Unmasked (The Vampire Diaries 13)

“You’d make a better queen than I do. Take it,” Elena said agreeably, scanning the crowd as Caroline stood dumfounded. “Are you getting hot lunch?” It was a relief to see Meredith and Bonnie already sitting at their table. Caroline, temporarily silenced, followed as Elena got her lunch and went to join them.

“That new boy is in my biology class,” Bonnie announced. “I sit right across from him. And his name is Stefan—Stefan Salvatore—and he’s from Italy. He’s boarding with old Mrs. Flowers on the edge of town. He picked up your books when you dropped them, didn’t he, Caroline? Did he say anything?”

“Not much,” said Caroline shortly. She was still watching Elena from the corner of her eyes, her forehead slightly creased.

“There he is,” Meredith said, looking across the lunchroom.

Elena’s head shot up. There Stefan was, hesitating at the door of the cafeteria, and then crossing it with long, smooth strides, heading for the hall that led toward the other side of the school. He wouldn’t eat, of course. He had probably fed on the blood of a bird or small animal before school.

Stefan glanced toward their table, and Elena felt his eyes slide over her as viscerally as if he’d touched her. And then he passed by, his jaw tight. Elena swallowed and looked away.

Caroline was still watching him. She had the slightest hint of a smirk on her lovely face.

Caroline wanted Stefan, Elena knew. A few days after this, they’d started hanging out during lunch, had gone to Homecoming together. And then Elena and Stefan had come together, and he’d forgotten Caroline completely. No wonder she’d hated Elena more and more.

On an impulse, Elena nudged her. “You should talk to him,” she said.

It was the last thing she wanted, really. But Caroline’s fury over Elena taking Stefan had led to so much horror. And if Stefan was out of the way, in Caroline’s orbit, it would be easier for Elena to focus on Damon.

Besides, Stefan would never love Caroline. He’d be perfectly safe with her.

Caroline flicked a glance at Elena. “Who says I want to talk to him?” she said cooly.

But a moment later, Caroline was staring at the door Stefan had gone through. Elena took a long drink of her water. She’d set

something in motion.

It might be necessary, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Aunt Judith wants me home right after school today,” Elena lied. “I have to hear all about Margaret’s first day of nursery school, I guess.” She was leaning against her locker, Matt looking down at her with his honest blue eyes. They ignored the people streaming past, all eager to get home now that the first day was over.

“I can give you a ride home at least,” Matt said, reaching for her hand.

“That’s okay, I want to walk,” Elena said, gently disentangling her fingers from his. “I’ve got some thinking to do. And you’ve got to get ready for practice, don’t you?” She kissed him gently on the cheek, like a sister might instead of a girlfriend, and walked away.

Matt didn’t object, but Elena could feel his puzzled gaze following her all the way down the hall toward the school doors.

Poor Matt, she thought, sighing. They’d been good friends for so long. Junior year, she’d hoped that he was the boy for her. The one who could be more to her than a trophy or an accessory. And he had been in so many ways—but she hadn’t been in love with him, and she hadn’t been able to see then how much he loved her.

It had taken Matt a long time to get over her the first time. Maybe that was something else she could fix while she was back here, Elena thought, resisting the urge to turn around and look at him again. If she handled their breakup better …

She pushed through the front doors of the school and set off. Crossing the parking lot, she tilted her face up toward the warmth of the late afternoon sun and hesitated for a moment.

Her biggest problem right now was how to approach Damon in the right way. If she was going to get him to fall in love with her before Halloween, she had better get started.

Tucking a stray hair back behind her ear, Elena turned down the sidewalk toward home and began to go over her first memories of him, ignoring the chatter of the other students leaving school all around her. He’d come to her in the school gymnasium once, while she and her friends were planning the Haunted House, but that was after she knew Stefan. She didn’t know if Damon would have come after her at school if not for Stefan. It wasn’t really Damon’s kind of place.

She’d met him at Alaric’s house at the party Alaric had thrown looking for evidence of vampires. But Alaric wasn’t here, wouldn’t be here if she accomplished her mission, because he had come after Mr. Tanner was murdered.

She’d sat through history class today, watched as Mr. Tanner mocked Bonnie for her lack of knowledge of history, as Stefan cooly put him in his place. She was struck by how young Mr. Tanner was—about the same age as Elena and her friends were in her real present. He was inexperienced and desperate to keep the attention and respect of a class of kids only a few years younger than he was. But despite all that, he’d known a lot about the Renaissance and spoken well about it. Maybe in a few years, he’d be a good teacher. If he lived.

With renewed purpose, Elena walked faster, thinking hard. Damon had come to Bonnie’s house. But that was when he was looking for Elena, after she’d already gotten his attention.

A caw came overhead. Elena stopped short and craned her head back to catch a glimpse of a fat black crow in the maple tree overhead. It wasn’t Damon, she saw immediately. This bird was plumper, smaller. Probably just a bird, she told herself as it cawed again and then spread its wings and flew off, low, past the house behind her.

But the sight prompted the memory of a dark shape winging its way up from the oak trees at the edge of the cemetery, when she had gone there to visit her parents, before she had known Damon. He’d been keeping an eye on her, hadn’t he?

Elena stopped dead. The cemetery.