Hey guys, thanks for reading :) Ugh, I've been sneezing like crazy, bang in the middle of summer, obviously! Anyway, Chapter 8 is here! Hope you like :)

"What do you think, guys? Are you up for it?"

Damon looked at the rest of the group, waiting for an answer.

"You know you don't have a choice, right? I'm just asking to sound polite."

"Yeah, sure, why not. It'll be fun," Enzo said.

"Sure," entered Kai.

"Count us in," added Klaus, referring to him and Kol.

"Well I'm obviously coming. You'd never forgive me if I missed your birthday," Stefan said.

"Damn right I won't."

Damon had gathered all of his pals to tell them of his plans for his birthday, which was next Sunday. He wanted something different, so he decided that he wanted to go on a camping trip for the weekend with his buddies, whether they wanted to or not. Elijah was the only one who was excused, because he had an important meeting he couldn't miss, and then had to leave for a business trip.

"Good! So it's settled. We shall meet on Saturday at 0700 hours."

"0700 hours? Are you kidding me? Why? Why this torture? Why?" Kai protested.

"Hey! Either you wake up willingly or I'll make you wake up… and you know I will," Damon retaliated.

"Fine."

"Maya, will you be okay for the weekend?" Enzo asked me. Caroline, Rebekah and I had also been invited along to know about the plans, God forbid we would wake up on Saturday and see them gone.

"Are you kidding? A weekend without all you guys, this is going to be the best weekend ever."

"Hell yeah," added Rebekah.

"What if a rat attacks you again?" Kai grinned.

"Ha ha. I'll move to Rebekah's or Caroline's."

"Nice to see we'll be missed," Klaus jeered.

They went up in two separate cars, with Damon, Stefan, Enzo and Kai in one, and Klaus and Kol following them in another. While they were all looking forward to the trip, there were two particular people who weren't exactly eager with having the other around.

"Kai, what are you doing? That part of the tent should face this way. How exactly do you plan on entering the tent if the opening is blocked with a tree?"

"Well if you'd stop butting in every 10 seconds, Kol, I could actually concentrate. Go bother someone else," Kai replied, arranging the tent. Kol simply raised his arms in defence, backing away.

The others had long finished putting up their tent. Klaus was out looking for logs for the fire, and the others were simply watching, amused with the sight in front of them.

"I have a missing hook," Kai muttered. "Kol! What did you do with the hook?"

Kol was now on the ground, on his phone playing Temple Run. "Oh I don't know, I'm concentrating," he said with a smirk, not even bothering to look up from his phone. "Go bother someone else." Enzo tried his best to suppress a laugh when he saw said hook peeking out from Kol's back pocket.

"This is going to be interesting," he mumbled, as Kai swore under his breath.

"This is even better than I had expected," Damon told him, taking a sip of bourbon. "I actually don't have to miss my television now."

"KOL! I SEE IT! IT'S IN YOUR BACK POCKET!" Kai rushed towards Kol, practically diving on top of him.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME YOU TWAT –"

" –YOU ASSHAT –"

"Uhh, why is my little brother getting abused?" Klaus asked, appearing from behind the trees carrying some logs.

"Long story. Bourbon?"

It took a whole hour for the others to finally calm them down. They then went their separate ways, with Kai lounging in his tent as much as possible and Klaus watching over Kol, making sure he doesn't get attacked again, or worse, attack Kai himself. Stefan was enjoying himself, pleasantly listening to the music on his radio, while Damon and Enzo were next to one of the cars, talking amongst themselves.

It was all going well, up until four in the afternoon, when Kai's face appeared from the tent.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"Aren't you always?" Enzo replied.

"Actually, I'm getting pretty peckish myself. We should start the fire at least. Besides, it's going to get dark soon," Stefan concluded.

"Okay, let's start the fire. Klaus, get the wood. Enzo, get the matches," Damon started.

"Where are the matches?" Enzo asked.

"I don't know, check in the backpacks," replied Damon.

Damon, Stefan and Klaus got to work with the fire, with Kol handing them the supplies. Enzo asked Kai to help him out, as he was having trouble finding the matches.

"Bro, the matches aren't here," he said, finally giving up.

"What do you mean 'aren't here'? Maybe they're in the car, check there," Damon proposed.

After ten minutes checking the car, Enzo looked up again. "Not there either."

Damon looked at his brother. "Stefan, did you bring the matches?"

"Weren't they on your list?"

"No, they weren't. I specifically told you, and I recall saying "Stefan, get the matches."

