Family Above All

64. As Friends

Pairing: Stefan/Caroline (m/f) handKlaus-Damon.Enzo Prompt for jeffrey

Monday, April 9, 2012

Gilbert Residence

Mystic Falls, Virginia

Evening

Jeremy kicked his backpack and cursed loudly enough that he cringed at his open door. Ric had been pretty cool about Jenna catching him and April fooling around at the lake house. He didn't want to push it and get in trouble again. And Jeremy really didn't want to deal with his mixed feelings over April and Annabelle. He also didn't want to go back to school tomorrow.

As Jeremy leaned down to shove his math textbook back in the bag from his fierce kick, he heard a tap on his locked window. He looked up to see Annabelle peering from the other side of the glass. Shit, he should have responded to her texts...

"Hey," Jeremy said, unlocking the window. He quickly trotted over and shut his bedroom door.

"Hey, I wasn't sure if you were back," Annabelle said, smoothing down her dress. "You didn't respond."

Jeremy gulped, "Sorry, I was trying to get stuff ready for tomorrow...Does your mom know you're here?"

Annabelle grinned and plopped down on the bed.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you about that. She had kind of change of heart. She says she was being unfair about her and wants to get to know you," Annabelle said brightly.

"Oh, cool," Jeremy said, his voice cracking. He reddened and stood awkwardly in the center of his room, unsure of what to do.

"Jeremy? What is it? You don't look happy," Annabelle said with a frown.

Jeremy wiped his now sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Ah, look. There's something I have to tell you," Jeremy said.

"What? Did you get grounded again? What did you do?" Annabelle teased, her dark eyes filled with amusement.

Jeremy eyed the pretty dark-haired vampire. He realized he did like her.

"The truth?" Jeremy asked, going to sit next to her. He realized she could probably toss him out the window she came in, but he wanted to come clean.

"Uh-oh," Annabelle replied, pausing. "Yes, tell me the truth. This whole conversation is making me nervous. I missed you so much this weekend. Now, you don't even seem happy to see me."

"No, I really am happy! That just makes this harder," Jeremy mumbled. He started to take her hand and then stopped. "It's just I did something dumb. I hope you can forgive me."

"Hey, we all do dumb things. I did something kind of silly myself. Did Ric say anything about the frogs?" Annabelle inquired.

"Not much, but Elena filled me in. Don't tell me you helped those guys?" Jeremy groaned.

"Yeah, I used my vampire powers to compel Miss Douglass in class last week. Matt had asked me to help his friend and...," Annabelle drifted off, worrying about the results. "Anyway, he and Tyler have been coming to the boarding house to see Vicki. I just didn't think it would be such a big deal."

"And now Miss Douglass is going to wonder what happened to her tadpoles? Oh, it's around the whole school now!" Jeremy winced.

"Yeah, I compelled her, but not the rest of the class. I'm sure someone will talk. Anyway, what did you want to tell me?" Annabelle said, bumping Jeremy's socked foot with her boot.