Caroline walked up to the school and heard the girls talking.
"I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie told Elena slight desperation showing on her normally calm face.
"You were the one who said to go for it." Elena complained tired of Bonnie's pestering about her new boyfriend.
"Now I'm saying take it slow." Bonnie stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Why the sudden change in agenda?" Elena prodded.
"It's not sudden. It's just you're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field. See what you like ya know?" Bonnie said obviously hinging something from the other. Caroline just watched on in interest.
"Oh, because I'm so that girl. Seriously, what are you not saying?" Elena started sarcastically but the tone changed to questioning half with through.
"It's stupid." Bonnie muttered under her breath embarrassed.
"Bonnie..." Elena dragged out with an accusatory tone.
"What?" Bonnie asked feigning confusion.
"Spit it out." The other finally said annoyed and at her wit's end.
"I accidentally touched Stefan. And I got a really bad feeling."
"Is that it?"
"It was bad bad!"
"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" Elena said seemingly treating Bonnie as a child.
"You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend." At this point Bonnie took a deep breath out of exasperation.
"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that." After she finished her speech she saw Stefan and walked over to him to say hi.
Caroline finally walked over to the worked up Bonnie. Bonnie seemed very distressed so Caroline gave her a hug.
"What's wrong with you BonBon Cinnabon?"
"I touched Stefan and he felt like death. That's the only way I can describe it."
"Thats because he's a Vampire honey." Caroline whispered to Bonnie casually so Stefan wouldn't hear.
"The animal eater not the attacking animal." She comforted seeing Bonnie's visible surprise and it worked.
"Let's get to class." Caroline encouraged Bonnie and they left.
Later on the gang was in history class. Caroline was looking around as usual and saw Bonnie writing numbers in her book. "8", "14", "22".
"World war II ended in...Anyone got anything? Miss Juan? 1945." Tanner asked and answered when he didn't get a response.
"Psst. FYI...Our team sucks. They could use you." Elena whispered luckily for the nosy members of the class and unluckily for her she's not great at whispering while she was in the coach's history lesson.
"Can't." Stefan responded and then was interrupted by Tanner.
"Pearl Harbor."
"I'm a loner." Stefan started again.
"Miss Gilbert?" Tanner asked Indicating that be wanted her to answer the question. Elena gave a question hum in response.
"Pearl Harbor?" Tanner repeated as if it was was obvious what he meant. Which it was but Elena wasn't paying attention.
"Um..." Elena didn't know the answer anyway and was stumped.
"December 7, 1941." Stefan answered for her not liking to see his new girlfriend struggle.
"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Tanner replied to Stefan sarcastically but Stefan didn't care and just replied with, "Anytime."
"Very well." Tanner started again annoyed at the new student's attitude.
"The fall of the Berlin wall."
"1989. I'm good with dates, sir."
"Are you? How good?" This challenge incited a back and forth between the two men.
"Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."
"1964."
"John F. Kennedy assassination."
"1963."
"Martin Luther King."
"'68."
"Lincoln."
"1865."
"Roe vs. Wade."
"1973."
"Brown vs. Board."
"1954."
"The battle of Gettysburg."
"1863."
"Korean war."
"1950 to 1953."
"Ha! It ended in '52."
Caroline quietly cringed at her teacher's mistake feeling embarrassed and sorry for him.
"Uh, actually, sir, it was '53."
"Look it up, somebody. Quickly."
"It was 19...53." A random student answered and the class chucked. It wasn't obvious but Tanner was embarrassed. Caroline decided to put the attention on both Stefan and Tanner so the lesson wouldn't be led by a grumpy man-child.
"Are we done trying to figure out who the Alpha male is so we can get back to lesson or are we going to continue this pointless back and forth?" Caroline asked looking at both Tanner and Stefan as she spoke. They both looked down feeling kind of bad for wasting time and Tanner went back to the lesson.
"Oh, my God! You're here!" Bonnie exclaimed happy to see Elena joining in.
"Yep. I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were are to do things that were. Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight." Elena informed Bonnie forcefully.
"I am?" Bonnie was confused by the sudden invite not knowing why Elena just decided this.
"Mm-hmm. You, me and Stefan. You have to give him a chance." As soon as those words exited Elena's mouth Bonnie's face dropped and she tried to get out of it. Even though she knew that Stefan wouldn't haur them she was still weary of him.
"Tonight's no good. Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."
"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You're going to be there." Elena wouldn't have it. She wanted Bonnie and Stefan to get along.
"Fine. I'll go." Bonnie sighed defeated.
"Good." Elena nodded smiling in victory.
