A/N: Thank you all for your lovely comments and patience. I`ve been quite busy at work and at home. I hope you`ll enjoy this chapter.

Caroline and Bonnie arrived at the Lake House before dawn. They had both went to their respective houses to pack a bag for the night. The plan was for Caroline to stay outside with Kol, and keep him away from the Lake House, and for Bonnie to stay with Jeremy, and get his mind off the whole vampire business.

As they pulled into the driveway, they witnessed Jeremy being pushed hard against a tree by Kol. The Original vampire had a sadistic smile on his face when he lifted the young hunter up by the throat, Jeremy's feet leaving the ground. Damon was sitting on the nearby picnic table, arms crossed and frowning. Still he did not lift a finger to help Elena's brother.

"Are these beautiful creatures my new groupies?" Kol said, flashing a smile in the girls' direction. Caroline rolled her eyes at him and saw Bonnie lift both her hands in front of her in the boys' direction.

The Original vampire automatically dropped his grip on Jeremy, and started yelling in pain, grabbing his head, and falling on the ground. Damon soon followed his lead, screaming in agony.

Jeremy got up and went to meet the girls, looking relieved to see Bonnie. He was limping and had bruises covering his body, from head to toes.

Bonnie lowered her right hand, the one inflicting pain to Damon, and the eldest of the Salvatores gasped at her.

"Why are you witchy migraining me?!"

"You were letting him hurt Jeremy" Bonnie answered, fire burning in her eyes. Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"Yeah! He's learning to take and give blows!" Damon told her, as if she was stupid. "If I'd stop him from getting hurt, then there wouldn't be any need for training, now would there. He needs to learn how to defend himself!"

"It's okay Bonnie" Jeremy said, smiling at her.

She looked up in his eyes, and then dropped her other hand to her side, glaring at Kol with animosity.

He pulled himself up and looked at her, and started advancing on her menacingly, but Caroline stepped in front of her friend to stop him in his track. He met her eyes and then grinned.

"Oh, Caroline, right?" He had lost his threatening look and had his cheeky smile back on. He looked Caroline up and down longingly and continued "Too bad you're my brother's gal, 'cause I'm sure I'd have a lot of fun with you, sugar."

"In your dreams, asshole" she replied back, disgusted.

"Oh I love a fierce woman" he exclaimed, smiling even more brightly. "They're just way more fun in bed" he added, looking knowingly at Damon as if he was in on the joke. "I'll be patient, honey. You'll see, eventually you'll fall for my irresistible charms, and drop Klaus without thinking twice about it."

Caroline scoffed at him. "First of all, I'm not Klaus' girlfriend. We're just friends, you besotted little freak. And secondly, I'm here to keep you in line tonight, so don't even think about playing the big old Original badass card."

"Oh so you're gonna keep me in line now?" he asked visibly amused. "You wouldn't even be able to stop me if I decided on playing the Original badass card, babe".

Caroline was about to retort but was stopped by a familiar voice coming from behind them.

"No, but I would".

They all turned to see Klaus standing next to Caroline's car. He had undoubtedly ran all the way to their location, as his car was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh great, this gets better and better by the minute" Damon grumbled.

Klaus passed by Caroline without so much as glancing her way, and stopped in front of Kol.

"They will not need you tonight, brother. Let them get some rest. You'll be back soon enough, tomorrow morning."

Kol looked like he was about to argue but after looking up at his older brother's face, he simply nodded. The two Originals passed by Caroline and her friends, Kol giving them a "I'll see you tomorrow" look. And they both ran at vampire speed, through the forest.

"Well it seems you won't be needed Blondie" Damon said. "Your knight in shining armour came to take Kol-the-dragon away".

Caroline gave him a hard look and just said. "If it's okay with Jeremy, I'll stay for the night. We never know… Kol could come back without Klaus knowing."

Turns out, Kol did not show up that night or the nights after. He'd arrive as the sun got up and left before sunset. Klaus never came back. Caroline and Stefan exchanged turns in keeping a look out outside the Lake House. Elena sometimes tagged along (coinciding with every time Caroline was on watch) and stayed inside with Bonnie and her brother, but no other vampire spent the night inside, as they weren`t completely sure if Jeremy could resist the urges to kill them…. even in his sleep.

