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Chapter 21: The Trauma of Homecoming Court
Standing off to the side of the football, field Damon wanted to vomit. This was just too much. "Ugh," he muttered as he watched the people acting so happy. They were cheering. Caroline was bouncing up and down at his side and he rolled his eyes adjusting his tie. This was so very, very stupid. Klaus was smirking at him. Elena was trying not to laugh too hard.
Stefan came to stand behind him. "Hey, are you ready for the announcement?"
Damon rolled his eyes as Caroline beamed and slipped her arm through his. "It's just for tonight and the dance," she reminded him quietly. Damon nodded. He had faced much worse than this adversary he was about to go toe to toe with. Squaring his shoulders he forced himself to smile widely.
"And this year's homecoming king and queen are… Mr. Damon Gilbert and Miss Caroline Forbes," the kid announced and Damon wanted nothing more than to rip his freakin' head off his shoulders. Walking forward with Caroline on his arm Damon smiled widely.
"I'm going to get a knife and gut that kid," Damon informed Caroline waving cheerily at the people in the stands. He looked over at Elena who was standing beside Klaus now. They seemed to find the whole thing very amusing. Damon tried not to show them the finger he desperately wanted to salute them with.
"Cheer up, mate," Kol whispered in his ear. Damon turned to grin genuinely at his new friend, Kol. For a time the guy had pissed him off but they had bonded and now he loved him like a brother.
"Hey, Kol," Damon peered over the Mikaelson brother's shoulder to see Bonnie Bennett and Rebekah Mikaelson conferring about the dance. Caroline left his side to join them.
"Bekah, do you have a date?" Caroline demanded.
Rebekah blushed, "No," she said.
"She'll find one. She always finds a man," Kol told them with wide grin.
"Dude, that's your sister." Tyler Lockwood said through clenched teeth.
"And do I care what you think you no neck jock?" Kol inquired.
Damon tried not to laugh. "Okay. Let's cool it." He did not want to be in the middle of a fight given the fact that this body was a lot more breakable than his old one.
"Why don't you go to hell, Miklaeson?" Tyler asked. His face was beginning to redden and Damon cursed his inability to stop what was about to happen. Matt Donavon came over to try to stop the upcoming fight.
"Hey, what's going on? I thought this was the homecoming announcement, not a showdown in some Western," Matt joked looking at the two men.
Kol smiled at Matt. "Ah, look another small town jock. I guess you really are a dime a dozen." Now, Matt looked pissed.
"Hey, Rebekah why don't you go to the dance with Stefan. He seems to need some cheering up. And he's a pretty good guy." Damon called to Rebekah who looked at him quizzically. "Tyler, man, when is the last time we went out and had some fun? I really need to hang out with my guys."
Damon just wanted to jump off a bridge as the words left his mouth. He did not like Tyler or Matt and here he was offering to be their buddy. Damn this world, "Sure," Tyler told him backing away from Kol.
"Why don't I join you?" Kol asked. "I'll get Jeremy and we can have another guy's night."
Damon tried to force a wide smile but he felt like his teeth would break as they ground together. "Why not." Staring at Elena, Damon just wanted to get in the Camaro and get away from these fools. They could see the world. To hell with this pretention of being a high school student. They could go wherever the road led them and she could turn him. He would adjust to this life. Might as well. There was a chance he would never go home.
Elena seemed to be thinking the same thing at the moment but then remembered who was standing next to her. If they left neither of them knew who Klaus would harm. Just because he claimed to buy into this grand baby making scheme of Caroline's did not mean he was not a liar. Obviously he was insane to agree to Caroline's ideas.
Forcing himself to walk over to Elena he looked down at her. "Hi."
"Hi," Elena echoed searching his eyes for the answers to what was going through his head. "I guess I'm off for another guy's night."
"Oh, and where shall we be going tonight?" Klaus asked with a wide grin.
Damon grinned back at him. "Sorry, tonight it's just the younger folks. Hope you don't feel left out."
