The house was empty except for Allison. She was supposed to go to school, but she hadn't done the homework. She had been so caught up with vampire crap that she'd completely forgotten. Her father had gone to meet with Sheriff Forbes to talk about the search for Justin and the killings, but a body hadn't been found in days. She knew it was because Damon, the real killer, had been locked up.
Allison was just flicking through the channels on the television, not really interested in anything that was on. She hadn't spoken to Stefan since Damon had been locked up, but she had spoken to Elena. Apparently, Stefan hadn't bothered to talk to her for a few days because he had to deal with 'something'. To say Elena was annoyed was the understatement of the century. She was mainly angry because Stefan was keeping so many secrets and Allison understood why she felt that way. Elena had also been asking her questions about Stefan, but Allie always blew her off and shrugged her shoulders saying, "it's probably nothing."
Allison had gotten wind that Tyler and Vicki were no longer together and she was now with Jeremy. That girl seriously needed to make up her mind. Allison turned off the television and turned on the CD player. Christina Aguilera came on playing 'Love Will Find A Way' Allison's favorite song. She laid her head back on the sofa closed her eyes and started gently singing along. Her singing was interrupted by a knock on the door. She turned down the music got up and opened the door to reveal Tyler.
Allison blinked and was at a loss for words, but managed to stutter out, "uh, hey Tyler. What's up?" Tyler shifted on his feet uncomfortably and answered, "um, I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?" Allie nodded and stepped aside giving him room to walk in. Tyler walked into the living room and looked around. He hadn't been in this house in months. The last time he was here they were making out on the couch. That was a good day.
Allison snapped him out of his thoughts and asked in a slightly confused tone, "why did you come here?" Tyler rubbed the back of his neck in an awkward gesture and said, "Vicki and I broke up last night." Allison nodded and tried to sound sympathetic as she sat on the arm of the couch. "I heard." She said. Tyler took a deep breath and began talking again, "And well, I was thinking, maybe you and I-" but he was cut off.
Allison held her hand up and almost yelled, "wait what? You and I? Please tell me that you don't think that now that you're done with Vicki we can just pick up where we left off? News flash buddy," she growled as she poked him in the chest and stalked closer to him, "it doesn't work that way." Tyler stepped back slightly and tried to speak. "Allison, I want to be with you and-" Allison shook her head angrily and spat out, "No! If you think I'm that much of a push over then you clearly don't know me at all. Just leave Tyler."
"But Allison-" Tyler tried to plead, but she wasn't having it. "Now, Tyler!" She hissed as she pushed Tyler out of her house slamming the door shut in his face. She quickly ran into her room and locked the door. She started pacing her room trying to cool down. How could he think that he could just get back together with her? The nerve of him! Even though she did still have feelings for him she most definitely was not a push over. Plus, she did tell herself that she would get over him. It was easier said than done.
She let out an angry sigh and walked over to where her guitar was sitting on its stand and picked it up. She shifted it so that it sat in her hands nicely and smiled. It felt good in her hands, like this was how she was always meant to be. Allie hadn't played in so long and now she suddenly felt the urge to play it. She began to strum her fingers along the strings creating a calm soothing sound. She smiled closed her eyes and began to play a song that her mother had written. She knew it by heart and didn't need any music sheets to help her, she'd spent months learning them.
She continued to play and hum along to the tune until she heard someone else knocking on her door. She groaned in aggravation and placed her guitar back on its stand and trudged downstairs. She practically yanked the door open with a severely annoyed look on her face, but when she saw who it was she was surprised. Stefan stood there and smiled at her, "hey, how are you?" He asked. Allison smiled lightly and answered, "um, yeah I'm good. What are you doing here?" "I just wanted to know if you were okay." He told her.
A genuine smile spread across her face at hearing this; he really was the good brother. "Well, thank you. I appreciate it." He smiled at her and asked, "so why aren't you at school?" She raised an eyebrow and asked, "I could ask you the same question. You haven't been in school for days. Is everything okay?" He chuckled and said, "yeah, I had to deal with Damon." Her face fell at the mention of his brother and took a deep breath asking warily, "has he been causing you some trouble?" Stefan shrugged in response, "He's still on vervain and locked up, but I was just a bit worried that he would hurt Zach."
She nodded and sighed, "do you want a ride to school?" Stefan answered, "sure that would be great, thanks." "I'll just go get my stuff. You don't have to stand out there." She said as she walked off to get her bag. Stefan only leaned against the threshold and called out with a slight smile, "yeah, I'm fine." She hadn't exactly invited him in so he couldn't go past the invisible barrier. Allison walked back to where Stefan was and looked at him with a confused expression on her face as she saw him pretty much leaning against thin air. "What are you doing?"
