Chapter1. Raging Storms and Pains
The crisp texture of leather beneath the tight grip of my fists was helping. The unmistakable mist of lavender and lemon from the new car air conditioner that Bonnie got me last week to make up for ditching cheer practice in favor of a study date with Kevin Cooper, helped me to ground myself to my car. The streetlights I passed by and the unrelenting rain on the windshield helped in reminding me that I need to stay focused for what I am doing. I can't lose myself in my head.
Not yet. Not now
The hospital sign could be seen now and as I made my way into the parking lot, the phone call that got me here rang in my ears.
The party had turned out better than last year. Someone from senior year was going cartwheels around the bonfire, which I was sure would lead to some form of disaster given the amount of alcohol he consumed before taking on the bet. The music had been good enough to dance to until my feet hurt and my throat was parched. I need water.
I made my way towards the makeshift bar which in reality was really just an old food truck someone found abandoned in the woods and got crafty with. It was really amazing what a couple of determined kids could do to live the dream of partying like adults. There were even a few decorations done around the clearing we were gathered in to make it look anything other than a clearing in the woods outside of town where a bunch of highschoolers break laws for the first time with underage alcohol consumption and where unforgettable and quite possibly only story-worthy, remember-that-time mistakes can be made in Mystic Falls.
"Someone should film this disaster waiting to happen", says Briana as she sees me approaching the truck.
"And leave behind evidence of our crimes; take it from the Sheriff's daughter, not a great idea," I reply with fake somberness.
She laughs, "Oh please! Like the Sheriff is not already aware where her daughter is going when you stepped into Tyler's car with that awfully packed picnic basket with poorly concealed booze".
I shrug because while my mother may be aware she never said anything. No reprimand, no word of warning or even a word of concern.
"Can I get some water?" I asked.
"Still not gonna drink? You do know you are missing out on the must crimes of school before you leave for college like this one here, right?" I hear Tyler before I see him emerging from behind the counter top with a bottle of water in hand. Taking the bottle with muttered thanks, I don't bother replying in favor of quenching my thirst.
"Going to prison is not everyone's bucket list, Ty." Briana replies on my behalf. I don't correct her in her assumption of my reasons to avoid alcohol and watch as Tyler moves to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her flush against him. "Maybe not. But I know someone who does and public obscenity seems like a good way to tick that one off." The coy smirk dancing on his lips and Briana's flushed face and sparkling eyes tells me that the gossip running around of them hooking up is most definitely true.
"And that's my clue to leave. Have fun guys. And please, there and some kids in the crowd so no funny business." I say as I make my way back to the crowd and away from the hormonal teenagers.
The music has increased in tempo telling me that the last few songs of the night are about to play and the remaining sober people are going to try their best to get wasted before the night ends. In someone's hurry to the bar, they crash into me sending me tumbling when a pair of arms wrap around me preventing the fall.
"Careful there." I hear a familiar voice. I look up into dark eyes filled with concern and amusement. "What will you do without me?" He goes on with irritating conviction in his voice as we get away from the crowd's way and towards the edge of the clearing. "Considering you will be leaving for college next week, I don't think it's any of your concern" I replied coolly, as I maneuver my way out of his arms.
"Cruel and brutal with your honesty as always, huh?"
A tired and sad expression dances across his face even as he tries to smile me off and as I watch him hunched and exhausted leaning against the tree, I feel needless guilt for treating him this way. I shouldn't be taking to him. It's not good for either of us and unlike what he said I am not actually cruel enough to subject us to pointless painful conversations.
"I am sure you will meet better people soon and have the college life you always dreamed of, out of this place, and full of possibilities." I say with as soft a smile as I can muster trying my hardest like him to leave things behind.
"Meet people better than Caroline Forbes, I don't think that's possible." Tristan was looking at me with such intensity in his eyes and history in his words that I wanted to flee, probably into his arms but that is not something we could indulge in anymore. His arms will never be my safe heaven again. He..We made sure of it.
"You know what I will say to that" I reply and Tristan smiles all soft and bittersweet, "As long as you want.."
"the possibilities are endless" he finishes for me and for a moment his smile is not sad, I don't know what I know, he didn't break my heart and we were in love. Tristan has always been able to do that. He could make me forget the bad parts better than anyone. It's what made me gravitated towards him in the first place. He helped me forget. But not for long, never for long.
