(1) Just Magic (D. Salvatore)

Chapter Fifty-Five

At the Mystic Falls High School, the '50s dance is well underway. The students of Mystic Falls are dressed in their best '50s getups and dancing to 'This Magic Moment'. Caroline and Bonnie are dancing together on the dance floor. Elena and Stefan, arms linked, walk into the dance. Behind them, Damon walks in at Cassandra's side. Damon holds out his arm to her and she glances at it and then him, he raises an eyebrow and she takes his arm. The two vampires look around the dance floor for any sign of danger.

..........

Later, Cassandra and Elena are standing by the punch bowl. Cassandra pours herself a drink as Elena nervously fidgeting with her earring when Caroline and Bonnie approach them.

"Having fun?" Elena asks.

"No, but this took about two hours, so I'm at least staying half of that" Caroline answers and shares a laugh with Elena. Bonnie looks off into the distance.

"What's Damon doing here?" Bonnie asks, Cassandra, Elena, and Caroline turn to look at Damon, who is standing with Stefan. Cassandra turns back around.

"He wanted to come. I promise. He'll behave" Cassandra assures her.

"So what is this, like, are you dating now?" Caroline asks.

"No" Cassandra defends slightly. She's not sure what it is. Friends. With sexual tension, because she swears there is some there. There is something that passes between them. He does not look at her as if she is just his friend. "I don't know..." She counters. "We're friends, I guess" She offers and shares a look with Elena and then shrugs. It's the best guess as ever.

................

Cassandra sits at a little table and stirs at her punch with a tiny straw, her eyes on Stefan and Elena dancing together. And yeah, she's a little jealous. She has no date. No boyfriend. No one to look at her the way that Stefan is looking at Elena. Of course, she completely misses the way that Damon is watching her as she watches his brother and her sister together. Even if he isn't ready to admit to himself that he actually cares about the girl, his eyes give him away. She misses it all because her attention is on the greener grass. And she also misses Noah across the room as he watches her as well. Damon pulls out the chair next to her and she glances at him as he sets a drink down for her. She turns to face him, the dance floor behind her.

"Thanks" She whispers, he hums a little and leans back in his seat. She cocks her head. "Shouldn't you guys be able to sense each other or something? Like radar?" She asks him, he smirks and shakes his head.

"Doesn't work that way, Buttercup" He answers. "See him anywhere?"

"Not unless he has a pompadour" She teases, he snorts and pushes her drink towards her before nodding to the dancefloor.

"You want to dance?" She glances over her shoulder and then shakes her head.

"Two-left feet" She mumbles and turns back to him, crossing one leg over the other as she leans back into the seat. "But thanks for asking" They share a look, it's not the first time he's asked, and it's not the first time she's responded in the exact same way.

"I watched you dance" He points out.

"I was drunk, it doesn't count" She argues, he shrugs a little and glances at her drink. "Did you spike the punch?" She asks as she picks up her cup to peer into it.

"Maybe" He offers with a sly smile. She smirks and shakes her head. Because it's not at all that surprising. "Hey, what happened with your jeep?" He asks her.

"Oh, it's a complete write off" She offers and shrugs. "Which...urm...it was mother's so" She looks down to her drink and sighs. She feels stupid, grieving for that jeep but it was her mothers and she and Elena spent a lot of their childhood in that jeep. "Kind of sucks" She takes a drink from her cup and looks out across the rest of the room.

............

Later, out on the dancefloor, Damon has found a girl to dance with. He gropes her backside and they glide across the dance floor together. Cassandra watches from the punch bowl with Stefan and Elena. She laughs and looks up at Stefan.

"You really can't take him anywhere, can you?" Cassandra teases, Stefan shakes his head with a small smile.

"Uh, no" He agrees. They share a look and he raises an eyebrow at her being all polite and nice to him, she shrugs.

"It's a party" She offers in way of explanation and turns back to watch Damon. He glances across at her and winks, she smirks and shakes her head back at him. Elena looks across the floor and sees Noah in his hoodie. She turns back to Stefan.

"Stefan, the back corner," Elena tells Stefan, he looks in the corner and then glances at Cassandra.

"Get Damon" He orders of her, she goes to make a witty retort but can sense the urgency in his voice so she bites her tongue, this is serious now. Stefan moves across the dance floor, pushing students out of his way. Elena threads her fingers with Cassandra and the sisters share a look. Reassuring one another that they've got each other's backs.

.........

The boy in the hoodie has exited the dance and now walks down a crowded corridor into another darker corridor. Stefan enters the corridor and sees the boy turn the corner. Stefan jogs after him, then when they are in the darkened corridor, he vamp-speeds over to the boy, grabs him by his hoodie and slams him into the lockers.

"What did I do?" Stefan looks at the boy, confused.

"Where is he?"

"I was getting a soda, and then this guy gave me his hoodie" Stefan looks around, realizing he's been tricked into leaving the twins alone.

............

Cassandra leads the way across the dance floor, searching for Damon, Elena clutching to her hand as they attempt to stay together. Elena's cell phone rings, she releases Cassandra to take it out of her pocket and answers it. She glances up, seeking out her sister, but she's lost her in the crowd.

"Hello, Elena" Elena pauses, terrified. "Here's what you're going to do" Elena looks around her for the source of the call. "There's an exit door behind you. You have five seconds"

"No" Elena argues.

"Or your brother dies" Elena looks over at the punch bowl where Jeremy is serving punch. Elena sees Noah standing near him, on his phone with Elena. "I can snap his neck so fast I bet there's not even a witness. Now, start walking" Elena starts backing up towards the door.

"Don't you dare touch him" Elena threatens, not that she can do much, she's a human, and he's a vampire, he is going to win no matter which angle she looks at it. 

"Keep walking. Through the door" Elena keeps walking back across the floor. Noah starts walking past Jeremy. Elena, worried, continues to watch him, but Noah passes Jeremy without even touching him. Elena hangs up her phone and runs out the exit.