hello everyone! this chapter is the longest yet... hold on to your hats.

Chapter 5 - Friday Night Bites Pt. 1

"I'm not saying don't date the guy, I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie shrugged.

She, Elena and Natalia were walking towards the school. Elena and Nat shared looks of confusion. Since when did Bonnie have a problem with vampires?

Natalia had noticed Bonnie acting weird all day. She had tried to talk to her about it but Bonnie refused the idea that anything was wrong. Now Bon was trying her damn hardest to get Elena to 'take it slow' with Stefan.

In canon, Bonnie was opposed to vampires, but that was because of the bad feeling she got when she touched them. Bonnie was completely used to that feeling now, and she had been fine with vampires until the night before. Did Damon do something to her? That was the only explanation Nattie could come up with.

"Why the about face?" Elena wondered.

"He's a vampire, Lena. He could kill you like," She snapped her fingers, "Snap."

"So could Enzo." Elena pointed out.

"That's different. You won't be intimate with Enzo."

"Giving Enzo a kiss on the cheek is just about as much risk as giving Stefan a kiss on the lips." Elena reasoned.

"Look, just please take it slow. Please try to think about if you really want to get involved with a vampire."

Bonnie walked away to her first class, leaving her confused friend and sister behind.

"I don't know what's going on with her." Nat said.

"Did Damon say something to her?" Elena asked.

"That's what I was thinking. I'll talk to him later."

Elena nodded and the girls continued to walk towards the school. Stefan approached them.

"Good morning." Stefan said, smiling at them.

"Hi, Stefan." Elena greeted with a smile as well.

"Morning." Natalia nodded. Her eyes trailed to Bonnie who was walking extremely fast towards the doors to the school.

Elena noticed where Nattie's attention lied and lit up as an idea came to her.

"Stefan, Nats, are you doing anything tonight?" Elena inquired.

"Nope."

"No."

"Great. Then why don't you two, Bonnie, Care and Vicki come over tonight. You can all get to know each other." Elena suggested.

"Sounds good." Stefan said.

"Okay! See you in class."

He and Elena awkwardly hugged and the doppelgänger sauntered away with a blush on her face, mumbling something about having to get to first period.

Stefan turned to Natalia. "Why does she really want to have dinner with us?"

"Because Bonnie's scared of you." Nat said bluntly.

"Is she?"

"Yes. I don't know why. Normally she's okay with vampires." The pair started walking towards the school.

"Bonnie knows I'm a vampire?" Stefan questioned with a raised brow.

"Of course she does." Nattie scoffed. "Didn't I tell you that?" She thought she told Stefan that all of her friends knew about the supernatural.

"No." He said. "I figured only you knew since you were the seer."

Wait, no, she didn't tell Stefan, she told Damon. Oops.

"I tell my sister everything." Well, except for the fact that I was born in an alternate universe. I didn't tell her that. But that's besides the point.

"So, she's the only person you told? Since you're sisters?"

"Stefan, if this is your complicated way of asking if Elena knows you're a vampire, she does. She's known for a long time, and she's okay with it! So consider yourself lucky that you have someone who accepts who you are."

He nodded to himself and then smiled a little. "Okay. Thank you."

She smiled sweetly. "Now, let's get to class before you start crying or something."

"You just had to ruin the moment."

•••

Matt and Tyler nodded to each other before going in for the kill. They decided that Matt should start because he was more approachable.

Matt tapped on the younger Salvatore's shoulder. "Hey, man." He whispered. They were in Tanner's class so they had to be quiet.

Stefan turned around and Matt was taken aback when they made eye contact. Even he could get lost in those eyes. He shook that off and started to speak. "I know you're new and all, so I was thinking that you should try out for the football team."

Tyler popped his head into their conversation. "Yeah, it would be a great way to make friends and fit in."

"We think you would be really a great…" Matt looked to Tyler to finish his line.

"Asset."

"And teammate."

