Something's in the air right now
Like I'm losing track of time
Like I don't really care right now, but maybe that's fine
You weren't even there that day
I was waitin' on you
I wondered if you aware that day was the last straw for me
— "Lost Cause", Billie Eilish

.:.

THURSDAY

Somehow, the following day after school, a visit to the little local boutique in the town square turned into a full-blown shopping trip a little over an hour away at the Nordstrom in Richmond so they—Elena, Bonnie and Caroline—could all find a dress to wear for the Homecoming dance on Saturday. Bella was there to give honest feedback about the ensembles they chose, and to provide good company, seeing as even twenty-four hours later she still had no intentions of attending despite (or maybe in spite of) Elena's incessant pestering that she joins them for a fun night. Still, Bella allowed herself to browse through the racks of designer dresses, letting her fingers brush over the soft silks and satins with a slight smile on her face. This was exactly the kind of store she'd find Alice in, and just like Elena, her best friend would be doing everything in her power to convince Bella to come along if not just to forget about her most recent worries for a few hours.

"What do you think of this one?" Caroline's voice floated from the dressing rooms, and a few seconds later she was stepping out in a blush pink ruched halter satin minidress, her legs looking a mile long and her feet bare. Her blonde hair remained in its casually cute and messy updo, and a confident smile was on her face.

"It looks great on you, Caroline." Bella said earnestly, subtly peaking around for Elena or Bonnie to also give a review of Caroline's Homecoming dress choice but they didn't seem to be anywhere in the vicinity. "Tyler is going to love you in that dress." She added as an afterthought.

"Really?" Caroline's blue eyes lit up to match her smile, and Bella nodded. "Thank you," the blonde said, and meant it.

Bella watched as Caroline slipped back into the dressing rooms to change out of her dress and back into her school clothes. She'd just turned back toward the rack when she felt her phone vibrating in the pocket of her jacket; sighing she shimmied it free and checked the Caller ID. An involuntary smile formed when she saw the name flashing across her screen, and immediately pressed the green button to answer.

"Hey," she breathed out, "I'm so glad you called—"

"Oh, so you can answer for Alice but not me?" a male's voice snapped on the other end, so distinct, smooth like velvet, that it took her by such surprise at the sharpness of his tone that it made her flinch.

The giddiness she initially felt melted away, sliding off her back like a manatee caught in a rain shower and being replaced by anger just as quickly. "Do you really have nothing better to do?" Bella growled into the receiver. It occurred to her that she could have simply just hung up the phone, but if she did, Edward would just keep trying—and this time he had a secret weapon: monopolizing her friendship with Alice to cut through the red tape.

"I just want to talk, Bella." Her former boyfriend insisted.

"Well, I don't." She shot back. "There's nothing to talk about, Edward. You cheated on me with Rosalie Hale, of all people." The blonde's name fell from her lips like the dirty word she considered it to be, wrapped up in disgust with a cute little bow. "I want nothing to do with you."

"Bella, please..." He simpered. "I'm sorry."

Her teeth clenched together so hard that the muscles in her jaw grew taut. "No, you're not."

"I miss you." He blurted out, she could practically hear the desperation in his voice—and in that same moment is when it clicked. He was trying to keep her on the phone. Trying to trace the phone call to pinpoint her location. Panic rose in her, and without bothering to utter another word, Bella jabbed her thumb at the 'end' button to disconnect the call. Her heart was racing, she could feel the adrenaline coursing through her at the realization and could only pray that he didn't get the answers he was looking for. A lonely flower bloomed in her chest, a feeling she tried to ignore by powering off her cell phone and giving the rack of dresses her undivided attention—but the thought still remained. Alice had been used as a pawn in Edward's mind games, he was a master at keeping his decisions a secret from her, so of course she couldn't have known he would use her phone to get in touch with Bella. Now she wouldn't even be able to trust her incoming calls. All she wanted was to move on with her life, leave every horrible thing in the past where it belonged.

"Hey... are you okay?" Elena's voice resonated from behind, and all Bella could do was nod. She didn't trust her voice, didn't want to start crying in the middle of Nordstrom. "I... uh, I didn't want to interrupt, it sounded kinda personal, but Bonnie found her dress for Homecoming."

Bella cleared her throat, counting to three in her head. "Did you find anything you liked?" She hated how grated her voice sounded when she spoke to Elena, and she tried opening up her airway a little more as she pushed aside those pesky feelings.

"Actually, I think I'm going to join you in sitting out on Homecoming." Elena rested her hand on Bella's shoulder. At this, she whipped her head around to look at Elena head-on, eyes searching for some kind of unspoken explanation as to what had changed the girl's mind. But her expression remained neutral, her own brown eyes kind.

