Chapter 10: The Turning Point
December 2, 2009
Dear Diary,
My memory of what happened that night, it's blurry at best. I remember talking to Emily and giving her my bracelet, but after that it gets all fuzzy. I'm not sure what really happened and what I imagined. Bonnie and Elena have been very very hush hush about whatever the hell happened. They said they found me passed out in the woods, but offered no explanation to how that had happened. I need to go talk to Grams about it.
Ellie sat at the counter as she finished off a plate of eggs. She stood from the counter and walked over to Jenna just as Elena came down the stairs and announced, "Jeremy's got his sketch pad out."
"You're kidding." Jenna said in disbelief as a smile appeared.
"Nope, but don't say a word. The minute we encourage him, he'll put it away." Elena reminded her.
"Psychology major. Check that." Jenna replied. "You and Stefan? Update?"
"He knows how I feel and where I stand, and I know where he stands, but it doesn't matter. He's leaving. Moving away." Elena confessed.
"What?" Ellie asked in shock. "He's leaving?"
"Where's he going?" Jenna questioned.
"I've stopped asking questions." Elena told them as she pulled open the door. "The answers get scary."
"Yours leaves. Mine returns." Jenna said as they walked down the porch.
"What? Scum Fell came back?" Ellie asked as her nose scrunched up in distaste.
"He's back." Jenna confirmed as the twins groaned. "I didn't let him past the front door."
"I hope you slammed it in his face." Elena told her.
"Ah, medium slam." Jenna admitted.
"Gross, he deserves an extreme slam." Ellie told her.
"Three strike rule, Jenna." Elena said. "You're not even allowed to watch the news."
"Exactly. No more Logan 'Scum' Fell." Jenna replied with a nod. "Now we just need to get Ellie a guy so that we can have boy troubles all around."
"Oh, please spare me. I think I'll pass." Ellie scoffed as Jenna bumped their hips together. "Your guy is literal trash that doesn't know how lucky he was to have you and Stefan and Elena can't keep it together for five minutes."
"Hey!" Elena protested.
"Don't even try to tell me I'm wrong. You and Matt never had mini breakups and you and Stefan can never seem to get in the right place." Ellie commented. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she was telling the truth. "Also… why are we walking again?"
"To get some fresh air." Jenna supplied.
"We can roll the windows down. This is not a short walk." Ellie whined. "But seriously Jenna, when I see Logan 'Scum' Fell I make no promises about restraining myself from beating him to hell and back."
"Fair enough." Jenna agreed with a shrug.
"Besides, if what I hear from Jeremy is true I don't have to worry about Scum Fell anyways." Ellie sang.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Elena asked, her eyebrows slowly raising to her hairline.
"Our darling Aunt Jenna is seducing our favorite history teacher, Mr. Saltzman." Ellie informed her.
"I am not seducing anyone." Jenna corrected but both Elena and Ellie gave her skeptical looks.
"Admit it, Jenna. You think he's smokin hot." Ellie taunted.
"He's your teacher." Jenna tried.
"And you think he's smokin." Elena confirmed, a devious grin on her face as their aunt's face began to flush. "Oh my god Jenna why didn't you tell us. We will definitely put in a good word for you."
"Several good words as a matter of fact." Ellie added.
"God, I am so not a teenager." Jenna told them. "I don't need you nudging to set us up."
"Which means that you know you've already got him in the bag, huh?" Ellie teased.
"You two are awful." Jenna groaned.
"Now you know how I feel." Ellie shot back.
"You two are so overdramatic it's not that bad." Elena told them.
Jenna gave Ellie a look but the older twin just rolled her eyes. "Anyways, how's Bonnie? Jeremy said he thought she looked really spooked when you guys came home the other night." Jenna asked.
Ellie reached for her wrist, where the bracelet she'd given Emily normally resided. Bonnie hadn't said anything about the bracelet, so Ellie wondered if the other girl even realized she had it. Emily also hadn't explained why she wanted the bracelet in the first place. "She's fine. She just got scared by an animal." Elena lied and she subtly raised her eyebrows, a plea for her sister to keep quiet. Ellie was too preoccupied thinking about Emily to bother protesting. Would it be possible for her to reach the witch again? Without Bonnie? Something about the older witch just radiated power.
"Ellie?"
"Hmm?"
