9.

"More than half of all young women will experience abusive behaviour in a relationship. That means someone you know is probably a victim-"

I slammed the laptop shut as Jenna walked past me into the kitchen.

"And I was worried about Jeremy watching porn." She remarked drily.

"I'm not watching porn!" I exclaimed, my voice a pitch higher than usual.

"Uh, huh." She took a sip from her coffee, "I believe you. You're up early."

"Yeah, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." I sighed, "And then I figured I may as well get up."

"Well, I'm amazed. I think this might be the first time you've beaten Elena to be ready for school. Congratulations."

I scoffed, opening the laptop again and quickly deleting my search history. I got up from the sofa and ran up to my room to return it to my desk, worrying about Caroline all the way. In the three days since the Founders Party, she had largely returned to her old self and was busy finalizing the plans for our school's car wash which was the next day. She was in her absolute prime – bossing around her cheerleaders and drilling goals and profit margins into their heads. They needed to raise at least seven hundred dollars for the athletics department, and Caroline had decided the best way to do that was to have all her minions wash the cars in their bikinis – but she point-blank refused to talk about the Founders party, or Damon, who hadn't been heard from since. In fact, the last time I had seen him was when I had burned him.

I had googled that, too.

There had been absolutely nothing to explain what had happened. The rational part of my brain wanted to think it had been an allergic reaction of some sort – maybe to my perfume? But how had the burns come up so quickly? He was already blistering after a second, maybe two of contact with my skin.

I still had an hour before school. Hoping it would calm me a little, I sat down at my piano. The opening notes of Anna Karenina: Overture II were just ringing out when Elena burst into my room, eyes wide. My fingers stalled for a moment in surprise, messing up the count and I rolled my eyes, starting again.

"Yes, Elena?"

"Jeremy's got Vicki in there!" she breathed to me; eyes wide.

"What?" I raised my brows, stilling my hands again to look at her "Really?"

"She was brushing her teeth in my bathroom!"

I jumped to my feet, "I'm gonna go make them uncomfortable." I grinned, making for Jeremy's bedroom, "And on a school night, too! For shame!"

"No!" she tiptoe-ran after me, bouncing from side-to side as she avoided the creaky floorboards "Don't! "

"It'll be funny!" I hissed back.

"Danny! Just go back to your room!"

"Why did you tell me if you want to pretend it isn't happening?"

"You always make things so awkward-"

"Yes! I do it on purpose!"

"If you go in there and make some weirdo comment, I'm NEVER going to be able to look her in the eye again!"

"You don't talk much to her anyway-"

"Is this meant to be a secret fight? You're not being very quiet." We both jumped when Jeremy spoke. We hadn't noticed his bedroom door open as we argued.

"Jer!" I pushed Elena out my way and turned to face him, "Do you have-"

"Vicki in there? Yeah, I do. We've been having wild sex all night. I've lost count of how many times. Definitely need to change the sheets."

Elena and I stared at him, aghast.

"I like making things awkward on purpose, too." He said matter-of-factly before slamming the door in our faces.

"I think I'm gonna go and cry." Elena said numbly after a long, horrified silence.

I patted her arm sympathetically, before sloping downstairs, trying very hard to forget what had just happened. I knew I certainly wouldn't be trying that with Jeremy again.

"What's the matter with you?" Jenna frowned as I poured myself some coffee, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"The ghost of Jeremy's innocence." I winced.

"Oh," she snorted, "You found Vicki, did you?"

"You knew?" Elena entered the kitchen, "And you don't have a problem?"

"Well, he could be craftier about it. At least make an effort to sneak her in and out." She turned her attention to the papers spread out in front of her and began making notes.

I wrapped my hands tightly around my cup, staring into it. I guessed it was a good thing – I had given Vicki the codeine the day after the party – maybe this was her way of keeping him out of trouble?

"Oh, and just so you know-" Jenna looked at us rather smugly, "I won't be home for dinner."

"Ooh, so you're actually going to do it?" Elena grinned, "You're gonna go out with Logan." She sang.

"I'm going to show up and torment him, yes." Jenna confirmed, "Have you heard from Stefan?"