"And we would be really happy to have you." Tyler added.

"You can ask Mr. Tanner to let you try out today if you want."

They sent Stefan twin grins.

Stefan chuckled at their very obviously rehearsed speech. "I'll think about it."

Matt and Tyler fist bumped and turned their attention back to Mr. Tanner. There was no way they could lose a game this year with a vampire on their team.

•••

Natalia smiled as she watched Matt and Tyler who were giving Stefan their essay on why he should join the football team. They asked her to edit and revise their script because she was 'smart and stuff'.

She didn't fail to notice that Bonnie had been avoiding her, nor that her twin sister was writing the numbers '8', '14' and '22' over and over again in her notebook. She would approach Bonnie at the dinner tonight.

She looked back at Mr. Tanner who was droning on and sighed. She was so happy he was dying soon.

"World war II ended in… Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? Nobody? 1945." He answered his own question.

Should he look so satisfied that none of his students knew the answer and he got to answer his own question? This man's ego could rival Damon's.

"Pearl Harbor." Tanner continued. "Miss Gilbert."

"Hmm?" Elena looked up.

"Pearl Harbor?"

"Um…"

"December 7, 1941." Stefan answered smoothly.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert ." Mr. Tanner said, eyeing Stefan.

"Anytime." The vampire answered with a nod of his head.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall." Tanner challenged.

"1989. I'm good with dates, sir." Stefan answered.

Mr. T didn't like that. It was apparent on his face. "Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964."

"John F. Kennedy assassination."

"1963."

"Martin Luther King."

"That was '68."

They continued like this back and forth until Mr. Tanner thought he got Stefan.

"Korean war."

"1950 to 1953."

The crappy teacher let out a boisterous laugh. "Ha! It ended in '52."

Stefan looked bored. "Actually, sir, it was '53."

Mr. Tanner's smile dropped. "Somebody look it up. Quickly." He ordered.

A random kid pulled out his phone and chuckled. "It was 19… 53."

The class knew they had to hold their cheers if they wanted to get a good grade, but that didn't stop them from clapping and whooping.

•••

Elena was falling behind in cheer and Nat was trying to get her caught up, but the doppelganger was too busy gazing at Stefan who was on the football field. He was trying out for the team. He did look good, but if Elena kept staring at him like a freaking pervert instead of practicing, the whole cheerleading squad would suffer.

"Hey! Eyes over here, Lena!" Natalia scolded her friend when Elena's eyes trailed down Stefan's body.

"Uh, sorry. Where were we?" She said, snapping out of her trance.

Nattie chuckled and started to help her out again.

Caroline's forcefulness wasn't the only reason Nat did cheerleading, even though she said it was. She would never admit it but it was actually kind of fun. She liked throwing people into the air and vice versa. It was kind of therapeutic.

She skipped over to Bonnie who was stretching while Care was giving them a break.

"Hey, Bons."

"Oh, hi, Nat." Bonnie replied.

"So, tonight we're going over to the Gilbert's for dinner."

"Sounds good." Bonnie smiled dismissively.

"Me, you, Elena, Care, Vicki…"

"Sounds good , Nat." Bonnie repeated, hoping her sister would get the hint.

"And Stefan, of course. Okay, bye!"

Natalia tried to run away, but not all cheerleaders are that athletic, okay? Bonnie caught up to her in a second.

"I'm not going, sorry." Bonnie said.

"Yes you are."

"Nope."

"Bon nie. " Natalia whined.

"Nat tie. " Bonnie echoed.

"What's wrong? You've been weird all day!"

Bonnie sighed. She really did not want to have this conversation. "I'll tell you later."

"No, now." She knew that Bonnie would keep procrastinating, and she really didn't want to deal with that.

"No, later. "

Before Natalia could refute, a familiar blue convertible pulled up. Damon's car. Nat squinted her eyes to get a better view and saw Damon Salvatore kissing her Home Ec. teacher, Ms. Gellar? She was wearing a scarf around her neck which meant trouble. Ms. Gellar stole one more kiss from him before getting out of the car and entering the school.