"You don't... have to do that..." Bella said uneasily, guilt twinging at the petals of her lonely flower.

"Something came up, and... I just don't think I'm up for going, you know?" Elena explained unnecessarily.

"Oh."

.:.

FRIDAY

"I'm gonna go to Homecoming."

"What?"

"I need to take my mind off things and Homecoming seems like the perfect thing."

"What spurred this on?"

"It doesn't matter, but I need a dress. Come with?"

"Of... of course."

.:.

SATURDAY NIGHT - THE GILBERT HOUSE

Bella was standing in front of the full-length mirror, smoothing her hands over the back and along the sides of the House of CB minidress that she'd acquired from her last-minute trip to Nordstrom with Elena. The color reminded her of cherry-flavored Coca Cola, and the velvety fabric was softer—and more expensive—than anything she'd ever felt in her entire life. She'd nearly went into cardiac arrest when she saw the price tag, but Elena assured her that it was well worth it; on the drive back to Richmond to pick out her Homecoming dress Bella had finally broken down the entire tumultuous story that was her relationship with Edward Cullen, right up to the phone call from Edward on Alice's phone.

"No offense, but, um... your ex sounds toxic." Elena had said after a pregnant pause when she finally finished. "It didn't creep you out at all that he was coming into your room every night and watching you sleep?"

Bella had flushed a bright red. At the time? No. Certainly not. "Moving on," she insisted. "I'm not sure where things went wrong, but now that I've had time apart from him and can think with a clear head, I definitely know we were not as perfect of a couple as I initially thought."

Ping, ping.

Her phone brought her back to the present, an indication that she received a new text message. She turned away from the mirror and picked it up, an eyebrow raising when she saw it was from an unknown number . . . her first immediate thought was that Edward had conjured up a brand-new tactic to get her to talk to him, but her nerves calmed as soon as two new messages rolled in.

Maybe: Caroline Forbes: bella?
Maybe: Caroline Forbes: sorry hi it's caroline i got your number from elena hope thats ok :)
Maybe: Caroline Forbes: gym flooded. homecoming moved to lockwood mansion.

Bella clucked her tongue against the back of her teeth, unsure of what to say other than a simple 'ok' and went back to getting ready for the dance. She had to admit, she was pretty nervous when it came to just getting ready for Homecoming. Elena was nowhere to be found and Jeremy was utterly useless at this kind of thing, she couldn't even go out on a limb and ask for Caroline's help since she was already at the dance. Her only capability thus far had been putting the dress on. Truth be told her biggest fear wasn't even about the makeup or styling her hair, it was wearing the pair of shoes Elena had encouraged her to buy with the dress. High-heeled shoes and Bella's poor coordination were not going to be friends, but she decided to brave it with two little words: fuck it.

.:.

SATURDAY NIGHT - THE LOCKWOOD MANSION

"Wow," was the first thing out of Bella's mouth as she slowly teetered up the stone steps to the Lockwood's mansion, her eyes sweeping quickly through the room once she was over the threshold. It was beyond crowded, practically packed wall-to-wall just in the main foyer—and couldn't help wondering if all of these people actually went to their high school. She swallowed hard, her fingers twitching at her side as she fought the urge to nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and continued walking through the house as best as she could, muttering small "excuse mes" and "sorrys" as she occasionally bumped into people's backs on her journey to finding her way out into the backyard where she could hear a live band playing music.

She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until she finally stepped outside, a small gasp escaping her—or maybe it was because of the backyard's set up. A stage had been built in the middle of the property, surrounded by twinkling white fairy lights, and floodlights covered the rest of the grounds. She didn't recognize the band that was in the middle of their set, but they were playing good music, and that was . . . alright. Not that she planned on dancing, anyway. But before she could do anything, she heard a crackling at the microphone, and that's when she noticed the band's front man taking a step back to allow a different guy to take the stage. She couldn't really see him from where she stood, but even from afar she was able to tell that he seemed older than her by a few years.

"Good evening, everyone!" The man shouted; his voice laced with a strong accent. "I wanna thank you for being here with me tonight to celebrate! It's been a long time coming..."

She narrowed her eyes, confused by that statement. Wasn't this supposed to be the high school Homecoming dance? Did she come to the right place? Surely she hadn't gotten the addresses mixed up and ended up at some random party. . . she made a move to grab her phone out of the stupid little purse she brought with her, when a flash of curly dark brown hair caught her attention, a tall blonde guy at their side. It was Elena and Matt Donovan arriving together. Forgetting about the man on the stage she hurried toward them as fast as her dumb heels could take her, out the corner of her eye she saw Caroline was approaching them as well.

Bella was able to catch the tail end of what she was saying from the rising of her voice.

"—aus is here."

"What?"

