Hey guys! Thanks for all the great reviews, I really appreciate them! I hope you liked the last chapter :) I really liked writing it and the next few chapters, they were pretty fun! So I hope you like them, and here's chapter 21!

Beep…..

Beep…..

Beep…

Elena kept hearing this stupid sound in her dream. At first it had just seemed odd, then annoying. But when she finally opened her eyes, she realized that it was her alarm clock. Stretching her arms out, she yawned and shifted to the other side of the bed, realizing that she wasn't alone.

"Good morning", Stefan smiled at her. He'd finally let her go home after 2 days of sitting on the couch at his house. It was Wednesday, so she'd only missed two days of school—which wasn't that bad if you thought about how many times she'd been kidnapped, attacked, or plotting with the gang. She knew that today was the day she had to face classes again—but she knew it would be easier, since she didn't have a murderous vampire sitting right behind her in every single class. Although Stefan and Damon had allowed her to go home, she still had to be chaperoned by Stefan, just so that he made sure she was doing okay—not that she complained about having him there all the time!

It felt like they'd been sitting in bed for a few minutes, but when she looked up, she realized that it had been more like 45 minutes. She gasped and darted out of bed, only stumbling a bit as the world spun in front of her eyes. Stefan sat up, and laughed as he saw her run to the closet to find something.

Quickly taking off her cami, she sighed at her reflection in the full length mirror on her door. There were so many bit marks that had yet to heal—she looked as bad as Caroline when she was with Damon. Stefan looked at her with pity, and she said to his reflection in the mirror, "Do you know how long it's going to take me to find something to cover these up? I don't even think I have a long-sleeve shirt out, anymore."

He watched as she searched frantically through her closet for something to cover up Peter's damage, and then got up to get ready himself. He'd left a change of clothes under the sink in the bathroom, and as he was changing he heard her yell. Running out in only jeans, he realized that it hadn't been a yell of terror—it had been one of victory. She looked over at him and grinned. "You know, you make it awfully hard to keep me from being arrested for truancy", she joked, "I'm fine, Stefan. Sorry I freaked you out—now go change!"

Stefan laughed and walked back into the bathroom, and when he came out she was dressed in jeans and sandals, and had one of the t-shirts on with her bomber jacket and a scarf over it.

"Well, I've gotta say, you make it pretty hard for me to want to go to school, too", Stefan laughed.

Elena laughed in response, and then her face grew serious. "Does it look okay? Are they all covered?" she asked. She was still pretty freaked out by the whole incident—and knew that everybody was waiting for her to crack under all of the pressure on her.

"You look beautiful", he assured her, "and you can't see a single mark."

"Good", she smiled, then walked over to him. She reached up and laced her fingers through his hair as he laid his hands on her hips. Reaching up on her toes, she placed her lips against his. The kiss was gentle, but filled with the passion that they had been holding back since Nashville. They stayed like that for a while, and when she pulled away, her eyes were full of love. "I couldn't have done this without you, Stefan. And I don't know how to thank you…I just…" she began, just before he pulled her into another kiss.

This time, he broke it and looked longingly into her face. "I love you, Elena. Remember when you told me that we were in this together?" he asked and she nodded, "well, we are. I'll always be there for you—no matter what." She smiled, and a tear slid down her face as she felt his comforting arms wrap around her.

"I can't believe Jenna bought me a new phone already!" Elena exclaimed, "when I ran into that vampire with my car, it took us two weeks just to get the quote on a new one!"

"Well, breaking a phone is a little better than totaling a car", Stefan joked. Elena playfully punched him in the arm and laughed. Suddenly the phone started going off at top volume on vibrate.

[Live like there's no tomorrow, 'cause all we have is here right now]

"Selena Gomez? Really?" Stefan laughed

[Love like it's all that we know, the only chance that we ever found]

"I thought it was pretty fitting for my insane life right now", Elena countered as she answered the phone.

"Elena! Are you finally done playing hooky with Stefan?" Caroline laughed.

"Yep, Dr. Salvatore gave me a clean bill of health. We'll be there in a few minutes", Elena joked.

"Great! You guys have so much to catch up on after missing school for two days!" Caroline exclaimed, but then grew solemn, "but are you sure you're up for this, Elena? I mean…after everything that happened…"

"If I don't get back out there now, I never will, Caroline."

"You're right, you're right! Okay, well I have to go—Oh! Elena, didn't you talk to that Aria girl last week for something?"

"Yeah, Aria was attacked by him before I was", Elena said, still uncomfortable to say Peter's name, "why?"

"Well, I overheard my mom the other night…Elena, she's missing", Caroline explained.

"What? Did she run away?"

"Apparently she left a note about going on a walk for her mom a few nights ago, and never came back. They don't know if it was a run-away or a kidnapping."

"It's not like her to run away like that", Elena observed. Sure, she'd known the girl for two days—but Elena was pretty good at reading people, and she could tell that Aria wasn't one to give up and leave because she was scared. Elena saw a lot of herself in the girl, actually.

"I figured you'd say that…Do you want me to keep an ear open for any more information from my mom?"

"That'd be great, Caroline", Elena answered, when her phone beeped, signaling that she had another incoming call, "Hey Care, I've gotta go—somebody else is calling me. We'll see you in a little bit."

Stefan glanced over at her from the wheel as she hung up on Caroline. Elena quickly hit the accept button on her phone, and was instantly petrified when she heard the oh-too-familiar voice on the other end.

"Hello, Elena."

Did you enjoy it? I thought it was time Elena got back to school-I'm surprised they haven't sent a social worker over to her house yet, seeing as though she's missed so many days of school! I really liked writing for Caroline, but tell me if she seemed out of character. The more criticism I get, the better it'll be next time [hopefully!] :) anyways, I hope you all liked it, so as always feedback is love, people! so read an review! :D

-kiki :)

btw: only three days left until The Last Dance :) I'm super-duper excited!