When Caroline returned to school a week after, she was welcomed with posters plastered everywhere announcing the upcoming senior prom, and calls for nominations of Prom King and Queen. She had completely forgotten about the event and almost fell on the floor from the crushing sensation she felt in her chest. Wasn't she part of the Prom organization group? Sure she had missed the last month's meetings because of personal reasons, but how could she have forgotten such an important phase of her high school life? Prom. Prom without Tyler at her side. Prom, without the both of them accepting their rightfully owned crowns and sceptres. She had gone through her day like a robot, not noticing her friends' attempt at discussion on the subject. Bonnie, Elena and Matt had tried cheering her up, the two girls suggesting they could go as girl dates. Caroline had nodded absent mindedly, knowing full well Elena would have much preferred to be accompanied by Damon, and Bonnie by Jeremy… or Shane, it was hard to know what was going on with her witch friend's love life. Matt had said he'd already been asked by some cheerleader but he could cancel his engagement if she wanted. Caroline refused flatly. Matt deserved to have a real date at such an important part of his teenage life, and not some miserable friend who'd probably be moping over his shoulder all night. As for Stefan, Caroline knew he would not go and would probably be drinking himself to sleep.

After a few days of reminiscing, she had decided on simply not going. Yes, Caroline Forbes was going to ditch her senior prom night. When she announced her decision to her friends, they reacted quite violently, Elena even blurting out "Well if you absolutely want to have a date to prom, why don't you ask Klaus?"

Caroline had been taken aback and asked herself why she hadn't thought about it before. Okay, he hadn't returned her calls from the last few days and he had seemed to be avoiding her. She had heard from Elena that he'd been visiting Jeremy and Damon when Caroline was not at the Lake House. Although she was too proud to go running after him, she just couldn't get the idea of inviting him out of her head. After all, Caroline was not going to go unaccompanied to her senior prom, and Klaus had proven in past events he could be of good company when he didn't act like a complete jerk or a serial killer. So two weeks after her last encounter with the Original Hybrid, Caroline decided on taking her future in her own hands and ask Klaus to be her Prom date.

When she arrived at the Mikaelsons' mansion she braced herself for what was going to happen. She didn't doubt one second Klaus would accept her invitation, but she nonetheless felt nervous when she knocked on the front door and patiently waited for someone to answer. A few minutes later Rebekah came to the door and welcomed her with a sneer, before leading her to Klaus' study. The Hybrid was comfortably seated in a leather chair, a sketchbook on his lap, busy drawing something. He didn't even glance up when she entered the room and Rebekah left them alone.

She cleared her throat.

"Hey" she started. "You haven't returned my calls or messages. What's wrong?"

He looked up quickly and then back at his sketchbook before answering.

"Sorry Caroline, but I've been quite busy".

"Doing what? Sketching? Seriously, you couldn't take two minutes of your precious time to return my calls?"

His mouth was in a straight line and he kept his gaze on his parchment paper when he answered.

"What do you want, Caroline?"

She stood there in the middle of the spacious room, unsure of what she should do next. He was being such a D-bag to her at the moment, she was debating if she should just leave, or ask him what she had planned on asking him in the first place. She decided on the latter option.

"Well I wanted to ask you out on a date, but judging by the looks of it, you're not very interested."

He scoffed and smirked sarcastically.

"Sure you were. Planning another murder attempt on me, no doubt. Have your friends set you up for this again?"

"Stop it! I told you I wouldn't go along with that anymore. You said you trusted and believed me!"

He moved so fast she didn't even see him coming. He got up from his seat and was right in her face the next second, anger disfiguring his face.

"Yes, well this has all changed now."

"Why?" she stood her ground not showing him how much he was intimidating her.

He answered her question with another question.

"When were you gonna tell me about you and my brother?"

"What? Which brother? What are you talking about?"

He looked at her meaningfully.

"Don't play the dumb card with me Caroline, it doesn't suit you."

"I'm not playing anything. I just don't know what you are referring to."

