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"And that’s all I remember," Bonnie concluded as she and Meredith walked down

Sunflower Street between the rows of tall Victorian houses

"But it was definitely Elena?"

"Yes, and she was trying to tellat the end But that’s the part that wasn’t clear, except that it was important, terribly important What do you think?"

"Mouse sandwiches and open graves?" Meredith arched an elegant eyebrow "I think you’re getting Stephen King ht she was probably right But the dreah to put her earlier worries out of her mind Now, as she and Meredith approached Caroline’s house, the old worries returned with a vengeance

She really should have told Meredith about this, she thought, casting an uneasy sideways glance at the taller girl She shouldn’t let Meredith just walk in there unprepared

Meredith looked up at the lighted s of the Queen Anne House with a sigh "Do you really need those earrings tonight?"

"Yes, I do; yes, absolutely" Too late now Might as well make the best of it "You’ll love the the note of hopeful desperation in her own voice

Meredith paused and her keen dark eyes searched Bonnie’s face curiously Then she knocked on the door "I just hope Caroline’s not staying hoht We could end up stuck with her"

"Caroline staying hoht? Don’t be ridiculous" Bonnie had been holding her breath too long; she was starting to feel lightheaded Her tinkling laughter came out brittle and false "What a concept," she continued somewhat hysterically as Meredith said, "I don’t think anybody’s home," and tried the knob Possessed by some crazy impulse Bonnie added, "Fiddle-dee-dee"

Hand on doorknob, Meredith stopped dead and turned to look at her

"Bonnie," she said quietly, "have you gone coh the ozone?"

"No" Deflated, Bonnie grabbed Meredith’s ar on its own "Oh, God, Meredith, please don’t kill me"

"Surprise!" shouted three voices

"S the suddenly resistant body of her friend through the door and into the bright room full of noise and showers of foil confetti She beah clenched teeth "Kill me later-I deserve it -but for now just smile"

There were balloons, the expensive Mylar kind, and a cluster of presents on the coffee table There was even a flower arrangeh Bonnie noticed the orchids in it reen scarf exactly It was a Hern of vines and leaves She’ll end up wearing one of those orchids in her hair, I’ll bet, Bonnie thought

There were balloons, the expensive Mylar kind, and a cluster of presents on the coffee table There was even a flower arrangeh Bonnie noticed the orchids in it reen scarf exactly It was a Hern of vines and leaves She’ll end up wearing one of those orchids in her hair, I’ll bet, Bonnie thought

"Nothing I can’t break with an iron crowbar," Meredith replied But she smiled back ar Princess on Elena’s court, along with Bonnie, Meredith, and Caroline She was the only girl at school besides Bonnie and Meredith who’d stood by Elena when everyone else had turned against her At Elena’s funeral she’d said that Elena would always be the real queen of Robert E Lee, and she’d given up her own nomination for Snow Queen in Elena’s memory Nobody could hate Sue The worst was over now, Bonnie thought

"I want to get a picture of us all on the couch," Caroline said, positioning theement "Vickie, take it, will you?"

Vickie Bennett had been standing by quietly, unnoticed Now she said, "Oh, sure," and nervously flicked long, light brown hair out of her eyes as she picked up the camera

Just like she’s soht, and then the flashbulb blinded her

As the Polaroid developed and Sue and Caroline laughed and talked around Meredith’s dry politeness, Bonnie noticed so as ever with her auburn hair gleareen orchids in front of her And there was Meredith, looking resigned and ironic and darkly beautiful without even trying, and there she was herself, a head shorter than the others, with her red curls tousled and a sheepish expression on her face But the strange thing was the figure beside her on the couch It was Sue, of course it was Sue, but for ato soe of saying so rapidly The i uneasiness ran up her spine

No, it was just Sue in the picture SheCaroline’s desire for theain" affect her

"I’ll take the next one," she said, springing up "Sit down, Vickie, and lean in No, farther, farther-there!" All of Vickie’s ht and nervous When the flashbulb went off, she started like a scared anilanced at this picture, getting up and heading for the kitchen instead "Guess e’re having instead of cake?" she said "I’ ot to help e" Sue followed her, and after an uncertain pause, so did Vickie

The last traces of Meredith’s pleasant expression evaporated and she turned to Bonnie "You should have told me"

"And that makes it all hile?"

"Well, it helps," Bonnie said, with an air of being reasonable "And really, it probably won’t be so bad Caroline’s actually trying to be nice, and it’s good for Vickie to get out of the house for once"

"It doesn’t look like it’s good for her," Meredith said bluntly "It looks like she’s going to have a heart attack"

"Well, she’s probably just nervous" In Bonnie’s opinion, Vickie had good reason to be nervous She’d spentslowly driven out of her mind by a power she didn’t understand Nobody had expected her to come out of it as well as she had

Meredith was still looking bleak "At least," Bonnie said consolingly, "it isn’t your real birthday"

Meredith picked up the ca down at her hands, she said, "But it is"

"What?" Bonnie stared and then said louder, "What did you say?"

