A/N: Thanks for the reviews, faves and alerts. Here's the next chap.

Cheerleading Practice

"And five, six, seven, eight," Caroline began as she stood in front of the cheerleading team, who were practicing in the gym. The competition was coming up and during that time of year, practice was held every day for two hours. She made sure that she ate, slept, and breathed cheerleading. The team knew that this was the time that there captain would kind of be a bitch, but they knew it was for a good cause.

Caroline was watching the girls when her eyes landed on one of them, who seemed off beat. "Stop, Stop. Sarah that's all wrong."

"What? What did I do wrong?" her chest heaving up and down as she spoke.

"Its bend, kick, pause, not pause, bend, kick." The girl Sarah placed her hands on her hip sighing at the cheerleading captain, "Either get it right or quit."

"I'm trying." The brunette spoke trying to catch her breath. The girl had only been on the cheerleading team for two months but was getting use to Caroline's need to have everything perfect.

"You know what while you continue to try, everyone else can take a break." Sarah huffed as she went over the routine again. Caroline moved to the bench and sat down taking out her bottle of water from her bag.

"You've always been crazy with a little bit of power." Bonnie said sitting in front of her on the gym floor stretching her legs.

"See Bonnie you get me. I wish everyone else would." The witch laughed and continued to stretch. Caroline turned her head to see Elena walking towards the two of them. She was on the phone talking and Caroline didn't need to eavesdrop to know she was talking to Damon. The smile on her face said it all.

Elena and Damon had been dating for a while now. They were actually kind of cute together, and Bonnie used the term "cute" loosely. Elena was now standing in front of them as she wrapped up her conversation. "See you in a minute. Bye." She hung up the phone and looked over to her friends. "Hey guys. What's going on?"

"Bonnie, Do you see what I see?" Caroline joked looking over to Bonnie who stood up.

"It's the creature best known as Elena." She said in her best Aussie accent. "It seems as though it may have been hibernating."

"I think it's has been mating with the other species, known as 'Damon'." The Blonde said in air quotes.

"Alright you guys very funny." Care and Bonnie burst out laughing, as Elena took a seat. "I know I've been busy but Aunt Jenna has been asking me to go over the history archives with her and then when I'm not with her I'm at school or with Damon."

"No time for your friends anymore?" Caroline asked.

"That's why I'm here. What are you guys doing tonight?"

"Well I was going home to pamper myself of course and then try to get the routine right." answered staring at her friend.

"I was going to help her out."

"Good. I wanted to know could you have dinner with Damon and I." she said so fast that her words ran over each other.

"Uhh, excuse me." Caroline started,

"I wanted to know could you have dinner with Damon and me." She said slower this time, a begging smile starting to appear on her face.

"Why?" The girls asked in unison.

"I think it would be good for you guys to like Damon a little better."

"Not gonna happen." Bonnie said shaking her head from side to side, "Not in a million years."

"Come on Bon. Help me out Caroline." Elena moved to her blonde friend eyes pleading.

"I don't know Elena. As of right now I'm kind of agreeing with Bonnie." The smile on Bonnie's face grew, as Elena's saddened.

"Please. I know he isn't the greatest person but I love him and it would be nice to have a conversation with my friends and boyfriend without the mention of somebody trying to kill us." The bubbly blonde understood her invitation. She just wanted them to get along when they weren't trying to defeat a common enemy.

"Bonnie I think we should go?" Bonnie whipped her head so fast she had to stop for a minute and feel her neck.

"Really Care, you're on Elena side?"

"There are no sides. Our friend just wants us to have a nice dinner with her and her boyfriend, so why shouldn't we."

"Umm, I don't know maybe because we hate him."

"Not hate, but strongly dislike the vamp and that doesn't' matter because we love Elena. We should just go."

"Thank you Care," Elena said happy one of her friends was agreeing with her.

"Fine but only because I love Elena, I'm pretty sure I'll still hate him afterwards"

"Strongly dislike" Elena said trying to make the word sound less harsh.

"Whatever."Bonnie said.

"Great. We're cooking tomorrow night be at the manor at seven." She hugged her friends, as the sound of her phone went off. "Alright gotta go, that's Damon telling me he's outside."

"Later." Both girls said as she turned and left. Caroline watched as her friend walked out the door. She was really excited about tomorrow because it had been a while since her, Bonnie, and Elena had hung out. She thought it was sort of weird that as Bonnie and she were getting close again, Elena was straying further away from them. She didn't want to blame it on Damon though. She knew he was having a hard time getting his brother back again. Bonnie on the other hand didn't mind blaming it on him saying that when Stefan and Elena were together at least all three of them could hang out.

The fact that Elena was so busy all of a sudden kind of made it easier for Caroline to spend time with Stefan and Bonnie. She was getting up to get the all the cheerleaders back when she saw Stefan walk in through the opposite gym door. Once he got to them, he greeted and took a seat. "Hey."

"Hi Stefan," Bonnie said, getting up to grab her water bottle.

"Stef, what's going on?" Caroline asked now stretching.

"I wanted to know could I get a ride home with one of you."

"Sure I can give you a ride, but we have to make a stop over to Bonnie's." Care answered.

"No problem." He sat down as Caroline had a realization.

"Hey Stefan, Bonnie and I are going shopping for Tyler's party."

"Wait, that's not for another month." Bonnie said looking at her friend.

"Right that means we have four weeks to pick out the perfect outfit."Bonnie laughed as Caroline's face lit up.

"Thanks, for letting me know." She smiled and turned back towards Stefan. "Do you wanna come?"