"Yeah! Apparently, our sired hybrid-friend Tyler thought it wou—"

The rest of what Caroline was saying got drowned out by somebody's deep voice as they knocked into her, rather forcefully, nearly causing Bella to wipe out on the floor thanks to her shoes, and Bella's train of thought flaked into different directions. She'd been about to question what Caroline meant when her tongue formed a new string of sentences, "Hey! Watch where you're going!" She was twisting around, catching them by the elbow and stopping them in their tracks. By all means she was not the strongest person, nor was she the type to get loud, but apparently, she'd at least surprised them enough with (hopefully) the tone of her voice that they turned to face her. Her mood immediately soured when she saw that it was Stefan cloaked in shadows—but no, wait. . . there was something different about the younger Salvatore brother. The angles of his face weren't as pronounced, the jawline not as sharp. And he was smiling at her, this crooked little thing. And his voice . . .

No.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bella shrieked, immediately stepping back when she realized it was Edward and not Stefan in front of her.

"Can we go somewhere and talk? Please?" Edward asked, blatantly ignoring her question in favor of asking one of his own.

"No."

Bella forgot all about Elena and Matt, and Caroline, and was shoving passed Edward with all of her might, positive that she would have some kind of bruising on her shoulder from how hard she made sure to slam into him when she started walking away. She was stomping her feet angrily, the heels of her shoes digging into the concrete, and her hands were balled into fists at her sides—she refused to look back, hoping that there were enough people outside to get in the way of Edward chasing after her. Her mind was reeling. She couldn't believe he found her just days after their miniscule conversation on the phone when he tricked her by calling from Alice's phone. It felt as though her heart was going to explode from her chest from how fast it was racing, her pulse quick with adrenaline—a tiny part of her had to be convinced it was due to her escaping him, not because he looked good in a suit. Without even realizing where she was going, Bella found herself wandering around the side of the property, back towards the front of the house, when she spotted a familiar, though not friendly, face as they strolled down the flagstone path, but were blocked by a burly figure standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Invite only, vampire." A man's voice said, deep and unrecognizable. Bella's eyes widened at the word; it took everything for her to not drop her jaw in surprise.

"Here's my RSVP." She heard Damon respond. And then she saw the other man's body go down, Damon looking almost disgusted as he glanced down. His hand was covered in blood. "Hybrid."

Damon was already walking up the steps and into the house like nothing had happened, and Bella pressed her hand against her chest, as if she were feeling the pain of getting her heart ripped out. "What the fuck just happened?" She gasped out finally, quietly, clutching her fingers at the fabric of her dress, seeming to be as close to scratching at her skin as she could get. Part of her wanted to check on that guy but something Damon had said gave her pause. He'd called him a hybrid, and just a few minutes (?) ago Caroline had called Tyler the same thing . . . what did that even mean? But wait a minute, that "hybrid" guy had called Damon a vampire. Bella's knees suddenly felt weak, and she couldn't even blame the high heels for her potential collapse; this was way too much to process all at once.

Her thought process, however, was interrupted by the gentle crunching of grass beneath someone's feet. Her dull human senses weren't as quick to pick up on the approaching person, only giving her the feel of danger a millisecond before she felt a hand slap over her mouth, their fingers digging at the sides of her jaw roughly. She let out a muffled scream, which only urged them to press their palm down harder, shifting slightly so that they had the ability to block her nostrils. . . as if they were trying to smother her. She reacted instinctively, her own hands flying up, the fingers of her right hand attempting to pry their hand away from her mouth, while the left one flung behind her as she tried to claw at any part of their face, their neck, or pull at their hair as fiercely as she could muster. Her back slammed into their chest, though a dumb move on their part as her nails finally connected with skin deep enough to draw blood. Her right foot rose, and then quickly shot back down, the heel of her shoe driving down into the matted earth—a slight misstep that she corrected, her next attempt making contact with their foot. But it was as if they were impervious to her fighting back. If she weren't mistaking, they almost seemed to be dragging her away from the front of the house, pulling her to having both of their bodies pressed to the side of the house, the person's free arm now wrapped around her body, in one swift motion capturing both of her arms and constricting her against them. She wriggled and stomped her feet, bucking wildly to try to break free, but a part of her knew that her desperate, though feeble, attempts were no match for whoever this was.

"I'm trying to protect you," a voice snarled into her ear, a ripping sound that was grit through their teeth.

"Let. Me. GO." She tried, though it sounded like l' m' g' beneath their hand. The last thing she wanted was to be held captive by her ex-boyfriend, who had absolutely no business or right to even be in Mystic Falls, even if he was trying to have her "best interests at heart" and keep her safe. Like he always does. Or used to, before he broke her heart.

"Bella," he growled, tightening her against him. "You shouldn't be here."

