Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing. Only (kind of) Genevieve.

AN: Please note that in the last chapter Elena and Stefan obviously heard the conversation between Gen and Klaus, so naturally they told everyone else in the Scooby gang (yet not as iconic as our dearest Buffy "Scooby Gang"—very bitter they've taken Buffy off Netflix, rant over) and so everyone is all caught up and knows that he was actually the Nik she gave her friends updates on.

I curse like a sailor and I don't want to make people uncomfortable, but it doesn't make sense to me to upgrade the rating just for a few errant curses, so if you're uncomfortable with it sorry but also not sorry (in the least bitchy way). Not a lot, but an F-bomb here or there for comedic purposes (you can throw a couple F-bombs in Teen, right?). Also, Klaus is gonna be ooc at the end. I did start out with him super in character but I got caught up in sap and well…he's quite un-Klaus-like. My bad. On another note, isn't everyone proud of me? I updated in less than four years this time! I do believe that is what the scientific community would call "progress."

Lastly, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited this story, either 4 years ago when I first posted it or now after my (numerous) edits. Anywho, enjoy the chapter! (Or don't I guess, your prerogative!)

I woke up from the best dream ever (Jeremy built me a blanket fort and a throne made out of fluffy pillows; he was my royal servant and forced Elena and Alaric call me Queen Genevieve) to the shrill sound of my alarm clock at 5:30 AM. Elena declared that I was going to train with her and Ric. I was just glad that she let me sleep in—cue the sarcasm.

The three of us made it to the woods, and Ric started using his cute little mannequins to demonstrate how to stake a vampire.

"So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes," Ric told us.

"Easy enough." Although it obviously wasn't 'easy enough' for Elena. "Must be jammed or something."

Ric responded, "You're not strong enough. Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones."

"Ouch! Do you need some aloe vera for that burn, Lena?"

"Shut up, Gen! It's not funny!"

"Actually," I laughed, "it really is."

"What and you think you can do any better? By all means, share with the class," she said sassily, handing me the sleeve.

I took it, put it on, and walked over to the dummy. Much to Elena's dismay, I successfully lodged the stakes into its heart. She glared at me until Ric spoke up.

"Not her fault you're weak." He took something out of his bag and held it up. "Do you guys know what this is?"

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" I shouted excitedly, raising my hand and waving it around in the air.

"Gen, this isn't school, you don't have to raise your hand," he told me.

"It's a vervain grenade," Elena said. "I've used one before."

"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire," Alaric said as he removed the pin and threw it at Elena. "Surprise." My god, I love you, Ric.

"Oh my god!" Elena threw the grenade into the air, where it then proceeded to explode. "This isn't a joke to me, Ric!"

"That was hilarious! Damn, Ric. Two jokes at Elena's expense within 5 minutes? You are on fire! Dare I say, exploding with material?" Elena glared at me.

"You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature," Ric replied.

"LOL, he means Stefan!" I don't know why Elena wouldn't stop glaring at me. I thought it was funny.

"Look Elena, I get why you're here. Stefan hurt you. You don't want it to happen again," he didn't get to finish as she cut him off.

"But you think that I'm crazy. To believe that I can protect myself from a vampire who's flipped the switch on his humanity," Elena concluded.

"Lena, even I think you're crazy. And you know that means something coming from me. But, if I may, Ric," he shrugged and motioned for me to continue. "You found a way to get out of bed this morning. That makes you one of the strongest people we know. We're proud of you, Lena. Mom, dad, and Jenna would be, too."

She nodded slowly and put the sleeve back on.

Care, Bonnie, my twin, and I approached Mystic Falls High School somberly.

"Here we are. Senior year," Carebear said.

"We haven't even been on school grounds for 10 minutes and being a senior already sucks," I told them.

Caroline walked over next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. "So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it, and we are moving on!"

Bon Bon chimed in. "You're right. I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriend hinder this experience?"

"Yes! And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day," Care shared.

My turn. But I didn't have the emotional energy to bring up the whole Klaus situation. "Pass." I then turned to look at Elena.

"Today's our anniversary. Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year," Elena said solemnly.

Bonnie, Caroline, and I all looked at her sympathetically. "Yeah, you win," Caroline told her. Yeah, but only because I didn't bring up Nik/Klaus right now. Otherwise I totally would've kicked her ass.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Bonnie went on to ask Elena.

Lena sighed and said, "I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year, new life."

After that cheerful conversation, we walked into the school and went our separate ways.

I walked up to Elena as she was on the phone. Probably with Damon. She's always talking to Damon nowadays.

