Sincerely Yours [Stefan Salvatore]

[11. The Truth]

"Thanks, JoJo."

"I thought I told you not to call me that anymore."

-

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lucy asked as she pulled away from the tight hug she had given Caroline at lunchtime. "Should you even be at school?"

Caroline laughed softly. "I'm okay as I can be given that my old babysitter tried to kidnap me," she assured Lucy. "And I'm only here to get my work for the rest of the day. The doctor said I should rest."

"Well, your doctor is smart," Lucy chuckled. "I'll leave you to it, then. Call me later if you need company."

"I will," Caroline promised with a smile.

Lucy left Caroline and bought a sandwich from the cafeteria before meeting up with Bonnie. They had agreed to eat lunch together in the courtyard since it was a relatively warm day and it was only the two of them.

Elena hadn't been in any of the classes that she shared with Lucy, nor had Stefan. She thought with their relationship repaired, they'd be here, but it was clear that she was wrong.

"Lucy!"

Well, she was half-wrong.

She turned to face Stefan as he briskly walked toward her. He had no bag with him and he was strangely wearing the same shirt that he wore the day before.

"Hey, Stefan, it's cool that you and Elena made up, but if she's going to sleep over, can you—"

Stefan cut Lucy off just as she was about to request that she could get a heads up so she could arrange a ride to school.

"Lucy, Elena's with Damon," he told her unhappily, slipping his hands into his jacket pockets.

"What? Why?"

Stefan hesitated for a second. "Because we had a disagreement," he admitted. "And now she's with Damon. I don't know where."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "Is Damon compelling her or something? He and Elena aren't really friends..."

"She doesn't have her necklace on, so I don't know," Stefan replied, frustrated. Out of his pocket, he pulled out the necklace full of vervain that he gave to Elena. "I was wondering if you could see if she's okay."

Lucy apprehensively looked at the necklace. "I don't think I can do that yet," she said, feeling helpless. No matter how much progress she had made with her abilities, she didn't think she was able to see where Elena was. "I'm sorry, Stefan."

"No, no, don't be sorry," Stefan said softly; the last thing he wanted to do was make Lucy feel like she wasn't useful or good enough.

"We could ask Bonnie," Lucy suggested. "I know she's been working on that kind of stuff with Grams. I was about to meet her..."

Stefan smiled gratefully. "Yeah, okay."

Lucy and Stefan set off together, walking through the rest of the school to get to the courtyard. They spotted Bonnie right away, sitting at the picnic table that she and Lucy agreed to meet at.

"Hey, Bon," Lucy greeted as she sat down and started to unwrap her sandwich. Even though they were trying to locate Elena, she still needed to eat.

"Hi, Luce," Bonnie smiled, her lips dropping when she spotted Stefan sitting next to Lucy.

Stefan nodded in greeting. "Hi, Bonnie."

"Stefan," Bonnie smiled politely, still on the fence about vampires.