Edgewalkers

Where do I belong?

Hi, you are entering unrewritten territory. Please proceed at your own risk. (Aka I have not redone this chapter yet, so some plot points from previous chapters that were reqritten could be missing or not make sense in this chapter)

Rebekah and Klaus called me several times more after I had gotten home but I ignored their calls even though this would most definitely provoke questions. But how could I pretend everything was fine after what had happened? Was this what Sophie and Stefan had meant? Gosh, this was really eating at me. Were they also responsible for the deaths mentioned in the news this morning. No, they couldn't be, they wouldn't go this far. Then again, I had not been able to imagine them beating others either.
I hated keeping this to myself. But my only friends here were the Mikaelsons and I couldn't talk to them now, could I?
Okay, Caroline, calm down. Be rational about this.
What did you really see?
The brothers beating up five guys.
But why?
Sonething about betrayel.
Betrayed by whom?
Those dudes? The siblings' father? Both?
Confused, I rubbed my eyes. If Klaus and the others really were this brutal as I had seen them today, where could I go in school? The witches hated me, the vamps wouldn't take me in and the werewolves probably wouldn't either.
The only group left were the Normies. But how would that look, if I just went to a different table at lunch. Everyone would notice. This was aweful. This was the worst. What should I do? Where did I belong now?

As the next day began, I called in sick for school. I had never done this before but today but I just couldn't go. To be fair, I did feel a bit sick, probably due to stress. I had to figure things out to not mess stuff up with every single student. Normally, I would've totally settled things alone but this... I firstly decided to call my Mum but she didn't pick up. Sighing, I went back to my contacts. She was most certainly still working, it could be her shift right now. But my friends from home were in school or at least that is what I thought. I sent them a text message, asking if they could call me during their break but five minutes later, Elena's number popped up on my screen, telling me to pick up.
"Hello?", I answered a bit startled.
"Care, what's up?", Bonnie greeted me.
"Bonnie?"
"And Elena.", my other friend made herself known.
"Oh my god, you won't believe how happy I am to hear your voices again.", I sighed.
"I bet you are. After all, you sounded pretty beat in your text.", Bonnie said. "You're lucky, we're not in school right now."
"Yeah, why is that by the way?", I asked.
"We're allowed to stay next to Jer's hospital bed today because he woke up tonight.", Elena told me and I could almost hear her smile.
"Oh my gosh, really? That's amazing!", I was sincerely happy for them.
"Yes! But enough about us, spit it out, what's up?", Bonnie got back to me.
"Remember when I told you about my friends here, the Mikaelsons?", I started.
"Oh yeah. I also remember Stefan getting so upset when he heard the name of that Klaus fella.", Elena remembered.
"Exactly. So because the family was acting all weird for the past two days, I wanted to look after them. And I did find all of the brothers in one street but I saw something not so pleasant.", I sighed.
"What did you see?"
"I'm not entirely sure. They were talking and then there were those guys and they just started hitting them. When they came out of the alley, they were all bloody and stuff.", I said, tears in my eyes when thinking about the event.
"The hell?", Bonnie was shocked. "Are they like bullies?"
"No, not that I know. But even the one who was presumed to be noble by everyone helped.", I told them.
"What are you going to do now?", Elena wanted to know.
"I'm not sure.", I admitted. "I don't want to act like everything's fine but who do I have here besides them? I'd ruin my reputation, status, my simple presence completely."
"Damn.", Bonnie said. How right she was. "I'm sorry, we can't be there right now..."
"It's fine.", I lied. "After all, what can you do."
"Not much from here."
I really had to find a solution to all of this.
"What do you guys suggest I do?", I searched for advice.
"Well, we're not in your position so it's a bit complicated.", Bonnie thought aloud. "But maybe there's someone of the family you still trust and could talk to?"
There was actually. Thinking about it, Rebekah had had nothing to do with the event and maybe she would even help me out? I didn't want to risk anything though.
Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door.
"Is someone visiting you?", Elena asked perplex through the phone.
"Not that I know of.", I whispered.
"Caroline?", a voice shouted. That was Klaus. "Are you there?"
I gave no answer, I didn't speak at all nor did my friends.
"Hey, are you in there? Everyone is worried for you. Open up!"
"Is that him?", Bonnie said very quietly. "That Klaus guy?"
"Yes.", I whispered back.
"Caroline! Please, it's just us!", another voice shouted. Rebekah. My friend was with him.
