CHAPTER 4 – LET'S BE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS ONE LAST TIME

a/n: thanks for all the reviews again, I appreciate every single one of them! (and thanks for wishing me good luck for my exams, I've written all of them now and there's only one presentation left that I hope I won't screw up :/) and sorry that it took me so long to update but school really is kicking the hell out of me atm!
who else is excited for this week's new tvd episode? Everyone I guess :) what do you think about the new episodes anyways?
whatever. Here's my new chapter, enjoy and review if you have time!

Ps. I hope you don't mind that I did a little gender swap with one of the characters…

"Awwwwwww! How adorable is that?!" a female voice made Elena jump awake. Less than a second later, another one was shushing the other one down: "Shut up, Caroline! They're asleep!"

But it was already too late. Elena had jerked at the sudden noise and woken up Damon in the process. "What is happening?" Damon mumbled without opening his eyes and pulled her against his chest.

"Hey, Team captain, shouldn't you be at the gym right now, training with your mates? It's only one and a half hours before the big game tonight," Caroline stated and crossed her arms.

Elena blinked and tried to sit up. "What? It's already 6.30? How long did we sleep?"

At the sound of her voice, Damon jerked his eyes open and sat up straight. He still didn't seem to notice the others standing in the doorway and looked confused at Elena. Quickly, he looked down to check if his clothes were still on and let out a relieved breath. "Huh, thank god, I've already thought we…" His eyes flickered to Bonnie and Caroline, now both having their arms crossed and their eyebrows raised. Elena blushed. "I mean… I already thought I missed the game, obviously."

"Yeah," Caroline said, trying to hide her smile. "Obviously."

Damon glanced at her, knitted his eyebrows and finally shrugged and looked away. He yawned exaggeratedly and jumped out of bed to put his shoes and coat on. When he turned around to look at Elena, he realized she was still sitting on her bed. His glance wandered from her to her friends. "Um… Could you leave us alone for a sec?"

Caroline wanted to say something snippy, but Bonnie beat her to it: "Of course. We'll wait outside."

She pushed her protesting friend out of the room and closed the door behind them. From outside, you could her a loud "now shut up, Caroline!".

Elena giggled awkwardly. "Now that was awkward."

"You think?" Damon asked and flopped himself on the bed beside her. After a short silence, he added: "You said you wanted everything to go back to normal, right?"

"Right," Elena said and watched him, waiting for him to continue.

He looked at his fingers. "So… If yesterday had never happened, I would've probably crashed your place with some teammates and friends after the game and we'd have had a little party. I wondered if we could still do it? The party, I mean." Elena hesitated and avoided his stare. "Look, not a big party like the one last night, just a few guys, like five friends of mine or so, and maybe a few cheerleaders? Some friends of Bonnie's and Caroline's?"

"I… I'm not sure," Elena stuttered. "I don't even know those guys you're talking about…"

Damon smiled, encouraging her, and grabbed her hand to squeeze it lightly. "They're really nice. I mean, really. And I think you already know some of them. Tyler and Klaus, was it? You were playing some game with them the other night. Plus, to be honest, you don't know me either and yet I'm sitting here on your bed."

Elena giggled. "You're right. Okay. When will you be here then?"

Elena eyed herself in the mirror. She wore black, tight fitting leather pants, a bright blue top that matched her earrings and some black stilettos she didn't even remember bringing to boarding school. She sighed and walked over to Caroline's dresser to burrow her curling iron. Her hair looked awful and she needed a new look. New start, new style, Elena thought, sat down on her bed and started curling her hair.

Her eyes wandered around the room as she remembered what had happened when Damon had gone.

"Awwwwww!" Caroline squeaked and jumped up and down. "You looked so cute! Why didn't I think of taking a picture? I'm so stupid, you should have seen yourself there with Damon!"

"Calm down, Caroline," Elena said a little annoyed by her friend's over exaggerated enthusiasm. "We were just talking and both tired, so we fell asleep eventually."

