Not the Last Dance

Chapter 12

We didn't talk about that night anymore. No one brought it up or mentioned it, at the risk of getting a glare from Stefan or Damon. We all thought it'd be safer to not even acknowledge that night.

The next Monday, Elena picked me up and we drove wordlessly through town to school. We all trudged through class as if it would never end. No one said anything to me, but I could see stares shared between Elena and Bonnie, or Elena and Stefan, Stefan and Damon; Bonnie, Elena, Damon, Stefan, and Alaric; Bonnie, Elena, Damon, Stefan, Alaric, my mother. It was getting old.

Matt was the only one who seemed to act normal around me, always carrying a conversation with no awkward pauses and stares, which I appreciated.

I really wasn't ready to face Damon's 'I-Told-You-So's, and Elena's 'Warned-You' glances, so I began spending more and more time at the Grill keeping Matt company, or rather, he was keeping me company. It gave me some solace in my situation.

"Care, you have to talk to them. They're your friends." He told me, gathering plates at another table.

"I know. I will." He looked at me. "Later." I added, and he shook his head.

"They're going to be the only one's you have with this, Care." He wiped off the table.

"I know, it's just been..." What has it been? Hell? Hard? Heart-breaking? All of the above? "Tough."

"I know. I felt the same when Vicki died." He sat down across from me. "But, Caroline. If I learned anything from that is that the whole world isn't going to stop because you have a crisis. Time doesn't wait, not even for vampires. I got through it, and you can too."

It was touching that he cared so much about me. I nodded. "I know. It's hard...but..." I didn't know what to say, but Matt nodded like he understood.

  School got easier the more no one talked about what happened. Klaus's name wasn't mentioned, not even in hatred.

I was beginning to like to go to school again, and as the president of the decorating committee, we had a lot to work on for the decade dance. I busied myself with the task, staying late at school to decorate, almost til midnight every night. I knew the more I focused on one thing, the less I would focus on,...certain areas of my life.

The gym was beginning to look good, only because I had fired everyone from the committee and did everything myself. Every little detail was completely perfect and not a thing was out of place. Even though it had been a few weeks, I regained enough strenght to climb the 15-feet ladders to hand up the streamers and lights.

I worked slowly so that I would have more to do and keep me preoccupied. Once in a while, when I would look up from untangling lights at a slow pace, I'd see Elena looking in the window on her way home from staying late, or Bonnie would walk past, and take a second glance. That's why I put do-not-enter tape on the doors and closed the doors whenever I worked.

This night, I was working late again, working on untangling the lights again to hang them up on the rafters. I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, admist the piles of boxes of decorations and streamers and balloons I would release during the dance. It was nearing ten o'clock, and I knew that everyone was gone.