Just A Girl (TVD)

Unpleasantville - Part 3

He kisses me in a moment of passion and I happily kiss him back, running my hands through his light brown hair. He has one hand on my waist and the other on the wall behind me. I never really noticed before just how attractive Charlie is. I mean sure, I always knew he was a good looking guy. But I never payed attention to his sheepish grin, or that excited spark in his eyes, or the way his hands would always find their way to mine. I also didn't notice until a few weeks ago the fluttering feeling in my chest whenever he said my name.

Suddenly, we both heard a scream coming from the cafeteria. It startled us both and we looked at each other, then started walking off in the direction of the cafeteria. Once we got there, Elena was watching from the side as Stefan and Damon fought another vampire. Of course, Charlie didn't know this. "Holy shit!"

No one payed attention to Charlie. "Hey dick head!" Damon yelled. "Nobody wants to kill you, we just wanna talk."

He jumped over a table to attack and Stefan moved quickly to stake him in the stomach with a broken broom. "Now you feel like talking?"

"Screw you."

He plunged the stake a little further in. "Wrong answer. Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun." He said.

Stefan twisted the stake up. "What do you want with Elena."

"She looks like Katherine." He answered in a broken voice.

Stefan got up and Damon looked confused. Elena had filled me in on the whole 'looking identical to Katherine' thing. "You knew Katherine?" Damon asked.

"Oh, you thought you were the only ones." The guy laughed while simultaneously gasping in pain. It was kinda sad to watch but he got what he deserved so no complaints here. "You don't even remember me."

"Tell me how to get in the tomb. Hmm?" Damon said, getting straight to business.

"No." Stefan adjusted the stake once more. That seemed to persuade him. "The grimoire..."

"Where is it?" Damon asked. There was no answer.

Stefan went at it with the stake again. "Agh! Check the journal! The journal! Jonathans journal, Jonathon Gilbert's."

At this point, Charlie was covering his eyes. He let go of the stake. "Who else is working with you?"

There was no answer. "Who else is there?" Damon asked, raising his voice.

"No..." The vampire said. "You're gonna have to kill me."

Stefan and Damon looked at each other then Stefan took out the stake and shoved it into the stranger's chest. He decicated and fell to the ground. Elena gasped, I just stared, Charlie was the only one to speak. "I feel like I've walked in on the Mafia or something." He said, trying to hide his blatant fear. It wasn't working.

Damon rushed over to Charlie with his fangs out. "Damon if you hurt him I swear to god I will kill you!" I yell.

"Look, as charming as your boyfriend is, he just saw us kill someone. So unfortunately, I can't let him live with that information."

"Damon!" Stefan scolded. "Just compel him to forget."

I look over at Charlie, who is frozen in fear. I'm not gonna let them play their stupid mind games. "No!"

"What?!" The three of them look at me.

"You heard me! I know you guys love the concept of altering peoples memories because it's convenient, but I'm not gonna let you do that to him!"

"Nora..." Elena starts.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Charlie yells. He usually doesn't yell that much so it was kind of surprising when he got so worked up.

He takes a few minutes to freak out and then I take another few minutes to explain everything. And I mean, everything. It doesn't go over very well, but he agreed not to tell anyone and went home. It got me a little worried. I couldn't really tell if he was gonna be okay or not. But so it goes I guess.

We saw someone at the window of the cafeteria door. "Go, I got this." Stefan said, looking to Damon. Damon walks away and Stefan comforts Elena.

I just sit at a table. I don't know how I feel. I could be angry and sad that Charlie just left, but then again, who would blame him. I could be terrified that my sister's boyfriend just killed someone, vampire or not. But I'm not sure that stuff scares me as much as it did before the animal attacks. I could be happy or relieved that the unknown vampire won't be bothering us anymore... but I'm just... not.

Elena sits next to me as Stefan gets rid of the body. "Are you okay?" I just shrug. "Is Charlie gonna be okay?" I shrug again. Elena laughs dryly. "Nora Gilbert suddenly has nothing to say. Someone ring the bells and throw the confetti." When I didn't react she got nervous. "I'm sorry, that was a joke. Being sarcastic is usually your thing but you're kind of... dysfunctional right now so..."

I get up. "I'm gonna go home now."

"Let me drive you-"

"No, I can walk." It feels kind of weird hearing my own voice softer than it usually is. Void of all confidence that was there before. I walk out of the school and start to walk home.

About half way there, Matt's truck stops next to me. "Nora, are you drunk?"

"No..."

"Don't lie to me Nora-"

"I'm not drunk, Matt!" I look at him with tears in my eyes.

He mutters an apology and reaches across to open the passenger door for me. "I'll drive you home." Hesitatingly, I nod and climb in. "So what happened?"

"I messed up." I said. "I was with Charlie and I told him things that not a lot of people know and he totally freaked out and went home."

"Been there. I just ruined things with Caroline." He said.

"You can't just ruin things with Caroline. She's way too forgiving. It's her fatal flaw." I say.

"Well, tell that to Caroline."

"You should probably talk to her though. She just wanted to feel wanted."

"You're right, thanks." He looked over at me. Probably expecting to see me smiling, proud of my own advice. But instead, I'm looking at my hands in my lap, fidgeting with my fingers. "Are you alright, Nora?"

I see that we're pretty much in front of my house. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm pretty much over it." I try to open the door but it's locked. "Matt, open the door please."

"Don't lie to me Nora. Are you okay?" He looked at me with concern.

"I'm fine, okay?! Why does everyone think I'm not okay? Cause I am and I take care of myself anyway! So lay off!" I snap. He finally unlocks the door and I storm inside. I shouldn't have yelled at him. He was only trying to help. I hope he and Caroline can fix things at least.