"I'm sure that's what happened," Caroline giggled.

Elena looked to the ground and Bonnie, who had noticed her being uncomfortable, quickly said to change the topic: "C'mon, Care, you should show Elena what you've bought."

Caroline's face lit up. "Great idea! I'm gonna put it on and show you the live version, if you know what I mean." She winked and Bonnie and Elena rolled their eyes. Caroline really behaved like a little kid sometimes.

"Great," Bonnie said, in a tone that obviously stated she thought everything else of it but great.

"What's wrong? Why so annoyed?" Elena asked and regarded her friend curiously.

"Nothing, really," she answered and let herself fall on Elena's bed with her head bumping onto the comfy blanket. "I'm just really tired. You have no idea how exhausting it is to go shopping with Caroline."

"Hey! I heard that!" the blonde girl shouted from the bathroom.

Elena giggled. "I'm sorry I made you go with her." When her friend came out of the bathroom, she immediately stopped giggling and raised her eyebrows in astonishment. "Actually I'm not sorry. Wow, Caroline, you look dashing."

Caroline smiled shyly. "Thank you," she said. "You were right, I do feel more confident in these… clothes."

Elena smiled. Bonnie was about to sit up and say something, when a knock sounded on the door.

"Who's there?" Elena asked.

"It's Stefanie, may I come in?" a muffled voice from outside on the corridor replied.

Caroline rolled her eyes and mouthed: "What does she want?" before sneaking back into the bathroom. Elena shot her a confused glance and told Stefanie to come in.

"Hello," the brown-haired girl said while entering.

"Didn't you have red hair back at the gym?" Elena wondered out loud before being able to stop herself. Quickly, she added: "I mean, at least it seemed like it. Now it seems sort of light brown…"

Bonnie started laughing and Stefanie looked kind of irritated and her cheeks turned slightly pinkish. "My hair is actually light brown as it is right now. But when we were at the gym yesterday… My brother, who is on the basketball team, and a few of his mates thought it'd be funny to exchange my normal shampoo with a semi-permanent hair color to make me look like a clown. Luckily my hair dresser could die my hair back to almost the same color I usually have."

Elena bit her lips to suppress a giggle at the other girl's way of expression. "Who's your brother?" she asked instead.

"Damon," Stefanie replied and had Elena raise her eyebrows. Damon had a little sister? Why hadn't he mentioned her in their previous conversation? Lost in thought, Elena missed the beginning of what the other girl was talking about now. "—the reason why I am here, actually. I saw him sneak out of your room earlier. You know boys in the dorms are forbidden. And what was he doing here anyway? I thought I've seen you go into town or something. Is anything missing? Did he steal—"

"No, he didn't," Caroline answered in a bitchy tone, pulling a loose shirt over her head while coming out of the bathroom. "He was here to meet Elena. And don't be so smug all the time. Nobody gives a crap about boys being in our dorms."

"Of course people give a crap about it!" Stefanie exclaimed. "The teachers, our parents, the students—"

"I guess with 'the students' you're referring to yourself, Steffi?" Caroline said annoyed.

"I… Oh, shut up!" Damon's sister turned around and slammed the door shut behind her.

"You don't have to bully her all the time, Caroline," Bonnie said tauntingly.

"She deserved it." Caroline was grabbing her uniform and stuff and pushing it into her bag. "How come she doesn't annoy you?"

"I never said she didn't annoy me. It's just that… It wasn't easy for her the last few years, you know," Bonnie said quietly.

"What wasn't easy for her?" Elena asked, clearly missing something.

"Her mom died when she was a little girl. And her dad has shipped both of his kids off to boarding school because he couldn't stand looking at them and always seeing their mother's features in their faces," Bonnie replied. She looked sad.

There was a short silence until Caroline snapped: "Come on, Bonnie, you don't even know if that's true. All we know is that their mom died and that they go here. The rest is something our not-so-pretty little liar told us."