"Girls, I need to hang up, I'll call back later.", I told my besties in a low voice.
"Care, what are you planning?", Elena asked but I hung up before she could get an answer. I went to my text messages and wrote Rebekah. A second later her phone made a sound outside the door.
"Ugh, who is it now?", I heard her annoyed voice. She seemed to read, then sigh. "Klaus, I need you to go home."
"What?", he said confused. "Why would I? Is she in there? Did she text you?"
"Maybe. But I need to have a girl's talk with her and don't want you messing it up.", she hissed.
"Alright fine!", Klaus growled. "But let her know, I did really worry for her well-being."
"Of course.", his sister sighed.
For a moment, there was quiet. Then, Rebekah nocked on the door again.
"He's gone. Open up, please."
Finally, I went to the door and let her in. The relief on her face wasn't hard to notice.
"Oh, thank god, you're okay!" She hugged me tight, which made my mouth twitch upwards for a second.
"Now, tell me, what's going on? Why didn't you want my brother to be here?"
With a sigh, I gestured for her to sit down.
"Before I start: I did not spy on you guys, I was just there by accident.", I said, not being entirely honest.
"Okay...", Becka raised her eyebrows.
"I just happened to walk past an alley and your brothers were beating up four dudes big time.", I said right away. Her jaw dropped and it looked like her brain started working to search for what to say.
"Oh dear. So that's the reason, you didn't want to see Klaus?", she understood.
"I couldn't see him after he did this. It was too much.", I sighed.
Rebekah ruffled through her hair.
"Listen, things at home are complicated right now and there's a lot of things you don't know yet. This is not supposed to be an excuse because of course, it's not. I'm just saying that what you saw might have had more complicated reasons.", she tried explaining.
"You're saying, I should just forget about it and act like everything's normal?"
She shook her head. "I know, you can't. But staying away from us now would only complicate everything even further. You don't have to pretend like you're okay with this. I know what you saw and not surprisingly, this has consequences. I'm just asking of you to still sit with us in school. Will you do that?"
I thought for some time, her eyes on me, expecting me to say something.
Then finally, I sighed. "Okay, fine. I will still sit with you in school. And I furthermore will be friends with you, Davina and Marcel. But only them. As for the others, I'll have to understand and work through what I saw until I can get back to befriending them."
My friend stood up and smiled. "Seems like a fair compromise."
I led her to the door and gave her a hug before she went. "See you tomorrow."
Phew, one issue off my chart. The rest of the day, I spent doing the class material I had missed after my skip today. I was also more than delighted when my mum called me after I had just finished math.
"Mum! Hey! How are you?", I asked happily. My excitement was dimmes when I heard her tired abd exhausted voice from the other end.
"Hello, honey.", she said, trying her best to sound as in a well mood as me. "I'm just calling in-between shifts to check on you."
"Oh, okay. You got a lot to do?", I worried. Mum would really bury herself in work from time to time.
"Kind of. But let's not speak of that. How was your day? Are you holding up okay?", she changed the topic. Gosh, she really sounded pretty tired.
"I am. Just missing home a bit.", I admitted. "I'd love to come back and visit but I'm afraid I won't be able to make it until the next holidays."
"That's okay. The most important thing is that you stay healthy and happy. We'll figure the rest out. And until your break, I'll just make room for more calls.", she promised. In this moment, I honestly realized how much I was missing home and my mum. Most importantly, I wanted to be there for my mother.
"Please don't overwork yourself, okay?", I begged. "You do sound very exhausted."
"Oh, do I?", she nervously chuckled. "It's just a lot going on right now around here. But I'll take care of it, don't you worry."
"Mum, I always worry.", I sighed.
She laughed slightly. "Yes, you do. Even if I tell you not to but when did you ever listen to me?"
We both giggled. My mother and I really did get along better. There had been a time where we didn't but especially after my near-death experience, things had changed. We'd talked about our differences and now, she was one of the most important people in my life.
"I would love to talk longer, honey but work is calling.", Mum sighed.
"Okay. No pressure, look after yourself since I am not there to do that right now.", I said and she chuckled one last time before hanging up. Once again, I let myself drop onto the sofa und hid my face in the palms of my hands. This wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind regarding my stay. Well, let's hope it would all work out fine in the end.