Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries

5. Gossip Girl

Mr. Tanner's was the first dead body Riley had ever seen up close. With that, plus the whole Stefan-hand drama, she was officially terrified of this town.

The teacher had been bitten. And there was no animal in sight that could take credit for the attack. There was something strange going on, and she wanted nothing to do with it.

Another thing she wanted nothing to do with were her parents' worried looks and tentative 'Are you sure you're OK?'s. She had to escape to the Grill just to get a moment of peace. The problem with living so close to everyone she knew was that, as soon as she left her house, she was bound to run into someone. Thankfully, it was just Bonnie and Caroline.

"Hey, are you going to the Founder's party at the Lockwood's later?" Caroline asked when they both sat down without waiting for an invitation.

"Yeah, why?" Riley responded, sipping her drink. The Fletchers had been extended an invitation to the party by the mayor himself. They obviously weren't part of the founding families, but as they were new to town, and taking on extremely important jobs, Mayor Lockwood felt that it was only fair to give them a proper welcome.

"Can I go with you?" Bonnie asked desperately. "I was supposed to go with Caroline, but she's taking Damon."

"Damon? Really?" Riley asked Caroline, raising an eyebrow. Maybe it was just her, but the guy seemed kind of creepy.

"Yes, Damon. Really," Caroline answered. "Why? Don't you want to take Bonnie?"

Riley's jaw clenched in frustration.

"Of course I'll take you, Bonnie. It's just, Damon seems kind of... dangerous."

"He's not dangerous," Caroline cut in quickly. "He just has a lot of issues with his brother. You know, like major, deep-rooted drama."

Bonnie and Riley caught each other's eye as curiosity took over the group. When Caroline didn't say anything, Riley sighed.

"Come on! You can't say something like that and not elaborate."

Caroline looked around, as if she were about to get caught. "Okay, but you can't tell Elena."

They both nodded their agreement.

"Well," Caroline whispered, leaning in. It was easy to tell that she loved being the girl with the gossip. "There was a girl called Katherine. At one point, both Salvatore boys were in love with her, and she dated both of them."

"So their deep-rooted issues revolve around them liking the same girl?" Riley asked, hoping for something juicier. "Why are guys a total cliché?"

"That's not it though," Caroline added, desperate to continue telling her friends exactly what Damon had told her earlier. "Yeah they both dated her, but she chose Damon. And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to break them up. He filled Katherine's head with all these lies until, finally, she turned against Damon."

"That's insane," Bonnie commented, frowning. "We have to tell Elena."

"No!" Caroline whined, betrayal filling her tone. "You promised!"

"You don't have to tell Elena anything," Riley agreed. "It's probably not even true. That's only one side of, what sounds like, a pretty complicated story."

"What if he's a calculating, manipulative liar?" Bonnie asked with a frown. Elena was her best friend in the world and she felt weird about keeping something from her. Especially something like this. "Doesn't Elena deserve to know?"

Caroline and Riley were silent. To be honest, neither of them really knew that much about Stefan - no one did. For all they knew, Caroline's story could have been 100% true.