She was truly bewildered by Klaus' implications.

"I'm referring to all the nights you've been spending with Kol over the past two weeks."

She looked at him quizzically.

"Spent with him? What, you mean the 30 seconds between the moment he was in my field of view and the one he was gone? You call that spending time with him?"

"Don't mock me Caroline." He almost growled. "He's told me everything about how he finally got through to you, the way I was never able to."

"What the hell?" Caroline was confused as to why Kol would say such nonsense. Probably to torment his brother, she thought. Why couldn't Klaus see that?

"I would personally drive a stake through my heart, if I was ever gonna think of Kol in that kind of way" she said truthfully. "Ugh. Why would you believe such a lie?"

Klaus took a step back and looked at her with a stony expression.

"How can I be sure YOU are the one saying the truth? You've been lying to me constantly since we've met. Playing with my… interest in you, to my disadvantage. How do I know your big apology number the other day, was not another big snare attempt?

She looked at him sadly; hurt from his distrust towards her.

"I'm not lying to you. You can trust me" she said, tears swelling in her beautiful blue eyes.

He looked away unable to see the pain reflecting on her beautiful features. She was without a doubt an excellent actress.

"Well you'll understand if I prefer to rely on my family members, as they at least know and accept who I am" he replied as if he didn't hear her plea.

She walked straight to him and grasped his chin so he would look at her; their faces were so close she could smell his breath tinted with alcohol.

"You mean they fear you. I don't… most of the time. I enjoy you. I don't understand why you do things but …"

He stopped her in her tracks, pulling her hand down and moving away, back to his leather chair.

"Sorry but your plan to use me won't be working this time. I believe you know the way to the exit."

"Klaus, don't be ridiculous."

"Goodbye Caroline."

She had left the room and passed by Rebekah, who had probably been listening to their conversation, judging by her bitchy attitude when she escorted her to the front door. Caroline never thought this meeting would end the way it did, and she felt heartbroken by Klaus' rejection and mistrust. She knew exactly who she'd turn her frustration on, though. She wanted to tear Kol's eyes out right that instant, for making up such bullshit. What were his motives for doing this anyway?

She had gone to Bonnie's place that same evening, to pick her friend up before heading to the Lake House. She had kept quiet through the whole ride, and when they arrived at their destination and saw Kol, she had blurred to his side and punched him hard in his face.

He spit out some blood (good she had hurt him) before looking at her with a cocky smile.

"Well someone's feeling naughty. I'm all S&M honey, so, what do you say, your place or my place? I'm sure Klaus would be delighted to hear us have a go at it."

She tried to punch him again, but he grabbed her hard and twisted her arm in her back, seizing her by the throat in the process.

"Careful now, sweet Caroline. One doesn't have a chance to hit an Original twice in one's life. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself."

Caroline was so pissed at him she didn't even think about being scared.

"Leave her alone" Bonnie said stepping closer to them.

"Oh, mind your own business, witch." Kol said menacingly.

"I said let go…" Bonnie continued.

Caroline grabbed Kol's arm and bit him hard. He automatically released his grip on her, and she turned around to face him.

"Why did you lie to Klaus about us?"

"I did?" he asked with a shocked face, tilting his head to the side. "I thought you and I were an item darling" he said advancing on her.

"I'm sad that you can't acknowledge the chemistry between the two of us" he added.

"Stop it you freak!" she cried out. "Don't take your dreams for reality."

He smiled at her.

"Oh believe me sugar, my dreams are way more kinky than what I've told my big brother". He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"You disgust me, get out of my sight!" Caroline yelled.

In a second he was right in her face.

"Oh you give me orders now…" he said with a smirk that was gone the next moment. "You see, my brother might be all sickly sweet with you and put up with all your whims, but make no mistake, I'm not Klaus. You are a mere baby vampire that I could easily kill with a snap of my fingers. Remember that."

Caroline took a step back from him, slowly feeling the adrenaline leave her system.

"Nonetheless" he added "I am expected somewhere else."

And with that, he left the Lake House at vampire speed.

