Katherine, Caroline, Bonnie and Veronica all walked in their sociology class, a class Elowen didn't take in favor of sticking to her major, so it was just the four of them.

"So we all agree?" Caroline asked as they walked up to their seats. "No more moping about life's little failures and no more dabbling in the dark arts of boyfriends past. This is a fresh start."

"Couldn't agree more," Katherine said. "I happen to love fresh starts."

"Um, I haven't been moping or dabbling," Bonnie piped up as they sat down.

Veronica raised her hand. "Neither have I, because I'm smart and don't catch feelings."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "No one likes a bragger, you two."

There was an empty seat between Bonnie and another girl. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and cream colored skin. The empty seat had the girl's bag on it. Bonnie gestured towards it.

"Hey, do you mind if I share?"

The girl, without even looking at Bonnie, grabbed her bag and threw it on the floor.

"Great," Bonnie told her sarcastically. "Thanks. Appreciate it."

"Today is the dawning of a new era," Caroline was saying when Bonnie tuned back into the conversation. "This is stage one of our metamorphosis into the land of the brave, the free, and the single."

"Bonnie's not single," Veronica pointed out. "She's dating my brother, remember?"

"Bonnie's friends are single, which makes her single adjacent," Caroline replied. "So she can be our wingwoman."

Caroline pulled out a flyer and handed it to Katherine.

"'Whitmore's Annual Bitter Ball, a night to celebrate broken hearts, jilted lovers, and bitter singles'," she read off. "This is our fresh start?"

"No, this is our purge, our cleanse. This is where we rid ourselves from the baggage better known as our tragic and mortifying first semester."

"I'll drink to that."

Bonnie looked back over at the girl next to her and watched as she twirled her pen on her desk. Once the pen gained enough momentum, she hovered her hand over it and kept it twirling without touching it. Bonnie's eyes widened in surprise.

"Bonnie!" Caroline called out to get her attention.

The girl looked up and saw Bonnie watching her, so she quickly slammed her hand down on the pen, stopping it from spinning, and acted like nothing had happened.

"Bonnie, you in?" Caroline asked.

Bonnie nodded distractedly. "Yeah. Yeah, sounds fun."

xxxx

Stefan slowly approached Damon's car, which had been messily parked into the pot plants outside, and saw that there was blood on the trunk. He opened it and found Aaron's dead body inside. He closed the trunk and headed inside the house, where Damon was lying on the couch. There was shattered glass on the ground that crunched under Stefan's feet as he walked. Damon saw Stefan enter and started pulling himself up to his feet.

"Hey, sorry about the mess. I had some company and things got a little out of hand."

"You want to tell me what the hell's going on out in the driveway?" Stefan asked.

"Ah. I let Enzo drive last night. He's a little out of practice. Almost ended up in the damn foyer."

"Huh."

Stefan stared at Damon until he got the hint.

"Oh. You mean Aaron."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. Well, last night, we hunted him down, and I ripped his throat out. Yeah. I just figured it's time to shove the last branch of the Whitmore family tree into the wood chipper."

Damon took a swig from the bottle he was holding.

"So, Elowen breaks up with you, citing that she's tired of you killing innocent people with no consequences and tells you that she'll give you another chance if you clean up your act, and instead of listening to her, your first instinct is to go on a killing spree? Could you be any more predictable?"

Enzo walked in behind Stefan.

"It was my idea, if it makes you feel any better." Enzo offered Stefan his hand. "Enzo. Remember? We met when-"

"When you were trying to tear Damon's head off. Yeah, I remember." Stefan brushed him off and turned back to Damon. "So, what, you guys are old pals again? Murder buddies, is that it?"

Damon waved him off. "Oh, you know how it goes. I mean, I left him for dead, he tried to kill me, we worked things out. You spend five years with someone in a dungeon, you have a pretty unbreakable bond."

Damon passed off the bottle in his hand over to Enzo from over Stefan's shoulder.

"Say, you haven't heard from Dr. Wes Maxfield by any chance?" Enzo asked. "Bloke's next on the Augustine hit list, and he's a slippery little devil."

"Is that the plan?" Stefan questioned as he looked at Damon. "Kill off Augustine and then go back to your sadistic, psychotic old self?"

"I happen to like my old sadistic self, Stefan," Damon replied. "In fact, I miss that guy. That guy was dumb enough to think he could change himself to get a girl."

"Hm, and the fact that you've had her for almost 3 years doesn't mean a thing?"

