Chapter Eight

Caroline and Elena had just climbed out of the cab that had taken them from the coach station to Klaus' Hampton house. They pulled their suitcases out of the trunk, and then stood back to take a look at the huge house. Elena clutched her sunhat to her head as the cab sped off, and her mouth fell open. "How rich is this guy?" she asked.

Caroline just rolled her eyes, and started walking up the path to the huge, glass double doors. It was a huge house, made almost entirely from windows and boards of dark red wood. It was two stories high, with a grand balcony on both the front and the back of the building, and a wide, rectangular pool in the garden. The back balcony had a stunning sea view, and both Elena and Caroline were utterly in awe as they wandered around the house.

Caroline was surprised to discover that it was all fully furnished, right down to the scatter cushions on all the beds. To say that Klaus didn't spend time there, he certainly kept it tidy. Caroline automatically chose the biggest bedroom, and she and Elena decided quickly to unpack their things, and get straight down to the pool.

Before she dashed down to the pool, though, she took a moment to sit on the edge of the double bed, and admire the room. It was furnished with red and soft grey colours, and Caroline was immediately reminded of the charcoal suit and crimson shirt that Klaus had worn on the first night she met him. She wondered, absently, if this was the bedroom that he slept in on the few times he was in the Hamptons.

Then, a worse thought crept into her mind – was this the room that Klaus brought all of his Hampton bimbos up to?

She shuddered, and jumped off the bed, brushing herself down. After quickly changing into something a little bit more comfortable, she headed down to the poolside.

As they sat down on lounge chairs by the pool, Caroline conveyed an idea she'd been thinking about on her way down the stairs. "I think we should throw a party," she told Elena.

Elena laughed. "Our party's always go terrible wrong, Caroline," she replied. "And is it a good idea, throwing a party in your boss's house?"

"Not a party party," responded Caroline. "Like a gathering. Oh, we could have punch!"

"And who are we going to invite to this fabulous gathering, you know – aside from the three people that we already know are out here in the Hamptons with us?"

"I'll call Lexi," Caroline continued. "She knows loads of people. Everyone in the city is out at the Hamptons for the first week of spring – it'll be great."

Elena held up her hands in defeat. "Sure – go right ahead. You're right, it could be fun – and who knows, we might not be able to get out to the Hamptons again, any time soon."

Caroline squealed with excitement, and sat up on her lounge chair, digging out her mobile phone. She decided that two in the afternoon was a good time to start the pool party, and dialled Lexi's telephone number.

As soon as she had given Lexi the address, Caroline jumped up and dragged Elena back into the kitchen. "We need to make punch, so we need to go to the supermarket," she told her. "Let's go – only three hours until it's time to party!"

"Why did you have to throw a party already – we only just got here!" Elena moaned, but she was grinning. Just as Caroline was about to retaliate, the French doors opened, and Kol sauntered over to them. He was wearing a polo shirt and aviator sunglasses, and somehow he had already managed to top up his tan.

"Kol!" Caroline greeted. "So, you decided to come out here after all?"

Kol walked over to Elena and gave her a warm hug, pushing her back up against the counter. "Couldn't miss it – and I've already heard from Lexi that you're throwing a party?" Caroline nodded as Kol pulled off his sunglasses and tucked them into the neck of his shirt. "Great – I already took the liberty of inviting some of my friends."

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Your friends?" she repeated. Elena was giving her a sideways look, too – clearly they were both thinking the same thing. Just what kind of friends was Kol planning on bringing? Quickly, she pushed the worry out of her mind. Elena and her other friends would be there, so she would have backup if Kol decided to start dishing powder out amongst the gathering, and aside from that, she had hope for him. He had been working closely with Elijah since Caroline had been dragged to the back offices with Kol, so she was pretty sure he could make better choices, nowadays.

He nodded at her slowly, with a mocking smile on his face. "Did I hear you say you needed to go to the supermarket?" he beckoned towards the windows, where he'd parked his sleek black car outside. "Grab your purses, ladies, I'll drive you," he spun the keys around his thumb and forefinger. "Oh! But before I forget," he reached into his coat pocket, withdrawing a shiny gold envelope. "It's an invitation for this Charity Gala event in East Hamptons," he told her, as Caroline took the envelope from Kol, turning it over in her hands. "It's pretty dire, but there'll be tonnes of free champagne."

"Sure," Caroline tossed the envelope on the counter top, without opening it. "Let's go."

Several hours later, and Caroline's pool party was in full swing.

She and Elena were laying out bowls of fruit on the tables outside, where she was insisting they kept the party, much to Kol's displeasure. He had tried to sneak inside with a bunch of his friends multiple times, but Caroline was keeping the doors firmly locked. She could tell that Kol just wanted to get inside to cause trouble, or probably so that he could gloat later on that he'd thrown a party in Klaus's house, but Caroline wasn't having any of it.

