OSL 10

Katherine was laying on the horn before she even came to a full stop in front of Caroline's house.

" Hur" honk "ry" honk "up" honk. Katherine was a lot of things, but no one would ever call her patient. Caroline rolled her eyes as she pulled her front door closed behind her and skipped down the walk towards the waiting car. She pulled open the back passenger side door and slide in. Before she had a chance to get the door all the way closed Katherine had punched the gas.

"Wheres the fire?" Caroline joked as she clicked her seatbelt into place and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee that Bonnie, who was seated next to her, offered. Caroline caught a glimpse of Elena in the rearview mirror.

"Hey" she leaned forward and snaked her hand through the gap between the seats to rest on Elena's shoulder " are you alright?"

Elena, who had been silent up until this point, eyes were red and slightly puffy as if she had recently finished crying.

" She had a fight with Damon last night" Katherine answered for her, as she slowed down only slightly before running through a stop sign.

"I did not!" Elena defended before letting out a heavy sigh " but I did tell him about Stefan". Caroline's eyes went wide.

" I can't imagine that was an easy conversation"

" After I told him, he went kind of weird and silent, and he said he's not mad at me but I know that he is mad in general"

"Well no shit he's mad" Katherine replied. Sensitivity had never been her strong suit.

"It's good that you told him" Bonnie offered, trying to offset Katherine's harsh tone.

" if you'd put it off it would have just made him think that you had something to hide"

" and you did nothing wrong" Caroline confirmed, giving Elena's shoulder another squeeze before leaning back into her seat.

" But didn't I? I mean did I do something to lead Stefan on?" Elena asked, her voice a little desperate.

" Oh my god stop. Do not start victim-blaming. Even if you are the victim" Katherine chastised before she kept speaking

" Stefan has been googly-eyed over you forever. You haven't noticed because you've been so wrapped up in Damon but the rest of us knew it"

Elena twisted in her seat so she could look at Bonnie and Caroline.

" Is that true?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"No" Bonnie tried to comfort at the same time that Katherine and Caroline both answered " yes".

Elena fell back into her seat.

"Jesus Christ" she muttered.

" Believe me. If anyone should be shocked, hurt, or offended, it's me" Katherine continued.

" I mean we have the same face and he's never even looked at me. So what does that say? That he thinks I have a shit personality? That's fucked up"

Katherine pulled into the school parking lot and cunningly cut off a red Toyota civic for a parking spot right in front of the gym. The car slammed on its breaks and honked at Katherine, who flashed the car the middle finger without even bothering to look back and them.

"There's nothing else you can do about it now. Damon will cool off after a few days and he'll crawl right back up your ass where he belongs" Katherine offered in her way of being comforting.

They call climbed out of the car and started across the grass towards the school's main building.

"Speak of the devil" Katherine muttered, linking her arm through her twins in a sign of solidarity as Stefan Salvatore noticed their group and started towards them. Before Stefan could make much ground he was bowled over and sent sprawling to the ground. Damon had appeared out of nowhere, taking his brother down to the ground before landing an expert punch across Stefan's face.

"I'm gone for three days and you go after her?" Damon roared, landing another blow.

"Damon!" Elena attempted to rush forward but Katherine had a vice-like grip on her arm. Damon had been about to land another punch when out of nowhere Klaus appeared and pulled Damon off of his brother. To everyone's surprise, Stefan jumped to his feet and lunged at Damon, sending both Damon and Klaus to the ground. Matt jumped in too, Pulling Stefan off Damon while Klaus got Damon back under his control. Stefan's nose was bloody and Damons lip was split but they were both still trying to go after each other as the other two boys held them back.

"This is gold" Katherine muttered her phone in her hand recording. Elena broke free from Katherine's grip just as Mr. Saltzman arrived to break up the brawl.

"Younger Salvatore, Donavan, Mikelson. To the office" He turned to Damon, who was now having his bloody lip examined by Elena.

"Older Salvatore, I no longer have a right to give you detention but I have to ask you to leave school property before I call the police." Alaric had a glint in his eye as he spoke to Damon. They had always been more like friends than student and the teacher. Damon squeezed Elena's hand but didn't say anything to her as he turned to head back to his car.

