The Wish Factory

Chapter 7

Once again, Ryleigh was the center of attention, something that she was growing to hate. She had to tell them, she could say what she needed to, but she didn't understand how that worked. She began to pace, she was severely worried about pissing off an original, but she knew from Grady that they couldn't actually kill her. She plopped down on the couch and Elena was instantly at her side, holding her hand. Elena really was a good person. She saw the best in anyone and put everyone's life ahead of hers. Knowing that they were all waiting for her and several of them were becoming impatient, so she began.

"Tyler and I ran into the hunter, Connor, at the Grill tonight." She saw Caroline stiffen out of the corner of her eye at the mention of Tyler, but she barreled on to keep her from causing a scene.

"I shook his hand, and I saw way more than I expected or wanted to. He's killed a ton of vampires and vampire sympathizers. He has no remorse for doing any of it, either. He followed Rebekah to the school because he saw her feeding, where, I don't know. He knows that there are more than her, but he doesn't know specifically who. Rebekah is planning a party, I heard a few people talking about it, and he's going to make a move there. I don't know what exactly he's planning, but I saw all of us there, minus Damon, Alaric, Elijah, and Klaus. I saw Tyler in the hospital, but Care and Stefan...well it was bad." When she finished, there was absolute silence as they absorbed her words. Klaus stood there shaking his head, while Elijah was already dialing his phone. His velvety voice was the only sound to pierce the silence of the room.

"Rebekah, Niklaus and I need to speak with you immediately, can you meet us here at the Salvatore's house? Well, we didn't tell you because you didn't want any interference while you attended school. However, this is extremely important, so exceptions must be made. Perfect, see you then." He put his phone up and glanced in her direction. She quickly lowered her eyes only to have Caroline come to a stop in front of her.

"So, why were you at the Grill with Tyler, Ryleigh? I know that you two have a history, but that was almost two years ago, and you have plenty of other people fumbling all over themselves to get to you." Bonnie sighed and was the first to respond to her rant.

"Caroline now is seriously not the time to be worrying about any of that." Ryleigh held her hand up to stop Bonnie from continuing and addressed Caroline herself.

"That's seriously your first thought about me? Wow, see I knew that nothing was different with you guys. This is the last time that I involve myself with any of this mess; you are on your own after this." She'd pulled her arm away from Elena and stood, moving off to herself. Elena followed her, a hurt expression on her face.

"Wait, that's not fair, Rye, we're here, and we're trying, but you keep making things so awkward and painful." Ryleigh scoffed at her and couldn't refrain from responding because this pushed even her buttons, separate from the fake memories.

"God Elena, could you be any more self-absorbed? After I met Connor at the Grill, you were the first person that I tried to call following with Caroline and Bonnie. It was like a bad flashback because all three of you ignored my call and none of you attempted to call me back. I don't have anyone else's number, so I had to accost Mr. Saltzman at the bar to get everyone together. Don't talk to me about making things difficult because that isn't me." She watched as all three of them looked incredibly guilty. Bonnie started to respond, but Ryleigh rolled her eyes and waved her off, addressing Caroline again.

"For the record, I was at the Grill by myself when Tyler sat down at my table. He's always been a player and a douche, so stop projecting your insecurities onto me." There was silence once more until Klaus's laughter broke through, causing them all to jump. Caroline glared over at him, but he couldn't stop laughing as he replied.