A/N: I know several people have wanted me to continue on with my last story, and I tried… but all I came up with was just maaad writer's block. It's hard for me to write a multi-chapter fic about a show/book in the same time-frame as it's going on. I get all anal and, 'oh this happened in the show, I should incorporate it somehow because then it won't make sense' and asdfghjkl. It's just… no. So this one's pretty much AU and set in the future. Stuff from the show will still have occurred, but not harped on in detail. There will be some aspects from the books, too. Because some of that shit was too adorable to pass up. If you've read the books, you'll recognize what I'm talking about.

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and favorited, and even subscribed to Encounter, even though I stated it was a one-shot! Love you guys. I hope you like what I have in store for this story. :)

Rated M for language, violence, and some adult lovin' in future chapters.

(I promise I'll try to keep the Author's Notes short next time. Haha.)

CHAPTER ONE

Beep… beep… beep… beep…

Bonnie groaned and rolled over. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! She cracked open one eye and stared at her alarm clock, waiting for something to happen.

Beep… beep…

She sighed. You're psychic, Bonnie, not telekinetic, she told herself, reaching over and hitting the 'off' button before getting up and trudging to her bathroom. And so began another week of the same routine: wake up, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to class, get coffee, go to next two classes, have lunch, go to last class, go home, eat dinner, study, then sleep. Bonnie Bennett led a pretty boring, normal life. Oh yeah, except for the fact that she would have random visions when she touched or looked at the most random things.

She looked at her reflection in the foggy mirror after her shower and frowned. I'm supposed to be worrying about finals… and dating… and where the hottest clubs are… and oh god, finals… not about people dying! She shuddered and got ready for her first class.

Bonnie was now residing in Portland attending her first year at Reed College. She missed Mystic Falls greatly, but the small town was a magnet for trouble. In Bonnie's senior year of high school, she had started getting visions of weird occurrences around town; that year, an ongoing vision of a sequence of numbers tied in to the death of her history teacher. Just before graduation, she started seeing smoke and flames engulfing a distorted silhouette, and sure enough, on the night of graduation, one of her classmates mysteriously died in a burning car. Even her best friends, Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes, were subject to near-death experiences during their senior year. Bonnie shuddered again; she didn't like thinking about it. She never told anyone about it, besides her close friends. She was just glad that they were all graduated and out of there; Elena had gone to NYU with her boyfriend of two and a half years, Stefan Salvatore, and Caroline went on to Arizona State.

On some cheerleading scholarship, she recalled. I'm so over cheerleading. Bonnie was glad to let go of that part of her life. She wanted to move on, far away from the strange events, the strange people, and the small-town life. She was sure her friends wanted that, too. She missed them terribly, but was glad that, even though there was distance between them, they were safe.

But being away from Mystic Falls didn't make Bonnie any less psychic. She spent a couple months over the summer with her Grams, who also claimed she had the power. Apparently they descended from Salem witches, and it was passed down to every other generation. Bonnie's mother wasn't a witch, but she knew her mother was, and that her daughter would be. She passed away when Bonnie was 5 years old, from pneumonia. Her dad, bless his heart, raised her on his own, with help from her Grams, but he had no idea about their family secret. They protected her, and taught her everything she knew – her dad about life, and her Grams about the supernatural. She didn't want to leave for college, but she knew she had to get away.

Bird's gotta fly, she smirked. Stepping out of her apartment building, she walked in the cool Friday morning air towards the college.

--

Her head rested in her palm as she listened to her professor drone on about Romulus and Remus. It wasn't that she wasn't interested or didn't care about her studies – of course she did. She and her dad wouldn't be dishing out thousands of dollars for her to just not give a shit. It had just been a very long day, and it didn't help that her professor was extremely monotonous. Just 15 more minutes…

"Romulus killed Remus for reasons unknown, even to this day," the man in the front said.

Bonnie raised her eyebrows slightly, half paying attention. Oh, sibling rivalry, she quipped. She knew two brothers when she was in Mystic Falls. Stefan and Damon Salvatore. She'd never really been close to either of them; Stefan was dating her best friend, so he and Bonnie had become friends – not necessarily very quickly. And Damon, she barely saw, because he was older. She did see him on numerous occasions, because he briefly dated Caroline… it didn't last long, and Caroline never told her why, exactly. But even to this day, Caroline didn't like talking about Damon and would always become buggy and fidgety when he was mentioned. The few times Bonnie had talked to Damon, she knew him to be very presumptuous and having a dangerous aura to him. He was the polar opposite of his younger brother, except for the fact that they were both pretty mysterious. And gorgeous, she mused. Ugh, stop it, that's your best friend's boyfriend. She had always found both brothers attractive, but personally speaking, she found Damon more attractive. There was just something about him. But she would have never acted on it at all, and still wouldn't, because of Caroline.

