Chapter 13

Elena

Waking up with her head on Damon's shoulder was definitely one of the best ways to wake up ever. She could just lie in his arms forever. There was no Stefan to interrupt them this time. Feeling Damon's chest heave under her cheek, Elena smiled peacefully. She could definitely get used to this.

Her alarm clock rang at that moment, the shrill sound echoing around the room. Muttering under his breath, Damon swung an arm to the nightstand, meaning to turn off the alarm, but he underestimated his own strength and swashed the clock instead, sending pieces of fragments all over the table.

"Oh, shit…" Damon said groggily, squinting at the direct sunlight, "Sorry, Elena."

Elena giggled. Damon was so cute sometimes. "It's fine. I never really liked it anyway."

Damon yawned and stretched, his shirt riding up to expose his rock hard stomach underneath. Blushing furiously, Elena turned away. Why did he have to do that in front of her? Didn't he know he was killing her here?

Elena threw off the covers and got up from her bed, gathering some books and stuffing them into her bag. Damon got up too, though slowly, as though he hasn't slept well.

The truth was that he hadn't slept well. Last night, Elena had fallen asleep on his arm; her face was so close to his that he could feel her hot breath on his lips. He had stroked her hair until dawn, watching her for hours and hours, afraid to move a muscle. Thank God he was a vampire, or else his arm would be as numb as a rock.

"How about I take you to school?" Damon asked as he pulled on his shoes.

Elena smiled again, touched by his consideration. "Yeah, that'd be nice. I –"

"Elena!" Aunt Jenna called loudly from downstairs. "Stefan's here to drive you!"

The smirk slid off Damon's face completely. Elena watched as his expression turned from soft to hard. This wasn't what she wanted… And what was Stefan doing here anyway? She opened her mouth to explain, to tell Damon that she would like him to drive her to school, but Damon had already turned around and was now putting on his jacket; the one she gave him.

"I guess that's my cue to leave." Damon said grimly, not looking at Elena. Without waiting for her reply, he went out of the window.

Sighing in frustration, Elena threw her bag onto the floor. Why is it that every time she came close to having a moment with Damon, someone or something had to come and disturb it? She knew Stefan was just being nice and kind to her right now, but she couldn't help blaming him a little for Damon's departure.

Elena pulled on her clothes quickly and went down the stairs to find Stefan waiting for her patiently. He smiled at the sight of her and she smiled back politely, but not really meaning it.

"Hey." Stefan greeted her happily. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Elena said, "Let me just…grab a piece of breakfast."

Something in her voice told Stefan she was just a tad annoyed.

"You okay?" He asked gently.

"Hm?" Elena raised her head from the toast she was grabbing, "Oh, fine." She replied.

Stefan asked no more and took her bag for her, a gesture that once Elena thought was sweet but now a little dominating. She smiled tightly and walked out of the door. She felt so uncomfortable that it scared her. How could she be uncomfortable? This was Stefan here. He was her soul mate, her forever, her fate…wasn't he? It was funny how just one little spell destroyed whatever she had with Stefan so thoroughly.

In her mind, it wasn't supposed to be like this. When the spell was broken, she thought her feelings for Damon would fade instantly, and her love for Stefan would come flowing back. She thought that she'd be with Stefan again, and everything would be just the way they were before this spell. Except that everything that's happening now didn't match what she had pictured in her head. She was still in love with Damon. Every time she sees him, it was like an electric vibe runs through her. She's never felt so much passion for anyone.

And Stefan? The days she spent with Stefan when they were together seemed so far away now. When she looked back on everything that happened between them, it was like watching a movie, starring someone else's life.

She was walking side by side with Stefan right now, but she felt no intimacy. She felt like they didn't connect anymore. Was it because of her? Was she the one who changed? Her thoughts were growing so heavy that they hurt her head. All she wanted at this moment was to get to school and be in a crowd of fellow classmates.

Stefan hugged her around the waist at that moment, jerking her away from her thoughts. Elena could feel herself tense up completely and willed herself to relax, but her body was as rigid as a board against Stefan.

"Stefan…" Elena said, taking his arm from her waist, "I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" Stefan asked, his voice genuine.

Elena took a deep breath and looked at Stefan seriously in the eye, "I'm not…ready to be 'us' again, Stefan." She said, still gripping Stefan's arm, "I think I – I need some time." She finished, lowering her head and dropping his hand.

"Elena…" Stefan said softly. He sounded a little desperate.

"It's just that a lot of things are changing," Elena continued quickly, "And, well…" Her voice trailed off as she ran out of words to say as well. She stole a look at Stefan; he looked hurt, which was what she had predicted anyway.

"Elena, it's okay." Stefan said finally after a long pause, "I understand."

"You do?"

Stefan pulled Elena into a warm hug and kissed the top of her head, "I'll still be here if you change your mind."

