Elena walked with Rebekah towards their lockers. They passed Matt on the way. "Good morning, Matt."
Matt looked awkward as he looked at Elena. "Uh, hey, Elena. I have to go."
Elena frowned as she watched her friend scurry off. That had been weird. Matt had never spoken to her with such nervousness before. "That's weird."
"Yeah," Rebekah said as she stared off at boy she'd begun to like. She had a feeling she knew why it was so weird too. Clearly someone had opened their mouth.
Elena continued to her locker to put her things away. She got out the books she needed and put her bag in her locker.
Caroline made her way over just as Elena was finishing up. "Hey, Elena."
"Hey."
"How's your arm after what happened yesterday?" Caroline asked.
"It's fine. Stefan didn't grab it that hard. There's a small bruise," Elena said.
"Yeah, well, there shouldn't be any bruise at all. He shouldn't have touched you," Caroline said.
"I'm pretty sure he realizes that now. My uncle wasn't pleased," Elena said.
"I'm guessing that has something to do with the fact that Stefan dropped out of school. He apparently told Bonnie last night that he wasn't coming back," Caroline said.
"Yeah. My uncles told me they made it clear he couldn't come back here. I guess he does have a working braincell," Elena said.
Caroline chuckled. "Are you doing better after yesterday?"
"I'm not sure. The day has barely begun, and I haven't had to see Bonnie yet. I did see Matt though. He's acting weird," Elena said.
Caroline winced. Bonnie had told Matt everything, he wasn't taking it too well. She was kind of pissed at Bonnie for that. Matt didn't need to know, and Bonnie had been told not to tell anyone. There was no reason to tell him, other than to be vindictive.
"Yes, why is that?" Rebekah asked as she made her way over to them. "Which one of you told him?"
Caroline sighed. "Bonnie. I tried to talk to him afterwards. I wanted to make sure he knew the truth about it and not Bonnie's version."
"So, now he hates me too," Elena said sadly. She felt like she was losing all her friends over this, other than Caroline. She knew they had a right to be angry that she hid the truth from them, but she was just trying to do what her mom wanted.
"No, I don't know. He hasn't said much about it to me. When I tried to talk to him about it, he got quiet. He didn't really want to discuss it. I'll try to talk to him again later. I'll try to make him see that this wasn't your doing. Maybe he just needs some time to let things sink in," Caroline said.
"Um, has anyone talked to Jeremy?" Elena asked with worry in her voice. His reaction was the most worrying to her. Jeremy wasn't her brother, but at the same time he was. She had a lifetime of memories of him, even if most of her didn't live those memories. She loved him. She couldn't stand the idea of him hating her.
"I don't think so. Alaric is planning to go to Denver this weekend. I know Elijah didn't want anyone else knowing, but Alaric feels that Jeremy deserves to know. He'll be fair. He'll tell Jeremy the truth. He'll make sure he knows that this wasn't your doing, Elena," Caroline assured her.
Just then, the bell rang.
"Come on," Rebekah said to Elena before putting an arm around her and leading her towards their first class.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
At the end of the day, Elena walked through the parking lot with Rebekah. Her day hadn't been too bad today. All Bonnie did was glare at her all day, and while that wasn't fun, it wasn't terrible either. She was more upset by the fact that Matt kept avoiding her or giving her strange looks.
As if on cue, Elena turned to see Matt heading for his truck with Caroline. He turned and looked at her for moment before continuing the walk to his car.
"Wait here," Rebekah said before walking towards Matt and Caroline.
"Rebekah, it's fine. Don't!" Elena called after her aunt.
Rebekah ignored Elena and focused on her task. When she was close enough, she grabbed Matt by the arm and forced him to look at her. "It isn't her fault!"
"What?" Matt asked in confusion.
"Stop looking at my niece like she's done something terrible! This wasn't her fault," Rebekah said again.
"I know that," Matt said.
"You do?" Caroline asked. She honestly hadn't been sure what Matt felt about the situation. He didn't say much about it.
"I heard everything you had to say, Caroline. While it's very strange to me, I can at least work out the fact that no twelve-year-old makes a choice like that on their own," Matt said.
"Well, you haven't said much, and you've been looking at Elena strangely. She thinks you hate her," Caroline said. In a way, she could understand the strange looks. It was a strange situation, even for people who knew the supernatural was real, but it was very upsetting to a young girl to have those looks directed towards her. She was sure Elena felt like a freak already without having her friends either turn on her or look at her the way Matt was.
Just then, Elena hesitantly made her way over to the group.
"No, I don't hate her. I hate myself," Matt said.
"Why would you hate yourself?" Elena asked.
Reluctantly, Matt turned towards her. It was hard to look at her knowing the truth. "Because I took advantage of you. You were a fourteen-year-old kid when we were dating. I never should've let that happen. I shouldn't have touched you like that."
"How far did it go?" Rebekah demanded to know.
"Not that far. We didn't do anything. Stefan was my first," Elena said.
