Thanks to those lovely reviews, I have been able to publish chapter two :D

Please R&R. If you love it, that's great! If you hate it, please tell me why and maybe even offer some suggestions. How can I make it better if I don't know what the problem is? Okay? Okay.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing and no one, except the crazy girl named Bethany.

Chapter 2: The Queen City, Eh?

One by one, the gang threw their bags into the back of the SUV as a brooding Damon sat waiting in the driver's seat. The pile of bags grew bigger until, when Stefan finally stuffed his in, they all came tumbling back out. Damon blasted the car horn, making everybody jump.

"Gah! Damon, what is it with you and that stupid horn?" Bonnie asked loud enough for Damon to hear.

"What's taking so long?" he replied impatiently.

"There're too many bags. We can't get them to fit properly," Stefan replied as he reassembled the items, only to have them fall out again. Damon was by his side in a split second.

"Let me do it," he grumbled. Damon was a blur as he tucked the bags back in. In no time, everyone's things were neatly organized. "Now, everyone get in before I change my mind about this," he ordered as he got into the vehicle himself and slammed the door.

Matt rolled his eyes, the girls were giggling, and Stefan simply shrugged before closing the back of the SUV. Bonnie sat in the front seat, Matt and Meredith were in the second row, and Stefan and Elena were in the third row.

"Let me lay down some rules," Damon began.

"Rules? Damon Salvatore making rules? " Elena teased from the back, eliciting laughter from everyone besides Damon Salvatore.

"Yes, Princess, because I know how you humans can be – especially you young ones. Number One: Do As I Say. That is all." And with that, Damon pulled away from the boarding house ignoring protests consisting of "Are you kidding me?" and "What kind of rule is that?" Damon's mischievous demeanor had returned, and he was smirking again.

The rest of the group waved bye to Mrs. Flowers who stood at the boarding house door waving to them in turn. Not long after that, they were out of Fell's Church and on the road. All was quiet until Damon spoke.

"Who wants to play I Spy?" he asked. Meredith looked at him.

"You know I Spy?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure," Damon replied. "I spy with my gorgeous eye…" Damon looked around. Then he noticed something; Bonnie had her hair swept over one shoulder, so that the side of her neck closest to him was exposed. Damon eyed her translucent skin hungrily as a vein pulsed slightly in her neck.

"I spy," he continued, "something that's thin, blue, and the source of delight."

"Damon!" Stefan shouted from the back. Unlike the others, he didn't have to puzzle over what Damon meant. Stefan knew exactly.

"Can we turn on some music?" Bonnie asked, oblivious of the fact that Damon had just suggested biting her, right then and there.

"Let's sing a song instead," Damon, once again the first to speak, replied.

"Oh, please, no." Matt leaned his head against the window, as Damon began to sing loudly.

"Ninety-nine bottles of blood on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of blood. You take one down, pass it around – "

"Damon!" everyone shouted in unison.

"Fine. I'll turn the radio on." As Damon did this, Stefan noticed something odd.

"Hey, Damon," he said.

"What?"

"California is on the west coast."

"I know that."

"Then why are we traveling north?" Stefan noticed that they were headed northward when they passed Pennsylvania's welcome sign. Damon smiled full on in the rearview mirror for all the passengers to see.

"We're making a few stops along the way," he replied.

"What kind of stops?" Bonnie eyed Damon nervously.

"The first one is Toronto, Canada, eh?"

"Canada!" Once again, the passengers exclaimed in unison. Meredith was the first to speak on her own.

"Damon, we don't have our passports. You should've told us!"

"It'll be fine. Trust me," Damon replied coolly.

"As if," Matt scoffed.

"Another word from you, Mutt, and you'll have to hitchhike back to Fell's Church," Damon warned.

"Damon, what are we going to do in Toronto, Canada?" Elena asked.

"We'll find plenty to do. I booked a suite in one of the city's best hotels. Unfortunately, all you extra people decided to come along and take up space." This made the others groan in frustration and disbelief. "But I can take care of it," Damon added.

He lowered his shades and pointed to his eyes so that they would know that he planned to use compulsion.

"Damon, you can't use mind control for everything," Stefan said.

"Okay," Damon replied. "You and Mutt can sleep on a park bench somewhere, while Bonnie and Elena stay with me – the way I planned in the first place."

"What about Meredith?" Matt asked. This time he was the one smirking. Meredith gave Matt a look.

Scary Meredith, Damon thought to himself. What would I do with her?

"I told you to stop speaking, boy. And a little mind compulsion won't hurt anyone, Stefan. Now let's play another game," Damon said as he turned the radio off. The stations were no longer coming in, anyway. "It's called The Quiet Game. The first one to speak gets kicked out of the car. I mean it."