Klaus looked at the ground, chuckling. "Oh, I will just have to entertain the women folk while you're gone," he replied as Caroline appeared at his side. He wrapped one arm around Caroline's shoulders and one around Elena's. "Off we go, ladies. Don't worry, Damon. I'll have Elena home by curfew," Klaus told Damon with a wink and Damon felt sick while he watched the ancient vampire walk away with the two most important women in his life.
"Come on, Damon," Matt called. "It's time to party."
Rolling his eyes and groaning Damon forced himself to begin walking. "Hey, Damon," Stefan called. "You said younger folks, so here I am." Feeling a smile tugging at the corners of his lips Damon wrapped an arm around his "not my brother" and they walked over to the group.
"We have to pick up my date," Kol yelled while they piled into Matt's truck.
When they arrived in front of the Gilbert's, Jeremy was waiting on the porch. "You who, sailor? Over here, honey?" Kol called with a high pitched giggle before he began to guffaw as Jeremy rolled his eyes and headed over to the truck. He hopped in the back with Kol, Damon and Stefan.
"Where are we going?" Jeremy asked them.
"To the woods to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall dance till we die," Kol informed Little Gilbert.
Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Dude, are you wasted right now?"
Kol began to laugh hysterically. "No, darling, I'm just insane."
"Self-diagnosed. That's somewhat disturbing," Stefan retorted with a grin. "So, we'll need to get some supplies. Like food and drink."
"I thought we already had those," Kol told Stefan with a wide grin.
Damon narrowed his eyes. "Very funny, Kol, How about not?"
Kol narrowed his eyes. "Is there a hunting goods store around here? We could go hunting for our food. I haven't gone on a good hunting trip in awhile." His eyes gleamed with mischief.
"We could go over to Tyler's and pick up some of his Dad's old hunting stuff." Jeremy added.
"Brilliant. See I told you we needed Jeremy. He is just full of great ideas." Kol told them enthusiastically.
"Yeah," Damon and Stefan both retorted with matching looks of uncertainty.
"Hey, Tyler," Jeremy called to Tyler. "Can we stop by your place and pick up some of your Dad's hunting supplies?"
"Sure," Tyler called.
"Before that we shall get booze," Kol told them.
"Yes, we shall," Damon told him. This was one trip he was sure he would not survive without booze.
Walking into the shop to purchase their supplies, Damon was accompanied by Stefan. "This is not a good idea, is it?" Damon asked Stefan who had become his closest friend during the months of his stay in this world. He really wished that he and his real brother could become this close again.
"No, Damon, I suspect something is going to go terribly, tragically wrong tonight." Stefan replied as he grabbed some beer. "But on the bright side we always have homecoming to look forward to."
"Do you think you'll get lucky with the Original sister?" Damon asked, raising his eyebrows while he grabbed several sacks of chips.
Stefan thought about it. "Something about her seems familiar. I just can't really place my finger on it. It's like we knew each other a long time ago." Stefan pursed his lips like he was trying to find a memory and was coming up short.
"Well, you never mentioned anything about Rebekah in my world. But I guess there are some things that are quite different." Damon shrugged. "Okay. I think we're good." They walked up to the counter and Stefan compelled the man at the register that they were both over twenty-one.
Walking out of the shop, Damon opened a bag of Fritos and began to eat. "Food tastes great. I forgot about how great food tastes."
Stefan shook his head. When they were back in the truck they headed over to Tyler's. The Lockwood boy went inside and then came out with several guns. When he started to hand one to Kol, Stefan jumped over him and took it. Tyler gave him a funny look. "He's just not good with weapons."
Kol rolled his eyes. "That's okay. I don't need one to hunt," he informed Tyler who gave him a quick nod before mouthing 'Nut job' to Damon and Stefan.