Stefan realized then that she didn't know everything about vampires. "You have to invite a vampire in for them to come into your house." Allison's eyes widened and her only response was, "oh right, duh. Though I don't know if I should let you in. Nothing personal, well, actually you're a vampire so it is kinda personal..." she said with an awkward smile, "you get what I mean." Stefan chuckled at her rambling and said, "It's fine, don't worry. Let's go."
The two walked over to her car got in and drove off. Allie put some music on and Bon Jovi's 'You Give Love A Bad Name' started playing. She turned to Stefan and said, "I love this song so much." He nodded, "me too, there a good band." He said as he was reminded of a good friend of his. He saw Allison's smile widen and nod in agreement as she kept her eyes on the road.
She began humming to the song and Stefan laughed until they passed Elena's house and his face fell. Allison sighed and asked, "So, I heard that Elena's upset with you." Stefan sighed, nodded and told her, "yeah, you heard?" Allison grunted in response, "how could I not? I'm her best friend, and the one she's been complaining to." Stefan looked disgruntled and shook his head, "so how upset is she with me?" "Well, she says she's not upset, but I know her too well to know that that's not the case." She came to a stop light and her face fell slightly with guilt. "I feel guilty for lying to her." Allie mumbled.
Stefan looked at her and immediately he felt guilty and awful too, but not for lying to Elena. He felt guilty for getting Allison involved. "You shouldn't feel bad, you were only trying to protect her and Caroline. If anyone should be feeling guilty it's me for getting you involved." He admitted. Allison averted her eyes back to the road as the light went from red to green and continued to drive denying Stefan's words. "No, I'm the one who found out about vampires, it was just a one way road from there. It's my fault for getting involved." She said as they pulled up into the school parking lot.
Allison and Stefan got out of her car and she locked it as they began walking towards the school entrance. As they walked down the corridor they spotted Elena talking to Bonnie. Allie turned to him and saw him staring at her with remorse on his face. She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "hey, just go talk to her Stefan okay, tell her that you'll explain later at the Grill." She insisted. Stefan looked at her with uncertainty, "I don't know if that's such a good idea." He told her. She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. It'll be okay." She encouraged.
Stefan smiled genuinely at her and saw just how good of a friend she was, even to him even though they barely knew each other. He liked her, and he nodded as they both began walking towards Elena and Bonnie. "Hey." Stefan said to Elena. Elena turned at the sound of his voice and she had to do a double take when she saw Allison walking up next to him. What was going on? She thought.
Allison smiled showing her perfect teeth and said, "hey Elena, Bonnie. How's it going?" Elena only stared at her for a moment before she answered warily, "hey, it's good." Bonnie turned to her and glared. She was supposed to be in her Spanish and English class, but she had ditched her. "Where were you today?" She said as she eyed Stefan and Allison, "you can't let me suffer Spanish and English alone." She whined at her. Allie rolled her eyes and huffed, "but that would mean I'd have to get up early." Bonnie only shook her head and sighed at her. Allison and Bonnie then looked between each other and saw that Elena and Stefan wanted to talk alone, so Bonnie made an excuse and Allison agreed as they both hurried away.
As soon as they got around the corner Bonnie stopped and grabbed Allison's arm. "What were you doing with Stefan?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow. Allison rolled her eyes at the question knowing what Bonnie was really wondering. "Nothing's going on between me and Stefan if that's what you're wondering. He needed a ride to school and I was heading there." She explained. "So nothing's going on?" She asked again. "Nothing is, nor ever will be going on between me and Stefan besides a friendship." She said exasperatedly. "Besides I would never do that to Elena, you know that Bon." She said a little annoyed that Bonnie had to ask.
Bonnie sighed relieved, but also mad at herself for questioning Allison. "Sorry, I just had to ask. You guys came in together and we're already in our third period, so." Allison understood why she questioned her and said, "I get it Bonnie. You're just being a good friend. I would have done the same thing too." She smiled slightly as Bonnie linked their arms together and said, "Let's go to class." "Do I have to?" Allison groaned causing Bonnie to laugh. "Yes, you do." Bonnie said dragging her to their next class.
This had to be one of the worst day's of Allison's life. She hadn't had the chance to do her art homework so as punishment she had to stay late after school and help do the decorations for the 'Sexy Suds' car wash. She had to spend an hour of Caroline bossing her around and had to just grit her teeth and get over it. Yep, life sucked for her right now. Caroline was at least back to her old self (although she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.) Apparently by Bonnie's account, she's in denial about everything that Damon had done to her. Sometimes she wondered if Caroline was even in the same world as everybody else.