"But why would she lie about that?" Bonnie said.

"Maybe because she's angry at her father for not being there for her," Caroline suggested, shrugging her shoulders and combing her hair into a ponytail.

Elena had felt a sharp pain going all through her body as Bonnie told her about Stefanie's and Damon's family situation. Now, she was looking at her fingers and trying to switch back to her role. She would have to keep it together until the others were gone. "I don't think she would tell a lie like that just because she's pissed at her father, Care," Elena finally said. "I mean, I'm pretty pissed at mine but I would never lie about something like that."

Caroline stopped combing her hair for a sec and looked at her friend. She seemed to hesitate on how to reply to that but eventually said in a really calm voice: "I believe you, Elena, and if I were you, I'd probably think the same, but you don't know Stefanie. I've known her since first grade and she's always been a bitch to everyone; or actually, she seems to be nice to everyone but is telling lies about you behind your back. She thinks she's better than the rest of us and that pisses me off."

"I don't think she lied, Caroline," Bonnie said, this time with an edge to her voice. "The night she told me this, she was totally wrecked. She had drunk way too much at the Grill and I don't think she could've lied in that state."

"Whatever," Caroline shrugged, obviously not in the mood to talk about Stefanie anymore. "Come here, Bonnie, I'll braid your hair, we must hurry. We're supposed to meet the others in fifteen minutes and you haven't even applied your make up yet."

Finishing her hair by curling her last strand, Elena stood up, pulled the plug and laid the curling iron down on her dresser, where it couldn't burn anything. She adjusted her top and leaned against the wall. Damon and the others would be there in about one hour, and she still had no idea where to get some alcohol and candy without leaving her room. She didn't want to go out into the dark alone. What if there was Shane or other guys with the same intentions that Shane had? But if she wanted it to be a normal party tonight, she'd have to get out sooner or later and buy something at the gas station. There wasn't much of an option unless she wanted to stay sober tonight which she certainly didn't.

She put the now-cold curling iron back into Caroline's dresser and put on her jacket. Having taken a deep breath, she pushed the door open and went outside. She would not live her life in fear because of what Shane did. She needed to leave that behind her. She left Logan and everything that happened in Detroit behind her and she could do the same with Shane. That's what she hoped for, anyways.

The corridor was dark out and nobody could be seen. They were all at the game tonight. She switched the lights on and made her way down the stairs where she encountered Ms. Sommers, her English teacher.

"Elena," she heard her say in surprise. "I thought nobody was here except for me? Why aren't you at the big game?"

"Hi Ms. Sommers," Elena said. "I didn't feel like it. I don't know, I don't feel so good and I thought maybe some fresh air would make me feel better," she lied.

"But you shouldn't go out there alone, honey," Ms. Sommers said worriedly. She looked around the empty hall and seemed to make a quick decision. "Wait here. I'm just grabbing my coat and then I'll go with you."

"That's really nice, Ms. Sommers, but I can look after myself. I don't want you to get into any trouble for leaving your workplace—"

"Don't worry, honey, there's no one here anyways," Ms. Sommers winked and went upstairs.

Secretly, Elena was glad that someone joined her and she didn't have to go all the way by herself. Whatever she'd decided earlier about leaving Shane behind her—she was still scared and probably would be for a while. She couldn't change that once and for all, but she could pretend everything was okay so that the others would believe her. And eventually, she thought, I'll believe it, too.

The problem with Ms. Sommers accompanying her was, though, that there'd be no way she could buy alcohol at the service station. She'd been sure she could convince the shop assistant there to give some to her even if she couldn't show him an ID card, but with a teacher at her back, she could say goodbye to that plan.

"Okay, let's go," Ms. Sommers shouted as she ran down the stairs.

Elena smiled and held the door open for her.

"Thanks," her teacher said as she walked outside. "Where did you want to go?"

