The burdens of family

38

Alexis avoided Arkyn the next morning and shoved earphones into her ear to drown him out in the car. He was getting suspicious, but decided he could interrogate her in the afternoon, and went along to his lessons. His second lesson of the day was history, and he sat near Caroline.
"Hello, Caroline." He greeted, and noticed her face. "What's wrong?"
"Matt found out." She said. "He saw my vampire face and freaked out and dodged me and then he made me tell him everything and asked me to make him forget."
"Oh god, are you okay?" He asked.
"No." She shook her head. He scooted over and put a hand on her shoulder. "He hated me. And now I have to live with the fact that if he knew the real me he'd hate me."
"Just because you're a vampire, doesn't mean a vampire is the real you. Matt loves you for your personality. Not just because you're a human." Arkyn whispered ignoring Alaric who had come in. "The real you is in your heart, Caroline."
"Thanks, Ark." She smiled and they both turned to the front. Alaric was writing facts on the board.
"Sure." He smiled.
"Are you taking Bonnie to the 60s dance?" She asked.
"You know, I think I might. The last dance I asked her to didn't end very well."
"Just as long as you don't bail again." She teased.
"I think I can manage that." He replied before focusing on Alaric's class.
"Don't you know all this already?" She asked.
"Of course I do."
"So why are you taking notes?" He paused, mid bullet point.
"That's a good point." He said. Caroline laughed loudly and Alaric looked over at them. Caroline smacked her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. By the end of the lesson, Caroline seemed much more cheerful, but Alaric had asked to see Arkyn in private. The vampire waited until the students had filtered out before heading to Alaric's desk. "Is this about Alexis? Because you can believe her if she said she forgot her assignment this time. I made sure she did it."
"Uh, no. Not that. I was just wondering if you'd heard from Klaus."
"Did Damon put you up to this? Look I know you guys are all just trying to save Elena but I can't help you." Arkyn said.
"It wasn't Damon. I was just wondering. You know for a heads up." Arkyn stiffened. He could sense Klaus's presence somewhere. He didn't know where exactly but Klaus was there somehow. "What's wrong?"
"I gotta go." Arkyn said. "Is that all?"
"Yeah." Alaric nodded and Arkyn left. He made a beeline for Alexis, finding her in the canteen beside Jeremy.
"Sorry, Jeremy. I need to borrow Alexis for a sec." He said, and dragged her away.
"What?" Alexis rolled her eyes.
"First, drop the attitude. Two, say your goodbye to your boyfriend because I need to talk to you."
"What's going on, Ark?"
"I'll tell you in a bit." He walked away so as to give her some privacy. His phone rang.
"Hey, where are you?" Bonnie asked. "Caroline said you're in today."
"Bonnie, you have to be careful today. Klaus is here."
"What? What do you mean?" She said.
"I can just sense him." He replied. "He's somewhere. You can't tell your friends I told you. And you have to pretend you don't know me for a little while. I didn't think he'd be here so soon."
"What about the dance?"
"I know. We've had rubbish luck with dances together-"
"You're not letting him run you away. I expect you to pick me up tonight at seven." She said.
"Bonnie." He sighed.
"You and I both know I'll be much safer next to you."
"Okay, I'll see you later tonight." He said.
"See you." She laughed and hung up. Alexis walked over to him.
"Okay, what do you want?" She asked.
"What would you say to ditching the rest of the school day?"
"I'd say who are you and what have you done to Ark. Because he'd never let me off school just because."
"Come on. I'm taking you home."
"That's okay. Today's a pretty chill day 'cos of the dance later tonight." She stopped. "Ark, what is it?"
"What do you mean?" He tried.
"You just offered to give me a free pass on school. That's not very you."
"It's nothing."
"Well it's obviously something." She said. "I'm not a child."
"I know that."
"Then tell me what's up? What's going on?"
"I thin- I know Klaus is in town. Somewhere. I can feel him. He's here."
"You can feel him?"
"You spend centuries with someone, you know when they're around. I can feel Klaus is here. It's like a suffocating black cloud of despair all around."
"Did you just have English?" She asked.
"No. History."
"You sounds like you just came out of English class."
"Whatever. I know you and Xavier are hell bent on staying but will you go home and give me a peace of mind?" He asked.
"Fine. But we have to tell Bonnie and-"
"I already told her he's in town, but I would rather not be seen with her right now. If Klaus is around he shouldn't see us together. He'll make his move at the dance- there's no need for him to know everything before then."
"You're going to the dance still, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Alexis said. "Let's go."
"Thank you." He breathed out.