A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, it really warms my heart.

Chapter 14 - Dance the Night Away

~X~

Harper had found herself with new friends, Caroline, Bonnie and many others on the cheer squad was now in her contact list. Reese often asked if she was okay, and sometimes they all would hang out at the grill after school. Carol had been delighted by this, and had even offered a slumber party to be held at the Lockwoods, which Harper had firmly refused.

To Harper's surprise, Caroline was a totally different person than what she had originally believed. The blonde girl was way more complex, and harbored some real anxieties inside of her heart that shocked Harper to the core. It saddened Harper to realize how judgmental she had been before.

They were two odd puzzle pieces, fitting together in a perfect way.

Tonight was the decade dance, which Harper had no original plan of going to. But Carol had bought her a dress to guilt trip her, and also to get her out of the house. Richard had never been the same after that night towards Harper, he had gone from acting normal to raging to ignoring her. But Carol was still scared of what he would do in a room alone.

She had accepted the fact that she didn't know her husband anymore, but had no idea as to solve the problem. She was the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect face in his campaign for public office, but it wasn't enough. And she wasn't dumb enough to not notice the floral perfume reeking off his clothing.

Harper had woken up screaming that morning, she was screaming so loud that Tyler rushed into her room to help her. She was starting to have panic attacks because of her dreams, every single one had been worse and more horrific than the other. She had been given medicine by her doctor to sleep, which Tyler often had to force her to swallow when it was time to sleep every night.

"What was it this time?" Tyler asked a moment after she had calmed down, he held her close in his arms. Stroking her back gently to make her acknowledge that she wasn't alone anymore.

"Vampire.. school" Harper rasped out, which made Tyler reach over to her night stand and hand her the bottle of water standing there. She took some careful sips, but not enough to fix the problem.

Tyler had no idea how to help her, he wasn't experiencing these things with her. All he could do was to try and comfort her.

"It will be alright Harper, nothing will happen" Tyler stated in the most convincing voice he had. But he didn't believe himself.

"Will you go to the dance with me and Matt?" Harper asked.

"Harper-"

"Please! Just this one dance, I am way too nervous to go alone with him" Harper pleaded and gripped the collar of his shirt tightly. Tyler shrugged and guessed this would be a good time to patch up things with caroline.

"Fine, fine… I will come with you" Tyler said, which immediately made Harper relax. But only just a little, as she knew exactly what would happen in a few hours time.

~X~

Harper stood by her locker, organizing it the best she could. The bruise on her cheekbone was carefully hidden behind thick makeup done by Carol. Too keep up appearance, she had said. Harper didn't really care, there was no option but to stay with the Lockwoods as she wasn't 18 yet. And what would she even do then? Live in the haunting Bellrose manor, seeing remnants of her broken family everywhere while going back to working at the grill to survive. No, not an option.

"Are you coming to lunch?" Harper flinched as Caroline suddenly appeared beside her.

"Jesus christ! So sneaky…" Harper signed while holding her heart, Caroline giggled before waving to Elena down the hall.

"But seriously, eat with us?" Caroline whispered as Elena walked up to them, Harper raised an eyebrow but nodded. Finishing packing up her bag and closing her locker before turning to the brunette.

"Hi Care, you ready?" Elena asked, not really greeting Harper besides a simple nod.

"Harper is coming with us too" Caroline said before she started walking towards the exit, Harper raised an eyebrow to the blonde's behavior, but guessed it had something to do with Elena. As the trio walked outside, Elena pulled out a necklace and gave it to Caroline, who smiled and thanked her.

"It's so pretty, thank you!" Caroline gushed and showed it to Harper, "God, It will go with like, everything"

"Yeah it will," Harper nodded and smiled at her friend. It was a really pretty necklace, it must have cost Elena a lot to buy.

"What's the occasion?" Caroline asked, staring down at the necklace in her hand before letting it fall back to her chest. The girls found a table out on the grass to sit.

"No occasion, just a little friend gift" Elena stated while picking at her brown paper bag, Harper was quick to open her box of fruits Carol had placed in her bag without her knowledge.

"A lesbian-friend necklace, because we are freaky like that?" Caroline winked at her and smiled at Harper who giggled. She handed a strawberry to Caroline who gladly took it.

"Your friendship is important to me" Elena sighed, feeling a little left out by the two girls.

"Why are you being so mushy?" Caroline said between bites.

