A/N: I hope that you've enjoyed the last chapter. This update is the second one of my documents that was deemed corrupted by my computer and then promptly deleted. I hope you enjoy it! :)

Reviews are appreciated, and please no flaming.

I don't own The Vampire Diaries. All characters (except for Grace) belong to J.L. Smith.

Enjoy xx

OFF THE RECORD

"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand." ~Chinese Proverb.

It was oddly fascinating to sit here and watch Damon Salvatore sitting opposite me, and looking at me like I was an enigma he was trying to solve. Seriously, the request I had offered him wasn't a hard one to answer. A simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice. But then again, I supposed (rightly or wrongly) that Damon was probably the type of man that was expecting that I was either going to cave and tell him the real reason why I was currently in Mystic Falls, or side with Elena Gilbert; throw what was left of my drink in his face and storm out of the restaurant to resume the rest of my day with Henrik.

And to be honest, I had every right to.

Damon had deeply hurt one of my friends – my only friend, if I was being honest with myself – and I had the solid evidence to scorn him, call him an 'idiot' or a 'prick' and pretend he never existed in the first place. Not to mention that he had cornered me and basically accused me of having the intention of causing harm. Only the problem with this, was that I'm not sure that he entirely meant to lash out like he did. I believe that it was the fault of another person, who was the real instigator to his problems. Elena probably just happened to say one negative word too many to light the fuse to his anger and resentment.

"You're kidding, right?" Damon eventually replied to my offer. "Do I look like an idiot to you?" He asked, taking a generous sip of his drink. I smiled at him.

"I won't dignify that with a comment. I value my life." I replied, before turning back to my application to finish answering one final question. Dylan came back, looking at me; all smiles.

"Can I get you something else?" He asked, politely. I shook my head.

"No, thanks. But here's my application." I told him, sliding the stapled pages towards him. Dylan looked a little disappointed, but recovered easily and picked up my completed application.

"It's my pleasure. Good luck with the job. I hope we might work together soon." He offered me a hopeful smile, before turning and walking away. I picked up my drink and turned to face the restaurant floor, observing Henrik who had drifted back to the pool game - still happening between the competitive customers - when it became clear that I was in no danger in Damon's company.

At least not at the moment. Fingers crossed.

"Looks like somebody's got an admirer." Damon teased, smirking at me, and playing with his glass. I rolled my eyes.

"Please. That guy, was already in my rear view mirror." I said dismissively. "So, do you wanna talk about what you're really angry at, or not?" I asked him, getting to my feet and looping my purse over my shoulder. Damon's eyes hardened, and he turned to face the bar.

"Not." He replied, shortly, taking a sip from his drink and glaring at the wall. I shrugged.

"Suit yourself." I started walking for the main entrance. Henrik noticed, and disengaged himself from the pool game, jogging over. "But just letting you know, Damon. One day, you've gotta stop kicking yourself in the arse and realize, that not everything is your fault whenever things go wrong for you." I advised him. Damon spun on his seat, and looked at me angrily. But I wasn't done. "Elena is no angel, I discovered this long before I moved here to Mystic Falls, and she's not worth the negative emotions you're currently feeling. That's why I suggested talking it out with me; a neutral party who has no idea who you are, and will have no biases against you while you talk it out and feel better about yourself." I said, firmly but kindly.

Damon was silent, but at least the angry expression on his face had lessened a little. I turned on my heel and went on my way.

"At least you tried." Henrik reassured me. I nodded.

"I know." I whispered. "Ready to see the falls?" I asked, trying to get over the disappointment I was feeling. Henrik didn't reply, and I turned to look at him with confusion. My brother was staring at something behind me.

"Wait." I glanced over my shoulder, and saw Damon standing there looking a little resentful. Like he was having an inner argument with himself about why he was actually considering my help. I tried not to feel insulted. "Can we talk, please?" He muttered, quietly. I nodded, and followed Damon out of the Grill.

"Where do you want to talk?" I asked him, as he strode with determination towards his car: a beautiful 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible in sky blue. I was impressed; I've always liked the look of old cars, and this one was wonderful. Damon paused in front of the driver's side to look at me, a little impatiently.

"I'll take you back to my place. No one's likely to be there at the moment." He said. I nodded and got into the car, while Henrik materialized in the backseat, looking wary.

