5.

By four o'clock, the town square was buzzing with activity. Caroline was making a final sweep of the area as we passed through, handing out flyers. The face painter was setting up her sponges, the food stalls were heating up the oil and the telescopes were due to arrive at any moment, on loan from the Lockwood's. Once we had handed out the last of our flyers, Caroline gave a sigh of relief.

"That's it, everything is ready."

"You weren't even on the planning committee for this one." I pointed out, smiling.

"No, but the people who were, were complete idiots. Would you believe their big idea was to gather under the clock tower and sing the national anthem?" Caroline raised her eyebrows incredulously.

"Not everyone needs to go as overboard as you." I told her, folding my arms.

"And that is why most parties suck." She nodded, "Do you think Elena and Bonnie are done yet? Where are they?"

"Over there, by the Grill." I pointed. They were stood in the middle of the path talking, still clutching a handful of flyers each.

Caroline took a step towards them, but I grabbed her arm, pulling her back, "Leave it, Care. Elena's pretty bummed about the whole Stefan thing, and we've handed out more than enough flyers by now."

"Hey-" her attention was caught by something else, "Danny, look it's that guy from the Grill the other night."

I followed the direction of her gaze towards a guy stood on the other side of the street. He was staring intently at Caroline. I could get the obsession she'd had with him the past few days. He was hot. His eyes were a beautiful clear blue, and they were nicely offset by his shaggy dark hair falling around his face. There was something about him that seemed vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't place him.

"Go say hi! And get his number this time." I commanded, giving her a nudge.

I watched as she began to cross the square towards him. Her shoulders were set in determination, and I knew most of her fixation on this guy was because she wanted to get over Stefan. After he shot her down, Caroline wanted a new guy as soon as possible. A van drove past, briefly separating Caroline and the mystery guy and when it went past, he was gone. I blinked, looking around, wondering if I had missed him. Where had he gone so quickly? Caroline had stopped as well, staring at the spot he had occupied in confusion.

"Where did he go?" I asked, hurrying over.

"I have no idea." Caroline frowned; confusion etched across her face.

We didn't see him again, though Caroline was certainly looking. Night fell quickly, and the square became so busy it was hard to move through the crowd.

"Let's get some candles and go find Elena and Bonnie," Caroline said as the comet slowly began to come into view.

The stall distributing them was near the Grill. Standing just under the sign was Vicki, hands in her pockets with a cigarette hanging from her lips.

"Grab me a candle." I said, "I need to talk to Vicki."

"To Vicki? Why?"

"About Jeremy." I answered, my feet already carrying me across the road.

I didn't particularly like having to do this. Vicki was Matt's sister, but she was nothing like him. She was selfish and rude and self-centred. She claimed to hate her mother and all she had done but showed every sign of following in her footsteps. But if she could help Jeremy, I would worship the ground she walked on.

"Hey, Vicki." I called. She turned to look at me, her green eyes narrowing.

"Hey." She said cautiously, "Are you looking for Matt?"

"No. How are you? Feeling better?"

"I've got some pills." She shrugged.

"Right." I nodded awkwardly, "Look, I wanted to ask a favour."

"A favour?" she repeated disbelievingly, "After what your sister did to my brother?"

"What my sister did. I've never done anything to Matt. And it's about Jeremy." I used my most persuasive voice.

"Jeremy? Why would I care?" she flicked her fingers, and I watched the cigarette go flying through the air.

"Because you've been sleeping with him all summer?" I offered bluntly.

That got her attention. She turned to fully face me. "What has he told you?"

"He didn't tell me anything. You've got to keep your voice down in public places if you don't want this entire town knowing your business."

She clenched her jaw and folded her arms, "What do you want?"

"I want Jeremy to go to school. And I want him to be sober while he's there."

She sighed, "I don't know what you think, but Jeremy does what he wants. I don't control him."

"No, but he listens to you. Wouldn't you have asked the same thing of Elena if it was Matt?"

She tilted her head back, regarding me silently. I could almost see the cogs turning behind her eyes.

"I'm in pretty bad pain." She said finally, "Maybe if it didn't hurt so much, I would be able to help."

She wanted drugs. How typical.

"Okay, you want some pills. Will you talk to him?"

"When I have them." She insisted, "Your dad owned a clinic. You've got to have some oxy or something laying around."

"He had a clinic not a pharmacy." I told her, "We didn't have drugs laying around."

"Figure something out."

"Fine." I exhaled sharply, "give me a few days."

I crossed the road back to the square, my eyes scanning the crowd for Elena, Caroline and Bonnie as I tried to figure out how in the hell I was going to get my hands on enough painkillers to convince Vicki to talk to Jer. I supposed it might be worth getting my hands on the key to the clinic to have a look around. I just had to figure out a plausible enough excuse for Jenna.

"What was that about?" Bonnie asked as I approached. From where they were standing, I realised they would have had a perfect view of mine and Vicki's exchange.

"She thinks Vicki will be able to convince Jeremy to stop skipping class." Elena said derisively. I had informed her of my big plan, and she wasn't a supporter.