Elena hesitated before choosing to tell her the truth. "Um… Actually, I lied to you… I mean, not about me not feeling well enough to go to the game, but about going outside. I wanted to go to the gas station and buy some candy, not to cool my head. Buy some chocolate, chips and maybe a few bottles of coke. For Caroline, Bonnie and me when they come back."

Ms. Sommers laughed. "Oh, no problem, Elena. Gosh, I already thought you'd tell me you'd wanted to buy drugs or something. Huh, that'd've been awkward."

Elena giggled. "What? No. I don't do drugs, Ms. Sommers," she said and thought: At least not anymore.

For a few moments, they walked the streets in silence. "So… Have you already made some friends?" Ms. Sommers asked finally.

"Um… I guess so. I really like my roommates Bonnie and Caroline. And… Some guys from the boys' school are pretty nice too," Elena said hesitatingly. "It's a little awkward talking about it considering you're my teacher."

"Oh, I'm sorry you feel that way," Ms. Sommers said. "I always thought I wasn't like the other teachers here. When I began working here I hoped I'd be up to date with all the gossip flowing around and friends with the mean girls and stuff…"

Elena smiled. "O-kay? Well, I've only been here for two days, so basically, I have no idea about the latest gossip."

"True. You're from New York City, right?" Ms. Sommers asked. "I've lived there for a few months when I was eighteen. But it's too crowded in my opinion. Too loud. I enjoy the silence here."

"Hm," Elena said and looked at her feet. "I miss it a lot. The silence here lets you think too much."

"You think so?" Ms. Sommers said. "What does it make you think about?"

"I don't know," Elena admitted. "Bad memories. Good memories. Feelings. People. Dead people. People that are still alive. It's just too much sometimes."

Ms. Sommers looked at her sympathetically. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, sure," Elena said and wiped a tear off her face she hadn't noticed falling down her cheek. "I guess I just miss my parents."

Before Elena could prevent her from it, Ms. Sommers slung her arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'm sure they'll visit you soon."

Elena resisted telling her that they won't because they were dead. She knew she couldn't and shouldn't.

Eventually, Ms. Sommers let go of her and they noticed that they'd already arrived at the gas station. They walked inside and grabbed two bags of chips, three bags of microwave popcorn, candy and three bottles of coke.

"You don't really think I believe you that you're buying this just for you, Caroline and Bonnie? I've been a high schooler, too, and not that long ago, either, you know," Ms. Sommers said and winked. "After a game, there's never just 'girls' night'."

Busted. Elena blushed. "Well, we wanted to have a little party with some other girls—" At her teacher's expression, she added surrendering "—and some boys… "

"I knew it!" her teacher shouted happily. "I'm sorry. I'm embarrassing, I know. Well, I guess I've crossed your plan then and stopped you from sneaking alcohol in by coming here and making sure you can't buy some."

Elena blushed in a deeper red. Why did her teacher know exactly what she'd been planning to do?

"Well, I obviously can't allow you to buy some, but I can keep quiet and won't tell anyone about your party. Just try not to play too loud music, Mrs. Fell, the matron, has a nice ear."

Elena smiled happily, being slightly shocked at the coolness of her teacher. She's probably so nice because she's still so young, Elena thought. She can probably remember what it was like to be sixteen.

Fifteen minutes later, Elena and Ms. Sommers arrived back at the school. The lights were still out so they assumed the game hadn't ended yet.

"Thank you for accompanying me, Ms. Sommers," Elena said, "And for keeping quiet about tonight."

"No problem, honey," her teacher replied and smiled. "Just remember reading Act IV until Monday," she added as an afterthought and winked.

"Oh, I've already read A Midsummer Night's Dream," Elena admitted. "I already know what's gonna happen."

"Oh? You did?" Ms. Sommers. "Well, then I'll just wish you and your friends a great night and don't do anything stupid!"

Elena giggled and went upstairs, preparing bowls for the candy and chips and popping the popcorn in the little microwave on the small table next to the bathroom door. When she'd finished, she checked the time: Still fifteen minutes left until the others were coming.

