“No! I don’t think so.” Vickie was shaking her head, but a shadow of doubt crept into her voice.
Again, Elena felt a flicker of guilt. She remembered the way Dick’s head had snapped backward when Tyler punched him in the mouth, the dazed expressions on both their faces when the other players had finally pulled them apart.
But worse things would have happened if they had gone to the church that night. Stefan had almost killed Dick and Tyler after Elena drowned. Vickie had been gruesomely murdered. The memory of Vickie’s room, painted in blood, made Elena’s stomach turn over.
What were a few rumors or a suspension to that?
“There,” Meredith slid the last bobby pin into Elena’s hair. “Gorgeous.”
Elena stood and pulled her friends close so that they could all look in the mirror. Bonnie, her curls falling over her shoulders, was as sweet as candy in her shimmering pink taffeta. Meredith’s hair was swept up into an elegant chignon, and the long sweep of silver silk falling almost to her feet made her seem a thousand times more sophisticated than she’d ever seemed before. Even Vickie, in a soft green dress that came to her knees and ended in a puff of lace, looked fresh and delicate despite her nervousness.
As for herself, Elena thought, standing straight and tall in the crimson dress, she looked like a burning flame. She looked like she could set the world on fire.
They walked down the stairs together to where Aunt Judith and her fiancé, Robert, waited, along with pajama-clad Margaret. Margaret jumped to her feet and came to hug Elena around the waist. Elena bent down and kissed her little sister on the forehead.
Aunt Judith blinked when she saw Elena. “You girls all look lovely,” she said slowly. “That’s certainly a … dramatic dress, dear.”
“You’re pretty,” Margaret said, beaming up at Elena, and Elena gave her a squeeze.
“Runs in the family,” she whispered, and her little sister giggled.
Robert was staring at Elena, looking a little dazed.
“What’s the matter, Bob?” Aunt Judith asked.
“Oh.” He frowned and passed a hand across his forehead. “Actually, it just occurred to me that Elena is a form of the name Helen. And for some reason I was thinking of Helen of Troy.”
“Beautiful and doomed,” said Bonnie. Her eyes met Elena’s for a second, before she quickly looked away.
“Well, yes,” said Robert.
A chill went up Elena’s spine. She wasn’t doomed, she told herself fiercely. Not this time. There was nothing to worry about. “We have to go,” she said quickly, and kissed Aunt Judith good-bye. “Don’t wait up.”
They all rode to the dance together in Meredith’s car, Elena in the front passenger seat, Bonnie and Vickie in the back. Meredith and Vickie were laughing and chattering, and Elena tried to join in.
But Bonnie was oddly quiet, and when Elena looked into the backseat, the other girl’s brown eyes were fixed on her thoughtfully. Elena couldn’t escape the heavy, anxious feeling that something important, something terrible, was about to happen.
No, she told herself. It’s just a high school dance. I’m only afraid because of what happened the first time. Everything is different now. But the thoughts didn’t lighten the sickening feeling of dread at the bottom of Elena’s stomach.
She almost leaned over and asked Meredith to take her home. She could have given some excuse, said she felt ill—it wouldn’t even have been a lie. But she was Elena Gilbert, and she did not back down. She would hold her head high and enjoy this last dance. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Music spilled out the open doors of the auditorium as they arrived. Inside, the cavernous room was a swirling mass of people, laughter, and voices. The decoration committee had draped the walls in long swathes of sheer fabric that shone gently in the light, transforming the whole auditorium into something from a dream. In the center of everything, resplendent in gold, was Caroline.
“Look at that dress,” Bonnie said, softly. “What’s the front held on with? Superglue?”
The dazzling dress, made of gold lamé and fitting like a second skin, certainly showed a lot of Caroline. She looked beautiful and wild, her glossy auburn hair streaming down her back as she laughed. Her long limbs were smooth and tanned, and her cat-green eyes shone. Caroline was clearly having a wonderful time.
Elena looked for Stefan beside Caroline, but she couldn’t spot him. The crowd around Caroline was constantly shifting. People came up to speak to her briefly, admiringly, like courtiers to a queen, and then stepped back to make room for the next in line.
“Born to rule, apparently,” Meredith said, sounding amused.
Elena kept moving toward Caroline, scanning the changing crowd around her. Stefan had to be there somewhere. Elena wouldn’t
speak to him, wouldn’t touch him, but she wanted to see him. She could have that at least, surely?
As a couple of cheerleaders stepped aside, Elena saw Caroline’s date at last and stopped short for a second in surprise.
Not Stefan at all. Matt. His hand was resting lightly on Caroline’s arm as he stood beside her, prince consort to the queen, but his eyes were fixed on Elena, his jaw set defiantly.