Stefan, like Damon had apparently disappeared from the face of the earth after the party.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago – 'hi, uh, Elena, uh, I have something I have to do, I'll, uh, explain in a few days'" she deepened her voice as she gave us a word-for-word transcript – it was very accurate. She'd played the message for me, Jenna, Bonnie and Caroline in succession, so I'd heard it a dozen times.

"Have you called him?" Jenna paused writing and chewed on her pen.

"Nope. Not going to, either." Elena said shortly, pouring herself some bran flakes.

"And you're okay with everything?" Jenna inquired.

"No I'm not okay with it, but I'm not going to cry about it, either." She was talking very quickly and eating bran flakes between her sentences, "You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning but then I thought – what am I going to write? I'm not going to be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy."

"Good for you!" I nodded approvingly.

"I'm fine." She insisted, trudging into the living room with her bowl.

"Okay, then." Jenna murmured; her brows raised.

I got the feeling Elena was not, in fact, fine. But she downed her bowl of cereal and stomped out the door. I ran upstairs for my bag and jumped when I saw Vicki waiting in my room.

"Jeremy think's I'm looking for a hairbrush," she told me quietly, "But I really wanted to give you this."

She held out the bottle of codeine.

"Why?" I frowned, taking it, "I thought we had a deal."

"Look," she explained, "I like Jeremy a lot – and I think he really likes me, too. I don't want to lie to him. I just want it to be real."

I blinked, trying to think of something to say – I could hardly argue with that. Jeremy was my little brother – what could I say, I'd rather his first girlfriend use him for drugs?

"Okay." I said, "But if you really like Jer – just keep him out of trouble. He has enough going on."

"If you're talking about Ty-"

"I'm talking about drugs, Vicki." I said firmly.

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm not going to change who I am."

"Then you're pathetic." I glared at her as I picked up my bag, "But my brother doesn't deserve to be dragged down with you."

"You won't tell him?" she grabbed my wrist to stop me leaving.

I yanked it away, "Get out of my room."

I arrived at school in a foul mood. Didn't Vicki have any sense of accountability? But maybe I was putting too much responsibility on her. Maybe Jeremy wasn't influenced by her at all, and his recent behaviour was all on him. But I didn't want to consider that alternative.

"Great, you're here!" Caroline was waiting by my parking space.

"Hey," I got out, slamming the door.

"The Sexy Suds Car Wash is tomorrow-" she began as we set off towards the school.

"I know, Caroline."

"Good- here's your flyers, I want them all gone by the end of the day."

I took the neat stack, immediately thinking of the best places to dispose of them. We were joined at the doors by Jessica and Chloe from the cheerleading team.

"The football team and the band have committed – well, the ones who can pull off a bikini. We're going for in-your-face sexy."

"And the athletics department is okay with this?" I asked.

"They're okay with whatever gets them their money." Jess shoved a handful of her own flyers at a freshman.

"Exactly," Caroline nodded, "Chloe, Jess – you know what to do." She shooed them away.

"Someone's feeling bossy today." I remarked, surreptitiously sliding a quarter of my stack into a locker.

"Bossy gets things done the way you want them." She told me solemnly, "You're coming to help, right? You can borrow a bikini if you want."

"Do I have to?" I winced, "I'm not even on the cheer team."

"Yes." She said flatly.

I sighed dramatically, "I guess I have no choice, then."

She grinned, "Great!"

"Hey-" I caught her arm before she could walk off and lowered my voice, "How are you feeling?"

"Danny, I've told you before – I'm okay. Really, I don't even remember it all too well – maybe I let him bite me."

"Why? Why would you let him do that?" I reasoned.

She spotted Elena and Stefan talking down the hall and dragged me towards them.

"Stefan, where's Damon? He has some serious apologising to do." She asked sweetly.

I stared at her, aghast, struggling to understand why she would want anything to do with him when she had only just been able to stop wearing jackets and scarves and ribbons.

"He's gone, Caroline." Stefan told her grimly.

"Well when's he coming back?"

"He's not."

I watched Caroline's face fall, "You're better off without him, Care." I reassured her.