"I thought you said, 'bury the hatchet.'"

"Now why would I – okay, fine. Anyone have a lighter?" Damon asked sighing, looking around the group.

Silence.

"None of you smoke? Geez, the one time I want you to be unhealthy…"

"Hey, there's a shop not far out, maybe some of us could go and buy some matches or whatever while the others finish the fire?" Kai suggested.

"I'll go. I could use the drive," Kol answered.

"Great! Sounds like a plan," Damon exclaimed. "Kai, you go with him."

"Got it – wait, what?" Kai stammered.

"Yeah, for once we agree. Why him?" Kol asked.

"Yeah, why me?"

"We have to finish this fire. Besides, you're the only one who knows where this shop is. I have no idea which shop you're talking about."

"Yep, no clue," said Enzo.

"I'm new here, I definitely have no idea where it is," finished Klaus.

"Stefan knows where it is."

"I have to, uhh, check the hooks."

"Isn't that just… perfect," mumbled Kai. "Fine, come on. The sooner we'll get there the sooner we'll come back." Me and my big mouth, he thought.

They made their way to Kol's car, a BMW 6 series convertible.

"Who in their right mind comes to a camping site with a BMW convertible?" Kai asked.

"Just shut up and get in," Kol grunted, "Unless you want to walk it."

Before getting in the car, Kai mouthed an I hate you towards Damon, who simply waved back.

"I wonder who kills who first," Damon pondered.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Kol said, starting the car. "I'll handle the driving, you handle the map."

"No shit, Sherlock," Kai mumbled, making himself comfortable.

"Let's get through this with as little talk as possible, deal? I already have a headache as it is."

"Fine by me."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"This doesn't look right."

"No, it's fine, we just take a left and – "

" – there is no left."

"What do you mean there's no left? Of course there's a left."

"Follow my hand, okay?" Kol stammered, stopping the car and switching off the ignition. "On my left, trees. On my right, more trees. I can either go forward, or back," he continued, waving his hands around like a flight attendant.

"Huh."

They had been driving for about an hour and a half, and somehow ended up on a narrow road that seemed abandoned. Kai knew that something was wrong, but he didn't want to give Kol the satisfaction, so he had tried to find a way back without him noticing.

"You got us lost." Kol said simply, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel with impatience.

"No I did not get us lost," Kai replied, turning the map all ways possible. "I simply took a short cut and –"

" – You got us lost."

"Well, whose car doesn't have a GPS, anyway?!" Kai protested. "We would have been there ages ago."

Deciding to ignore him, Kol got out of the car, surveying the scene. They were on a dirt road, surrounded by aisles and aisles of trees. The sun was starting to set in the distance, clothing the sky in a fiery red orb of light.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Kai asked, lifting his hands in exasperation. "You don't know anywhere around here!"

"I'm not talking to you," the other replied walking around. He fumbled through his pockets to get out his mobile phone, which he lifted up. "Great, no signal. Do you have a signal?"

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

"Kai!"

"Okay!" He checked his own phone, eventually mumbling, "Nope."

"Great, that's just great. I'm stuck, in the middle of nowhere, with this guy."

"Tell me how you really feel."

"Oh I would, but I wasn't born with enough middle fingers to let you know how I feel about you."

"Oh my God you're so funny! Not."

"You think they found the store by now?" Stefan asked, warming himself up in his sweater. "It's getting cold."

"Hopefully," replied Damon. "Think anyone's dead yet?"

"My bet's on Kol," said Klaus, poking randomly at the sticks in the firepit.

"Your bet's on your brother being dead?" asked Damon.

He got his reply by having sticks raining down on him as if thrown by Hulk.

As they were bantering, Kol and Kai didn't notice the large storm cloud that had been slowly gathering on top of them in the last half hour, along with the quiet rumbling that was gradually getting louder and louder.

Kol went back to the car, trying to think. The storm cloud had brought an eerie darkness with it, and the wind was starting to pick up. They didn't think anything of the gradual darkness, simply thinking it was from the trees, casting shadows.

"What was that?" Kai asked, startled. He looked up, and saw the grey clouds overhead. "Shit."

"What was what?"

In perfectly comedic timing, Thor let his presence be known as a lightning strike lit the sky, quickly followed with a loud crash of thunder. In a matter of seconds, the gates of wrath had opened.

"Great, just great. What else could go wrong?" Kai whined, already soaking wet.