Her blood was boiling now, disgusted that he had the audacity to say that to her. In her mind, she was bursting out of his confined hold, and (verbally, maybe physically if she found the strength to do so) tearing into him with a bloodthirsty rage she didn't even know existed. But of course, she was human, and Edward a vampire, and she stood no chance against him in a real fight. Not that it stopped her from trying to wiggle free.

"If you calm down, I will loosen up." His voice was softer but still held a stealthy edge. Having no other choice but to do so, Bella immediately stilled in his arms. As promised, there was some slack around her torso, but as soon as his arms weren't binding her to him, she took full advantage of this opportunity by using that sliver of wiggle room to whirl around, her hand enclosed in a fist, and cut upward to ramming her knuckles into the side of his face with every ounce of strength she could summon, twisting hard as soon as she felt them connect with the bone—maybe even some teeth—and leaping backwards to slip his arm completely out from around her, stumbling over the heel of her shoe, and at this rate she simply just kicked her feet free of the shoes so she could stand fully at her own height without incident.

"Stay away from me," Bella warned, keeping out of reach when she saw his arm extending out towards her, but now that she was hypervigilant of his intentions there was no way she was going to let him grab her again—before he could respond, or make another move, Bella was running bare foot out toward the front of the house, hurrying for the driveway to make a complete break for it—she couldn't spend another second at the Lockwood's—there was a deep, ominous voice that stopped her in her tracks. Against better judgement, she paused for only a moment, glancing over her shoulder. There, at the top of the stairs, was a man. His back was to her, but the way he carried his voice told Bella that he was a lot older. Probably around her father's age, mid-to-late forties if anything. A cluster of people, men and women, surrounded the base of the porch, stoic but ready to pounce on command.

"The big bad wolf. You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your playthings like a coward. You only forget. They may be sired by you, but they're still part vampire. And they can be compelled by me." The elder gentleman was saying, and as if to punctuate his words, a woman with short hair stepped forward and shoved another person into the fray. "Come out and face me, Niklaus. Or she dies."

"Go ahead," she heard somebody answer casually, "Kill her."

Bella swallowed hard, slowly backing down the long driveway before she could overhear what the other person had to say. She knew enough about death (murder) that it was best not to get herself caught in the middle, especially when there was a vampire—and hybrids, apparently—involved. As much as she wanted to run in there and save whoever was collateral damage to this debacle, Bella recognized the voice to belong to Klaus. She didn't know much about him, but there was just something . . . not trustworthy about him. Dangerous, even, to the slight, subtle edge in his voice. Gravel dug into the soles of her feet as Bella quickened her pace, making her escape while everyone was distracted, whether it be the party going on or the showdown on the Lockwood's front porch, and Edward was nowhere in sight. The last thing she needed was for him to follow her to the Gilbert's. It was still incomprehensible that he found her not just in Mystic Falls, but at the high school's homecoming dance, which wasn't even at her new school. She never cursed a vampire's gift more than right now with his goddamn mind reading.

A breath of relief escaped Bella once she made it to the end of the driveway, then halfway down the street, the asphalt rough against her feet. One foot in front of the other, she put more and more distance between her and the Lockwood mansion, her hands balled into tight fists at her sides—this was just all was so complicated, so confusing, it was just making her irrationally angry at everything and nothing at the same time. She couldn't even pinpoint the exact reasons, no matter how much she wanted to put all the blame on Edward he wasn't the only thing at fault, not when she was still attempting to wrap her head around the fact that, somehow, she landed herself back into the world of the supernatural without even trying. And in Mystic Falls, it appeared to be a lot more critical, lethal. The life-threatening idiocy of Forks was pale in comparison to the dangers that lurked in this small town, and while she wasn't sure she was prepared for that to come full storm back into her life, now more than ever she was sure that a vampire had caused her car accident.

note: i am on a roll, i'd like to think. i still don't know what direction i'm going with this but uh, it's definitely something. i'm trying my hardest not to incorporate too much dialogue from the actual show, just doing little snippets, especially if Bella isn't directly involved. but i am going to give credit where it's due, i'm sure my TVD fans recognize a few things right out of 3x09 ("Homecoming") so thank you to Julie Plec (still hate u tho) and the writing team at CW. The format of my revamp is credited towads in_perpetuum, a fantastic writer who hasn't been around in a couple years but if any of you are a fan of the book series, The Clique, then boy do I have some stories to point you towards (Scar Tissue is phenomenal and is where I got the idea to do the lyrics at the beginning of each chapter, and she's even done a Hunger Games inspo called "Let's Kill (Tonight)" I love them both so much) buuuut yea i hope you enjoy what's going on so far. how are you liking my portrayal of edward? do y'all like this version of bella as much as i do? and dont worry, im gonna try to bring alice in real soon.