At the Gilbert house, Elena, Stefan and I were discussing what he had told us the night before and what had happened on the road.
"Stefan, who was that man in the road?" Elena asked him after I told them what happened.
"I don't know. Do you remember anything else about him?" he asked me.
"I never saw his face. He was wearing a hoodie. All I can remember is his black boots coming towards me." I told him.
"I brought some vervain for, um—for the two of you and Jenna." Stefan said grabbing a box from the end of the bed. Elena sat up straight as he opened the box. "And, um, I made this bracelet for Jeremy, few extra ones for friends." He told her handing her the bracelet. "You can put it in jewelry, or you can even put it in food or drink, but as long as it's in you or on you, a vampire cannot control you." Stefan handed her a small vial of liquid vervain.
"Wow. So much to remember." Elena said picking up the dried herb.
"I know, but there's another vampire in town. So until we find out who it is and what he wants, we have to be careful." Stefan told us.
"No need to tell me twice." I told him. "One scare from this guy is all I need to last me a lifetime."
Downstairs, Jeremy was sketching at the table when the doorbell ran. Jeremy got up to answer it and saw the pizza delivery guy on the front porch.
"Hey. It's gonna be $22." He said pulling a pizza out of the bag.
"Elena, I need the money!" Jeremy called up to us. "Uh, here. Come in. Just put it on the table." Jeremy told him before walking back into the dining room. The man stood on the front porch for a moment longer before crossing the threshold into the house. He placed the pizza on the table as Elena and I went down the stairs with the money.
"Hi. Um, keep the change." Elena told him handing him the money Jenna had given us for the food.
"Thanks. And you have yourself a good night." He said as he backed out of the house. Elena smiled at him before shutting the door separating us from him. The boy turned around and pulled the hood of his sweater over his head and walked down the steps of the front porch. Once out of the light, it was clear that he was the vampire that caused Chloe's car accident and now he had been invited in the house.
The next day at the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan walked into the library to see Damon looking through the shelves and tossing aside books haphazardly across the room.
"What are you lookin' for, Damon?" Stefan asked him.
"Not your concern." Damon told him.
"No, but putting Chloe in harm's way, that is my concern." Stefan told him as Damon picked up another book and flipped through it.
"Hm hm. What are you talking about?" Damon asked him.
"I'm talking about Atlanta." Stefan told him.
"Oh, yeah." Damon said, a smirk coming to his face. "Chloe and I had blast."
"I get it. You're just bitter because one of us gets to be with the person that we love, and poor Anna is just out of reach. Unless there's another way for you to get into that tomb. Is that what Bree said?" Stefan asked him.
"Chloe told you about the trip?" Damon asked him.
"No she told Caroline, who told Bonnie, who told Elena, who told me." Stefan told him and Damon nodded.
"You're pathetic when you're fishing." Damon said, getting back to the topic his brother wanted.
"And you're transparent when you're deflecting." Stefan told him.
"Don't you have school?" Damon asked him before dropping the book and grabbing another book off the shelf. Stefan walked out of the room with Damon's eyes on him the entire time.
At the school, the bell rang signaling the end of class. Students got up from their desks and started to leave the classroom. Jeremy was packing up his stuff when a paper was thrown down onto his desk by Alaric. Jeremy looked down at the paper and picked it up. A giant red "A" was marked on the paper. Jeremy smiled, stunned by his grade.
"Surprised? It's a good essay. Your thoughts are clear, and your argument is well laid out. It's just, uh, you don't actually think there are vampires in Mystic Falls." Alaric laughed sitting down behind his desk.
"No. I mean, I think statistically there's been more animal attacks, mysterious deaths, uh, people gone missing, more than any other place in the whole commonwealth of Virginia." Jeremy explained.
"It's conjecture, but creative, which is why you got the "A." I just wouldn't get too, uh, caught up in the whole conspiracy theory of it all." Alaric warned.
"Ah, I won't." Jeremy said gathering up his stuff. He got up and started to exit the room before Alaric called him back.
"Oh, uh, Jeremy, the source that you cited for the 1860s info, uh, Jonathan Gilbert...?" Alaric asked him.
"Oh, my ancestor's journal?" Jeremy asked him.
"I'd really like to see that sometime." Alaric told him.
"Really?" Jeremy asked him.
"A first-person account of the Civil War? That's like, uh, porn for a history teacher." Alaric joked with him. Jeremy placed his bag on a desk and retrieved the journal from his backpack.
"You think my essay's creative, wait till you get a load of this thing." Jeremy said tossing the journal onto Alaric's desk. The history teacher picked it up carefully.
"Thank you." Alaric told him. Jeremy nodded and exited the room. Alaric look at the journal and unbound it with curiosity.
Out in the front courtyard, Caroline and I were walking across the lawn together. Caroline was observing the necklace around her neck which I had just given her.
"It's so pretty. Thank you. God, it'll go with, like, everything. What's the occasion?" Caroline asked me.
"No occasion. Just a little friend gift." I told her as we sat down at a table.
"Lesbian friend necklace? Cause we're freaky like that?" Caroline said winking at me sarcastically making me laugh.
"You're my best friend, Caroline. And that's important to me." I told her.
"Why are you being so mushy?" she asked me.
"Because you've been avoiding me, and I wanted you to know that whatever is going on with you and Matt, it's ok." I told her. "Elena's with Stefan and so you don't need to be avoiding me to avoid her."
"I was gonna talk to you about that. I was, but there's just not much to say. You know, we've hung out a couple times. That's it, but...I just feel like we've peeked as friends." She told me.
"I get that." I said understandingly.
"This is weird. I shouldn't be talking to you about this. It's weird. It's weird, right?" she said.
"Why would it be weird?" I asked her. "I never dated Matt. Elena did. Besides if this is what you and Matt want, it's not about me or Elena."
"But it's all about Elena. Matt's not over her, and we all know it." Caroline told me.
"She's with Stefan now. Matt understands that and he has to move on." I told her, but she gave me an unconvinced look.
After school at the Grill, Matt was sitting at the bar, filling out a job application. The bartender walked over to him from the other side of the bar and placed a tray of glasses down.
