damon said to Jenna, dialing up the charm. It made me want to gag.

"Not even close," I told him sweetly.

Jenna looked between us with clear interest. Panicked, I said the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm going to go see the heritage project." I turned to Jenna. "You know, the whole reason I'm even here? I'll see you later. Stay away from Fell."

"You got it." Jenna mocked a salute.

I found the room with the items on display. Elena was already there, standing over a large table with a glass case.

"Hey," I said, joining her. She gestured at the table, so I looked at it.

The table housed the Gilbert family wedding rings we'd loaned. Our parents' wedding rings. A million memories of Mom and Dad flashed through my mind.

"Your parents?"

I jumped at the sudden sound, letting out a small, high-pitched noise. I'd been so lost in thought. When I saw who the culprit was, I glared at him, trying to calm my racing heart.

Stefan looked sheepish. "Sorry."

Elena was still staring at the rings. "There's a lot of history here."

I started exploring the rest of the room. I saw the guest registry from the first ever Founder's party. "Hey, come check this out."

They both walked over to me, and Elena asked, "Is that the original registry?"

"It is. Listen: 'The founding families in Mystic Falls welcome you to the inaugural Founder's council celebration'. Look at all these familiar names—William Forbes, Benjamin Lockwood." That was when I noticed two names more familiar than the others, and I had to do a double-take. "Damon Salvatore. And... Stefan Salvatore."

"The original Salvatore brothers," a voice spoke behind us. Though it did take me by surprise, I didn't jump or make a noise this time, thankfully. I turned to see Damon, wearing his default facial expression. Caroline stood next to him, looking bored out of her mind. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past," Stefan quickly said before anyone else could reply.

"It's not boring, Stefan," Elena told him, looking genuinely interested. "I would love to hear more about your family."

"Well, I'm bored," Caroline piped up. "And Damon won't dance with me." She gave Elena a pleading look. "Could I just borrow your date?"

Elena started to stutter, but Stefan simply said, "I don't dance." Which I took as a 'No', but Caroline probably wouldn't.

"Oh, sure he does," Damon said. "You should see him, waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk, he does it all."

I couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of Stefan doing the moonwalk, though I tried to cover it up as a coughing fit, earning me some concerned looks. "I'm fine."

Elena gave me a pointed look. "You better hope that's not lung cancer."

Judging by the way she was glaring at me, I knew she knew the coughing fit was fake. I cleared my thoat. Awkward.

"You wouldn't mind, though, would you Elena?" Caroline asked, pressing the dancing issue.

Elena looked like she didn't know what to say. "It's up to Stefan…"

Caroline grabbed Stefan's arm. "Well, I'm not taking no for an answer."

Then she proceeded to drag him out of the room. Poor Stefan.

"And then there were three," I declared after a bout of awkward silence.

"No, there aren't." Elena gave me a fake smile. "I'm going to go find Bonnie."

I tried to send her a 'please don't leave me' signal, but she seemed to miss it completely, hurrying out of the room.

Damon turned to me. "And then there were two."

"Your math skills are amazing," I retorted, stealing a line Jeremy had used on me once. In my defense, it was a pretty good line. My brother was a sass master.

He didn't respond to my stolen sassiness, asking me a question instead, "So what did Elena mean with that lung cancer comment?"

I had foolishly hoped he wouldn't have picked up on that, but he had. Of course he had.

I sighed and gave him a humorless smile. "I used to smoke," I told him, glancing at the registry to avoid having to look at his reaction. "I mean, I quit, but still."

"Why'd you start?"

"My parents. After they—" I cut myself off and sighed. I didn't even know why I was telling him this. I really didn't feel like getting judged tonight, especially by him. "Elena helped me quit."

I grimaced, fighting down the familiar guilt that bubbled up whenever I thought about it. Elena was grieving the death of Mom and Dad, and yet she still helped me quit when I asked her. She made sure I deleted all my smoker friends from my phone, made me swear I'd never talk to them again, didn't let me out of her sight during the quitting process to make sure I didn't relapse…

"Well, sometimes death makes us do things we regret," Damon said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I glanced at him, surprised by the lack of judgment. "It does."

Silence engulfed us. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear from my up-do and tried to come up with a new subject. I found one.

I gestured at the the registry, containing the names of the original Salvatore brothers. "So what's the story here?"

"Well, let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have always been cursed with sibling rivalry," he explained. "And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers."

He then launched into an explanation concerning the original brothers. It was pretty interesting, he even mentioned the Battle of Willow Creek, something we'd covered in class. When he got to the end of his story, he told me the originals tried to save someone they loved but got shot in the process. That was some romance novel shit right there. Though, romance novels usually had happy endings. This was just tragic.

My eyes were wide. "Who was in the church that they wanted to save?"

"A woman, I guess," he mused, before adding, "Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?"

He held my gaze. His eyes were an electric blue, and he was smiling that wry smile of his again. For the first time since we met, I let myself get caught up in how charming he really was.

I swallowed hard. "We should go find the others."