"You really are. I'm sorry." Stefan backed me up before edging away.

"This is a good thing, Caroline." Elena gripped her arm.

"I know that." She nodded, lower lip quivering a little.

She went right back to pretending Damon had never existed. Cheer practice was cancelled that evening so the team could get the empty parking lot set up for the next day. Of course, I was roped into it as well. I tried to go to my car once class was over only for Caroline to look at me with wide blue eyes and ask, "Aren't you helping?"

So, I found myself colouring a huge sign reading 'PAY HERE' in sloppy bubble writing. Chloe sat next to me, sunning her long, tanned legs and decorating the poster with hearts, stars and dollar signs. Creating the sign was by no means a two-person job, but so far no-one had noticed that we had been sat in a corner of the lot doing nothing for nearly an hour aside from Bonnie who shot us disapproving looks as she numbered spaces around the lot.

"I've got a new bikini especially for tomorrow," she chattered away, "White with black polka dots. Cute, right?"

"Cute." I confirmed, "It'll look great with your tan." I liked Chloe – she was easy to be around and easy to talk to.

"Right? I spent the summer in Florida with my grandma - Oh, god, here comes Tiki-" she sat bolt upright, suddenly focusing intently on what she was doing, "Look busy."

Tiki was a little less likeable. She was Caroline without the good qualities. Essentially, a shallow, controlling bitch.

"Danny, did you hand out your flyers?" Tiki asked, coming to an abrupt stop in front of me.

"Of course, I did." I smiled tightly, wishing she would go away and let Chloe and I slack.

"Then whose are-" she dumped a pile of flyers in my lap, "these?"

Shit.

"I don't know." I answered innocently, scooping them up and throwing them back at her, "Where did you find them?"

"In my locker, you idiot!" She snapped.

Oh, it had been Tiki's locker I dumped them in. Whoops.

"Danny handed hers out." Chloe said coolly, "We were with her. Maybe someone from the band put them there."

Tiki scoffed but stomped away. If it had been anyone else, she would have definitely gone snitching to Caroline. I guess being best friends with the head cheerleader had its benefits.

"They were yours, weren't they?" Chloe asked, her green eyes crinkling as she smiled.

"Of course, they were." I grinned back, "I owe you one."

As was typical for an event ran by Caroline Forbes, everything went perfectly. By the time we arrived the next morning there was already a line of cars waiting to be cleaned. I'd dragged along Elena who had dragged along Stefan and Caroline immediately set us to work. I'd come in the Care-approved bikini top and jean shorts, but she'd scathingly looked at Elena's sweater and Stefan's hoodie.

"The event is called sexy suds, you know?" she lifted an eyebrow and tugged me along with her as she made rounds of the parking lot, barking orders.

"Shouldn't we help?" I asked.

"Of course not, we're managers." She informed me, "we supervise."

I childishly stuck out my tongue at Tiki who had heard this and was scowling at me.

"Tiki, that car won't clean itself!" I clapped my hands, "Put your back in it!"

"Yes, like that!" Caroline was thrilled, "Perfect!"

The majority of our job was to lounge at a small table at the front of the lot, counting dollars and telling people which numbers they should wait at to have their car cleaned. Lot eight, where Chloe and Jess were spraying each other with water and shrieking was extremely popular.

"I told them to do that." Caroline told me smugly.

"You're really emphasising the 'Sexy', aren't you?"

"Hey, we're out of towels and those shimmy things." Elena told Caroline, sinking into the spare seat on the other side of me.

"I will get some more. Danny, mind the money." She handed me a stack of dollar bills.

"Having a good time?" I asked Elena as Caroline sauntered into the building, "Splashing around with Stefan?" I winked.

She couldn't repress a smile, "A very good time."

"Dinner fixed things?" I hadn't had a chance to ask.

"Yes! He finally opened up to me, Danny. Told me all about Katherine."

"And how was his cooking?"

Elena pursed her lips, "Really, Danny?"

"If he can't cook, what's even the point?" I sighed deeply, "Come on, Elena."

"The food was very good. He's an excellent chef."

"Great!" I grinned, "He can start cooking for us. You and Jenna suck."