"Because you have been avoiding me" Elena said, which made Caroline almost choke on her fruit. The blonde had not been avoiding her, more like Elena had been avoiding everybody including Caroline. You texted her? At least 1 hour before she answered, you called? She would call back the next day. Since the creepy sleepover with Bonnie, the girls hadn't really gotten together again.

"Which is fine, I know with Stefan and that whole drama… I have been kinda selfish" An understatement, Harper thought as she helped Caroline with some water to be able to breathe again.

"And I also wanted you to know that whatever is going on between you and Matt, it's okay" Elena said and looked at Harper, the girl felt her cheeks flush but smiled a bit.

"I didn't realize that I needed your permission, but thanks" Harper said with an disinterested tone to her voice. She really didn't care for Matt's ex. She just hoped he felt the same.

"Are you going with Matt to the dance?" Caroline asked for an opportunity to get the spotlight off of her.

"Yeah, he texted back yes this morning" Harper said and nodded, feeling excited for the night. Everything would be fine as long as she had him and Tyler with her.

"Gosh he hates dances like this, hope you have fun though" Elena snickered and looked at Caroline who nodded slowly, it was true that Matt always complained when he and Elena were together.

"You are not coming?" Caroline asked, picking up on Elenas tone like she always did. Her best friend had turned very melancholy these past months and she barely recognised her anymore compared to the girl that used to be. Which wasn't a fair way to think at all, but Caroline couldn't help it.

"No, probably not" Elena sighed,"Me and Stefan-"

Suddenly Harper's phone started buzzing again. Matt's name flashing across the screen.

"I better go" Harper said and stood up from the table, she wasn't fast enough to answer. But Matt sent her a text to come to the park by the grill. Once she got there she saw him waiting by a bench, looking more rugged than usual.

"Sorry, but I need to cancel tonight. I started working at the grill and-" He said and stood up as she got closer, he looked tired and stressed.

"Matt… Matt!" Harper said, and put her hands on his shoulders to get him to stop rambling, "Hey, it's okay, I understand. It's a nice gig, I worked there before too"

"So you are not mad?" Matt asked, running a hand through his hair before letting out a relieved sigh.

"Mad? no.. disappointed to not see you in your letterman jacket and to dance with you? Yes" Harper said and giggled a bit, her face flushed by her daring statement.

"Maybe we can-" Matt started, but he didn't get further before Harper kissed his cheek. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"I like you," She said with a shy smile.

"I- I…" Matt was in a small shock, of course he felt the same. At least he thought he did, and he hoped they could start dating to find out. But right there at that moment the words didn't come out as he wanted them too.

"No rush, just be happy Matt" Harper said, still happy and took a small step back from him. Matt took one of her hands in his and grinned from ear to ear.

"I will"

~X~

The Dance

"You don't look like you are having a good time" Tyler sighed as he stood next to Harper, who was frantically looking around for something, or rather, someone.

"I just wanna be here for an hour, as Carol said I needed to be. Then we go to the grill" Harper said and scanned the room once again.

"Are we here because of your nightmares?" Tyler asked and looked at Harper. She was nervous and her body language erratic. The slightest change of movement around them seemed to scare her.

"No.. I'm telling you I'm only here because of Carol" It was the truth, she didn't want to be there. She knew what would happen to Elena Gilbert, and as selfish as it made her sound, she didn't want to get in the way of that event playing out.

"Look, I see Bonnie and Caroline by the drinks table. I will be right back" Tyler stated and pointed at the two girls not too far away from them. Caroline was his date after all.

"Okay" Harper said and watched him walk away. Which was a big mistake. Because as soon as Tyler left her side a chilling feeling crept up her spine. Freezing her in place.

A cold hand gripped her arm, turning to her side to look at the guy, she realized exactly whom he was. It was the vampire that was supposed to attack Elena Gilbert, and now he was holding onto her.

"Don't worry, this will all be over soon" He looked into her eyes, and Harper realized that he tried to compel her, just like Damon Salvatore had tried. Being mute, she nodded. He smirked and took out a phone from his jeans pocket and dialed a number quickly.

"Hello Elena" The guy's smooth voice made Harper want to cry. But held herself back as best she could to not alert him about her act. "Here's what you are going to do, there's an exit door behind you. You have five seconds-"

"No!" Harper could hear Elena's voice through the phone and closed her eyes. She was terrified, and her gut felt like it had a thousand rocks inside of it.