"Oh, I was just saying that you and Tyler should definitely go out." Elena said.
"What?!" Ellie couldn't help her screech. "Me and Tyler? What drugs are you on?"
Elena was the perfect embodiment of the cat that caught the canary. "What? I think you two would be cute together." She was positively saccharine.
"God. You two wouldn't know butting out if it hit you with a truck." Ellie scoffed but her sister and aunt just smiled warmly at her. "Why would you even think to have me go the Tyler route?"
"I don't know. He seems less of a jerk with you." Elena told her.
"He's not… he's not totally a jerk. He's just got serious anger issues. Besides I wouldn't date a guy this is literally always three seconds away from getting into a fight to the death with my brother at the slightest temptation." Ellie explained.
"She's thought about this." Jenna remarked to Elena. "You think he's smokin hot."
Ellie rolled her eyes at the repetition of her earlier statement but still fought the urge to grin. She put on her best annoyed face and rolled her eyes. "Please Tyler is so not my type."
"Oh, you have a type? Do tell?" Elena teased.
"Not that." Ellie assured them both. By the time Ellie and Elena finally made it to school, Elena had disappeared to find Bonnie and Ellie ironically enough found herself with Tyler.
Her attention was drawn away from the conversation at the sound of Matt's voice. "And then the ballet dancer and the krumper did the salsa."
"Well, I was awake for that." Caroline was telling him.
"Well, I don't know when you fell asleep. Um, did you see the Celine Dion waltz about cancer?" Matt asked.
Caroline gasped, "Those always make me cry."
"Yeah and then the loud judge kept screamin' and I couldn't take it, so I turned it off." Matt confessed. By now Tyler and Jack had noticed and turned to watch.
Caroline's jaw dropped in faux-offense. "I sat through Family Guy so you owed me." She told the boy.
"Did I miss something?" Tyler questioned as he adjusted against the wall to watch the blondes.
"They've been hanging out." Ellie informed him.
"Huh." Tyler said as his eyebrow quirked up.
"No 'huh'. She needs somebody like him. Someone that's not a royal dickhead. Someone that's nice like him." She gave him a pointed look and he just laughed as he tossed his arm over her shoulders.
"You sayin' I'm not nice Gilbert?" He laughed and gave Jack a hurt look. "She's sayin' I'm not nice Jack. My heart is being torn to pieces."
"I can tell. I think you need to see a doctor about that." Jack informed him seriously.
"Oh shut up you absolute troll. I'm saying that you act like a dickhead at any given opportunity. You'd be kinda ok if you didn't act like a douche." She explained.
"Kinda ok. Wow, that makes me feel fantastic."
"As it should, Lockwood." Ellie smirked. "Ok loser, I have things to do. Try not to get into any fights today." She could see him flipping her off from the corner of her eye and just grinned as she walked off.
After school had ended Ellie found herself watching Tyler and Matt play basketball. She could see a question brewing with the way Tyler kept eyeing Matt, and she was fairly sure she could guess what it was. "So what's up with you and Forbes?" Tyler finally asked Matt and Ellie could have laughed. He was entirely too predictable.
"Nothin's up." Matt denied.
"I saw you two in the hall today. So did Ellie." Tyler told him. "Don't even try and deny it, bro. You're tappin that."
"No, it's not like that." Matt told him.
"Don't ever phrase that like that again, Tyler Lockwood. That's my best friend you're talking about." Ellie warned with a dark glare.
"It's never 'like that', till you become 'we people'." Tyler explained.
"We people?" Matt questioned.
"'We can't make it to the party'. 'We'll never miss a game'. 'We don't like the color red'." Tyler said sarcastically.
"We hung out, like, twice." Matt told him.
"Like I said, 'we'." Tyler told him as he took a shot at the goal and Ellie spied the way Matt was grinning slightly.
"For the record Matt, I am in full support of you and Caroline, if you want to get together, of course." Ellie told him as she pushed herself to stand. "Now, I have things to do that are more important than watching you two play basketball."
"I'm hurt Gilbert." Tyler scoffed but the two boys hugged her goodbye. She needed to get home and drop off her things before the career fair later that night. By the time she got home, both Jeremy and Jenna were already there.
"Jenna, are you coming to the career thingy tonight?" Ellie asked.
