Hello, my lovely readers. This is Anna's story. I hope you like it and sorry about the long wait. On with the show…
Chapter 22: Top of the Pyramid
Anna Zhou felt miserable surrounded by her friends. She tried, for their sakes, to pretend to be her old, perky self but it didn't work that well. Instead, she sat on the Salvatore's sundeck, watching them chat and laugh at each other's jokes. If only she could graduate and end this period of her life. She felt like she needed to be with her mother more than this group.
"Anna!" Hayley Marshall called, chewing on the end of the pen she gripped in her right hand, balancing a notepad on her thigh. "Who would you most like to go out with this year?"
"No one," Anna replied, slumping on her deck chair.
"Not an option," Hayley retorted, picking up a glass of lemonade and taking a sip.
Liv Parker broke in. "You know, Hayley, not everyone has to be coupled off."
Hayley's eyebrows rose. "But we're in our senior year and the winter formal is coming up, so we all need dates. Just because you're with the reigning King of the Geeks does not mean that everyone else is ready to settle."
"You did not just insult Ty like that," Liv yelled, getting to her feet.
"Cool it, Parker, we have an impressionable young mind in our midst," Hayley reminded Liv.
Anna looked over at Davina Claire who watched them with a smile. After Vikki graduated they knew they needed new blood on the team so Hayley recruited Davina. "It's okay," Davina told them with a laugh. "You're all kind of funny."
"Aren't we?" Liv asked with a hand on her hip. Turning to Hayley, she smirked. "Why don't you date Rebekah Mikaelson? You two seem to having a whole Orange is the New Black girl-mance vibe going for you."
Trying not to laugh when Hayley let out a growl, Anna shook her head at her friends. "You two should really try to be nicer to each other," she told them.
Scoffing, Hayley continued to write. "So, Klaus Mikaelson is off the list. Damon Salvatore is still on the list, for now… Hmm… Kol Mikaelson is available, again. Never date Stefan. Just never do that. Silas Salvatore is a maybe. Marcel Gerard is Bekah's. Where are all the guys in this town?" Looking around and not getting an answer, Hayley shook her head in disgust. "Oh, yeah. You're cousin, Kai,'s date material, right, Livie?"
"Sure," Liv did not sound so sure as she plopped back down and took a sip of her drink. "Can we spike these?"
"Sure," Damon Salvatore called, coming out in a pair of shorts, he walked over and waved for Hayley to sit up before taking a seat behind her. He pressed a light kiss to her shoulder blade and then looked around them. "What are we talking about?" he asked them.
"Who is going to be dating who this year," Liv announced. "Looks like you can take Damon off that list, Marshall," she quipped.
Hayley looked at all of them. "This?" she waved at Damon, "Is a show-mance. We're totally in it for votes this year. People like us better when they think we're a happy couple." Leaning into Damon, Hayley pointed at the list. "Who do you think Davina should date this year?" she asked him.
Getting up, Anna decided to go for a swim. She tossed her sarong onto the chair before hopping into the pool. While she swam back and forth, she thought of her mom who had made her leave the hospital that morning to be with her friends.
"Annabelle, you need to get out of this place," her mother had said from her hospital bed.
"No, momma, I want to be here with you," Anna had protested, pouring her mother a glass of water. She worried for her mother no matter where she was, so she might as well be by her side.
"Anna, you're not helping me sitting there." Pearl took her daughter's hand and squeezed it gently. "I love you. You are my only baby but you need your own life. One day I won't be here."
"Mom, please, I don't want to not be here with you," Anna had said on the brink of tears.
"You're so much stronger than you know and you have so much to look forward to," Pearl had replied, watching Anna cry. "Now, please, go, be with your friends. Do something like a normal young person."
Floating on her back, Anna closed her eyes, she could still hear her friends arguing about who should be dating who and Anna wanted to shout at them. "Who cares? This is just stupid and superficial. Who cared who got elected Class President? Who cared who took who to the winter formal? Who cared if you matched a pair of green pumps with a purple halter dress? There were so many more important things in life than all of that."
