Chapter 5: You're Undead to Me

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how bad of a person am I for actually enjoying this?"

"On a normal person's scale or a you scale?"

"There's a difference?"

"You'd be about a five in your personal scale."

"Then it's not too bad!"

"But, you'd be an eleven on a normal person's scale."

"You suck. Literally and metaphorically."

"Would you two just shut up? I'm trying to mummify in peace here!"

I threw Damon a not-too-amused look for interrupting my banter with Stefan – those always made my day. The two of us were watching as Damon turned grayer by the hour as the lack of blood made his insides dry up like sand. It probably wasn't his best look – scratch that, the only person who could maybe have a chance of looking good all dried up and dead-ish would be moi – but I was thoroughly enjoying watching my best friend's torturer and almost killer undergo a particularly painful punishment.

"In a Damon scale, though, you'd probably be at a three," Stefan added optimistically. I shot him an annoyed look, but it was quickly replaced by a groan of pain. I'd ran all the way to the Boarding House from my place and my calf muscles were really giving me a hard time about it. "I should take you home now. You need to have breakfast and get ready for school."

"And get a shower, stinky!" Damon added from inside his cell in his typical irritating voice. How he managed to still be a pain in the ass even when he was getting to the point of being dryer than the Sahara desert was well beyond me.

"You're one to talk, Night of the Living Dead!" I sassed back. "Come on, Steffo! I know I'm pretty much perfect, but I need some time to look my usual beautiful self after an hour long run."

"Elena!" I stormed into my sister's room, seeing her still in bed, journal and pen in hand. She was quick to discard them once she saw me, and even quicker to look with a shocked expression at my woken up, showered and dressed form standing at the foot of her bed.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" she mockingly asked, smiling at her own joke but returning to her normal expression when she caught sight of my less than amused face. "Really, what are you doing up so early?"

"It's seven thirty," I replied, nonplused.

"I usually have to drag you out of bed at quarter to eight," she stated.

"I went for a run this morning," I shrugged, rolling my eyes at her twenty questions and starting to look through her vanity.

"That's the third time this week and it's Wednesday," she said, stating the obvious. "Are you training for a marathon or something?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's a fundraising thing… something about banning blood donations," I said sardonically, smirking at her confused expression.

"What are you looking for?" Elena asked, clearly arriving at the conclusion that it would be a better use of her time to ask me the reason why I was flipping through her underwear drawer instead of trying to decipher my every comment.

"Don't you dare use your innocent little girl face on me," I warned her, waving my index finger at her face. I was truly annoyed. No one – and I mean no one – had ever taken any of my stuff and lived to tell the tale, and I'd just finished showering and dressing only to find my very new and very expensive ring gone from my jewelry box. Jenna had already experienced firsthand my fury at having my things taken without permission – not that I would actually allow anyone to use any of my stuff – and I couldn't picture Jeremy with a large, sparkly ring on his hand, so that only left… "My ring. Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Elena was quick to defend herself. I glared at her murderously and her little act vanished as soon as it started. "I left it by the sink after washing my hands."

I rolled my eyes, but, seeing as I was in a pretty good mood after witnessing Damon Salvatore preparing himself to be casted as R from Warm Bodies, I let Elena's little stealing pass. However, my disposition was soured by the sight that greeted me as soon as I opened the door to the bathroom that Elena and Jeremy shared. There, standing in just a shirt and brushing her teeth in all her slutty glory was none other than Vicki fucking Donovan.

As soon as she saw me her eyes widened, and I would've laughed at her horrified expression if it had been any other girl but the one that had made out with my boyfriend during my parents' wake. My eyes narrowed dangerously and, by the way the shorter girl started shaking slightly as I stared her down, my glower must've made the one I'd previously directed at Elena look like a joke.

"Out," I heard myself say in an even, deep voice that I couldn't recognize as my own. It wasn't shaking with fury as I thought it would come out, but commanding and downright frightening, like something out of a Supernatural episode.

"Cassie, what's going on?"

"Vicki, what're you doing?"

Both Jeremy and Elena froze once they caught sight of me practically murdering whory Donovan with the lasers shooting out of my eyes.

The little bitch, though, had no better idea than to turn to my brother for help. "Jer –"

"I SAID OUT!" I bellowed, causing the other three people occupying the room to flinch at the loud volume. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Wait a minute," Jeremy said, interrupting my yelling, but not making a move to stand in front of Vicki and face me himself – smart boy. "You can't just kick out someone I invited over. This is my house too!"

