The Promised One (Klaus Mikaelson/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Three

The next week or two went by strangely. Jeremy was either out or hidden away in his bedroom; and Elena was always out. Madeline hadn't had time to ask her little sister about what was going on between her and Stefan Salvatore, but she had seen Damon a couple of times at the school picking up or dropping off Caroline Forbes. He had told her that Elena and Stefan were an item.

Vicki Donovan had been released from the hospital (although, in Madeline's opinion, the girl should've been kept in for a bit longer after she had spouted out something about it being a vampire that had attacked her!)

It was also Madeline's twentieth birthday. She had had to retake one of her school years, due to health issues, in the past.

Elena handed her a bouquet of yellow roses from both herself and Jeremy (a tradition between the siblings), and promised that she would see her that evening at the Mystic Grill for dinner. As Elena was out gallivanting for the day, and they had no idea where Jeremy was, Jenna had taken Madeline out for some shopping.

Jenna treated her niece to a coffee and a new top as a birthday treat, along with a trip to the cinema to see the latest romantic comedy.

The girls returned home in a fit of giggles, still conversing about something that the heroine of the film had done to enact revenge on her cheating boyfriend.

"Dinner's booked at the Grill in two hours." Elena said, "Did you two have fun?"

Jenna and Madeline nodded, "Yes, thank you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it, Maddie." Madeline was going to give her sister the cold shoulder (she had probably spent the time with Stefan, after all!) but Elena did look guilty.

"It's alright, Lee." The oldest Gilbert replied with a small smile, "We still have dinner together."

But it wasn't Elena that Madeline had to be upset with. It was Jeremy.

Not only did he not turn up to the Grill, but he didn't even let her know that he wasn't going to be there. If it was any other birthday, then Madeline wouldn't have particularly minded...but it was the first birthday she had had without her parents.

"Happy birthday, babe." Madeline looked up as Sam Phillips, her ex-boyfriend, came over to their table. Jenna had popped to the toilet, so it was just Elena and herself there.

"Thank you." She replied with a small smile, cringing at the pet name that she had always hated being called.

"How have you been?" He asked, "I haven't seen you since..."

"Since you broke up with me."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and chuckled. He noticed Jenna making her way back to the table, so he nodded to Madeline, "I'll see you around, yeah?"

She didn't respond, just watched him walk away.

"What did that Weasel want?" Jenna scowled at Sam's retreating back.

"Just wishing me a happy birthday." Madeline replied. "We're not having cake, are we?"

"Of course we are, why?"

"Because I want to go home."

Seeing her ex-boyfriend had put a downer on her mood. While they had been dating, he made her feel worthless and caused her lose all self confidence; he was always comparing her to other girls, so much so, that she became obsessed with how she looked. The weight issue was detrimental to her health, and this was what caused her to take a year out of school to recover from. The icing on the cake was when he had cheated on her, and told her that it was her fault that he had done it. His poisonous words were still ingrained in her mind, even to this day.