Star Light

Chapter Nine: Story Time, McDonald's

Rebekah was staring intently at me, as was Klaus. 

"After I graduated High School, I set my sights on the next big thing. MIT had expressed interest in having me and I had accepted, much to my dad's dismay. You see, he wanted me to study closer to home and take up the families place on the city council." 

Klaus hummed and nodded. "The Mystic Falls Founders Council against the supernatural." 

"Exactly. So, a month before I was set to leave, dad sat me down with my mom and they told me all about Vampires and Witches. They assumed I would take up the position happily. I was the eldest, it would be my duty to do so. They even had called in Uncle John to try and convince me. All to no avail. After they had finished talking, I told them that I would have no part in their council." I reminisced as we walked. 

Klaus and Rebekah looked confused. "Did you not believe?" 

I snorted and shook my head. "That's exactly what they asked me. No, I most definitely believed them, but I refused to be part of a council that seemed like it held the same beliefs for a hundred fifty years. It seemed rather silly to believe that Vampires and Witches couldn't be different than they were then. The next morning I had my bags packed and was loading them in my car. I took off and didn't give the council another thought." 

Neither of the Originals said anything about my story, we walked the rest of the way to the McDonalds in silence. It was only when we had sat down and I was a minute into eating my Quarter Pounder that they broke the silence. "Do you still believe it? What you told your parents?" 

I glanced up at Rebekah and swallowed my bite. "I believe that Vampires are much like humans. In fact, they have the ability to be better than humans ever could be. Upon returning home, I talked with the Vampires left. Caroline, for example, has been my sister's friend since kindergarten. We used to play together when we were growing up, that girl has never been more compassionate, caring, and honest to a fault then she is now. I learned about the heightened emotions, though you have bloodlust, not all of you are monsters. I've met my fair share of humans that I would be more scared of than Klaus." 

Rebekah and Klaus looked shocked then realization dawned on their faces. "That man from earlier, Kaleb, how did you meet?" 

This was so not where I wanted to go with this conversation. "Kaleb and I have a very complex history. I was sixteen when I started college, young, a little rebellious, and enjoying my first taste of life outside of high school. I made friends quickly, had boyfriends and one-nighters, and I partied. I did a lot of partying." 

"At one of these parties, I got stupid. I let a boy give me a drink, already opened, and I downed it. The rest of the night I blacked out. I woke up next to him the next morning with no clue what had happened. I assumed I must have drunk too much and tried to move on with my life but Kaleb kept appearing everywhere. He would show up at parties and outings with friends. Soon enough, he asked me out and I gave him a chance. Then a chance turned into a thing." 

"After a few months, a girl I had never met came up to me. She looked nervous and was fiddling with her phone. She told me what had actually happened the night of the party. Explained to me that I had passed out shortly after Kaleb gave me that drink and that he had boasted loudly of it to his friends before taking my unconscious body upstairs. None of my friends were there, they had class early the next morning, so no one stood up for me. I was absolutely devastated, I felt betrayed, and I was scared. I called my mom in a panic and told her everything." 

I sighed and fiddled with a fry. "I thought she would be pissed, instead she comforted me, told me everything was okay and talked me through getting him out of my life. I dumped him, then when he kept harassing me I threatened to get a restraining order. He left me alone after that, a few months later he was kicked out due to academic dishonesty and I thought I would never see him again." 

Rebekah hummed. "I shouldn't have let him live, that was far too kind," Klaus said nothing, but he was glowering at the french fry as though it had put him through hell and back. 

'You want the fry?" I asked the Hybrid seated across from me. 

His hands slammed on the table, gaining confused and concerned looks from the rest of the patrons. "Did you ever go to the police? Make him pay for what he did?" 

My hand dropped the fry and I sighed. "No, I did not. He was kicked out of MIT for cheating and I didn't have to deal with him ever again. I moved on, got some therapy, made the entirely crucial decision that I was not going to live my life controlled by a desire for revenge. I couldn't change him and I didn't want to give him the benefit of any emotion or more time from my life. I wanted to move on, so I did." 

The two Originals looked astonished at my revelation. "You did nothing?" 

I nodded and wiped my hands on the napkin. "Yup," 

Klaus merely shook his head at me in disbelief, "You are incredible. Like how incredible it is to me that you are risking your life for a mere secret." 

"Please, Nik, we have many secrets." Rebekah rebuffed with a scoff. 

Klaus nodded and looked at his sister in irritation. "Almost all of our secrets are family related." Then he paused and looked at me in suspicion. "Let's pay Gloria a visit, shall we?" Rebekah was confused, but I was not. I was sure that there were some spells that could decide if someone was still alive or not. "Rebekah, you go back to the Warehouse and wait for Stefan, you'll come with me, Love." 

Then, with that, Klaus picked me up and started running.