"I CAN DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT!" I screeched, balling my hands into tight fists at my side, ready to punch the nearest thing that crossed my sight. "ESPECIALLY GET THE LITTLE BITCH THAT FUCKED MY BOYFRIEND IN MY HOUSE WHILE WE WERE MOURNING OUR PARENTS OUT OF MY LITTLE BROTHER'S LIFE!"

It was during that rant that I caught sight of the large, black and expensive looking ring adorning Vicki's finger, as well as the pill bottle clutched in her hand. Before she could make a sound of protest, I grabbed her wrist tightly and plucked both objects from her hold. I held them high, so both Elena and Jeremy could see what she had been doing while "washing her teeth". Elena's eyes narrowed in anger as I gave her pills back to her and Jeremy's expression turned fearful, knowing there'd be no stopping me after that. Vicki, however, looked downright terrified, though she was trying her best to hide it behind an irritated mask.

"It'd be best if you went back home, Vicki," Elena said calmly, but with an undertone of finality clouding her voice.

"You can't tell me to leave," she replied haughtily, though her superior attitude was somewhat dropped by the flash of fury in my eyes. "Jeremy invited me and this is his house as much as yours, so I'm not going anywhere until he tells me he wants me gone."

I looked at Jeremy, trying not to show how hurt I was by the fact that he invited the girl who played a major role in my first heartbreak to stay for a sleepover. He didn't seem too inclined to tell Vicki to leave, and my little brother, who I'd always sided with, taking the bitch's side over mine was the tip of the fucking iceberg.

"Really?"

In less than a minute, I managed to grab Vicki Donovan by the hair, drag her down the stairs while she screamed and cried and Jeremy threw curses at me as he trailed behind us, shove the shorter girl out of my house and slam the door in her face, leaving a shocked Elena, a pissed-off Jeremy and a puzzled Jenna, who'd just stepped out of the kitchen, to stand in front of me in the foyer.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Jeremy shouted, grabbing the top of my arm and spinning me around just as I'd finished closing it for the second time after throwing out Vicki's clothing that Jeremy had brought down the stair with him. His angry expression, however, melted away when he caught sight of my eyes, filled to the brim with tears that I wouldn't allow to fall.

"I guess I am out of my mind," I agreed, shaking off the hold he had on my arm. "I must be completely crazy to think that under all that attitude and druggy persona there was the Jeremy I love so much. The Jeremy I've always stood behind and supported in everything he did, even if I didn't agree with it. The Jeremy that brought me ice cream and sat by me as I cried my eyes out after I found out Tyler and that little bitch you seem to like so much were getting it on behind my back as I planned a funeral for our dead parents. But I guess showing even a little bit of sibling loyalty was too much for you. You hate me so damn much that you had to rub the fact that you're now sleeping with the girl that stole my boyfriend right in my face. The girl I hate more than I've ever hated anyone in my life." I shook my head as Elena made a move to stand closer to me. Her expression was sad, as was Jenna's, but Jeremy's was completely blank. "I don't know who you are anymore. This, what you've become, is not my little brother. Don't bother talking to me until he's back. Better yet, don't even come near me."

Turning around on my heel, I pulled the door open and stepped out of the house, slamming the front door meaningfully behind me. Thankfully, Vicki had already finished picking up her stuff off the front lawn and was gone by the time I climbed down the porch steps and made my way towards my car, grateful for having left my purse with my school things and my car keys inside the vehicle when I got home the previous night.

Doing my best to numb myself to the pain I was feeling, I focused on driving to Caroline's house. Even if my morning sucked, I still had to remember my best friend had endured a whole lot worse in the past couple of days and I had to be there for her in any way I could. As I parked in front of her house, I noticed Bonnie's car was also there, which meant the only one missing from our little group reunion was Elena, but she was too involved in her Stefan drama to pull her head out of her ass and realize someone else was having a hard time too for a change.

"Hello Cassie," Sherriff Forbes greeted me as soon as she pulled the front door open for me. I usually wouldn't have bothered with knocking and just climbed inside through Caroline's window, which was luckily at ground level, but seeing as I was wearing a brand new pair of shoes I didn't want to dirty I decided it would be a better thing to act like a normal person for once. "Caroline and Bonnie are in her room."

