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As she headed for the door of her dor off a loss, eyeliner, hairbrush, student ID As she swung the door open, soround

A perfect white daisy had fal en to the floor Elena reached down and picked it up Turning it in her hand, she felt a sudden sharp ache in her chest God, I miss Stefan

She had no doubt the daisy was fro of her while stil respecting her space

The ache in her chest was slowly replaced with a sweet glowing feeling It see to Stefan She loved him And, beyond that, he was one of her best friends Elena pul ed out her phone to cal hi a deep breath, she put the phone back into her bag

If she talked to Stefan, she would want to see him If she saw him, she would want to touch him If she touched hi into hiled in love And then she would look up and see Da them and feel that pul toward him And then the brothers would look at each other, and love and pain and fury would pass over their faces, and everything would start up again

It had felt good to walk away fro and awful and terribly lonely, too But, since then, Elena had felt a calm settle over her

She wasn’t happy, exactly - it was like she was covered with bruises, and if she wasn’t careful, pain would flood over her as she remembered what she had done But she also felt as if she had been holding her breath for weeks and noas able to exhale

She knew that Stefan would be waiting for her when she was ready to face hiain Wasn’t that what the daisyand set off down the hal , her heels clicking fir to have fun, and she wasn’t going to think about Stefan, or Damon Or even the disappearances, or Christopher’s death Elena sighed under the weight of it alFor days, they had been , and now Elena and her friends needed to e of freedo for

"There she is," Elena heard Bonnie say as she entered the crowded bar "Elena! Over here!"

Bonnie, Meredith, and a girl Elena didn’t knoere sitting at a smal table near the dance floor They had invited Matt to come out with them, but he’d said he had to study, his face politely closed off, and they kneasn’t ready yet and that he needed soave Elena a cool s and introduced her friend Saht eyed, and alert She see fro

Bonnie, too, was clearly on tonight and started talking as soon as Elena reached the table Bonnie was brave, Elena thought Christopher’s death had shocked her, and she was as worried about Matt as any of theo on with life just as hard as she could, because they had decided that hat tonight would be about

"I got you a Coke," Bonnie said "They cardedelse Guess what?" She paused dramatical y "I cal ed Zander, and he said he’d definitely try to uys toout of her seat with excite everywhere

"Who’s Zander?" asked Salance "You know, I’m not sure," she said with mock confusion "Bonnie, tel us about hi "I don’t think you’ve uys," Bonnie said a over the table to Samantha, started to extol al of Zander’s virtues to her fresh audience Elena let her ht after night in their dorm lately: Zander’s eyes, Zander’s smile, Zander’s bashful charm, Zander’s very hot bod (Bonnie’s words) How Zander and Bonnie studied together in a tucked-away corner of the library and Zander brought Bonnie secret snacks even though it was totally against the library rules The way they talked on the phone every night, the long velvety pauses when it see inti no one but Bonnie could know, but then instead he would h like crazy There was so so sweet about Bonnie with a crush Elena real y hoped this guy orthy of her

"He hasn’t kissed h I hope"

"The very first kiss," Saht?" Bonnie just giggled in response

That ache was back in Elena’s chest, and she pressed her hand against her sternu her first kiss with Stefan, the world had fal en away and there had been just the two of the had seemed so clear then

She took a deep breath and wil ed away tears She wasn’t going to reood ti Sae help with that If it had been just Elena, Meredith, and Bonnie, they would have ended up discussing Christopher’sobsessively over the very few things they knew and theorizing about everything they didn’t But with Saht

Soot off the topic of wonderful Zander and on to pal "Look," she said to Samantha

"See the line that crosses down your palm, across the other three lines? That’s a fate line, not everybody has that"

"What does it reat interest

"Well," Bonnie said, her brow furrowing, "it changes direction a lot - see here? and here? - which e because of outside forces influencing you"

"Hmm," Sa tonight?"

"No," Bonnie said slowly, and her voice changed, taking on a flat, allanced up quickly to see that Bonnie’s pupils were dilated, her eyes looking away froht

But there’s so You’l meet him soon"

"Bonnie," Meredith said sharply "Are you okay?" Bonnie blinked, and her eyes snapped back into focus

"Of course," she said, sounding confused "What do you lance - had Bonnie slipped into a vision? Before they could question her, a whole group of guys was suddenly at their table, laughing, shouting, swearing Elena frowned up at the down at Elena

"Wanna dance?"