A few days later, Caroline was lying in her sleeping bag outside the Lake House, remembering her confrontation with Kol like it happened the night before, and it still sent shivers down her spine. She had stupidly thought she was safe around the other Originals because Klaus would never allow them to hurt her. Now, she wasn't sure it was still the case.

She was looking directly at the brightest star in the sky above her. She didn't recognize the different constellations up above, but thought she remembered one called the Greater Dog that had the most brilliant star attached to it. Sirius, the Dog Star, she remembered its name now.

She heard a sound and turned her head to find a deer watching her from a safe distance. She quickly noticed the bright spot dancing in front of her eyes and realized she must have been staring at Sirius for too long as it seemed to have imprinted itself on her retina.

Her mind wandered to Klaus and how much she missed him. Like the shining star above her, when Klaus was around her, her eyes would automatically be drawn to him, even when she did her best to avoid him. And now that he was away from her, all she could think of was him. He had incrusted himself in her soul and she just could not shake him off, no matter how hard she tried.

She had felt sure he would have jumped on the occasion to go on a second date with her, but instead, he had pushed her away as if he no longer cared for her. This was all Kol's fault.

But she told herself that at least, she wouldn't go unaccompanied to prom. A few days ago, the girls had learned that Damon and Jeremy were leaving town to go on a vampire hunting trip in the nearby towns. Since all three girls were left behind by the men they wished to have at their arms, they finally agreed on going as girl dates.

Klaus threw the balled-up piece of paper he had been drawing on, into the fireplace.

Another picture of Caroline. He could just not get her out of his mind. When she had come to him the week before, he realized how he hadn't given her beauty justice in his drawings over the past two weeks he had been away from her.

He had felt betrayed by her in a whole new different way when Kol had boasted about how Caroline was a remarkable kisser and how she couldn't get her hands off of him in their alone times.

"Well brother, you have her friendship as you wanted, and I have her salaciousness. All's good for the implementation of your genius plan." Kol had said smiling proudly.

Klaus had been so close to drive a dagger through Kol's heart that night, but he had kept his cool, remembering how he was the one who had told his siblings he didn't care for Caroline in a romantic way.

Still he was devastated to think Caroline would prefer Kol to him. Tyler, with his good small town boy attitude was an easy choice for the blond vampire. A very boring and safe choice, really.

But Kol…

When she had grabbed his chin and forced him to look her in the eyes, a mere inch separating their noses, he had felt an intense fire burning in the pit of his stomach and he had had to draw a great amount of power from the deepest corners of his being to get away from her.

He could just not trust her anymore. She had played him so many times he would not let her make a fool of him again. Kol and Rebekah were family; he knew they wouldn't try anything against him. As Caroline had mentioned, they feared him. And although fear was not a bulletproof reason for trusting them, he knew they wouldn't try anything stupid on him. Plus, they were the best companions and allies he could hope for in the moment, Kol being as cold hearted as he was (if not worse) and Rebekah, being the only one who stuck by his side even after what he had put her through over the past centuries.

He had had a nagging feeling for weeks now that something was being planned against him and now everything was pointing towards the Scooby gang and their favourite Trojan horse, Caroline Forbes. He would not play nice anymore. He would fight back. He needed to plan some attack and show them he would not be played for a fool again.

Prom night arrived and Caroline was sitting in front of her makeup vanity, Elena styling her hair and Bonnie working her magic on some makeup touch-ups. They had all gone on a road trip to Virginia Beach over the weekend, and had bought their gowns at Tiffany's.

Caroline's dress was a red strapless satin empire bodice dress, with a cutout at midriff accessorized by rhinestones, bugle beads and sequins. Her dress was in a trumpet shape and had a long sweep train. She had golden chandelier earrings and a large gold rhinestone encrusted bracelet on, and finished her outfit with golden stilettos. Elena was styling her hair into a side ponytail, with her long blond curls cascading down her right arm.

Bonnie's dress was a golden strapless sweetheart ball gown with a low torso bodice, chunky bead and rhinestone detailed bust, a full ball gown skirt with tiered metallic organza ruffles. She had golden jewellery and heels as well, and Caroline had pulled her dark brown hair into an elaborate updo.

