The Donovan Twin;

Chapter 4: Reflections

She had her music so loud that she never even heard the noise of footsteps or the door being shut. She almost jumped out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder. She spun around, hands up, ready to fight. She let her hands fall when she realised that it was Matt and a deep blush settled in her cheeks when she saw her friends standing behind him. Well, now they've all seen my terrible dancing... I'll never live this down.

"Hey Matt, how are ya?" She asked, pulling off her headphones and completely forgetting about their previous conversation.

"Oh no, you don't. Clara Anne Donovan, you are in a lot of trouble." Matt scolded coldly. Clara's eyebrows furrowed before a sense of remembrance swept over her.

"Okay... Honestly, I have no idea what's going on. I'm just as confused as you are." Matt didn't seem to be listening and, in the space of a second, she was standing right in front of Clara, inspecting her neck.

"What happened Clara?" He asked worriedly, signalling the others to come over. Everyone barely fit in her small bedroom. Now Elena, Stefan, Matt, and Clara herself were cramped in the small space between her door and her bed. Everyone seemed to be staring at her neck and that's when she remembered that Matt had asked her a question. She just shrugged her shoulders in response, a mild pain stretching through her neck.

"I don't know, it was there when I woke up." She glanced up at their worried expressions and a pit of dread settled in her stomach. She looked back at Matt.

"What? I was probably just laying on it in a weird position, it'll be better in a couple of days." She said, convinced that it was just a consequence of her bizarre sleeping positions.

"Clar, what do you remember from last night?" Stefan spoke up, piecing the bits of the puzzle together. Matt stood back a bit, catching on to Stefan's point and getting annoyed at himself for leaving her alone all night.

"Um, I don't know... The ball? We danced, then I got bored and I spoke to Carol for a while before leaving. I'm not really that big on partying." Clara was now more confused that the rest of them put together. She didn't really understand what Stefan was inferring. Did Matt tell him about Tennessee?! Clara tried to clear those thoughts out of her head and was distracted when Stefan looked over at Elena and Matt. It was clear that Clara had missed something.

"How did you get home?" Elena asked bluntly.

Clara was surprised at the seriousness of such a trivial question, but she was even more surprised when she couldn't answer. I didn't drink last night, did I?

"I, uh, I can't remember..." Elena's eyes held a serious amount of worry after hearing that. Clara's eyes widened at Elena's reaction, panicking now.

"Why can't I remember, Elena?" She heard the panic in her voice, confused about how Elena seemed to know something she didn't.

Just as Elena was about to spill the beans, Matt cut her off.

"It was late! You were tired, really tired. You probably just can't remember because of how exhausted you were." He spoke in his most sincere voice, trying to convince Clara that nothing was out of place.

She nodded slowly, not entirely sure what to believe. She decided just to accept her brothers reasoning and she turned, grabbing a hat and throwing it on her head, grabbing her bag.

"Okay... Well, I'm sorry that I worried you guys but, as you can see, I'm fine. Anyway, I've got places to go, people to see, so please excuse me." She said, trying to forget the whole feel of dread and moving towards her living room. She slipped around the others, avoiding Matt as he tried to stop her from going out.