Bonnie was old school, she believed in the whole "ho's over bros" philosophy. She couldn't help rolling her eyes, though. It's always Elena and Caroline who get the guys. Not that she's hadn't had her share of boyfriends, but… these guys were just really attractive. But Damon just… disappeared. Huh. Wonder what he's up to these days, she thought.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard people scrambling around her; her lecture had finished. She grimaced at the empty page in her notebook. She needed to work on paying attention in class.

--

Her cell phone rang in her pocket as she walked home. Ah, shit. She shifted her books to her other arm to reach down into her pocket. "Hello?"

"Hey, bitch!"

"Hey, Fel," she grinned.

"How was class? Well, lemme tell you, mine was great, I met a guy. Mm-hmm, a hot one. You'd think I would've noticed him months ago, but apparently he always sat in the back… yeah, slacker, I know, but he's amazingly gorgeous, and he told me he was gonna be at FX tonight with some people…"

"That's great," Bonnie nodded. It was best to just let Felicia talk and not try and get a word in for as long as possible. Just let her get it all out… there will be a point to this conversation sooner or later, Bonnie laughed inwardly.

"Yeah, I know. So he didn't really ask me out, but I'm thinking that… you know, that's basically an invitation. So, miss, what time shall I swing by your place? Steph's coming along, too."

"Uhh… I have to study for that Renaissance History final tonight," she said.

"Cut the crap, that exam isn't for another three weeks, you can put off one night to come and party with me and a bunch of hot men. Hot men who will gladly buy you drinks, you hot piece off ass, come on."

Bonnie laughed. She thought for a moment. Maybe she can somehow conjure up the exam questions in her head. She was never one to cheat on an exam, but hey; if she had the ability, why not use it to her advantage? She'd have to look into that later. "Okay, fine. Just this one night."

Felicia squealed on the other line, "'Kay, pick you up at 9, dress slutty, bye!" Then the line went dead. Bonnie rolled her eyes and laughed. A beat later, her phone rang again.

"Fel, you've already borrowed all the slutty dresses I have, go call Steph--"

"Oh, I didn't know we owned any of those," came a different voice on the other end.

"Oh my god, Elena, sorry, I thought you were someone else," Bonnie laughed, happy to hear her voice.

"Didn't know you were Portland's biggest party girl, Bennett."

"That's because I don't have my best friend here to stop me from going out of control," she pouted.

"I miss you too," Bonnie heard the grin in Elena's voice. "Are you at home?"

"I'm on my way there."

"Oh, should I call back when you get in?"

Bonnie laughed. "Elena, I can walk and talk at the same time, don't worry. I'm almost there, anyway." Bonnie loved that girl for always caring about her over the littlest things. "So, how've you been?"

"Awesome; New York is amazing, Bonnie, you need to come visit sometime, you'd love it."

"I wish! Maybe after finals, I can fly over," she replied, reaching into her purse for her keys. "How are things with you and Stefan?"

"Just great," her friend sighed happily. Bonnie couldn't help but smile. As long as Elena was happy, so was she. "He's the best – he insisted that we live in our own house instead of the dorms; a beach house, Bonnie! Completely paid for. It's gorgeous, not too big but it's got enough room, so when you come visit you can totally just crash here. It's got a great view – I know you'd love it."

"That's so good, Elena, I'm happy for you," Bonnie said genuinely. She had made it to her suite – finally. She set her things down on her kitchen table and plopped down on her couch, propping her feet up on the coffee table.

"Anyway, enough about me… I've been meaning to ask, we didn't talk about it last time you called, but… how's the whole… witchy-thingy going?"

Bonnie stifled a laugh. "The witchy-thingy's… still there. It was so weird, just yesterday I saw this image of some kid lying passed out at the bottom of the stairs at my apartment building, and when I was going out to run some errands that night, he was standing at the top of the stairs. Thank god I was there to point out that the upholstery was loose."

"Well, look at you, Super Bonnie," Elena said, amused. Bonnie stayed silent. "Have you talked to your Grams? It seems like you're getting better at timing these things lately…"

"Yeah, I don't know if that's a good thing. It's creeping me out. I'll call Grams about it later."

"Good," Elena said gently. "But, I mean, other than that… nothing too weird's been going on, right?"

"No," Bonnie sighed with relief. "Which is good, it's only been small things over the last few months since I got here. I don't think I can handle seeing anymore blood and death…" she shuddered.

"Guess it was the right decision to leave Mystic Falls, huh?"