"Matt Donovan. What do you know?" the bartender said smirking.
"Ben McKittrick. What's up, man?" Matt asked him.
"Rough season, bud." Ben said.
"Yeah. It's kind of hard to recover when you have to forfeit half your games." Matt told him.
"You gonna be workin' here?" Ben asked him.
"Yep, followin' in your footsteps, minus the state championship." Matt told him.
"Well, we can't all be Football Gods." Ben told him.
"Yeah." Matt said smiling.
"So what's the plan? Cook line?" Ben asked him.
"Busboy." Matt corrected.
Down in the restaurant portion of the Grill, Elena and Bonnie were having dinner at a table.
"I can't believe you're adopted. I never saw that coming." Bonnie told her.
"And it gets weirder. I looked at my birth certificate. It lists Miranda and Grayson Gilbert as my birthparents. And Chloe's. None of it makes any sense." Elena told her.
"Which is why you should ask Jenna." Bonnie told her making Elena groaned. "First of all, the Elena I know would always want the real truth, good or bad."
"And second of all?" Elena asked her.
"You just found out your boyfriend is a vampire, so unless your birthparents are aliens how bad could it be?" Bonnie asked her.
"Ah, ok, look, I have to go to the store. My outfit for the dance is severely lacking accessories." Elena said getting up.
"Ok, I'll pay the bill." Bonnie told her.
"Ok. Bye." Elena said before leaving. Bonnie got up to pay the bill bidding her friend farewell.
"Bye." Bonnie started to walk away from the table when Damon approached her making her stop and look at him. "What do you want from me?"
"I think we need a fresh start." Damon told her.
"You tried to kill me." She reminded him.
"But I didn't, and if I wanted to, I would have. Does that not count for anything?" Damon asked her.
"You know, I can start fires with my mind. Fires kill vampires, right?" Bonnie asked him and he looked slightly concerned. "Just stay the hell away from me." Ben walked over to them standing behind Damon.
"Everything ok over here?" Ben asked Bonnie.
"Yeah, we're fine." Damon told him.
"I wasn't talkin' to you." Ben told him. Damon, controlling his urge to kill Ben, grimaced and walked away. Ben moved to stand in front of Bonnie.
"Thank you." Bonnie said with a smile.
"Anytime, Bonnie." Ben said returning her smile.
"Wait. You remember me?" She asked him surprised.
"I didn't graduate that long ago. You're makin' me feel old." Ben told her.
"No, sorry. I didn't...I didn't mean that. I just—I didn't know you knew me." Bonnie told him.
"I always know a pretty face." He told her making her smile.
I walked out to Elena's car when my phone rang.
"Hello." I said still walking to her car.
"Hello, Chloe." A man's voice said on the other end.
"Hey, who's this?" I asked getting into her car.
"You hit me with your car." The man said and I froze buckling my seatbelt. "Is that a new one?" I looked around the car in fear before looking behind us to see the man in the hoodie approaching us. "You got away from me. You won't next time."
"Drive!" I ordered Elena who quickly did as she was told and drove straight to the Salvatore Boarding House.
Elena and I were sitting on a couch in the library, speaking with Stefan.
"Why me? What does he want with me? A-and if he's trying to kill me, then why call first?" I asked him. Stefan walked around the couch and faced me.
"That's because we're predators, Elena. We hunt. We stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill. I want you to take this." Stefan said handing Elena a very familiar pocket watch. Elena took it from him and looked it over.
"This is Jeremy's pocket watch. How did you get it?" Elena asked him.
"I took it from Damon, who took it from Logan, who must have taken it from you." Stefan said. Elena opened it, but it no longer looked like the pocket watch I'd seen when I'd given it to Jeremy.
"What happened to it?" I asked him.
"Well, it's not just a watch. It's a...it's a sort of compass, but it points to vampires." Stefan told us before taking Elena's hand in his own, showing us how the compass worked. The needle whirred around on the compass and finally clicked into place, pointing at Stefan.
"Why did my father have it?" Elena asked him in shock.
"Gilberts were one of the founding families, and back in 1864, they were among those who sought to eradicate the vampires. The compass was used to find us." Stefan told us.
"Did you know them?" I asked him.
"Yes. I want you to keep this. That way, you'll know if you're ever in danger." Stefan said moving the compass to my hands from Elena's. Elena pulled her boyfriend in for a kiss and after they pulled apart, Elena smiled at him again as we all sat together in the library.
At the school the next day, Matt and Caroline were outside in the schoolyard, painting a banner for the dance.
"I've never seen you such a mess." Matt told her making her smile while she scoffed at him.
"Don't talk smack." She told him. Caroline swiped the paintbrush on Matt's arm, leaving a giant smear of paint on him.
"I mean," he started saying while holding his paintbrush out at Caroline threateningly making her back away, smiling. "I just thought that you told everyone else what to do." Matt and Caroline went back to painting the banner.
"Well, I do that, too, but if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. You know, I just like that we're hanging out. Who knew—you and me?" Caroline asked him.
"Well, who knew you could be fun?" Matt joked and they smiled at each other as they continued to paint.
"So what are you wearing to this dumb dance, anyway? Should we color-coordinate?" Caroline asked him.
"Uh, I'm not goin'." Matt told her.
"Why not?" Caroline asked him confused.
"I gotta work, bussin' tables at the Grill." Matt revealed.
"Since when are you a busboy?" Caroline asked him.
"It's a job. You know, some of us have to work, Caroline. With my mom in and out, things are tight, so..." Matt dropped and Caroline looked up at him.
"Well, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that I didn't know you had a job." Caroline told him.
"Well, I do. I gotta go." Matt said putting down the paintbrush and leaving. Caroline watched him walk away with a sad face.
At the Grill, Jeremy was shooting pool when Anna approached him.
"Hey. How'd it go?" Anna asked him.
"What?" Jeremy asked confused.
"The paper." She clarified.
"Oh. I got an "A." Thanks for the articles. They really helped." He told her.
"Cool. So what'd he say about the vampires? Did he believe it?" Anna asked him.