"Thanks, Liz," I said, stepping in and giving the tired looking woman a small smile. "How is she doing?"

For the past couple of days and ever since she woke up the morning after the party, Caroline had acted like her usual happy, bubbly self, as if nothing had happened and her vampire boyfriend hadn't taken a bite out of her. However, there wasn't much she could really hide from me, seeing as I knew her since birth and the two of us had always been inseparable, much like Elena and Bonnie. I could see right through her façade and I knew that the compulsion Damon had used to addle with her thoughts had left her quite confused as to what had happened and how she felt about everything.

"Can we just not talk about it, okay?" Caroline was pleading with Bonnie as I opened the door to her room and stuck my head in. The dark haired girl lounging on the bed noticed me right away, but my blonde friend was too busy staring dazedly at her reflection in her vanity mirror to realize someone else had stepped in. "I just… don't want to talk about Damon. I don't want to talk about any of it. I just want to go back to normal."

"And what better way to get things back to ordinary than organizing an event to have every hot male prancing around with their upper bodies uncovered?" I piped in, knowing the best way to make Caroline feel better about a guy was to get her to drool over another one.

"Cassie! You came!" the blonde squealed, jumping to her feet and practically running me over as she gave me one of her fiercest hugs. "I missed you!"

"Of course you did," I smirked as I pulled back from her embrace. "Who in their right mind wouldn't?"

"Modest," Bonnie commented sarcastically while going back to staring at the candle in her hands.

"Thank you," I replied with a cheeky wink as I plopped down on the bed as well.

"What are you doing with that candle?" Caroline asked, glancing weirdly at the way the dark haired girl was looking so intently at a piece of wax with a string in the middle.

"Emm… Nothing," Bonnie replied after a second, carefully placing the candle on the nightstand. "What's this?"

I turned my head towards her to see she was holding an ancient-looking pendant with a humongous amber stone in it. "It's dreadful," I piped in, though I was somewhat captivated by the way the light hit the necklace.

"Damon gave it to me," Caroline said in a really soft voice as she got up from her seat in front of the mirror and started walking towards Bonnie. "Or he was going to give it to me. All I know is it's mine now."

"It is ugly," Bonnie declared, for once actually seeming to agree with me.

"Then get your grubby hands off it," Caroline snapped, violently seizing the necklace from Bonnie and hanging it from her coat rack.

"Why don't we just agree to add 'appalling present buyer' to the list of reasons you're never getting back together with Damon?" I suggested, willing the sudden tension in the room to go away. Bonnie and Caroline giggled a bit at my comment and, just like that, things were back to normal. "Come on, Care. I'll give you a ride to school."

"Your brother sucks!" Caroline shrieked indignantly as I finished telling her about my disastrous morning. "Why would he do that to you?"

I laughed at my friend's exuberance, watching her from the corner of my eye as she continued seething at Jeremy's inconsideration. Parking the car in front of the school, I grabbed my cute black bag before climbing out of the driver's seat and closing the door behind me, watching as Caroline did the same.

"As shocking as it may seem, I'm not the center of everybody's universe – though it's obvious I should be," I said, smirking at a group of passing boys who whistled and watched Caroline and I appreciatively as we walked by. "He didn't do anything to me. Jeremy really seems to like the whore."

"Don't make excuses for him," Caroline snapped, still looking as though she would like nothing more than to bash Jeremy's head against a wall. The thing I loved the most about Caroline: she was fiercely loyal to her friends. "He shouldn't have paraded that home-wrecker in front of you like that."

"I'm not arguing against that one," I conceded, smiling slightly at Caroline's phrasing. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to be the first person to throw Vicki out on her ass if she parks her slutty ass in my house again. I'm just saying that maybe Jeremy wasn't thinking about my reaction when he brought her to the house for a sleepover."

"He should have," Caroline muttered as she rummaged around her purse, looking for the flyers she and I had spent a good few hours making the previous day.

"I don't expect to be my brother's first concern, Care," I shrugged, stopping in front of the school as she finally managed to pull out the stack of papers she had been looking for. "I'm not Elena."

"And thank God for that," Caroline laughed, quite bitter, as usual, about all the attention Elena got – and demanded – from everyone around her. "Come on, let's get to work!"

