Chapter 10: Winter break - Katherine
On Christmas day Damon showed up right after dinner and Renee and Phil took us out to see the nightlife of Jacksonville. Early the next morning we exchanged gifts and Damon and I got in his rental car and drove up to Mystic Falls.
During the drive Damon and I talked about how his week was and how he left for Mystic Falls 3 days ago. he told me about the history of the town, and how he was welcomed by his brother and the few "friends" he had there.
It was a pretty large city, definitely bigger than forks and colder than Jacksonville. We pulled in front of a large house. The Salvatore boarding house as Damon told me, a second house that was built after the old house he and his brother grew up in was destroyed. We went in and since no one was there we put my stuff in his room. Then we went for a walk in the town. He showed me around and we ended up in Mystic Grill, a place for pool, drinks as well as dinner. We started a game of pool and when a man around Damon's age showed up Damon straightened.
"Hey brother"
"Damon"
"I told you I'd be back, this is Bella"
"Hi"
He looked at me probably to check I wasn't compelled.
"Bella?"
"Charlie Swan's daughter. The name is Isabella but I really prefer Bella"
"Right, I remember Charlie had a daughter. How are you?"
He smiled at me and I smiled right back
"I'm very well; do you want to join us?"
"I'm waiting on Elena, my girlfriend; she went shopping with her best friends. I guess I could pass the time"
Damon made a sound and his arm around me tightened for a few minutes before he went back to playing. Stefan joined us and for a while everyone was tense, but then they both relaxed. I stood back and observed them. They looked relaxed but I knew from Damon how Stefan's relationship with Elena, the Katherine look-alike had been a sore point for them, I guess my being here calmed Stefan and maybe confused him as well. I was pulled out of my thoughts by the arrival of three bubbly girls. One of them, a pretty brunette with long straight hair moved straight to Stefan and hugged him, the second one, a blond checked Damon out and then moved to the busboy and the third one, an African American girl looked at Damon with such a hostile glare that made me want to hide. Damon simply smiled at her his arrogant smile and took my hand. He introduced me to them and they all felt silent staring at me.
"Keep watching, who knows, I might do something"
I said and sent them a way-too-innocent smile. The brunette, Elena, smiled and said
"I like you"
"Thanks"
"So you know?"
"Everything, yes."
"That's good, no more secrets, then"
I smiled at her and we moved to a table to get dinner. After eating Stefan, Elena, Damon and I went to their house to talk and get some sleep. As promised I called Renee and updated her to what was going on. As we went to bed we heard the moaning from a nearby room. I blushed and muttered
"This place needs thicker walls"
"Or we could try and be louder"
"har har"
After a long nice make out session I had missed we fell asleep.
Next day I spent the morning with Elena and her friends at Elena's house and I'm happy to announce I made a new friend. She told me about her birth mother who had my name and introduced me to her aunt, Jenna and her brother/cousin you name it, Jeremy. Jenna reminded me of Renee, maybe a less child like Renee and suddenly I was glad Renee lives 9 hours away.
After lunch, that girl eats a lot of junk food, we talked about the future. She asked me if I thought of changing and I told her that until this fall I really wanted to, but now I wasn't sure. I told her about Edward and she understood my trail of thoughts. She was thinking along those lines as well. I asked her what she knew about Katherine and whether she believed she'd come back. She said she didn't know but she believed that my relationship with Damon could survive that. I refrained from telling her that I believed the same about Edward and I and we spent a simple afternoon watching movies and bonding. Her friends seemed like good girls and I wasn't bothered by the fact that Caroline had a sexual relationship (and not only that as Damon had told me) but I felt a bad vibe coming from bonnie. She didn't seem to like me either so there was no love lost. Actually her friendship with Elena had suffered due to the founder's day fireworks incident and they were trying to find common ground.
I met Damon for a night in town afterwards and once again we had fun and slept really in the next day.
The next day I felt lazy so after a warm shower I spent the morning in front of my laptop chatting with Mike and Angela and telling the about Florida. I had only told Angela about the Virginia visit but I knew she wouldn't talk about it to anyone.
The same afternoon I met with Elena and Caroline to go outfit shopping for clubbing. After a really long time (you don't need to be shopping 5 freaking hours to buy a skirt & a top, do you?) and after that we all went to her house to get dressed. Obviously I was the first to be done so I walked around the house a bit.
I saw her brother writing furiously on a laptop and I joined him in the living room as I noticed that the book next to him was one of my favorites. Wuthering Heights. I hadn't touched since Edward and I broke up, I chuckled.
"School paper?"
"Unfortunately. I don't get these characters, why do they go around walking on eggshells?"
"Spirit of the time, it's one of my favorite books actually. You want help? I have a feeling your sister is not gonna be ready for a loooooooong time"
He accepted and I went to full teacher mode, explaining my take of the characters' thoughts and actions and about 40 minutes later his paper was ready and we had exchanged email addresses and phone numbers so we'd talk again.
I heard laughter and steps and I knew the girls were ready, Jeremy gave me a pat on the shoulder and a cheeky grin, I grinned back sticking my tongue out at him and I went to join them by the front door. We all piled in Elena's car.
I had a bad feeling nagging me all the way to the Grill but I ignored it thinking it was probably just nerves. Damon and I were together but we didn't date, we had our routine and were ok with that, probably the bad feeling was about the triple date. Thinking it would help no one if my mind was elsewhere I joined the girls' conversation about a new movie that hit the cinemas. I was feeling a lot better by the time we crossed the threshold of the Grill. Damon, Stefan and Matt were playing pool. All three of them were dressed in different colors and with a smile I realized that so were we. Elena had a dark green top with jeans, same as Stefan and Caroline was dressed in an interesting shade of blue that matched Matt's shirt. I had a hot pink strapless top and a black skirt while Damon was dressed all in black but the breast pocket of his shirt had a small design in the same hot pink.
We headed to the restaurant part of the joint, and we got a table. Over dinner we laughed with stories of their school and I even supplied a few of my own. We laughed with the photos of their Halloween party were Stefan was dressed as Spike and Elena as Buffy the vampire slayer. Suddenly I was glad I decided not to attend my schools Halloween party. I did however share stories of Mike and Angela and showed them the photos of them I had in my cell.
After dinner we went to dance and drink a little. Keeping my promise to both Charlie and Renee I didn't drink a lot but loved the sight of a drunken Caroline. According to Elena Caroline was used to being drunk so it was no biggie. We danced around had a great time together.
It was around 3 am as Matt and Caroline were leaving I realized that Damon was missing. He had left to get a drink about 10 minutes ago. Stefan and Elena were wrapped around each other whispering so I went to the bar to check if Damon was there, noop. I went back to the couple and asked Stefan if he'd sensed Damon around. He was as surprised as me as he checked and found him nowhere. Panicking I grabbed my jacket and purse handing Elena her and we went out in search of Damon. We didn't have to go very far but the alley on the back of the Grill. Damon was there pushing a girl on the wall and obviously having fun. I was just standing there, watching in shock as he kissed her. I felt someone behind me and an arm pulled me back, I wasn't moving though. Damon shifted and moved on to the girl's neck and I saw the girl's face. It was ... Elena? I turned to the side to see an equally horrified Elena and as I looked back at Damon it clicked. That was Katherine. I had a sudden flash back of Damon telling me how Katherine tricked him into kissing her therefore gaining access to Elena's house and killing her biological father. I felt ill.
"Katherine?"