The car ride to wherever Damon was taking us, was silent (verbally) and awkward; with only radio music breaking the silence in the car. I noticed that Damon was driving a little bit fast for my liking and I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision getting into a car with a strange man who, not only was a very dangerous vampire; but one whose temperament hadn't completely cooled down yet. I mean, the only back up had with me, should Damon become violent or disagreeable; was the ghost of my brother-in-law. Henrik was staring out of the window, fascinated with how much his former home had changed over a thousand years.

As I continued discreetly observing Damon, I noticed that he was barely making any eye contact and white-knuckling the steering wheel. I decided that I needed to say something before we actually went any further. Because Damon really did look extremely uncomfortable.

"I've noticed how tense you look at the moment, Damon. You don't have to talk with me, I'm here if you feel like it." I reminded him. But Damon merely looked at me and opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better about it and turned back. I bit my bottom lip and turned to look out of the window again. I decided to let him make the first move. This was Damon's time and if he wasn't ready to talk just yet, I wasn't going to force him. Eventually, Damon turned off the road and drove up a long driveway that led towards a massive two-story mansion. "Wow…" I muttered, earning a small smirk from Damon for my reaction.

This mansion was of a Tudor Architecture-style constructed of brick and other expensive stonemasonry with lots of large windows and arched doorways. It was covered in green creeping moss and had a large circular driveway. Damon pulled up to the mansion's expansive garage and immediately killed the engine. Then just as quickly, got out of the car and vamp sped inside. I rolled my eyes and turned to look back at Henrik, who was now looking between the both of us with bemusement.

"Are we there already?" He asked. I smiled at him.

"Yep. And then our designated driver practically ran into the house. Shall we follow him?" I suggested. Henrik shrugged.

"Might as well. That's why we're here." He replied, and fazed through the car to stand on the sidewalk outside. I scowled at him.

"Show off." I grumbled, earning a childish gesture from him. "Shall we?" We took off towards the front door, which open ajar. Both of us hesitated.

"Uh, are we supposed to just walk inside?" Henrik asked. I frowned.

"I guess we can. Otherwise Damon would've closed the door all the way." But just in case, I reached out and knocked on the door. There was silence for several awkward minutes, and I felt really foolish. Then:

"Door's open. I'm surprised it's taking you this long to come inside." Damon's voice called out from wherever in the house. I immediately walked inside, closing the door behind me. I found Damon in what looked like a parlour or living room, looking at me strangely. I paused for a moment to survey the room. It was huge, and very obviously decorated by men: all brown stained timber, a few mounted stuffed animal heads, weapons, and rich reds, greens and other earthy colours. "Do you always talk to yourself?" Damon asked me, bringing me back to the present as I watched Henrik wonder over to one of the red couches. He lounged on it as I flushed, realizing belatedly that vampires have enhanced hearing and Damon had probably overheard me talking to Henrik. I sheepishly smoothed my hair behind my ear and shuffled my feet.

"It's a fatal flaw of mine." I lied, narrowing my eye at Henrik who was sniggering at me. Damon looked like he didn't believe me, but shrugged and fixed himself a drink.

"Well, welcome to the Salvatore Boarding House." He welcomed me, and held out a glass of what looked like whiskey or bourbon. "Drink?" He offered, sounding a little bored. I nodded and took the offered glass.

"Thanks." I took a sip, coughing slightly as the strong liquor trickled its way down my throat. Damon approached me. His left hand was in his jeans pocket and the top two buttons were open on his black button up shirt, exposing his well-toned chest. He cleared his throat, and I quickly glanced up at his face when it became obvious that I was staring. He was smirking at me with amusement.

"Like what you see?" Damon teased and I scowled at him, taking another sip of my drink. "So…" Damon sauntered over to the red couches. "How does this work exactly? Do I lie on the couch while you psychoanalyze me?" He asked, with a slightly mocking tone in his voice. I sighed.

"That would be the ideal situation … if I were a shrink. But I'm not." I rolled my eyes. "So do whatever makes you comfortable, but I do expect you to start talking." I told him. Damon snorted, and walked over to stand in front of a massive fireplace I had only just noticed. I went and sat down on the couch with Henrik. And when I mean 'sat', what I really meant was: smirking while deliberately sitting on his legs – even though I just fazed through them - while he cursed up a storm, using some surprisingly foul language.