"Definitely. Sometimes I worry about that place, though…"

"Me, too. But you, Caroline, and I have been through enough. I mean, I know things won't go back to normal, but…" Elena trailed off.

Bonnie sat up. "What do you mean?" She heard silence on the other end, but moments later she heard Elena mumble Stefan's name and it seemed like they were softly arguing over something. She heard Elena sigh.

"Nothing, it's nothing."

"If you're sure…" Bonnie replied, raising an eyebrow. "Hey, speaking of, have you heard from Caroline lately? I haven't talked to her in a month."

Elena sighed, "She hasn't been the same since last year. But no, I haven't talked to her. I don't think anyone has."

"You mean she hasn't been the same since Damon," Bonnie corrected.

"… Yeah, Damon," Elena repeated. Bonnie heard Stefan in the background again, but she couldn't make out what he said. "Stefan, shh. I won't. Umm… you think you can go get me a bottle of water from the kitchen? …Thank you."

Bonnie smiled in amusement. Whipped, much…?

"Okay, Bonnie, there's something I haven't told you about Caroline and Damon… and," Elena lowered her voice in a soft whisper that Bonnie had to strain to hear her. "And about Stefan. I've been keeping this whole thing to myself for over a year and I need to tell my best friend or I'll explode."

"What is it?" Bonnie said, her curiosity growing.

"Uhh… thanks, Stefan," Elena said returning to her normal volume. She laughed, nervously, Bonnie noted, on the other end. "You're the psychic one, Bonnie, figure it out!"

Bonnie looked around, confused. Then she knew Elena meant 'I'll tell you another time.' "Right, I'll get right on that," she feigned a laugh. "Well, thanks for the call, Elena. I've got some crazy studying to do before I go out in a few hours."

"Right, gotta squeeze into that slutty dress," Elena laughed.

Bonnie laughed, too. "Exactly."

"Okay, well we'll talk again soon," Elena said. "I really miss you, Bon."

"I miss you, too, Elena," Bonnie smiled sadly. "Say hi to Stefan for me."

"I will, and take care, okay?"

"You, too. Bye."

"Bye," Elena said. Bonnie hung up the phone and laid her head back onto the couch, closing her eyes.

What did Elena want to tell me that she couldn't say in front of Stefan? They were practically an old married couple, never kept anything from each other… Bonnie frowned. Elena did say she needed to tell her something about Stefan… Bonnie wished she could read people's thoughts. Now that power, she wouldn't mind having. She looked over at her books on the table. To study… or not to study…She ripped her gaze away and rolled her eyes at her own dorkiness. She needed to stop reading Shakespeare before bed. She had more important things to worry about right now. She opened up her phone again and hit number 3 on her speed dial and listened as it rang, walking over to the kitchen and fixing herself a chicken caesar salad for dinner.

"Hello?" Greeted a sing-song voice on the other end.

"Hi, Grams," Bonnie replied.

"How's my grandbaby?"

"Good!" Bonnie said a little too enthusiastically.

"Now I can tell something's wrong. What's troubling you, sweetie?" She gasped. "Are your powers acting up again?"

"Uhh… yeah, if you want to call it that," Bonnie replied awkwardly. 'Powers', really? What is this, Bewitched?

"Well it sure as hell ain't no head-cold, darling," her grandma said. Bonnie cracked a smile.

"So… what should I do? I had this… vision… nothing major, but a few hours after I had it, it actually happened.. Well, almost. The time spans between these things are getting closer together… should I be worried?"

"Oh no, not at all!" Her grandma sounded like she was beaming. "Actually, this is great news. Right on schedule…" Now her grandma sounded like she was talking more to herself.

"Grams…? What's right on schedule?"

"Sweetie, I really wish I could see you in person and explain this to you," her grandma sighed. "But telling you over the phone is better than not telling you at all, I guess." Bonnie was growing impatient. "Your Powers are developing. When a Salem witch reaches the age of 19, her Powers will be fully developed."

Bonnie blinked. "W-What do you mean fully developed?"

"I mean, you'll continue to be able to see people's futures, you can read their thoughts by touching them, you can manipulate certain objects to your liking, you can have conversations with others who possess the Power through nothing but your minds…"

Bonnie's throat was dry. This was insane. "No way… none of that is possible."

"Oh really? Right now, you're thinking that your dad should send me into an insane asylum."

"No!" She lied, feeling a pang of guilt go through her.

Her grandma laughed. "Don't feel bad sweetie. And that salad looks delicious."

How did she know that… Bonnie wondered, looking down at her food.

"Because I can proudly say that I'm a witch. I know this all sudden. When you turn 19, you'll be able to do all these things, but not well. You'd have to learn how to control them."

"Why 19?" That time was coming too close. Her birthday was not even a month away.