Elena had a strapless navy coloured ball gown with a sweetheart neckline. Her fitted top was embellished in sequins that made it shine. A beaded belt defined her naturally fitted waistline, and the A-line skirt was overlaid with navy tulle fabric. Her brown hair was braided down her back and curls were coming out in the front framing her beautiful face. She completed her outfit with her mother's silver jewellery and shiny black pumps.

Now that she had her attire on, Caroline was feeling a bit of excitement for the night ahead and she had high hopes that the evening would bring her mind away from Klaus. She just could not get the Original out of her head. Their last encounter had left her sad and confused.

The girls had booked a limousine for the night, and when the chauffeur pulled in front of the Forbes' house and kept the door opened for them to get in, they squealed excitedly. Bonnie and Elena were jiggling and bouncing on their seats, thrilled that prom had finally arrived. Caroline smiled brightly at them, feeling the sorrow from the last few weeks still creeping up her throat. She pushed the feelings away and concentrated on the night ahead. She would have fun with her two best friends, and she would not think about Tyler, or Klaus, or Kol, or Rebekah…

"My dad's gonna be a chaperone at the dance…" Bonnie said, visibly unhappy.

Mr. Hopkins, Bonnie's father, had replaced Carol as the town's Mayor and Bonnie was not thrilled with the idea. She felt like he took the job to have a closer look on what was going on with the supernatural world that Mystic Falls was immersed in, and she was afraid that eventually he would stick his nose where he shouldn't.

"It's gonna be alright Bon, if you want him to freak out, you should ask Shane to dance with you tonight" Elena said laughing.

Over the past weeks, Elena's relationship with Damon had grown stronger and Caroline had to admit her friend looked happy and radiant. Although Caroline still preferred Stefan over Damon, she found she could no longer judge Elena about who she chose to be with. She knew her friend could not help having feelings for the eldest Salvatore, just as she could not herself help the ones she had for a certain Hybrid.

"Oh I'm sure he'd freak out even more if he knew Shane was not only teaching me History" Bonnie added smiling. "Magic has never been his favourite subject".

The two girls noticed Caroline's disinclination and looked at each other before nodding in agreement. Elena took Caroline's left hand and Bonnie took her other one, channelling some positive energy to push away her friend's sadness. Caroline looked at both of them smiling. What would she do without her best friends.

"This is it girls, after tonight and the graduation ceremony, we're off in adulthood" Caroline said, feeling a lump forming in her throat.

"And we're going to face this together." Bonnie added.

"Always" Elena said.

They hugged one another again and before tears came ruining their makeup, they started babbling about their dresses and what songs they expected to dance on later tonight.

The girls twirled on the dance floor, having a great time and enjoying themselves. Some guys from the football team had worked out the courage to ask them to dance and Caroline realized she was going to be alright.

The guy dancing with her, Rich(?), was a good dancer, but she couldn't help comparing him to Klaus. Like how he was shorter than the Original Hybrid, and how, although he was on the football team, his shoulders were less broad and muscular than Klaus'. She also did not enjoy his busy hands grabbing her hips in a way Klaus would have never dared to. She had to compel the freak to keep his hands to himself, and at some point she simply told him to get lost.

Caroline was going through the crowd of students trying to find Matt, as he hadn't showed up at their meeting point earlier, and she was curious to see who was the mysterious cheerleader he'd come to prom with.

As if on cue her cellphone started chirping, and when she looked at it, she saw she had received a text message from Matt.

Care, need Ur help. My date's in the girl's washroom and says she needs help with her dress. Can U help?

She smiled before typing back.

Coming.

She made her way across the gym and passed the first rows of lockers before spotting Matt, standing a few feet away from the girl's washroom door. He wasn't moving and seemed to be in a trance.

"Something's wrong" Caroline thought.

The moment after, she was pushed hard against the lockers, her hands pinned behind her back.

"Hello Caroline."

Her blood bowled up when she heard the voice close to her ear.

"Rebekah" Caroline growled.

A/N: What did you guys think? Next chapter will be exciting and have lots of action. I hope to be able to submit it before the end of the week.