Elena sat down on her bed and pulled a sketchpad out of her bag. She grabbed a pen and began writing a letter. That's what she'd been told to do to cope with everything that had happened to her.

It'll make it easier to pretend you're okay, the man had told her. You'll see, it'll help you. Just make sure to destroy the letters once you wrote and read them. No one can find them.

Elena took a deep breath and began writing.

Dear Mom, dear Dad,

I'm sorry about what happened. I've never intended things to go that far. And I certainly didn't want the others to go after you when it was me they were coming for. I should've… I should have…

Elena bit her lip and tried to stop her hand from trembling so she could continue writing.

…I should have stopped them. Somehow. But I guess there was nothing I could do. If I had listened to you two and had stopped dating Logan, maybe none of this would have happened. I should have backed out when I still could. But I didn't and I try not to think about it too much because, just like you, Dad, always said: "What happened in the past is the past. There's nothing you could do to change it." I really try to think that way. But it's not that easy and I hope that you, if you can still see me from up there or something, can forgive me.

I love you. And I miss you so much.

Yours, Katie

Elena put her pen down and tried not to let the tears fall down and ruin her make-up. She took several deep breaths and read her letter all over again. She'd signed with the nickname her parents had given her. It was a pretty unusual nickname for her first name. But her mom had always said that "Katie" was what she would've liked being called when she was a little kid. Elena smiled at the memory of her mom telling her the story of little Miranda telling everyone to call her Katie.

She read the letter one last time, closed her eyes and crumpled the letter to a small ball. She grabbed her lighter from the top of her dresser and began burning the piece of paper. When she was done, she collected the burned pieces and threw them into the trash. She looked outside the window and saw her friends and Damon with a bunch of other people walking towards the entrance. Sure, just five people or so, she thought and shook her head in mock disapproval.

Quickly, she walked into the bathroom and checked her mirror image. She wiped away the tear that had been escaping her eyes against her will and adjusted her top once more.

Ready for new, improved Elena to show everyone what she's got, Elena thought and winked at herself in the mirror.

One second later, she heard the door open and a bunch of people laughing and shushing everyone to be quiet at the same time entered. Elena walked out of the bathroom and quickly turned the music on.

The others were hanging up their jackets and coats and making themselves comfortable. Elena closed her eyes shortly and when she opened them again, she smiled the most genuine way she could muster. She caught Damon looking at her while letting himself fall on her bed. "Hey, babe," he greeted her and winked. "How's it going?"

"It's going great, moron," Elena smiled as she walked over to Damon. "So I assume we won?"

"We?" Damon asked and raised his eyebrows.

"Well, since I'm cheering for your team, yes, it's 'we'."

Damon shook his head and grinned. "Sure we did. "

A guy Elena had never seen before walked towards them and said: "Hey, cutie, how are you?"

"Are you serious, man?" Damon laughed at his friend's attempt to flirt with the girl who he was obviously talking to at the moment. "Elena, this is Alaric, he's my best friend and cooler no. 1."

Elena smiled and said hi.

Alaric stood there for a moment, then ran his fingers through his hair and asked: "Well, Damon. I guess it was good we brought the alcohol, here doesn't seem to be some…"

"You brought alcohol?" Elena asked relieved. "Oh thank god. I wanted to buy some at the service station but one of my teachers said I couldn't go out alone this late and insisted on accompanying me. There was no way I could smuggle some alcohol in… I already thought I had to stay sober, phew."

Alaric smirked. "No way. Come with me, I'll mix you a drink."

Elena hesitated. She glanced at Damon who nodded encouragingly as if saying "he's okay." Elena smiled shyly and followed Alaric to Caroline's dresser who some of the new arrivals must have transformed into a bar.

"Are you not going to ask me what I want?" she asked Alaric who had already begun mixing substances.

"No," he replied and winked at her surprised face. "Don't worry, I won't roofie you or anything. You can watch my every move."