Allison had finally finished setting everything up for tomorrow and was driving home. She walked in and saw her father making himself a cup of tea. She only nodded to him, but he didn't even look in her direction. Allison rolled her eyes and stormed upstairs closing her door and going into her bathroom to wash the paint off of her hands. She and David hadn't been talking for the last few days since hearing about the search for Justin being called off. There was nothing really to be said, but she hoped that the search would start up again now that Damon was out of the picture.
Allie walked back down the stairs and went into the kitchen to make herself a grilled cheese sandwich. She frequently made her own food because her father wouldn't cook for her because 'apparently she was old enough to make her own food' and because she really enjoyed cooking. As she was doing this she heard her phone ding in her pocket telling her she had a text. She pulled it out and saw a text from Elena, 'How come you're hanging around with Stefan? - Elena' Allison bit her lip wondering what the best answer would be and replied, 'We're friends. Why? - Allison'
She pressed send and continued to cook the grilled cheese awaiting Elena's reply. A text came a minute later and she sighed and read it, 'It's just that the other day you didn't seem to be that big of a fan of him? :[ - Elena' She rubbed her face and groaned. Why did Elena have to start asking questions? She hoped that she wouldn't get jealous or anything. She didn't want her finding out that she had been lying to her and find out about vampires.
Allie began typing again and said, 'I dunno. He's not that bad I guess. :[ Look I gotta go, making some grilled cheese. ;D - Allison' Hitting send quickly she turned her phone off and leaned against the counter breathing a heavy sigh as the guilt came over her again.
Allison cleaned the dishes after she finished her food and walked upstairs. She got changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth and washed her face of all her makeup, before she walked over to her vanity and opened her drawer looking for her hair brush. She froze when she saw her music book sitting In the drawer, something she hadn't seen in a very long time. She use to write and sing music all the time but stopped when her mom died. She stared at it for a moment before she picked it up and opened it looking for a song to sing.
After picking a song she grabbed her guitar and began singing. Once she finished her song she sighed, got up and opened her window looking out at the road to her left. She listened to the crickets and breathed in the outside air which helped her relax before she closed her bedroom window, put her music book on her dresser and put her guitar back before going to bed for the night.
Allison woke up to the sun shining on her face. She groaned realizing that she left her curtains open last night and sighed getting up. She closed her curtains and went into her bathroom taking a quick shower. After the shower she got her hot pink bikini out and put it on. then grabbed a pair of denim shorts and a tan cardigan and put them on over her bikini. She grabbed her small handbag, put on a pair of flip-flops and was about to walk out of her room when she noticed her music book sitting on her dresser. She picked up the book along with her phone, put them in her bag and left the house.
Allison arrived at the school, got out of her car and started to walk towards the school to put her things in her locker. She saw Elena and Stefan kissing rolled her eyes and continued to walk to the school when Caroline walked in front of her. She didn't look happy. Caroline glared at her and placed her hands on her hips asking in a snarky voice, "You're late. Why?" Allison only shrugged, "I know I am, but I am here now. No need to make a big deal out of nothing." She replied and brushed past Caroline walking through the school doors. Caroline scowled at her as she went inside.
As Allison walked down the corridor and came to her locker she opened it, shoved her cardigan and bag in their, and took off her necklace not wanting it to get wet during the car wash. There were so many idiots that would probably spray her with water. Closing her locker she went back to the car wash and Caroline assigned her to wash a car with none other than Tyler Lockwood. She groaned loudly and swung her arms in the air at Caroline who only rolled her eyes. Allison turned to Caroline fully and almost begged, "please, Caroline. Don't pair me up with-with-him." She spat out. Caroline shrugged and smiled almost cruelly, "not my problem. See ya." She said as she waved her fingers and strutted off.
She swung her head back so that she was looking at the sky and said to no one in particular, "why do you hate me?" She trudged over to Tyler and he looked up at her. It was obvious that he wanted her to forgive him. Tyler began to apologize, "Allison, I'm so-" but she held her hand up, not interested. He sighed and they both began cleaning the car.
It was finally time for a break when Allison saw Elena by the front handling the money. She walked up to her and Elena smiled at her. "Hey, has Caroline been giving you hell?" She asked. Allie laughed and answered, "not for a while actually." "She went to go get towels, but that was a few minutes ago. She should be back any second." Elena told her. Allie nodded and asked, "so, you and Stefan cool now?" Elena nodded and smiled lightly as she took money from someone and thanked them. Her face then fell slightly as she told Allison, "I feel like he's hiding something from me. You know?" She confided in her.
Allison rubbed her neck awkwardly. She hated that she had promised Stefan that she wouldn't tell anyone about vampires, but she wouldn't break her promise. Allison sighed, "everybody has a past Elena. Some things are tougher to talk about than others. You should understand that." Elena's eyebrows came together and she shook her head, "this isn't about his past. Wait, do you know something about Stefan that I don't?"
