I am so deeply sorry to all the people who read the story and review for taking this long to post the next chapter. I've been having crazy writer's block, and part of it was that I've been trying to unravel the finale. I'm going to try to get another chapter out to you guys sooner. I'm hoping by Monday. Plus, I know I said I was going to write the winter formal in this chapter, but it felt right to add a Damon and Caroline scene in before that.

Previously on:

I try Damon once more on his cell, but he doesn't pick up. This is going to be a hard night, alone. I probably should get a drink before turning in for the night. A drink will help me steady my nerves for the nightmares that are bound to come tonight without Damon at my side.

The grill is filled with more people than usual, and the only empty spot to sit is at the bar, which coincidentally Matt is serving at.

"Hey Caroline, what can I get you?" Matt asks as I slide on to the bar stool. I can't order a gin and tonic like I had originally planned. Matt knows I'm underage and the thought of compelling him revolts me. Instead, I order a coke and great ready to sulk. On impulse, I flip out my phone and try Damon one more time. It feels like he's avoiding me and it doesn't sit well with me because I realize how much I've begun to rely on him.

"Are you excited for the winter formal?" Matt asks snapping me out of my thoughts. I had forgotten that the formal was coming up, probably because I hadn't planned it this year. I plan all the school events except this time I had been too scared to go to school. I guess I've had way bigger things on my mind like Damon, Katherine, and my nightmares. It occurs to me suddenly that the winter formal is one way to get my life back to normal.

"We should go together," I say. I'm not sure where the idea comes from, but as soon as it leaves my mouth, I realize that it's genius. Matt is the only human who would go with me and going with a supe as Damon likes to call them would take away from the normalcy of the event. Besides, I can just imagine the pictures I'd have with sweet cute Matt on my arm, and with him I was a shoe in for Snow Princess (kind of like Homecoming Queen).

Before Matt can even answer I continue with all the reasons why it would be an excellent idea for us to go together. "Come on Matt, I've been going through a really tough time lately and going to the dance with you would be the perfect way to chill out. Plus, we could just go as friends, and it would be so much better than going stag." I'm rambling, but I so desperately want Matt to agree. Matt really is my only connection to the normal world.

"Caroline, Care…," Matt says. He always does that, says my name like a million times to stop my blabbering and I use to find it endearing. "I'm not going stag. I already have a date."

His words don't register with me at first, mostly because I want so much to believe that there is still hope for me and Matt. I want to believe that Matt is the link to my humanity. At first, I am infuriated that anyone had the audacity to approach my man. Don't they know that I'm student body president for a reason; I always get what I want. Then I realize that Matt isn't my man, and that we haven't been together for awhile. I've been so preoccupied with my supernatural world that I forgot that life goes on. Matt moved on. Now I'm embarrassed and I very much want something clever to come out of my mouth. Something that makes me seem cool and put together, but instead all that I can give him is a shocked, "Oh." It doesn't sound smart and it doesn't sound cool.

"Drinking without me Blondie," I hear from beside me and I don't even have to turn to know that it's Damon. He orders two glasses of bourbon and slides on to the bar stool next to me. I would be glad to see him, except that I feel like I'm at my breaking point. I miss all my friends who have other things going on in their lives. All my fears and insecurities that I've tried to hide ever since I became a vampire are just itching to get out, and they 're making me hungry. Damon has obviously decided that I am not worth his time and energy since he hasn't answered his phone all day, and now to make matters worse Matt, the only boy I have ever loved except that brief moment when Stefan first got to town and I thought we might be soul mates, has rejected me. I am feeling completely and utterly hopeless.

"You know what Damon, I do not have the patience to deal with your attitude today, why don't you go bother someone who you can compel to listen to you be a jerk," there is so much snarkiness in my voice that I am sure Damon is going to respond with his usual in your face anger. It's the reaction I am counting on. The reaction I need. My pulse is racing for a good fight. My fangs demand flesh and blood.

Instead he is deathly quiet. Matt is watching this whole exchange with a cautious eye, probably eager to step in if Damon tries to hurt me. What Damon does next surprises me so much that when years later Elena asks exactly when I knew I was in love with Damon Salvatore, I would swear it was this moment in time. Very quietly, as if he's actually scared that I'll bite his head off, Damon slides the second glass of bourbon towards me. He shoots down his entire glass, kisses me on the forehead, and leaves, just as suddenly as he had come.

I take a moment while my head spins; from the close proximity of Damon's body to mine or from the surprising non Damon-like action. All of a sudden, I realize that I cannot leave things this way with Damon. He has been my only friend during this painful time, and I just pushed him away. I swallow the contents of my glass in one big gulp and run out of the Grill after him. He's outside leaning against the building.

"I'm sorry. I am completely overwhelmed. You were right; I should have never gone back to school. Today was too much," I say in one breath leaning next to him against the bricks.

"Whatever, the only reason I'm still here is because I'm waiting for the blonde at table 13 to leave so that I can compel her for my dinner," he says this as if he's trying to convince both of us that he's still the badass he was when he first got to Mystic Falls. Back when he didn't care about how I felt while it was me he was using for dinner. Part of me wishes that we could go back to that time. Back then I had no knowledge of vampires, werewolves or witches. My only worry was planning that week's cheerleading routine. I could avoid the fact that being around Damon twists my stomach into a million knots and leaves me so confused that I am dizzy trying to unravel him.

"You know I'm getting whiplash from your games. How about you decide whether you're going to be nice Damon or jerk Damon and stop switching it around. I can't keep trying to predict whether you're going to lash out at me or bring me coffee before school," I say.

As I walk away, he's eyeing me like he can't quite figure me out, which surprises me because he once referred to me as shallow. Yep, shallow as a kiddy pool was the exact phrasing he used. That was back when he was still only using me. Now we have… a what? Relationship? Yea right. I have to stop thinking that everyone cares about me. I have to stop being weak little Caroline. All these nightmares about suffocating and I forgot the girl who use to single handedly plan an entire charity carnival. "I am not weak. I am not weak." I repeat over and over again in my head and I will continue to repeat this mantra until I believe it, until I no longer wake up in a cold sweat with Katherine's image on my mind, until Damon Salvatore stops giving me this tingling awkward confused feeling at the pit of my stomach.

"I am not weak," I say to myself all the way home.

Next on Attacking the Wild Animal… the winter formal, finally! Caroline gets bored so who other than the charming Damon to keep her company.