We hadn't taken two steps inside the school building when, all of a sudden, I was surrounded by an army – okay… two – of dyed blondes waiting to do anything Caroline wanted of them. Among their constant sucking up and seriously homosexual compliments – seriously, who says: 'Your boobs look great in that shirt'? – my blonde best friend seemed to become the person I knew and loved before she even met Damon.

"So, what's the plan, boss?" I asked, trying to swallow the sourness left in my mouth after having been guilt-tripped into helping with a fundraiser that would probably have me running around in the sluttiest two-piece Caroline could get her hands on. And, considering it was Caroline, I would be thankful if I ended up not completely naked.

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow," she informed in a teacher-like voice, the girls around her nodding like mindless drones. "The football team and the band have committed."

"Band?" I asked, wrinkling my nose in distaste at the thought of some of the band members without a shirt.

"Not all the band," Caroline amended, "just the ones who can pull off a bikini. I want in-your-face sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser for God's sake!"

"And what will I be doing?" I asked after Caroline had sent off her little clones to do her bidding somewhere else. After she'd had me manning the kissing booth all night at the school carnival the previous year, I was a little more than wary about my involvement in any school functions Caroline organized.

"You'll be tanning on the hood of Lyle's car," she replied simply, as if she was telling me that she was planning on having me carry buckets with water around. "His car is hot, you're hot, we'll place you two on the street and we'll be booming with clients in no time!"

"Lyle loves that car, there's no way he'll hand it over to you so you can fulfill your evil master plan," I said, trying to find a glitch in her well thought-out scheme so I wouldn't have to lie in the hood of a car all day long as pervy guys gawked at my boobs. Caroline went on handing out flyers and the wicked glint she got in her eye told me there was no way I was getting out of it.

"Maybe so, but he'd love to get into your pants more than he loves the car, so I just dropped your name and he was in," she smiled sweetly and, if I hadn't known better, I would've thought Caroline was a nice, innocent girl. Unfortunately, I did know better and I knew enough to realize I was fighting a losing battle.

"Fine, but I get to approve the bikini I'll be wearing," I told her in a tone that gave no room for arguments.

"Deal!" As she gave a poor, clueless freshman the last flyer she had – as well as a sultry smile – Caroline spotted Elena talking to no one other than Stefan Salvatore. "Let's go," she said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me behind her with surprising strength.

"Try not to pull off my arm," I moaned, trying to pry my wrist from her bruising hold and failing miserably. "I do need it, you know."

But I was ignored – quite rudely, might I add – in favor of the youngest Salvatore brother. "Stefan?" she said in a quiet tone that surprised the hell out of me, considering I was half expecting her to go off and start yelling at the vampire about his douche of a brother. "Where's Damon? He has some serious apologizing to do."

"He's gone, Caroline," Stefan answered, throwing me a questioning look to which I replied with a nod. With the blonde cheerleader, it was always best to be blunt and to the point.

"When's he coming back?" she asked after faltering for half a second.

"He's not coming back," Stefan deadpanned, causing Elena to look at him in surprise. "I'm sorry." With one last look at Elena and a meaningful glance at me, he walked away from our little group, probably sensing Caroline needed some friendly support he wouldn't be able to provide.

"I'm sorry, Care," I comforted her in the softest and most soothing voice I could muster. Caroline gave a small smile at my attempt at being gentle.

"This is a good thing, Caroline," Elena said, her tone miles better than anything I could achieve, but her words throwing off the smile Caroline had on her face.

"I know that," she said, before walking away with a sad look on her face.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that?" I hissed at Elena the moment Caroline was out of earshot.

"What's the problem?" my sister asked, confused as to what exactly she had done wrong. Of course, she was Elena fucking Gilbert, perfect little girl who could make no mistake, unlike her wild sister.

"She doesn't want to hear how Damon was bad for her, you idiot!" I practically yelled at her, throwing a glare at the few students that stopped to eavesdrop on the conversation, causing them to scurry away as fast as they could. "She actually misses the guy. She wants your sympathy, not your all mighty, all knowing advise!" I looked at Elena in disbelief, wondering when she became so self-absorbed that she couldn't even spare her friends a few words of comfort. "And people say I'm the heartless one in the family…"

"Hey, Cassie."