"I said, it is my real birthday Caroline’s mo ti about? Your birthday was last week, May 30"

"No, it wasn’t It’s today, June 6 It’s true; it’s onMy parents started celebrating it a week early because June 6 was too upsetting for therandfather was attacked and went crazy" As Bonnie gasped, unable to speak, she added calrandmother, you know He tried to kill me, too" Meredith put the camera down carefully in the exact center of the coffee table "We really should go in the kitchen," she said quietly "I smell chocolate"

Bonnie was still paralyzed, but her uely, she re about this before, but she hadn’t told her the full truth then And she hadn’t said when it had happened

"Attacked-you ot out She couldn’t say the word vampire, but she knew Meredith understood

"Like Vickie was attacked," Meredith confirmed "Co for us I didn’t mean to upset you"

Meredith doesn’t want ht, pouring hot fudge over the chocolate cake and chocolate ice crearade and she never told e over the chocolate cake and chocolate ice crearade and she never told me this secret before

Then Bonnie shook her head deterht now; she had a party to think about And I’llsoely, it wasn’t even that hard Meredith and Vickie didn’t talk much at first, but Bonnie went out of her way to be nice to Vickie, and even Meredith couldn’t resist the pile of brightly wrapped presents on the coffee table By the ti and laughing The mood of truce and toleration continued as they moved up into Caroline’s bedrooot near

"What’s going on with Alaric these days?" Sue asked Meredith

Alaric Saltzraduate student froy and had been called to Fell’s Church last year when the vah he’d started out an enemy, he’d ended up an ally-and a friend

"He’s in Russia," Meredith said "Perestroika, you know? He’s over there finding out what they were doing with psychics during the Cold War"

"What are you going to tell hiets back?" asked Caroline

It was a question Bonnie would have liked to ask Meredith herself Because Alaric was almost four years older, Meredith had told hiraduated to talk about their future But now Meredith was eighteen-today, Bonnie re to happen after that?

"I haven’t decided," Meredith said "Alaric wants o to Duke, and I’ve been accepted there, but I’m not sure I have to think"

Bonnie was just as glad She wanted Meredith to go to Boone Junior College with her, not go off and get uy so young Bonnie herself was notorious for playing the field, going froot over theuy so far worth re faithful to," she said now

Everyone looked at her quickly Sue’s chin was resting on her fists as she asked, "Not even Stefan?"

Bonnie should have known With the only light the dim bedside la s outside, it was inevitable that the conversation would turn to Stefan-and to Elena

Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert were already a sort of legend in the town, like Romeo and Juliet When Stefan had first coirl had wanted him And Elena, the irl at school, had wanted hiotten hier Stefan wasn’t what he seeuessed And he had a brother, Daerous than hi Stefan but drawn irresistibly to Damon’s wildness In the end she had died to save them both, and to redeem their love

Stefan Salvatore and Elena Gilbert were already a sort of legend in the town, like Romeo and Juliet When Stefan had first coirl had wanted him And Elena, the irl at school, had wanted hiotten hier Stefan wasn’t what he seeuessed And he had a brother, Daerous than hi Stefan but drawn irresistibly to Damon’s wildness In the end she had died to save them both, and to redeem their love

"I still can’t believe she’s gone," Sue said quietly, shaking her head and shutting her eyes "She was so much more alive than other people"

"Her fla at the patterns the rose-and-gold la Her voice was soft but intense, and it seemed to Bonnie that those words described Elena better than anything she’d ever heard

"There were tinore her," Caroline adreen eyes narrowed in nore"

"One thing I learned from her death," Sue said, "is that it could happen to any of us You can’t waste any of life because you never kno long you’ve got"

"It could be sixty years or sixty reed in a low voice "Any of us could die tonight"

Bonnie wriggled, disturbed But before she could say anything, Sue repeated, "I still can’t believe she’s really gone Sometimes I feel as if she’s somewhere near"

"Oh, so do I," said Bonnie, distracted An ih her mind, and for a moment it seeht I drea it really was her and that she was trying to tell ," she said to Meredith

The others gazed at her silently Once, they would all have laughed if Bonnie hinted at any-thing supernatural, but not now Her psychic poere undisputed, awesome, and a little scary

"Do you really?" breathed Vickie

"What do you think she was trying to say?" asked Sue

"I don’t know At the end she was trying so hard to stay in contact with me, but she couldn’t"