Opening her eyes, Anna felt startled when she looked up to see a young man looking down at her with a smile. "Hi," he called, waving down at her.
"Umm… Hi," Anna called back, moving to the side of the pool to get out. He reached down and easily pulled her out. "Could you?" she pointed at a towel behind him.
"Oh, yeah, sure, no problem," he said, grabbing the towel and handing it over to her.
"You're Kai, right?" Anna knew who he was but hadn't had the opportunity to talk to him and she didn't want to inflate his ego like so many of the other girls had been doing lately.
"And you're Annabelle Zhou?" Kai grinned down at her, holding out a hand.
"Yes. But everyone calls me Anna," Anna told him, trying to not blush. Kai really was hot. She had to give the other girls that much. "Not to be rude, but why are you here? I heard you're running for Class President with Elijah Mikaelson. You know that you're on enemy territory, right?"
Kai laughed. "Yeah. I guess I am. But I usually think of myself as being neutral to a lot of these high school politic games. I'm just here to observe."
Anna nodded. "Like a reporter," she teased and she noticed his expression turn blank before he started to laugh.
"Exactly. You caught me, I'm here on an undercover mission to discover the secrets of the modern teen," Kai told her and Anna grinned up at him.
"Kai!" Hayley shouted, coming out through the sliding glass doors. "Damon, you didn't tell us you invited Kai over," she elbowed Damon who smirked. "And I see that you and Anna are hitting it off," Hayley gave Anna an approving look.
Tightening the towel around her, Anna looked at her friend and then the guy in front of her. She wasn't sure she was ready to jump into anything yet. She still harbored feelings for Jeremy Gilbert even though he had broken her heart and had become the new head of the Chastity Club which made her queasy. "We were just talking," Kai informed the brunette co-captain.
"Yes, I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. But I could totally see the two of you together," Hayley cried.
"Leave them be," Damon told Hayley before taking her hand and spinning her around and then yanking her into him. "We've got bigger enemies to fry. Like Elena Gilbert and Elijah Mikaelson. Hey, Kai, how is your little double agent work going for you?"
"It's moving along," Kai told Damon who seemed pleased. "So far I know that Elena is planning to try to win some votes tonight at the Mystic Grill."
"Sounds like we have a party to crash," Damon said, kissing Hayley on the cheek and grinning at the others as Liv and Davina exited the house. "Who's with me?"
"I've got a date tonight," Liv said.
"No, you don't. We need your support," Hayley snapped.
Anna sighed. "Liv, go on your date. Hayley, we can do this one thing without the whole group." She watched Hayley while the other girl opened her mouth to retort when Damon whispered something to her.
"Fine," Hayley grunted. "Davina, you're coming?"
Anna watched the new girl look from Hayley to her. "Umm… I guess…"
"Good. Then we can set you up with a straight guy," Hayley cheered.
"Straight guy?" Kai looked confused.
"She was dating a gay guy," Anna explained.
"Now it all makes perfect sense," Kai joked and everyone laughed except for Liv who just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I've got to split. But I hope to see you there," he said to Anna, placing a hand on her arm and squeezing gently.
"I'll be there," Anna assured him.
Hours later the cheerleaders, minus Liv, left the Marshalls' each wearing short skirts with high ponytails. Somehow Anna thought she would never wear her hair like this again once she left high school. Davina also seemed uncomfortable while she tugged at her long locks. Hayley drove them to the Grill and would not stop talking all the way there.
Once they entered the Grill, a silence descended and you could almost hear your own breathing. Looking around, Anna spotted Kai standing near the bar with Elijah Mikaelson. Kai grinned when he spotted Anna who moved to meet her when Elijah placed an arm outward, barring the other boy from taking another step forward. Anna saw them exchange words before Kai headed toward her.
"Hi," Anna greeted him, tucking her hair behind her ear. "What was that about?" she asked him.
