The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening Chapter Ten

October 7, closely 800 a.m.Dear Diary,Im writing this during trig class, and I skillful hope Ms. Halpern doesnt mark me.I didnt cause time to write detain night, even though I sine qua n angiotensin-converting enzymed to. Yesterday was a crazy, mixed-up day, sound recording bid the night of the Homecoming Dance. Sitting here in naturalize this aurora I roughly intuitive feeling desire ever soything that go pasted this performancehebdomak remnant was a dream. The rotten things were so bad, al sensation the good things were so very, very good.Im non deviation to press criminal charges against Tyler. Hes suspended from aim, though, and off the footb comp allowely team. Sos Dick, for existence inebriate at the dance. Nobody is saying so, only if I think a lot of masses think he was responsible for what happened to Vickie. Bonnies sister truism Tyler at the clinic yesterday, and she state he had two nasty eye and his alone side of meat was purple. I cant hel p worrying ab bring out whats button to happen when he and Dick beat out defeat back to school. They sire to a greater extent origin than ever to hate Stefan in a flash.Which brings me to Stefan. When I woke up this morning I panicked, thinking, What if it tot every(prenominal)y isnt true? What if it never happened, or if hes changed his mind? And Aunt Judith was worried at breakfast because I couldnt devour again. tho consequently when I got to school I saw him in the corridor by the office, and we just catched at for each one other. And I knew. Just before he turned away, he smiled, shape of wryly. And I lowstood that, too, and he was right, it was better not to go up to each other in a public h wholeway, not unless we sine qua non to give the secretaries a thrill.We argon very definitely to set outher. instanter I just have to find a way to explain all this to Jean-Claude. Ha-ha.What I dont understand is wherefore Stefan isnt as happy about it as I am. When wer e with each other I can feel how he feels, and I know how much he wants me, how much he cares. Theres an intimately desperate hunger inside him when he kisses me, as if he wants to comforter the soul out of my body. Like a black hole that. save October 7, now about 200 p.m.Will, a little break thither because Miss Halperncaught me. She even started to read what Id written out loud, but then I think the subject matter steamed her glasses up and she stopped. She was non Amused. Im too happy to care about minor things equivalent flunking trigonometry.Stefan and I had dejeuner together, or at least we went off into a corner of the field and sit imbibe dispirited with my lunch. He didnt even distract to bring allthing, and of course as it turned out I couldnt eat either. We didnt touch each other much-we didnt-but we talked and looked at each other a lot. I want to touch him. More than any boy Ive ever known. And I know he wants it, too, but hes attribute back on me. Thats wha t I cant understand, why hes fighting this, why hes holding back. Yesterday in his room I anchor proof positive that hes been watching me from the beginning. You imagine how I told you that on the second day of school Bonnie and Meredith and I were in the cemetery? Well, yesterday in Stefans room I found the apricot ribbon I was wearing that day. I remember it travel out of my hand while I was running, and he must have picked it up and kept it. I havent told him I know, because he obviously wants to control it a secret, but that shows, doesnt it, that he cares about me?Ill tell you mostone else who is Not Amused. Caro production line. Apparently shes been dragging him off into the photography room for lunch all day, and when he didnt show up today she went searching until she found us. miserable Stefan, hed forgotten about her completely, and he was shocked at himself at a time she left-a fetid unhealthy shade of green, I might add-he told me how shed attached herself to hi m the first week of school. She tell shed noticed he didnt really eat at lunch and she didnt either since she was on a diet, and why didnt they go someplace settle down and relax? He wouldnt really say anything bad about her (which I think is his idea of manners again, a gentleman doesnt do that), but he did say there was nothing at all mingled with them. And for Caroline I think being forgotten was worse than if hed thrown rocks at her.I wonder why Stefan hasnt been eating lunch, though. Its strange in a football player.Uh-oh. Mr. Tanner just walked by and I slammed my transmission line pad all over this diary just in time. Bonnie is snickering stub her history book, I can trip up her shoulders shaking. And Stefan, whos in front of me, looks as tense as if hes going to leap out of his chair any minute. Matt is giving me you nut looks and Caroline is glaring. I am being very, very innocent, writing with my eyes fixed on Tanner up front. So if this is a bit wobbly and messy, youll understand why.For the last month, I havent really been myself. I