"It's worth a shot, Elena!" I snapped, taking a candle from Caroline as we began to walk, "It's got more chance of helping him than making him feel like shit every five minutes!"

"Alright." Elena shrugged, "You're the oldest. Do what you want."

"Hey." Matt appeared from the sea of faces, offering his lit candle to Elena.

She smiled at him, holding her own out to light it, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." They both stood, staring at each other, and as I watched Matt's face, I suddenly saw Vicki's point. Matt was still in love with Elena, and it was very clearly torturing him.

Suddenly Elena coughed awkwardly and lit my candle for me, breaking eye contact. I offered mine to Caroline and Bonnie.

"Ready to watch this stupid comet?" Tyler appeared, seating himself on a bench.

"Are you an asshole?" I asked drily, wrinkling my nose. I was still pissed he had waylaid me at the bonfire.

"Are you a bitch?" he shot back. Clearly whatever goodwill he'd felt towards me the other night was gone.

"Go fuck-"

"That's enough!" Bonnie interrupted, "Separate! Now!"

We went to stand at opposite ends of the bench.

"Hey Bon," I turned to her and put Tyler out of my mind, "When do you think we're all gonna turn into toads?"

"Stop." She laughed, "I swear, I'm going to stop telling you things."

A group of kids ran past, waving sparklers.

"Where did they get those?" I raised my eyebrows, "How come we get candles? I want a sparkler!"

"The grownups get candles, Danny. The little kids get the sparklers." Caroline told me in mock condescension.

"Where'd Elena go?" Bonnie asked, looking around.

"Over there." Matt said bitterly, "With Stefan."

They were stood a few feet away, talking. Stefan was looking solemn while Elena was talking animatedly. I hoped she was dumping him. Well, I hoped she was doing whatever you did to dump someone you never actually dated.

Matt was staring longingly. I felt bad for him having to watch Elena move on while he was still stuck on her.

"Let's go inside, it's getting cold." Caroline suggested, shivering a little in her thin yellow dress.

We blew our candles out, depositing them in a nearby trash can. Elena caught up with us when we were halfway across the square to the Grill.

"You okay?" I asked, hanging back to walk with her.

"Yeah." She breathed, "I just made it clear that we talked, and it was great, but it's not reality, you know? Things are complicated."

"Elena, he seems like a douche anyway." I told her, attempting to comfort.

"Danny, you don't know him. To most people, you seem like a douche." She pointed out.

"Whatever." I shrugged, entering the Grill.

We had barely sat down at a table when Jeremy approached.

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" he asked, worry lacing his tone.

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler immediately baited, "She probably found someone else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

I stared at him. Surely Jeremy couldn't be dealing? Where would he even get the drugs? Mystic Falls was hardly a ghetto and besides, everyone knew Jeremy. He couldn't deal if he tried.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena frowned.

"Ask him." Tyler couldn't look smugger if he tried.

"You want to do this right now?" Jeremy asked incredulously.

"Are you dealing?" Elena looked outraged.

"She's never going to go for you." Tyler half-smiled, doing his absolute best to enrage my brother. I opened my mouth to tell him to shut up, but Jeremy beat me to it.

"She already did. Over and over and over again."

"Okay, TMI! Isn't there a girl missing?" I knew they'd been hooking up, but somehow it seemed different to hear it from Jeremy than it did Caroline.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it!" Jeremy continued.

The atmosphere at the table turned icy cold as we all turned to look at Tyler. I knew Jeremy wouldn't just make an accusation like that out of nowhere.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ty?" Matt demanded.

"Nothing, man, just ignore him, he's a punk." Tyler said quickly.

"You know what? How about you all listen to Danny, shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt stood up.

"We'll check the back." Bonnie said at once, taking Caroline's arm.

"I'll check the square." Matt nodded.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy offered, but Elena grabbed hold of his shirt.

"Oh no, no, no. You are coming with us."

"Elena!" I hissed, "Remember what I said!"

"We tried it your way and it obviously isn't working!" She replied.

"Because you haven't given it a chance to!"

"So, this is your game now, dealing?" Elena pushed Jeremy into an alcove.

"I'm not dealing!"

"Look, I'm sick of the tough love speech, Jer. It's clearly having no impact." Elena told him.

"You and Jenna, between the two of you, it's enough- "

"We can stop if you want. Send you to a therapist." Elena threatened.

"Elena, come on. Drop it." I implored.

"Drop it?!" her voice was lowered to a harsh whisper, "Our brother is a drug dealer!"

"According to Tyler freaking Lockwood! If you'd believed half the things he said about me last year I'd be in a psych ward! Since when did we start believing him over Jeremy?"

"Exactly." Jeremy nodded, "Back off."

He didn't wait for her answer as he strode away.

"I can't believe you just did that." Elena stared at me, "You completely undermined me!"

"Elena you're not his parent!" I protested, "you're not even his guardian!"

"Well, if I don't look out for him, who will? You seem to think encouraging him to spend more time with Vicki Donovan is a good idea, and Jenna is up to her eyeballs in college work-"

"Stop." I sighed, "I'm tired of hearing you make excuses for yourself to boss everyone around."