"Oh, that. Nothing. Elijah just told me that if I ran my gob he would cut out my tongue and feed it to his brother, Kol,'s goldfish," Kai explained in a nonchalant manner.
"That does not sound scary at all," Anna replied with a nervous giggle when Hayley walked past her and headed over to the bar. "Hayley!" she cried. "Oh, that's not good," she murmured, chewing on her bottom lip.
"What's not good?" Kai asked, turning to watch what Anna was watching.
"Elijah and Hayley hate each other and whenever they're near each other, something bad happens," Anna explained. Just as she spoke, Elijah turned around and spilled his drink on Hayley. And by spilled, Anna meant, he threw his drink on the cheerleader who began to yell at him and then picked up someone's order of onion rings which she flung at him.
"Looks like your girlfriend can't control herself," Elena Gilbert cried from atop a table and Anna turned to watch Damon walk up to her with a carefree air.
"She's better behaved than you are, Gilbert. Are you prepared to lose to Caroline in this election?" Damon inquired with a grin.
"Lose? To Caroline Forbes? No one likes her. Why would I need to worry about her chances of winning?" Elena scoffed at Damon, placing her foot on his stomach.
"Because she's running with you sister, Amara," Damon replied and Elena's cheeks flushed. Even Anna did not know about that little piece of information. "I believe that's called check mate," he said with a triumphant grin.
"You're going to lose, Damon. I'm going to take you and all your little cronies down this year," Elena cried, causing Damon to laugh at her. She suddenly shoved him away with her foot. Moving so that she was standing on top of the table, she clapped her hands together. "Attention Mystic Falls High School Juniors! Hey, I'm Elena Gilbert! You all know me. You also know him," she pointed down at Damon. "You know about his friends and his lackeys," she waved a hand at Hayley, Anna, Davina, Klaus, Caroline and a few other people in attendance. "He thinks he has control over not just the seniors, but all of us. Are we sick of the same old group ruling our school?"
"Yes!" people cheered and Anna looked around to find that they were somewhat outnumbered. Suddenly she wanted to leave the Grill while other kids looked at her like she was a Romanov back in Russia in the 1800s.
"Who wants to see someone else taking power!" Elena yelled at the crowd.
"Yeah!" they yelled back, shaking their fists in the air.
"We want change. When do we want it?" Elena cupped her ear, looking around with a huge smile.
"Now!" Silas yelled and Damon frowned at his brother while Andie Starr slapped a table and cheered.
"Now!" others cheered.
"Okay. Okay. It's our turn now!" Damon shouted. "Caroline!" He waved for Caroline to come forward. She looked shy as she took a microphone that someone had found. "It's your turn," he told the blonde.
Caroline looked around her uncertainly until Amara came to stand beside her. "Hi, I'm Caroline. And I know that my opponent, who is a good friend of mine, said that we're the old guard, so to speak. But I'm just like the rest of you, I'm trying to get through this whole experience… Sometimes high school is really hard. And it doesn't matter if you're the jock," she smiled at Klaus who grinned. "Or the goth," she looked at Rebekah who sat beside Marcel in a corner booth. "Or the outcast," her eyes found Katherine whose brows rose. "We're all trying to figure out who we are, what we want, how we matter. So, if you vote for me, do it because you think I'm trying to do things because I get where you're coming from, not because of who I hang with."
"Yeah!" people shouted and Elena folded her arms over her chest while Damon smirked back at her.
"You're going down," Damon told Elena and Anna rolled her eyes. She did not get what was going on between those two but she figured it had less to do with high school politics and more to do with avoiding their feelings for each other. Speaking of which… She turned to see Jeremy enter the Grill with Lexi and Rose.
"Someone you know?" Kai asked and Anna turned to him.
"Someone I used to know," Anna replied firmly.
Kai nodded. "You want to get something to eat in that case?"
"Okay," Anna nodded, smiling up at him.