She was sipping minute amounts of punch, and stalking around the party in her sunflower yellow bikini, determined not to let anything get out of hand. The party was really chilled out, with the guests lounging around on the sunbeds, playing volleyball in the pool, and sipping punch at the little outdoor tables. Caroline was thrilled to see just how perfectly it was going, with not one mishap so far.

She had even spotted Elena getting extremely cosy with Stefan's brother, Damon. In a shadowy corner of the garden, there was a swinging loveseat, and Caroline could clearly see the pair of them making out fiercely while the seat swayed back and forth. Caroline grinned – it was about time that New York gave Elena something for Caroline to poke fun at – she was starting to get tired of being the one that Elena was always teasing.

But, Caroline would leave her to it, now. When Elena came up for air, she gave her friend a coy wave, and she broke away from Damon.

As Elena caught up to her, Caroline was walking over to a particularly smoky area of the garden, where she was almost sure Kol was sitting in the middle of. "Stoner pit alert," she muttered to Elena as they reached the group, which unsurprisingly had Kol as the ringleader, clutching a plastic bong made from an old Coca Cola bottle. Uncaring that she was making a scene, she reached over to him and snatched the dirty bong from his hands.

"Caroline, calm down," Kol slurred, and his friends sniggered. "Come on, join us."

"Not going to happen," she hissed, and handed the bong to Elena, nodding towards the trash can for her to dispose it in. "Why are you trying to ruin it, Kol? You don't need to bring drugs into everything, you know. You knew I didn't want this stuff at my party."

Kol raised his eyebrows, and looked around at his friends. "Your party? This is my house, sweet."

"No, it's Klaus's house."

"Whatever," Kol replied, and she noticed that he was reaching into his pocket, and pulled out a packet of cigarette papers. Clearly, he wasn't going to bother listening to her, so she tried a different tactic.

"Please, Kol," begged Caroline. "If Klaus finds out you've been using drugs on his property, he'll go crazy. He already doesn't like us being friends, but he puts up with it. If you cause anymore trouble, I can't stay friends with you – and I really don't want that."

Kol's mocking expression faltered, and he stepped away from his group, and he and Caroline wandered a little way away from them. "I'll make a deal with you," he offered. Caroline raised her eyebrows, waiting. "I'll stop smoking around the party, if you come to the Charity Gala with me. As my date."

Caroline scoffed. Surely he was joking? But when she looked back at him, his face was deadly serious, so she rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. We'll go together."

"Not just together, Caroline. As my date. As in, we have to dance together, and when I'm showing you the fountains we'll have a kiss." Caroline continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"Calm down, Kol – there'll be none of that."

"Worth a try," Kol replied with a smirk. "Agreed?"

Caroline sighed. What did it matter, really? If she agreed to go with him, Kol would stop smoking junk around the party, and she would have someone to go with (as it was becoming increasingly obvious that Elena would be going with Damon). So she stuck her hand out and shook his. "Agreed," she muttered.

The next morning, Caroline woke up feeling wonderful. She had thrown a spectacular party, with little to no mishaps, and she hadn't even gotten remotely drunk – but she still had a great laugh. She'd managed to ask everyone to leave by ten, so that she and Elena could get to sleep, and no one had been sick anywhere in the garden. It was a complete success.

She sat up in bed, smiling to herself. She was in the Hamptons! Her first holiday since she'd moved to New York, and it was already proving to be amazing. The sun was beaming down, the spring air wasn't too hot or too cold, and she really fancied pancakes for breakfast.

So, she climbed out of bed and pulled on her robe, before wandering downstairs. The first thing she spotted was the golden envelope on the countertop, which she knew held the invitation. She switched on the kettle, and slit the envelope open neatly with a knife. The invitation was made from very thick, parchment type paper, and had been written out neatly in golden ink. Her eyes flickered down through the arrival time and the address, until she spotted the name at the bottom of the page.

Esther Mikaelson. Caroline raised her eyebrows. She had never heard Klaus or Kol mention their mother, much less her name, but it surely wasn't a coincidence. Mikaelson definitely wasn't a common name, and how likely was it that there was more than one ridiculously rich Mikaelson in New York?

Pursing her lips, Caroline wondered why Kol hadn't let onto her that this event was being ran by his mother – and if this was a Gala by the mother, wasn't Klaus attending? She strained her mind, trying to conjure up Klaus's personal planner in her mind, but she couldn't place a Charity Gala.

Right at that moment, her mobile phone started ringing. She picked it up, looking at the contact that was flashing up on the screen – it was Klaus.