"I don't even believe it. It's just a paper, Anna. Anyways, I, uh—I gotta get goin'." He told her getting up and walking around the pool table and she followed him.
"Uh, hey, um...D-do you wanna do something later, maybe?" she asked him.
"Uh, sorry. I'm stuck on punch duty at the school dance." Jeremy told her.
"Oh. How'd you get stuck with that?" Anna asked him.
"Well, I'm failin' English, so I copped a plea." Jeremy explained.
"Maybe, you know, tomorrow or something." Anna asked him and he smiled before looking down. "I'm being pushy again, aren't I? Heh."
"Well, thanks for the help. I'll—I'll see you around." He said grabbing his backpack and leaving. Anna watched him go, looking displeased with herself.
Jenna, dressed up in a cute '50s outfit, was cleaning up the living room when Elena and I walked in from school.
"Spoke to the insurance company. Car's totaled. You can using mine for now." She told me and I nodded.
"So you're coming to the dance?" Elena asked her.
"Alaric asked me to help chaperone." She told us smiling as she walked around the couch and leaned against it.
"Why didn't you tell us, Jenna?" I asked her as Elena was about to take a bite of an apple she'd just picked up. Jenna looked slightly startled by my sudden change of topic.
"Your mom was gonna do it eventually. I never thought I'd have to." She told us.
"If mom were here right now and we asked, she'd tell us the truth." I told her.
"Your dad was about to leave the office one night when this girl showed up. She was sixteen, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered her twins, and he gave her a place to stay, but a few days later, she disappeared. And there you two were. Your parents were trying so hard to have a baby. I-it just wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom." Jenna told us.
"Well, why were our parents' names on the birth certificates?" I asked.
"Your dad was a doctor, Chloe. He took care of it. They didn't wanna lose you two, so they kept it quiet, told as few people as possible, but if anyone ever wanted proof, they had documentation." She said.
"What else do you know about her? The girl?" Elena asked.
"Just her name. Isobel." She revealed.
In the Boarding House, Damon was sitting at a desk in the library, jotting down names of the Founders of Mystic Falls when Stefan walked in. He was holding something behind his back as he approached Damon.
"You got the hair right." Damon said, commenting on Stefan's 50s styled hair. Stefan dropped a journal down on the desk in front of Damon. "Why are you bringing me dad's journal?"
"Cause you were looking for it." Stefan told him causing his brother to throw him a confused look.
"And why would I want it?"
"Gee, I don't know, Damon. Maybe you wanna do a little bit of posthumous bonding. Go ahead. Enjoy it. Read it. I have. Nowhere in it does it say anything about Anna, or the tomb, or how to open it." Stefan told him as Damon retrieved the journal from the end of the desk and flipped through the pages.
"I'm not surprised. Man could barely spell his own name." Damon insulted his father.
"I'm really sorry that it won't be of any help with your diabolical plan, the sequel." Stefan said making Damon smirk. "You know, I could help you."
"You? Help me? Aw, I don't know. Seems a little unnatural." Damon told him.
"I'll do anything to get you out of this town, even release Anna." Stefan told him.
"What about the other 27 vampires?" Damon asked him.
"No, no, no. They can't come. They have to stay put, but Anna, I would consider that." Stefan said.
"What are you doin'? Hmm? What's your angle?" Damon asked him.
"Think about it." Stefan ordered.
"Why would I trust you?" Damon asked him.
"See that's your problem, Damon. You apply all of your shortcomings to everybody else. If history's any indication, there's only one liar among us." Stefan grimaced at Damon before patting the journal and leaving the room.
At the Gilbert residence, Elena and I were in our own rooms, adding the finishing touches to our outfits and hair. I wore a red rockabilly dress with a thin black belt around my waist, elbow length black gloves and black pumps. My makeup was era appropriate and my hair was curled to match the time. The vampire compass was left on my bed when I went to the bathroom to touch up my lipstick so I never noticed the needle start to whirl around. Once I was happy everything was perfect I returned to my room and looked over the accessories for my outfit.
"Hey, Jenna. Jenna? Jeremy?" Elena called out.
"What do you want, Elena?" I asked her getting black pearls and looking at myself with them on in the mirror before denying them.
"Just thought I heard something." She told me and I rolled my eyes before putting on my locket, which now held vervain inside, and my bracelet, which was still put into a vervain wash every night. I turned to my bed to finally see the spinning needle. I quickly moved to my bed and picked up the compass.
"Elena, call Stefan. There's a vampire here." I told her as I picked up my phone and called Damon.
At the Boarding House, Damon, who was still sitting at the desk, heard both his and Stefan's phone go off. He looked at his phone to see Chloe calling and looked at Stefan's to see Elena. He answered his.
"Chloe Gilbert. What can I do for my favorite Gilbert today?" Damon asked.
At the Gilbert house, Elena and I were walking around the house looking for who might be here.
"A vampire's here Damon." I told him.
"Stefan's on his way to you now. Forgot his phone." Damon said and I stopped and breathed a sigh of relief before relaying the message to Elena, who'd been freaking out that she couldn't get ahold of Stefan.
"This compass was spinning like crazy." I told Damon unaware of the vampire braced to the ceiling looking down at us. "Stefan must be here. Thank you."
"You're welcome." He said before we hung up the phones. Suddenly, the vampire jumped down from the ceiling. Elena and I spun around and gasped as he pushed her aside and grabbed me. He extended his fangs, getting ready to bite my neck making me scream in fear. Before Noah can bite me, Stefan yelled from the kitchen and rushed in.
"Chloe!" Stefan pulled the vampire off of me and threw him over the couch. I lost my balance and fell to the floor as Elena crawled over to me and Stefan looked down at us worried as the vampire grunted and got up from the floor and vamp-sped out of the house. When Stefan was sure that the vampire was gone, Stefan dashed over to us. Elena pushed herself off the floor and embraced Stefan, frightened. I climbed off the floor and hugged myself around the middle. "Are you ok? Are you ok?" he asked the two of us. Elena looked at the front door, still worried that he would return.