"Nope, so get another hobby, brother, because I'm not in the mood to be saved."

"Well, I guess since Elowen thinks there's nothing worth being saved, you must really be a goner."

Damon's face dropped into a scowl as Stefan smiled innocently.

"Got to admit, it really does feel nice to have her to myself again, though if we're being honest, she probably would've picked me in the end anyway."

Damon clenched his teeth and Stefan knew he was pressing all the right buttons.

"If you're trying to make me jealous, it's not working, Stefan."

"Right. I'm sure Elowen would be thrilled to hear about your extracurricular activities."

Damon scoffed. "Go run off and tell her, see if I care."

Stefan sighed. "Come on, Damon. You're better than this."

"On the contrary, brother. I'm better like this."

Damon pushed past Stefan and left with Enzo.

xxxx

Later, Stefan walked up to Enzo as he was digging a grave.

"I see Damon's got you on shallow grave duty," he said.

"Be a mate. Grab a shovel," Enzo replied, continuing to dig.

"I'll pass. Buried enough skeletons out here."

Enzo stopped digging and looked at Stefan from over his shoulder.

"I'm sensing a metaphor."

"I think you need to find yourself a new best friend. Damon's in a bad place right now, and you're not really making things better. I know you just got out of captivity and you're looking to blow off a boatload of steam, which is fine, just… do me a favor. Leave my brother out of it."

"He mentioned you were a bit of a do gooder."

"Yeah. You know what makes somebody walk a straight line? When they have no choice but to be the balance for somebody who's about to fall off the edge."

"Ah, but it's so much more fun when you can just commit to the leap. You're welcome to join in on the fun." Enzo offered Stefan the shovel, who took it. "Good man."

Using his speed, Stefan swept the shovel under Enzo's legs, knocking him off his feet. Enzo tried to get up, but Stefan kicked him on the chest and pushed him back down.

"Why don't you be a mate, huh?" Stefan pressed the wooden end of the shovel against Enzo's chest. "Get in my car, start driving and don't look back."

Enzo smiled, grabbed the handle of the shovel and stabbed himself in the stomach with it. Stefan looked down in both shock and disbelief that he staked himself without any hesitation.

"You think that hurts?" Enzo asked. "I'm curious, Stefan, what do you think you can possibly do to me that hasn't been done a hundred times before? Go on. Give it your best shot."

Stefan pulled the shovel out of Enzo's chest and pointed the metal part on Enzo's throat.

"It's not me you should be worried about. Remember Elowen? You met her. 5'4", short hair, curly, blue, bangs. Her dad taught her how to fight against vampires and she learned how to kill and torture from one of the best."

Enzo chuckled. "You expect me to be scared of some human?"

Stefan threw the shovel to the side.

"She's not human."

Enzo sat up as Stefan turned to leave.

"What, is she a vampire?"

"Worse," Stefan answered without looking back. "She's a witch."

xxxx

"So, we're going to a dance, but we can't show up together because you can't bring a date?" Angel asked as him and Bonnie walked down the hall of the dorms. Jeremy and Adriana were walking next to them.

Bonnie smiled sheepishly. "I told you it was weird."

"Why are we here again?" Jeremy asked, looking down at Adriana.

She shrugged. "I figured we could use some fun."

"What's fun about going to some stupid dance we can't be seen together at?"

"Nobody said we couldn't be seen together."

Jeremy smiled and leaned down to kiss Adriana when Angel loudly cleared his throat.

"Not in front of the brother, please."

Adriana reached over and hit Angel on the arm.

"I am grown! I can do what I want."

"You're still the youngest."

"By five minutes!"

"Ugh, did I ever mention you two are kind of annoying?"

They all looked over and saw Damon standing in front of them. Bonnie frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

"I tutor some kids in calculus. You know, I like giving back, be a good role model. Kidding! I'm here to kidnap," Damon pointed at Jeremy, "you."

"You're not funny," Jeremy deadpanned, grabbing onto Adriana's hand. "Let's get out of here."

Damon put his hand on Jeremy's chest and pushed him back. "You're not going anywhere, buddy."

"Let go of him," Adriana said, reaching out to grab Damon's arm to pull it away from Jeremy.

"Or what?" Damon challenged, snatching Adriana's hand before she could touch him. "You'll glare me to death?"

Angel stepped forward protectively, getting ready to defend his sister. "Hey!"

