A/N: It's like a lot of you were asleep for the first five chapters, then the last one woke everyone up, lol. The reviews shot up for the last update and it was nice to know more people were tuned in than I thought. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for reading and reviewing and going through the ups and downs of this Bonnie's love life with me. I know it's hard reading about a heartbroken Bonnie, and I'm sorry for doing it, but we've still got a ways to go on this fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. This is intended for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 7 - Another Kind of Heartbreak

Bonnie hoped the next day would be different. People stared, people whispered, a few bold ones straight out asked her about the break-up. The moment Elena laid eyes on Bonnie she approached her. "Did you get my letter?" She questioned. Bonnie nodded. "Can we talk?" She seemed quite surprised when Bonnie actually nodded in agreement.

They slipped into a nearby empty classroom, the same one Bonnie and Stefan had had their last fight. "I want to thank you," Bonnie said. Elena appeared taken aback. "That letter gave me everything I needed to move on. Move on from you, move on from Stefan, and move on from this whole messy situation."

Elena appeared crestfallen. "I was really hoping after all this time you could forgive me and we could be friends again."

"I know you're used to everyone bending over backwards to get you everything you want but you can't always have it all," Bonnie lectured. "You had a choice between your friendship with me or your relationship with Stefan, and you chose Stefan."

Elena hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Bonnie."

"I am too," she said with understanding. "I don't hate you anymore, Elena, but I can't have someone in my life that would hurt me like that when I've been nothing but a good friend. Our friendship is over. Please respect my choice. I wish the best for you and him." And Bonnie walked out, leaving behind her lifelong friendship with Elena Gilbert.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, all the way up until cheer practice. Bonnie wasn't in the mood to fake cheerfulness, she wanted to go home and binge on ice-cream and Netflix, then cram in some last minute homework before bed. Pretending Stefan wasn't right across the field at football practice making googly eyes at Elena was going to be a lot harder. A quarter of the way through practice Tiki was perturbed by Bonnie snapping at her after the team had to repeat the same maneuver for the fourth time because she messed it up.

"Don't give me that attitude!" Tiki snapped back at Bonnie. "You need to be directing that anger at Elena, she's the one that stole your man."

"What did you say?" Bonnie asked through gritted teeth.

"What? Everybody knows," Tiki continued.

"Tiki, shut up!" Caroline cried, angrily.

"Why? Because Miss Prudish wouldn't put out for her man for six months and he did what any other straight guy would do?" Tiki said, venomously. "He found someone else who would give up the goods. And someone much hotter if you ask me." Before she could be talked out of it, Bonnie had blasted Tiki in the face with an open palm. The violent reaction caused and instant uproar as the other cheerleaders jumped in between the two as Bonnie went for another attack. Bonnie wasn't able to get to her again through the flurry of bodies, especially since Caroline was pushing her back, her blue eyes widened with panic as she shouted for her to chill out.

Bonnie wrestled herself out of Caroline's grasp and marched away from the fracas she created. She snatched her gym bag off the ground and looked up to see all the football players had stalled practice and were watching them, Coach Tanner included. Stefan was looking right at Bonnie. his brow furrowed and eyes full of concern. This made Bonnie angrier. The nerve he had to be worried about her when he put her in this position in the first place, and she turned on her heel and beelined for the parking lot, blocking out all the girls on the field shouting for her to come back.

Bonnie was still in a red cloud of fury by the time she got home. Grabbing a box from her closet and flurrying around the room, grabbing everything Stefan had given her, left behind, or remotely reminded her of him. This included the hoodie she'd worn religiously after he left it at her house, the ticket stubs from their first real date, all the notes he'd written her in class, and most importantly, Lily's necklace. Then, she was back in the Prius, burning rubber to the Salvatore boarding house.

All she wanted was to drop the box off and be free of him. She could do an Elena purge later, but all the remnants of her first love and the first man to break her heart, had to go first. She hastily parked in front of the sprawling property, grabbed the box from the passenger seat, and headed up the lawn to the front porch. She decided against ringing the bell. She knew Stefan was still at practice and the last thing she wanted was to come face-to-face with him anyway. She set the box right before the door, sighed deeply with relief of releasing herself on one of many burdens, then turned to head back. She heard the front door opening as soon as she hit the first step.

