Love, Hate, and Friends

Chapter 3

Klaus didn't appreciate his brother's teasing whatsoever. He also was less than thrilled about Kol's new friendship with Caroline.

Klaus knew his brother and he knew that Kol had a pattern of getting bored and doing anything to find a little entertainment. But as soon as he became bored with his knew source of fun, Kol would throw it, or them, away.

Klaus didn't like the fact that Kol was using Caroline as his latest distraction at all. He also knew that he couldn't do anything about it without coming off as the bad guy. Usually that would be a bonus, but not when it came to Caroline.

The next morning when Caroline got up, her mother had already left for work.

That suited Caroline just fine since it meant that she could avoid the argument about spending time with Kol for longer.

"So I hear that you've been hanging out with Kol," Elena commented to Caroline as they walked through the hallways together.

It was clear that Elena had been aiming for casual, but Caroline instantly saw through it.

"Not you two," Caroline complained. "What's the big deal? How come everybody else can hang out with whoever they want to, but as soon as I start spending time with Kol I'm suddenly problem number one?"

"Care, you know we don't mean it like that," Elena responded. "We're just concerned because Kol's dangerous and it looks like you warmed up to him pretty fast. We just don't want you getting hurt."

"Yeah, whatever," Caroline said before walking away.

She was getting very sick of everybody acting so superior and judging her for whom she chose to be around. The way that they all made such a huge deal out of every single little thing like this was a big part of the reason that she had started hanging out with Kol to avoid their drama.

During lunch, Bonnie asked Caroline and Elena if they wanted to come over after school.

"I'm in," Elena agreed.

"I can't," Caroline responded quickly. "I'm busy after school."

"With what?" Bonnie asked.

"Stuff," Caroline said defensively.

Caroline didn't really have anything else to do, but she just didn't want to have to go deal with the lecturing from the two other girls. On that subject, she didn't particularly want to go home and deal with lectures from her mother either.

Elena raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"I have to go," Caroline told them. "I have to find Matt before lunch ends."

It was a bad excuse, but it got her away from the questions of the other girls.

Once Caroline was out of their sight, she pulled her phone out.

From Caroline:

Want to help me escape from some girl drama tonight?

From Kol:

I was hoping you'd ask.

Meanwhile, Elena was asking Bonnie, "Since when does Care try to hide what she's doing from us?"

"Since she became friends with Kol," Bonnie muttered. "I bet that's who she's going somewhere with tonight and she just doesn't want to admit it."

"Probably," Elena agreed. "She starts acting weird and leaves as soon as somebody brings him up."

"She's doing that to you too?" Bonnie asked. "We need to figure out what's going on between them."

"How are we going to do that?" Elena asked.