Damon rolled his eyes and reached out to snap Angel's neck. He fell to the ground as Adriana screamed, ducking down to the ground to pull him into her lap.

"Oh, relax. He'll be fine in an hour," Damon remarked nonchalantly. "Anyway, I have this hit list, and I can't find my last target, so basically, I need a witch."

"Go terrorize Elowen, then," Bonnie snapped. "I can't do magic anymore."

"See, the thing is, Elowen won't hesitate to kill me before I can get what I want, even if I do have leverage, so here I am. Grams ran occult studies. I'm sure we could throw a rock and hit a witch around here. So listen, take this," Damon held up a vial, "this is Wes's blood. My buddy Enzo kept this as a souvenir. Now this should jump start a locator spell. Tick tock."

"Are you deaf?" Jeremy asked. "She can't do magic anymore, so she can't help you. Go away."

Enzo walked up to them. "What have I missed? She denied your request yet? Can we get on to the fun bit?"

"Who the hell are you?" Adriana asked from her spot on the ground.

Enzo looked down at her. "I'm the one who gets people to do things they don't wanna do."

He reached down, roughly grabbed Adriana by the arm, dragged her up to her feet, and then put her in a headlock before she could react.

"Hey!" Jeremy yelled, trying to come to her rescue. "Let her go!"

Damon sped over and shoved Jeremy against the wall with his hand around his throat so he couldn't help Adriana, who was choking in Enzo's hold.

"Stop!" Bonnie shouted. "Stop! Okay, fine! I'll help!"

Enzo let Adriana go and Damon did the same with Jeremy.

Damon walked back over to Bonnie and pressed the vial of blood against her chest.

"Perfect. Don't get Elowen involved, okay? I'd like to keep my heart in my chest, thank you very much."

He nodded at Enzo, then at Jeremy.

"Let's go."

Enzo grabbed Jeremy, put his arms behind his back, and then left with Damon.

xxxx

Elowen huffed loudly as she walked into the bitter ball with Caroline, Veronica and Katherine.

"Did you really have to drag me to this stupid thing?" Elowen asked in a whine.

Caroline turned to her with an optimistic smile.

"You might still have Stefan, but you did just break up with Damon. You get to be here just as much as I do."

"You don't count. You didn't break up with Josiah. He died. And you," Elowen turned to Katherine, "you played your usual jealousy card and now my best friend is wondering what the hell he did wrong."

Katherine opened her mouth to say something, but Caroline beat her to the punch.

"Okay! How about we just enjoy the night?"

Elowen rolled her eyes. "Sure."

She turned and walked down the stairs towards the dance floor and came to a slow stop when she saw Stefan standing at the bottom. She raised an eyebrow and met him at the end.

"And what are you doing here?"

Stefan chuckled, his eyes flickering up to Veronica, who was smirking down at him knowingly, before going back to Elowen.

"A little birdy told me you were going to be miserable at this thing, so here I am."

Elowen narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder just in time to see Veronica look away innocently as if nothing was wrong. She turned back to Stefan and lightly hit him on the shoulder.

"Since when are you and Veronica friends?"

Stefan grinned. "Ever since you and Damon broke up. She's made it her life's mission to make sure you two don't get back together."

"And what do you think?"

"I think that you should do whatever makes you happy, and if never getting back together with Damon is what it takes, then by all means, go ahead."

"Aren't you the one who told him to try and make up with me?"

"I was, but can you blame me? I'm being put in a sticky situation. Do I help my brother, or do I side with my girlfriend?"

Elowen lifted her hand and pressed the tip of her index finger against Stefan's chest, lightly poking him a few times.

"Remember, this threesome thing was your idea, not mine."

Stefan sighed dramatically and grabbed Elowen's hand, pulling it away from him and using it to lead her towards the dance floor.

"Don't remind me. Let's dance."

Elowen raised an eyebrow. "Stefan Salvatore dancing without any persuasion? Are you sick?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

Stefan pulled Elowen close and the two of them started to dance. It was silent between them for a few moments before Stefan sighed again.

"Alright, I might have another reason for being here."

Elowen looked up at him. "Do tell."

"I know it's the last thing you want to talk about, but Damon… he got himself into some bad stuff."