"Well, this is going swimmingly." Henrik drawled, when he eventually removed his legs and sat up properly on the couch. I shrugged but didn't reply, as Damon turned his attention away from the fireplace and back on me.

"I take it you know Katherine then?" Damon asked me, curiously. I pretended to really think about it. It was a little hard not to know who he was referring to.

"The trashier, over-confident version of Elena? Yeah, it's a little hard not to notice her stabbing Stefan in the stomach with an iron rod at the Mayor's wake yesterday afternoon. We just haven't been formally introduced." I replied. "Can't say I would want to be either." I added. Damon smirked at me. "What about her?" I asked.

"She came here to see me last night. This was before I went over to Elena's. I could tell the bitch wanted something from me the second I clapped eyes on her sitting pretty much where you are right now." He told me. I made a face, and immediately leapt off the couch, feeling grossed out.

Damon gave a dark chuckle.

"You seriously need to relax. Nothing like that happened … at least it almost didn't happen, and not on the couch." Damon reassured me. I gagged a little.

"That's more than I needed to know, Damon." I told him. "Please go on. What did Katherine want with you?" I encouraged him to continue.

"Apparently to say goodbye. Like I believed that load of crap for a second." Damon replied, darkly. "Katherine loves to be the centre of attention. If nobody is paying attention, then she tends to get bored and when she gets bored, bad things happen. Usually to those she knows the most." I had a feeling I knew which direction this story was heading; I just had an additional question to ask him before he could get back to the point.

"What is Katherine to you, Damon?" I asked, a little uneasily as I had no idea how he was going to react. To my surprise, he just frowned.

"She's my sire. And we had a relationship together once." That was when I noticed a flicker of betrayal in his eyes and in the way his jaw clenched. I suddenly wished that I hadn't brought up the topic.

"The relationship didn't last long, I take it?" I guessed. Damon let out a scathing laugh.

"Yeah, you could say that. I mean, being killed does put a dampener on things. Not that she cared anyway…" He trailed off. I decided not to say anything, I just sipped patiently at my drink while Damon deliberated what he wanted to reveal. Though judging by the hurt expression on his face, it wasn't easy to reflect upon it.

"So what did she do next?" I asked. Damon knocked back his drink before replying.

"Well, I ignored her and tried to walk away. But Katherine didn't like that; so she rushed in front of me, seized me by the throat and pushed me down on the floor." My eyes widened. "She called me her 'sweet, innocent Damon' and like the idiot I am, I fell for it; thinking that she had finally chosen me over Stefan." Damon sounded extremely scornful.

"You're not an idiot for having feelings, Damon." Damon scoffed, obviously disagreeing with me. But I wasn't deterred. "Katherine obviously meant something to you for you to react the way you did. Cut yourself some slack, you were only human for God's sake." I reminded him. "I mean, it's not like you can wish away your feelings. It's not possible." I said. This comment earned a rather amused grin from Damon that put me on alert. "What?"

"Vampires have a nifty little coping mechanism, Grace." He said, casually. "It's kinda like a switch. Whenever things get too hard to handle, we just flick it off. Because if you don't want to feel, you don't have to. Sometimes it's the easy way out." He explained. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Is your 'switch' off then?" I asked, curiously. Damon smiled pleasantly.

"No. It's firmly in place." He reassured me. "It would take a lot more than what Katherine did to make me want to turn off my emotions." Damon stated.

"What did she do?" I was intrigued by Damon's revelation about how vampires dealt with their issues personally.

"Oh, she kissed me." He replied nonchalantly. "But then I challenged her about telling me the truth. I wanted to know if she loved me at all." Damon's face went stony. "And do you know what she said to me?" He asked, rhetorically. But I knew the answer.

"I love Stefan. It will always be Stefan." I replied back robotically. Damon turned to look at me, stunned. I hated seeing that expression on his face.

"How in the hell did you know that?" He demanded. I cleared my throat uncomfortably. But he needed to know what I had already found out.

"I know this, because Elena said pretty much the same thing to me when I questioned her about you calling her a liar, and about her feelings for you." I replied. "However, I believe that Elena is lying. But before you get your hopes up, Damon, I believe she is lying because she doesn't know what she wants." I suspected.

Damon looked surprised.

"I see." He mumbled.