"For now." I said rubbing my hands up and down my arms.
A short time later Elena and Stefan were on the couch next to the armchair I was in as Damon paced the living room. After Elena and I had calmed down a bit Stefan had called Damon from my phone (got an earful from Elena about his number being in my phone) and told him what had happened.
"How did he get in?" Damon asked.
"He was invited in." Elena told him and Damon sent us confused looks.
"He posed as the pizza delivery guy last night." I told him.
"Well, he gets points for that." Damon said and I tossed him a look. "Did he say what he wanted?"
"No. He was too busy trying to kill us." Elena told him.
"Me." I corrected her thinking of his actions. "He was trying to bite me. All he did was toss you to the side."
"And you have no idea who this is?" Stefan asked Damon.
"No." Damon answered, but Stefan didn't look convinced. "Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company."
"You think there's more than one?" Elena asked them.
"We don't know." Damon told her as he sat on the arm to the chair I was in.
"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan told him. I looked between the two as Damon nodded seeing to understand what Stefan was hinting at.
"Then we go get him tonight. You up for it?" he asked me.
"What do I do?" I asked him.
"Go to the dance. We'll see who shows up." He told me.
"That's a bad idea." Stefan told him.
"Till we get him, this house isn't safe. For anyone who lives in it. It's worth a shot." Damon said hinting at Jeremy and Jenna not being safe.
"Be my date?" I asked Damon. Damon smirked then nodded.
"I would love to." He told me and I turned to Elena who Stefan. Stefan looked anxious and Elena looked as though she couldn't believe I just asked him to the dance.
"It gives him a reason to be there since he's obviously not on the chaperone list." I said. "Besides we'll be safer with both brothers instead of just one." Stefan nodded and looked up at Damon who just shrugged his shoulder.
At the dance, the students and some chaperones were danced in their best 50s getups and dancing "This Magic Moment". Caroline and Bonnie were dancing together on the dance floor when Elena, the Salvatore brothers and I walked in. Arm in arm with our dates we looked for any signs of danger, which means Elena and I were looking for a familiar hoodie. In the middle of the dance floor, Alaric was looking around smiling until he caught sight of Damon and I. His smile fell from his face as he remembered the last day he saw his wife in the arms of her killer.
"Alaric." Jenna said from behind him.
"Hey, look at you." He said, his smile returning to his face quickly.
"I figured I'd stand out less if I dressed up." She told him.
"Heh heh. Liar." He accused.
"Ok, I'm a sucker for the decade dance. I went to school here, you know. They do the sixties and seventies, too, FYI." She told him.
"Oh. Can't wait. Can I get you a drink? I hear the punch is real boss." He told her and they both shared a laugh before going get a drink.
Elena and I stepped away from the boys and stood near the punch bowl looking around when Bonnie and Caroline approached us.
"Having fun?" Elena asked them.
"No, but this took about two hours, so I'm at least staying half of that." Caroline said and we shared a laugh.
"What's Damon doing here?" Bonnie asked and we turned to look at Damon who was talking to Stefan.
"I needed a date and he was available." I said.
"So what is this, like, a foursome now, you two and the Salvatore brothers?" Caroline asked me getting snippy.
"This is my way of thanking him for helping me when I was in that accident." I told her.
"And if I'm gonna be with Stefan, then I have to learn to tolerate Damon. It's not like I can kill him." Elena joked.
"There's a thought." Bonnie said still staring at Damon.
"Mmm. I'll help." Caroline said and they both clinked their glasses. Elena looked down, trying hard not to smile at their comments as I shook my head at them.
After getting their punch, Alaric and Jenna walked across the dancefloor talking.
"I'm really starting to see a change in Jeremy. Finally." Jenna told him.
"Uh, losing someone you love so suddenly, the, uh—the trauma and the grief there are some of the tougher things he'll face in life." He told her as they stopped in front of the projection screen and faced each other.
"From someone who knows." She said. "You have no idea what happened?"
"That's the hard part, not knowing." He told her.
"Is it ok to talk about your wife?" she asked him.
"Heh. There's not much to talk about." He told her.
"That must be impossible to deal with, not having any answers." Jenna said.
"I'd be lying to you if I told you it didn't keep me up at night. Wondering why, by who." He told her.
"Maybe one day." She said, trying to offer comfort.
"Hope so." He said before looking off into the distance. "I hope so." He looked at Damon who was standing across the room, his arms folded over his chest. He saw Caroline, Bonnie and I still close to the punch bowl and approached us.
"Hi, Bonnie. Wanna dance?" he asked Bonnie.
"I'm out of here." She said, looking at him with disgust before going to walk away, only to be blocked be Damon.
"Please give me another chance." He asked her, but she didn't respond before moving around Damon walking away with him.
"Back off, Damon." Caroline told him before following Bonnie as Stefan and Elena approached us.
"Where did they go?" Elena asked.
"I don't know." Damon told her.
"What did you say to them?" Stefan asked.
"I was perfectly polite." Damon told him before turning to me. "Chloe...Would you like to dance?" he asked offering his hand.
"I would love to." I said taking his hand. He led me to the dance floor before spinning me and pulling me close.
"I can't believe she's dancing with him." Elena told Stefan as they followed the other pair to the dance floor.
"They've gotten closer since the Atlanta trip." Stefan explained to her. "Who know, maybe they'll be good for each other."
"I doubt that." Elena scoffed as they danced. Both couples were unaware to the vampire watching them from the other side of the gym.
"Shouldn't you guys be able to sense each other or something?" Elena asked Stefan.
"No. Doesn't work that way. See him anywhere?" Stefan asked her.
"Not unless he has a pompadour." She told him.
"Heh. Wow. Not one of the better fashion trends." Stefan told her.
"Come on. I'm sure you looked great back then. Are there pictures?" she asked him.
"No. Burned. Buried." He said shaking his head.
"Seriously, what was it like, the fifties? Cause in my mind, I have this picture of somewhere between "American Bandstand," and "Grease." It's all varsity sweaters and milkshakes." She told him.
"Well, that and, you know, McCarthyism and segregation and nuclear arms race." He listed off.