"Get back in the car, I'll get the roof up." Kol quickly rammed the key into the ignition, turning it, and turning it… and turning it, in return getting nothing but the sound of a coughing engine. He glared at Kai, willing swords to come out of his eyes and stab the person sitting next to him.

"You just had to say that, didn't you."

"It was working a few minutes ago! What the hell did you do to it?!" Kai shrieked, looking up at the sky in exasperation.

"Me?! How the hell should I know what happened to it?!" Kol protested, still trying to get the engine to start.

"It's your car!"

"Oh Lord, kill me now." The Lord answered by throwing another lightning bolt their way. He was having a field day with this.

Meanwhile, back at Mystic Falls, the girls and I had decided to take advantage of a boy-free weekend by having a sleepover. We all met at Rebekah's house at around 5, where she had given us a tour of the place, and we were now trying to decide on what movie to watch. Elijah was there, he had arrived from his meeting but was still as busy as ever. If he wasn't in his office, he was busy talking on the telephone. We finally got to see him for a full five minutes when he came out of the office to take a cup of coffee.

"Busy day, Elijah?" Rebekah asked, making herself comfortable on the sofa.

"To say the least. You girls okay?" he asked back, taking a sip of coffee, and grimacing as he realised it was still too hot.

"We're good, thanks. We're not bothering you, are we? We could move to my house if you'd like," I suggested, stopping from the DVD sorting to look at him.

"Are you kidding me? It hasn't been this quiet since Klaus was born. Besides, I'll be off soon. I have to catch a flight in a few hours. Enjoy the night, ladies," he smiled, lifting his cup as a goodbye before going back to his office.

After what seemed like hours, we finally settled of Love, Rosie, Caroline's favourite. It was in Rebekah and my top five as well, so we were fine with it. We all settled on the sofa, finding a good position, and started the film, surrounded by nachos, popcorn and crisps.

Halfway through, we paused the film as Elijah had to leave. We waved goodbye and wished him luck on his trip, with Rebekah giving him a peck on the cheek. As she was up, she decided to use the bathroom, leaving me and Caroline alone in the living room.

I was randomly reading the back of the DVD box when Caroline suddenly blurted out, "So, Maya, heard you're getting closer to Kol," resulting in me almost choking in my own spit.

"What? Who?" I mumbled, trying to breathe.

"Don't sound so clueless," she said, throwing a cushion at me. "Come on, spill."

"Uhh, there's nothing to spill," I replied, turning my glance towards the hall to see if Rebekah was coming back.

"Yeah right."

"No, I'm serious. I mean, sure, he was at the café a couple of times during my lunch break and he caught the rat I had running around my house, but that's it. I don't know."

"Maya, you better know soon. If you don't take him, I will."

"I thought you had your eyes set on Klaus."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, and I'm the queen. I see you looking at him all googly eyed every time he walks by."

"What is it with you guys and my brothers?" Rebekah exclaimed, reappearing from the hall.

"Nothing," Caroline answered quickly. "Okay fine, if you say there's nothing going on with Kol, which I don't believe, what about Kai?"

"What about Kai?" I stammered, filling my mouth with popcorn.

"You're always together, don't tell me there's nothing there," she reasoned.

"Yeah," agreed Rebekah.

"What? Kai?" I half-laughed. "I mean, sure, he's sweet, but I don't know."

"Girl, do you know anything?"

"What is it with all the questions? Can we get back to the film, please?"

Two hours later, the film was over and now we couldn't decide on what to do next, until Rebekah decided she wanted a night out on the town.

"I mean, I haven't seen what the nightlife has to offer here, and what better way than to explore it with my girls?"

"Well there's not much to see except a bar downtown, but sure, why not?" Caroline said.

"I'm in," I added.

Back at the camping site, Damon, Stefan, Enzo and Klaus had retreated to the tents because of the rain, huddled in their sweaters and sleeping bags. To pass the time, they had decided on a drinking game, using Enzo's pack of cards to decide when to drink. Damon had revealed an Ace from the pack again, meaning that he had to take four shots. Klaus kept checking outside, worried that his brother hadn't shown up yet, or at least sent a text message.

"Klaus, I'm sure they're fine. Come on man, it's your turn," Enzo said, handing him the bourbon.

"Well they better turn up soon," Damon slurred, taking his fourth shot, shuddering. "At this rate there'll be no booze for them to drink."

Chapters 8 and 9 will very easily go together, as you can see with the three situations that have a bit of a to-be-continued mood. What do you think of Kai and Kol's banter? I love it :D Let me know!