Tangled Affair

The Reckoning

September 5, 2010

Just over a week had passed since Louise had parted ways with Klaus and Stefan, and during that time no one had tried to kill them, take over the town, or use her blood to break some kind of ancient curse. In fact, the Original's absence had ushered in a period of almost eerie calm. Louise had tentatively embraced the sudden peace, gradually accepting it as reality. Her new normal had begun the day before school had started with Senior Prank Night.

She tried to enjoy all the teenage rites of passage without worry that a psychotic vampire might show up and kill everybody she loved. However, Klaus wasn't the only vampire she worried about.

Louise stared down at her cell phone that wasn't ringing. A knot of anxiety twisted her stomach as she gazed at the silent, black screen. He'll come back when he's ready, she told herself for the millionth time, but the platitude offered her little comfort. Dejected, she picked up another mouse trap as a distraction from her thoughts. It had been hours since her and Damon's had their tiff, and he hadn't so much as texted to let her know he was okay.

Which I'm sure he is, she thought darkly. She knew worrying about her vampire boyfriend was silly, but if growing up in Mystic Falls had thought her anything, it was nobody was truly safe. Not even supposedly immortal creatures of the night.

She shook her head, trying to concentrate on what she was currently doing. Louise pulled the metal bat of the mouse trap backwards, being careful of the positioning of her fingers. She had hurt herself one too many times from the trap slinging back itself on her finger after it slipped out of her grasp. Suddenly, the lights of the classroom came on and the hundreds of mouse traps that littered the entire floor all reacted to the single touch, bouncing off each other in a domino effect until they returned to their original state.

Louise pulled her hand back as the trap caught her finger once again, the noise had startled her which forced her to loose focus. Her brown eyes snapped up to see an innocent Matt Donovan in the doorway in complete shock.

"Ohh! Oh, come on! Seriously?!" Caroline exasperatedly yelled, her voice dripping with annoyance. "Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?!"

Tyler leaned against the table, titling his head slightly as he eyed his sweat drenched best friend. "Forgot about senior prank night, huh?"

"Clearly." Matt responded as Louise, along with Bonnie and Elena all rose from their positions on the floor.

Caroline stared at him in disbelief. "How could you forget? We've only been waiting for this since like freshman year."

"Don't poke the bear, Matt." Louise warned jokingly. "I already had an earful before being dragged down here."

"Yeah, Matt. If I'm doing this, you're doing this." Elena pointed at him with a small smile on her lips.

Matt frowned slightly as his eyes flickered around the classroom. "I'm kind of surprised any of you are doing this."

"Caroline's making us." Bonnie stated bluntly.

The blonde vampire's head snapped towards Bonnie, demonstrating an unimpressed look before her shoulders eased and her voice calmed. She turned back to face Matt. "We're about to be seniors. These are the memories that will stay with us forever, and if we don't-"

Elena interrupted her, poking a bit of fun at her friend as she finished her sentence. "-create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?"

"Go ahead and make fun, I don't care." Caroline brushed off with a sigh.

"You're all lame. And I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Tyler said. He picked up his bag of pranking supplies that sat on the cabinet behind them as he moved towards the door with Caroline pointing at him with approval.