"Of course, gotta promote your promising careers." Jenna said with a smile.
"And it doesn't matter whatsoever that there's gonna be a really really cute history teacher of mine in attendance, right?" Ellie said mockingly.
"Hush you." Jenna warned as she shoved Ellie's arm.
"Hey, what do you think?" Jeremy asked them as he held up his sketch book, displaying a scary looking vampire face.
"Creepy." Jenna told him.
"Truly quite spooky." Ellie assured.
"Found this old journal in dad's stuff… Jonathan Gilbert from the 1800s. He's kind of a freak show. He wrote about demons and all these people getting slaughtered and..." Jeremy explained.
"Yeah, he was a writer." Jenna said as she and Ellie sat on the back of the couch. "Short stories, horror stuff."
"Oh, he wrote fiction? Figured he was just a lunatic or a drunk." Jeremy admitted.
"Well, he was a Gilbert, probably a bit of both." Jenna confirmed.
Ellie scoffed. "You only diss him because you're not a Gilbert."
"Thank god for that. Besides, am I wrong?"
"No… probably not." Ellie said. "Hey, Jenna, I have to go do some stuff but I'll see you at the thing at school, yeah?"
"Yeah. I'll be there."
"Wear something pretty." Ellie sang. "Jeremy don't you ditch it. I'll make you eat microwavable dinners for a week."
"The horror." He said sarcastically. With a warning glare he just waved her off, "Yeah, yeah, I'll be there."
The drive from her home to Sheila's somehow seemed to have grown shorter the more familiar it became. As she made her way inside and to the kitchen with the older witch to make chamomile tea like they always did, the familiarity made it feel like Sheila was more than just her witch teacher, almost like she was her Grams too. So as they sat to drink their tea, Ellie asked, "Did you see the news about that woman they found?"
"I did. You should be careful dear. I wouldn't want for you to get hurt." Sheila commented. "How are you? We haven't gotten a chance to properly speak since the whole ordeal with Emily. I still haven't gotten all the information as to what happened."
She took a moment to think. Everything from that night was still fuzzy in parts. It almost felt like she was trying to watch an old tape, but it was worn out in places, leaving nothing but frustrating static. "Emily… she seemed, well, like a witch on a mission. After she possessed Bonnie, she got out of the house as fast as she could and was talking about a promise and that he couldn't have it. I'm not really sure who 'he' is, but she was intent on not doing whatever it is that he wanted. I remember her asking for my bracelet and then collapsing. I think she was talking to someone about innocent people maybe? Everything after giving her my bracelet is really fuzzy."
"Emily was speaking to someone?" Sheila inquired, placing her drink down on the napkin.
"Mmhmm, I remember yelling. It was like listening underwater. I remember hearing them, but I couldn't really tell you Elena from Katy Perry." Ellie admitted. "I… I think Emily said something about protecting me."
Sheila didn't seem surprised. "Then she must see what I see in you. Those that have passed are not always gone when it comes to supernatural beings. I'm sure she will keep her word to you."
"Even though she didn't keep her word to whoever 'he' was?"
"If Emily broke her word to someone, it was for a very good reason. However, if she told you that she was going to protect you, I have no doubt that she will." Ellie's fiddling must have been a give away. "What is it?"
"I just wonder… if Emily and other supernaturals that have died don't just… go away is it possible to talk to them? Learn from them?" Ellie inquired.
"Yes, but it's not commonly done. Some don't want to speak to the deceased, or the deceased don't want to help, and sometimes it's difficult to make contact. Why?" Grams asked.
Ellie shrugged. "You make it sound like Emily was this super strong witch. Learning from her if possible seems like an opportunity too good to pass up." She confessed and didn't mask the surprise she felt from the way Grams gave her a proud and pleased expression.
"Clever of you to think like that, dear." She praised. Ellie watched the older witch as she rose from her seat and walked over to the bookcase. "Witches, we tend to have items of significance. Emily had the talisman that Bonnie wore, but that wasn't the only important item of hers." Sheila explained as she pulled a very thin bracelet from a decorative box. It wasn't nearly as gaudy as the necklace had been. It was a simple looking braided bracelet, and looked as if it were made from scrap material. "From what I understand, Emily's youngest daughter Alice made it for her some time after they moved to Mystic Falls. Gems and jewels are always effective, but this held a strong sentimental value for Emily. Since the necklace is no longer a viable option, maybe this can help you in your endeavor to reach her."