Meanwhile Stefan spoke to Mr. Tanner about joining the football team.
"Varsity trials were last spring, Mr. Salvatore." Tannr told Stefan, the man obviously did not like the boy.
"I wasn't here then, sir." Stefan replied logically.
"And you're not here now, as far as I'm concerned." Tanner replied grumpily.
"Mr. Tanner, I realize that you and I didn't get off to the best start, and I want to apologize for that. I've played football before. Wide receiver, mostly, and I'm pretty good." Stefan explained pretty convincingly.
"Well, I won't be asking you who won the super bowl in '71." Tanner said loosening up to the idea of letting Stefan tryout.
"'71 was the...Sorry. I...I understand that, sir." Stefan stopped his impulse to answer so he wouldn't ruin his chances.
"Just to see you get knocked on your ass. Borrow some gear. Go! Before I change my mind. Let's run it again!" Still not fully liking the idea Tanner still let Stefan tryout.
"First my girlfriend, now my team?" Matt complained about Stefan to his best friend.
"I still think you should give up but think about it dude, this is an opportunity. Football's a contact sport. Sometimes people get hurt." Tyler advised while laughing at his friend.
Over at the cheerleader's practice Caroline still hadn't shown up yet.
"Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked in concern.
"I don't know. It's not like her." Elena replied confused.
"I'll try her again."
Caroline finally arrived walking out of the school building. She she runs up to the girls.
"Uh..." Elena starts expecting an answer from Caroline.
"Sorry I'm late, girls! My period started early..." Stated Caroline confidently stating the reason for her absence.
"All right, let's start with the double pike herkey hurdler, what do you say? And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." When she saw Elena didn't know what she was doing she sighed.
"Elena, sweetie, why don't you just observe today? Ok? Keep going! Ok. Do it again from the top. And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8."
While they were practicing Caroline saw Damon Salvatore creepily watching their practice and she grimaced.
'What a creep.' She thought while training the other girls.
Later on when the school day is over Bonnie dragged Caroline to Elena's house with her because she didn't want to be there without back up.
"Hey Bonnie. Oh Caroline I wasn't expecting you here. Come on it girls." Jenna said after she opened the door.
"You going to go study in school today Jenna." Caroline asked attentively.
"Yeah I am Caroline. I'll see you girls later okay."
"Bye Aunt Jenna." Both Bonnie and Caroline said as the older woman left.
"I'll start cooking. So you and Elena can talk." Caroline told Bonnie and went into the kitech area.
Elena came down stairs and surprisingly found Caroline there two making dinner for everyone.
"Is Jeremy here Elena?" Elena just nodded in response and Caroline kept cooking the Italian food she was making. She really enjoyed cooking she she made and assortment of dishes. She made a Lasagne, a large pizza, 2 garlic breads and a salad for them all to share.
A couple of minutes before it was done the doorbell rang and indicating that Stefan was there.
"Elena, Stefan's here. Go invite him in." Caroline called and Elena did what she was asked. Stefan walked into the kitchen.
"Wow that smells amazing Caroline." Stefan complimented as she took everything out of the oven.
"Thank you Stefan." She gave him the cutlery and asked if he could set the table and he obliged.
"Jeremy!" Caroline called from the bottom of the stairs and he came down immediately. This surprised Elena because Jeremy barely ever listened to Jenna and herself.
"Do you want to eat in your room or down here with us?" Caroline questioned and Elena scoffed.
"He can't eat in his room all the time." Elena said annoyed at Caroline for allowing her brother to be a hermit.
This made Jeremy feel awkward and he looked to Caroline for help. Seeing this Caroline got his plate with a piece of lasagne, a piece of pizza some garlic bread and some salad. She then gave it to him.
"Go eat upstairs hun." She said to him, brushing his hair out of his eyes, in response Jeremy smiled with a nod and headed upstairs.
Elena rolled her eyes and watched Caroline set the dishes on the table and then portioning them on to the plates with the same amount she put on Jeremy's. After she covered the lasagne dish, the pizza and the garlic bread with foil and the salad with cling film putting it in the fridge to stay fresh.
"Why did you let him eat upstairs?" Elena asked Caroline annoyed.
"Well first of all Elena. He's a big boy and can make his own decisions. Secondly he needs to be able to set his own boundaries. And third he probably didn't want to be awkwardly sat at the dinner table with his big sister and her friends." Caroline explained and then started to eat with everyone else. Elena just sighed and ate too.
"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked her new boyfriend sweetly.
"Well he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan replied in amusement.
