Cast & Characters:
Monica Wilson (Emilie De Ravin)
Alexander Bachelor (Ed Westwick)
Leonel Stompborn (Paul Wesley)
Amanda Pembroke (Candice Accola)
Demetria Adamson (Daneel Harris)
Samuel Nachman (Jensen Ackles)
Sylvester Gilroy (Gabriel Mann)
Bridget Fairchild (Nina Dobrev)
Rachel Redbert (Jennifer Lawrence)
Steven Wilson (Alan Rickman)
Noah Parker (Raphael Sbarge)
Background Character:
Paige Stompborn (Ashley Greene)

Chapter 2: Leonel

I'm not going to lie to you; I'm not an expert on living a life. Take the current situation as an example; I know what to do-exactly what to do. But, simultaneously, I'm totally, completely, and absolutely lost. However, I still go with what I know, of think I know. Because everyone always has a choice. Right?

Now, I mainly try pushing these thoughts away, and attempt to not wonder why am I doing what I'm doing, of what I'll do next. What's good is that I succeed, what sucks is that these thoughts always come back to me after I do, making me wonder why I did whatever I did at the time. And I can't stop them, I have to wait until they gradually vanish. Maybe that's why people think of me as a good leader, because I can hide some thoughts away, and do better than people who don't have such strong ones in the first place. Well, I'm going to need this... talent. Especially for the meantime.
    
As we walk to lunch – as in, sneak into the school basement and drink some bier – Monica comes volgende to me.
    
    "Hey, listen," she says
    "Mhm?"
    "You zei your last name is Stompborn, right?"
    "That, I did,"
    "So, you're a descendant of one of the founding families?"
    "Yup."
    "Oh, great, so am-"
    "So are you, I know. Hence your last name being Wilson."
    "Oh... I never thought you'd remember."
    "Well, I did." I smile at her, and watch her blush.
    
"Be careful with that, heard it broke earlier today." I hear Am shout to someone who's apparently about to drink from a water fontein we just passed. As I look at her, I see her looking at me, and tilting her head in Xander's direction. I understand this means 'talk to him', so I sigh and pull my eyebrows together. She reads the 'do-I-have-to' look I gave her and antwoorden with a 'yes-you-do' one. All of us have known each other for most of our lives, but Am's the closest to me. And no, we never had any "feelings" for each other, whatsoever. Vester, on the other hand… him and her might as well have a future together.

Back to the point. I sigh again, come up to Xander, and make sure to lower my voice to a murmur.

"We need to talk."
"We're about to go drink beer," he gives me a sarcastic look "seriously?"
"Stop acting like a girl," I grab his arm, "seriously."

All I hear is "dude, chillax" from him as I drag him into our empty physics classroom. And praise the Lord for that. (If I know anything, it's that Xander is not that much of a master of self control.) And so I start questioning him.

"How did the fontein break?" I ask.
"How should I know? It's a water fountain, crap happens." He replies.
"Seriously?"
"Yes, seriously. I didn't arrange a nuclear explosion."
"So u did have something to do with it." That, if u haven't noticed already, wasn't a question.
"Alright, so I let off one, little fontein faucet. u burned your toad in biology, remember?"
"Yes, I did. Back when she was not in town."
"What's the difference? We're going to tell her anyways. I'm having fun, u know I love to foreshadow."
"Yeah, and it will only get her paranoid, smartass." I retort, "If she gets scared of us before learning the truth, u of all people know it won't end well."
I pause and wait for him to say something, but he doesn't, so I continue instead.

"What would u do, if you've never been to this world, and suddenly see water, earth, air and brand all kom bij the circus when u come here?"

Another short pause as I look in his eyes. The thing about Xander, is that apart from all his sarcasm and dark humor, he is somewhat of a quite sympathetic person. And in situations like this one, his glance usually shows it.

He crosses his arms, "I'd think." He says.
I snort at that, and take a step forward.

"Think… really?" with every word I say, I get closer to him, "Think about what? That you're going crazy? of who to ask what the hell is going on? Or, hey, if u do find someone u could ask, but then they tell u they're all masters that control four elements of nature, maybe then you'll think Darth Vader will come and tell u he's your father."

My face is inches away from his now. I feel and see him heave a sigh. And then, his expression turns from witty to serious.

"Maybe u should stop taking things too seriously," he pushes my shoulders (making me go back a few steps) and puts his smile back on, "and chill."
"I'm stronger than you," I take a couple steps forward, "you really don't wanna start this."
He approaches me as well, the distance between me and him now is a few inches again.
"Bite me."
"For crying out loud, would u two cut it out?" I hear Am shout as she enters the room. "You two sound like freshmen cheerleaders fighting over a football hottie."

