THE QUEEN'S CROWN [2]

15 : COME BACK TO ME

        "Is Charlie not coming?"

She sighed, looking around at the students that had gathered for the memorial. "No, I guess not. She didn't come to the actual funeral either."

"I'm kind of surprised you did. You didn't like Mr. Saltzman that much."

"He was there for Lottie when she needed him." Lily swallowed thickly, realizing Alaric's death was getting to her more than she had expected, because she saw the grief in Charlie's eyes yesterday when she told her about the memorial that was being held at the school. "And he didn't judge her, even if he was good at that with everyone else. Can't fault the dead guy right now, I'd be a dick."

Louis gave her a small smile, his arm moving around her shoulders so they were standing as close as they could be. "Everyone grieves differently. Maybe we should let her do it her way."

Lily knew she had to, but standing in the crowd in the school gymnasium with her fellow classmates around her, she felt like there was definitely someone missing. Not only students came to pay their respects, as Damon was sulking in the back with Liz, everyone facing the front, where Carol Lockwood was talking about how missed Alaric was going to be. Some people were crying, and as bad as it sounded, it made Lily laugh, or at least want to laugh, to see these people weep over someone they didn't really know. Mr. Saltzman taught them history, he sometimes gave them advice about their problems, but he wasn't a friend of theirs. They didn't know him.

The people that did know the real Alaric weren't crying. The tears had come already and as Lily managed to steal a glance at everyone, she saw none were weeping now. Elena was sat with Jeremy, even if most of the student body that had come had been put in class order; the Gilberts were the exception, not that anyone cared, because everyone knew that Alaric meant a lot to them. Jenna's murder had been covered up, labelled an accident, but the town knew Alaric had been dating her, and had basically taken on the role of guardian of the two teens after her death. Everyone knew Elena and Jeremy lost another parent. But they weren't crying. It surprised Lily, expecting at least for the new vampire to be sobbing. Instead she was holding onto Stefan's hand, the other vampire on her other side, as she stared at Carol. Elena looked sad, but there were no tears. Jeremy just looked angry and in the past week, Lily had spoken to him enough times to know he blamed Alaric's death on the constant flow of vampires in the town. Lily didn't blame him. Alaric died because of Esther's decision to wipe out the vampire race.

Lily almost didn't go to this. Louis convinced her to. He told her that even if she was fairly disconnected from her so-called grief because she hadn't let herself care that much about Ric, he still felt she would regret not going, and it hadn't taken him a lot to convince her, because he was right. She felt she should be here, because she knew Charlie wouldn't be. She hadn't been herself lately and Lily knew why, but it didn't change her own anger over her secret keeping and lies. It conflicted her, and so to get away from that feeling, she decided to come here, to try and feel something else. It hadn't exactly worked out the way she wanted it to.

After the memorial, Lily went to the Grill with Louis and Charity, since the principal had given them the day off and the memorial had been an optional attendance. She had officially returned to school two days ago, but she was still struggling to keep up, which is why Louis volunteered to become her tutor, since while she had completed her homework she always struggled with school, something her sister and best friend never had a problem with. Today she tried to let herself relax, with Louis refusing to even think of school work when it was meant to be a day about cherishing the people you cared about. Lily knew that meant she would have to at least try and talk to Charlie when she got home, even if she struggled with the lies. She just wanted to be treated like a valuable member of the family, because the reason her sister was upset with Bonnie was because she made a decision for her that she shouldn't have. Charlie choosing to believe this curse on their family wasn't real was her making a decision for Lily, too, since she was as much of a Prince as Charlie was.