Elena

The ride Stefan gave her to school was beyond awkward. Even though he tried very much to act like nothing was wrong, she knew things were different with them now. A small voice inside her head kept asking her if she made a mistake. She's been with Ste fan for a long time, was it really rational to throw it all away just because her feelings for Damon haven't subsided yet? Those feelings, they'll go eventually, right?

Elena was glad they finally arrived at school. She practically fled into the hallway after exchanging a quick goodbye with Stefan.

However, the first person she saw when she got to her locker was an angry Caroline followed by Bonnie.

"Elena!" Caroline said fiercely, "You have no idea how worried I was yesterday! I mean, you just left with that guy! What happened then? Did you get home okay?"

Before Elena could even open her mouth, Bonnie cut in.

"Wait a minute; you guys went out last night?" She asked, her eyes searching Elena's face.

"Yeah…" Elena muttered, staring downwards, "It was no big deal…"

"And you picked up a guy?" Bonnie asked in disbelief.

Elena bit her lower lip nervously, "I just talked to him." And almost got raped by him. She added grimly inside her head.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows, "So you're over Damon now?" She asked dubiously.

"What?" Caroline asked loudly, "Damon? What does he have to do with –"

"Yes." Elena answered quickly, "Totally over him." She tried to sound breezy, but her voice came out choked.

"That's funny," Bonnie said and crossed her arms, "Given that you're still bounded by the spell."

"I – what?" Elena stared at Bonnie, not quite understanding what she was saying, "No, we broke the spell yesterday, remember?"

Caroline's eyes rounded with surprise, "What spell?" She asked curiously.

"Or so we thought." Bonnie said. Her tone was serious.

"Can someone fill me in here?" Caroline asked from the back helplessly, but both Elena and Bonnie ignored her.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked Bonnie, dropping her voice as well.

"The hairs we burnt; the ones you and Damon pulled from your heads?" Bonnie leaned in and spoke quickly, "That wasn't right."

"What?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"I called Lucy right after you left yesterday, and she told me that we were supposed to burn the original hairs. You know, the ones we first used when the spell backfired?"

"What spell?" Caroline demanded loudly, but was ignored once again.

Elena's mouth dropped open as her brain processed the new information, "So…" She asked carefully, afraid to break eye contact with Bonnie, "The spell's still intact?"

"That's right." Bonnie said, and crossed her arms, "So do you want to tell me how exactly are you 'totally over Damon' with the spell still working?"

Elena smiled guiltily. She felt so relieved that it was as though someone had lifted a burden off her shoulders. So her continuous feelings for Damon were normal. There was nothing wrong with her after all. It was the spell messing with her feelings. "Bonnie," Elena said, "I was scared. I thought I was in love with Damon even when the spell's lifted."

"You're in love with Damon?" Caroline gasped, apparently mortified by this conversation.

Bonnie's face softened at Elena's confession. She took Elena's hand in her own, "Well, you should have told me how you felt instead of going to bars and flirting with strange guys, you know."

"Noted," Elena agreed, "Do you still have the original hairs?"

"Yeah, I kept them just in case," Bonnie said, "Let's go to the Boarding House today, and we'll make this right once and for all, okay?" She asked gently.

Elena nodded and hugged her, "Thanks, Bonnie."

Together, they started walking to class.

"Nobody tells me anything!" Caroline called to their backs.

Damon

Damon was depressed; actually depressed. The morning after he left Elena's, he got a call from Bonnie, telling him that the attempt to break the spell yesterday was futile, and that the spell was still active.

When he first heard the news, he was surprised, but soon, that feeling turned to depression, which settled itself nicely in the pit of his stomach. Here he was, thinking that he and Elena might have had a moment after the whole Sam incident, but it turns out that was still because of this spell. He wanted desperately to punch something; or someone (somehow Stefan's face flashed before his eyes at that thought). The night before with Elena, in her bed; that wasn't real. That was just a result of the spell. Hell, everything that happened between them these weeks weren't real. Everything happened for a reason: the damn spell.

After the spell was first casted, Damon was actually happy about it. He thought he'd finally have a chance of having Elena love him back. But all her feelings were unwilling. All she would ever love was Stefan. It's just always Stefan, isn't it? It always had to be him. This spell was like a curse, filling Damon up with hope, then taking everything away from him again.

Elena didn't love him. Everything was a lie.

So today, as soon as he got out of Elena's house, he went to a bar out of town. He couldn't remember the last time he drank this much, but he knew how to hold down his alcohol, so he indulged himself.

Right now, as he sits in his living room with his feet up the coffee table, he waits patiently for Bonnie and Elena's arrival. To say the truth, he couldn't wait to get rid of the spell. He's had it with the whole "false hope" thing. He just wanted it over.

Voices reached his ears, so clear that it would be impossible not to hear them.

"So this time it'll be over for good, right?" Elena's voice.

"I promise." Bonnie said solemnly.