"You have got to be kidding me." The witch said before marching over to Damon.

"Hello, Nat Nat. Have you thought about my offer yet?"

"Don't start, Damon. What the hell was that?" She motioned to the door where Ms. Gellar entered the school.

"Just dropping off my girlfriend at the school because she forgot something in her classroom." He said nonchalantly.

Natalia glared at him.

"Stop looking at me like that! I'm following your rules! She's over eighteen and she fell for my charm and good looks without any influence."

"You're feeding on her." Nat said as she crossed her arms.

"So what? I'm a vampire, it's what we do. You never said I couldn't drink from my consensual partners."

"Did you ask if you could feed on her, or are you just compelling her not to care?" She asked pointedly. He didn't say anything. "That's what I thought. Drinking her blood without consent fits into the non-consensual category."

A tick grew in Damon's jaw, but he finally nodded. "Fine. I won't feed on her anymore."

"And did you tell Bonnie something last night? Something that would make her views on the entire vampire race change?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Because you like to mess with people."

"I don't like to mess with people who are important to the people who are doing business with me. I'm a respectable guy." Damon shrugged.

That checked out with Nat. It must have been something else that ticked Bonnie off.

"Okay. No more drinking from Ms. Gellar."

He sighed and gave a sarcastic smile. "Aye aye, captain."

•••

Bonnie and Natalia were in the bathroom next to each other, getting ready to go over to Elena's. Neither of them had spoken a word since they got back from cheer.

Nattie couldn't stand the silence anymore and turned to Bonnie.

"Tell me what's wrong now."

"No."

"Yes, Bonnie, tell me!"

"Okay, fine! I read your diary!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Uh, what?" Natalia didn't keep a diary. There were already way too many people who did that in this show.

"Your vision journal or whatever! I was coming into your room this morning to wake you up and I didn't know you were already awake, and when I realized you weren't there, I saw your diary open to a page titled 'The Originals'. I snooped and I'm sorry, but there are a ton of things you should've told me!"

Oh.

Bonnie had read the journal that Natalia made to remember the plot of TVD/TO. It had everything.

"Bonnie, you weren't supposed to see that. Everything you need to know, I told you."

"Well, I personally think I needed to know about how Stefan rips people apart when he eats them!" Bonnie hissed. "Or about how I'm supposed to date Jeremy! And how Enzo is the love of my life! Ew!"

"I didn't tell you about Stefan because that's his personal business. He wouldn't hurt you, and if he would I would tell you. As for Jeremy and Enzo…" She kept herself from gagging. "I didn't want you to feel pressured to date them."

"Okay, and how did you fail to mention that Damon was supposed to compel Caroline! You told us about Vick becoming a vampire, but you didn't say she was going to die. And why is Elena such a whiny bitch in all of your visions?"

"I didn't tell you about Damon and Caroline because I changed it! And I didn't tell you about Vicki because I saved her! You didn't need to worry about any of that, Bon."

"I know you didn't want to worry me, but we're sisters! We're supposed to tell each other everything!" Hurt clouded Bonnie's voice.

"I know, Bonnie. And you don't know how hard it is to keep things from you. But there are some things that are in your best interest not to know."

Bonnie nodded. "I just have one more question."

"Shoot."

"Why weren't you in any of your visions?" Bonnie questioned.

Natalia paused. She didn't know how to answer this one. Should she finally tell Bonnie about her past life? She knew she should eventually, but what if she scared her off? What if Bonnie was scared of her? She took a deep breath.

"Bonnie, that's something I should tell you, but right now isn't the right time."

"Nope. You're not going to procrastinate. That's my thing."

"We're leaving for Elena's in a half an hour."

"We have time, Nat. Tell me."