I put on my best sexy smirk as I took in the tall, blond haired, black eyed hunk in front of me. "Hey, Lyle." His car was definitely not the only hot thing about him.

"Hello! Babysitter is in the house!"

"Cassie, thank you for coming," Stefan said appreciatively as he zoomed down the stairs using his freaky vampire speed.

"And for letting yourself in," a sour Zach added as he sat in the couch reading and rubbing the bruises around his neck absentmindedly.

"Wouldn't be here if you'd learnt not to poke at a hungry lion through the bars of its cage, Zachary. It tends to bite," I said with a smile as fake as the sweet tone in my words. I then turned towards the fidgeting and clearly nervous vampire. "Besides, it's not like I had anything better to do on a Friday night than watch over my sister's boyfriend's psychotic vampire brother. I mean, why would a girl who looked like me have plans?"

"Did you?" Stefan asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Because you certainly jumped at the chance to come here."

"Ehh, Lyle's car may be nice to look at, but it's really uncomfortable to make out in," I shrugged, winking at Zach as he gaped at my forwardness. "And I couldn't go back home. Jenna isn't there, which means I would be all alone with Elena and Jeremy and I'm not a fan of either at the moment." I threw my bag on one of the couches, following it with my body. "So making sure Zachary doesn't become vampire chow while you reenact a scene from Twilight with my sister was the only option I had left."

"Uncle Stefan, I'm not sure this is –"

"Don't worry Zachary, I'll protect you," I cooed in the most annoying baby voice I could muster. Irritating Mystic Falls's very own Boo Radley had become a favorite pastime of mine ever since I met the guy.

"Yeah? How?" Zach asked with a sneer as he looked up from my heeled sandals to my carefully disarrayed hair.

I smirked at both men as Stefan turned to look at me with a questioning expression that mirrored his descendant's. "With this," I said, pulling a handgun out of my designer bag. At their puzzled – and slightly scared, in Zach's case – expressions, I felt compelled to explain. "It was my dad's. I replaced the bullets with wooden ones laced with vervain."

"Looks like you're all settled then," Stefan conceded, mildly impressed at my forethoughts. "I'll be going."

"Remember not to tell Elena about my involvement in this," I reminded him sternly, watching as he threw on his leather jacket.

"Of course," he scoffed, rolling his eyes and picking up his car keys from one of the small tables. "Wouldn't want her to know you were nice enough to help her try to salvage her relationship because you're Cassie Gilbert and you don't do nice."

"Good! You get it, then!" Stefan opened his mouth, probably wanting to say something, but closed it with a sigh, evidently realizing his words would have no impact on me whatsoever. Instead, he gave Zach and me a small wave and turned around, walking towards the front door and slamming it close behind him once he was out of the house. "Looks like it's just you and I, Zachary!"

"I'm going upstairs," Zach groaned before practically bolting out of the room, wanting to be as far away from me as he could without leaving the house and ruining his hermit reputation.

I smirked as I watched the retreating form of the oldest – youngest? – Salvatore. Deciding I would go downstairs and make sure Damon was perfectly locked away before I settled on the couch to read and do some homework for the rest of the night, I placed my gun on the waistband of my jeans, figuring it would be badass to get one of those thigh holsters to wear with dresses or skirts.

"Well, well, well… if it isn't my favorite cheerleader," Damon's voice croaked as soon as my face appeared between the bars of the little window on the door. He looked positively… grey. He was sitting against the wall, his whole frame slumped and motionless and his clothes covered with dust. It was a definite change from the polished, sexy and arrogant male that he had looked like during the Founder's party. I fingered the metal handle of my gun as Damon shifted a bit to make himself more comfortable. "A little birdie told me you recently got a gun that could be very harmful to me."

"Did nobody tell you that eavesdropping makes you seem desperate?" I asked, tilting my head to the side and trying not to show how uncomfortable I was under Damon's penetrating gaze.

"Yeah, well, I need something to do before I lose my mind from boredom," he shrugged, looking up at me with one of those roguish half smirks of his. "You clearly already lost yours if you think that a gun and some wooden bullets are going to stop me from killing everyone you love."

I laughed at his attempt at a threat, wondering if he actually knew how pathetically harmless he looked all dried up inside that cage. "In the state you're in I could take you down with a rattler," I mocked, a half smile lifting my lips slightly as I turned in my heel, intending to go back to the living room and finish the rest of my Calc homework. "Goodbye, Damon."

