In My Veins
Chapter 2
When Elena woke up in her bed that morning she had thought that what had occurred that night had just all been one twisted dream, but when she had pulled back her covers to reveal the scratches on her arms and her legs that must have been put there after her confrontation with Caroline she knew that it wasn't the case.
Sighing, Elena threw her covers off and went to her closet to get her clothes for the day. She wasn't sure how she would get through this day without fully understanding what happened to Caroline but she knew that if she stayed home today and people found out about Caroline than she wouldn't be surprised if the police knocked on her door and she didn't need that today. Not until she figured out what was going on for herself.
She pulled out her clothes careful to chose an outfit that would cover up the scratches and bruises on her body as she covered up the rest with makeup thankful of the great invention before her. It would be easier to pretend today if she could cover up the bruises as if they weren't there. She wondered what she had done to get them anyway. She was hoping something about that night would pop up, but when she thought about it all she got was a big giant blank spot in her memory. It was frustrating, but maybe it was better than the alternative.
Going downstairs, her mother smiled at her as she sat down at the table next to her brother who was texting away. She swore that thing was his life line some days, but thankfully their mother was big on not having it at the table so he would have to put it away soon.
Her mother turned around placing breakfast on the tale as she placed her hands on her hips trying to look like the fierce authority figure that she was.
"Jeremy I would hate to take you away from the stimulating conversation that you must be having with that Vickie girl, but please no cell phones at the table. I'm pretty sure whatever she's telling you could wait twenty minutes."
"Whatever." he said putting the phone down and digging into his breakfast like he had somewhere else to be.
Elena sighed trying hard to pretend that everything was okay when it really wasn't as her dad came into the kitchen and gave her mom a kiss on the lips reminding Elena how much of a perfect family they were even though she was hiding a really huge secret that would probably destroy them forever, but she had to take this one step at a time. Whatever this was.
When breakfast was over, Jeremy got up off the table resuming his text conversation as Elena put her dishes in the sink where her mother was washing them.
"Do you need some help?"
"I'm fine sweetie. You should really get going to school, you don't want to be late on your first day back."
Elena bit on her lip hoping to stop herself from saying something. Her and Caroline had exchanged schedules a couple of days ago and first period was one of the classes that they would have shared together. She wasn't sure how she was going to go about this day, but skipping her first period class would defiantly be apart of her plans no matter what she had to do to do it.
"I suppose you're right about that."
"Than you better get a move on."
"Alright boss. I guess I'll see you after classes."
"See you then." her mother said planting a kiss to her cheek as a send off.
Elena sighed as she grabbed her backpack and headed out of the door wondering what the hell she was going to do next.
When Elena was a small child her favorite memory had been going to the coffee shop with her dad. If she ever had a bad day or just wanted to go to spend time with her dad, he would take some time away from his busy work day to make sure they always got a cup of coffee together, but now that Elena was older she noticed that they went there less and less together, but just because they didn't hang out there that much anymore didn't mean that she didn't go regularly by herself. Especially for days like this.
A rich aroma filled the air as Elena entered the coffee shop taking in the atmosphere around her in. A touch of a smile lit her face as she walked up to the front counter to order her coffee not prepared to deal with what happened next.
"Elena?" Someone asked as she lifted her head to see that the barista was talking to her.
Elena squinted trying to get a better look at him searching his face to see if anything about him was familiar. The barista was in his mid twenties with raven black hair and pretty blue eyes that could make any girl feel weak, but no matter how much he claimed to know her she had never seen him before in her life. How the hell did he know her name?
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
Hurt flashed across the barista's face as he looked down at his hands obviously feeling a sense of embarrassment. Perhaps he had confused her with someone else. Yeah, that had to be it.
"Ouch. I know we were all pretty drunk last night, but I didn't think you would forget about me that soon."
"Wait. We were together last night?"
"Wow. You really were out of it. I told that friend of yours that she probably should have taken you home at that moment, but she seemed more occupied with other things."
"Wait you saw me with Caroline?"
"Is that what her name was? I didn't really bother to ask, I was a little bit busier with you last night."