"Really? First you had Matt doing your trig homework, and now you want Stefan to be-"

"Our personal chef, yeah."

"So, did you make Tyler do things for you? Or is it just the guys I date?"

"He smuggled me cigarettes. And alcohol."

An old man approaching saved me from the lecture I was about to receive.

He handed me his ticket and I opened the cash box – "That'll be twenty dollars, please."

"I saw you last night." Elena said suddenly to the man, "You were talking to a friend of mine. At the grill."

"No, it can't be. It was just my mind playing tricks on me." He smiled warmly, handing me the money.

"Where did you think you'd seen him before?" Elena rested her head on her knuckles.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house. Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle." He shrugged, "I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack."

"There was an attack?" I questioned.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods."

"His uncle – Zach?" Elena asked.

"Mm-mm." he shook his head, "Joseph."

I didn't remember a Joseph Salvatore. As far as I knew, aside from Stefan and Damon, there was only Zach. And the animal attacks recently were the only ones I was aware of happening in Mystic Falls my whole life.

"I'm sorry, sir." Elena apologised, "I don't think I'm familiar with the story."

"How could you? I mean, this happened years ago."

"Really?" I frowned. Stefan was the same age as us, how young had he been? "When?"

"Grandpa," Tiki's voice was softer than I'd ever heard it as she interrupted, "You gotta go, mom wants you home, okay?"

He grumbled a little but shuffled off in the direction of his care. Tiki turned to Elena.

"He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer."

"No, he was sweet." Elena reassured her, getting to her feet and dashing after Tiki's Grandpa.

"This seat's taken." I slung my legs over the chair as Tiki tried to sit, "Go sweep the water, Tiki." She opened her mouth, but I spoke first, "Caroline's finding more towels, so I'm in charge."

"You're not even on the cheer team." She kicked the edge of the table and stormed off.

I began to look around for Caroline – she'd been an awfully long time getting towels. I tried to call her, but her cell went straight to voicemail. Had she bailed? But she'd been planning this car wash for weeks. I called Chloe over to man the table and went inside.

The hallways were dark and empty, without a trace of Caroline. The janitorial cupboard was locked.

"Caroline?" I called. My voice echoed.

A nauseous feeling settled in my stomach. I couldn't shake the lingering feeling she was in trouble – but just then screams sounded from outside and I dashed back into the sunlight.

The car in lot seven was on fire. A long trail of flames led to it like someone had made a gasoline trail.

I hurried over to Chloe, "What happened?"

"I don't know!" she exclaimed, "I-"

The flames went out. Completely out. There was no wind or rain – they just disappeared. Only the scorch marks on the car left any evidence of a fire.

Someone had called the fire department. They approached the table, looking confused.

"Are you in charge here?" one of the fire fighters asked.

I did not want to deal with this.

"No," I answered, "I'm not even on the cheer team. Try her." I pointed in Tiki's direction and dashed off.

Jenna had gone home, and I couldn't find Elena or Bonnie anywhere – where was everyone disappearing to? Was there some party I didn't know about?

My cell phone began ringing and I picked up to hear Caroline.

"Danny?!" She gasped.

"Care! What are you doing?"

"I'm – I'm running – can you come get me?"

She sounded so panicked I started towards my car immediately.

"Where are you?"

"On the road – towards the Salvatore Boarding House-"

"What are you doing there?" I screeched out of the school, putting her on loudspeaker.

"I – I don't know, I don't know! I just remember I walked here-"

"It's two miles out of town!"

"-And Damon was – chasing me-"

I sped up, listening to her gasps. By the time I found her she was bright red in the face and halfway into town, running as if her life depended on it. She hurled herself into my passenger seat and slammed the door.

"Fucking drive!" she heaved, gripping her arms.

She was terrified. She kept looking behind us as if he were going to appear, chasing us.

"I don't get it. Why was he chasing you?" I was totally at a loss.

"I just had to! I just need some rest – I feel funny."

"Okay." I pulled up outside her house, "Get some rest. Please don't go back there again, Care. He's not good for you."

"I know that." She snapped, getting out and hurrying into her house.

She kept saying that. I didn't think she did.