The Strings That Pull | TVD

Chapter 5: You're Undead to Me

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Wannabe - Spice Girls

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"If you want my future, forget my past
If you wanna get with me, better make it fast"

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It was four days after Damon had been captured, and Maria's nightmares had almost calmed down. She was still phoning her brother each night, clinging on to the familiarity it brought. As she dug through her closet, she picked out a dark blue tank top with thick straps and rhinestone detailing. She wore it with low rise boot cut jeans and her favorite pair of converse.

At school, Maria started to worry about Caroline. She hadn't dealt with Damon's sudden disappearance well, and the witch didn't know what the blonde remembered from the ordeal.

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake." Maria snorted at Caroline's rant, when the girl turned to her.

"And you? Do you have a sexy enough bikini to be laughing right now?" Caroline passive-aggressively asked. As Maria nodded, she caught Jade in her peripheral vision smirking. Next to her, Eve was dry heaving at the insinuation.

Maria steered Care over to the girls as soon as she saw Stefan talk to Elena. After tossing a couple jokes back and forth, Caroline slipped out of the brunette's hands and approached Stefan. She seemed disappointed after he left, but Elena was practically giddy.

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"Did you make it up with her?"

"What?" Stefan sounded confused as she walked up to him after lunch.

"Did you make it up with Elena? That timeline you showed me at the party has me freaked out."

"Oh, not yet. But I'm planning something tonight."

"Hope it's good. Just know, Stefan, the life of every supernatural in Mystic Falls depends on you and your girlfriend." Maria put on a faux serious voice for the last sentence.

"Ha ha. Don't worry, I'll fix it up, and all will be right in Mystic Falls." Somehow, that statement made the anxiety in Maria's stomach flare up.

"I'm sure you will."

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Class was particularly uneventful that day, the most exciting part being theater with script analysis. Kate was letting the juniors decide play ideas, seeing as the unit was almost up.

"There aren't any interesting stories around here. Just arranged marriages." A girl, Sadie, was loudly complaining about the lack of inspiration.

"You just have to look in the right places." Maria retorted. "For example, I asked Zach Salvatore for some old diaries. The Salvatores are a founding family, they go way back. Anyways, I found the juiciest love triangle from 1864."

"Really?" Jade asked, leaning on Maria's shoulder to look at the old leather diary in the girl's hand.

"Yep. Two brothers in love with the same girl. But, she dies in a fire at the old church the same night the two boys were shot. Pretty interesting, no?"