The affects of the quiet game seemed to work, because not long after everyone except Damon and Bonnie was asleep. As he drove, Bonnie kept stealing glances at Damon.

"What's on your mind, Redbird?" he asked her.

"Were you really going to take just me and Elena on this trip?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Why not just take me?" Damon was silent as he considered this, but seeing that he wasn't answering made Bonnie feel embarrassed. "Forget I said anything," she said.

"No," Damon replied softly. "It's okay."

After a while, they arrived in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

"Everybody, wake up!" Damon's voice boomed as he pulled into a gas station, and everyone who was asleep woke with a jolt.

"Matt! Hurry up and let the seat down. I have to pee!" As Elena squirmed in her seat, Stefan just looked at her. "What? I drank three and a half cups of coffee this morning, and I've been asleep for over two hours. Unlike you, I have to suffer the consequences."

The girls followed her into the mini-mart, while Damon, still in the driver's seat, ordered Matt to fill the gas tank.

"You can't tell me what to do," Matt refused. Damon replied by reaching out and hitting him upside the head.

"Remember rule Number One? Now, get to it," he ordered again. Damon rolled up his window to block out Matt's strong use of curse words.

In the bathroom, Elena was on the verge of tears.

"This is disgusting," Elena said. Bonnie was horrified, and even Meredith looked a little uneasy. It had to be the dirtiest public bathroom that they had ever seen. Not to mention the fact that it stunk. Bonnie squealed when a big black cricket approached her foot.

"Is there any way that you can hold it?" Meredith asked Elena.

"There's no way. I have to go, now." Elena went into one of the stalls and shut the door with her foot, careful not to touch anything. "The crickets are everywhere!" she hollered from within the stall.

After the slight altercation between Damon and Matt, Stefan decided to just pump the gas himself. As he did this, the girls got back in the car, looking traumatized. Once back on the road, Matt spoke up.

"Let's stop and get something to eat. I'm starved." Bonnie, Elena, and Meredith chorused in agreement.

"What's the use?" Damon replied. "I see plenty of food in here."

"Not vampire food. People food!" said the little redhead in the front seat.

"Rule Number Two: No Food or Drinks In The Vehicle. 'People' food or drinks, that is."

"Damon, we're hungry," was Elena's reply from the third row of the SUV.

"Fine. You humans are so high maintenance. The next stop is Buffalo, New York."

Four hours later, Damon pulled into the parking lot of some diner. When the humans began making their way inside, the vampires began going in separate directions.

"Where are you going?" asked Elena.

"You're not the only one who's hungry," Damon replied before taking crow form.

"I'll be back, love." Stefan said as he walked away.

"Damon will probably find the nearest college sorority house, and Stefan is probably off to the nearest forest. C'mon, you guys," Matt said as he held the door open for the girls.

Nearly the moment they sat down, the group was approached by their waitress. She was medium height with long, wavy brown hair and green-yellow eyes. She also had the prettiest smile that Matt had ever seen, and he couldn't help staring.

"Hello, my name is Bethany. Can I start y'all off with some drinks?" she spoke with a southern accent.

"We'll have three lemonades, and Matt… Matt?" Bonnie gave Matt a small shove in the shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

"Where are you from?" Matt asked Bethany.

"I'm from Tennessee, but I'm staying here with a relative. We're about to move to The Big Apple. I want to be an actress," Bethany replied. "What's your name?"

Matt stuck out his hand and said, "I'm Matt Honeycutt." The girls at the table exchanged grins and glances.

"I like honey," Bethany smiled and shook Matt's hand as he went a little red in the face. "What would you like to drink…honey?"

"Uh, a coke would be nice."

"Coming right up." Bethany went to go get their drinks.

"Whooooooo," Bonnie, Meredith, and Elena chorused once she was gone.

"So? Are you going to get her number?" Meredith asked.

"I don't know," replied Matt.

"Oh, come on Matt. You obviously like her, and it looks like she likes you too. Go for it," Elena was smiling at Matt. When Bethany came back with their beverages, Matt took a deep breath.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Back in the SUV, everyone was full and content, and Matt had a new number saved in his phone. In fact, no sooner had he got in the car he got a text message from Bethany. Missing you already, it said. Matt had to admit to himself that it was a little weird, but he shrugged it off. She was so beautiful.

It was only a few minutes after they left the diner when they reached the U.S./Canadian border. When the officer approached Damon's window to ask questions and to check passports, Damon lifted his shades and looked the officer in the eye.

"Shut up, and let us through," he said.

"Welcome to Canada, sir." The officer nodded as Damon sped across the border.

Okay, so the bathroom thing was actually based on my own personal experience. Anyone who's been on a road trip knows how gross public bathrooms can be. ICK. Am I right?

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

Please review.

More Bamon in the next chapter, and Stelena in the chapters to come!