Elena's smile slipped for a brief moment, but she got herself under control pretty fast and forced herself to look nonchalant. "Are you at least telling me what you're mixing there?"

The guy smirked. He was cute. "Sex on the beach."

Elena smiled and shook her head. When she looked around, she noticed that Matt was there, horsing around with some of his friends. Searching the room with her eyes, she found Caroline talking to Bonnie. She looked pretty grumpy. Oh no, Elena thought. Something went wrong. Why aren't they on their date?

"Here you go," Alaric said and handed the drink to her.

She thanked him and took a sip, swallowed and coughed a little. "What the hell?" she asked. "Sure this is a sex on the beach, and not pure vodka?"

"Well, let's say I accidentally put a little too much of it in," Alaric winked and disappeared in the crowd.

Elena took another sip and closed her eyes at the burning of the alcohol in her throat. At least she'd get drunk fast.

When she had half finished her cocktail within two minutes, Anna from the cheerleader squad stalked towards her. "Hey, Elena, I missed you tonight," she said and leaned against the bar. "I'm glad you're better now."

"Yeah, me too," Elena said while emptying her glass.

"So… I heard you're from New York City? What's it like? My boyfriend is going to go to a college there."

"Well, it's certainly bigger than this dump. And louder. And there are more and cooler parties. Here, it's kinda lame sometimes," Elena admitted, hoping Anna wouldn't be offended.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Anna said. "I'm from San Francisco. But no worries, you'll get used to it eventually."

"If you say so," Elena said, already feeling the effect of the alcohol she'd drunk kick in. She should have eaten something before emptying a whole glass of (almost) pure vodka within less than five minutes. "Why are you here? I mean, I'm sure there're a hundred other boarding schools nearer to San Francisco than this one."

"Says the girl from NYC," Anna joked and filled her paper cup with punch. "But you're right. It's sort of a tradition in my family to go here. My mom did, and so did her mom and hers and so on. I didn't exactly have a choice."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you don't like it here," Elena said and smiled a little.

"No, I actually like it," Anna replied truthfully. "I mean, there's always a lot of bitchiness in school with all the girls, but on the weekends we can meet up with the boys. Apropos boys, have you seen Jeremy? The tall guy with the brown hair?"

"No, sorry," Elena said. "Is this Jeremy your boyfriend?"

"Yeah," Anna said absently and looked around. "I guess I'll look for him before he gets drunk and does something he'll regret tomorrow… Bye."

With that, the tiny black-haired girl left, disappearing in the crowd. Elena put her empty glass on the dresser-bar-whatever-it's-called and mixed with the other guests, closing her eyes and getting lost in the music. She put her arms in the air and danced to the music, feeling how her mind was dizzying by the second.

She didn't have any idea of how much time had passed when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked into piercing blue ones.

"May I join?" Damon asked.

Elena just nodded and put her arms on his shoulders, his coming up to her waist without pulling her towards him. He was still trying to preserve distance between the two of them to not make her feel uncomfortable. She smiled at his modesty.

"You're enjoying the party? Alaric told me he mixed you a sex on the beach," Damon said, trying not to smirk.

"Already finished it," she said proudly and pulled him a little closer.

Damon looked a little surprised but shrugged and they danced a few minutes in silence.

"Too bad we don't have a ping pong table here," Elena said suddenly.

"So we could play beer pong?" Damon asked, reading her mind. "Yeah, too bad."

"How about some other game then?" Elena asked excited. "We could play 'spin the bottle' or 'seven minutes in heaven'?"

Damon laughed. "What are we? Twelve?"

Elena pouted. "I always liked those games. We could just pretend to be middle schoolers for one night."

Damon shook his head in amusement. "Okay, why not," he finally said. "Grab a bottle, babe, I'll look for some people to join us."

"Okay," she said and smiled.

Damon returned the smile and kissed her on her forehead. "Go ahead."

Elena was too drunk to notice the expression on his face and Damon was glad about it. He turned around to find Alaric and the others.