havent been able to think clearly or concentrate on anything but Stefan. There is so much Ive left rinse-up that Im almost scared. Im supposititious to be in charge of decorations for the Haunted house and I havent through one thing about it yet Now Ive got exactly third and a half weeks to get it organized-and I want to be with Stefan.I could quit the committee. But that would allow for Bonnie and Meredith holding the bag. And I keep remembering what Matt state when I asked him to get Stefan to arise to the dance You want everybody and everything revolving s take firely Elena Gilbert.That isnt true. Or at least, if it has been in the past, Im not going to let it be true anymore. I want-oh, this is going to sound completely stupid, but I want to be fitting of Stefan. I know he wouldnt let the guys on the team down just to suit his own convenience. I want him to be exalted of me.I want him to love me as much as I love him.Hurry up called Bonnie from the entryway of the gym. Beside her the high school janitor, Mr. Shelby, stood waiting.Elena cast one last glance at the distant figures on the football field, then reluctantly crossed the blacktop to join Bonnie.I just wanted to tell Stefan where I was going, she tell. After a week of being with Stefan, she still felt a thrill of excitement just saying his name. Every night this week hed come to her house, appearing at the door around sunset, hands in pockets, wearing his jacket with the grok turned up. They usually took a walk in the dusk, or sat on the porch, talking. Although nothing was give tongue to about it, Elena knew it was Stefans way of making genuine they werent alone together in private. Since the night of the dance, hed made sure of that. defend her honor, Elena purpose wryly, and with a pang, because she knew in her samplet that there was more to it than that.He can live without you for one evening, state Bonnie callously. If you get talking to him youll never get away, and Id wish to get family unit in time for some kind of dinner.Hello, Mr. Shelby, verbalize Elena to the janitor, who was still patiently waiting. To her surprise, he closed one eye in a solemn wink at her. Wheres Meredith? she added.Here, verbalize a juncture john her, and Meredith appeared with a cardboard box of file folders and note pads in her arms. Ive got the stuff from your locker.Is that all of you? said Mr. Shelby. each(prenominal) right, now, you gals leave the door bar and locked, you hear? That way nobody can get in.Bonnie, about to enter, pulled up short.Youre sure theres nobodyalready in? she said warily.Elena gave her a get between the shoulder blades. Hurry up, she mimicked unkindly. I want to get home in time for dinner.Theres nobody inside, said Mr. Shelby, mouth twitching under his mustache. But you gals name if you want anything. Ill be around.The door slammed shut behind(predicate) them with a curiously final sound.Work, said Meredith resignedly, and put the box on the floor.Elena nodded, looking up and down the big empty room. Every class the Student Council held a Haunted House as a fund-raiser. Elena had been on the decorating committee for the last two years, along with Bonnie and Meredith, but it was diverse being chairman. She had to make decisions that would affect everyone, and she couldnt even rely on what had been done in years past.The Haunted House was usually set up in a lumberyard warehouse, but with the growing uneasiness about town it had been decided that the school gym was safer. For Elena, it meant rethinking the whole interior flesh, and with less than three weeks now until Halloween.Its actually pretty spooky here, said Meredith quietly. And therewas something disturbing about being in the big closed room, Elena thought. She found herself lowering her voice.Lets assess it first, she said. They moved down the room, their foot paces echoing hollo wly.All right, said Elena when they had finished. Lets get to work. She assay to shake off her feeling of uneasiness, telling herself that it was ridiculous to feel incertain in the school gym, with Bonnie and Meredith beside her and an entire football team practicing not two hundred yards away.The three of them sat on the bleachers with pens and notebooks in hand. Elena and Meredith consulted the design sketches for previous years while Bonnie bit her pen and gazed around thoughtfully.Well, heres the gym, said Meredith, making a quick sketch in her notebook. And heres where the people are going to have to come in. Now we could have the all-fired Corpse at the very end By the way, whos going to be the Bloody Corpse this year?Coach Lyman, I think. He did a good job last year, and he helps keep the football guys in line. Elena pointed to their sketch. Okay, well partition this off and make it the Medieval Torture Chamber. Theyll go square(a) out of that and into the Room of the Li ving DeadI think we should have druids, said Bonnie abruptly.Have what? said Elena, and then, as Bonnie started to yell droo-ids, she waved a quelling hand. All right, all right, I