•••

The twins stood side by side at the door to the Gilbert residence with Vicki on their left and Caroline on their right. Natalia had revealed the truth about her rebirth to her sister, and Bonnie took it better than she expected. It just led to another round of 20 questions.

Bonnie looked like she was exploding with curiosity, but since they picked up Care and Vick, she couldn't ask her questions. Nat was planning on telling the others, for real - Bonnie's reaction encouraged her - but she wasn't ready yet.

Miranda Gilbert opened the door with a beaming smile and they stepped in.

"Hi, girls." Miranda smiled. "Grayson and I were just about to head out, we won't stay here too long."

Grayson Gilbert came up behind his wife. "Yep. Don't worry, we won't crash your party."

The Gilbert parents were under the impression that Elena was dating Matt instead of Stefan. In fact, they didn't know Stefan was in town at all. They'd probably seen his face around, but they wouldn't know it was him until they heard his name. They were extremely anti-vamp, and they probably knew of the infamous vampire Stefan Salvatore from the council, so Elena decided to keep her boyfriend away from her parents for now.

After they left, Elena came downstairs. They were all there early so that Natalia could do the cooking before Stefan got there. Elena couldn't cook for her life.

Nattie got to work in the kitchen and the rest of the girls went to sit in the living room.

As far as she could remember, Nat had to do all the cooking in her past life. Her mother was an alcoholic and her father was… dead? Or maybe he left, she couldn't remember. Either way, she didn't have anyone to take care of her. Even though she didn't remember much about that life, she hadn't seemed to lose her cooking skills.

She was tossing the salad when the doorbell rang signaling Stefan's arrival.

Elena, who was setting the table, gasped and ran over to the mirror, trying to fix any flaws in her appearance. Then she sprinted to the door and flung it open.

"Stefan!" She cheered.

Stefan chuckled. "Hi, Elena."

"Come on in." She opened the door wider so he could enter.

"It smells great in here. Whatcha cookin'?" He asked, taking in the aroma.

"Nattie's cooking actually. I'm not much of a chef." Elena admitted.

"She could burn water." Vicki shouted.

"She probably has." Bonnie agreed.

Elena smiled sarcastically at them then turned back to Stefan. "Why don't you come sit while Nat's finishing up. I can keep you company." Elena motioned to the living room couch.

"Oh, sure and just leave us to do all the work!" Caroline teased.

Elena's sarcastic smile grew more threatening. "I'll help clean up, later, Caroline." She said way too sweetly.

"We'll hold you to that." Natalia yelled from the kitchen.

"Sorry about them." Elena chuckled sheepishly as they sat on the couch together.

Stefan smiled. "I get it. They're like your sisters. You're supposed to tease each other."

"Yeah. They are my sisters." She smiled fondly. "Anyways, can I get you anything to drink while we wait?"

"No need!" Natalia interrupted, entering the living room. "Dinner is served."

"Great, I'm starving." Stefan said, following Elena who got up and started walking to the dining room.

"I'm sure you are, Ripper." She mumbled before chuckling at her own joke. Then she turned her back to the living room and went to the dining room to enjoy dinner.

•••

They sat around the table, keeping idle conversation. Bonnie was less weird around Stefan, which was better. Caroline and Vicki were the most talkative so they mostly took over the conversation.

"Thanks again for cooking, Natalia." Stefan thanked.

She smiled. "Of course. Grams says to never come to a party empty handed, so I think cooking checks that box."

"I was always told the same thing by my parents. Which is why I brought this." He got up quickly and retrieved a brown pastry box. He sat back down and opened it up.

Inside were six cannolis. Caroline screamed in happiness.

"I love those little Italian thingies!" She shrieked. "What are they called, Nat?!"

"Cannolis?" Nattie chuckled.

"Yes, that! I love them!"

"Well done, Stefan." Vicki said approvingly.

"Those look delicious." Elena complemented dreamily (even though she was looking at his face rather than the dessert he was holding…).