They drove out to the woods and walked to a little clearing. Sitting down, they began to drink and tell stories about other trips in the woods. Kol's stories made the humans laugh because they did not think he was serious. They made Stefan and Damon nervous. There were too many weapons and too much booze. Add in Kol and this was a disaster waiting to explode.
Tyler seemed to be growing restless as the full moon rose high in the sky. "I need to go shoot something," he told them. Getting up, he stumbled.
"Are you okay, man?" Matt asked watching Tyler make his way unsteadily away from them.
"I'm fine," Tyler snapped whirling around with his gun in hand. Everyone in the group froze except for Kol who merely began to laugh.
"Would you be careful where you aim that thing?" Jeremy demanded, shaking his head.
Tyler seemed to become angrier at the comment. "It's not even loaded," he snapped. "See," he proceeded to shoot a tree. "Oops."
Kol began to laugh harder. "Oh, you are such a stupid boy," he snapped.
Shaking with fury Tyler dropped the gun and walked over to Kol. "Do you seriously want to fight me?" he yelled at Kol who stood up, too.
"Come on, guys. Cut it out," Jeremy yelled at them.
"No, Jeremy. I'm not going to cut it out," Tyler snapped at Jeremy before turning to Kol. "What is your problem, dude?"
"You're the one with a problem, dude," Kol snapped back. "You stink like the filthy mutt you are."
"What?" Tyler asked shoving Kol.
Damon had had enough. "Stop it, both of you," he yelled. He could not believe this. Ordinarily he would be jumping in with both feet. This is what Damon Salvatore thrived on. He loved to fight. But Tyler had no idea what he was dealing with and he was about to die. For some reason that bothered him. 'Stupid, humanity,' Damon thought, gritting his teeth. If only he could turn it off. But he couldn't. He just couldn't because he was human. Therefore he had to stop this. Now. Before someone got killed.
Stepping between the two men, Damon stared at Kol. "Stop this now. You know that Klaus would not like this." What Damon meant was that he would use his own body to protect Tyler and Klaus did not want Damon dead yet.
Kol smirked and stepped back. "As for you, friend." When Damon began to step away Kol moved to punch Tyler in the face. Somehow Kol only connected with the side of Tyler's head barely brushing him. Damon wondered how Tyler was that fast.
When Tyler moved to hit Kol his fist connected with Damon's face as Kol managed to move too quickly. Tyler was too drunk to stop his fist from colliding with Damon's cheek and sent Damon falling.
Damon wondered if this is how Caroline felt when she fell from the top of the pyramid. Was it this slow drift until you connected with the earth? Just Damon's luck he did not connect with the earth. He connected with a large rock by the fire they had been sitting around.
The world was spinning and Damon heard the voices of his friends shouting drunkenly at each other. He felt a think substance dripping from his head. He thought about how much he wanted to see Elena Gilbert again. He wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted her to forgive him for nearly killing Jeremy. For all the stupid things he had done and said. For hurting her. For disappointing her.
Damon felt someone lift his head off the rock as the voices dimmed like they were farther away. "You'll be okay, Damon." He heard Stefan's voice. He felt warm liquid be pressed to his lips and he drank greedily. He knew what would come next for this boy he had never known but whose life he had just altered forever. The years of self-loathing. The fear of being found out. The denial of what he was. The attempt to reconcile the person you were with the monster you are or might be. Knowing you can't be the hero.
'Because… because you're the thing in the dark that hunts, that hurts, that kills… because you're a vampire,' Damon thought as he lost himself to sweet oblivion. He felt Damon Gilbert's last human breath slip between the boy's lips. The only good thing was that the boy was now useless to the Klauses of this world. The only question was what would Klaus do to them all? What not so divine retribution would the master villain bring down on all their heads? And what did it mean for Mystic Falls that this year's homecoming king and queen were vampires?
These were the thoughts that swirled through Damon Salvatore's head as he died a second time in over a hundred years.
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I will see you all next week with another exciting chapter probably about the homecoming dance.
Love,
LL