If only | Damon Salvatore

023. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

Chapter twenty three

"Actions speak louder than words."

Determined to take her mind off of what had happened between her and Damon, Beatrix threw herself into running the school carnival. She had her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, spending the entire morning assigning errands to everyone. She had specifically ordered Bonnie and Elena to haul the prizes to the game booths, wanting everything to turn out perfectly.

Walking down the main hallway with her clipboard, she spotted Jeremy and Stefan standing near the lockers. Her eyes narrowed. "You two!" she called out, marching over to them.

"Hello, Beatrix," Stefan said, offering a calm, apologetic smile.

"Jeremy, I explicitly told you to meet me the second you were finished," Beatrix told him, tapping her pen.

"Yeah, yeah, I did it," Jeremy replied, shutting his locker. "I set up the goldfish toss. All three hundred goldfish. It's gonna be epic." With a dismissive wave, he turned and walked off down the corridor.

Beatrix threw her arms out in frustration. "Okay, I am a witch. With a snap of my fingers, I could have this entire campus set up by myself. But no... I insisted on having actual students and workers help me out."

Stefan sighed softly, stepping closer and wrapping his arms around her shoulders in a comforting hug. "From what I recall, you said you took over as carnival director to keep all of us normal and distracted."

"I did," Beatrix shared, leaning into the embrace for just a second. "But doing all of this while everyone complains about me just reminds me that being a normal high school student is completely overrated."

"Yes, it is," Stefan hummed in agreement. He pulled back slightly, his expression turning careful. "So... I was just wondering, how are you dealing with the whole Damon situation?"

The moment his name left Stefan's mouth, Beatrix huffed. She sharply shoved Stefan's arms off her shoulders and began marching down the hallway.

Stefan immediately followed right behind her. "Okay, um... I thought Katherine showing up had just put him in a weird place. It made him off-kilter and dangerous. But it seems like it's completely rubbed off on you, too, which is the exact opposite of what I wanted, Beatrix." He quickened his pace to keep up with her sharp strides. "Brooding is my thing. You're supposed to be the one giving the inspirational speeches. If you start going off the rails, I'm really not sure if I have the strength to pull you back."

"Then don't," Beatrix shared flatly. She stopped and turned to face him, her jaw tight. "I am incredibly grateful you were there for me the other night, Stefan. I am. But as a teenage girl who has never actually liked a guy before, and who just basically got her heart broken... I really need to figure this out for myself."

With that, she turned on her heel and headed down a different hallway, leaving Stefan standing alone to let out a heavy, defeated sigh.

Later that night, the fair was a massive success, the grounds packed with people and buzzing with music. Elena and Bonnie walked up to Beatrix, who was busy reviewing her checklist.

"The ring toss is completely out of Bart and Homer dolls, and we're down to the last Team Jacob T-shirts," Bonnie shared.

"Okay," Beatrix replied flatly, keeping her eyes fixed on her clipboard without even looking at her.

"I can grab some extra prizes from the science club storage," Elena offered, trying to break the icy tension. "And also, we lost a speaker in the karaoke booth."