"Ok, but there were poodle skirts?" she asked hopeful.
"There were poodle skirts." He confirmed before spinning her and around and pulling her back to him.
"You're so teaching me how to do the hand jive." She told him.
"No. That's not gonna happen." He denied.
"Ooh!" she rested her head on Stefan's shoulder as Stefan continued to watch out for the vampire.
"I have a theory about our newest supernatural resident." I told Damon as we continued to dance.
"And what would that be?" he asked me.
"He's not going to show himself until either Elena or I are alone." I told him.
"Does that mean you want to stop dancing?" he asked me and I pretended to think about it.
"Maybe a little more dancing." I told him. "I'm not quite ready to be vampire bait just yet."
Across the room, Jeremy was manning the punch bowl when Anna walked up to him.
"You neglected to mention this was a theme party." She told him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"Well, seeing as you also neglected to invite me, I took matters into my own hands." She told him.
"You're doin' that thing again." he said and she gave him a confused look.
"What thing would that be?" she asked.
"That thing where you pretend we're dating, even though we're not." He said.
"Oh, you mean stalking. Yeah." She said sarcastically before laughing at him. "Get over yourself. Come on. I've never been to a school dance before. Humor me." They gave each other a smile before she started helping him.
At the Grill, Matt was bussing tables when he saw Caroline and Bonnie still in their 50s garb. Bonnie stopped and looked earnestly up at the bar.
"Let's sit up there." Bonnie told Caroline. Caroline stopped, crossed her arms, and followed Bonnie's gaze.
"Be a little more obvious, Bonnie." Caroline told her.
"Don't rain on my hot-guy parade." Bonnie said as Matt, without them noticing, walked up behind them carrying dirty dishes in a bin.
"What? It's just a drizzle. Ben McKittrick? Really?" Caroline asked her long time friend.
"He's hot." Bonnie said.
"He's a washed-up jock who pours drinks for a living. You could do way better." Caroline told her. Matt, who'd paused to listen to their conversation, looked down before walking past the two girls, who finaly noticed him. "Hey."
"What's up?" Matt asked her tonelessly. Caroline's smile faltered at his lack of enthusiasm of seeing her.
After Damon and I had danced we'd stood talking for a bit before another Tyler had asked me to dance, which I accepted. Damon watched me and Tyler dance to a fast paced song when Alaric approached him.
"Yeah, I don't recognize you. How'd you get roped into chaperoning? Alaric Saltzman. I'm the new history teacher." Alaric said holding out his hand for Damon.
"Ah, the, uh, cursed faculty position." Damon commented.
"So I've been told." Alaric said.
"Damon. Salvatore."
"Salvatore, as in, uh, Stefan?" Alaric asked him.
"He's my little brother. I'm his legal guardian. But I'm not here as a chaperone. I'm Chloe Gilbert's date." Damon told him.
"I hear your brother's very bright, not that I've had a chance to see for myself." Alaric commented.
"Well, his attendance record's a little spotty. Family drama." Damon said.
"No parents?" Alaric asked him.
"Mm, it's just the two of us now." Damon said.
"You let your date dance with another guy?" Alaric said turning his eyes from Damon to me and Tyler laughing.
"Well he's her friend and who am I to stop them anyway?" Damon asked Alaric.
"Good point." Alaric said. "You, uh—you live here your whole life?"
"On and off. Travel a bit." Damon answered.
"Really? Where? Around the states?" Damon turned to Alaric with raised eyebrows. "Heh. I'm sorry. I'm nosy. I...I don't mean to pry. Look, it was nice meeting you."
"You, too." Damon replied.
"Enjoy the rest of the dance." Alaric patted Damon on the Arm before walking past him back to Jenna with Damon watching him go.
At the Grill, Caroline was still sulking at a table as Bonnie stared at Ben behind the car.
"Tonight was so much better on paper." Caroline said.
"Ah, you're just feeling sorry for yourself. Go and talk to him. Be bold and fearless." Bonnie told her.
"Yeah, this coming from the girl who's been eye stalking the bartender." Caroline said.
"You're right." Bonnie said before boldly getting up and walking over to the bar. Caroline watched her, looking impressed. Bonnie stopped in front of the bar and smiled at Ben. "Hi."
"Twice in one day. Lucky me." He said smiling at her.
"I'm proving something to my friend." She told him.
"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Ben asked her.
"That you don't have to sit around and wait for a guy to come up to you." She explained.
"Does that mean that you're asking me out on a date?" he asked her.
"Does that mean you want me to?" she asked.
"Well, what did you have in mind?" he asked.
"Do you like karaoke?" she asked him slowly.
"No." he told her and she looked down. "But I would really like to go on a date with you." Ben leaned closer towards Bonnie and smiled. She smiled back flirtatiously. Back at their table, Caroline watched in disdain as Matt walked past her, completely ignoring her.
"Seriously?" she asked him and he stopped and looked back at her.
"Is that for me?" he asked her.
"Do you see anyone else in the vicinity?" she asked.
"Do you need something?" he asked.
"Are you mad at me or something?" she asked him.
"No, Care. I'm not mad. I..." he started telling her but she interrupted him.
"Well, then why are you being so weird?" she asked.
"I'm not. I'm working." He told her.
"You're avoiding." She told him.
"No. I have a table to clean. You know, that's the kind of thing that washed-up jocks do to make a living." He told her before walking away. Caroline, realizing that he'd heard her and Bonnie talk, leaned back in her chair and sighed.
At the high school, Anna was carrying three stacks of paper cups over to Jeremy who took them from her.
"You don't go to school here. You know, you don't have to help." He told her.
"Oh, I don't mind. It's fun. Oh, um, yeah. Before I forget, can I borrow your ancestor's journal?" she asked him.
"Why?" he asked her confused.
"You said I could read it." She reminded him.
"Uh, I don't have it." He told her and she froze for a moment.
"Oh. Well, obviously you didn't bring it here, uh, but I can walk you home." She offered.
"No. I mean, I gave it to my history teacher." He told her and she froze.
