Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries and never will, but I do own Charlene Davis and Megan Swann and any other characters I come up with.

Author's Note: Hope you love the updated version! :D

A week after the Founders' kickoff party, Megan got a text from Stefan in the morning, saying that he was going to be going back to school. It brightened her day hearing that. She had missed seeing him at school.

She drove to school by herself because Charlene was MIA. Megan hadn't seen her since what happened in her room, and she was still concerned about her. She made it to the school parking lot before getting out of her car. Before she could start making her way inside, she was suddenly pulled into a hug. The familiar and comforting scent of her best friend enveloped her, and Megan hugged her back.

"Megan, I'm so sorry I've been such a bitch." Charlene immediately started to apologize as she pulled away from the hug to stare at her with a sorry look on her face. "I've just been…stressed about what happened with tomb vampires…not just stressed but completely out of it. Everywhere I went the blood was just too much and it was turning me into something that I'm not. Damon's been helping me with my control, and I'm doing so much better now. Please forgive me!"

"Char, calm down." Megan told her with a laugh, placing her hands-on Charlene's shoulders. "You've already been forgiven."

The blonde gave her a hopeful look. "Really?"

"Of course, I'm just happy you finally told me what I was wrong." Megan said, giving her a smile. "So, you're really doing okay now?"

Charlene gave a firm nod. "Much better."

"Then that's all that matters." Megan smiled again and pulled her into another hug.

"Thank you." Charlene mumbled into her ear.

"Of course." She whispered, breaking the hug after a moment. Her head turned at the sound of a horn being beeped. It came from Stefan. Megan's eyebrows rose at the sight of her boyfriend in the red car he had showed them during the double date. "Well, looks like someone has a new ride, well new ride to the students of Mystic Falls high school." She shared a look with Charlene before they headed over to him.

"Nice car, Stef!" Megan said, grinning. She stood in front of him as he pulled her into a hug and kissed the side of her head. Grinning up at him, she asked, "What made you bring it out?"

He gave a shrug. "Thought it was a waste of time to leave it in the car."

"Makes sense." Charlene agreed while Megan nodded. "I'm surprised you came back today."

"Like I told Megan, I woke up this morning, feeling great and I figured it was time for me to get back into things."

The blonde nodded. "Well, I'm gonna head onto class." She told Megan, turning to her. "I'll see you in there?"

"Of course."

Charlene gave her one last smile before giving a wave to Stefan, then she left them alone. Megan turned her body towards her boyfriend as a concerned look crossed her face.

"Are you really feeling okay?" she asked. "I mean, you know, with the cravings?"

"Yeah, I mean, the worst part is over so…now all I want to do is just spend as much time with you as possible." Stefan smiled down at her, bringing his hands down to her face to pull her into a sweet kiss.

Megan melted into him, her arms wrapping around his waist to tug his body towards her. If they didn't have to get to class, the kiss would have lasted a lot longer than it did. Megan whined a bit as he pulled away from the kiss, but she kept her arms around him.

"Megan?"

"Mm?" She looked a bit dazed as she glanced up at him.

His eyes were soft, "Thank you for helping through the rough patch."

"Aw, it was no problem at all." Megan smiled. "I'd do anything for you. I love you."

He kissed her forehead. "I love you too." He mumbled against her skin.

Megan closed her eyes and sighed in contentment. She stayed close to him for a moment before she finally pulled away, even though it killed her to do so.

"Ready to get to class?" Megan inquired with a smile.

"Uh, yeah, but you know what? I'll catch up with you." Stefan told her. "I'm gonna go grab my stuff. I'll be right behind you."

Megan frowned to herself. He sounded weird, but she brushed it off. It was probably just her imagination.

"Okay. See you there." Megan kissed him one more time before she left to go into the school.

But she didn't get that far, because Caroline bounced in front of her, startling her.

"Megan, did you hear the good news?" she squealed as she grabbed onto her hands.

She looked at her confused. "No, what are you talking about?"

"You, me, and Elena are in the running for Miss Mystic Falls!" Caroline squealed again, pulling Megan into an excited hug.

"What? How?"

Caroline pulled back at the hug, frowning at her. "Don't you remember, we signed up together?"

Megan tried to remember. It took her a moment, but she finally remembered.

"Oh, right." She said. "I remember now, but really? Why me? I'm not even part of a founding family?"