"Girls" Mr. Saltzman began, turning on their small group " I assume you know how this all started" Katherine quickly tucked her phone back into her pocket, not wanting to be called on to snitch.

"Brotherly dispute" Katherine offered, taking the hand of a now shaken Elena once again. Alaric looked over the four of them before rolling his eyes and starting to walk away.

"Get to class" He called.

Katherine was still buzzing with the excitement of it all as they continued across the grass. Elena, on the other hand, looked a little green.

"That was terrible" she muttered, looking at her feet as they walked.

"Are you kidding me? That was amazing! Your hot ass boyfriend just defended your honour!" Katherine came to a sudden halt.

"Oh dear lord, I just momentarily felt attracted to Damon. Ugh" She stuck out her tongue as if she was tasting something rancid.

" I can't believe he drove all the way here" Bonnie marvelled.

" Duke is only like 2 hours away" Katherine contented " and the way that Damon drives he probably got here in half of that, especially because he was pissed. I'm sure he was already nervous about Stefan moving in on Elena anyway".

" Did everyone know about the Stefan thing but me?" Elena asked slightly frustrated.

"Yes," they all answered in unison.

" I mean I thought he liked me but In a, yeah you can come to family dinners way, not in a let's make out in the woods way"

"Ahh to be young and naive" Katherine mused.

They walked passed the office and saw Stefan, Klaus and Matt all seated in the chairs outside of the principals' door. Stefan held a tissue to his still bleeding nose and while Klaus and Matt looked ruffled, neither seemed to be harmed. Caroline caught Klauses' eye as they passed and he shot her a wink. Caroline rolled her eyes at him and kept walking.

The scuffle between the brothers Salvatore was the talk of the school by lunchtime.

"Is everyone looking at me?" Elena asked, glancing around the cafeteria self consciously.

"Usually I'd tell you not to flatter yourself but they definitely are" Katherine admitted, throwing a few choice glares in the gawker's directions.

" I can't really blame them. They all want to marvel at the girl that got four boys brawling before 9 am" Katherine teased, skewering a fry off Bonnie's plate with a fork.

" I did not!" Elena defended. " I can only take credit for two out of four".

"I don't know. You and Matt did have a thing there" Katherine poked, nudging her twin with her elbow. Elena rolled her eyes.

"For like 15 minutes in the 9th grade, but I lay no claim to Klaus".

" I guess not, but from what I remember he used to be best mates with your dark and brooding hunk back in the day" Kat pointed out. Elena shot a look at her sister.

"That's like the 9th time you've made a sexually charged comment about Damon today Kat. Did he really get to you that much?" Caroline teased. Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Once we get home and I see him and Elena nuzzling noses for 45 minutes straight I'm sure I'll go back to normal. But right now that tackle is still on replay in my head, and ugh it's like porn"

"Gross!" Elena squealed, chucking one of her carrots at her twin who stuck her tongue at her in return.

"I couldn't help but notice that you yourself looked a little bothered this morning Carebear. Don't tell me you're heating up for Donavan again?" Katherine teased, pointing at Caroline with her fork. Caroline rolled her eyes

"Also ancient history" Caroline reminded her " Matt is king of the friend zone".

" But you were definitely transfixed this morning and the Salvatores have never been your flavour of boy" Katherine pressed " So that only leaves one option. Don't tell me you're lusting after a Mikelson." Katherine's eyes were alight with delight at this newly uncovered drama.

" Is our resident good girl looking to take a bite of the forbidden fruit? I mean I get it. I spent the whole summer before they moved to England or wherever trying to get Elijah to kiss me, which I did by the way" Katherine watched Caroline carefully.

" So are you destined to be star crossed lovers or" Katherine reconsidered " are you already?" Both Elena and Bonnie were starring at Caroline a little aghast. Before Caroline had the chance to respond the bell rang, snapping the group back into the present.

"Saved by the bell" Katherine muttered disappointedly. " But rest assured, I'm not done with you yet."