"Wait. Why did you give it to him?" she asked him.
"Because he wanted to read it." Jeremy said.
"You know, you shouldn't be giving that to just anybody." She told him.
"But I should give it to you?" Jeremy asked her with a smile.
"Loan. Loan it to me." She corrected.
"Well, I loaned it to Mr. Saltzman." He told her.
"Maybe he's in his classroom. We can get it back." Anna said.
"What's the big deal with this stupid journal?" Jeremy asked leaning across the table towards Anna. In her anger she let her control slip and the veins under her eyes darken revealing she was a vampire.
"Your eyes." Jeremy said confused. Anna blinked and quickly turned around.
"Um, there's something in it. Forget it. I...I gotta go." She said before leaving.
Elena and Stefan were on the dancefloor and looking around for the vampire.
"Maybe he's not gonna show." Elena suggested.
"You mean we did all this dancing for nothing?" Stefan asked her.
"Ahh. The horror." She said throwing her head back and moving her hands to Stefan's chest making them both laugh.
"I'm really sorry for all this." Stefan told her.
"It's my choice. I decided to be here. I officially signed up for it, so I don't wanna hear you apologizing anymore." She told him, making her point by poking him the chest as she said the last few words. Suddenly, the music started to pick. Stefan looked up at the speakers, realizing he will have to dance faster. Elena smiling broadly, grabbing Stefan's hands and started to twist her hips, but Stefan remained still. "Show me how it's done in the fifties."
"Uh, no." Stefan said.
"Come on. One move?" she asked him and Stefan shook his head. Elena nodded persistently, but he just shook his head again. Elena groaned and started to walk off the dancefloor, but Stefan grabbed her by the arm and twirled her back towards him. He picked Elena up and dipped her on one side and then the other, holding her in the dip for a moment. Elena smiled up at him, surprised. Stefan straightened them back up and placed Elena on the floor, grabbing her face in his hands, and kissing her with intense passion.
"Now you remember that, because it's never gonna happen again." he told her making her giggle before they kiss again.
Anna was walking down the darkened corridors of the school. She stopped at the end of one and saw the vampire stalking the twins at the other end. Anna vamp sped over to him and he looked down at her with a devilish smile.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"Trying to get the journal, as in sticking to the plan, something you're not doing." Anna sighed. "Leave the girl alone."
"I like her. She looks like Anna." He said smiling at her.
"She's not Anna. Ok, Anna is in the tomb." Anna reminded him.
"I know, but until we open that tomb, I got her to play with." He told her.
"Don't be stupid. That girl is with the Damon Salvatore." Anna said.
"He doesn't scare me. He never has." He told her.
"Please, Noah. Don't do this. You're gonna ruin everything." Anna begged him.
"You got nothing to worry about." He told her. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. You will get what you came for. Just let me have my fun. She looks like Anna." Noah said, as though it was a valid reason as to why he was messing with the blue eyed twin, before walked past Anna placing his hood over his head.
Back on the dancefloor, Damon was dancing with another girl, groping her bottom as they glided across the dancefloor. Elena and I laughed and looked up at Stefan by the punch bowl.
"You really can't take him anywhere, can you?" she asked him.
"Uh, no." he told her making me laugh again. I glanced around the room and saw Noah in his hoodie. I turned back to the other too.
"Stefan, the back corner." I told him and he looked in the back corner to see Noah.
"Get Damon." He said before he quickly walked across the dancefloor, pushing students out of his way. Noah exited the dance and walked down a crowded corridor into another darker corridor. Stefan entered the corridor and saw him turn the corner. Stefan jogged after him, then when they were in the darkened corridor, he vamp sped over to the boy, grabbed him by his hoodie and slammed him into the lockers.
"What did I do?" the boy asked without making an expression. Stefan looked at the boy, confused.
"Where is he?" Stefan asked.
"I was getting a soda, and then this guy gave me his hoodie." The boy told him. Stefan looked around before realizing he'd been tricked into leaving Elena and Chloe alone.
Elena and I walked across the dancefloor, searching for Damon.
"Where the hell is he?" I asked before my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID to see the vampire's number.
"Hello, Chloe." I looked around trying to hide my terror. "Here's what you're going to do. There's an exit door behind you. You have five seconds."
"And why would I do anything you tell me to?" I asked him.
"Or your brother dies." My eyes widened before looking over at the punch bowl where Jeremy was serving punch. I saw the vampire standing near him, on his phone with me. "I can snap his neck so fast I bet there's not even a witness. Now, start walking."
"Don't you dare touch him!" I said backing away towards the door.
"Chloe?" Elena called to me.
"Keep walking. Through the door." He told me. I hung up the phone and continued walked backwards across the floor, watching him walk past Jeremy. I took a deep breath when he past Jer, but breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't touch him.
"Chloe? What's wrong?" Elena asked me.
"Find Damon." I told her before turning and running out the exit as ordered. I ran down the corridor, looking behind me to make sure the vampire wasn't behind me. I turned into another corridor and came to a set of doors. She attempted to open the doors but they were chained shut. She turned back around and saw Noah walking calmly towards me. I rushed down a different corridor and opened the door to the cafeteria. I ran across the room and tried to open another set of doors which were also locked. Across the room, Noah flung open a set of double doors and before I could move, he vamp-sped towards me making me jump back in fear. I attempted to bolt but Noah grabbed me by my hair and I screamed and struggled to get away. Noah pulled me in towards him then threw me across a table. I lands hard on the floor and groaned. Noah tossed the table aside and strode towards me. I frantically grabbed at what was nearby on the floor and sat up looking at what was in my hands and saw pencils. Noah grabbed me from off the floor and pushed towards the wall. He smiled before extending his fangs. He raised his arm and hit into his wrist. I back away from him before he vamp sped behind me and pulled me to him once more and forced his wrist to my mouth.