Caroline shrugged. "Well, I don't know, but still! Isn't this exciting?!" She grinned excitedly. "We totally have to go shopping for our dresses together!"

"Yeah, we can do that. Just text me the details."

"Okay!" She hugged her again. "See you later, love you!" With that, Caroline rushed off, a bounce in her step.

Megan felt a hand on her back, and she looked up at Stefan.

"What was that about?" he asked her.

"I'll tell you later." Megan informed, and he nodded. She slid her hand into his and they walked to class together.

"There was a disturbance at the hospital blood bank last night." Liz Forbes said seriously to Damon as they stood in the Founder's Hall. "Some of the supply was compromised."

"Compromised? You mean stolen?" Damon asked to make sure he heard correctly.

Liz nodded. "We almost missed it," she said. "The inventory records were altered but when the night manager was questioned he had no relocation of changing them."

John finally spoke up from his spot in front of the small bar in the room that they were in. "Meaning that the vampire who stole the blood used mind control to hide the theft." he said as if Damon didn't know this.

Damon forced himself not to roll his eyes as he looked over at John. "I know what you meant." He looked back at Liz as John lightly shrugged his shoulders.

Liz didn't really notice the tension in the room but if she did, she did a good job of hiding it. "We wouldn't have noticed if John hadn't alerted us to recent discrepancies in other hospital blood banks in the county."

"How lucky for us, we have John," Damon said in a sarcastic voice, looking back over at John.

"We're going to be stepping up security at the hospital, giving the guard vervain to prevent this from happening again."

"Sheriff, may I offer a suggestion? Why don't Damon and I put our heads together?" John suggested and Damon couldn't help but give him a look of disbelief. He hid a smirk as he continued to speak to Liz, walking until he was in the middle of the sheriff and Damon, "We can track down whoever is doing this."

"Truthfully I could use the extra hands." Liz admitted. She looked over at Damon. "Is that something you would be willing to do

Damon gave a nod. "Well, of course, I mean if it'll help." He said as convincingly as he could.

John had to hide a smirk again. "I think we would make a good team; don't you think Damon?" He looked over at Damon.

"John, whatever I can do to help keep this town safe; even if it means spending time with you." Damon said forcing a smile and John smiled back.

Charlene made it to History class just before the bell rang. During the past week, after asking Damon to help her, she felt a lot better about being around a large group of people. The smell of their blood didn't bother her anymore, at least not as much, but she knew it eventually would get even better.

Megan and Stefan entered the room, holding hands. Her best friend smiled in her direction while her boyfriend gave her a nod.

Charlene gave an awkward smile back to Stefan. They never talked about the kiss between them, but it honestly didn't matter. It was a mistake, a mistake that happened because of blood lust.

Megan sat down in the seat next to her. "Whew, glad we made it." She said in relief.

Charlene laughed as Stefan sat in the desk in front of Megan. "Yeah, well, it's not like Ric would kill you if you were."

"Yeah, the perks of having a teacher for a friend." Megan joked.

Speaking of teachers, Alaric entered the room, just as the bell rang. "Okay…" he started as he went to stand in front of the classroom that now only had one open seat open. "This week we're gonna set outside our regular curriculum for a lesson in local history as we approach Founders' Day. Apparently the community leaders feels it's more important than World War 2, but hey, what do I know?"

Megan looked like she wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but instead, she just laughed out loud. Everyone gave her odd looks except for Charlene and Stefan, who just smiled at her, and Alaric, who grinned in her direction.

Just then, Bonnie hurried into the room, gripping her books. "Sorry, I'm late." She announced.

Charlene glanced at Megan, who looked surprised to see her sister here. Did Bonnie not tell her she was coming back? The look on her face gave the answer away. No, she did not.

"Well, it looks like we will be at full occupancy today." Alaric said, giving a smile to Bonnie. "Welcome home, Bonnie."

She gave a brief smile before going to sit down in the empty. She smiled at Elena, but when she looked at Stefan, Megan, and Charlene, the smile fell, and she turned her head away.

The three shared confused looks, wondering what that was about.

After class was over, Megan had tried to catch her sister before she left the classroom, but Bonnie was already gone.

She was confused by it. She knew that Bonnie was still probably mad that Grams died, and that she blamed Megan, Elena, and Charlene for what happened, but she figured that Bonnie would have forgiven them by now.