"Come bearing gifts, Judgy?" said the all-too-familiar voice from behind her. Groaning internally at her luck, she turned back to face Damon. He was looking down at the box curiously. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, it's a box of Stefan's junk," she confirmed. "So, go on and do your happy dance because it's official. We're finally over."

"Oh come on, Bon Bon," he said, stepping over the box and out onto the porch. "Does you breaking up with Stefan mean you have to break up with me? I haven't seen you in over a month and the first time we do cross paths you accuse me of celebrating your pain? I thought we were better than that."

"Please, Damon, we don't even like each other."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," he said. "I would say we are two kindred spirits of differing moralities and belief systems that come together in joyous, harmonious disagreement." He looked to Bonnie for a chuckle but she remained stone-faced. With a sigh, he settled on the highest porch step and held his hand out in invitation to the empty space next to him, looking up at Bonnie expectantly. After a moment of deliberating whether or not she wanted to commit to a conversation with Damon, she sat down next to him.

"There's something you have to realize about Stefan," Damon said in a serious tone. "He's stupid. It's a known fact that teenage boys are stupid. I know he has the aura of someone much older than seventeen, but he's still a slave to teenage idiocy and bad decisions."

Bonnie shook her head sadly. "He fooled me. I'm the stupid one, I was stupid enough to think he was different."

"My brother is a good kid, he's just made a mistake he hasn't realized is a mistake yet."

"Which part is the mistake? Not being with me or being with Elena."

"Bonnie, listen..."

"That day I came to bring him the soup and you wouldn't let me see him, was she here?" Bonnie looked at Damon with scrutinizing eyes, and he shifted uncomfortably under her hard gaze.

"Harping on the past isn't conducive to you moving on."

"I fucking knew it!" Bonnie cried, jumping up from the porch step. "All three of you were a part of this plan to sneak around behind my back and lie to me."

"That's not true."

"What, did she park car up the street or something so I wouldn't see her car?" Bonnie asked in an accusatory tone. "Did they ask you to man the doors and keep me from coming upstairs?"

"No."

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot! And that lie about the family emergency so he can run off with Elena! Fuck you, fuck all of you!"

"Hey!" Damon stood as well and spoke in a stern voice. "I've been doing everything I can to not get caught up in this Degrassi ass teen drama! Elena did come see Stefan that day and they both played innocent with me. Then you come in all unsuspecting and doe-eyed and in love and...dammit I felt bad, and I felt like kicking Stefan's ass. I didn't want you to unsuspectingly walk into something that was going to break your heart. You and I may not be the best of friends, but you were good to my brother, and I didn't want to see you hurt." Bonnie's back was turned to him but he could her sniffling and immediately felt awkward. Dealing with crying women, or any kind of emotional situation at all, was not Damon's strength. After a moment of deliberating on what to do he reached out and awkwardly patted her on the back. "It'll be all right, Bon. You'll be fine."

"It's so humiliating, Damon," she said, turning to him as the tears stained her cheeks. "Everybody at school knows he basically left me for her, and they're always together now like we used to be, and everyone thinks I'm some kind of prude. And now I'll probably be kicked off the cheerleading squad for slapping Tiki and - "

"You what?"

"This girl was mouthing off about Elena stealing my boyfriend and I kind of snapped."

"You hit her?" Damon inquired and Bonnie nodded. He nodded his approval. "Nice. Did you get her good? Black an eye, bust a lip?"

"Damon..."

"What, I'm just saying, if some bitchy cheerleader is giving you lip and you want to take your day out on her, make sure you send a message. Black eyes tend to do the trick."

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh and the chuckles soon morphed into sobs. Damon reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder. "You're tough, Bonnie, you don't cry over stupid boys." Her sobs lessened. "That's right. Toughen up and tough it out. You can do better and you will." Bonnie sucked back the tears and straightened her posture.