"Listen. I'm sorry for not remembering much about what happened last night. Maybe we could discuss it over dinner or a coffee if you don't have time for dinner. I would really appreciate it if you could."
"Well I'm not usually the guy who gets drunk and hits on girls as gorgeous as you, but I do remember things from last night and if I could help you at least a little bit than I would love to. Spending time with you will just be an added bonus."
Elena grinned at him feeling good for the first time today.
"So what did you have in mind?"
"I would defiantly go for dinner. After all I do work here and I like to get out every once in a while. Does seven work out for you?"
"It sounds great." She said as her phone rang and she looked down to see Mat''s number pop on her screen. Great just what she needed.
"Do you need to get that?" Damon asked one of his eyebrows lifting up.
Elena hit the ignore button, turning off her phone, as she stashed her phone in her pocket smiling at Damon.
"No. They can wait."
"So where were we?"
Elena smiled as Damon leaned in closer waiting to hear what else she had to say.
The bell dinged as Elena exited the coffee shop with a smile on her face tucking Damon's number in her pocket as she walked to the school that she had been avoiding for the past hour. She had missed her first class of the day, but she could still make her other ones if she tried hard enough.
Sighing, Elena walked to the school and slipped into her second class where she sat beside her other best friend Bonnie who smiled at her as if she knew something was up.
"Why are you in such a good mood this morning?"
"Let's just say I met someone and he seems pretty great."
"Oh. Do tell."
"You know me. I don't tell immediately. I don't want to jink anything."
"Suite yourself. I bet you just don't want to tell me, because he's pretty hot. By the way have you seen Caroline today? She was supposed to give me a ride, but she never showed up."
Elena's heart pounded as she tried to calm herself down. Of course Bonnie would have at least asked about Caroline, she was one of her best friends after all, all she had to do was relax and everything would be alright.
"Nope. Can't say I have."
"Don't you two have first period together?"
"Let's just say I didn't feel very inspired to go to first period this morning."
"And why was that?"
"I may have been nursing a killer hang over and decided that I would rather get coffee to remedy it instead of sitting in math and making it get worse with equations that I couldn't even begin to understand."
"Good plan. Oh well I guess Caroline will grace us with her presence sometime today."
"Maybe." Elena said turning her attention to the board as she lost herself in thought.
But every time she thought about that night, she came up blank putting her in a very frustrated mood. How would she begin to understand what happened with her and Caroline that night if all she came up with when she thought about it was nothing...
Elena sighed in frustration as the bell rang and students flew out of their seats trying to get to their next class as fast as they could as Elena made sure her pace was as slow as possible. She didn't want to go through this day with the reality that she had killed her best friend, but she had to. It was the only way that she would survive this.
"Elena? May I talk to you for a second? Her teacher Alaric Saltzmen asked as her foot had barely hit the threshold.
"Sure." she said walking up to his desk hoping for the worst.
"Are you okay? You seemed a little distant in class today."
"I just had a really long night last night and I was more than a little distracted, but I promise I'll come in tomorrow with a more positive attitude okay?"
"Elena-"
"Listen Alaric, I know you're screwing my aunt and all, but just because you are doesn;'t mean we're going to have bonding moments all the time. You're my teacher start acting like it. Now if you don't excuse me I'm going to my next class."
"Elena-"
"Goodbye Alaric." Elena said leaving the classroom without a care in the world.
After classes had let out for the day, Elena was looking down at something when she bumped hard into a body and looked up into the face of her ex-boyfriend Matt. Sighing she put the phone away ready to see what the hell he wanted to talk about.
"Elena-"
"Matt-"
"I called you this morning-"
"Yeah. I noticed."
"And you didn't even bother to pick up and try to talk to me?"
"I wasn't aware that I was under obligation to answer your call."
"Come on, Elena. How many times do I have to apologize for what I did? Haven't I suffered enough?"
"Are you kidding me? You cheated on me, Matt with some random skank who I still don't know the name of. Tell you what I'll forgive you for cheating on me if you tell me her name. That's all I need is her name."
