Imagination is the key (stefan, Damon love triangle)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

"Hey, Lillie, can you hand these out for me?" Matt approached me, pushing his way through the throng of students milling about in the hallway, with a large stack of flyers in his hands.
I slammed my locker door shut after taking out my calculus textbook, a book I have yet to open this year. "What are they for?" I took one off of the top and scanned it. Live band.
I grinned up at him. "They're finally taking your suggestion seriously then, huh?"
"Yeah, they wanted to try and raise a bit more money so they're going to give it ago and if it's successful it might become a weekly thing."
"That's great, Matt. Did you arrange all this?"
He nodded, shifting the pile of flyers in his hands. "Yeah. Because it was my idea originally they want to see what I can do and if it's profitable, they'll consider giving me a raise."
I lent up against my locker. "Do you have a certain amount of money to raise?"
"Not that I know off, although all the staff that are working tonight are required to arrive an hour early, so if there is one I'll find out then."
"Give me some and I'll hand then out."
Matt gave me about a third of his pile. "Thanks, that would really help me out."
I slid my textbook underneath the flyers. "Hey, have you uh spoken to Caroline?"
Matt shifted form foot-to-foot uncomfortable. "Yeah, I spoke to her earlier. It didn't go down well."
"What did she say now?" I sighed.
"Nothing -that's the point. I gave her an ultimatum; make a decision or leave me alone."
"Matt..." I trailed off. I didn't know what more I could say, it wasn't really any of my business but they were my friends and I knew that Matt and Caroline really liked each other although I'm still kind of surprised that he got over Elena that quickly. I know it took him the entire summer of being broken up and into the school year to finally date someone else, but he was completely smitten with Elena beforehand, why the sudden change? And as much as I love both Caroline and Matt, I'm just confused about their whole relationship. I don't understand how either one attracted the other... It's weird. But there's not way that I would tell either of them what I think about their relationship, I support it but I won't be surprised when they break up and start dating other people. I kinda wish Matt would get back together with Elena, I always did find them two adorable together because they're both just so similar.
"It's fine, Lillie. At least this way I know certainly where I stand with her." Matt said sadly.
"It'll be okay, Matt." I comforted.
"I know. It always is." He said, but I didn't believe him.
"So," I said, changing the subject. "I'm going to go and hand these out. If you need anything come find me, alright?"
He nodded. "Thank you."
"I'll see you tonight." I said slyly. "I'll cheer you on when you get on stage."
Matt started backing away from me with a wide grin. "Not going to happen, Lillie. I'm not going anywhere near the stage."
"Oh yeah, keep telling yourself that. I'm sure I could work something out if need be."
"Well, I guess I'll just be avoiding you for the evening."
"I'll specifically ask for you to serve me."
"I'll quit." He joked.
"I'd like to see that."
Matt shook his head. "I'll see you around, Lillie."
"See ya, Matt." I shifted the flyers in my arms and started wandering down the corridor handing them out to everyone that I passed and the people who refused to take one, I shoved it in their direction. Some people weren't very grateful about the whole thing and I do have to admit I could have been a bit more polite with the way I went about it.

I had successfully passed out every flyer I was given by the time I arrive at my Calculus class. I took my usual seat in the corner just as Stefan and Elena walked in, whispering. They noticed me and quickly took the seats around me; Stefan in front, Elena to the right of me. I ignored her as she sat down taking out her own textbook from her bag.
"Have you spoken to Damon today?" Stefan asked, leaning back in his chair.
"No, why? Is something wrong?"
"Does he only ever phone you when something's wrong?"
"No. But lately everything is going wrong. Can't blame me for being cautious. Anyway, why does that matter?"
"So, you don't know about Katherine being released from the tomb." Stefan stated. To my right Elena made a noise in the back of her throat.
My eyes flickered between the two. Katherine's out of the tomb? "What?"
"Katherine was released last night. After Elijah was killed his compulsion wore off and she was freed."
"And how exactly do you know this?" I asked.
Stefan and Elena exchanged a look. "She's uh staying with us."
I raised an brow, unimpressed. "Excuse me?"