"What about Stefan? What is he up to?" she asked.

"Wait!" I interrupted, stealing her phone and putting it on speaker. "I've got this! He's doing his hero hair, isn't he Damon? God damn it, his hair is beautiful!"

"Why yes, Gen, yes he is." I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"Come on, Damon. I can handle it. What?" Was it just me, or has Elena gotten whinier than usual?

"Is that the bell? Oh...Ring! Ring! Don't want to be late."

"Did he just hang up on us?" I said, awestruck. "Wow. What a douche."

Then Caroline put up a flyer for the bonfire right next to Elena's locker.

"I completely forgot about that, with everything that's happened," Elena told us.

Caroline looked shocked. "You have to go! It's our first spirit squad event. It sets the bar for the whole rest of the year!"

"Don't worry, Care-Bear, she's going. Even if I have to drag her cute little ass myself," I said.

"Gen, we have the same butt," Elena chided me.

"I know," I said, giving her a duh look. "That's how I know it's cute. Honestly, woman."

All of a sudden, Tyler waltzed over, surprising Caroline with a kiss.

"Do you really have to make out in front of me? Ex-girlfriend" I complained, pointing at myself.

He broke away from Caroline. "Sorry," he said, not sounding very sorry at all. Dick.

I got a closer look at him. Or more specifically, his shirt. "Is that blood?"

"Oh my god," Elena said, and she dragged him into the boys' bathroom.

"You sure are a fan of the boys' room, aren't you, Lena?" I teased. Well, she was always dragging Jeremy in here. And probably Stefan. God no, get that image out of my head right now.

She and Caroline both gave me a look that meant 'now is so not the time for this.'

"Vampire 101," Caroline started, "don't wear your breakfast to school!"

"You really are an idiot," I told him. "Even I knew that, and I'm not a vampire."

"Chill out," he said, as Elena checked underneath all of the stalls. "It was just a blood bag."

"From where?" Caroline shrieked.

"Rebekah hooked me up," Tyler shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal. Newsflash, Ty: it's a big freaking deal!

Care looked pissed. "Why are you even talking to her?"

"Klaus told her to keep an eye on me. Protect his new asset. And together we're supposed to…" he trailed off, and when Care and Lena were having a staring contest, he glanced over to me and away again. The hell?

"Alright, well Lena, I think this is something for the lovers to sort out." And with that, I grabbed her wrist and led us out of the bathroom. Only to run into —

"Stefan," Elena breathed out.

"Hello, Elena," he nodded. "Genevieve."

"What are you doing here, Stefan?" Elena asked him. What a dummy. He goes to school here.

"What do you mean? I'm going back to school." Told you, Lena. "Go Timberwolves!"

"What?! Why?" she questioned.

"Klaus wants me to keep an eye on you and Genevieve. I'm just doing what I'm told," Stefan said.

"You know what? We're going to be late for class."

She grabbed my hand and pulled me along after her. At least, she attempted to. Emotionless Stefan grabbed her arm and stopped her from leaving. "Class is this way, girls."

How dare he man-handle my sister! "You're going to want to let go of her, Stef," I growled at him.

"Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me, Gen? You?" he scoffed.

"Me." Ric! Come to save the day! "Let go of her."

Just then, Stefan roughly shoved Ric into some nearby lockers. I cringed. That was going to leave a bruise on Alaric's perfect body (I mean, what, nothing)…and a dent in the locker.

"Stefan! Stop it," Elena said hysterically.

"You're not going to get in my way, hear me?" Stefan hissed. "I guess I'll see the three of you in history," he continued cheerfully.

Stefan walked away, and Lena, Ric, and I left for his classroom so we could talk freely. Ric leaned on the front of his desk, while I was chillin' like a villain on top of my own. Elena, of course, was pacing. That girl is always pacing these days.

Alaric was the first to speak. "What was that? What the hell is he doing here?"

"Klaus compelled him to watch over me," she explained. "Apparently I'm one of Klaus's assets now that my blood is the key to making his hybrids."

"And now he's a bodyguard?" Alaric scoffed.

"I'm not sure what he is, but he's definitely not Stefan," she replied. Just then the bell rang, and she continued, saying, "Look, his being here isn't good for any of us. We have to do something."

All of the other students filtered in, so we followed their lead and sat down. I was behind Elena, and there was an open seat next to me. Please don't let Stefan sit there…

"You're in my seat." Damn it, Stefan. I'm just glad he wasn't talking to me. He was glaring at some kid sitting next to Elena. I don't blame the guy for moving. This Stefan is terrifying.

"Welcome back, seniors." Come on Ric, even you don't want to be back here. "Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders – the Native Americans."

