Elena approached her locker at school with a smile on her face. She was really happy. It had been a few days since she and Jeremy spoke, and things were going well. He'd forgiven her for compelling him, and he accepted her as his sister, despite Bonnie's manipulations. He came over every day and they talked or hung out. In fact, they were starting to become closer now than they were before. That might have to do with the fact that she no longer had to act the part of the overprotective older sister. She was still protective of him. He was her brother. She would always want to protect him, but now they could be more like equals.
As if on cue, Jeremy appeared on Elena's right moments later. "Hey."
Elena smiled at him. "Hi. You're finally back."
"Yeah, it took a little longer to get everything back in order for me to come back to school. Ric finally signed all the necessary paperwork this weekend," Jeremy said.
Elena nodded. "Are you talking him yet?"
"I'm not not talking to him. I'll say good morning and things like that, but I'm not going out of my way to have conversations with him either," Jeremy said.
"You forgave me, and it was my idea," Elena pointed out. She didn't think it was fair that Alaric seemed to get most of Jeremy's anger for Damon compelling him. Elena was the one that asked Damon to do it. She should be the one he was angry at.
"It's different, Elena. It just is. You're my sister. You do things that you shouldn't. I've done things to you that I shouldn't have. It's what siblings do. Alaric was my guardian. Think about how you would feel if Elijah did that to you," Jeremy said. Elijah was Elena's guardian now, and even after only seeing them for a few days, he knew Elena loved and trusted him. She loved all of the Originals, actually. That was weird for him, but they were all nice to her. They treated her well. He couldn't really complain otherwise.
"He wouldn't," Elena immediately said. She knew her uncle well. He wouldn't compel her. He might send her away the way she and Alaric did Jeremy if he thought it would protect her, but he wouldn't manipulate her mind that way.
Jeremy nodded. He knew that much. Elijah had made it clear that he didn't condone what happened. That only made Jeremy's anger at Ric worse. Even someone like Elijah knew it was wrong for a guardian to allow something like that to happen. "I know, but what if he did? You'd be mad. You wouldn't be able to trust him again after that. Right?"
"Yeah," Elena admitted. It would be a huge betrayal, and she'd be really angry and hurt. She knew she didn't have to worry about that though because her uncle would never do that. "I guess I just feel bad for Ric because the whole thing was my fault."
"No, It's not. Your part is your fault, and I've forgiven you because, while it was wrong, I don't think you totally knew better. Ric did. He knew it was wrong and he let you do it. It was his responsibility to stop it, but he didn't," Jeremy said.
Elena nodded. She decided to let it go. She couldn't blame her brother for being angry. "Have you talked to Bonnie since you've gotten back?"
Jeremy shook his head. "She's called me a couple of times, but I haven't answered. I don't really want to talk to her. I don't even think she knows I left Denver yet." He was angry with Bonnie too. She kept a lot of information from him when told him about Elena, and she'd done it intentionally. She let him think that his sister was dead or trapped in her own body. That had tortured him for days until he finally spoke to Elijah.
"She's been giving me smirks since she told me what she said to you. I've been trying to ignore her, but I just want to punch her lights out," Elena fumed. She really was starting to hate Bonnie. Bonnie had tried to destroy her relationship with Jeremy, and she'd caused him a lot of pain with her lies.
"You know, I can't understand how she could act this hateful. I get that she's hurt and confused, but I was too and I didn't act this way," Jeremy said.
"I think it's partially because of how much she hates my family, and vampires in general. Stefan and Caroline were the only ones she ever accepted. I think the fact that I'm a Mikaelson alone makes her hate me," Elena said sadly.
"You're still you," Jeremy said.
Just then, Rebekah came over. "Hello, Jeremy. It's good to see you at school again."
"Hi, Rebekah," Jeremy said kindly. He was spending a lot of time at the Mikaelson house, so his relationship with all of them had improved, except for Klaus. He hadn't warmed up to the man that murdered his aunt. He did realize that he should at least try to let the hatred go though for Elena's sake. Like it or not, Klaus was her family.
"Jeremy," a voice called out.
Jeremy turned to see Bonnie approaching him. "Bonnie."
"What are you doing?"
"Hanging out with my sister until the bell rings," he said.
"She's not your sister. I thought you understood what I told you," Bonnie said.
"So did I, until I found out you lied to me," Jeremy said in an unhappy tone.
"I didn't lie. I don't know what these people told you, but…"
"The whole truth, Bonnie, which you didn't seem to think I was entitled to. You left out a lot. You let me think my sister was suffering, possibly even dead," Jeremy said.
"She is! She's trapped in her own body because this little bitch won't leave her!" Bonnie snarled in a harsh whisper.
"Watch your mouth before I cut out your tongue," Rebekah warned.
"Bonnie, you're not going to talk about my little sister that way," Jeremy said firmly.
"Okay, is that necessary?" Elena asked her brother in an annoyed tone. Ever since he found out that he was technically older than her, Jeremy had started lording it over her a little. He liked the fact that he could now play the older sibling card.
