**Chapter twenty four**

Always Katherine

*Hailey*

Elena's angry expression instantly sobered as she watched me try to hide my tears. She hurried to me, and pulled me into her arms.

"I'm sorry, Hailey." she murmured, hugging me tight. "I didn't realize you liked him that much."

"I don't." I argued, though we both knew that it was a lie. I pulled out of her arms, and brushed my tears out of my eyes.

I walked to the liquor cabinet, and pulled a random bottle out of it, opened it, and took a long sip, before sitting on the counter.

"Tell me everything about Katherine." I said my voice firm. If there was one thing I was good at, it was hiding my emotions. Except when it came to Damon, a voice in my head said, but I blocked it out.

Elena watched me, her eyes full of concern. But then she sighed, and told me everything she knew about Katherine Pierce.

"Back in 1864, Stefan and Damon were in love with her. They thought that she was trapped in the tomb with the other vampires, but when Damon opened the tomb last year, she wasn't there. That's why he left last year, he was… he was heartbroken." She told me, and I flinched.

"There's something else, Hailey." She said, looking uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked, knowing that it wasn't going to be good.

"I look like Katherine. I'm her doppelganger." Elena told me.

"What?" I asked, as the already broken table smashed against the wall.

Elena went to hug me, but I flinched away from her. If there was anything that could make this situation worse, it was finding out that the woman who the guy I was falling for was in love with looked like my best friend.

"Hailey…" Elena sighed, and I shook my head.

"I know it's not your fault, I'm sorry." I said, taking a long gulp of my bottle. I just wanted to be alone with my drink.

"Can you go, Elena? I just want to be alone." I said, walking towards the stairs.

"Hailey, please-"he tried to say, but I cut her off.

"Just leave me alone!" I shouted, running up the stairs.

I slammed my door shut, and locked it. Ellie came out from under my bed and purred at me, but I ignored her.

My heart ached, as I stared at the bed Damon and I were tangled up in hours ago. Did he even care about me, or was I just something to pass the time with? I knew that he probably used me for sex, that I meant nothing to him.

I angrily wiped my tears away, and threw the bottle I was holding against the wall. I smirked a little at the sound of the glass breaking, but it didn't make my heartache go away.

"I hate you, Damon Salvatore." I told my room.

I successfully managed to stop crying. I wouldn't cry over Damon, I wouldn't give him anymore satisfaction than I already have. I bet that he found it hilarious, how I was so obviously head over heels for him.

I stared at Damon's shirt on my floor, the one I had worn home yesterday. I gritted my teeth, and kicked it under my bed. I was done with this, I was done with him. I wouldn't let him hurt me anymore than he already had.

With my new attitude, I hurried out of my room, and down to where Elena was slowly walking to her car. I wished that I had listened to her since the beginning. If only I could turn back time, I would make sure that I never gave myself the chance to fall for Damon Salvatore in the first place.

~LMF~

I avoided Damon the rest of the week. He tried to get ahold of me, but I was spending most of my time with Elena and Stefan. I didn't even think that he knew I knew about Katherine.

A part of me wanted to hunt Damon down and kick his ass. That's what I would've done to any other guy who broke my heart. But Damon wasn't any other guy, he never had been. And I was worried that if I saw him, I would either convince myself to forget about Katherine and jump into his arms, or burst into tears. Besides, I wasn't over him, not even close. I still cared about him, still liked him a lot more than I would like to admit.

To distract me, Elena made sure that I was busy every single day of the week. We went to movies and went shopping. She had either forgotten about her anger towards me for lying to her, or was burying it down deep.

I also had cheerleading practice to busy myself with. I found that I was actually pretty good at her, minus the cheering part. It was even almost fun at some times, but that was mostly when Caroline fell on her ass.

Caroline wasn't nearly as bitchy as she used to be, due to Ava's death. She was quiet and spent most of her time with Matt. but when she did talk, she was usually yelling at me for doing a move wrong, or that my back flips were too sloppy. I held back my snaky comments for Matt, who told me to lay off of Caroline, since she was going through a "Rough time."

My life was pretty busy, the week following the truth about Katherine being revealed. But I somehow always managed to find time to think about Damon. About how all the times we kissed, had sex and he held me in his arms, he was in love with Katherine. I never meant anything to him, and that hurt the most.

"Hey, Tyler." I yelled at him, running to catch up with him. It was Friday, and there was a football game tonight, my first one as a cheerleader. I was also planning to take advantage of my mom being gone, and throw a wild party, the kind pre-Damon Hailey threw on a daily basis.

"What's up?" he asked, as I walked up next to him.