Could life get any worse? Just then, Rebekah strutted into the classroom. "What about the Vikings?"

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled here in the United States," Alaric told her. "And you are?"

"My name's Rebekah. I'm new. History's my favorite subject," she told him. Ric decided to just ignore her and continue on with the lesson. A lesson I couldn't focus on because she would not stop smirking at me. What the hell?

Caroline dragged me out of the school as soon as the last bell rang. According to her, the best way to solve all of your problems is to go on a shopping spree. Well, I guess better a shopping spree than a killing spree.

"So then," Caroline continued from inside the fitting room, "she was all like 'I'm gonna steal your boyfriend, because I'm a bitch!'"

"Wait, she called herself a bitch? It takes a true woman to own up to it."

If Care was out here with me, I know she'd be glaring. "I'm obviously reading between the lines, Gen. I just… UGH! I can't believe her! And then she started talking about her psycho brother and –"

"Wait, Klaus? Does she know where he went? I mean, is he okay?" In retrospect, I really shouldn't have asked. Genevieve, you dumb bitch.

She got eerily quiet and then ripped the fitting room curtain open. "Excuse me," she said, glaring at me. "Did you just ask what I think you just asked?"

"Um… no?" I shrugged.

Caroline's expression softened. "Look, I get it. You loved him, thought he loved you too, and he turned out to be just another dick."

"No Caroline, you don't get it! I trusted him with the things I only trust you with. Me going off the deep end after my parents died, how I felt knowing I couldn't do my job as the oldest to keep us together. I told him about how I always feel like I'm living in Elena's shadow, jeez all of the Elena stuff. And guess what? He didn't think I was crazy for it."

She opened her mouth to respond to that last one, but I continued before she could. "Don't deny it. Every time I bring it up you give me that same look, like you think I'm being ridiculous. But it's how I feel and Klaus… He was just a good listener, I guess. Didn't judge. It just sucks that the guy I loved never existed."

Caroline sighed, then pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know Elena is a sore spot with you, twin or not. As your best friend I'll be more supportive, pinky swear." She linked her pinky with mine. Ah, yes. The most noble of all swears. "And as for the Klaus thing, we're gonna make you look super hot for the bonfire, then get super drunk, then if you're feeling up to it, get you a rebound."

"See, this is why I love you Care. Nothing but brilliant ideas."

Just then both of our phones vibrated. "Alright, time to be done with this. We better go meet up with the others if we don't want Damon to be snarky about girls taking forever," she joked.

"It's Damon. No matter what you do, he's gonna be snarky about it," I pointed out. "Are you buying anything?"

"Of course," she said with a 'duh' expression. "I looked damn good in that dress! I'll go get in line. You get the car."

My phone started ringing as I left the store. It had to be Damon calling to yell at us to hurry up, so I didn't bother checking the caller id.

"Come on, Salvatore, you just texted. So unless you have a teleportation device you wanted to share, give us 15 minutes."

"Wrong vampire, love." Ugh, Klaus. Not now. "I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous of how many vampires you actually have in your life. The newborn blonde is fine, I know you don't bat for that team, but I'm not fond of that Salvatore always sniffing about you and your sister."

I should've listened to my gut and hung up on him, but I was curious to see where this conversation was going. I'm only human, so sue me.

"I'm busy. What the hell do you want?" If this kid doesn't take the hint, I swear.

"You know, that hurts. Contrary to popular belief, love, I actually do have a heart." I could hear his stupid smirk through the phone. Such a cute smirk, with the dimples and the – NO. Focus.

"I'm glad. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to rip it out of your chest cavity. Talk fast. I have places to be, people to see, et cetera, et cetera."

"I'm merely calling to make sure you're all right. Just as feisty as ever, I see. I hope my ripper has been taking his job seriously. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to you."

Um, say what now? "You know Klaus, that sounds eerily like a threat."

He chuckled. "Not from me, love. But my step-father is on the loose, and one can never be too careful." There was actual concern in his voice.

"Any idea where he is? I'd love to send him a thank-you note for running you out of town. Maybe I can convince him to move here permanently so you'll leave my sister alone," I told him angrily.

"Listen here, love," he growled. "If anyone else spoke to me in such a way, I'd have ripped their tongue from their mouth by now. Do not abuse the liberties I've given you."

"Excuse you?" I shouted. "'Liberties you've given me?' You don't own me, Klaus. And you haven't given me shit. You know what? Screw you, I don't have time for this right now."

"Love, don't you dare—" I hung up on him before he could finish. That was about the same time Caroline walked out of the store.