"But it was close to that point, and it went further than it should've," Matt said.
"Matt, you didn't take advantage of me. You didn't know," Elena said. She was honestly very surprised by Matt's reaction. It was the opposite of how Stefan had reacted. He had blamed her. Matt blamed himself.
"But I should have," Matt said. Okay, maybe he shouldn't have figured out that his childhood friend was suddenly a kid trapped in another person's body, but he felt like he should've known something wasn't right. "It was my responsibility. I was older."
"Matt, you didn't know because you weren't supposed to. I never let anything slip. I'm a good liar. I managed to trick both Elijah and Klaus. It was my fault. I just didn't really see that it was wrong. I hadn't spent a lot of time around other kids, let alone boys. I had the real Elena's memories, but that was different. I didn't know not to get involved with you," Elena said guiltily. She hadn't felt bad when it was Stefan because he'd basically been chasing after her because she looked like Katherine. He'd also done a lot of things to hurt her. But Matt was innocent. He didn't need to feel guilty.
"Of course, you didn't know it was wrong. You were a kid," Matt said.
"So were you, and the age difference wasn't that much," Caroline pointed out.
"It was enough. It was enough that I could've legally been arrested if we'd gone any further, and rightfully so," Matt said.
"I'm sorry," Elena said.
"This is what you've been thinking about the whole time?" Caroline asked.
"Most of it. I've also thought about the real Elena. I've wondered if she's still there," Matt said.
"In a sense. We're one person now. We're apart of each other, but I'm more dominant, probably because of my witch genetics," Elena told him.
"Bonnie thinks it's your fault. She says that you refuse to leave Elena's body. She says that if you did, Elena would be free," Matt said.
Elena rolled her eyes. Of course, Bonnie would've said that. "I told her that that's not true. We're one person now. There's no separating us. If I left this body, there would be nothing left. I don't know how to body jump on my own anyway."
"Right. Your mom did it the first time. I know it's not your doing. You didn't have a say in any of this. I'm sorry Bonnie can't see that, and I'm sorry for any way that I've confused you when we dated," Matt said.
"Matt, it wasn't your fault. Please stop blaming yourself for it. I did that," Elena said.
"You didn't know any better," Matt said.
Just then, Bonnie walked over looking none too pleased. "What the hell do you two think you're doing? Leave Matt alone!"
"Perhaps you should've left him alone, instead putting things in his head that he didn't need to think about," Rebekah told her.
"He deserved the truth. He deserved to know that she stole our friend's life," Bonnie said before glaring at Elena.
"Look, Bonnie, I don't deny that this whole thing is screwed up, but Elena didn't do it. Her mother did," Matt said.
"My mother was trying to protect me," Elena immediately defended.
"I get that. I may not like it, but I understand why a mother would resort to such measures," Matt said. He'd never had a mother like that, but he knew that that was what most mothers were like. They protected their kids regardless of the cost.
"How can you defend that woman, Matt. She may as well have murdered our friend! She's horrible!" Bonnie exclaimed.
Elena made a move to attack Bonnie, but Rebekah pulled her back.
"Bonnie, do the world a favor and never have children. Because if you wouldn't do anything possible to protect your own child, you have no business bringing one into the world. You'd be terrible at it," Rebekah said.
"Please. I'm sure your sister had other options. She just didn't care," Bonnie said.
"Shut up! You don't know anything about my mother! Don't even mention her!" Elena snarled.
"How about I mention Jeremy? I told him the truth, you know? I made sure he knows exactly what you are and what you did to his sister," Bonnie said.
"You what? Bonnie, what is wrong with you?" Caroline asked angrily.
"He deserved to know the truth," Bonnie said with a shrug.
"Yeah, and he was going to hear it from Alaric, not your spin on it," Caroline said.
"My spin? It was the truth. This girl stole his sister's life," Bonnie said before turning to the girl in her friend's body. "Jeremy hates you for what you did to his sister, just as he should."
"You bitch!" Elena said before raising her hand. She sent Bonnie to the ground and she slid across the parking lot.
Bonnie got up and glared at Elena. "You're going to pay for that."
"No! This is done!" Caroline said before getting in the middle. "Rebekah, take Elena home please."
"Come on," Rebekah said before pulling her niece away. "You shouldn't have done that."
"I know. I was mad. Uncle Elijah's going to be really angry," Elena said. She broke her word. She hadn't meant to. She was just really angry and reacted without thinking.
"He's not going to find out. It was my fault anyway. I should've pulled you away the moment she came near. I won't tell Elijah," Rebekah promised.
"Bonnie got Jeremy to hate me," Elena cried.
Rebekah pulled her into her arms and rubbed her back. "She's going to pay for that. We're getting revenge."
Elena pulled away after a minute. "How?" She no longer cared about being punished. Any punishment she received from her uncle would be worth it to hurt Bonnie.
"I'm not sure yet. We'll figure it out later. For now, let's go home," Rebekah said before leading her to the car.