"Wait," Said a third voice, "Let me get this straight. You and Damon are in love? Like, right now?"

Damon rolled his eyes. They had brought Vampire Barbie with them. More company. Great.

"I suppose that's one way of putting it…" Elena said wearily.

"That's so…weird." Caroline said back.

"It's going to be over soon." A deeper, male voice told them soothingly.

Ah. Baby bro's here too. How nice.

The door opened and in piled the four, all of them stopping in their tracks at the sight of Damon.

"Ladies," Damon raised his glass to greet them, his eyes mocking Stefan.

Bonnie was the first to move. Again, she took out a candle and put it on the coffee table, "Well, since you're here, let's get started." She took out a small container that looked very familiar to Damon. He realized that this was where she kept the original hairs.

Before Bonnie could ask Elena to come forward, Damon took the hair that belonged to him from the container. He wanted to be the first to burn it. He certainly didn't want to see Elena hesitating like she did before again, because her hesitation only mad him hopeful even more. He hated being hopeful when there was nothing to be hopeful for. Like he said, he wanted it over. He's had enough of this stupid spell.

The candle ignited, and Damon fixed his gaze on the dancing flames. Pausing for only a millisecond, he dropped the hair on the fire. In a flash, the hair was gone; not even leaving ashes.

Damon stood up straight, aware that every pair of eyes in this room was staring at him. He smirked at them, deliberately not looking at Elena, "My part's done. I'm off." And with vampire speed, he went out the door before any of them could say anything in return.

It was indeed over this time.

Elena

Elena's heart fell. Damon hadn't even looked at her. She guessed she couldn't blame him. The spell made him go through a lot too. She sighed softly. For a moment there, a part of her wished that Damon would refuse to burn the hair so they'd still be in love, but he had burned it just like that, without a moment's worth of hesitation. He must have been really fed up with this spell.

Her fingers curled around the lonely, curly hair in the container and pulled it out. There was no reason for her to hesitate this time: Damon had already burnt his. Lowering her eyes to the hair in her hands, she brought it to the flames.

Then, it was like someone suddenly screamed in her ear, and Elena pulled her arm back, her eyes filled with disbelief as she stared at the hair.

"Elena?" Bonnie asked, startled by her reaction.

Not saying a word, Elena shakily brought her free hand to her head and pulled out one of her own hairs and compared it to the original one in her other hand. Both hairs were brown, but her own hair was straight and thick, and a little darker, whilst the other one was curly and thin. They were different. The hair she was holding; the one Bonnie used in her spell; it wasn't hers.

"Elena?" Bonnie asked again, feeling fear at Elena's silence.

"This isn't my hair." Elena said softly, holding up the original hair taken from the container. Her head was buzzing. What did this mean? Was this why the spell failed in the first place? Because it wasn't her hair to begin with?

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked.

Elena swallowed, "Look at this. The color, the length, the thickness…it's not right. It isn't mine."

Stefan examined the hair from behind her, "You're right." He said quietly.

"But…" Bonnie stuttered, "Damon got these for me. He took this hair from Stefan's bed." She explained.

"It's Katherine's." Elena whispered. "Isn't it?" She raised her head to look at Stefan.

Stefan pursed his lips together, "It's possible. Remember a few months back, when Katherine was terrorizing everyone? She especially enjoyed toying with my dreams. There was this one time when I woke up from a nightmare to find her in my bed, pretending to be you. This hair could be from then."

"It makes sense." Bonnie said, her eyes widening, "Remember when I was casting the spell, the flame shot a mile high? It's probably because I used Katherine's hair instead of yours, and, well, this spell wasn't made for vampires, so that's why it didn't turn out the way it's supposed to be.

Elena sat down on the couch, her thoughts running around in her head. The words they were saying reached her ears ever so slowly. "So the whole spell had nothing to do with me? Bonnie performed a spell that consisted of Damon and Katherine?"

No one said anything at that.

Realization slowly reached Elena's numb brain. They had been trying for weeks to break this spell, but all this time, there was no spell. Bonnie thought she had casted a love-spell. Both Damon and her thought they were under said spell. But the truth was, no spell was casted in the first place. It had been Katherine's hair, not hers, and that meant…

Elena took a deep breath. She raised her eyes to look at the rest of them. They were all staring back; they knew what she was thinking, but none of them said anything. Reality was right there in front of her, waiting to be acknowledged.

Drawing in another shaky breath, Elena's voice came out a whisper, "So all this time, I was falling in love with Damon…on my own?"

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Hi! I don't know if I expressed myself clearly with this whole spell thing or not… (I've been writing different essays for different Universities and my brain just isn't working anymore…) I hope you all understood what I meant! ;P

Thanks to all the reviews. I had a BLAST reading and re-reading them.

WSX，我提到你了。我也想你。;)

Next update won't be til 2011 due to the college applications I'm going through… (Urrrrrrgh!)

So, did everyone have a Merry Chirstmas? :D