Ellie took the bracelet and felt the unfamiliar fabric between her fingers before slipping it onto her wrist, in the place where her old bracelet used to reside. "In my endeavor… does that mean you aren't going to help me?"
"Some things must be done on our own, but I will tell you that there are things that you can draw on for additional strength. The elements. Most of us use candles and fire." Sheila said as she returned to her seat. "Feel free to go through the grimoires and see if there is any spell in particular that you would like to use. Now I know you want to learn when you come here, but I have essays to grade, I'm afraid."
The young Gilbert just laughed and nodded. "That's fine. I'll just look through the grimoires." Ellie placed her cup next to Sheila's before walking over to the bookcase and grabbed the first grimoire she saw. The time seemed to fly past and she was only startled from her readings at the loud sound of her phone ringing. "Hey Care, what's up?"
"Where are you? I thought you said you were gonna be here by now?" Caroline whined.
"Huh?" Ellie found the clock sitting next to the lamp. She was supposed to be at the school five minutes ago to go with Caroline. "Crap. I'm on my way. Bye Care."
"Ok. See you soon." Caroline replied and the call ended.
"Hey, Grams, I have to get to the school for the career night!" Ellie called as she put the grimoires back in their places. "Caroline just called, I was supposed to meet her and I'm already late."
"Of course, did you find anything of use?" Sheila questioned.
"I did actually. Thank you for letting me have free reign over the grimoires and to steal all your tea." Ellie told her as she put her notebook in her bag.
Sheila looked up from the essay she held to smile at the young Gilbert. "Have a good time Ellie, make sure to pay attention to what they're saying. It's important to make good life decisions. There's plenty of careers to choose from. Or you could channel your witch and be an occult studies professor like me."
"Oh you say that like it's a bad thing. Surely watching regular people mess up the basics must be entertaining." Ellie asked.
"It can be… and then sometimes you get people like this student who talks about Sabrina Spellman, one of the witches burned at Salem." Sheila said with a sigh and Ellie nearly choked on her surprised laughter.
"What? Someone seriously wrote that?" Ellie asked.
"Unfortunately yes. Maybe they think I'm so old and crazy that I won't notice. Or they really just don't care. Maybe both." Sheila said with a sigh. "Go, go, I'm sure Caroline's waiting."
"Yeah, she'll freak if I take too much longer." Ellie agreed. "Ok, I'll see you later." With Sheila's goodbye, Ellie got in her car and headed for the school.
"Thank god you're here. How do I look? Do I look ok?" Caroline asked nervously as she pulled at the ends of her shirt.
"Care, you look beautiful, as always. Why? Are you trying to impress someone?" Ellie asked as she looped her arm through Caroline's as they walked in. When Caroline tensed, Ellie figured that they were near the person Caroline wanted to see. "Look, you are Caroline Forbes and the best girl in this entire town. I have never ever seen someone with such an effective ability to make adults think that you are the best thing since sliced bread. Now, get over there and snag yourself a job for the future."
"I really love you. You know that? Thank you." Caroline said as she straightened up and strutted over to a booth and started chatting away with the woman with confidence.
"Go get 'em, Care." Ellie said with a proud smile as she walked away. She found Tyler in the section with art, which didn't surprise her in the least. "Hey Ty."
"Hey. Surprised you aren't with Caroline." He said with a laugh.
"She is my other half but I can function on my own surprisingly enough." Ellie sassed. "What about you? If your dad sees you anywhere near the art section he'd probably have a stroke."
"Ah, guess I'll just have to blame you for it then to get him off my ass." Tyler told her as they moved to another booth.
"You'd use me as a human shield?" She said with an over dramatic gasp. "How rude. Then again, yeah go ahead. He's definitely not my favorite person."
Tyler just grinned at her before they turned to look at the folder of student art that was being displayed. Ellie was sure some of Tyler's work would be displayed there. Little known fact about the Lockwood boy was that he was actually quite talented with art, but his dick of a dad hated it. Jeremy came up beside them and looked at Tyler in surprise. "What do you want?" Tyler asked.
"Hey. Uh, just surprised to see you here." Jeremy said as he walked closer. "Art usually implies culture, and culture implies, well, not you."