They went to take a seat at a table that included Damon, Caroline, Klaus, Davina, Silas, and Elena. Someone made the mistake of causing Elena and Damon to have to sit across from each other. "Bonnie!" Elena cried, and Bonnie Bennett walked away from the counter which her boyfriend was wiping. "Come. Sit. Here!" Elena patted the spot across from Damon. "Someone get me another seat!" she demanded.
Kol Mikaelson appeared and pulled out another seat, shoving it under Elena's butt. "There you go," he said before grabbing yet another chair. "Move over, will you, Nik?" he asked, nudging his brother and shoving a chair in beside Davina. "What did I miss?" he asked them.
"How my candidate trounced her," Damon cried, smirking at Elena throwing an arm around Hayley. Either action could be the reason for Elena throwing a bread stick at his head.
Anna decided that would be a good time to get up and take her drink order to the bar. "Hey!" she greeted Enzo who looked happier than he had early last year.
"Hello, love. What can I get you?" Enzo asked with a smile.
"I think I'd like a Coke," Anna told him. She tapped her nails on the bar top while she waited until she noticed a large hand place itself next to hers. "Oh."
"Hi," Jeremy said quietly.
"Hi," Anna replied, feeling a hundred things at once.
"How are you?" Jeremy asked politely, looking down at her and then behind the bar.
"I'm… fine. How are you?" Anna waited for his answer, wanting to go back to a time that she would take his hand and lead him out of here and kiss him till everything felt better.
"I'm good." Jeremy nodded when Enzo placed her Coke in front of her. "Can I get one of those?" he asked. Enzo nodded and began to pour out the drink. Anna and Jeremy stood in awkward silence, neither knowing what to say to the other. "So, is that your boyfriend?" Jeremy's eyes moved to Kai who had started a conversation with Silas.
"No. I mean. I… This is our first date. If it is a date. We hadn't actually discussed that…" Anna looked at her feet, not knowing what to say.
"It's not my business anyway. I just wanted to know that you're okay," Jeremy muttered. "Good night, Anna."
"Good night, Jeremy," Anna replied, picking up her drink and walking back to the table. She wanted to go back and tell him she missed him and that every day hurt and that her mother was getting worse and that she still cared about him but she didn't. Instead she set her Coke down on the table and sat next to Kai. "Did I miss anything?" she asked the group.
"Just the fact that Elena is a sore loser," Damon snapped.
"You're the one who is going to be sore when you lose," Elena snapped back.
"Oh, get a room," Silas moaned, clapping his hands over his ears.
"I have a girlfriend," Damon said proudly and then he looked around. "Hey, where is my girlfriend? Anna, you seen Hayley anywhere?"
"Nope." Anna shook her head.
"She said she was going to fix her hair," Bonnie told them, "after Elijah dumped a pitcher of beer on her."
"He did what?" Damon looked pissed and Elena started laughing.
"Yeah. It's real funny. How would you like it if I did that to you?" Damon snapped.
"Try me!" Elena yelled back at him.
"All right," Damon got to his feet and grabbed a pitcher of beer from someone else's table. "Let's see how you like this."
"I'm going to go see if Hayley is in the bathroom," Anna cried, jumping to her feet when everyone at the table began to shout and Elena started cursing Damon to the fiery pits of hell.
"Your brother must be so proud!" Damon could be heard shouting back.
Anna walked past Jeremy's table and could feel his eyes on her. Moving past him, she entered the back of the Grill and shoved the bathroom door open. She looked around to find no one there. Hearing moaning coming from one of the stalls, she was about to leave when she noticed a pair of black combat boots on the floor. Those boots were familiar. "Hayley?" Anna called.
"Anna?" Hayley replied. "Oh shit!"
"Tell anyone and you're not going to live to do anything else!" Elijah's voice growled from the stall. Anna suppressed the desire to laugh before retreating out of the bathroom. Coming out, she looked to Jeremy's booth but he was gone.
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.
Guest: Thank you asking me to update and I hope you enjoy the story.
Peace,
Jessica