"I'll think about it." He said placing his backpack on the ground. "I'll just wait here until you guys are finish."

Caroline grabbed Bonnie's arm and pulled her back to the center of the gym. "Breaks over everyone, Sarah did you get it right?" the girl nodded her head. "Alright let's see it."

The cheerleaders all got into formation as Caroline began the countdown. Stefan watched them move, it wasn't the first time he had seen them perform but it was the first time he had seen them practice and from the looks of it Care was a pretty intense captain. They looked good though. The male cheerleaders were now moving to throw the girls up in the air. He saw one of the boys that were on the football team tossing a girl in the air. He figured that Caroline let him join in the off season because it was competition time and they needed the extra power.

He saw a brunette girl, who he assumed was Sarah, cheering when she stumbled over another girl's foot and fell back. He looked over to Caroline who had steam coming from her ears, but before she could scream at the girl the brunette spoke. "Caroline this routine isn't going to work. Something's missing."

"Maybe you're right." She said relaxing. "Give me a minute to think."

"We need a whole new routine." Sarah said. Caroline knew didn't have time to make a whole new routine and have the team perfect it. She was staring at the ground when a thought crept into her mind. Maybe she didn't have to change the entire routine just the part Sarah continued to mess up on. She moved her eyes over to Stefan who was looking at the rest of the team. When he finally gave Caroline eye contact, an evil smile grew on her face.

"What's wrong?" He said standing up.

"You're a quick learner right."

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" He looked at Caroline as her eyes moved from him to the team and back.

"No."

"Oh come on Stefan. You're athletic and in shape, and you're a quick learner."

"I'm not a cheerleader though." He said making his way to the door. "I'll just come back when you are finished."

"Please, if you're really my friend you would." She bribed him knowing that Stefan would do anything for his friends; she knew it was on its way to working because he stopped in his tracks.

"Yeah Stefan," Bonnie threw in "As long as you don't mess up. Then you would have to feel the wrath that is Caroline." The two girls gave him the best puppy dog face they could muster up and it took him all of five seconds to give in.

He smiled, "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"Stefan you're awesome." She said pulling him back towards the group. She stood in front of the team in think mode. "Okay this is what we're going to do. Sarah you are going up in the air."

"I can't."

"Why not?" the captain asked intrigued.

"I'm scared of heights." Caroline let out a snicker.

"You're only going to be like 12 feet up in the air and Stefan has great reflexes. Just try it first." She shrugged her shoulders and moved towards Stefan. "Alright both of you watch Finn and I."

Stefan kept his eyes on the two as Finn lifted Caroline up. She had positioned her arms in a V formation. She then twisted and fell back into his arms. "See that's not that bad. It's not like I'm going to tell him to throw you up in the air. You might not come down for a few minutes."

Only Stefan, Bonnie, and Caroline laughed at the inside joke. "Come on let's try this."

Stefan and Sarah moved to position. He grasped her by the waist throwing her up in the air, and then held on to her feet. She was up for two seconds before she looked down and fell. Lucky for her Stefan's quick reflexes helped.

"Sorry." She said, looking to Caroline who was about to give up on the whole idea.

"I'll do it." Bonnie said sensing her friends stress. "It can't be that hard."

"Thank you. At least someone is willing to work with me." Bonnie moved to Stefan.

"Alright Stefan, don't drop me. I'm trusting you with my life."

"Have I let you down before?"

"Okay let's go." Caroline began. Bonnie stood in front of him and he took a hold of her throwing her up. She got up perfectly and was standing in the right position.

"I can work with that." Stefan was glad he could help. He was still holding her up when he saw the two of them come in; Elena and Damon were smiling as they spoke to each other. That feeling in his stomach came back and his concentration of the petite witch in his hands was gone. She stumbled and it took him a minute to realize she was falling.

He quickly caught her. Once she was on the ground she turned towards him, "Stefan, Did you almost drop me?" She asked smacking his chest.

"I didn't though that has to count for something?" Bonnie stood momentarily shocked at the déjà vu feeling. Those words were the exact words she had heard from Damon before. The fact that he had said them in the same way that Damon did made goose bumps appear on her arm.

Stefan noticed this and rubbed her arm, "what?"

"I just realized that you really are Damon's brother. It's kind of creepy." She said smiling.

"Great Stefan, Welcome to the Mystic Falls Cheerleading team!" Caroline said too excited.

"Translated that means welcome to Caroline's world where her rules are the only rules." Sarah said whispering to a grinning Bonnie and Stefan.

"Alright everyone you guys can go. Bonnie and Stefan, we have some work to do so I need to see you two an hour before practice." Bonnie agreed. She watched as the team dispersed. Stefan still stood in the same position and when she followed his stare, her eyes landed on Elena. She was walking down to where there bags had been, and picked up the bag that she figured Elena had left only a few minutes earlier. Bonnie didn't understand why she brought Damon in. She sensed his eyes on Bonnie and Stefan as they stood there watching Elena, but she didn't want to look at him. Rubbing Stefan's back she spoke.

"They still bother you, huh?" He finally turned his head away from the two people as they exited the gym.

"I guess I'm just not use to seeing him with her, yet."

"You know what would help, not giving them all your attention every time they walk in a room together. It's only going to make it harder for you." Caroline said walking up behind him.

"You're right."

"Of Course I am. Now let's get out of here." They walked over to the bench grabbing their bags and walking to the exit.

"Hey Stefan have you ever smiled for more than a minute before?" Caroline asked watching Bonnie laugh aloud.

"I'm starting to." He said smirk plastered on his features.

A/N: Hoped you enjoyed!! Sorry for any mistakes. Review Please.