Elowen sighed deeply. "Yeah, well, it's what Damon does. If he gets the tiniest bit hurt, he lashes out. He doesn't think, he doesn't try as hard as he claims to, he just acts, and I'm done waiting around like a stupid little girl for him to change. I've sat around for the last 3 years thinking I could try and fix him when he clearly doesn't want to be fixed, and I feel like I wasted my time for nothing. Time that could've been wasted on something more useful, like my SATs. Maybe I wouldn't have had to settle for Whitmore. I wanted Juilliard, but getting an audition is so hard, and maybe I didn't try hard enough for it, I don't know. Whitmore's music program isn't even that great. I just… I feel like, if Damon never came to town, then maybe… everything wouldn't be so screwed up. Don't get me wrong, I love him, I really do, but this all started with him trying to open that stupid tomb and his obsession with Katherine." She shook her head. "I don't really know where I'm going with this. What did you want to talk about?"

Stefan stared at Elowen for a long moment, debating on if he wanted to tell her the truth. She already seemed so upset about everything that happened with Damon, and he didn't want to make it worse, but he knew how she was about lying. He brushed some of her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"Damon… killed Aaron last night."

It took Elowen a minute to reply. Her jaw clenched and for a split second, Stefan saw anger flash through her eyes before it settled on disappointment, then nothing. She scoffed.

"Of course he did. He told me that he let him go, but I knew it wasn't because he wanted to. I knew he was only doing it to show me that he could be good, that it was all just an act. This is the type of stuff I'm talking about."

"You should know that it's not all him."

Elowen furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Enzo came back and he's been influencing Damon in the worst ways possible. I know that doesn't erase what he did, but he wouldn't have done it if Enzo wasn't pulling at the strings."

Elowen shook her head in frustration.

"Damn it, Damon," she mumbled under her breath. "Leave it to him to find a murder buddy the second I'm out of the picture. I need a drink."

Elowen stepped back from Stefan and left for the drink table. Stefan watched her walk off with another sigh.

xxxx

Bonnie and Adriana entered the bitter ball with Damon, walking down the steps towards the party.

"Ah! It just makes me so happy I'm not 19 and stupid." Damon looked around the room. "Alright, Bonnie. Where's your little witch friend?"

Bonnie scanned the room before her eyes landed on the girl she'd seen in class earlier.

"Liv Parker. She's in my sociology class and she's not my friend. I looked her up, found out she works events catering. This is a total shot in the dark."

"Well, I'm feeling lucky."

xxxx

Elowen had sat down at an empty table, nursing her drink by her lonesome when she looked up and saw Bonnie, Adriana and Caroline disappear into a backroom, which usually wouldn't mean anything, except Damon was following behind them. She set her drink down and hastily pushed through the crowd before making it to the backroom. She stayed quiet as she crept in and listened to the conversation.

"This room is off limits," a girl's voice rang out, slightly muffled from where Elowen was standing.

"Look, under normal circumstances, I'd probably try to warm up to you, be your friend or something, but I'm kind of under a time crunch, and I need your help," Bonnie said to the girl, ignoring her initial sentence.

"Am I supposed to know you?" The girl asked.

"We're in sociology together. I'm Bonnie. My grams, Sheila Bennett, used to teach here. Occult studies."

"Never heard of it. Or her, so…"

"I know you're a witch," Bonnie blurted before Liv could leave. "I saw you spin that pen this morning."

Elowen furrowed her eyebrows, straining to hear the rest of the conversation. The girl's voice sounded eerily familiar, and it wasn't until she heard a muffled scream that she ran into the room. She stopped dead for a second when her eyes landed on Liv Parker, standing there in all her glory. Her eyes widened at the sight of Elowen, but neither of them said anything to each other.

"Caroline, what the hell is going on here?" Elowen asked, looking at everyone in the room. Someone came up behind her, touching her shoulder, causing Elowen to look over. It was Adriana.

"We'll explain later, but please go help Stefan. Some guy named Enzo has Jeremy at Whitmore house."

"Enzo? What?"

"Elowen, please."

"You heard her."

Elowen looked over at the new voice and saw Damon leaning against the wall. Her jaw set at the sight of him. He shrugged.

"Go help Jeremy."

With a glare, Elowen looked back down at Adriana and nodded. Adriana sighed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

Elowen nodded again before turning and leaving the room.

xxxx

Elowen hurried up the steps of Whitmore house and immediately heard a commotion from down a hall. She rushed over and entered the room just as Stefan threw Enzo across the way. She briefly glanced over and saw Katherine hovering over Jeremy, performing CPR. Once she saw that he was taken care of, Elowen threw her hand out at Enzo just as he was standing up and performed a spell, sending him back down to his knees a second later. He grunted in pain, holding onto his head. She walked over and knelt down in front of him.