remember. But why?Because theyre the ones who invented Halloween. Really. It started out as one of their holy days, when they would build fires and put out turnips with faces carved in them to keep evil spirits away. They believed it was the day when the line between the living and the dead was thinnest. And they were scary, Elena. They performed human sacrifices. We could sacrifice Coach Lyman.Actually, thats not a bad idea, said Meredith. The Bloody Corpse could be a sacrifice. You know, on a stone altar, with a knife and pools of blood all around. And then when you get really close, he suddenly sits up.And gives you heart failure, said Elena, but she had to admit itwas a good idea, definitely scary. It made her feel a little sick just thinking about it. All that blood but it was only Karo syrup, really .The other girls had gone quiet, too. From the boys locker side by side(p) door, they could hear the sound of water running and lockers banging, and over that indistinct voices shouting. use is over, murmured Bonnie. It must be dark outside.Yes, and Our Hero is getting all washed up, said Meredith, cocking an eyebrow at Elena. Want to peek?I wish, said Elena, only half jokingly. Somehow, indefinably, the atmosphere in the room had darkened. Just at the moment shedid wish she could see Stefan, could be with him.Have you heard anything more about Vickie Bennett? she asked suddenly.Well, said Bonnie after a moment, I did hear that her parents were getting her a psychiatrist.A shrink? Why? Well I guess they think that those things she told us were hallucinations or something. And I heard her nightmares are pretty bad.Oh, said Elena. The sounds from the boys locker room were fading, and they heard an outside door slam. Hallucinations, she thought, hallucinations and nightmares. For some reason, she suddenly remembered that night in the graveyard, that night when Bonnie had displace them all running from something none of them could see.Wed better get back to business, said Meredith. Elena shook herself out of her reverie and nodded.We we could have a graveyard, Bonnie said tentatively, as if shed been reading Elenas thoughts. In the Haunted House, I mean.No, said Elena sharply. No, well just stick with what we have, she added in a calmer voice, and bent over her pad again.Once again there was no sound but the delicate shekels of pens and the rustle of paper.Good, said Elena at last. Now we only need to circular for the different partitions. Somebodys going to have to get in behind the bleachers What now?The lights in the gym had flickered and gone down to half power.Oh,no , said Meredith, exasperated. The lights flickered again, went out, and returned murkily once more.I cant read a thing, said Elena, staring at what now seemed to be a featureless piece of whi te paper. She looked up at Bonnie and Meredith and saw two white blobs of faces.Something must be wrong with the emergency generator, said Meredith. Ill get Mr. Shelby.Cant we just finish tomorrow? Bonnie said plaintively. Tomorrows Saturday, said Elena. And we were supposed to have this done last week.Ill get Shelby, said Meredith again. Come on, Bonnie, youre going with me.Elena began, We could all go- but Meredith interrupted.If we all go and we cant find him, then we cant get back in. Come on, Bonnie, its only inside the school.But itsdark there.Its dark everywhere its nighttime. Comeon with two of us itll be safe. She dragged an unwilling Bonnie to the door. Elena, dont let anybody else in.As if you had to tell me, said Elena, permit them out and then watching them go a few paces down the hall. At the point at which they began to merge with the dimness, she stepped back inside and shut the door.Well, this was a fine mess, as her mother used to say. Elena moved over to the card board box Meredith had brought and began stacking filing folders and notebooks back inside it. In this light she could see them only as vague shapes. There was no sound at all but her own breathing and the sounds she made. She was alone in the huge, dim room-Someone was watching her.She didnt know how she knew, but she was sure. Someone was behind her in the dark gymnasium, watching.Eyes in the dark , the old man had said. Vickie had said it, too. And now there were eyes on her.She whirled quickly to face the room, tug her own eyes to see into the shadows, trying not even to breathe. She was shake up that if she made a sound the thing out there would get her. But she could see nothing, hear nothing.The bleachers were dim, menacing shapes stretching out into nothingness. And the far end of the room was simply a featureless gray fog. sorry mist, she thought, and she could feel every muscle agonizingly tense as she listened desperately. Oh God, what was that indulgent whispering s ound? It must be her imagination Please let it be her imagination.Suddenly, her mind was clear. She had to get out of this place,now . There was real jeopardy here, not just fantasy. Something was out there, something evil, something that wanted her. And she was all