"Well, I'll get going. I have drunken teenagers I got to get home." I finally say breaking the moment and turning away from him. If he feels the waver in my voice he doesn't comment on it. I feel him straightening up and moving towards me but thankfully he doesn't reach for me again.
"You are just a teenager too you know. You don't have to act so grown up. You don't have to take care of everyone else." His voice is soft as calls out after me.
Now it's my smile that is bittersweet. Tristan knows the lie to his words as well as I know the truth of my actions.
"We both know I never got that choice." I don't turn around as I walk away from him.
I spot Amanda, Penny and Penelope as soon as I am near the crowd. Penny looks just as done with the others as I feel, watching them try to take shots while standing upside down. This looks like another drunken bet as they failed to realize their positions would surely upset their alcohol -filled stomachs. The crowd is cheering on and I am well aware that Amanda has never backed down from a challenge before and a drunken Amanda takes that stubbornness to another level. After watching their failed efforts for some painful moments, I call out to Penny.
"Do I want to know what's happening?" Penny greets me with an arm around my waist in a side hug as she leans against me. "Beats me to be honest. But I am not drunk enough for this sight." The crowd erupts in laughs as Amanda falls on her face, loosing balance and by the cheers from Penelope as she sways to her feet, Amanda also lost the bet.
"Now your pretty ass has to go on a date with me." Penelope says with so much glee in her voice that even drunken Amanda flushes with embarrassment. So it seems as alcohol finally gave her the courage to ask her out.
"Yes, very good and nice but now we got to get home girls if you don't want your parents to stop this romance of the decade before it starts." Penny hollers as we make our way towards them. Amanda is still blushing and Penelope is still sporting a wide smile even as the crowd moves on to become spectators for another drunken bet.
"Congratulations on finally growing the balls, Pen, but we need to get going now" I say as I loop my arms around her and start towards the makeshift parking lot. I see Penny do the same with Amanda as she follows after us. "I did it Care. I asked her out. I am going on a date with Amanda." She doesn't seem to be drunk on just alcohol anymore. Her delight was infectious and I smile at the drunken giggles she lets out every time she comes back to that realization.
We make it to my jeep without hitch and Amanda and Penelope make the unspoken unanimous decision to take the back seats. It was quite adorable how they were sitting at the two ends with their hands joined in the middle. Amanda was still blushing and Penelope still had that wide smile.
"I can't wait for all that alcohol to wear off and mortification to set in." I hear Penny say while she hands them some water as I get on the steering. I put the seatbelt on and move out the parking space as I laugh at the picture she paints.
"oh come on, it's not like the entire school won't be talking about this by tomorrow that you have to add to the teasing." I say with a laugh as I notice to two lovebirds were still blissfully unaware of Penny's intentions.
"Where is the fun in that? The whole team will be on them anyway. Coach even more than the others," she says, rummaging through the mini -fridge in my jeep for some more water and snacks. I wince as I remember our hopeless romantic coach who was probably even more frustrated with the pair and their inability to embrace their feelings than the team who had to bear their insistent flirting and innuendos throughout the year.
"I am not looking forward to her love lectures when she gets the wind." Coach Sophia was a tall and intimidating woman who lives up to her predicted stern personality on the field but the woman was a sweetheart out of the field with her pretty sundresses and cheerful smiles. I still remember the mind boggling experience of meeting her out of school. They say don't judge a book by its cover but maybe one shouldn't judge them by the first few chapters either.
"Oh but I am sure we will get them with this new couple on the rise and the breakup of the star couple." She says with a maniac sort of grin on her face probably imagining every girl's face after the session.
"Someone broke up?" I ask to avoid thinking of the torture that will be our first practice. Drinking a few more gulps of water Penny eyes me strangely as if I should know what she is talking about. "Um..yeah? Elena and Matt broke up tonight. I thought you knew."
I didn't and my face must have told her so because she suddenly seems guilty to be the one to have told me. But that can't be right. Elena and Matt were having problems but Elena was dead set on not breaking up despite Bonnie's advice to do so. Bonnie like me was aware that the excitement of something new had long faded for the couple and with no deep feelings from Elena and too deep in love Matt, the couple were headed towards guilt and heartbreak. But Elena was adamant on delaying the inevitable for as long as she could.
