Humanity 6 "The Change"

Chapter 9

ASHLEY'S POV

"Seriously, I shouldn't be winning." Jeremy huffs as he jogs ahead of Elena and I.

"Two weeks without booze doesn't make you Iron Man." I speak up as my feet move across campus.

"Yeah, we can still run vamp circles around you." Elena adds.

"You mean you can cheat." He says with a smirk.

"Or we could pants you in front of the entire women's volleyball team." I suggest.

"I doubt they would mind." He says back with a laugh.

Elena and I don't laugh though. This isn't working.

"Okay. I give up." I say with a sigh as I stop running.

Elena stops too and Jeremy slows down, looking back at us. He frowns as he walks back over to us.

"What did you do with my miserable half-drunk brother?" Elena asks.

We've both been wondering why his summer long depression seems to have randomly disappeared. We just wanna make sure that he's okay without prying too far into his life.

"He cancelled Bonnie's cell phone, cried until there was nothing left, and got all the grief out of his system. He's ready to move on." Jeremy explains.

I take a deep breath, glancing at Elena. She looks back at me, and Jeremy can tell that something's up.

"What?" He asks.

"It's about Bonnie." Elena tells him, and I nod.

It's about time we let him know that she may be coming back.

***

"Damon said that she found peace." Jeremy says confusedly as the three of us sit on a bench on campus.

Elena and I just explained that Bonnie was with Damon. She's still over there...wherever 'there' is. We might be able to get her back.

"He thought that Kai had killed her." I explain to Jeremy. "But he just found out that she's still alive, and he's doing everything that he can to-"

"So you're back to defending him, now? And all it took was one hollow promise to bring Bonnie back." Jeremy snaps, and I fall silent.

"No, no, no, Jer. It's not hollow." Elena speaks up for me. "Liv's looking for a way to send us over there so that we can find Bonnie and bring her back."

"And if you can't?" He asks.

"Jeremy, this is good news." I try again.

"You're right, Ashley. This is good news." He says sarcastically. "Tonight, I'm gonna see Bonnie again, and everything's gonna go back to the way it was because I've never heard that before."

Before Elena and I can stop him, he stands up and starts jogging again. I sigh and look over at Elena. She gives me a small smile and rubs my shoulder.

That did not go as planned.

***

I'm walking through the cemetery with Damon so that we can meet up with Liv. Stefan was supposed to come too, but Matt called him and said that he needed to see him.

"What does Matt want with Stefan?" I ask Damon.

"I don't know. It's Matt...food, money, new social class." Damon teases, and I smile. "Whatever it is, it better distract Stefan from the sizable screw-up with Caroline. Did you know about that, about how she felt about him?"