Ellie scoffed as she whacked her brother's arm. "Don't be a dick, Jer."
"Go to hell." Tyler said simply before turning to walk off. Ellie glared at her brother before turning to follow after Tyler.
"Thanks for not fighting him for antagonizing you." She said and he just waved her off.
"It's whatever. He's a dumbass kid." Tyler said.
"I mean, so are you, but thanks." Ellie said sincerely.
Tyler's attention was drawn to something ahead of them, his dad. "God, I do not want to deal with him right now." He groaned and Ellie didn't hesitate to grab him by his arm and pull him down the hallway to avoid the mayor. "Why is he even here? It's not like he gives a crap."
"Because he has to play nice to stay mayor." Ellie reminded him. They went around looking at the booths until Jenna came up and buried her head in Ellie's shoulder with huff. "What's up, Jenna?"
"Hide me. Scum." Jenna begged. Ellie looked around and saw Logan standing a good bit away, but even then Ellie wanted nothing more than to smack his stupid smug smirk off of his face.
"Wait, what?" Tyler asked as he straightened up in case he needed to kick someone's ass.
"Ok, we gotta go Tyler or I'm gonna end up in jail for murder." Ellie said as she quickly pulled Jenna away, leaving Tyler confused and alone. "Come on, we're getting extra Scum protectant."
They walked hastily through the halls and found Stefan and Elena talking in one of the classrooms. "Hide me." Jenna repeated.
"What's going on?" Elena asked.
"The Scum Fell has landed." Jenna informed her.
Elena sighed in annoyance as she said, "Logan's here."
"Wait. Logan Fell?" Stefan questioned as his gaze flickered between the three of them.
"Unfortunately the one and only." Ellie confirmed and he immediately turned and walked out of the classroom. Ellie followed him out of the classroom and saw that his stare was locked on Logan who was giving him a smug smile and wave. "Stefan, what's up?"
"Stefan, what's going on?" Elena asked as she and Jenna also stepped out into the hallway.
"Jenna, are you dodging me?" Logan asked as he walked over to them and Ellie subconsciously moved closer to her aunt.
"It's a form of self-preservation." Jenna sassed.
"And the best thing she's ever done in regards to you." Ellie added and if she could burn him to the ground with her glare, he'd have been nice and crispy.
"Um, Elena, why don't you, Ellie, and Jenna go somewhere else?" Stefan suggested but gave the youngest Gilbert girl a significant look.
Ellie had no clue what it meant, but Elena seemed to understand instantly, her hands grasping at Ellie and Jenna, telling them, "Let's go." Ellie's protests of confusion were ignored as Elena pulled them farther and farther away from Logan and Stefan. "When Logan came to the house, what did he say?"
"Fake flattery. Stupid, dimpled grin." Jenna replied. "Puppy dog eyes."
"I'm serious, Jenna. How did he act? What did he say?" Elena persisted.
"He was the usual Logan, was charming, little more manic than usual. He kept trying to convince me to let him in." Jenna told her and they both noticed the way Elena tensed. "What?"
"Ok, listen to me very carefully. Do not, under any circumstances, talk to him again. I'm serious, Jenna, like ever." Elena stressed and both Ellie and Jenna were unsure as to what caused the sudden change in character.
"Hey, Elena, Ellie." A man greeted and Ellie turned to see Mr. Saltzman standing just behind them. "Jenna."
"Hi, Mr. Saltzman." The twins chimed together and Ellie grinned at seeing both Jenna and Mr. Saltzman looking slightly awkward and blushing.
"Yeah, I was hopin' to, uh, see you tonight." Mr. Saltzman said to Jenna.
"Career night is the new bowling." Jenna joked. When Mr. Saltzman laughed at the bad joke Ellie was sure then and there that they were made for each other. In her opinion, if liked someone enough to laugh at a really dumb joke then it's a match made in heaven.
"Ok, um, excuse me." Elena said and started to walk away from the adults and their awkward flirting.
Ellie followed along after her, curious as to what had her sister so bent out of shape. "Elena, what the hell is going on? You're teetering on the edge of acting like a crazy person."
"Listen, it's nothing I just need to go find Stefan. I'll be back… I just gotta go." Elena's excuse was weak but she left no room for argument as she blended into the crowd of people.