"Soon you'll be like me." He whispered in my ear. I used the pencil in my hand and jabbed it into his stomach and he, unprepared for it, bent over in pain releasing me. I moved away from him quickly as he pulled the pencil out of his stomach before starting towards me again. I prepared to attack him again and he raised his hand to defend himself, but my small weapon went straight through the palm of his hand. He looked down at his hand and while he's distracted, I stabbed him with another pencil and pushed him to the floor. As Noah struggled to get up, I walked backwards and bumped into a map bucket. I quickly turned and grabbed the mop and used my knee to break the handle in two to create two stakes. Noah ripped the pencil out of his hand and got back up before advancing on me. I thrust one of the stakes towards him, but he was too quick and grabbed my wrist and squeezing it. I cried out in pain as he took the stake out of my hand and tossed it aside. He pulled me back into him and smirked down at me. "Ready Chloe?" his face vamped out and I screamed as he went to bite my neck. Before he could bite me, Stefan ripped me away from him and tossed him to the ground. Noah got up from the floor and tried to run for it.
"Hey, dickhead." Noah looked up at Damon, who had the stake he threw in his hand. "Nobody wants to kill you. We just wanna talk." Noah smiled and rushed back towards me and Damon threw the stake to Stefan, who grabbed it and staked Noah in the stomach. Noah grunted and fell to his knees. Damon walked over towards me and Stefan so they can interrogate Noah.
"Chloe!" Elena ran at to me and crushed me with her body before pulling back and looking at my face in shock. "What was he doing to you?"
"Now you feel like talkin'?" Stefan asked Noah.
"Screw you." Noah told him. Stefan dug the stake in deeper making him groan in pain.
"Wrong answer. Why are you doing this?" Stefan asked.
"Because it's fun." Noah joked. Stefan dug the stake in a little more.
"What do you want with Chloe?"
"She looks like Anna." He said making us look at him in shock.
"You knew Anna?" Damon asked unconvinced.
"Oh. You thought you were the only ones." Noah laughed before gasping. "You don't even remember me." Damon leaned over towards Noah.
"Tell me how to get in the tomb. Hmm?" Damon said.
"No." Noah denied. Stefan leaned back down and drove the stake in deeper. "The grimoire." Noah finally said.
"Where is it?" Damon asked before Stefan drove the stake in deeper making the vampire on the floor gasp.
"Check the journal. The journal. Jonathan's journal. Jonathan Gilbert's." Noah said. Outside of the cafeteria, Anna looked in, looking helplessly as Noah was tortured. Damon stood up and grimaced.
"Who else is working with you?" Stefan asked him. Out in the hallway, a door opened and Anna, upon hearing this ran off before she was caught. Alaric appeared from down the corridor and walked towards the cafeteria.
"Who else is there?" Damon asked again.
"No. You're gonna have to kill me." Noah told him. Damon looked at Stefan and rolled his eyes before nodding. Stefan removed the stake from Noah's stomach, waited a moment before staking him in the heart making Elena gasp. Noah fell to the floor and began to desiccate.
"What do we...how are you gonna find the others now?" Elena asked her boyfriend.
"He had to die." Damon told her.
"But..." Elena tried again.
"Elena, he's been invited in." Stefan told her the same way he'd told Damon earlier. We heard the door open and looked to see Alaric coming through one of the door's windows. Stefan looked to Damon. "Go. I got this." Damon walked out of the cafeteria as Stefan turned to us. "You okay?" I looked at him, but he couldn't meet my eyes.
"After I clean up, I'll be fine." I told him.
Outside, Alaric was quickly walking down another corridor. Damon turned the corner behind him and saw him. He vamp sped in front of Alaric making the teacher stop abruptly.
"Hey." Alaric said after clearing his throat. Damon started to compel Alaric.
"What were you doing?" Damon asked.
"Looking for Ms. Hilden." Alaric answered.
"Why are you in Mystic Falls?" Damon asked.
"I got a job as a teacher." Alaric said.
"Do you know what I am?" Damon questioned.
"You're my student's brother." Alaric answered.
"Is everything you're telling me the truth?" Damon asked.
"Yes." Alaric lied.
"Then forget we had this conversation." Damon ordered before walking away. Alaric stood still for a moment, shaken by the encounter, before looking down at his closed hand. He opened it, revealing that he was holding vervain.
After Noah's body was taken care of, Stefan and Damon were leaning against a doorway in one of the corridor talking about the night's events.
"There's no way that idiot was workin' alone." Damon told Stefan.
"You are." Stefan reminded him making his brother grimace. "So the grimoire...That was Emily's, right? That's what you need to reverse the spell. When the founding families burned her, they took her things, and you were hoping that dad's journal would tell you where it is."
"Look at you puttin' the pieces together. Good for you. I was half-right. Well, it's out there now. Let the games begin." Damon said.
"My offer still stands." Stefan told him.
"Yeah, with some hidden caveats, no doubt." Damon said.
"No. Nothing hidden about it. No lies. No deception. I'm there when you open up that tomb, you and Anna go, and the other 27 vampires die." Stefan told him.
"If I agree?" Damon asked.
"I'll help you." Stefan replied.
"Why should I trust you?" Damon asked him.
"Because I'm your brother." Stefan answered.
"No, that's not gonna cut it." Damon told him.
"Because I want you gone." Stefan told him. Damon paused for a moment, thinking about his answer, before nodding.
"Ok." Stefan nodded sealing the terms to their agreement.
At the Grill, Mass was cleaning off a table when Caroline walked up to him.
"Look I said something stupid. I'm sorry, but I wasn't even talking about you." Caroline told him.
"Yes, you were, Caroline. Ben could easily be me. We're just alike." Matt told her as he moved to another tale.
"That's not true." She told him. "Are you seriously mad about this? Matt, you know me. Ok, I say stupid things without thinking, and then I have to apologize and take it back, and...I'm a terrible, awful person, but I'm working on it."
"Look, can we just not do this right now?" Matt asked her.
"Ok. When do you get off?" she asked.
"Look, this thing that we've got, it's nice, and it feels really good, and I know you want to take the next step." Matt told her.
"How do you know that? Have you even asked me?" Caroline asked him getting annoyed.
"I'm...I'm not over Elena." He finally told her. "I mean, I don't know if I am, but if we go there, then it could mess things up, and we might lose this, and this is the only good thing I've got going for me right now. So if it doesn't work, I'll just disappoint you and hurt you, and I don't wanna do that."
