"Actually, my name's Kol," he introduced, his perfect pearly teeth showing through his smile as his line of sight landed on the green-hued beauty. As his mind settled on silently assessing her, a twitch of his brow was present, indicating the considerable interest he took in what he saw. "And you two hot messes are going to be late," Kol continued in a cheerfully annoying tone, now switching back to look at his sister. "I would have thought you'd want to be early on your first day, Bekah. I'm truly disappointed in your behaviour."

"Shut it, Kol!" Rebekah screeched angrily, already stomping back up to the guest bedroom to escape his brotherly antics. She wondered how he was perfectly fine with being up early just after flying in from an exhausting flight.

"Uh, thank you, I guess," she said hesitantly, her forehead furrowing as she spoke to Kol. She definitely would not have minded skipping a Monday; they were no one's favourite. She caught sight of his nod and without further conversation, closed the door with a muttered 'bye'. She seriously did not want to deal with anyone right now, not having just crawled out of a warm, comfy bed. With a deep sigh, Bonnie stepped away from the door and marched straight back up the stairs. 'Screw it,' she thought, 'They can deal with me missing a few classes.'

When Bonnie finally made it to school, her first break had just finished, meaning her next two lessons would be history and food technology. She waved to Rebekah as the girl skipped off. The blonde hadn't complained once about being late which left her almost shocked. She would have thought with what she had heard about her that it would be an issue. Bonnie left the idea to be as she hurried to her locker to retrieve her books before scurrying off to class.

All through the history lesson—which hadn't turned out too boring, there was a new teacher who actually took some pride in what he taught—she could feel the looks that her two best friends were shooting her. In the moments she'd caught them, she noticed worry and curiousity brimming in their glassy eyes. Elena was the first to catch up to her as they had the next class together. She didn't say anything, waiting until the pair could have some privacy to talk. Once they'd entered the classroom, Elena pulled the girl towards the benches and other assorted kitchen ware, away from the crowd of overbearing, gossiping students. "Hey, Bon. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Lena," she nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. "I was just feeling lazy this morning, you know? Sorry for not showing up."

An understanding nod was returned. "It's all good. Please tell me you're coming to the party later on? Caroline will probably ditch me sooner or later."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Wouldn't want to see you suffer," Bonnie laughed, knowing that their blonde friend liked being the heart and soul of the party.

"Great! You can bring Rebekah too, don't worry about it."

The females moved back to the familiar areas where their peers sat. However, they joined in on the talking, giggling and lightly chattering until the teacher turned up.

.

As the minister of the class began to talk, the crowd that were sat around the desks shushed their excited murmurs. Kol found it to be astounding; from what he had gathered before his trip to this foreign country, Americans were quite on board with conversing whenever they felt the need to, regardless of what powers were speaking at the time. His eyes floated towards the woman who's house he had visited earlier; Bonnie was her name, he was sure of it. She was definitely someone to admire. Her dark locks and amusing commentary had him wanting to know more.

"You will need to partner up for this exercise. A pair this time, alright? Not threes or fours. Do you understand, for the love of god?" the teacher was lining up orders in a stern voice, although Kol could tell the lady was the furthest from being strict. "And," she continued, a teasing smile appearing, "Female-male groups. That is all." A tidal wave of groans erupted when many of the students heard this.

Kol turned to Riley and grinned. His friend nodded with a mischievous smile of his own, on board with his mission. He may have let it slip earlier that he planned to get to know Bonnie. He darted out of his chair then, finding his way to her before someone else could claim her partnership position. Bonnie let out a gasp as she turned around, almost thundering straight into his firm chest as she left her chair.

"Jesus!" she exclaimed as she took a shaky step back with wide eyes.

"Not quite, although don't be surprised if I am the next religious symbol being worshipped," he told her dramatically, a smirk toying on his lips. "So, partners?"

Bonnie shook her head in a slow manner, readjusting her thoughts. "Kol…" she breathed, looking up at him through narrow eyes. "Don't make me regret this."

He nodded as his mouth widened before moving past her to fetch their recipe sheet, leaving Bonnie to claim them a work area.

.

As Bonnie waited for Kol to return with their supplies, she let her eyes drift across the room. First she saw a very happy couple, smiling and whispering to each other: Stefan and Elena. She envied their relationship at times. The admiration in each of their gazes was painfully obvious; they were completely in love. It would be nice to have someone look at her like that— 'Damnit, Bonnie,' she slapped herself mentally, shifting her stare to somewhere else. They next landed on the male that she had seen Kol speaking with earlier. He was one of the exchange students; she'd barely met any, though, so there was no name to place to the attractive face.