Bonnie was the last grant of approval at the table. She was horrified by Stefan just ten hours before, but as she looked at the powdered pastries, she couldn't help but feel a burst of affection for him.

"Yum." Was all she needed to say for him to break out in a handsome beam.

Thank god. Now he had finally won over all of his girlfriend's sisters.

Just as all was right in the world, the doorbell rang.

"I wonder who that could be." Elena remarked.

Oh, crap. Natalia thought angrily. She knew who that could be.

Elena walked over to the door and opened it to see, surprise, surprise, Damon Salvatore. And Ms. Gellar from Home Ec. beside him? Huh.

"Evening, Elena. Sorry to interrupt, but I remembered hearing about Stefan coming over here for dinner tonight and I realized that he forgot his jacket at home. So being the amazing brother I am, I brought it for him."

Stefan joined Elena by the door and took one look at the jacket Damon was carrying and said, "That's not my jacket."

"Stop lying and take the jacket, Stefan."

"I'm not gonna take the jacket, Damon, it's not my jacket."

"Just take the goddamn jacket! I know how you get… cold."

"What's going on here?" Natalia asked. She was the next to join the party at the front door.

"Ah, Bennett, fancy seeing you here. You look phenomenal by the way." Damon said charmingly.

Natalia looked down at her sweatpants and apron. Okay, then.

"What are you doing here, Damon?" She asked.

"Waiting for Stefan to take this jacket. Or for the lovely Miss Elena to invite me in so I can force it on him myself." Damon replied.

Natalia looked over at Ms. Gellar, who was clearly confused, which was actually a good thing. It means she wasn't compelled to be spacey. She wasn't wearing the scarf anymore which was good as well.

"Damon, what is going on here? Why do you want him to take the jacket so bad?" Ms. Gellar hissed.

"Michelle, I'm just trying to make sure my baby bro isn't cold. I mean, you must know what that's like with a younger sister." Damon reasoned.

"I don't have a younger sister."

"Huh. I could've sworn you- y'know what, whatever. Stefan, just take the jacket and we'll leave you to the party."

Stefan sighed. "Fine." He took the jacket from Damon's hands. "You happy now?"

"Extremely. But now that we're here, I don't see why Michelle and I can't stay."

"Oh god." Stefan said, holding the bridge of his nose.

"No." Elena said without hesitation.

"Come on, Elena. I'm great at parties. I'm not that old."

"Not a chance." She refuted.

"Elena," He said, a bit more threateningly this time, moving hand to Ms. Gellar's neck. The Home Ec. teacher gave him an annoyed look, not realizing just how dangerous he was. "Please?" He finished with a wicked smirk.

Natalia internally groaned. Technically, hurting Ms. G wouldn't be breaking the rules she gave him, because he wouldn't be compelling her. He wasn't allowed to hurt or kill anyone under eighteen, but Ms. Gellar was in her early thirties. Damn it.

Elena gulped on and looked at Stefan. Stefan didn't want Damon to have access to Elena's house, but he also valued Ms. Gellar's life. And there was a possibility that Damon wouldn't hurt Elena because she looked so much like Katherine. He couldn't tell her what to do, though. Elena had to be the one to decide who came in and out of her house.

Elena sighed defeatedly. She didn't know what to do, but she knew Damon wouldn't hesitate to hurt Ms. Gellar.

"Come in, Damon."

i was planning on getting all of episode 3 in this chapter but i didn't realize how long it was! so i decided to split it into two parts.

to the guest who commented saying they wanted more for bonnie, this one's for you! i had this plot planned for her for a while, but i realized that i haven't been giving her much before this chapter. she'll be shining from now on! promise!

the quest to find nat a love interest is coming to a close. here's what we have so far (note: these results are from ao3, wattpad, and various people in my life).

stefan: 7

klaus: 6

elijah: 4

kol: 4

damon: 3

harem: 9

you can still let me know your opinions, i think i'll make a decision by the chapter after the next one. lot's of time to ponder. thanks for reading my lovelies!