"You mean she hasn't told you yet?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"She told me she would tell you last night. Why the hell didn't she tell you?"
Elena was about to ask what the hell he was talking about when images fluttered through her mind causing her to collapse to the ground in front of Matt as a flash of a memory came back to her. Oh my God. It was finally happening. She was finally getting a little bit more of the puzzle from yesterday, but was it really something she wanted? What if her memory showed her something she wasn't truly ready for. Taking a deep breath she concentrated on that memory ready to find out exactly what the hell was going on.
A deep chill filled the air that dark and stormy night as the wind wiped Elena's long brown hair forward in her face. Her tears froze to her checks as her anger was in full force. How the hell could the two people that she thought cared about her the most betray her like this?
Elena's fist clenched as Caroline lowered her face and eyelashes to the ground. Good. She should be ashamed for what she had done.
"I'm so sorry Elena. I should have told you sooner. Honestly it just kind of happened."
"How did screwing my boyfriend just kind of happen? I need details and I need them now." Elena said in a harsh voice that even she didn't recognize.
"Do you remember last week when you bailed on Tyler Lockwood's party because you just weren't feeling it?"
"Are you telling me that you screwed my boyfriend just because I didn't go to one stupid party? Gah Caroline I knew you were a bitch but I didn't suspect you were this big of one."
"No Elena! It wasn't like that!"
"Then what was it like Caroline! Because I'm starting to lose all my patience with you."
"Alright. Alright. I'll tell you everything you want to know."
"Get on with it then." Elena said crossing her arms.
"Well when you bailed on the party Matt and I got a little too drunk and slept together. At first we weren't going to tell you and just agree that it was a mistake that we shouldn;t talk about, but then Matt suggested we should at least try to see if our chemistry was real so we went on a date behind your back in secret and found out that maybe us sleeping together was just, well, fate. Like it was destined to happen."
"Than you must be destined to get your head knocked off because I am ten seconds away from beating you into a bloody pulp you stupid slut."
"I knew you would just get mad. I'm out of here. Call me when you calm down so we can at least have a civilized conversation."
"You're not going anywhere." Elena said grabbing Caroline by the elbow and squeezing it hard.
"Ow Elena, Let go. You're hurting me."
"Good. Maybe you'll hurt like I'm hurting."
"It won't bring him back to you Elena. It's over between you two. For good."
"We'll see how he feels about that when I kill you." she said causing Caroline to thrash in her grip.
"Let. Go. Of. Me." She commanded sounding more fierce than she probably was.
"Make me."
Before Elena knew it Caroline had thrown her a foot to where she had tripped over something and was now flat on her butt on the ground. Her right hand gripping something hard and metal.
"For fucks sake you are crazy. No wonder Matt wanted to leave your psychotic ass."
"Fuck you, you stupid bitch!" Elena screamed.
Before Elena knew what was happening, she swung the cold metal object at Caroline's head as her screams filled the night.
Gasping, Elena put herself back in the present where she was now on the ground and Matt was holding her in his arms concern filling the face that she once thought was so gorgeous that she couldn';t stand it. Now all she saw was lies and betrayal. She had to go. She had to get out of there.
"Elena, are you okay? You collapsed and lost consciousness for a couple of seconds there. I was worried."
Elena scrambled from his arms and hoisted herself up ready to flee at any given moment.
"Elena-"
"No stay away from me."
"Elena-"
"Just leave me alone. I-I have to go. Don't bother to call me any more either. We're through and I hope you two live very pathetic and lonely lives." She said brushing past him so she could race the rest of the way home.
Elena raced home past all the people who tried to talk to her and stop her to have pleasant conversations. She couldn;t right now. Not after all she had learned. She was a murderer. A cold blooded killer who had just killed Caroline because she was jealous. She had no clue how she would get out of this one. She was doomed to spend the rest of her life in jail when they finally did find Caroline's body. And they would eventually a secret like that couldn't stay buried for long.
When she finally got home, Elena raced to her room,ignoring her mother's worried calls, threw her stuff to the side of the room, locked the door, and flung herself onto her bed where she stayed until she had finally managed to cry herself to sleep.