I hear her, but don't tear my eyes off Xander, and neither does he off me.
A few meer seconden like this, then a heel stomps my toes.

"Ow!" I cry out, "What was that for?"
"For being such a bitch."

Xander starts laughing, but stops right after Am looks at him. Now, she reaches out for his ear.
"Not the ear! Not the-" she grabs it, "What did I ever do to you?"

I laugh this time, but shut up as soon as she stomps my toes again. "Seriously," I try not to sound in agonizing pain, but I am. This hurts way meer than it seems. "how old are you?"

"Me?" she looks at both of us in turn, "How old are u two? I swear, volgende time I want to solve something, I'm calling Barney. At least he's friendly."
"Hold on," Xander touches Am's wrist, and she releases him. "you're behind this?"
"I saw what happened earlier, and when it happened."
"That… had nothing to do with anything."
"How can u be so sure?"
"Is anyone going to fill me in?" One of the things u should know about me, is that I hate being kept out of the picture.
Am says, "The fountain's faucet…" and there's a pause. I look from her to him and back.
"Well?"
"It flew off when he and Monica shook hands."
"That means noth-"
"You shared auras?" my voice hysterically rises. He looks at me, actually guilty this time. "Gee, Xander, is there anything else I should know?"
"He didn't tell anyone."
"Because if we shake hands, and a fontein starts spraying water somewhere in the end of the hall, it has to mean that we exchanged auras." His sarcasm, there as always.
"If it stops right after u release each other, then yes." Says Am.
Xander looks at her, "I didn't notice that."
"Well, I did. And I was a long distance away. "Do all of us a favor, and open your eyeballs volgende time."

Both of them look down, and in a couple of seconds, so do I. Another long pause. A very long one, probably a minuut of so, in which we are all thinking the same thing. And I decide to say it out loud, "We have to tell her."

"Yes," says Am, "we do."
Xander nod and asks, "Now?"
"No." I raise my head. "Sometime after school. We'll tell Noah, Steve, and the rest. Then we'll tell her."

Xander looks at me, "Sounds like a plan."
Am heads out to the door, opens it, and pauses to look back at us. "Let's just hope it works out well, for all of us."
Xander and I nod, we head out to the basement.

***********************************************
When u enter our school, u see the reception right in front of you, to the right is lost and found, and to the left is a huge hallway. There are storage doors, teacher's lounges, teacher's bathrooms, and two stairways on either sides of the corridor, that both lead to a hallway on the seconde floor, where classrooms are. Going upwards, at the start of the stairs on the left – the one we are going down right now – is somewhat of a storage room. No one really uses it, but no one minds it either. In that room, one of the floorboards is rather big, and that's our entrance. u push and slide it out, climb down the ladder, and you're in. There's the regular down-the stairs-through-the-locked-door entry, of course. But the thing about locked doors, is that they tend to actually be locked. Plus, no one except us knows about this one, and we never got caught before. People do come here to make-out, deal, gossip of what not, teachers pass door here a lot, but no one really minds this small door. Even so, we try coming here on times no one passes by, like right now. Just for precaution.

    "Well, finally." Bridget says, as Xander and I come down. It's a huge basement, because the school is pretty big. u can't hear a thing from upstairs, and they can't hear u either because of the thick floorboards. The ceiling is so low (at least for me), it's almost touching my head. There's no sunlight here, it doesn't pass through any cracks. The only reason we can see is from the light lamps that are already here. This place is fun as hell.

    "I had to take care of something." I say.
    "Ain't that right?" Xander smirks and grabs a bier for me and him. We open them, Bridget raises her bottle and says, "Cheers." And we drink up.

I sit volgende to Vester on the floor. "Where's Am?" he asks.
    "Isn't she-" I look around, but don't see her anywhere. "I don't know, probably out there somewhere." I shrug and take another drink. Just then, we hear the floorboard open and close, and Am walks in.