Elena was acting so bizarre as of late and Ellie couldn't figure out what was causing it. If it was Stefan then surely Elena would just tell her, right? She'd always told Ellie everything. Her thoughts were unable to linger on her sister as a familiar blonde looped their arms together. "Ok, so what careers are you looking at?"
"I don't even know Caroline, I've been preoccupied." Ellie confessed. "What about you? Still into broadcast journalism?"
Caroline hummed. "I am."
"When are you going to tell your mom? Don't you think she'd be interested in knowing what her daughter wants to do with her future?" Ellie asked softly. She was aware that stuff like this was a sensitive topic for Caroline, who often felt like her mother didn't really care.
"Actually, yeah, I think I should tell her." Caroline caught her by surprise and the brunette was left speechless as Caroline dragged her along. "Mom!" The Sheriff turned at the sound of her daughter's call and Caroline grabbed her hand as they headed for the broadcast journalism booth.
"What are you doing?" Sheriff Forbes asked as she allowed Caroline to lead her.
"Following my future." Caroline told her as they came to a stop in front of the booth. "There it is."
"Broadcast journalism?" Sheriff Forbes asked skeptically.
"Yes. Broadcast journalism." Caroline said with a smile. Ellie knew that the blonde also spotted the look her mother was making as she asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You don't even read the paper."
Caroline just rolled her eyes and walked off in disappointment as Ellie trailed after her. "Care…" Ellie called once they were far enough away.
"She doesn't care, Ellie. She's not like your mom. Your mom was so involved in everything you and Elena and Jeremy ever wanted to be and was so supportive of you. You told your mom you wanted to be a ballerina and she had you in classes the very next day. You told your mom that you wanted to make a volcano for science and she dropped everything she was doing to help you. And that was when she was in the middle of helping Lisa Fell make her pageant dress. A dress your mom was literally making by hand. My mom listens for a total of five seconds before scoffing in my face." Caroline ranted. "Why can't my mom just look at me and for once not see a selfish little brat with an airhead and see how much I miss my mom?"
They were sitting at the top of a staircase away from the flow of people as Ellie pulled Caroline to her. "Caroline, all mothers aren't the same. Yes, I had an amazing mother who loved me so much that I will never forget it, but she's also gone. Your mom is still here Caroline. No, she doesn't dote on you like my mom, but don't doubt for a second whether she loves you or not. I mean Matt's mom hasn't even been back in who knows how long. Care, your mom loves you." Ellie assured her.
"Well can she at least attempt to show that she cares because it really freaking sucks to feel like I'm this massive disappointment to my mom." Caroline told her.
"You are not a massive disappointment to anyone and if a single soul tries to say otherwise I will promptly kick their ass." Ellie's threat brought a smile to Caroline's face.
Caroline sat up and gave Ellie a curious look. "I will never understand what I did to deserve to have a best friend like you." She said honestly.
"You didn't have to do anything Caroline. You'll never have to do anything to earn my friendship. I will always be your friend." Ellie told her.
"I love you a lot, you know."
"I love you more, you know."
"Not possible." Caroline denied, her tears fading away as she smiled brightly.
"Oh, but it is." Ellie corrected.
"Ok, not to kill our moment and all, but is that your brother following Tyler?" Caroline asked, and near the bottom of the stairs she could see Tyler walking and Jeremy very much trailing after him. "Go." Caroline told her. "That could very easily turn into a fight."
"Thanks Care, love you." Ellie said as she pressed a kiss to Caroline's hairline before rushing down the stairs.
As she caught up to them, she could hear Jeremy making a comment about Tyler's drawings. "It's an elective." Tyler told him.
"'Cause it's good stuff. You like graphics? 'Cause that's uh, that's kind of my thing." Jeremy said.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doin'?" Tyler took the question right out of Ellie's mouth.
"Well, it's just something else we have in common."
"And what's the other thing? Vicki?" Tyler asked sarcastically and Ellie felt herself start to tense. This wasn't going to end well, she just knew it. "Let's hang out because we did the same chick? Go be friends with one of the many other guys that she screwed. There's no shortage of them."
"Tyler!" Ellie hissed but Jeremy had slammed him up into the lockers. "Jeremy stop!"
"Whoa! Whoa! Hey, hey, hey!" The mayor appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Tyler as Mr. Saltzman yanked Jeremy away from him.