"Not because we're willingly. She's kind of just forcing herself on us. No one wants her there." Elena tried to say reassuringly, although hearing anything from Elena's mouth at the moment makes me want to grab my textbook and use it for a very violent reason.
"Why is she still here? She doesn't strike me at the the type to stick around especially considering she supposed to be running from Klaus who will inevitably end up in this town. She could be anywhere? Why did she stay?"
Stefan sighed. "Elena asked the exact same question, probably because she wants what we do; Klaus dead. She could see us as her only chance at freedom. If we do succeed in killing him, she has no one to fear - no reason to run."
"Okay," I said. "And easier question to answer; why is she staying at your place?"
"I suppose it'd because she trusts us the most and she can enter without having to be invited-"
"Well, frankly, I think she's doing it to play with you both again." I cut in. Did he seriously believe they were the only reason's that she was staying with them, was he stupid? It's Katherine. I've barely even had any contact with her and I already seem to understand how she works.
"I agree." Elena said.
I threw her a nasty look. "Stop talking."
"Lillie, c'mon, please."
"No, stop talking."
Stefan, obviously ignoring Elena and I continued to address me like there had been an interruption. "Well, Lillie, if that were the case neither Damon or I would allow anything to happen. We don't like her -earlier before I left for School, Damon actually threatened her with a blowtorch."
"What the hell was he doing with a blow touch to begin with!?"
Now Stefan just looked uncomfortable. "He was torching Elijah's body. Trying to dispose of it to get the dagger back. A little tip; he's actually indestructible."
I felt horrible for what happened to Elijah, not because I liked the guy but because I knew that Hollee did. And last night I had spent a good 2 hours staring at my phone, picking it up and clicking on Hollee's contact only to lock the phone and put it back down, just to repeat the cycle as I thought of a way I could tell her that her 'boyfriend thing' was rotting in the Salvatore basement. The guilt was pressing down on me heavily about this, especially considering I still haven't told her and the more time that passes the more sure I become that I'm not going to tell her. I want too, I really do. But I don't know what I would say, how I would say it. I mean, I've never had to tell someone something like that before and it makes me sick that it's something I have to tell my best friends.
"I don't think that's a good idea." I said. "What if he could come in use? Because technically he's not actually dead dead."
"If we awaken him, he's going to kill us all and take Elena away."
"If we're dead it won't matter. And," I looked at Elena out of the corner of my eye. "maybe we should give Elena and Klaus both what they want. Just hand her over."
Even as I said that I knew how hurtful that would have been to her, but I was still super pissed about her deal with Elijah, if she wants to give up, I'll make it easy for her.
"You don't mean that." Elena said, the hurt clear.
I turned in my seat and instantly took notice of the teacher walking to the room. "Oh yeah? And how would you know? You're too busy trying to get yourself killed then notice anything else. Maybe I've stopped caring about you, Elena, have you thought about that? I've told you before that I'm done. I'm your sister and I'm supposed to protect you-"
"Just like I'm trying to protect you!" Elena exclaimed exasperatedly. The raise in her voice cause a couple of other students to look our way and I glared at them. Some immediately turned back but other over looked my vicious gaze and continued to stare questioningly in our direction. God! People could be so fucking annoying.
"The difference is that I'm not trying to get myself killed. I've decided, why protect someone who obviously has a death wish?" I didn't mean anything I was saying... Much. I will always protect Elena, always, but I also want to hurt her. I want her to think that I've turned my back on her completely, to feel like I'm not actually there for her anymore because maybe that way she'll feel just fraction of how much pain she'd be putting Jeremy, Jenna and I through if she did die. I know that it's childish, I know that. But, I don't feel comfortable being nice and civil with her, it feels forced and fake, like everything in our relationship is strained. I'd rather she thought I hated her than have her think I was being two faced and pretending to be something that I'm not.
Elena's bottom lip trembled just the slightest and she turned away, giving her attention to the teacher who just started the lesson. I shook my head at her and looked forward as well.
"You two need to talk at some point -without arguing, Lillie, otherwise it's just going to get worse and you're relationship is going to crumble."
"We don't even have a relationship anymore, Stefan." I mumbled. I flipped my textbook open to the page number written on the board and started on the equations.