"Chocolate muffins with creamy vanilla frosting," Kol chimed as he dumped all of the items he'd collected on the bench, "Inventive."

She smiled. "Hey, it's an easy class. Do you see anyone else complaining?"

The wild haired boy shrugged, glancing at her, "Do we at least get to eat them afterwards?"

"Yep," she said, the p hardened. Bonnie picked up the sheet that listed the required actions and ingredients, skimming through. Finally, she pushed the bowl towards Kol expectantly. "Put the flour, eggs, milk, sugar and butter in there," Bonnie ordered.

"Why do I have to?" he complained, giving her a look for her apparent unfairness.

"Cause I said so." Upon hearing his groan, she only smirked, leaning against the work area with folded arms to scrutinize his effort.

"Not like that!" she yelped as she darted for the electric mixture he was fiddling with. "You're going to get it everywhere."

Kol backed off, leaving her to deal with the icing but not without a pout. "It's more fun with some mess, though," he told her, his bottom lip protruding. Bonnie sighed, not bothering to object as she began to turn the limp mixture into a white, fluffy pile that would be perfect for their muffins.

"Get the stuff out of the oven before it burns," she said, barely peeking at him. She could hear Kol doing as she had directed, causing a small smile to appear spread across her features. "So, who's that guy you were with earlier?" Bonnie asked tentatively, stopping to give him a careful once over. God, he was abnormally hot.

"The one over there—?" A nod from Bonnie, "—That's Riley, my mate from England."

"How many of your friends came to Mystic?"

"Only a few," Kol answered, turning towards the muffin tray. He pried one from its encasing, hastily lifting it to his lips. Before he could even take a nibble, Bonnie had plucked it from his nimble fingers.

"No! Not yet!" she hissed, putting the muffin back in the tray. "Do you want me to fail?!"

He leaned towards her then, dangerously close as he challengingly stared into her eyes. She could see the flecks of amber coating his honey orbs as she was left unable to break away from his steady gaze. However, she jerked backwards and her expression changed to shock when his finger collided with her nose, leaving a blob of bleached frosting. "Kol!" she gaped, wiping it from her flesh before flicking it straight back at his own face. Her lips quirked then, playfully indeed as now there was white splashed across his light skin, "Perfect."

A hollering of laughter coming from across the room caused Elena to look up for the fourth time in the past half hour. She could see Bonnie giggling at Kol—the pair had frosting plastered to their faces. The brunette smiled briefly, looking at Stefan. "Seems like those two are having some fun," she said to her boyfriend merrily.

"Maybe a new friend will benefit her," Stefan replied in an encouraging manner.

"Yeah…" she agreed, taking another short look. Elena was glad that Bonnie was happy but she wasn't sure if she approved of the reason. She refocused on her own baked goods. She could save the friend talk for later.

The breeze flittering gently past as Bonnie walked to her car unaccompanied made her smile. She was always fond of nature. It took her a moment to realise when she heard an acquainted tune. It was her phone buzzing from her hand. She stopped at the nearest table, placing the books she had held tightly in her arms, down. She looked down at the message received.

Catching a ride with a friend. See you at home. R x

She was quick to type back a reply.

Party tonight. Be safe. ;).

Bonnie was surprised when she lifted her head to see no one milling about the schoolyard. It all seemed they'd disappeared straight after the bell. Even though she had already said her goodbyes, it was odd to not have anyone around. With a rise and drop of her shoulders, she rekindled her gear and went off to her car.

"Tsk, tsk. Did you purposely neglect to tell me there's a party tonight?" Rebekah probed as she looked up from the screen of her mobile, throwing the driver her best accusing look; pursed lips, eyebrows raised questioningly.

Jeremy gave her a sidelong glance, recognition dawning on him. "Actually, I forgot," he answered, shyly smiling as he returned his eyes to the road. The blonde couldn't help but smile too, finding that his adorable expression made it hard for her to be upset with him. "So, Bonnie's, right?" Jeremy questioned as they came to a slight stop at the end of the street.

"Yeah. She's neat."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "Uh, I guess she does keep her house pretty tidy."

"No, not tidy," Rebekah tittered as she gave his shoulder a spirited shove. "Cool, nice, you know, along those lines, moron."

"Hey! Don't call me a moron just because I'm not British like you," he defended with a grin.

A grumble fell from her lips, "Tosser."