He agreed, though it was clear he was amused by my reaction. We left the room in silence. Outside, we found Elena, Caroline and Stefan talking with each other. I couldn't help but notice their champagne glasses. "They have sodas too, you know."

Caroline gave me a sly look. "Where's the fun in that?"

That brought a smile back to my face.

"What did we miss?" Damon asked.

"We were just chatting." Stefan gestured to the champagne. "Would you like a drink, Damon?"

The two gave each other a meaningful look, and I couldn't help but feel like I was missing some kind of important context. "No thanks, I'll pass."

Elena, sensing the tension, turned to her boyfriend and asked, "Stefan, do you have another dance in you?"

"Absolutely."

They went off to the dancefloor with goofy smiles on their faces. I nearly melted at the cuteness.

"They look so cute together," Caroline gushed. It was like she was reading my mind.

Damon didn't reply, offering me his hand. "Would you like to dance?"

I blinked. I was seriously considering it when I caught sight of Caroline biting her lip in the corner of my eye. Caroline, his girlfriend, who I knew for a fact was incredibly insecure when it came to boys and saw it all as a competition.

"No thanks," I said. There was a knowing look in his eyes—I had hesitated a little too long. "Excuse me." I made a quick exit, pushing my way through the crowd.

I spotted Bonnie sitting on a lounge chair in the hallway, and walked over. I sat down next to her and we greeted each other. Bonnie didn't look like she was having a good time, either.

"You okay?"

She hesitated. "You have to promise not to make any jokes."

"I won't, I swear." I frowned at the conflict clouding Bonnie's eyes. "What's wrong?"

But that's when Elena joined us, sitting down next to me with a big sigh, indicating boy trouble. Bonnie's mouth clamped shut, and it was clear the moment Elena appeared that Bonnie wasn't in a sharing mood anymore. Not for the first time, I wished I was able to read Bonnie's mind. It'd make helping her easier.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked Elena.

Elena began ranting about how she didn't know anything about Stefan, and how their dance ended in a fight.

Bonnie frowned. "This is my fault. I planted doubt. I'm a doubt-planter."

"It's not your fault, it's Damon's," I said, rolling my eyes, because it was. He told Caroline that his information was top-secret, knowing Caroline couldn't resist spilling a good secret. He knew it would get back to Elena. This was all one big manipulation. Why was I the only one seeing this? "He's the one who told Caroline his totally biased point of view of what happened."

"And I'm the one who told Elena." Bonnie gave me a pointed look. "I didn't have to do that."

"No, it's not your fault," Elena told her before giving us a hopeless stare. "I just… I feel terrible, because I said that I wouldn't get in the middle of it, and then that's exactly what I did. …I got all snotty."

The three of us sat there for a little while, until Elena got up to go to the bathroom. Eventually, Bonnie excused herself too, and it was just me sitting on the lounge.

This party was going downhill, fast. Something was up with Bonnie, Elena and Stefan were fighting, Damon was being Damon… To top it all off, I was getting funny stares and condescending smirks from passerby, who had probably heard about the incident during game night.

The heritage project wasn't worth all this.

I tried to remind myself: things could be worse. I could be having freaky premonition nausea right now. This party was starting to suck, but, hey, at least I wasn't fainting in my own puke.

The thought calmed me down, and I felt better, until Caroline angrily stormed out of the bathroom, Elena trailing behind her. On my sister's face was a look of total distress.

I immediately stood up. "Elena, what's wrong?"

"Caroline, she…" Elena gave me a frantic look. "It's Damon. She has these bite marks on her. Bite marks."

"Bite marks?" I repeated, dumbfounded. I hadn't noticed any bite marks. "You think Damon did that?"

"Yes!" Elena said angrily, before storming outside in some sort of blind rage. I followed, worried.

When Elena reached Damon, she shoved him. "There is something seriously wrong with you!"

"Elena…" I said, but she ignored me, too filled up with rage.

"You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the Sheriff. Got it? Stay away from her," Elena hissed.

I watched Elena walk away angrily before I turned back to face Damon. "Did you do it?"

Damon's eyebrows were raised. "Do what?"

"Elena said there were bite marks on Caroline," I clarified impatiently. "Did you do it?" I wasn't sure who else could have done it, though.

He let out a laugh. "Come on, that's ridiculous."

"Maybe." I pursed my lips. He was lying. "Maybe not. Just… Listen to Elena, and stay away. It'd be better for all of us."

I hurried away after that, not bothering to stick around for his reaction. Bite marks. I hadn't noticed. My fists clenched. I hadn't noticed the marks, I hadn't noticed a change in her behavior…

I hadn't gotten a bad feeling, either, which was stupid. I got one when Vicki was attacked. I got one when Tanner was murdered. Why hadn't I gotten one now? Was Caroline not special enough or something? Did these bad feelings only occur when a freakin' mountain lion was involved?

I didn't bother finding Jenna in the big Lockwood mansion; I sent her a text that I was heading home, before I left the estate.

Yeah, the heritage project definitely hadn't been worth all this.