"All right, work it out tough guy." Mr. Saltzman said to Jeremy as he kept him to the lockers on the other side.
"You two, follow me." The mayor said as he kept a hand firmly on Tyler's chest to keep him in place.
He gave Tyler a bit of a push and the younger Lockwood started walking and Jeremy went as well. "Excuse me, Mayor." Mr. Saltzman called and the three turned around. "Where are you taking them?"
"I'm gonna talk to 'em. All fights should end in handshakes, don't you think?" The mayor said, before telling the boys, "Come on."
As they disappeared down the hallway, worry crept inside Ellie's gut. "Mr. Saltzman." She said softly when the man started to leave. "I don't like this. Mayor Lockwood has a temper, even if most people aren't aware. I don't think him taking them is a good idea." She confessed. No one really ever said anything bad about the mayor, but he had her brother and one of her best friends, she couldn't not say anything.
"It'll be ok, don't worry." Mr. Saltzman said before he slowly walked away.
She didn't try to call him back, instead she went after the three of them, trying to find where they'd gone. When she came across one of the exits to outside, she stuck her head out and found Mayor Lockwood with his back to her, facing the two teens. "Get this out of your system." Mayor Lockwood was saying. "Go ahead, fight."
"You want us to what?" Jeremy asked in disbelief as Ellie came outside entirely.
"I'm not gonna fight him, dad." Tyler told the older man, his voice tired, like this was something he'd grown accustomed to.
"I don't think so, sir." Jeremy said and he started to head back inside but Mayor Lockwood stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
"You don't fight in there like pansies. You take it outside, fight your battles like men, and move on. Best lesson my dad taught me. So let's settle this. Fight." Mayor Lockwood said.
"Come on, dad."
Ellie opened her mouth to stop him when Mr. Saltzman stepped outside and put a hand on her arm. "I've got this, get out of sight." He warned her lowly and she nodded before standing behind a pillar, just enough so that Mayor Lockwood wouldn't see her.
"You know, it's not gonna happen." Jeremy denied.
She could see Tyler trying to leave, but his father shoved him back harshly. "I said fight!"
"Whoa, what's going on out here?" Mr. Saltzman said, announcing his presence.
"Just lettin' these two kids work it out." Mayor Lockwood said in a smooth voice, the anger from a moment ago gone. "We're good here. Go back inside."
"I don't wanna go back inside." Mr. Saltzman told him and Ellie felt a strong wave of affection for the older man. Not many, actually no one stood up to the mayor. "What I want is an answer to my question. What's goin' on out here?"
The mayor turned back slowly, and Ellie could practically see the anger radiating off of him. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He asked. "Do I look like a student?"
"No, you look like a full grown alpha male douche bag." Mr. Saltzman retorted and Ellie felt her jaw drop as Tyler's eyes went wide and Jeremy tried not to laugh.
"You don't talk to me like that." Mayor Lockwood warned. "I can have your job like this." He said with a snap.
Mr. Saltzman laughed in his face. "Ah, you do that." He taunted. "Then it'll be you and me in this parking lot working things out. You cool with that?"
"You just marked yourself." Mayor Lockwood threatened.
"Ok." Mr. Saltzman said, clearly unimpressed."You all right?" He asked Jeremy once the Lockwoods were gone.
Ellie appeared from behind the pillar and walked over to them. "God I knew Mayor Lockwood was a dick, but I didn't know Tyler had it that bad." She confessed.
"You knew his dad was a jerk?" Jeremy questioned.
"Yeah, I remember when we were at his house in like seventh grade he accidentally broke a vase while we were playing on his playstation and his dad got so mad that he threw the playstation out of the window and destroyed it." Ellie said. "God I can't believe I didn't realize how bad it was."
"Sometimes you just don't know, don't beat yourself up, Ellie." Mr. Saltzman consoled. "So you're ok, Jeremy?"
This time, Jeremy nodded in response to the question. "Yeah, thanks for helping us out Mr. Saltzman." Jeremy told the older man.
"Don't worry about it. I really just hate assholes." Ellie and Jeremy both grinned at him. With a laugh, he said, "I probably shouldn't be swearing in front of you two, I'm supposed to be a good example after all."