"You're right," she said in a steady voice. "Two words I never thought I'd be saying to you." She wiped her eyes vigorously. "Well, I should go before Stefan gets here. Can you make sure he gets the box?"

"No problem, Judgy."

She gives him the first genuine smile she's ever shot his way. "I'll be seeing you around, Damon." And she turns and starts away. He watches her go for a moment, then suddenly she's back, throwing her arms around him in an unexpected embrace that he's too stunned and awkward to return. "Thank you, Damon," she says, then she's gone again.

Bonnie correctly predicted the consequences of her attack on Tiki. The coach told her she understood Tiki may have provoked her, but Bonnie's behavior was 'unacceptable' and a 'direct violation of Mystic Falls High code of conduct'. She was withdrawn from her spot on the team and told to return her uniform and all cheerleading supplies to Coach's office immediately.

"I fought hard for you," Caroline told her, flanking her side as she took the walk of shame from the office back to class, no longer a Mystic Falls High cheerleader but just a regular student with nothing going for but her grades and fledging popularity. Caroline's sentiment was repeated by most of the other cheerleaders, all claiming to be Team Bonnie. Tiki didn't say anything to her, just shot nasty looks at every opportunity. It was obvious Elena wanted to apologize for Tiki being able to use her as ammo to hurt Bonnie, but every time she opened her mouth to speak Bonnie would walk past her like she wasn't even there.

As weeks passed Elena gave up on trying to win Bonnie back. As she became more wrapped up in her relationship with Stefan, she began to alienate herself from Caroline. Care was now spending most of her time with Tyler, whom she'd begun dating. and she was concerned about her clique falling apart because of boys, something they'd promised each other back in third grade to never let happen. When she'd voiced her concerns to Elena, she all but shrugged them off.

"I'm done feeling guilty," Elena stated. "I tried and tried to apologize. You can't help who you fall for, Care, and I'm in love. I'm happy, I"m not going to pretend I'm not." And that was that.

With no boyfriend and no cheerleading, Bonnie had to find something to occupy her time. She joined the volleyball team and was kicking ass. Hitting that ball with all her power helped to get all her pent up her aggression out. She quickly became the star of the team and soon people were talking about her athletic skills more than her personal life.

She and Matt were hanging out more frequently as well. They were there for each other through the hurt of their break-ups, and connected even more as friends. They could turn to each other for support after seeing Stefan and Elena kissing in the hall or snuggling under Oakland. It was happening so much, Bonnie was becoming numb to it, to them. She had bigger concerns with her sports, school work, and now ailing grandmother to be worried about her trifling ex.

Grams had unexpectedly fallen ill and spent a few days in the hospital. She'd scared the crap out of Bonnie who, just momentarily, had forgotten how strong her Grams was. Everyday since her mini-stroke, Bonnie was going to visit her right after school or practice. Now that Grams was at home resting comfortably she was insisting Bonnie stop spending so much time at her house.

"Tired of you fussing over me." Grams fussed herself one day as Bonnie fluffed her pillows. "I keep telling you, you don't need to be over here so much, I know you have things to do. Don't worry about me."

"Whine all you want, Grams, you can't get rid of me," Bonnie responded. "At least not for long. I'll be heading out in a few to meet up with Matt. We're doing some studying."

"You've been spending an awful lot of time with that boy," Grams looked at her suspiciously.

"It's not like that with Matt and I," Bonnie stated, truthfully. "He's one of my best friends, we've just been bonding more lately."

"Mmhm," was Grams unconvinced response.

"I'm not rebounding," Bonnie continued. "Next time I date, I'm going to do it right." She leaned down and kissed her Grams on the forehead. "No practice tomorrow so I'll be here right after school."

"I guess there's no use arguing."

"Nope." Bonnie gathered her things. "My dad is going to be here later with dinner." Grams opened her mouth to complain about being treated like an invalid but Bonnie quickly cut her off. "No whining. It's happening. Love you Grams, see you tomorrow."