"Well, big problem, Matt, because you took the next step all by yourself, and you played the whole thing out in your head, and you decided to bail before even giving it a shot. So this really great thing that we have, don't worry about losing it, 'cause it's already gone." She told him before storming out of the Grill. Matt watched her displeased with himself.
At the Gilbert residence, Alaric and Jenna walked up the stairs on the front porch and stopped outside the front door. Jenna handed Alaric his letter men jacket, which he'd given her to keep her warm.
"Thank you. I needed that." She told him.
"Well, thank you for—for coming. I...I really appreciate it. You made the evening much more...Well, you made it, period." Alaric told her.
"I'm glad I could help." She told him smiling.
"And thank you for putting up with all that wife talk. I...I gotta stop doin' that. It doesn't bode well for dating." Alaric said.
"Is that what this was, a date?" she asked him hopeful.
"No, definitely not a date." He told her and her smile fell.
"Oh."
"But Friday...You, me, and dinner and a movie, that could be a date. How about it?" he asked her and her smile grew once more.
"Works for me." She laughed. "Uh, you can talk about your wife all you want. It's gonna take time to heal. We should just be ourselves."
"Still, I think I'll keep the Isobel talk to a minimum." He said and her smile fell again.
"Isobel?" she asked him.
"Yeah. That was her name." Alaric told still smiling.
"Where was Isobel from?" she asked him.
"Virginia. I mean, not too- -not too far from here, actually." Alaric answered and Jenna looked as though something had clicked into place.
Caroline was walking down the street, her arms folded across her chest, when Matt drove up in his truck.
"Caroline!" Matt called to her. Caroline looked over at him, but continued walking. "Care, get in the truck." Caroline scoffed and continued walking. Matt stopped the truck, put it into park and got out. Caroline started to cross the street in front of his truck as he ran towards her. She stopped, unfolded her arms.
"What?" she asked him angrily. Matt took Caroline's face in his hands and kissed her.
"This'll never work." He told her once he pulled away, not removing his hands from her face. They both shared a smile and proceeded to kiss again and again.
Back at the Gilbert house, Elena was sitting on the couch, pulling her scarf through her hands as Stefan made her tea.
"Doing ok?" he asked her and she turned to him.
"Is it weird if I say yes?" she asked him.
"Is it true?" he asked
"I should feel more upset or scared or something, but I...feel kind of exhilarated." Elena told him.
"It's the adrenaline. You'll crash soon enough." He said walking into the living room.
"Yeah, I guess." She said. "I'm going to have to learn to be like Chloe and fight back."
"I wish the two of you didn't have to fight at all." He told her.
"Still..." she said. Stefan sat down next to her and handed her the mug of tea, which she gratefully took. Elena put the mug to her lips and took a sip. Stefan turned to her and placed a hand on her leg.
"I need to tell you something, and I don't know how you're gonna feel about it." He told her. She pulled the mug from her mouth and looked concerned.
"What?" she asked.
"I told Damon that I'd help him get into that tomb to get Katherine back. But it was a lie. I let him believe that he could trust me." Stefan explained to her.
"Well, then why would you be worried about telling me?" she asked him.
"Because he can be very persuasive, and he and Chloe have bonded lately." He told her making her scoff.
"That doesn't mean she trusts him. It's gonna take a lot more than just a road trip and a rescue for her to forget who Damon is and everything he's done." Elena told him speaking on her sister' behalf.
"I don't wanna be his enemy, Elena, but I can't let him do it." He told her.
"Then don't, and I'll help you, whatever it takes. Ok?" she reassured him.
"Ok. Come here." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him.
At the Salvatore Boarding house, I made my way through the halls looking for Damon.
"Damon? You here?" I called out.
"What a surprise." I turned to find Damon smirking down at me. "I wasn't expecting a visit from a Gilbert."
"I wanted to thank you for tonight." I told him.
"Your welcome." He said bowing slightly.
"I overheard you and your brother talking at the school." I told him and he raised his head to give me his suspicious look. "You really think you can trust your brother to help you?"
"He wants me out of yours and Elena's lives. He'll help me get Anna and get out of Mystic Falls for the rest of your lives." Damon said. "Why?"
"He and my sister are goody two shoes. He's going to tell her he's helping you and then she'll either talk him into betraying you or helping him with his plan to betray you." I told him.
"And what do you suggest?" he asked me.
"Let me help you." I told him. "This way you have one person you know is on your side."
"And how would I know you're on my side?" he asked me raising his eyebrow. I took off my necklace and bracelet and placed them on the ground before standing straight again.
"Compel me." I told him. "Ask me if I'm being honest with you." He looked into my eyes before bending over and grabbing my necklace.
"I don't need to compel you." He told me before walking behind me and putting my necklace back on me. "I'd help you with your bracelet, but I don't feel like getting burned." I laughed before picking it up and putting it on. "Two for Team Damon and Two for Team Stefan."
"All's fair in war." I told him.
At the Grill, Ben was locking up as he was being watched from across the street. He started walking down the street while behind him, Anna stood at the corner, her eyes becoming red and veiny. She vamp sped towards him, opening her mouth to bite him. Ben screamed and grabbed Anna, pushing her against a wall, his eyes also red and veiny.
"Don't sneak up on me." He told her.
"You love it." She told him pushing him off her playfully.
"Where's Noah?" Ben asked her.
"His obsession got the best of him, and so did the Salvatore brothers." She said.
"They killed him?" Ben asked her.
"Tortured and staked." She corrected.
"You're not very upset." He noted.
"I warned him, Ben, and he was just gonna screw everything up anyway. Let's be honest, he wasn't exactly an asset. How'd you do?" she asked him.
"Oh, the witch is totally crushing on me. Did you get the journal?" Ben asked.
"No, but I know where it is, and I'll get it." She told him and they shared a smile. Ben leaned down and kissed her. When they pulled apart and continued to smile at one another. Ben placed his arm around her shoulder and they walked off down the street together.