Meanwhile, Elena was trying to find an empty bottle. All she found was an almost-empty vodka bottle, meaning there was still a fourth of the liquid in it. She shrugged and chugged the remaining content.

"Got one!" she shouted and fought her way through the dancing people to Damon, Alaric, Matt, Caroline and Vickie.

"So what do you want to play exactly? Seven minutes or spin the bottle?" Vickie asked, being, just like Elena, not-so-sober.

"Let's start with a normal spin the bottle game and see where it gets us," the girl winked and spun the bottle.

It stopped at Alaric. Elena grinned. "Uh, I get to kiss the bar tender."

She leaned over and grabbed his face, pulling it towards hers and closing her mouth over his. Her tongue easily slid through his opened lips and quickly found his to circle around with. She bit his bottom lip slightly causing him to moan out loud. She opened her eyes and let go.

Licking her lips, Elena said: "Who's next?"

She caught Damon's glance and saw… confusion in it? Or was it disgust? Or something entirely different? She couldn't tell.

As she focused back on the game, she realized Vickie had spun the bottle. It pointed to Matt. "Ew, gross, I'm not gonna kiss my brother," the girl said disgusted.

"Turn once more," Damon suggested and she did.

This time it pointed to Damon. He smirked and bent over to Vickie. As their lips touched, Elena was glad she'd drunk so much. When he opened his mouth for her, she looked away and searched for Bonnie with her eyes. She found her, to Elena's huge surprise, making out with this Chris guy. Elena smiled. They looked cute.

Someone next to her cleared their throat and she noticed the bottle had been spun already. And it was pointing to her. She looked from the bottle to Damon who was looking at her as if asking for permission. No, she thought. I'm not kissing him here. Not in front of all the others. Not when he's looking at me like I'm a broken toy.

She didn't have any other idea to get out of this than pretending to have to throw up. She held up one finger and covered her mouth with her other hand, quickly standing up and running towards the bathroom.

She threw the door open and nearly did puke. Jeremy and Anna were in there. And neither of them wore clothes. She quickly closed the door again, hearing a "get the fuck out!" shouted after her.

She leaned against the wall next to the door and slid down. She felt dizzy; and for whatever reason, she was hungry as hell. She hadn't eaten anything since the cake Damon had brought that afternoon.

"Elena? Are you okay?" the voice of said guy said.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm?" was all she could muster to get out.

"Come here," Damon said sympathetically. "Take my hand; I'll help you get up."

She did as he asked her to and stood up. When she wanted to let go of his hand, he only grabbed it tighter and supported her with an arm around her waist. She wanted to protest, but only that one small move would have sent her falling on her ass if Damon hadn't held on to her, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Come with me," he said quietly and led her out of the party into the visitor's toilet all the way down the corridor. He closed the door behind them and lifted her up to sit her down between two of the basins. He pushed her hair out of her face and looked her in the eyes.

"Do you need to throw up?" he asked worriedly.

Elena tried to focus on him and look serious. "No, I don't think so."

His hands were still around her head, his thumbs stroking her cheeks softly. "Then why did you run from kissing me? Is it because of Sh…"

Her hand went forward, originally intended to cover his mouth and keep him from saying Shane's name, but she missed her goal and hit him slightly on his nose.

His surprised expression made her laugh. "No, I… I couldn't stand the expression on your face when you looked at me."

He knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… You know, this look on your face. Look in the mirror, don't you see it?"

"You mean me being absolutely dashing? Gorgeous? Irresistible?" he asked and wiggled his eyebrows.

She nudged his shoulder lightly and giggled. "No, " she said, remembering what she was trying to tell him. "You look at me like you can't touch me. Like you can't stand looking at the girl who's almost been raped—" She broke off and avoided his eyes.