    "Where have u been?" asks Tria.
    "Nature call." She answers, as she takes a bottle.
    "By the way," she says, as she comes up to Monica, who's talking to El, "I've never told u my last name. It's Pembroke."
    "You're also from the founding families?"
"Yeah, all of us are." She takes a drink. "Leo is Stompborn,"
"Yup, I know that."
"Well, I'm Adamson." Tria says.
"Gilroy." Says Vester.
"Fairchild" that was Bridget.
"Nachman." Sam.
"And I am Bachelor." Says Xander as he bows to her, which makes her chuckle.
"And, well, Wilson." She says.
"To you, then. The last founding member to kom bij us." Guess who zei that? I did. I stand up, and come closer to her as I continue talking, "Welcome to the… well, u can call it a club."
"Nice toast." She grins.
"I heard cheesier. Cheers." We smile at each other as we hit bottles and drink.
We sit down, she asks me, "So, what's your story?"
"What do u mean?"
"Well, u probably know why I'm here. My uncle most likely told u about my parents, and why I came here. So, what's your deal?"
"I've been here my whole life."
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious."
I look up at her, and chuckle.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. u just remind me of someone."
"Oh…"
"My older sister. She passed away last year."
"I'm… so sorry to hear that." She squeezes my hand. "What happened?"
"There was an accident, and she… burned down. And it was my fault."
I smile at her, "But I know she'd want me to verplaats on, so I'm kinda trying to do that right now. For her."
"You were pretty close to her, weren't you?"
"Yeah…" the volgende words come out in a whisper, "I was."
"What was her name?"
"Paige." And she was only nineteen. "Her name was Paige."

"Look," Monica sighs. "when my dad cheated on my mom, It's like he cheated me too. And every time I talked to him after, it's like it wasn't him anymore. Like, my dad whom I loved my whole life died, and instead I got… this. So, I'm not saying that I know your pain, but I somehow feel you, d'you know what I mean? And, well, you're right. u have to verplaats on, and I'm glad u are. And I'm sure she would've wanted this for you."
Her hand is still squeezing mine, so I squeeze it back, and smile. "Thank you."
"And, one meer thing. Don't blame it on yourself. Sometimes, when we lose people we care about, we think it's our fault, that we couldn't protect them. But, in fact, sometimes there's nothing we can do except love them, and that love is what keeps them alive in our hearts until we die. I learned that after my grandpa died a couple years back. Accidents happen. So, whatever it was, if u loved her, then it was never truly your fault. u gotta hold on to that."
I ponder her dark blue eyes, and feel my own tearing up. Somehow, I don't feel anything negative now that I'm with her.

"God, u remind me of her so much."
"She must've been an awesome person, then." She smiles jokingly.
I smile back the same way. "Trust me, she was."
Monica raises her bottle, "To Paige, then."
I raise mine, "To Paige." And we drink.
"And you're here with Steve. I'm jealous you're living with someone like that." I say.
"Why? Tough parents?"
"My dad is working in New Zealand, I'm here with my mom."
"So, tough mom, then?"
"You have no idea."
"Well, someone's not a mommy's boy."
"She's worse than most dads. u don't know her."
"Not so tough in front of mommy, then, huh?"
"Are u making fun of me?"
"Maybe…"

I look down at my bottle, shake my head, and murmur "Maybe…" in a whiny tone.
She pushes my shoulder and laughs. "Stop mocking me!"

I get up. "You started it."
"Did not."
"Did too, honey." I wink, she raises her eyebrows, and I walk to El and Tria.

***********************************************
"Hey, what's hat huge hole?" I hear Monica ask Sam a few minuten later.
"That's actually a tunnel."
"Interesting."
"Yeah, it was built here like five centuries ago, a few years after this town was founded. It connects this place to that fancy bookstore."
"Oh, yeah, I saw it on the school map, what was it built for?"
"I don't know, maybe they were actually starting to think school sucks."
"So, they connect it to a bookstore?"
"Better than school if u ask me. And, u can get out of the bookstore, can't you?"
"True."

I look to my left, it looks like a huge chunk of the uithangbord is missing, but it's actually a manmade tunnel. We're guessing they didn't want to make it too obvious. Why they put it on the map, we still don't know.

"Yeah, she'll know the truth about that soon." I say.
"Huh?" both Tria and El zei that.
I look back at them, "We're telling her tonight."
"Tonight?" asks El.
"Yes, tonight."
"Why the hell so soon?"
"Xander shared auras with her. We have to tell her before anything else happens."
"Well, it looks like she totally forgot about it now." says Tria, motioning to my left.
I look there again, and see her talking and laughing with Xander this time, as if nothing happened.
"She likes him, if u haven't noticed. But we still have to tell her. Sooner of later, she'll find out."
"Better late than never."
I glare at her. "The sooner, the better."
"Alright." says El. "We'll tell her."
"Whatever." Tria scoffs.

I don't know her problem is, but I nod and go to Am.

"Any progress?"
"Ves is in, so is Sam."
"That leaves Bridget."
"Don't get me wrong, I love her. But why does she always have to be such a teef about it?"
"You know Bridget, she likes to wait, to be sure. Sorta like a ninja, but not really."
She snorts. "Thanks, Sherlock."
"Anytime."