"Oh, sweetie, you really need to read up on family history," her grandma said sympathetically. "In 1693, during the Salem Witch trials, a group of accused witches and wizards were hung. There were nineteen of them killed that night because of what they were."

Bonnie suddenly felt dizzy. "Oh… cool…" she was shivering.

"Don't let this whole thing take control over you, Bonnie Bennett. Never ever feel weak against your own Powers. You need to be in control."

"Well how am I gonna learn how to do that without your help? I-I need to be, like, trained or something! I don't know how to deal with all of this; I mean, it was fine before, making small predictions and lighting candles, and knowing the ending of every episode of Gossip Girl before it even started – but this! This… you're talking about manipulating actual objects and having freaky mind conversations with people – I can't – I don't know what--"

"Honey, calm down, breathe," her grandma coaxed. Bonnie did what she said, staggering. "I'm a phone call away, any time you need me."

"You can't, like… fly up to Portland on a broom or something?"

She was greeted by a laugh. "As handy as that would be, we don't do that. You'll learn how to control your abilities."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're my granddaughter," the woman comforted. That made Bonnie smile. "You've always been a strong one, honey. I know you can get through it and be a great witch."

Bonnie shakily laughed. "Me? A witch? That's… definitely going to take some getting used to."

"Trust me, you'll learn to love it," Grams chuckled. "And I have faith that once you get a hold of it, you'll use this part of you for good."

"Of course," Bonnie found herself agreeing, basically accepting her fate over this phone call.

"That's my girl."

Bonnie sighed. "Thanks, Grams. I should go, think all of this over… my head's kinda scrambled from all this."

"Of course, don't think about it too much. Just take it as it comes; and focus," she advised.

"Okay. I miss you and love you, give dad a hug and a kiss for me next time you see him," she yawned, stretching out on the couch.

"Love you too, sweetie. And I'll pass it along. I've been meaning to visit your father, anyway. We had a little bet on the football game that was on last weekend."

Bonnie grinned, knowing she didn't even have to bother asking, but she felt the need to anyway, "Who won?"

"The psychic one, of course! I need to collect my winnings."

She laughed and shook her head. "Congrats, Grams. I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay, baby. Take care."

"You, too. Bye." Bonnie shut her phone and closed her eyes once more. She felt a major migraine coming on. No way in hell could she go out now. First, there was something suspicious that Elena needed to tell her, and now she just got the news that her "Powers" were gonna knock on the door and permanently move in in less than a month. She shook her head and finished her dinner, cleaned up and settled back onto the couch she inhabited earlier. She picked her phone up… again, dialing the last number she hoped she had to dial that night. She just wanted to go to bed.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Fel, look, I feel really bad for bailing out last minute, but I really don't feel well at all right now," Bonnie sighed.

"Your headaches again?" Felicia asked, concerned.

Something like that. "Yeah, I'm so sorry. You and Steph go and have a good time."

"Boo, you whore," her friend pouted.

Bonnie let out a laugh. "Okay there, Mean Girls," she got up and walked over to her medicine cabinet in the washroom and popped open the bottle of Advil.

"You gotta lay off on the studying, sweetie. You're smart enough already," she teased. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little disappointed in you. Steph just doesn't draw as much attention from the guys as you do," Felicia sighed. Bonnie almost choked on the little tablet, laughing. "Woah, don't tell her I said that."

"I won't," Bonnie chuckled. "I thought you had a hot date, anyway?"

"Sweetie, let me explain to you the concept of 'playing hard to get'--"

"Okay, I get it, I get it," she laughed. "Steph is gonna have to be your wingman for tonight. Next time, I swear, I'll be there."

"Good. Well feel better, sweetie. Get lots of sleep, pop them pills and all that good stuff," Felicia teased.

"Thanks, you have fun tonight – not too much fun, though, I don't want the cops calling me at 4 in the morning telling me to pick your ass up from some holding cell."

"That happened once! Those guys were asking to be flashed."

"Yeah, 'those guys' were the ones that arrested you. You can't flash cop cars, Fel," Bonnie said, laughing at the memory two months ago.

She heard Felicia laugh. "They loved it. It was a sausage fest in that cop car."

"I bet. Well, have fun."

"Oh I will. Feel better, muah!"

Bonnie chuckled and walked to her room, changing into her pyjamas and climbing into bed with her Classics book. Might as well get some studying in, she thought, opening to the next chapter.

'Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds'

Bonnie's eyes widened and she shut the book. Okay, maybe not. She put the book on her night stand and shut the lamp off, falling asleep in an instant, despite it only being 8:30pm.

Don't worry, next chapter will be better. Just needed to give y'all some insight on Bonnie's sitchyayshun. ;)