I turned away, moving out back to find Bonnie and Caroline. They were just re-entering the building when I caught them.

"Not out here?" I inferred by the look on their faces.

"Nope." Bonnie shook her head, "We should go find Matt, see if he's had any luck."

"I don't know what all the fuss is about." Caroline sighed, threading her arm through mine, "It's Vicki, she's probably getting high in an alley somewhere."

"Let's just find Matt." I pulled Caroline towards the door, Bonnie trailing behind us.

It was hard to even keep sight of Caroline in the throng, let alone find Matt. We were surrounded by people on all sides, and I took a moment to thank my lucky stars that I had never been claustrophobic.

We found Jeremy before we found Matt. Well, he found us. A hand grabbed at me from the crowd and Jeremy pushed past a group of teens.

"You find her?" he asked, raising his voice above the chatter of the crowd and the slow acoustics of the live band.

"No. Where's Matt?" I yelled back.

Jeremy led us to the far side of the square, where everything somehow seemed quieter. Matt was on his cell, pacing back and forth.

"…call me when you get this, Vick." He said quickly, hanging up as he spotted us, "Nothing?"

"Nothing." Bonnie told him apologetically.

"Hey-" Caroline interrupted, "Is that her? With Stefan?"

We followed her pointed finger to see two figures approaching. Vicki was walking slowly, half leaning on Stefan, her hand holding her neck and smeared with blood. Matt ran over, grabbing hold of Vicki.

"I'm alright, Matt," Vicki brushed off his steadying hands, "I just wanted some air, okay?"

"Let's get back to the Grill." I suggested, suddenly feeling exhausted, "I could do with a coffee or ten."

The Grill was warm and inviting, busier than usual now that the wind was picking up and all of the out-of-towners had gotten their fill of the comet. Elena was still sulking and mumbled something about going to get gas before she went home. Caroline, Bonnie and I found a booth near the back and slid onto the familiar leather seats, letting our drinks warm our hands.

"Well, at least that's over." Bonnie exhaled.

"Ugh, it's just so much drama." Caroline watched Matt carefully applying a new bandage on Vicki's wound across the room, "Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?"

"Yeah." Bonnie bit her lip thoughtfully.

"Excuse me." Stefan Salvatore approached, "Hi. Um, have you guys seen Elena?"

"Had a bitch fit and went home." I said bluntly, "Sorry."

Bonnie aimed a kick at my leg under the table, "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email." She grabbed a napkin and began to scrawl over it in a purple sparkly gel pen she pulled from her bag, "She is big on texting, and you can tell her I said so."

"Thank you." Stefan gave a half smile, reaching for the napkin.

Bonnie's body went rigid as their fingers made contact. She gasped, pulling her fingers away and staring up at Stefan in horror.

"You okay?" he frowned.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie breathed. She blinked a few times and grabbed for her bag, "That's so rude, I'm sorry, excuse me."

She moved past him, and hurried out the door, her bag clenched between white-knuckled fingers.

"Yeah, she kind of wigs out." Caroline explained unsympathetically, "It's like her thing."

"Oh, um, alright. I better go, see you in school tomorrow?"

"Sure." I yawned, watching as he left. I looked at Caroline, "How come its always you and me who're the last to go home?"

"Because we are awesome, wild, party animals. What do you think was up with Bonnie?"

"I don't know." I finished my coffee and checked the time. It was nearly eleven, "I better get home. Do you need a ride?"

"It's alright." Caroline shrugged, "My cars parked around the block."

"Okay. Text me later."

"Of course." She smiled and winked.

I was lucky enough to have got here early which meant my car was parked just across the street. The drive home was brief on nearly empty roads. Elena's car was gone when I arrived, and inside the house was still.

"Anyone home?" I called, leaving my bag on the counter.

"Yep!" came Jenna's voice from upstairs.

She was sat in the hall, filling up a cardboard box from a pile of bongs, pipes, grinders and bags of marijuana.

"Found Jeremy's stash, huh?" I asked, leaning on the banister and wondering how he had even gotten his hands on that much weed.

"This has got to end." Jenna told me, brushing hair away from her face, "Before someone calls CPS."

"If no one called while I was literally missing, no one's going to call now." I reassured her.

"Yeah, well Tanner might."

"I could run him over if you want?" I offered.

She leant back for a moment and grinned, "Oh, Danny. You know, I missed you. You're dysfunctional as hell, but you brighten the place up."

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes sarcastically, "Hey, do you think I could get into the clinic at some point? There's something I need for a project."

"I could look into it, yeah." Jenna nodded, "Your Uncle John is the trustee, but I'm pretty sure we can get you access."

"Great. Thanks, Jenna." I felt guilty for lying to her, especially when she was so eager to help, "Um, I'm going to get to bed. See you tomorrow."

"Night." She answered, packing the last of the paraphernalia into the box, "Though you might be woken by Jeremy when he gets home, later. I'm not looking forward for that storm to hit."