She rolls her eyes at me, and here comes Bridget.
This comes as a shock to both of us, but she says, "Alright."
I look at her in surprise, and say, "Come again?" in sync with Am.

"Alright, I'll do it."
"Who are u and what have u done to our best friend?" says Am.
She chuckles, "I've thought about it. Monica needs and deserves to know the truth. And, seeing how things turned out, the sooner, the better."
I smirk. "Well, guess we did manage to squeeze some sense into her."
"Shut your face." She smacks me on my arm.
"Why is hitting me becoming everyone's hobby?"
I feel Am slaan, smack me on my head and say. "You're hittable."
I glare at both of them, "I swear, u two are evil."
"Thanks, Mr. Obvious." says Bridget.

And that reminds me of Monica. Bridget always says it, yet she reminded me of Monica who only zei it once. I look in her direction. She's laughing at something Sam said, and I picture Paige in her place. They have the same laugh, how can I notice this just now?

"What time is it?" I ask.
"Fifth period almost started" says Bridget.
"I think it's about time we go."
"True, that."
"Idiots, over here!" Am waves her arms, and everyone turns to look at her. "Oh, good. u know yourselves. Fifth period is 'bout to start. It's about time we head up don't u think?"
"We've been here the whole break and a lesson?" Monica asks.
"Yup." says Am.
"I swear, this place is cursed."
"Why's that?"
"Time flies door so quickly."
"Time usually flies door quickly when you're having a good time." I smile at her. She looks at me, and smiles back.
"Yeah, well, let's verplaats it." She climbs the ladder, removes the floorboard, climbs out, and we all follow her.

While we're climbing, I hear Monica ask Xander behind me, "How are we not drunk?"

"Who knows? Maybe we are."
"Do u guys do this a lot?"
"Almost daily." I say.
"Do u ever get caught?"

I reach the top, boven of the ladder, but before climbing out, look back at her, and
Smirk with Xander. And, in sync, we both say, "Nope."

I climb out. Vester and El are already out. We try to go one door one, of two door two not to get noticed. I wait my turn, and then head to the bathroom. I can't stroll around school smelling like beer.

When I finish, I'm already late to fifth period. I look at my schedule, and head to chemistry, looking around every now and then to avoid our principal.

Instead of her, I see Noah walking in the opposite direction. He notices me. "Mr. Stompborn, your fifth period started ten minuten ago."

"I know, we were with Mon-"
I cut myself off after I see the glare he gives me.
"You know we can't talk about something like that in the open. Come with me."
I follow him to our history classroom, which is empty, and he locks the door.
"Sit."
I do that.
"Something's up. What is it?"

I look at his black nametag on the desk. It reads 'Mr. Parker'.
"We're telling her."
"Of course we are."
"We're telling her now." I look up at him.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, today. After school, probably."

There's a one seconde long pause in which he is probably thinking. Then he says, "Leonel," he always calls us door our full names. "it's too soon."

"Xander shared auras with her. It's not too soon."

Something in his expression changes, I don't know exactly what, but the way he looks differently at me now.

"How could he do that?"
"I don't know."
"I mean, how could u let him do it?"
"Me?"
"You, son."

I don't say anything, I don't know what to say. What was I supposed to do about it?

"Are u their leader of are u not?" he asks.
"Yes, but-"
"Then why couldn't u stop him?"
"We're all people, Noah. I can't control everything they do. meer than that, they're my friends. I can't take them for granted."
"I'm asking u to take control of things when they're about to get out of it, not to control them."
"I can't monitor their every move. We're a team. They're my friends, not my minions."

He smiles."Just what I wanted to hear. Just the spirit I wanted to see. This is exactly why I think Monica will understand."

If u know Noah, you'd expect something like that from him at anytime.

"You think she will?"
"I know she will. I'll tell Steve. We'll all meet after school, door the trees."
"Let's hope she won't have a seizure."
"She'll be fine." He signs on a scrap paper, and gives it to me. "Tell your teacher u were with me."
I get up, and head for the door.
"Oh, and, Leonel."
I look back at him. "Hm?"
"If she feels something for u too, there's a bigger chance she'll understand."

I give him a confused look, because I honestly have no idea what he just said.

"You like her, don't you?"
"Uhm…"
"You do. I can see it. Well, if she likes u back, chances are, she'll understand."
"She likes Xander."
"Does she, now?"

Does she? I don't know. Well, whatever it is, whoever she likes, if it helps her through this, then I'm meer than fine with that. I grin at him, unlock the door and head out to my fifth period. Maybe Paige is really in Monica somewhere. And she'll understand, just like Paige did.