Grams grumbled 'I love you too' , as Bonnie headed out the door.

A short while later, she was sitting on Matt's bed, working on the Chemistry homework with him. "I seriously can't wait until we graduate and never have to use this stuff," Bonnie grumbled.

"I could do without another Tanner class to be honest, but I'm not in a rush to graduate," Matt admitted.

"Why not?"

"What's waiting for me after high school?" He inquired, rhetorically. "A full time position at the Grill? Chasing behind my sister, trying to keep her off drugs, and still struggling to maintain this house because my deadbeat parents don't give a shit about keeping a roof over their kids' heads. There's really nothing for me after this. Definitely not Ivy League schools on my non-existent budget. No college, no football, no Elena..."

"Stop it, Matt," Bonnie said. "You have a bright future, you just haven't realized your own potential yet. That's okay, you have all of senior year for that, we all 's not like graduation is tomorrow. And Vicki still has a chance to turn around too. As for Elena...there's another girl out there who's better for you. I swear there is."

"You know for half my life, I was stupid enough to think she'd be the girl I'd marry."

"That wasn't stupid, we all thought that," Bonnie revealed. She reached out and touched his shoulder. "You would've been an amazing husband to her, and now another woman will get that privilege. Someone who'll be good to you. Hell, someone is going to have to pass those pretty blue eyes of yours onto a handsome son." They both chuckled

"You're the one that's amazing, Bonnie," he said, now settling those pretty blue eyes on her. "And Salvatore is the biggest dumb ass on the planet for giving you up."

Bonnie gave a small smile. "Thank you, Matt."

Instead of responding with his words Matt suddenly leaned forward and his lips were on hers. Bonnie internally shrieked when she realized what was happening and pushed him away. "Matt, what are you doing?" She cried.

"I'm sorry, I thought..."

"You're acting off of emotion right now, not an actual attraction for me," she stated. "You and I don't see each other that way, Matt. We never have. I understand you're hurt but you don't rebound with your best friend!" She placed her small hand over his. "Your friendship is way too valuable to for us to risk it by doing something stupid."

"You're right, you're absolutely right," he nodded. "My bad."

At that moment Bonnie's phone rang. She checked the caller ID. "It's my dad," she reported as she picked up the call. "Hey Dad, what's up?" The words that followed that question are words that Bonnie would never forget.

"Bonnie, what's wrong?"

Bonnie felt like she'd been hit with a ton of bricks. For a moment she couldn't speak, she couldn't breathe, as her father rambled in her ear. Then she was moving, grabbing all of her stuff and cramming her school books into her backpack.

"Bonnie?" Matt called her.

"I have to go!" She cried as she bolted out the door. "It's my Grams! I have to go!"

Bonnie had thought the realization her mother wanted nothing to do with her was the worst moment of her life. She thought this again when her first love left her for her best friend. Nothing she had been through in her sixteen years compared to losing her Grams. Miss Sheila Marie Bennett had been her rock, her best friend, her mother when she needed a mother figure, and her wizened grandmother when she needed her Grams. She cried until her well of tears had run dry, then she was numb.

School was out of the question. After the funeral, she traveled to North Carolina to stay with family. Caroline and Matt consistently called to check on her, Tyler called with condolences, and she gladly spoke with them. Stefan and Elena both sent her text messages that went unanswered. The surprise came when Damon shot her at text.

After two weeks, she knew it was time to come home, back to reality. The school year was coming to a close and she had to get ready for finals.

Her first day back she was greeted by Caroline, Matt, and Tyler at the doors. They swarmed her with hugs, going on about how much they missed her. Bonnie appreciated the love but she couldn't give them more than a half smile. She still felt numb inside. Right after first period Stefan cornered her.

"I really wanted to call," he was saying but she wasn't really listening. "I just didn't think it was appropriate."

"It's okay, Stefan." The first words she'd spoken directly to him in months."I've had other things on my mind beside a call from you." His brow furrowed at the shadiness of her comment.