"Killing Jeremy in a fit of rage, probably wasn't the best reaction to have. But I can understand why you did what you did, to a point." I told him. Damon instantly got defensive, and glared at me with his icy blue eyes.

"So now what? You're going to judge me now that you know the whole story?" He accused with cold hatred. I frowned almost immediately.

"No, of course not. I don't take sides. I choose my friends on how they treat me, not on what others tell me." I told him. "Yeah, you did the wrong thing; but you were reacting to something that pissed you off. You've given me no cause to black list you." I reassured him. "I like to form my own opinions, thank you, so please give me the benefit of the doubt." I added. Damon straightened up. He looked a little taken aback that I was not frightened or judgmental or trying to change him. I glanced at phone to look at the time, and realised I was due to go help Elena set up the Carnival at the High School. "Look, I have to be somewhere right now. I hate to ask you this but would you be able to drive me to the High School, please?" I asked, inquiringly.

Damon studied me for a moment before nodding and disappearing from the room. Henrik got up from his perch, and crossed over to where I had migrated to during my talk with Damon.

"Well reasoned, Grace." He complimented me. I smiled slightly, not entirely convinced.

"Yeah, we'll see. Time will tell." I said, just as Damon walked back into the room, now wearing his jacket and throwing and catching his keys with one hand.

"You coming?" He asked, quietly. I nodded and quickly grabbed my purse and trotted after him.

During the entire drive towards the High School, Damon was quiet. The only person who was especially talkative was Henrik, who was excited because he had never been to school before – as he and his older siblings had been homeschooled when they were human – and was babbling endlessly about it. It wasn't until Damon drove into the school driveway and put his car in park that he finally spoke.

"Thanks, Grace." I paused in the act of getting out of the car, and looked at him with surprise. "You've given me a lot to think about." He said, sincerely. I smiled warmly.

"My pleasure. I'm always there to help my friends when they need it." I reminded him. Damon smiled a little in response but didn't have anything to reply to that. I got out of the car, and waved at him as he pulled out of the car space and drove away. Henrik gaped at the school campus, and at all of the students milling about; either going home for the day, gossiping with their friends or headed for detention. Stressed looking faculty blended in with their students, also hurrying towards their next destination. I noticed Henrik practically vibrating from excitement and grinned down at him. "Go on. I'll talk to you later." I suggested. Henrik lit up like a candle and immediately raced away to explore, while I rolled my eyes and went off in search for the main office. It took a couple of helpful students before I was able to get where I needed to be.

"May I help you, dear?" I was immediately greeted by one of the office ladies who stepped in from a back room, the second I stepped inside. I smiled politely at her.

"Yes, I'm looking for Elena Gilbert. I'm supposed to be helping out with setting up for the carnival tonight." I got straight to the point. The woman frowned contemplatively before she suddenly had a look of realization.

"Oh, yes. She did say that somebody was coming down to help sometime today when she returned from her Doctor's appointment." She said, all chatty-like. I nodded politely, while inwardly I groaned at Elena's alibi for ditching school temporarily. Great. I was Elena's supposed doctor. I just hoped that this didn't blow up in my face. "Now, what is your name, dear?" She asked, all professional.

"Grace Williams." I replied promptly. The woman scanned the clipboard she was holding in her hand and made an 'ah-ha!' face when she found what she was searching for.

"Found it." She peeled off a fluorescent yellow sticker with 'VISITOR' printed on it in large block letters and handed it to me. I took it and attached it to my shirt. "Now you'll find Miss Gilbert with the rest of the carnival set up committee down near the school gymnasium. Just out those doors, take a left, keep walking and you should come across some booths that have already been set up. You can't miss it." I nodded to her and waved as I walked off in that direction.

It didn't take long for me to find what I was searching for. I was impressed by how much had been done so far. It seemed like this school was certainly going all out for one event, and it made me make note to ask Elena if the town did events this elaborate all the time. It genuinely looked like one of those public fairs that you would go to on a first date, or with your family for some fun. There were a few rides – including the old classic: a decent sized Ferris wheel – and lots of games crammed with every stuffed toy and novelty item you could think of.

"Katherine looked just like you, it was freakish." My head snapped in the direction of the voice the second the name 'Katherine' was mentioned, and I saw Elena walking with a petite and pretty African-American girl walking not too far away from where I was admiring the general construction of the carnival. I smiled; that must've been her friend Bonnie, whom Elena had so eagerly described to me, on and off again via Messenger. Elena looked fairly relaxed, compared to how she looked late this morning when she ditched school and came to see me.

