An Elemental Difference - FIRE - Book 2 (Stefan Salvatore)

Chapter 35 - I will survive.

VIRGINIA

The journey to find Slater was going smoothly, a little too smoothly. When Aella's phone rang, 'Give me the chance to dance romance. Don't run. I'm not the sun (Ha). So much at stake, oh, bad choice of words. But I'm not the gun (shut up). With silver bullets. And I can count (One, two, three). Plus, I make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Van Helsing.' The witch looked at Elena in a panic, "That's Stefan; he so knows!"

Elena looked at her friend and rolled her eyes, "He does not. You've not spoken to him in a few hours; he's checking you're not causing trouble."

Rose leaned forward, "That's your ringtone for Stefan!" She looked between Elena and Aella in disbelief, "How the hell have people not worked out what Stefan is by now?!"

"Hey!" Aella pointed a finger at Rose before pulling her phone out of her pocket and throwing it at Elena. "OutKast are iconic. Don't hate on the ringtone."

Elena pressed the green button and answered with a faux happy tone, "Hey, Stefan. Aella's just driving at the moment." She pressed the speakerphone button.

"Yeah," Aella spoke a little louder. "We all can't have rich daddies that buy daughters fancy cars with hands free phone gadgets."

"Okay, Ferris Bueller," Stefan sarcastically spoke down the phone. "Caroline's not here to hear that dig."

Aella smirked down at the phone, "Ferris Bueller can kiss my ass; I've missed Friday and now Monday... my badassness has no boundaries."

Rose leaned over to Elena and whispered, "Who is Ferris Bueller?"

Elena rolled her eyes, "A loser from a loser movie." She ignored Aella's glare shot her way.

"So, if you're not in school, where are you?" Stefan asked curiously.

Aella's eyes widened dramatically, and she looked to Elena for assistance. The brunette took control of the situation before Aella spilled her guts to her boyfriend. "Aella forgot a textbook at your house; when we got there, Rose was feeling a little cooped up, so we thought we'd take her to the mall."

Rose frowned at the easy lie while Aella's head bobbed up and down proudly at Elena. "And what are you going to do without me today?" The witch asked him.

"Just a regular school day," Stefan answered, but his tone had Aella frowning. "So you'll be back later on then?"

"Yup," Elena answered, not noticing Aella's frown or Stefan's tone. "We'll see you later."

"Okay. Love you."

Despite her curiosity, Aella shared a grin with Elena, and they both sang down the phone, "Love you too!"

Stefan huffed down the phone as he hung up. The two girls laughed until Aella's smile dropped, and she revealed, "He's lying."

Rose's brows furrowed at the quick change of emotions from the witch, "So are you."

"Well, at least we had a credible lie," Aella only shrugged, rolling her eyes. "'Just a regular school day,' c'mon Stefan, we've been dating how long, and you still can't make up a credible lie to deceive me?"

Rose was perplexed, "So you're not mad he lied? You're mad he lied badly?"

"Yes!" Aella exclaimed, as if it was apparent. "He's up to something."

"We're up to something," Elena threw back.

"I know," Aella whined. "I just feel left out."

"I'm so confused," Rose muttered, falling back in her seat.