"Look, Bonnie, I am really, truly sorry about your Grams," he said. "I know how important she was to you too, she was a great woman, I really liked her. I'm sorry she's gone."

Bonnie's hard exterior melted just a bit. "Thanks," she said with an appreciative nod. "She used to like you too." Stefan nodded in understanding.

"I'm also sorry about...everything else that's happened between us," he finally said. "Things got ugly and I never wanted that. I never wanted to hurt you."

Bonnie wanted to brush this aside, she didn't want to care about his two month late apology but she had to ask the question. "So, why did you?"

Stefan's brow furrowed even further at this inquiry and he seemed to struggle to form the right words. As he opened his mouth to respond, Elena stepped up, seemingly out of nowhere, concern etched all over her face. "Bonnie, hey," she said. "Nice to see you back in school. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Elena," Bonnie said in a non-committal tone. Being ambushed by her ex and his current girlfriend was not an ideal return to school and Stefan seemed to sense this.

"I'll be in class," he said as he started away. He gave Bonnie a nod. "I'll see you later."

"I sent you a message while you were away. I don't know if you got it," Elena told her.

"I got it." Bonnie replied plainly. She found no use in pretending anything other than she'd received it and chosen not to respond. It wasn't personal to Elena, many messages had gone unanswered during her grieving period.

"Grams was an amazing woman, she's done so much for me and my family over the years," Elena stated. "I loved her like she was my own grandmother."

"Thank you Elena. I know you did."

The brunette reached out and gingerly placed a comforting arm on Bonnie's shoulders. She seemed to perk up when the smaller girl didn't immediately draw away. "You're going through a tough time," she observed. "Let me be there for you, as a friend."

Bonnie gently took Elena's hand and removed it. "Like I told you before, I don't hate you, and I'm not angry anymore. I don't have energy to waste on that. You don't have to worry about me wishing any ill will toward you or bad-mouthing you because I'm not. But we're not friends. I have no room in my life for someone like you, I don't know how many times, in how many ways, I have to tell you this." This time she was the one to reach out a comforting hand. "Thank you for the condolences. Goodbye." And Bonnie found she actually meant it.

That night Bonnie received a lengthy text from Stefan. 'Bonnie, I really wanted to talk with you more earlier but it wasn't a good time. I just want you to know that what I told you that day in the classroom, about always loving you, is still true. That may not mean much to you now, but it still means a hell of a lot to me. I'm so sorry for the lies I told you. I'm sorry for breaking your heart. I'm sorry for not appreciating what a phenomenal woman you are while I had the chance. You're the least deserving person to be treated that way, but I hope you never forget all the beautiful, loving memories we do share. Being with you was amazing, more so than I ever thought it would be. I ruined it, just like I've done with every good thing in my life. After everything I went thru with my ex, I still can't believe I turned around and did the same thing to you. Not having you in my life has been tough. After that scene in the cafeteria, I was angry and embarrassed at first, then I realized I was lucky to just get off with just a drink to the face after what I did. Not being able to go to you during my highs and my lows these past couple months, has been so hard it sometimes keeps me up at night. I regret everything and the way it all went down. Elena understands because she's going thru the same thing. I'm sorry for the loss of Grams. She was an amazing woman, just like you, and I know she's resting peacefully. I'm keeping you and your family in my prayers, Bonnie. If you ever do need a friend, I'm here.

She responded simply with, 'Thank you.' She could've found a lot of things wrong with his message, one starting with he should've been apologetic months ago. If he had regrets, why didn't he fight for her? Why did he let her go so easily? Not having this closure had eating away at her for months. Now all she wanted was to close this chapter of her life and move on. She could've laughed at the fact Stefan thought they would be friends again, but she didn't. The break-up with Stefan, being kicked off the cheerleading squad, the humiliation and rumors, losing Elena, and Grams passing away, all contributed to Bonnie considering her junior year of high school her worst year yet. She vowed to herself that she would not allow her senior year to be the same way.

A/N: This is the end of Part 1, aka the Stefan chapters. Sorry this update wasn't longer, but I promise the next one will be pretty lengthy.