As the car turned around the corner, Jeremy let out another bellowing chuckle, finding humour in her childish tone. "There you go again," he snickered, adding to the grimace set upon her delicate features.

The two girls were greeted by loud, thumping music that could be felt from outside the Grill. There was an abundance of already drunk teenagers, dancing in the centre of the room. Caroline wondered how the manager of this place would have allowed it to be changed into an almost club, if even for the night. There would be more than a little mess to clean up the next morning by the sights of how things were already going. She looked to Lexi who stood beside her, giving her an enthusiastic smile. "I'm going to get a drink, what about you?" she asked, speaking rowdily just to be heard over the beats being played.

"I'm going to dance!" Lexi informed her. She gave Caroline a wave as the other female bounced off towards the bar. She proceeded to sweep her eyes across the room, hoping to find a familiar face. To her luck, she found Kol with Riley and fled towards them. Once she had accomplished making her way to her best friends, she grabbed them by the sleeves. "Oi, you two, time to dance," Lexi told them firmly as she dragged them onto the makeshift dance floor. At least Americans understood what a lame party was, and avoided it. The blonde let go of their shirts and started to move precisely to the sound thrumming all around, making sure to bump into them. Soon enough, the boys joined in and she could hear them whispering to her in their annoyingly husky voices.

.

"Lex, hey," a dark-haired girl spoke, coming up to the three writhing bodies. The tiny group had attracted majority of the attention by now with all the sexy moves they were throwing into the open without a care.

"Hayley!" Lexi beamed, hurling her arms around her, "Happy birthday, hot stuff."

"Thanks," Hayley returned, placing a hand to her heart dramatically, pretending to tear up, "I'm growing so old." She then shifted her gaze to the males, observing. "So, this must be Riley," she stated, pointing a finger at him, and then at the gold-hued boy, "And Kol."

"That's us, hot stuff," Kol chuckled.

"Dance with me," Hayley instructed as she eyed him, moving slightly closer with a teasing smirk. "After all, I am the birthday girl."

.

Across the room a tight and concise jealously had begun to flicker in Bonnie's chest. As much as she loved Hayley, she was never good for the boys she dated, and she didn't want to see Kol fall into her trap. Or, really, she thought the two of them had stroke up a decent friendship, and she didn't want to see him be dancing like that with anyone in this building. Still watching, unfortunately, his head jerked in her direction and they made eye contact. Bonnie felt heat rushing to her cheeks and neck instantly and she pried her stare away with embarrassment flourishing in place of the envy.

"Are you guys going to continue doing that all night?" Caroline groaned, moving to stand beside her. Bonnie could smell the alcohol on her breath and she sighed. "If you wanna jump him, just do it already," she advised, giving the shorter girl a pat on the shoulder. Elena popped up on her other side too.

"He is definitely kinda scrumptious, in words of the magnificent, drunk Care-bear," Elena declared.

Caroline's argument came out sort of slurred, "Someone needs to have a piece of that ass, but it shouldn't be slutty birthday girl."

"You too are friends, you know that?" Bonnie reminded, shaking her head incredulously at the blonde. She could feel her gaze creeping back towards their original position. Damn.

"You know what, screw it!" she countered, forcing her glass into Bonnie's hands. Elena and herself watched as Caroline shimmied through the crowd. It took her some time but she found herself beside Kol. Both of the girl's eyebrows rose as they watched the blonde dismiss Hayley and begin to dance, quite heatedly, with the ever so gorgeous Original.

.

Bonnie had been left alone by her best friends once again; this had led her to be spending most of the night with Matt. He didn't seem to mind, though. They chatted about random things, each laughing at the other's joke. It was nothing serious, perfect for the situation. She didn't want to watch anymore of Caroline and Hayley drunkenly fighting for Kol's attention, or Elena making lovey-dovey eyes at Stefan.

Matt and Bonnie were swaying to Bombshell Blonde as the night began to edge towards morning. She had just finished laughing at something when a wisp of blonde hair caught her attention. Rebekah was strolling beside the youngest Gilbert. Her eyes snapped to Matt, seeing if he had seen them too. It was evident when they both looked in the same direction, somehow locating Caroline with ease. At the same time, the three of them gawped at Elena. She seemed even more stunned than they felt.

"Oh, my—"

"God!"

I tried to make it longer (it came out about 6 pages in word). I hope you all enjoy this chapter, even though it's not all that exciting. I decided to add in some Jerbekah, because I just realised I ship them hah. Anyway, thank you for reading!