Allison bit her lip, great, it didn't take her that long to get suspicious. She quickly came up with an excuse, "no, I don't know anything. Look, he's a nice guy Elena, just leave it at that. Okay?" Anger and annoyance came over her face. She stood up and folded her arms angrily. "Just the other day you said he was hiding something and now you're saying something completely different." Understanding seemed to come over Elena's face and she looked at Allison with accusing eyes. "You know. You know whatever Stefan's keeping from me." She insisted. Elena saw hurt and guilt in her eyes as Allison whispered, "I'm so sorry Elena, but I promised him." She walked away as Elena watched angrily.
Allison quickly walked back into the school to her locker. When she got there she didn't open it at first, but just leaned against it and breathed. She felt absolutely awful. She and Elena were best friends and never kept any secrets from one another -apart from the singing- and now this would probably ruin their friendship. Allie opened her locker and grabbed her bag and Cardigan. She closed her locker and made a move to walk out the back until someone crashed right into her. They both tumbled onto the floor and she looked up to yell at the person when she saw that it was Caroline. Caroline didn't say sorry, she just got up and continued to run down the corridor and out the door.
She groaned and laid back on the floor for a moment before she finally got back up and grabbed her music book that had fallen out of her bag before walking out the back entrance. When she got there, there was no sign of Caroline, so she started walking back to the car wash when she thought of Elena. Elena had always thought of her to be her best friend and vice versa. She never judged her for anything and now she was scared that she would lose her. Sure she had Bonnie, but the problem with Bonnie was that she was very judgmental.
After contemplating on the fact that she was going to probably be a loner by the end of the day, she went looking for Bonnie since she hadn't seen her. When she got back to the car wash she saw a car on fire. The fire was getting higher, it's flame eating the car up. Allison stood there as everyone was yelling for someone to call the fire department. She then noticed that their was a fire trail leading from the car to... Bonnie?
Worried, Allie ran forward and shook her repeatedly as she yelled, "Bonnie, Bon, Bonnie!" Getting louder every time she said her name. She saw Stefan come towards them and step in front of her shaking her as well. This seemed to break her trance-like state as she looked at the two of them bewildered. "What just happened?" She asked. Allison and Stefan looked at one another and he replied, "I think you were in some kind of trance." Bonnie looked back at the now smoking car and whispered to them, "did I do this?" They both nodded and Stefan said, "I think so, yeah." Bonnie then looked frightened. Allison put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "are you okay?"
Bonnie ignored her question and asked, "nobody else saw, did they?" Allison and Stefan shook their heads and Bonnie turned to Allison whispering, "don't tell anybody, okay?" Allison nodded and Bonnie quickly walked away as Allison yelled, "Bonnie wait!" but she didn't turn back. They both sighed and Stefan asked her, "have you seen Elena? I can't find her." "I saw her earlier but she's pissed at me." She told him. Stefan's brows pulled together and asked worriedly, "why?" Allison shook her head and the guilt was back on her face. "I hate lying to her Stefan, she's my best friend. She knows me to well; she knows I'm hiding something about you." She groaned.
Stefan placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a reassuring voice, "it'll be okay." She looked him dead in the eye and demanded, "will it, because it seems like everything is blowing up in my face." She turned and walked away from him heading to her car. When she got home she dumped everything except for her music book and phone which she shoved in her pocket and stormed back out of the house.
Allison decided to stop somewhere she hadn't been in a couple months. She saw the gates to the cemetery and walked in. She walked for a good five minutes until she reached her mothers grave. It was marble and the headstone read: Madison Carter, A loving wife and mother who always said "love is holding onto memories that only the heart can see." January 12th, 1970 - July 24th, 2006. Allison sat down and breathed in the bitter cold air as she felt her eyes sting with tears.
Most people had noticed a change in Allison when her mother died. She had become cold and distant, but it was because her mother was her heart and soul. Her mother was the one that got her into music and art and there was no denying that she had inspired her in more ways than one. Allison knew that if her mother could see her now she would be disappointed. She had done so many bad things since her death and she regretted everything, but it was to hard for her to deal with the fact that her mother was dead. She didn't want to deal with it at the time.
"I'm so sorry." Allison breathed as tears fell from her face. She looked up to keep from crying more when she noticed that it was pitch black. She looked around to get her bearings so she could leave the cemetery when she saw smoke billowing up from where the old part of the cemetery was. She wiped her eyes and walked through the woods to where she could see the smoke rising. Through the gaps in the trees she could see a light, like a flame. She wasn't sure this was the best idea, but her curiosity got the best of her and she walked towards it, not realizing what kind of danger she was about to get into.