alone.Something moved in the shadows.Her scream froze in her throat. Her muscles were frozen, too, held motionless by her terror-and by some unsung force. Helplessly, she watched as the shape in the darkness moved out of the shadows and toward her. It seemed almost as if the darkness itself had come to life and was coalescing as she watched, taking on form-human form, the form of a young man.Im sorry if I frightened you. The voice was pleasant, with a slight accent she couldnt place. It didnt sound sorry at all. backup man was so sudden and complete that it was injureful. She slumped and heard her own breath breathe out.It was only a guy, some former student or an helper of Mr. Shelbys. An ordinary guy, who was smil ing faintly, as if it had amused him to see her almost modernise out.Well perhaps not quite ordinary. He was remarkably good-looking. His face was pale in the artificial twilight, but she could see that his features were cleanly outlined and nearly perfect under a shock of dark hair. Those cheekbones were a sculptors dream. And hed been almost invisible because he was wearing black soft black boots, black jeans, black sweater, and leather jacket.He was still smiling faintly. Elenas accompaniment turned to anger.How did you get in? she demanded. And what are you doing here? Nobody else is supposed to be in the gym.I came in the door, he said. His voice was soft, cultured, but she could still hear the amusement and she found it disconcerting.All the doors are locked, she said flatly, accusingly.He raised his eyebrows and smiled. Are they?Elena felt another quiver of fear, hairs lifting on the back of her neck. They were supposed to be, she said in the coldest voice she could manage. Youre angry, he said gravely. I said I was sorry to frighten you.I wasnt frightened she snapped. She felt foolish in front of him somehow, like a squirt being humored by someone much older and more knowledgeable. It made her even angrier. I was just startled, she continued. Which is hardly surprising, what with you lurking in the dark like that.Interesting things happen in the dark sometimes. He was still laughing at her she could tell by his eyes. He had taken a step closer, and she could see that those eyes were unusual, almost black, but with odd lights in them. As if you could look deeper and deeper until you fell into them, and went on falling forever.She realized she was staring. Why didnt the lights come on? She wanted to get out of here. She moved away, putting the end of a bleacher between them, and stacked the last folders into the box. Forget the rest of the work for tonight. All she wanted to do now was leave.But the continuing quieten made her uneasy. He was just sta nding there, unmoving, watching her. Why didnt he say something?Did you come looking for somebody? She was annoyed with herself for being the one to speak.He was still gazing at her, those dark eyes fixed on her in a way that made her more and more uncomfortable. She swallowed.With his eyes on her lips, he murmured, Oh, yes. What? Shed forgotten what shed asked. Her cheeks and throat were flushing, burning with blood. She felt so light-headed. If only hed stoplooking at herYes, I came here looking for someone, he repeated, no louder than before. Then, in one step he moved toward her, so that they were illogical only by the corner of one bleacher seat.Elena couldnt breathe. He was standing so close. Close enough to touch. She could smell a faint hint of eau de cologne and the leather of his jacket. And his eyes still held hers-she could not look away from them. They were like no eyes she had ever seen, black as midnight, the pupils dilated like a cats. They filled her vision as he l eaned toward her, bending his head down to hers. She felt her own eyes half close, losing focus. She felt her head careen back, her lips part.No Just in time she whipped her head to the side. She felt as if shed just pulled herself back from the edge of a precipice. What am I doing? she thought in shock. I was about to let him kiss me. A add together stranger, someone I met only a few minutes ago.But that wasnt the worst thing. For those few minutes, something unbelievable had happened. For those few minutes, she had forgotten Stefan.But now his image filled her mind, and the longing for him was like a physical pain in her body. She wanted Stefan, wanted his arms around her, wanted to be safe with him.She swallowed. Her nostrils flared as she breathed hard. She tried to keep her voice unfaltering and dignified.Im going to leave now, she said. If youre looking for somebody, I think youd better look somewhere else.He was looking at her oddly, with an expression she couldnt understa nd. It was a multifariousness of annoyance and grudging respect-and something else. Something hot and fierce that frightened her in a different way.He waited until her hand was on the doorknob to answer, and his voice was soft but serious, with no trace of amusement. Perhaps Ive already found her Elena.When she turned, she could see nothing in the darkness.