BORN TO DIE, stefan salvatore [1]

20 - BRAVE NEW WORLD

BORN TO DIE
BRAVE NEW WORLD

MADELEINE HATED SCHOOL FUNCTIONS. In the beginning she only attended for Charlotte's sake and now it was for Caroline's. Madeleine was aware that she hadn't been the best friend to Caroline. Quite frankly, she'd been the worst. She didn't know what it was like to be friends with someone who chose her. Who did it because they wanted to.

Madeleine felt guilty for what happened to Caroline. She wasn't there for her and now she was rotting away in a hospital. Madeleine had made it her mission to be by her bedside just as much as Matt. She dropped off flowers and cupcakes and watched reruns of Jersey Shore.

And today, she took part in the carnival. The carnival, like all school events were usually run by Caroline. With her in the hospital, Elena had taken charge and organised the whole thing herself. Of course, everyone volunteered to help and that meant that despite her interest, Madeleine volunteered.

The silver lining was that she got to miss all her classes for the day to help set up. Elena handed her a bundle of stuffed animals for the ring toss as Bonnie relayed her interaction with Katherine Pierce.

"Katherine looked just like you. It was freakish."

"She is my ancestor. I moved the student booth into the cafeteria." Elena tried to avoid the subject at all costs.

"Your vampire ancestor. And she didn't just resemble you like a family member. She was you." Even Madeleine could agree that the similarity was that of identical twins.

Elena slammed her clipboard down on the table. She sighed. She didn't have answers. She desperately wanted them too but she didn't know anything and right now she can only focus on one thing at once. "I don't know. I can't explain it. It's creepy. That's all I got."

"Well how do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you." Madeleine asked. With Elena's face, Katherine was dangerous in Mystic Falls. God knows where she was sneaking into or who she was manipulating.

"I don't. But I could sit here and be tortured by the not knowing or I could get these to the ring toss." Elena waved the bag of plushie snakes. Elena had taken on Caroline's role to run the carnival and only now she was realising just how difficult it was, especially with a murderous ancestor on the loose.

"Have you talked to Damon since he tried to kill Jeremy?" Bonnie inquired. Madeleine was filled in on Damon's breakdown this morning when she had to give Jeremy a run down on how to protect yourself from a vampire. She had been the one to make his new vervain bracelet. She had considered offering him her own. As a witch she didn't need vervain to avoid compulsion but the idea of having a friend gift from Elena made her heart warm.

Elena's spine locked at the mention of the eldest Salvatore brother. "No, I haven't. And I won't. And I don't want to talk about Damon or anything vampire related, okay?"