"Are you so desperate to appear strong and independent that you won't even let your sister see you do something nice for her?" he rasped, causing me to halt in my steps and turn my head slightly to look at him. Damon had a smug smirk on his face, probably because he thought his words would have some kind of impact on me.

"That has nothing to do with keeping up appearances," I corrected him, not even bothering to fully turn around to face him. "When people see good, they expect good and I don't want to live up to anyone's expectations but my own."

It was my turn to smirk smugly at Damon's open mouth as I walked back upstairs and out of the basement.

"I heard you and my sister kissed and made up," I called out as Stefan walked through my post as he made his way towards the actual car washing area.

"Yeah, we did," he said, looking at me strangely as he took a few steps towards me. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Luring the customers in," I replied, as if it wasn't weird at all to see a girl sun bathing on the hood of a car parked in the middle of the street for everyone to see. Stefan raised an eyebrow, still clearly confused about the situation. "Caroline forced me into it."

"That makes sense," the brown-haired vampire nodded, smiling slightly at my misfortune. "I guess I should probably go in and help then, before I'm ordered to come here with you as a punishment for being late."

"I'd run if I was you," I warned him, smirking as he laughed happily at my comment. Clearly having Elena back was doing wonders for his mood. "And lose the hoodie!"

I lay back down, pushing my Ray Bans up my nose, seeing as they had started to slide down from their place. Caroline should certainly be proud of her work: people were lining up to have their car washed, students were working hard and looking sexy at the same time – except Elena and Stefan, who hadn't lost their tops – and even the news people had shown up and were doing reports on the car wash. All in all, it looked as though the event was a success.

"Here's your water, Cass."

I sat up, throwing Lyle one of my best sexy smirks as he handed me the water bottle I had hinted at not three minutes ago. I got a cute, nervous smile in response and my smirk widened when I took in the slight blush that coated Lyle's cheeks. He was definitely handsome, with his tousled blond hair, classic blue eyes and toned, tanned body, but he was far too compliant for my taste. Everything I wanted, he would bend over backwards to get me and, even though most girls would've killed for someone like that, I found it a huge turn-off.

"Thanks, hot stuff," I purred as I took the bottle from him and rewarded him with a short, but passionate kiss. Lyle's blue eyes looked slightly out of focus when I leaned away from him and a goofy smile was plastered on his face.

"Can I get you anything else?" he asked chivalrously. Yep, he was clearly the overly polite, well-mannered kind of boy and I was sad to admit that I didn't find his personality to be captivating at all, compared to Tyler's possessive, dominant attitude or even Damon's… WHOA! I didn't find any aspect of Damon's character the least bit attractive! Especially not after he had threatened to kill my entire family and had almost succeeded in draining my best friend's blood.

"Scoot, lover boy. I need to talk to my niece," Aunt Jenna nicely shooed Lyle away, bringing me out of my internal debate. Deciding I'd gone brain dead for a moment, I turned my attention towards my favorite aunt.

"You know… your car was done an hour ago," I said, watching intently as Jenna's eyes kept themselves fixed on Logan Scumfell. "You should really learn to be sneakier about your crush."
"You're saying that out loud, why?" Jenna asked, throwing me a warning look as Logan Fell-off-a-cliff walked up behind her.

"Hi!" he greeted with the same fake smile he put on when he appeared on the news. "Cassie, right? I remember you. You were the one who targeted me for those Halloween pranks a few years ago, weren't you?"

"That's why she's my favorite relative," Aunt Jenna boasted as she placed one of her arms around my shoulder in a half hug.

"That's not insulting at all." Elena came up from behind the car to stand next to Jenna's other side, fixing our aunt with one of her unimpressed stares she usually reserved for me.

"Oh… Umm… Ehh… You guys are twins, so you're practically the same, right?" Jenna stuttered, clearly flustered under my sister's dark gaze. At that comment, though, she ended up receiving not one, but two glares.

"Elena, right?" Logan Fell-down-the-stairs introduced himself, coming to Jenna's rescue. "I think I met you once when you were nine."

"Your emotional maturity level when we were together," Jenna commented in a snarky way, making me laugh at our similarities.

"Ouch!" Logan I'll-punch-your-face-until-it-Fell (yeah, I really don't like the guy too much) complained, as Jenna and I high-fived and smirked identically. "Here I thought we were making progress."