"So…" she started.

"Just don't," I told her, getting into her car and slamming the passenger door closed.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Blondie. Big Gilbert," Damon greeted as we walked into Ric's classroom. "We were discussing ways to take care of Stefan."

Elena said, "I'll lure him away from the bonfire, and then when he's distracted—"

"I'll shoot him," Ric finished for her.

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon asked.

I sighed as I sat on a random desk. "Keep up, Salvatore. Elena has been trying to keep Bonnie out of all this stuff. Who knows what rogue Stefan will do. Care?"

She gave me a thumbs up. "The old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready."

"We're forgetting a key player here. Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow," Damon pointed out.

"Which is why it's your job to keep her away," Elena told him.

"And I'm going with to make sure you don't screw it up by being, you know, you" I said.

"How are we supposed to do that? She's an Original, and last time I checked, we're out of daggers."

"Well then preoccupy her with your charm," she said and I chuckled at that.

"Might have better luck finding the dagger," Ric commented under his breath. I couldn't contain my laughter and patted him on the back, which only made Damon glare at me.

He looked back to Ric. "Are you ever not going to be mad at me for a day?"

Ric scoffed. "Doubtful." Just then, Tyler walked into the classroom.

"Sorry I'm late." He went to stand next to Caroline. "What's going on?"

"We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while," Elena said to him.

Tyler looked extremely surprised. "You can't do that to Stefan."

"Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest," she told him.

"Yeah. It's not in Klaus's." Um, say what now?

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler!" Caroline said. "Why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion?"

Damon furrowed his brow (in a manner reminiscent of humanity-Stefan's broody face) as he looked Tyler up and down suspiciously. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Ric asked.

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything." Tyler is really starting to sound like an obsessed fanboy.

"Oh, boy."

I groaned. "How about we play 'if you don't have something important to say, don't freaking talk.' My god."

"Damon, just tell us what you know. What is going on?" Elena asked.

At that point Tyler started to walk towards the door. Still no response from Damon. Of course, classic Damon move, just ignore –

"What the fuck! Where did that even come from?" I asked after Damon pulled a vervain dart out of nowhere and jabbed it into Tyler's neck.

"Are you kidding me?" Damon scoffed. "It was literally sitting right on Ric's desk. You need to be more aware of your surroundings. This is just starting to get embarrassing for you."

I heard a squeak to my left and turned to find Caroline looking outraged. "What the hell was that for? Are you gonna start telling us what's going on or are you gonna keep being a secretive dick?"

"He's been sired," Damon said.

"What?" Alaric, like most occupants of the room, was sufficiently confused

Damon sighed. "Sired. He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him."

Scoff. "Oh yeah, as if that was completely obvious and the rest of us are idiots."

Why was Elena always glaring at me? That kid knew Damon deserved to be sassed. "Loyal how?" she asked him.

"He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. But maybe not so much in hybrids," he said.

"So how do I fix him?" Poor Caroline. Her boyfriends always ended up being dicks. Except for Matt, who is absolutely perfect. And that kid Kevin from the seventh grade. And Bennett in ninth grade. Okay, so mainly just Tyler. I may or may not be biased by the whole "ex-boyfriend" thing.

"Get a new boyfriend."

A random coughing fit appeared. "Asshole." There was that coughing again. At Elena's glare, I added on "Oh no, I think I'm coming down with something." She didn't look convinced.

Once everyone was clear on their part of the plan and Tyler was taken care of, we started to disburse. I myself was just about to walk out the door when Damon grabbed my elbow and held me back. He waited until everyone else had left to start speaking.

"I just want to be sure you're not going to screw this up."

I scoffed. "And what is that supposed to mean, Salvatore?"

"It means I want to make sure you're not gonna go telling your boyfriend's sister about all of our plans. I'm not going to have everything fall apart just because of your internal drama. We don't have time for you to pick a flower and play 'Does He Love Me?'"

Rude. "First of all, dick, I haven't played that since I was five and Caroline wouldn't let me have a piece of her birthday cake until I did. Second of all? Not my boyfriend. I don't give a shit about ruining whatever Master Plan Klaus has got going on. Stefan is making my sister miserable, so he needs to go."

"Good, then we're on the same page," he said, then promptly strutted out the door. Douche.

By the time I made it outside, the bonfire was already in full swing. Some guy was doing a keg stand and everyone around him was chanting "drink." Everyone else seemed pretty intoxicated as well. I spotted Rebekah sitting by herself and Damon nowhere in sight. Flake. Guess it was up to me to distract her by myself. She was focused on a marshmallow with her head down, but looked up right as I sat next to her. It was silent for a few moments until I decided to break the ice.