"It is," Jeremy said while smiling at her briefly.
"How can you let them do this to you, Jeremy? They're making a fool out of you," Bonnie said.
"No, they're not. They gave me the facts and let me decide for myself what I believed. It's too bad you couldn't give me that same courtesy," he said in a disappointed tone.
"I told you the truth," Bonnie insisted.
"No, you didn't. You didn't tell me that Elena was still my sister, even if she's also someone else. You didn't tell me that even if she wanted to, the two of them couldn't be separated, and you didn't tell me that she had no choice in any of this," Jeremy said.
"Because those are lies," Bonnie said firmly.
"That's your opinion. You don't get to make me agree with it by keeping vital information from me," Jeremy said.
"I was trying to protect you," Bonnie insisted.
"That's bull and you know it," Elena snapped. "You didn't do this for him. You did this to cause pain. You wanted to hurt me, and you didn't care if you caused him pain in the process."
Bonnie glared daggers at her. "Shut up! This whole thing is your fault! You stole my friend's life!"
"Bonnie, stop! That's not true. She didn't ask for any of this. She was just a kid. She had no say in the matter," Jeremy said.
"So she says," Bonnie said.
"No, I say, because I was there. I saw how much she suffered after it happened," Jeremy said.
"Good! She should suffer."
"Why? For being a little kid put in a horrible position? That kid had no more say in this than Elena did. Stop treating her like she's the villain here. She's not. There is no villain," Jeremy said. Well, there was Elena's great aunt and her grandmother, but everyone else just had to deal with the consequences of their evilness. Even Elena's mother, who Jeremy did blame to a certain extent, wasn't a villain. She was just a mom trying to protect her kid.
"The hell there isn't! This girl and her mom are villains! They took your sister's life!" Bonnie said angrily.
"I told you not to mention my mother again!" Elena said coldly.
Bonnie smirked at her in response. "What's the matter? You don't like hearing the truth? Your mother is an evil woman! She took a young girl's life away and abandoned you in the process. Maybe there was no threat after all. Maybe she put you in Elena's body so that she could be rid of you."
What Elena said next, she knew might be crossing a line, but she was passed the point of caring. Bonnie had crossed that line first, and Elena was tired of taking her crap. "It sounds like someone's projecting to me. Are you sure we're not talking about you? My mother left me in order to protect me. Your mom left you because she couldn't deal with the fact that she didn't have magic anymore. How does it feel to know that that was more important than you?"
"You bitch!" Bonnie yelled before punching her in the face.
"Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled. Yeah, what Elena said was pretty cruel, but Bonnie had started it, and it didn't give Bonnie the right to hit his sister.
"You're going to pay for that!" Rebekah swore in a deadly tone.
Before her aunt could do anything, Elena stepped forward and shoved Bonnie into the nearest locker.
Bonnie shoved her back just as hard.
Elena punched her hard and watched her fall to the ground. Those self-defense lessons with Ric paid off. She knew she could lay the floor with Bonnie, both physically and magically, and she was about to prove one of those things right now.
"Elena, stop," Jeremy said. They were attracting a crowd of students, and teachers would be there soon as well.
Elena was pas the point of stopping. She was pissed. Over a month of trying to hold in all her anger had gotten to her. She got down on the ground next to Bonnie and punched her twice.
Bonnie kneed Elena in the stomach to get her off of her.
Jeremy picked Elena up off the ground and held her there.
Bonnie went to advance on Elena, but Rebekah stood in her way.
"Don't even try it," Rebekah warned.
"No, come on, let her go. Let me finish this," Elena said as she struggled to get out of her brother's arms.
"What the hell is going on?" Ric asked as he joined the group. He'd heard the commotion from his classroom and came out to investigate. He got a good look at both Elena and Bonnie. Both were bleeding and had forming bruises on their faces. It wasn't hard to tell what happened. "Are you two out of your mind?"
"Bonnie started it, Ri… Mr. Saltzman," Jeremy said.
"Jeremy!" Bonnie said with betrayal in her voice.
"You did, Bonnie. You threw the first punch," Jeremy reminded her.
"You heard what she said to me," Bonnie said.
"Yeah, and I heard what you said to her first. You're the one that decided it was a good idea to start taking shots at each other's moms. This is what you get," Jeremy said.
Ric sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to keep this quiet. Too many people had seen it. Besides, maybe it was best that it not be kept quiet. Things had been brewing between Bonnie and Elena for weeks. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Now that it had, maybe something could be done about it. "Alright, the two of you are going to get checked out in the nurse's office, and then you're going to report to the principal's office."
"What? Come on, Ric," Bonnie complained.
"It's Mr. Saltzman, Bonnie. And the two of you just threw a fight in the middle of the hallway. What did you think was going to happen? Go," he ordered.
"Come on," Rebekah said as she led her niece towards the nurse's office. Jeremy came with them as well.
"I'm so dead," Elena groaned as she walked. The adrenaline had worn off. Now she was very aware of the fact that her uncle was definitely going to find out about this. She'd be lucky to be grounded for less than a month.