"Elena, Elena, look at me," he whispered, cupping her face with his hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. "You got that completely wrong. I'm just unsure of how to deal with all of this…"

"And you think I'm not?" Elena was almost shouting, getting furious all of a sudden. How dare he excuse the way he looked at her with insecurity of how to deal with her? It was her who was raped. It was her who had to deal with it, not him. "It was me after all who Shane—"

"That is not what I'm saying!" Damon said, suddenly angry, letting go of her and stalking through the room. He stroked his stubbles and turned back to her. "What would you do in my situation, Elena? I have no idea about what you're okay with and what you're not. I barely know you. How am I supposed to know how to react in situations like that?"

"You know how!" Elena shouted. "I said I wanted everyone to react normal, to behave normal…"

"I know you said that! And if normal is for you to stick your tongue into a stranger's mouth and get completely drunk, then okay. But don't come to me if you do that to someone who's not as nice as Ric and takes advantage of the situation."

"What are you saying?" she hissed, feeling clearer now.

He stared at her with wild eyes. "If you keep behaving like some cheap little whore, it'll be no wonder if another Shane goes after you."

Elena flinched at his words. She stared at him for a long time, then she slid down the basin and slapped him across his face. Her lips began to tremble against her will and she quickly wiped her tears away before bursting out of the room. He had no right to talk to her like that. All she had wanted was to have a good night and forget about what had happened to her. And if Damon thought of her as a whore, he could fuck the hell off. Not her problem. But she couldn't deny that her heart ached at the thought of Damon thinking of her as a "cheap little whore".

She had almost reached her room, when she heard him shout her name after her. "Elena! Wait!"

She walked a little faster, but before she could push the door to the party open, he grabbed her by the wrist and turned her around.

"Elena, listen," Damon began. "I didn't—"

"Let go of me!" she shouted, trying to break free. "You've made your opinion about me very clear, now fuck off!"

"Is there a problem?" A guy behind Elena asked and looked at her. "Is he bothering you?"

"No, I'm not," Damon hissed and tried to pull her away so he could talk to her in private.

"I think you should back off, Damon," the guy said calmly and broke Damon's grip from Elena's wrist.

"I think it's you that should back off," Damon said and glared at the guy.

"Hey, are you ok?" the guy asked Elena, ignoring Damon completely.

Elena nodded. "It's… nothing."

"Are you sure? He didn't touch you without your permission, did he?"

At that, Damon turned him around and punched the guy in the face. Elena screamed and stumbled backwards as the other boy found his balance again and hit Damon back.

"Stop it! STOP IT!" Elena screamed as the two boys fell to the floor, hitting and kicking each other.

"What is going on here?" a loud and authoritative voice asked as the lights in the corridor were switched on, blaring everyone who was there.

a/n: phew, that was a chapter. Who would have expected this to happen? Well, to be honest, not even I did. :)

Tell me what you about it in the reviews please! And please don't be too harsh/unfriendly if you don't like it, but you're welcome to tell me why and make a suggestion of how to improve if that is the case! ;)

Note: the relations in this story are slightly different. Meaning, Elena and Jeremy are not related, neither are Elena and Jenna (Ms. Sommers!)/Jeremy and Jenna. I hope you won't rip my head off for turning Stefan into a girl, it's not meant to be an insult, it's just an important thing for this story. Plus, all characters, unless stated otherwise, are in the age of 15-19. So Alaric is about 18 like Damon in case you wondered. This also needs to be remembered considering their characters. They are all teenagers, so some character traits are different.

To other pairings than Delena in this story: It will probably be Caroline/Matt, Bonnie/Chris and some (hopefully) unexpected twist that you'll see in further chapters. But as you might have noticed, what I originally intend to happen doesn't always happen in the end, so don't nail me down on it. And I'm sorry, since season four, I'm not much of a Klaroline fan, so I'm not sure if it's ever going to happen… But there is an idea coming up in my mind so maybe there will be Klaroline after all… :)

Ps. In case you think Chris is a person I made up, you're wrong: it's the hybrid that Jeremy killed a few episodes ago! If you have any other questions, pm or ask me in the reviews!

xoxo hana