"So, enjoying your first high school party?"

She brought a burning marshmallow to her mouth and blew it out. It was hella burnt. "Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through 10 of these."

"Yeah, I don't know what to tell you. I've never really had much luck with those either. Plus they don't even taste that great and they've got that weird texture thing going on and…" I trailed off when she started looking at me funny.

"You're strange but amusing. I can see why my brother cares for you."

"Oh, we're just gonna…okay, yup, go right ahead." Well this was extremely uncomfortable for me.

"He talked about you a lot, you know. In Chicago. It felt like he wouldn't bloody shut up about you."

"Is there where he ran off to for days at a time?" I asked her.

She gave me an annoyed look. "You're missing the point. He talked about you. And Nik doesn't talk about anyone who isn't family or an enemy. Which means you're important."

"Well yeah, when you're trying to break a thousand year old curse and make hybrids, the doppelganger is pretty important."

"That's not what I mean and you know it," she said huffily.

"He lied about everything," I argued.

"No, he lied about his name. Everything he told you about himself, how he felt about you, that's all true. Don't make the mistake of thinking otherwise."

"Yeah, well, that's kind of hard to do when he drops this bombshell and then leaves. He's selfish and a coward and he doesn't deserve love. And now here you are, defending him. I swear, you're not much better."

"I'm an Original. Have care how you speak."

"And I'm pissed off. Right back at you, bitch." I tried to look as intimidating as possible, but probably (definitely) gave off the vibe that I might pee my pants at any second. And then she started laughing. Wait what?

"I like you," she told me. "Nik said I would, but now I get the appeal. We'll be good friends, I can tell."

That was about the time Damon decided to finally grace us with his presence. "Vampire Barbie. Twin Gilbert. You two look like you're having fun. What's the hot gossip of the night? Do tell."

"Actually," I said, "I'm off to find Elena. Have fun being the creepy older man at a high school party."

I heard Rebekah snickering as I walked away. Alright, now to find some alcohol (lol, as if I'd actively look for Elena the Buzzkill). Thank you very much for bringing up bad thoughts, Rebekah. Great way to make friends. I finally got myself alcohol and sat down on an empty bench when my phone started ringing.

"Of course it's you. Did you not get the monumental hint earlier?"

"Easy, love." I hate that British accent. So smug. "Rebekah tells me you've been saying some hurtful things about me."

"Oh my god, I just left her…" I whispered confusedly to myself. Or so I thought.

"Vampire, love. Remember?"

"Okay, you have got to stop calling me that. It's getting real old real fast, Klaus."

"My apologies, Gen. I just wanted to see how your evening is going. I hear you've hit it off with my dear sister. That's no easy feat."

"More like I insulted you, then her, and then she was so amused by my attempts that she decided not to kill me."

"She'd never dare try something like that. She knows what the consequences would be."

"Yeah, god forbid something happened to your back up blood bag," I hissed.

"Genevieve, enough of this game. What can I do to atone? How can I prove that my feelings for you are real?"

I hummed as if deep in thought. "Just a couple things off the top of my head—leave my sister alone, stop terrorizing the Salvatores, or, my personal favorite, go stake yourself."

Yup, that was definitely a growl over the phone. Oops. "Now I've been extremely patient with you" – um, what? – "but I grow tired of your tone. When I return, we will be having a lengthy discussion about your attitude and this dismissal of my feelings."

"There it is again. You can't even say it, can you? Love, Klaus. That's what it's called. That's what you used to say to me, isn't it? If you want to make me believe you, then be honest with me. Whatever your 'feelings' may be."

"Honest?" he scoffed.

"Yeah, Klaus, honest. Try it for once in your miserable—"

"I love you. I'm in love with you. Is that what you want to hear? That I sleep better with you next to me and it's been torture without you? That blood provides nothing more than sustenance these days? That I no longer find any joy in ripping someone open and draining them dry? Because it's all true. That's what you've done to me. Me, the immortal, Original, most feared vampire in all of existence. And you have me acting like some bloody teenager who's had his heart smashed to bits."

There was a long silence as I tried to think of what to say to that.

"We can talk. When you get back." Genevieve, ever the romantic. That personality trait was going to screw me over one day.

"That's all I ask." There was a scuffle in the background. "I have to go, love. Business and what not. I'll return sooner than you think. Do try to stay safe for once." Then he hung up.

I stayed on the bench for another hour after that, just drinking. Eventually I made my way home and went straight to bed. One thing was for certain: tomorrow was gonna suck.