"I'm having a party tonight, and I need you to get the word out." I said without beating around the bush. I knew that Tyler could get the news around faster than I could, and that he'd be excited for a classic Ellis party.

I didn't need to be psychic to predict his reaction. His face broke into a huge grin, and he exclaimed, "Yes! It's been way too long since you threw a party." he threw his arm around my shoulders, and I laughed.

"I know it has. My mom's gone too, so you know that I have to throw the biggest party in the history of parties." I replied, as we walked to chemistry together.

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard to get the word out." he said as we walked into a noisy hallway.

Tyler smirked at me, removed his arm from my shoulders, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "Hey everybody! Party at Hailey Ellis's after the game tonight!"

People cheered, and I smirked to myself. I used to be known for throwing the wildest parties, and not getting caught for them. I was glad to see that people still remembered me as that person.

Tyler and I walked into class together, people gossiping about my party tonight. I convinced myself that this was a good idea, exactly what I needed. I convinced myself that I was still this person, this alcoholic party girl. I wished that I was, since it was so much easier being her. But instead, I was now this heartbroken psychic, who acted stronger than she actually was.

I had changed, though I didn't want to admit it to myself. So I grinned and assured people that my party was going to live up to my other ones. I reassured myself that I needed this party, when deep down, I didn't really want it at all.

~LMF~

I stared at my uniform clad figure reflected back in the mirror in my room. I looked scarily preppy in my cheerleader uniform, with my hair pulled into a ponytail with black and red ribbons. I hoped that Elena was happy.

"You've been avoiding me."

I stiffened, and closed my eyes. I would know that voice anywhere.

I wasn't ready for this, to face him. I had been imagining are meeting in my head, and though I hated to admit it, a lot of them ended in me jumping into Damon's arms and forgiving him. I couldn't do that though, I couldn't just forget that he was in love with another woman.

I planned that I when I did see Damon, I would act calm and cool. I would act like he didn't shatter my heart into a million pieces. I'd tell him off for lying to me, and tell him to stay away. But I'd act like I wasn't affected, not really. I'd act careless.

The first thing I did when I turned around to face Damon was slap him across the face.

"Stay the hell away from me." I hissed, grabbing my jacket and car keys, before bolting for the door.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Damon asked, as he suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking my way.

"You lied to me, Damon. I told you I was done with the lies, but you just kept on lying." I babbled, feeling my eyes burn with invisible tears.

"What are you talking about?" Damon's eyebrows were furrowed, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes.

"I'm talking about Katherine." I smirked at him, feeding on my anger instead of my heartache. "I'm talking about how you used me and pretended to care about me, while you loved her the entire time."

"Hailey, just listen-"he started to say, but I slapped him again. It felt nice, to hit him. To make him hurt like he hurt me.

"Don't Damon, okay? I don't want to hear your excuses, I just want you to leave me alone." I told him, my voice cold.

"Just let me talk for a sec-"he said, irritated. There was a red handprint on his cheek, and it made me feel better.

I cut him off again. "I don't want to hear it, Damon!" I exclaimed, raising my hand again.

Damon grabbed my wrist, his fingers wrapping around it tightly. I flinched at the pain, but didn't say anything.

"I was going to tell you, Hailey, I was. You don't understand." He said softly, as if trying to get me to forgive him. But there was no way I could do that. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

"Just let me go, Damon." I said quietly, avoiding his gaze.

"Please-"he pleaded, but I just shook my head.

"Me or Katherine?" I asked bluntly.

"What?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing and his grip loosening.

"Choose right now. Me or Katherine?" I repeated, looking up and locking eyes with him.

For one second, I thought he would grin at me and say, "You, Hailey. Of course it's you." But he stayed silent.

If it was possible, my heart broke even more. I pulled away from him, and avoided his eyes. "Exactly. because it's Katherine, Damon. It will always be Katherine."

I slipped past him, and didn't look back. I wouldn't let him see me cry.

I made it all the way to my car, before the tears I kept in since the beginning of the week started falling down. I slid into the driver's side of my car, and started shake as I sobbed into my steering wheel. I was ruining my makeup, but I didn't find it in me to care.

Damon will always choose Katherine over me, which was exactly why we would never work. Still, a part of me wanted him to pull me out of my car and let me cry into his chest like I had two times before. But Damon never showed up, and I didn't really expect him to.

~LMF~

A/N: thank you to: HawthorneTree, jacquline, SomebodyWhoCares, Chella8181, colleenrawr, vdemily, Samantha meyers, and Pinkbeca for reviewing!

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~Abby :D