Sadly, that wasn't the case.

"Bonnie!" Megan called out as she finally caught up with her sister. Elena and Charlene were right behind her.

Her sister turned to face her, giving an awkward smile. "Er, hey."

"Hey." Megan said, sounding out of breath. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back home?"

"I didn't have the time to call and let you know." Bonnie answered, but she looked away, making it impossible for Megan to believe her.

She frowned.

"How are you and your family?" Elena asked, concerned.

Bonnie gave a weak shrug, looking over at Elena. "We're dealing. It's been hard."

"Well, we missed you here, Bon. It wasn't the same without you." Charlene added as she placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulders. The witch flinched at her touch but didn't pull away from it. However, Charlene pulled away, looking a little hurt that Bonnie did that.

"Yeah, I just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral and, honestly, after you told me the tomb spell failed, I just didn't really want to come back." Bonnie admitted honestly, looking over in Megan's direction.

Megan nodded slowly. "I understand, but, I just wanted to call and let you know before you came home, so there wouldn't be any surprises. If I had known you would have acted like this, I wouldn't have told you in the first place." She snipped, feeling annoyed about the way her sister was acting.

Bonnie looked at a loss for words, but she didn't have any time to say anything about, as Caroline came bouncing up to them. Automatically pulling Bonnie into a hug.

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" she squealed, squeezing her tight. "Thank god your home!" She pulled back and clasped her hands together excitedly. "I know we talked every day, but I missed you."

Megan couldn't help but feel upset. Bonnie could talk to Caroline, but not her own sister. Charlene and Elena looked bothered by this too.

"How are you doing?" Caroline asked.

"Better." Bonnie told her with a soft smile. "Better. You know, glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy."

"Well, I can help with that." Caroline said excitedly as she grabbed her hands. "You need to help me, Megan, and Elena find the perfect dresses for the Founders' court."

"Founders' court? Did I miss something?" Elena questioned as she looked at Caroline, confused.

Caroline stared at her. "The Founders' court! You know, Miss Mystic Falls. They announced it today and you, Megan, and I are all three on it."

"Megan?" Charlene voiced out loud, looking over at her.

She shrugged. "I forgot I signed up for it, but I didn't expect to be in the running for it, since I'm not a founding family."

"Oh my god!" Elena exclaimed in disbelief, shaking her head. "We signed up for that so long ago…I completely forgot."

"So, are you dropping out then?" Caroline asked, and Megan tried not to roll her eyes at the hopeful sound in her voice.

Elena was silent as her eyes down casted to the ground. "I can't…" she mumbled as she glanced at Charlene, who frowned sadly at her, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"No?" Caroline frowned bemused.

The blonde looked towards Caroline. "Our mom is the one who wanted her to enter since I was never into those things like her and mom were."

"Oh…" Caroline muttered, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry…"

Elena gave her a small smile. "It's not your fault. Um, I'm gonna go." Without saying anything else, the brunette left and Charlene was quick to follow her.

Megan watched them leave sadly.

Stefan returned home from school, fixing the backpack on his shoulder. He was about to head up to his room but unfortunately was stopped by Damon.

"How was school?" he asked.

Stefan just looked at him blankly. "Fine." He said as he moved past his older brother.

But Damon was right behind him. "Yeah?" he pressed. "Same old, same old? Nothing new? No stories to bring home?"

Stefan stopped abruptly, turning around to face his bother. "You're making small talk, why?"

"You seem awfully chipper lately, less doom and gloom, a little more pep in your step." Damon smirked at Stefan.

He rolled his eyes. "And you think it's because I drank human blood again."

"I don't want to brag, but I would definitely take responsibility for this and improved you."

Stefan let out a dry laugh. "Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm clean."

"Yeah, not possible."

"Not only is it possible, but it's quite true."

Damon crossed his arms as he narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Stefan be serious for a second. You spent the entire last century in a half being a poster child for Prozac and now you expect me to believe this new you has nothing to do human blood. Nothing."

"I'm clean." Stefan said simply before turning around to leave.

"You're lying."

"Believe what you want." Stefan called over his shoulder as he finally left the room with Damon staring after him suspiciously.

TBC...

In...

Miss Mystic Falls, Part 2...