"You're new here, so obviously you don't know, but I'm really not somebody you want to mess with. See?"

Enzo started coughing before throwing up blood.

"That's me liquefying your internal organs. Since you heal fast, they regenerate quickly and I can just keep doing this over and over again. You can take it, though, can't you? I mean, this is hardly what they did to you in Augustine, right?"

Enzo gurgled, as if he tried to say something and Elowen leaned over towards him.

"Sorry, what was that?"

From behind her, Jeremy gasped loudly, indicating that he was alive and breathing, and Elowen lifted her spells off of Enzo. He spit out the blood that was still in his mouth and wiped at his lips with the back of his hand. Stefan stood over him as Elowen got to her feet.

"I told you it was her you had to worry about," he told Enzo. "Mess with her again, and next time, she won't hesitate to kill you."

Elowen placed her hand on Stefan's shoulder. "I can pass out my own threats, thank you very much." She looked down at Enzo and shrugged. "What he said."

"The spell worked."

They all looked over and saw Damon had entered the room.

"Wes is in Richmond."

Enzo pushed himself to stand. "Brilliant. I'll drive."

"Hey, Damon," Elowen called out before him and Enzo could leave. "Don't bother coming back."

Damon tried his best to not let Elowen's words affect him, but they did, and he did what he could to mask his emotions. From beside her, Stefan looked down at her in shock. She ignored him.

"I wasn't planning on it," Damon mumbled in response before turning and leaving, Enzo in tow.

xxxx

Elowen entered her dorm room, Stefan following after her.

"You okay?" He asked quietly as she went to sit on her bed. He slowly settled down next to her.

Elowen shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think I was too hard on Damon? You know, with telling him not to come back."

Stefan sighed. "I think... you're rightfully upset. You just found out that Damon went behind your back at the beginning of the summer to kill Aaron's aunt, after you asked him multiple times to stop killing people, and then when you confronted him about it, he reacted exactly how you said he would."

"So I wasn't overreacting?"

Stefan wrapped one of his arms around Elowen's shoulders, bringing him closer to her.

"The thing about Damon is… when he realizes that somebody is holding him accountable for his actions, he freaks out because the last thing he wants to do is let people down, so he decides to prove them right. He wants to confirm everyone's lowest expectations of him, and you? You're the one who set the bar for him. Your expectations were the highest, and I think that scared him. He decided that making you hate him was easier than proving that he was worth loving, and that's why he's acting the way he is."

"If that's the case, then he's being stupid. You've already been there and done that, remember? When you had your humanity off? Look at how well that worked out for you." Elowen sighed. "I just feel like I kept giving him passes every time he screwed up or did something bad, and the one time I got angry enough to not turn a blind eye, this happens. I don't know, I feel like it's partially my fault."

"It's not. It's Damon's for being an idiot and not realizing that you're worth it. You're worth being good for, and I thought he understood that. He was getting better, becoming a person that I liked, and I don't want to lose that person."

"I don't either, but I can't be the only thing he wants to be good for, Stefan. What happens when I die? Is he just going to throw everything away and go back to being emotionless and evil? I'm only one person. I can only do so much."

"I know, but… sometimes all it takes is one person. One person to believe in him, to show him hope, and that's what you did. I'm not saying you have to forgive him, you just… need to remind him what being human feels like, because he's trying to dim the switch again. I forgot how much I missed having my big brother around. It would be a shame for us to both lose him."

Elowen sighed again, much deeper this time.

"You're right. I'll help you save him from himself, not for me, or for you, but for the both of us. I'm not going to give up on him. You wouldn't let me, anyway."

Stefan chuckled and kissed Elowen's cheek. "You're right."

Elowen turned to narrow her eyes at Stefan, who grinned before leaning in to give Elowen a quick peck on the lips.

"I should go," he said, standing up. "Let you get some sleep. It was a long night."

Elowen huffed and blew a raspberry, nodding.

"Yeah."

Elowen stood and walked over to her dresser as Stefan walked over to the door. She had just pulled her shirt over her head as Stefan opened the door when she turned around.

"Stefan?"

Stefan stopped and faced her.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Stefan smiled. "I love you, too."

Elowen smiled back. He lingered for a second before leaving the dorm room, letting the door close behind him with a soft click.