"She is my ancestor." Elena reminded Bonnie, before grabbing the attention of a passing volunteer. "Hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria." She told the volunteer who nodded and headed in that direction. Bonnie rolled her eyes at what Elena had said.

"Your vampire ancestor, and she didn't just resemble you like a family member would. She was you." Elena made a face at the thought. So did I. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if I knew that there was somebody out there wearing an exact replica of my face. Even more so if I knew that she was causing havoc as well.

"I don't know, I can't explain it. It's creepy, that's all I got." Elena admitted.

"How do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you?" Bonnie questioned. Elena shrugged, picking up a cardboard box filled with prizes.

"I don't. But I could sit here and be tortured by the not-knowing, or, I could get these prizes to the ring toss." She replied, holding up the box in her arms and walking off. Both Bonnie and I followed her. Bonnie looked like she was hesitating about asking a question. I made sure that I was far enough away that I wouldn't draw attention to myself as I eagerly listened to their conversation.

"Have you talked to Damon since he killed Jeremy or tried to kill Jeremy?" She asked, cautiously. Elena made a dark face. Yep, she was still pissed off. Clearly, my talk with her this morning was only a momentary reprieve for her.

Pity.

"No Bonnie. I haven't, and I won't and I don't want to talk about Damon or anything else that's vampire related okay?" Elena replied firmly, and gives her a bag full of plushy toys. "I'm human. And I have to do human stuff. Otherwise I'm going to go crazy." Elena vowed. I had to refrain from blurting out that by holding on to her anger against Damon, it was going to do more harm than good long term. Bonnie sighed and nodded.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll focus." She promised, then grinned. "We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us. I don't know how she does all of this." She said, gesturing to the entire carnival.

"Well, because she's not human, obviously." Elena teased.

"Obviously." Bonnie agreed, before both of them dissolved into laughter. I decided to make myself known.

"Elena!" I called out, causing her to glance in my direction. She brightened instantly, while Bonnie looked curious.

"Grace! Thanks so much for coming. You have no idea how much of a lifesaver you are." Elena exclaimed, as I came over and greeted her with a one-armed hug. I grinned.

"I think I have a fairly good idea." I joked as I glanced over at Bonnie, who nodded politely at me in greeting. Elena noticed the exchange.

"Oh, right. Bonnie, this is Grace, and vice versa." She introduced us to each other. "Grace is the pen-pal I told you and Caroline about." Elena explained to her, and Bonnie immediately brightened in understanding.

"Oh, yeah. Hey! Nice to finally meet you." Bonnie responded, reaching out automatically to shake my hand. However, the second our skin touched; Bonnie jolted like she was struck by a bolt of lightning. She immediately looked up at me with her serious mocha coloured eyes. I stiffened, surprised by her reaction and gently took back my hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked, cautiously. Bonnie looked like she had seen a ghost. "You've gone a bit pale."

"She's a witch." I barely stopped myself from jumping when Henrik suddenly materialized beside me, looking warily at Bonnie. "Mother and Ayana used to do that all the time when somebody supernatural touched them for the first time." He explained. Inwardly, I was freaking out. If she was a witch, then that might mean that she could've potentially seen that not only was I a medium, but also she could've caught a glimpse of my past life a thousand years before. Bonnie gradually stopped looking horrified, and pasted on a rather fake looking smile on her face that instantly said to me, that she did not trust me.

Wonderful.

"I'm fine. Just static electricity." Bonnie lied. I nodded, knowing that she was saving face in front of Elena, who was oblivious to the awkward exchange between us. I decided that I need to be as far away as possible, and caught Elena's attention.

"So, Elena. Put me to work. What do you need me to do?" I asked, all business. Elena paused, glancing around and looking like she was scanning through the 'to-do list' in her head.

"Uh, we're trying to set up the 'Dunk the Teacher' game. Would you be able to lend a hand there?" She asked. I grinned, as Henrik made a confused face.

"Absolutely. Where do I need to go?" I asked. Elena pointed towards where the school bleachers were.

"It's right over there. You can't miss it." She explained, brightly. I nodded, and set off towards it.

"I'll see you later." I called. As soon as we were out of earshot, Henrik immediately pounced on me with questions.