"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and..." Elena turned to Bonnie, eager to share her boyfriend's achievement.
"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie said sounding a little bored with a small smile.
"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Caroline cut in trying her best to start some organic conversation.
"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Hearing Bonnie response Caroline rubbed in between her eyes in mild frustration and amusement.
"No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's pretty interesting." Caroline started again looking at Bonnie to continue on the subject.
Bonnie just huffed not wanting to converse with the new addition to the group and Caroline shook her head.
" Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan, trying as hard as Caroline to talk to the witch, mentioned.
"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie corrected him more lightheartedly.
"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan looked a little surprised.
"Yeah." Bonnie said with a calm smile, proud of her family heritage.
"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan said genuinely nodding his head.
"Really? Why?" Bonnie asked entertained by this conversation.
"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity." He answered like a textbook.
"Yeah, they are." Bonnie laughed out proudly, happily talking about her ancestors.
Suddenly the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Everyone jumped except from Caroline who was expecting it.
"I wonder who that could be." Elena mused while going to the door. Elena opened the door to reveal Stefan's brother Damon Salvatore.
"Heard you were doing dinner, so I brought dessert." Damon greeted cheerfully.
"Oh." Elena said confused.
"Hope you don't mind." Damon continued.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan went to the door to see his brother, very much minding.
"Waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon replied smartly to his younger brother wish a smile.
"Oh, yeah, you can..." Elena started coming out of her daze.
"No, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay. Can you, Damon?" Stefan said flustered begging his brother with his eyes to leave.
In the other room Caroline and Bonnie looked at eachother knowingly.
"It's fine. Just come on in." Elena finished raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend's behaviour towards his brother.
"You have a beautiful home, Elena." Damon complimented charmingly.
"Thank you." Elena thanked awkwardly.
"So Damon have you eaten yet?" Caroline asked him curiously. Damon looked at her confused but shook head.
"Come with me then." She motioned for him to follow her into to the kitchen and he did hesitantly. Caroline made him a plate of the leftovers and put it on the kitchen island Damon was sat on smiling at him.
Damon was confused but ate some of it. His eyes went wide ate the taste and he ate some more.
"This is really good where did you get it from." Damon asked curiously.
"I made it." Caroline smiled happily at the compliment.
"You're pretty talented aren't you blondie?" Damon asked with an eye brow raised.
"I like to think so." She replied. After Damon finished, she put his plate of the side to be washed and they both headed into the living room.
"It's lucky that Tanner let you on the team after that dog fight you too had about dates." Caroline stated simply to Stefan.
"He normally holds grudges. You must be a very goo player." She complimented honestly.
"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said acting like a responsible and involved older brother. Caroline just rolled her eyes at him playfully.
"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines. We worked on them quite a bit in the summer." Caroline ended concerned for the teams well being if Elena doesn't catch up.
"I'll work with her. She'll get it." Bonnie said reassuringly making Caroline thankful for such a great friend.
"I guess we can put her in the back." Caroline said kindly.
"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon mentioned to the group casually.
"She's just been a bit out of it recently." Caroline explained to the man.
"Yeah it's just not been her year this year." Bonnie reestablished.
"I'm sorry, Elena. I heard about the Gilberts. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I are quite used to people around us dying. It'll get better." Damon explained successfully faking sympathy for the girl.
"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan reprimanded not wanting Damon to elaborate on his statement.
"Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm." Damon 'agreed' with Stefan still mentioning what his brother didn't want brought up.
Unlike the show the night ended pretty smoothly with Caroline being a good middle ground for everyone's conversations. It worked well for her as she wasn't as involved as Stefan or Damon, wasn't as clueless to the hidden meanings behind things said like Bonnie and she could actually redirect conversation unlike Elena who tried but awkwardly failed to succeed.
Surprisingly she didn't completely hate the night. Bonnie left first followed by the Salvatore brothers. Caroline stayed behind and did the dishes so Jenna didn't have to. Including Jeremy's which he brought down himself making Caroline smile at his progress from not leaving his room.
She finished quickly and went up to Jeremy's room.
"Come in." He said and Caroline entered his room.
"Hey Jer. How you feeling hun?" She asked sitting on the side of his bed.
"I'm doing okay." He said with a small smile, "Thanks for looking out for me."
"It's nothing Jer. I'm going to head back home now. You take care and get to sleep alright." She told him kissing his forehead. He gave the older sister like girl a hug and kissed her cheek.
"I'll see you tomorrow Caroline. Night. " He said to she with a smile.
Caroline got to the door and smiled back at him.
"Good night Jer." She turned off his light and left to go home.