"Not fast enough to keep her smart-ass comments at bay," I shrugged apologetically, though I was far from feeling sorry for the guy.

"Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask him for a favor?" Elena asked, turning on the puppy eyes that usually got her everything she wanted.

"If I do her a favor, do I get back in your good graces?" Logan I-Fell-on-a-pile-of-dog-shit asked Jenna as well, both questions making her hesitate.

"Is he enough in your good graces that soaking him from head to toe with dirty water would put me out of your good graces?" I piped in, not wanting to feel left out of their question game.

"A very reluctant maybe to both of you," Jenna replied, looking at Elena and Logan Fell-on-my-ass-and-broke-my-tailbone in turns. She then turned to me with a naughty smile on her lips. "A definite no to you."

"Done," Logan Fell-in-a-tank-of-acid was quick to tell Elena, throwing me a slightly scared look as he looked down to see his perfectly pressed suit. "Wait! Two conditions: dinner, tonight, your house."

"Fine," Jenna agreed, "but you're eating leftovers. And the other condition?"

Logan Fell-in-an-ocean-filled-with-sharks turned to look at Elena. "Whatever you need, can it be done far away from your sister and any source of water?"

"Deal," Elena laughed, finding amusement in my defeated pout. "Do you have access to old news stories say… fifties?"

My eyes widened at Elena's strange request, knowing that my sister was onto something regarding Stefan's less than ordinary lifestyle, but neither Jenna nor Logan Fell-on-my-face-and-broke-my-nose were confused by it. "Yeah, at the station," the douche bag in question replied. "Between the archives and the internet we pretty much have everything."

"I have this report," Elena lied, putting on her best straight A student face, "way past due. It'd be a lifesaver."

"Heading there now," Logan I-ran-out-of-phrases-with-Fell said, before I could ask Elena about this report I'd heard nothing about. "Let's go."

Elena was about to follow the news reporter when she paused and faced Jenna and I. "If anyone asks, you don't know where I went," she told us, looking at me especially. "I don't want Caroline to know that I left."

"Sure thing," I agreed, smirking as Elena furrowed her brows in confusion at my agreement. "After all, nothing is more important than schoolwork, right?"

The look my sister threw me over her shoulder as I walked away was nothing short of a death glare, but I simply smirked and waved my fingers in a mock-salute at her.

"I should be heading back home," Jenna said, clearly not in the mood to hang around a parking lot filled with scantily clad teenagers now that her eye-candy was gone.

"Yeah, I'll go see where Caroline is and check on everything," I sighed, moving my sexy ass from the hood of Lyle's car and putting on my shorts and my flip-flops. "I'll see you later."

"See you at home!"

As I walked among the working teenagers, it became clear that Caroline was nowhere around and the few people I asked told me no one had seen her for a while. Seeing that the only person I could tolerate that was actually around was Bonnie, I decided to go stand with her as she leaned on the hood of a black Jeep.

"Hard day?" she asked as she saw me let out a relieved sigh when I leaned against the car with her.

"Totally," I replied tiredly. "I had no idea sunbathing for the whole day would be so exhausting!"

Bonnie laughed at my dramatics and we both stood in a peaceful silence, watching as the students that remained finished up drying the last cars that were parked there. Well, we were peaceful until Tiki, one of the sluttiest of Caroline's acolytes walked up to us with a mop in her hand.

"Sweeper duty," she said, looking at Bonnie and completely ignoring my presence. Might have something to do with the fact that I'd called her out on the fact that she had a nose job done a couple of months back in front of the whole cafeteria. Whoops!

"What?" Bonnie asked, not making a single move to so what Tiki told her.

"You have to clean the pavement," the dark-skinned girl explained, as if Bonnie was too slow to understand what 'sweeper duty' meant.

"It's a car wash," Bonnie said, pointing out the obvious. "By definition the pavement's clean."

"But not dry," Tiki said with a look of pure smugness on her rat like face.

"And I'm doing this why?" Bonnie asked, voicing the thought I was about to put into words myself.

"Caroline bailed, so that leaves me in charge," Tiki said, holding the mop's wooden stick close to her body as if it was a pole and she was a strip dancer.

I laughed at her words, bringing the attention straight to me. "Oh, that's hilarious," I said, wiping a fake tear from the corner of my eye.