"Please, what better example could you set than standing up to over confident bullies?" Ellie asked.
"Fair enough, just don't let the other teachers know I swore in front of you. I might lose my job like this." He said with a snap, the way Mayor Lockwood had done. The Gilbert kids laughed and he said, "Alright, let's get you guys back inside." They obediently followed him back inside. "I need to go, you two behave yourselves, I might not be there to stop the next douche bag."
"No promises." Ellie joked and he grinned at her before walking off. "What is it, Jer? I can almost hear your thoughts."
"I was thinking that maybe I should go talk to Tyler." He admitted. "Do you think that would be a bad idea?"
"Bad idea? No. Could it end badly based on his mood? Yes." She told him. "Come on, I'll go with you. He's probably outside so that he's not around anybody else." She was right and they found him sitting on the top of a picnic table, staring blankly at the ground as he twisted his hands.
"Hey." Jeremy called as they approached.
"What do you want?" Tyler asked as he stood up and stepped towards them.
"I don't know." Jeremy said truthfully. "I uh, I thought that was weird with your dad, what he did. Is he like that all the time? Is that… is that what you gotta go through? Man, I… I get it. I get it." Tyler pulled back and punched Jeremy before Ellie forced her way in between them, hands on Tyler's chest to make sure nothing else happened. "What's your problem?"
"Look, I don't need your pity." Tyler told him.
"Seriously, you don't have to be like this. You don't."
"Just go."
"What is your problem, man?" Jeremy asked again as Tyler started to back away, Ellie moving with him.
"I don't know, ok? I don't know." Tyler told him and she felt her heart go out to her friend.
"Jer, just go." Ellie said as she started to pull Tyler farther away from her brother. "Ty, come on." They came to a stop next to Matt's truck and Ellie forced Tyler to look at her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Sorry." He apologized as he brushed her hands away from his face. "Listen, I'm sorry for punching Jeremy."
"He'll be ok, I'm more worried about you right now."
With a huff he admitted, "I don't know, I just get so angry sometimes, Ellie, and I do stupid shit and I'm really sorry."
"Ty..."
"I need a ride." Tyler said, ignoring her sad look as he focused on Matt walking towards them.
"Sure. Ellie, you need a ride too?"
"No thanks, Matty. I drove here." She told him.
"Ok." Matt said with a nod and he started to pass them to get to the driver's seat before stopping and telling Tyler, "Look, I like Caroline. She's got this thing, this… this way about her, and I like her, ok? And I'm not gonna defend it or apologize about it."
"Ok." Tyler said simply, his voice verging on exhaustion.
"So stop your little bromance bitch act."
"Ok." Tyler repeated.
Just before Matt got in the car, Ellie leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I may or may not be certain that Caroline likes you too." Matt just gave her a smile and nodded before getting in his truck. She turned and pulled the Lockwood into a hug, the need to comfort him before he left too strong to do anything other than that. "Also, if your dad ever gets on your nerves too much, I can always sneak you in the house."
"Oh, I'm sure Elena would have a field day with that." He told her and gave her a soft smile. "I'll be ok, Ellie. Thanks." She nodded, almost reluctant to let him go, but still she moved away from the truck and waved as they backed out and drove away.
Author's Note:
Thank you guys for over 4000 views! I'm so glad so many people are reading my story! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought or if there's anything you'd like to see!
To Guest: I love that you're a curious stinker so definitely don't apologize for it. And yes, there is a definite plan for Ellie getting with someone. But it is going to be a bit before we get to that. I haven't even written it yet, but there's a plan for sure.
To Guest (2): A lot just happened and there's more to come.
To Oz: Yes. There are events that happened in TVD that are going to be very effected by Ellie's being there. I wonder if you can guess what's going to be changed because of Ellie.
To Guest (3): Oh for sure. I can't see Caroline being a vampire as something that would change how Ellie saw her or how much Ellie cared about her.
To Mimi: Oh that's a hard question. Probably seasons two and three as my favorite thanks to our wonderful Originals and Katherine. But I also love Kai so season six is up there. I didn't actually finish watching the end of the show, but I do know what happens to like Stefan and I hated that. Also not a fan of season four and Elena being annoying because she can't handle being a vampire. Getting Jeremy killed because of her need to be human is also very irritating.
-Madame Magic
Posted: 4/8/20
