Bad Blood || The Vampire Diaries [1]

28: Do Not Go Gentle

   A school dance was the last place on my list of places that I wanted to go to. The last time I went to a school dance, I ended up draining a young girl and then throwing her body over Wickery Bridge like some psychopathic murderer from a TV show. According to Damon, I had to go as a chaperone while he visited Dr Meredith Fell over Alaric. It seemed that he had found some the jar of untouched herbs in his apartment, the herbs that Bonnie specifically gave him so he could tame the Psycho Alaric. Damon wanted me to go with him, something about keeping an eye on Stefan and, most importantly, the girl that everyone seemed to fawn over, Elena Gilbert.

   "Do I really have to go?" I whined at Damon, following him. "May I remind you that the last time I went to a school dance, I killed someone."

   "You're going," Damon said, quickly glancing up at me.

   "Let me repeat myself: the last time I went, I killed someone." I crossed my arms and let out an annoyed huff.

   "You won't do it again," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. 

   "Okay, you and Stefan said the same thing last time," I tried to reason once again, "and I ended up killing someone. How many times do I have to repeat myself?"

   He stopped and turned to look at me, laying his hands on my shoulders. "Clara, you're going and that's final. You need to keep an eye on Stefan and Friends."

   "You mean Elena?" I forced a smile and I pushed his hands away from my shoulders. "I'm not going to this stupid dance, Damon. I'm going with you."

   "You need to stop trying to dodge Stefan," he suddenly said, leaning a bit closer to me. "You and I both know that there's something going on between the two of you, and the only thing keeping you apart is Elena. How about going, dancing with him, maybe..." He trailed off as he heard Stefan talking in the living room.

   "Yeah, everything alright?"

   "Yeah, yeah. I just, um... I wanted to, uh..." Elena's voice came from the other side of the phone. "Caroline and I were talking about going to the dance, and, um... Okay, look, I know where we're at, you and I, and I know it would be stupid to even think that we could go back to the way things were, but I'm going to the dance and I'd like to go with you."

   "Um," Stefan paused, "I'd love that."

   I looked up at Damon, my arms crossed. "That's one of the reasons of why I don't want to go."

   Damon stared down at me for several seconds, then entered the living room. He leaned against the doorway, staring at his brother with a hint of anger in his eyes. "I'm thinking gardenia corsage," he told his brother. "Wrist, obviously; you don't want to accidentally stab her in the chest with the pin. Now, that could get messy."

   "Damon, I..." Stefan off as his brother walking out of the room. His eyes then landed on me. "Clara, I..." I said nothing and turned, following Damon out of the house.

   He was getting in his car, eyes hard and lips set in a straight line. By the way he moved, I could tell that he was angry. He stared at me as I got in the car, then let out a groan when he got in as well. "Clara, I said–"

   "I know what you said," I cut him off, "but your brother doesn't need a babysitter and I seriously don't want to deal with any of that now, tonight, or ever."

   "Yeah," Damon breathed, starting the car. It was quiet between us as he drove, as I stared out the window. 

   I had my arms crossed, thoughts reeling. Why did I feel so weird? Each time I thought of Stefan with Elena, I felt something stir inside of me. I knew that feeling too well, due to me having felt it so many times before. I, as much I regretted to admit it, was jealous. It sounded so strange coming from me, being jealous over Stefan and Elena. I couldn't like him, at all, especially since he was Damon's brother and the boy—or man, whatever—that I had comforted when his mother died. It felt strange feeling an attraction to him, as if it should have never been there. But, I knew that it had been there all along since we were small. I had always felt an attraction to him, I just had never gone through with it.