"Are you okay, Grace?" He asked, looking at me with concern. I frowned at the random question.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, as we approached a group of confused looking student volunteers and their faculty supervisor. Henrik raised an eyebrow.

"Because you froze the second I told you that girl was a witch." He reminded me.

"Oh, right. I was worried that Bonnie could see my past life from a thousand years ago, and the fact that I am a medium." I explained. Henrik smiled reassuringly at me.

"I doubt it. I could sense that she was powerful, but she's not in complete control of her powers yet. What she probably got from you were snippets she's probably still trying to figure out." Henrik explained. I looked at him skeptically.

"And how could you possibly know that?" I asked. Henrik grinned.

"I'm linked to the other side. Even though I can't physically go there, I still get little supernatural snippets every now and then." He told me.

"What? Why didn't you say so before?" I asked, looking both shocked and intrigued. Henrik shrugged.

"You didn't ask."

As we approached the partially constructed game, I noticed that they were attempting to 'volunteer' one of the students to sit on the dunking chair-thing to test the game out. Alarm bells started pealing madly in my head and I immediately dashed forward to stop them.

"Wait! Wait! Stop!" All of their heads swiveled in my direction. "What you're about to do is an incredible safety risk." I scolded them. The faculty supervisor strode over to me, frowning.

"And who might you be?" He asked me, sounding a little bit domineering and controlling. I frowned at him. He was standing a little too close for my liking.

"A volunteer, like you. Now if you'd be so kind as to back up a few paces, that'd be awesome." I requested, sternly. One of the student volunteers came forward.

"Then how do we test it then?" She asked, curiously. I already knew the solution to their problem. I side stepped the teacher and approached the tub.

"First of all, you've got to see if the chair will actually topple the person sitting on it. But it is an occupational health and safety risk to put a fragile person on it, because of the risks of potential broken bones or other injuries." I turned and pointedly stared down the faculty member. "Not to mention potential lawsuits." I reminded him. I felt smug and a little bit of pleasure seeing the teacher pale a little at the thought of a whole bunch of angry parents bringing in lawyers to sue for hospital bills etc..

"So what should we do?" Another student volunteer asked. I turned towards him.

"Does this school have any dummies?" I asked the student, who thought for a moment. But then another student, one that looked like an athlete, piped up.

"Yeah, we have one that we use during football training." He reported, helpfully. I grinned at him.

"Awesome. Go see if we can borrow it for a while." I requested politely. The student looked at the faculty member, who was thankfully silent. He nodded and the student immediately grabbed a friend and took off for the gymnasium. Once they returned with the dummy, it only took a couple of tries to knock it down off the collapsible chair using tennis balls, and to make sure the chair stayed upright when it was reset. Once the game was ready to go. I decided to head back and get ready for the carnival. I was tired, and desired an hour of sleep before coming back to join in with the festivities.

After Elena graciously dropped us back to the apartment, I decided to confront Henrik back why he had such a troubled expression on his face. The second after the two students had returned with the borrowed training dummy, he had disappeared and didn't return until I had decided to head off home.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked Henrik who looked confused by my question.

"Sorry?" He blinked. I grinned.

"You seem to be focusing on something very intently. What's up?" I translated. Henrik sighed.

"I was tailing Bonnie. There was something about her that didn't seem right." He explained.

"Like what?" I asked, hoping we both weren't paranoid about something completely innocent.

"I'd watch your back when you're around Bonnie. I think she believes that you're a threat." Henrik told me. I was surprised. She'd only just met me, and apart from the slightly awkward handshake that exposed her status as a witch to me; there was really nothing that I could think of that would set off alarm bells for someone like her. But then again, I did notice that Bonnie had been scowling at me whenever I saw her after our brief meeting. Perhaps, he was right?

"I think I might hold you to that, Henrik." I decided. "I'm gonna take a rest before going back to the carnival tonight. I'm beat." I announced. Henrik nodded.

"And I think I'm gonna stay here when you go back. I didn't like the sound of that 'Dunk the Teacher' game. It seemed too cruel and unnatural to be actual fun." He stated, making a face. I laughed.

"Do whatever you want, Henrik." I told him. I set my alarm for an hour from now, before curling up on the couch and falling straight to sleep.

Little did I know, that I was going to be grateful that I did.

A/N: Please review ;)