Penny makes a sound of realization snapping me out of my thoughts and mutters "Maybe she didn't want you to feel guilty." That didn't make sense. Why would I be feeling guilty? She continues as if she heard my unspoken question. "I heard that Matt wanted to have the future talk, stupid by the way especially as they were drunk at a party. No matter how good the alcohol makes you feel, that's never a good place to have deep conversations." Penny says with a shake of her head as she screws the bottle back and puts it on the dashboard. Picking it up from the dashboard and placing it back in the fridge I say "That doesn't explain why I should be guilty." Penny seems to ignore me in favor of reaching for the packet of chips but I take it way and place it back making her huff at my actions. "I wasn't going to litter your car." "You can't win against crumbs Pennywise. And can you please concentrate for a moment here and tell me why you think I need to be guilty for this breakup?" She grumbles under her breath but is smart enough to know she can't win on this, so crosses her arms with another huff.
"Well apparently your breakup with Tristan made Matt question his life and how it revolves around Elena and he decided he has no more patience for Elena's indecisiveness and asked her where they were headed in the middle of the party and Elena being Elena decided that that the best way to deal with a drunk and emotional Matt was to get into a screaming match and air their dirty laundry for all to hear and gossip about for the entirety of coming school year." Penny told me and I could trace the underlying bitterness in her sarcasm. Penny had the unfortunate luck of having Matt's sweet, kind and caring nature directed towards her in the last month's trip to Whitmore Museum and has been sporting a mild crush on the quarterback ever since. She has never been a fan of Elena and had only grown to dislike her more for her supposed lack of care in dealing with Matt's heart.
But this was news to me. Maybe this was the reason Elena left the party early. She had refused to elaborate further on her reasons when she called to let me know that she was leaving ahead of our decided time and had even turned me down when I offered to take her back home. But she couldn't have possibly put the blame of Matt's actions on me. Unlike Penny, Elena was aware of the reasons for my breakup with Tristan.
I didn't want to deny Penny's theory and get into the arduous task of clarifying my breakup so I stayed quite as we pulled into Penelope's neighborhood. The said girl was now shoulder to shoulder with Amanda and didn't seem aware of our arrival, too busy whispering something in her ear. Judging from Amada's persistent blush I was not keen on knowing the details.
"Leave something for the date guys. I am sure Amanda will be looking forward to those words at the end of your date when you won't be interrupted by your mother standing on the window." I watch as they jump out of their trance as if finally remembering they weren't alone. It makes me think what they would have progressed to if I didn't interrupt them. Penelope looks out the jeep to confirm her mother was actually standing at the window looking at us with squinted eyes and scampers to find her phone to check the time. "Don't worry, Pen. I got you back before the curfew." She deflates with relief and hurries out the door but not before planting a quick kiss on Amanda's cheek that makes her even more red, as if that was possible. She shuts the door and slings her purse on her shoulder as she comes to my window. "Thanks for getting me home on time, Care" she says with a gratitude filled smile. "No worries. Couldn't have Hitler ground you before the date of the decade." I reply and smirk as she blushes and glances at the backseat with the reminder of her success tonight. The door to her house opens and her Mom stand on the porch, clearly unhappy with the delay and Penelope rushes back with another thanks and goodnight aimed at us.
"How she lives with that Monster is beyond me." Penny says as we make our way to her place. "Penny, that's her mother" Amanda is quick to say with disapproval clear in her tone. "And? That doesn't mean I am wrong in my judgment. She never lets Pen do anything she doesn't agree with. She doesn't let her hang out for more than two hours at a time and even then she keeps calling for updates on her location every ten minutes. She didn't let her go for interstate tournament last year even though she knew Pen was one of the best on the team, not even when coach showed up to her house to talk to her. She keeps Pen on a tighter lease than I would a bloodhound near sheep. We had to practically beg her mother to let her come to the party and even then she only agreed because Caroline showed up to pick us up. For God's sake Pen's a senior and this was her first party." Penny is quick to rant and this wasn't her first on the topic. Amanda quiets down even though she didn't like the name calling because even she was aware of the absurdity that Penelope's mother gets up to in the name of protecting her daughter from the dangers of the world. The atmosphere gets tense with a fuming Penny I front, still too agitated on behalf of her best friend and a conflicted Amanda at the backseat.