"Or this girl dies" The guy stated and looked down at Harper. Her eyes widened, but she also remembered that she was under compulsion and had to act like she was fine. Elena then turned towards them and the girl's eyes met.

"I can snap her neck so fast that no one would notice a thing. Now start walking"

"Don't you dare-"

"Keep walking, or I will kill your brother too. He is around here somewhere.. or better yet, why not kill everyone in this room huh?" By the end of the sentence Elena was running out of the gym. Harper was as white as a sheet of paper, ready to scream out of the sheer amount of fear in her body.

"Come on babe, let's go" The guy gripped her bicep and dragged her out into the hallway. He was walking slowly, enjoying seeing Elena run in fear, and with each turn she did he gripped Harper's bicep tighter. Silent tears were falling down her cheeks, and the guy chuckled when he looked over at her.

"Oh how I will enjoy you.. later"

They suddenly ended up in the cafeteria, where he threw Harper hard into the wall. Her eyes started to blur and darken, but she could faintly hear Elena's scream and commotion, like a fight was happening.

"Hey! Dickhead" A male voice said, but Harper was too out of it to recognise it. "Nobody wants to kill you, we just want to talk"

More commotion was heard, and Harper tried to get back up. But her body was fighting against it. She could no longer hear distinct differences in voices, only a blur of conversation echoes throughout the room.

"Now you wanna talk?" A different male voice snapped.

"Screw you"

"Wrong answer... why are you doing this?"

"Because it is fun"

A pause, and Harper tried to focus her breathing. She knew she had hit her head hard against the brick wall. She most likely had a concussion, maybe she had a wound. But her arms were too tired to respond.

"What do you want with Elena?"

"She looks like Katherine"

"You knew Katherine?"

"You thought you were the only ones?" The guy said, "You don't even remember me"

"Tell me how to get into the tomb"

"No"

"No…" Harper rasped. But no one seemed to focus on her.

"The grimoire"

"Where is it?"

"Ah!" A guy groaned out "Check the journal.. use Jonathan Gilbert's journal"

At which point, Harper passed out.

~X~

"Hey.. Hey!" Someone was shaking Harper awake. Blinking carefully, she noticed that she was still in the cafeteria of the school. Next to her was Alaric Saltzman, her new history teacher.

"Mr. Saltzman?" Harper groaned out, flipping herself to the side away from him.

"Harper, hey! Harper you need to stay awake for me okay? You have a concussion" The man stated and gently helped her into a sitting position. The girl had been lying down on the floor, a small blood stain was seen on the wall above her. The new teacher couldn't really believe the night he had had. As Damon Salvatore had tried to compel him, he circled around the school to still get the chance to see the cafeteria. Which was messy from a fight, and had an unconscious girl on the floor.

He also couldn't believe that they had just left her there. They must've been in a hurry to leave the scene. He looked for bite marks but found none, which also made him cautious about how much to ask her about the night's events.

"Where is Tyler?" Harper mumbled.

"Tyler? Oh right! Tyler, yes.. let's go and look for him" Alaric said frantically and carefully lifted her to carry her in his arms. In no way could she support herself. So he helped her back into the gym, now mostly empty except for those on cleaning duty.

"Harper!" As expected, Tyler Lockwood, came running from the other side of the gym, where he had been talking to some other teachers about her disappearance.

"Be careful! She has a concussion" Alaric said and handed her over to the teenager.

"What?!"

"I found her by the bathroom, it was wet on the floor and she must've slipped. I came back with her as soon as I found her there" Alaric said, with such conviction that Tyler almost believed him for a second. He wasn't stupid and Harper wasn't clumbsy enough to slip like that.

"Okay, thanks for helping her up. I will take her to the hospital" Tyler said and looked at Harper, who seemed to be going between a loopy and alert state of consciousness.

"Should I call your parents?" Alaric asked.

"Nah, we will manage on our own" Tyler stated, and walked away from him. Harper was leaning heavily on him, but he didn't care. All he wanted was to get out of the damn school and away from this place.

"Tyler?" Harper mumbled as she was hit with the cool night air. They were almost by their car.

"Yeah?"

"I love you" Harper rasped, and Tyler smiled. He knew that it wasn't a romantic love confession, by no means did they have any romance between them. But it was a bond they couldn't explain, like siblings or family.. they knew that somehow they belonged together, by each other's side.

"Love you too gorgeous" He said and kissed her temple.