"What's so funny?" Tiki asked, glaring at me and trying to make herself look intimidating which, considering the ugly yellow bikini she was wearing, was a hard thing to achieve.

"The fact that you think that Caroline leaving means you're in charge," I said, standing up to my full height and looking down at Tiki. "I'm Caroline's best friend and therefore her right hand when it comes to all this fundraising stuff. Which means I'm in charge. And I think you should be the one on sweeper duty today." Tiki looked at me with an infuriated look in her eyes, opening and closing her mouth like a fish as she tried to think of something that would tear down my argument, but finding nothing. "Run along now."

With a fierce glare that turned into an irritated growl at my dismissive hand gesture, Tiki stormed away, mop in hand and ready to do as I told her.

"I hate that girl," Bonnie seethed as she glared at the ground.

I patted her on the back, not knowing what to say to that when, suddenly, a puddle of water in front of us caught fire under Bonnie's gaze. I jumped back instinctively, but Bonnie remained there, staring at the ground as the flames grew and started moving towards a small blue car in front of us. The car started burning too as Bonnie's eyes kept looking at the flames, following their movements carefully.

Out of nowhere came Stefan, running towards Bonnie and shaking her with his hands on her shoulders. "Bonnie, Bonnie," he repeated, trying to get her attention.

"Bonnie!" I shouted, grabbing the girl by her upper arm and turning her around to look at Stefan and me. Instantly, her eyes focused on our faces and, over her shoulder, I caught sight of the fire dying out on its own.

"What just happened?" she asked fearfully, moving her dark eyes from Stefan's face to mine.

"You were in some kind of trance," Stefan replied, looking at her in a way which led me to think he knew exactly what had happened.

"Did I do this?" Bonnie asked as she turned to look back at the smoking car.

"I think so," was my blunt answer as Bonnie's eyes met mine.

"Nobody else saw, did they?" she asked, to which Stefan and I both shook our heads. "Don't tell anybody… please."

And with that, she ran off, leaving Stefan and I standing there as we looked around at the people gathering around the car that was no longer burning.

"She really is a witch, isn't she?" I asked, looking at the vampire standing next to me.

"Yeah," Stefan admitted, still staring at Bonnie's retreating figure. "I met an ancestor of her that was a witch, but I didn't know she was one too until now."

"I don't think she did either," I said, remembering how freaked out Bonnie had looked just a moment ago. "Oh, by the way, Elena's onto you."

"What do you mean? Where is she?" Stefan asked, looking around the place trying to spot my sister.

"She went with this Logan Fell guy to the news station," I replied honestly, watching as his already furrowed brow creased even more. "She said she needed to check something out at the archives for a school report – total bullshit by the way – something about the fifties?" A flash of recognition, followed by worry, crossed through Stefan's eyes. "Something tells me you were in Mystic Falls around that time, weren't you?"

"Yeah," he confessed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "A man I used to know back then recognized me the other day at the Grill, and I think he was here again today."

"So you're busted, then," I concluded, watching as Stefan rubbed his forehead in thought. "You should be the one to tell her the truth, you know. Elena is big on trust and she really values honesty. She would take all this better if it came from you."

"Thanks, Cass," Stefan said, seeming to be sincerely grateful for my advice. "I should go home and check on everything, but I'll call you later, alright?"

I walked out of my bathroom with a towel wrapped around my body and another one in my hair while I replied to Lyle's latest text. I was interrupted mid-reply, though, by an incoming call, as Stefan's name flashed across my screen.

"Yes?"

"Damon's gone. He killed Zach and he escaped. I don't know where he is."

I immediately started moving around my room, opening drawers, pulling out clothes and getting my gun, the magazine with wooden bullets and some vervain-laced mace from under my bed. "I'll be there soon."

"Don't come here. I'll pick you up in five."

"And then we'll go hunting," I said, ending the call as I expertly clicked the gun's magazine into place.

A/N: I apologize for the long wait to whoever is still reading this story! Life gets in the way and even the best laid plans never seem to work out in the end, but you guys know this because you have lives of your own as well. Anyway, I'd really like some encouragement (reviews!) because I'm not feeling too good about this story at the moment, though it might have something to do with how little I'm liking TVD's season 5. Am I the only one? Tell me in a review ;) xoxo