"Alright, we are here Penny and if you don't want your father to get you on a leash you better head in. I don't know about Amanda but I don't want to know how Pennywise looks on a leash." I say with intentional tone trying to diffuse the tension in the car as I pull up to Penny's place.
It works as Penny deflates and smirks at me, "You wish you could see me in a leash, Forbes." The innuendo wasn't lost on Amanda and she fake-gags as Penny moves out of the jeep. "It will definitely haunt us tonight Pennywise," I call after her and she laughs moving towards my window to give me her best seductive look. "Oh Sweetie, if only you had taken me up on my offer that night you would know what you missed out on." She leans in closer to get next to my ear, "The sight would have been the source of all your late night fantasies." She practically purrs and then with a wink she turns back to her house. I grin with amusement shaking my head as I watch her enter her house safely before starting the jeep again.
"She is something." Amanda mutters at the back and I agree. Penny is the dream every guy in Mystic fall dreams but is too scared or spineless to pursue. The few who did manage to grasp her attention know she is every bit of the heaven and hell that she projects. We make it to Amanda's place and she leaves with a thanks and goodnight on her way out. After seeing her enter the door, I turn towards Forbes' Residence.
I shiver as the wind gets chillier and roll up the windows. The night is unusually cold today and I can see the incoming storm clouds. I don't like the idea of driving in a storm so press down on the accelerator rushing to make it home before I get caught in the rain. I debate calling Elena but I know that if what Penny said is true then she would need some time to organize her feelings before she can talk.
The house is dark so I know Mom isn't back home just yet. It's definitely too late to be at work but nothing new. Everyone knows the dedicated and diligent Sherriff who is so devoted to her job that she basically lives at the Station. A few know of the woman too evasive towards her personal issues and responsibilities and prefers to hides away at her work.
Shaking the thoughts away I unlock the door and turn on the lights. This house feels too cold and bare for my liking most days and even more so at nights. I turn on the radio in the kitchen to fill in the silence as I rummage the fridge for something to eat before bed. I grin at the sandwiches I made this morning but was too full to finish and place them on the table moving to make some tea to go with it. I take out my cup and smile I remember the day I made it with Bonnie and Elena. Mrs. Gilbert and Mrs. Lockwood had organized a pottery class in the local mall for some charity and we all decided to assist them in the organization. Well, it was me that wanted to be involved in the organization while Bonnie wanted to shop and Elena tagged along for lack of a better alternative. Mrs. Gilbert was kind enough to allow me humor myself and allowed me to participate. She was surprised by my quick learning and ideas and I had the most amazing time learning how these events were put together. As a reward for our help, she allowed us to enter the class the next day and three kids worked better with clay than the women present. We got to keep our proud creations and we never drank from anything else since then. Bonnie even brings hers to her trips with her Dad.
I smile at the memories of the day and sit on the counter with my late-night snacks. I missed Bonnie at the party today but she is gone to visit family and wouldn't be back before next week.
I was halfway into my second sandwich when my phone rang. I hop off the counter to find my purse on the couch and retrieve my phone to see that it's my mother calling. She often calls late at night to let me know she won't be coming back home that day. Looking at the 'Sheriff' flashing on my screen I realize this is the only time she bothers to call nowadays.
"Hey Mom" I greet and hope that my voice doesn't suggest anything of my depleting mood. "Caroline," her voice is too serious for this to be her routine call and that makes me stand a bit straighter. "Are you okay? What's going on?" I speak when she doesn't say anything else for a while. Now I was starting to get worried. I have never heard my Mom hesitant before, no matter the context of the news she needed to tell me. Whether it was the news of her mother and my grandmother passing away or her divorce from Dad a week after their anniversary celebration, Elizabeth Forbes had always been brutally honest with her credulous kid.
"You should come to the hospital, Care," her tone of voice was so somber and hesitant that I didn't even realize she had called me by my nickname for the first in years instead all I could focus on were the implications that came with hospitals. Is she sick? Is she injured? Did something happen to her while she was out protecting everyone else? My mind raced with the possibilities of everything that could have happened to a Sheriff on duty but before I could voice my panic, she continued, "The Gilberts have been in an accident. Their car flew off the Wickery Bridge and Elena is the only one that survived."
Author's Note: If you are here it means you did the unexpected. Thank you for giving my story a chance. Despite being an avid reader, I am fairly new to the fanfic writing world and ask you to be open in your mind and kind in your words.
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