Chapter 22: Distraction

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KJ's POV

As I dry my hair and stand in front of the mirror, I consider everything that's happened to me in the past week. I spent more time with Damon and Jeremy, had a makeout session with a vampire, felt seen for the first time in a long time, and avoided my cousin like it was my only task on earth. I let out a deep breath and put my towel down on the counter before grabbing some leave-in curl custard and working it through my curls.

I glance at my watch and see that it's almost 6. "I don't have enough time to do small braids so I'm gonna have to do a puff or something." I mutter, wiping my hands on the towel. I wiggle into my jeans before zipping and buttoning them up. I tug on my cut white t-shirt and I adjust the band of my hipsters so it's visible from my waistline. I hear a knock on the bathroom door and I open it, seeing Jeremy standing in the frame.

"Morning. Can we split?" I nod and walk back over to the counter, pulling my hair ties from their place on the holder. I grab a comb and try not to eye Jeremy's back and biceps in the mirror and he leans over to run water at the sink. I part quarter ways down the middle of my head first then part horizontally, to the left and right. I section off the back of my hair and slick it with some gel, leaving some curls down at the nape of my neck.

"How'd you sleep?" I ask around the hair tie in my mouth. "Pretty good. I didn't stare at the ceiling for an hour before eventually falling asleep like I normally do." I chuckle and reply, "Me either. I think it was good for us to talk before going to sleep last night." He nods as he grabs his toothbrush from its holder. "Yeah. I don't know what it is but I think it made me feel less ..." "Alone." I finish for him. He nods and I pull the back of my hair into a puff, leaving the front down.

I part the sections horizontally again, keeping them back with clips. I start to braid the first section of hair on the left and brush some gel through the front. Jeremy's eyes follow my arms as they braid my hair and I smile before looking down at the counter. "Do you think you could give me a ride today?" He nods and starts to brush his teeth. "Sure. I might even be able to get us there early since we're both up already." I nod and finish the first braid, brushing the hair from my shoulders into the trash can.

Jeremy's POV

I don't know what's going through my head but since I learned that KJ's a witch, I just feel drawn to her. I guess that's why I sketched her yesterday but I didn't do that consciously. My mind had an image that was just sitting there and it happened to be her. I look at her in the mirror as she finishes braiding the sections on the front left of her head. When she reaches down to brush her hair into the trash bin, I see the butterfly tattoo on her lower back.

I look away and finish brushing my teeth, stepping out. "Thanks." "No prob, Jer." She says, starting to braid the unfinished sections. I smile and walk into my room, pulling off my tank top and tugging on a black tee. I pick up my hunter-green hoodie from my desk chair and trade my flannel pants for black baggy pants. I look around my room for my sneakers and grab them before putting them on.

I walk past the mirror with a quick look. I stop and ruffle my hair a bit before walking out into the hall. Elena's room door is open and she's sitting in her window seat, writing in her journal. "Morning Elena." She looks up and smiles, sticking her pen where she was writing. "Hey, Jeremy. Looks like you're finally up on time." I roll my eyes and lean against the wall. "Yeah. I actually got a decent night's sleep for once."

She presses her lips together and gets up, looking down the hall to KJ's door. "How's KJ doing? You know her and Bonnie-" "Still haven't spoken. I know but she hasn't talked to me about it and I don't want to push. I'm giving her a ride to school early today so maybe they can hash it out there. It's been 4 days and last I remember, they haven't gone this long with an argument." Elena bites her lower lip nervously and crosses her arms across her chest. "They've never argued about who KJ was allowed to see before though. This is something different." 

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KJ's POV

When I get to school, I beeline it to my locker. "KJ!" I sigh, hearing Bonnie's voice behind me. "We need to talk. Now." I open my locker and grab the notebooks I need, slipping them into my backpack. "Morning to you too, Bons. I hope you slept well knowing that I'm not gonna follow what you say because you contradict your words with your actions." I watch her step around my locker and come to the other side of it, leaning so she's against them.

"What I'm telling you is for your own good. Damon Salvatore is bad news and you know it. Deep down, whenever you're around him, you feel like you can't be at ease." I slam my locker shut and glare at her. "No, that's how you feel when you get around him. I feel like I can be myself because he's not forcing me to choose who I spend my time with." Bonnie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. 

Even though she's an inch shorter than me, her presence demands attention. The dress and cardigan combination she's wearing is something only she could pull off. I look down at her boots and chuckle in my head, noticing they're the ones I used to steal from her when I was younger. "You shouldn't spend time with vampires. It just doesn't make sense supernaturally." "And Elena dating Stefan makes sense?!" I whisper shout. I look around and say, "A human can't defend themself as well as a witch can against a vampire."

Bonnie glares back at me and says, "That's because Stefan's not a threat to Elena." I arch an eyebrow and say, "Who's to say he's not gonna switch his humanity off at some point or try feeding on her?" "Because he would rather kill himself than hurt her. And there's no risk of him turning off his humanity because they're happy together." I groan and see Jeremy at the end of the hall, walking in from being in the lot.

I peek around Bonnie and I see his eyes find mine. I try to make my eyes seem as desperate as possible and I see him pick up his pace as he walks toward me. "You know what? How about we stop bringing this up? If you don't tell me who to hang out with, I'll listen to anything reasonable you have to say to me." She sighs then replies, "Deal. But we have to go to Grams later." "Deal." I reply.

"KJ, c'mon let's go." Jeremy says, looping his hand around my waist as we walk down the hall. "I owe you big time for this, Jer." I mumble as we head up the stairs. "Don't worry about it." He replies, pulling me against his side as Tyler comes down the stairs. "Wouldn't you know it? The troublemaker and the weirdo are together." He announces. I roll my eyes and reply, "Tyler, not right now. Don't you have someone else to bother?" 

He shakes his head and says, "Not right now. At least, they're not in my direct line of vision." Jeremy guides me by my waist around Tyler and I find myself falling into his touch a little too easily. "Thank you again." I say as we head to homeroom. "As I said, don't worry about it." I notice his cheeks are a little red and I smile. I lean against his side a little more as we walk down the hall and his hand tightens around my waist. 

how did i type all of this in one go- i literally baffle myself sometimes. 

hope y'all enjoyed reading! let me know if this is a little messy and i can clear things up in the next chapter.

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