As Katherine slams her locker door shut, she gets the shock of her life. Standing a few feet away from her is her best friend, Klaus. Well, maybe not anymore. The last time she had seen him was a year and a half ago, the last time she had been in contact with him was when she wished him on his birthday and got a simple 'thank you' in response. As he approached her, she set her face into a stony expression, fully convinced to not show even an ounce of emotion. As he sheepishly greeted her, all she did was nod in his direction before rushing off to class, leaving him standing there, planning how to make it up to her.
If Katherine had paid even the slightest amount of attention to him recently, she would have seen how much klaus had changed over time. She would have seen right through the fake smiles and laughs he was throwing around, she would have understood the darkness that was set in his eyes, the windows to our souls. His exhaustion would have been clear as day to her. He could not handle the distance between them anymore, not when he had a choice in it this time. So when things didn't change after a week of his return, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Showing up at her house, he didn't leave until she finally listened to him, how his parents sent him to a boarding school in switzerland. It was so sudden that he didn't get a chance to even say goodbye, he was just told that his things were packed and he was going. Over there, he wasn't allowed to use his phone, so he was not able to stay in contact with her, but eventually he convinced his parents to let him come back. After a lot of groveling and multiple apologies, Klaus finally convinced Katherine to talk to him again, and all was good between them.
Weeks passed, and slowly but surely Katherine was beginning to trust Klaus again. However, good things do eventually come to an end. Katherine showed up at Klaus' house one day, earlier than he expected. She waited in his room until he got back from a relative's house, and when her curiosity grew she found herself sifting through his room, seeing what all had changed. When looking at a picture on his nightstand, she came across a certain chip that made her heart start racing. One look at it and Katherine had to take a seat. Her thoughts started getting jumbled up, and she could bring herself to string together any words. As she went through his nightstand drawer, she found a file. While Klaus did not lie about his moving to Switzerland, the reason was completely different. As she stood there with the chip celebrating his one year of sobriety, she felt her chest constrict, her breathing rate fasten, and her legs buckle underneath her. As the tears streamed down her face, all she could think was, "this is all my fault".
Her mind flashed back to two years ago, when she befriended a new student in their school. Caroline was a transfer student from a highschool in their town which had burned down, and everyone steered clear of her because she looked like trouble. Katherine however, saw the best in people and therefore included Caroline in all her plans. Eventually, she introduced Klaus and Caroline, and they hit it off immediately, soon starting to date. Katherine knew that Caroline had a history of abusing drugs, but she never would've imagined Klaud getting sucked into it. She left his house in tears, sending him an excuse of how her mother needed her. She broke down into sobs at home, constantly thinking about how Klaus' life was perfect before all this. She probably cost him so many opportunities, just because she couldn't see the bad in Caroline. It felt like her heart was breaking, she wanted to just dissociate from reality, to disappear. Klaus' life would have been perfect if it weren't for her naive nature. He helped her through so much, and this is how she repaid him. She should've seen the symptoms, how could she not have noticed that her best friend was going through so much?
For the next few days, Katherine stayed home from school, not being able to bring herself to face him, face anyone. She stayed in bed, wallowing over how many problems she brings about for everyone around her. Klaus had finally had enough, and showed up at her doorstep after the fourth day of her ignoring him. As he entered her room, Katherine stared at him with a shamefaced expression, unable to meet his eyes. He badgered her about what was wrong until she eventually cracked, shouting at him "IT'S ALL MY FAULT! You didn't go to a boarding school, you went to rehab! I read your file that day at your house, I know what happened. If I had not introduced you to Caroline this would have never happened! I can't even bring myself to apologise, because what I did doesn't deserve forgiveness. I don't even know how you can't stand here and talk to me, how do you not feel disgust when you stare at me!"
Klaus stared at her in shock, unable to process her words for a few minutes. Eventually, he got her to look at him properly, and softly explained to her how it wasn't her fault. He was the only one to be blamed, not even caroline. He started consuming drugs long before he met Caroline, and Caroline was one of the people who actually tried to get him to stop. He wouldn't listen to anyone, he continued with his ways. Eventually the milder drugs stopped affecting him, and he moved onto harder ones. He broke up with Caroline because he didn't like how she constantly nagged him to stop. The only reason his mom even found out was because she found him in bed one day, passed out with a needle sticking out of his arm. After that incident, he realised how far he had gone, and himself decided to go to rehab. He didn't tell her about it because he did not want her to think of him in that sense, he didn't want to ruin his image in her life. She was like a sister to him, the only person he trusted. He didn't want to hurt her. "So you see, Katherine, the only one to blame is me. You are literally an angel, you couldn't hurt a fly if you wanted to. I was being selfish, i should have told you before leaving, or even after coming back, but i couldn't bring myself to do so. So please, don't beat yourself over this. You are one of the reasons i got better, every day at rehab i would want to give up, then i would think of you and how you placed so much trust in me. I recovered because of you, Kat. Please, forgive me for all this. Please, let's just move on from this. Leave this chapter closed behind us." "I forgive you"
