"It's best you stay away from school until we figure out who is hunting you," Stefan announced pulling out the dining room seat across from me. 

The morning sun filtered in through the large windows at my back, my skin feeling a little too warm against it. The only noise in the room was Damon, who flitted through pages at the servery bench top behind me. He was largely uninterested in my dilemma. He had scoffed a chuckle when Stefan told him.

All we knew was that the hunter had been to Mystic Falls Highschool and tampered with my bike. They quite possibly didn't know what I was, not that it mattered now because it had been made certain. They had to have been watching me from somewhere on the school grounds.
I had no choice other than agree with Stefan. I didn't want someone killing me before I found Dmitri.

"I'll lay low till Saturday night." 

I leant back in my chair, my hands still firmly holding my coffee mug to the tabletop. It's lukewarm liquid betrayed my nerves as its surface rippled back and forth. I needed to stay hidden inside the Salvatore Estate until the party, unless of course my hunter knew I was here then I wasn't safe anywhere.

"What's Saturday night?" Stefan asked concerned. He unfurled his arms and leant forward.

"I've been invited to the Mayor's dinner party," I said with a grin.

A slap of paper on wood interrupted me, the grin falling from my face. I swung around; Damon, finished with his newspaper, got up. 

"Now you're just following me." 

"Why would you be there?" I asked confused. This didn't make sense.

He smiled back at me,

"That's because, Valerie, I'm a member of the council." 

Damon was on the council! The council that hunted vampires!?
He grabbed the pitcher once more, tipping himself another glass of bourbon as if what he just said was normal.

"How can you be on the council?" I asked, shocked that Mystic Falls' vampire hunting council HAD a vampire as a member! Maybe I had overestimated their competence as hunters. He was hiding in plain sight.

"The Salvatore family is one of the founding families of Mystic Falls. They didn't even give me a second's glance, besides it's no different to what you and Stefan are doing."

"Well, do they know about the crypt then?" 

"No. They don't focus on old matters like that. They're more worried about present threats."

I scoffed. They either were not that worried, or not very good at their jobs because their present threat was right in front of them.

"Anyway, what do you even plan to wear to this party?" Damon scrutinised. 

                                                                                  ∞

Agreeing to the dinner party proved more problematic than I had first thought.
For starters, other than the clothes I wore, my wardrobe predated the millennia not to mention way out of the current fashion mandate. If I rocked up in my dress from the 1930's, I'd get served the wrong type of steak - the wooden kind.

Being under house arrest, Stefan tasked Elena with the job of finding me something under my guidelines of modest and presentable.

I was a recluse from society after Dmitri was taken so all my nice dresses still had puffed or pleated sleeves. They were bias cut with the hems not venturing higher than my mid- calf. I would surely get asked why I arrived in my grandmother's dress especially when I dare not wear them without their matching tilt hats and gloves. Some would applaud my modesty, but the peculiarity of a '17' year old of the 21st century dressed as such would prevail and probably give me away to the council. Tyler would certainly wish he never asked me.

When Saturday afternoon finally arrived, Stefan dropped me off out the front of the Mystic Grill. This was to avoid Tyler visiting the Salvatore Estate. They were private like that though I'm sure Elena could give him directions anytime. I think the problem was more that I was staying there, not him knowing where the Estate was.

"Enjoy your date!" he said through the window.

"It's not a date." I protested again. I had been receiving flak from both boys for accepting Tyler's offer since Wednesday.

Once he left, I stood along the footpath, fiddling with my ring, twisting it on my finger. Another gust of wind flew past, raising the skirts of my dress. My hands shot down to flatten them again. It was so determined to make me the next Marilyn Monroe but I wasn't letting anything other than my calves show today.

Elena found me a simple knee-length, silk dress. It was white and floral with a red band through the waist, matched with a pair of red heels that were of a reasonable height.

I adjusted my position to stand in the shade of one of the trees jutting out of the pavement. My ring's limited potential was started to make my skin feel like I was under a sun lamp, especially now my arms were exposed to the sun. With one hand still on my skirts, I held the other to my eyes, watching the cars zoom past.

A familiar black Buick broke out of the traffic, driving into the pick up zone. Pulled up alongside, Tyler stepped out, his usual sporty attire now replaced by a simple black suit with a light grey shirt underneath. His neck wore a nice red tie that tucked into his suit jacket.

"Well, you scrub up pretty well," I said, his smiling face beaming as he opened the passenger side door.

"Speak for yourself." His gaze fixed on me, looking me once over before ushering me into the car. I graced him with a curtsy before getting in the Buick.

                                                                                  ∞

The lawn in front of the town hall was littered with people. I suddenly felt under-dressed as women walked past in their finery. Many stared but I wasn't sure if it was because I was a stranger or because I was with the Mayor's son.

"Hey, isn't that your bike?" I looked to Tyler's pointed hand, my bike neatly in the parking lot.

"Yeah, a friend borrowed it to get here. Their car broke down." He nodded.
My helmet however, was not there. Hopefully, Damon wasn't being Darth Vader inside and had decided to leave it at home.

Before I left, Stefan and I had conjured up a plan. He would drop me off at the Mystic Grill whilst Damon arrived at the party on my motorbike. This way, if my hunter arrived, I could escape on my Beemer if I had to. Of course, Stefan had me agreeing when it meant Damon would need to call for help. It was too bad that I wouldn't be able to watch Damon be the damsel- in- distress. With Damon's pride in question though, he'd probably just compel a lovely lady to drive him home.

Tyler led me up the marble steps, his parents standing in the front entrance of the hall. His mother gave me one glance before raising her eyebrows at her son. Was I too unpresentable? Did she just judge me and deem I wasn't good enough?
I needed to stop thinking like that. I was fine.

"Please, come in," she said with a smile. 

I stepped over the threshold, relieved that entry had been granted. It would have been awkward if I just stood there. Her smile seemed genuine which made me feel slightly better. 

"It's okay. They probably think you're a bit young for me," whispered Tyler, leaning in close.

I laughed, knowing full well that wasn't the case. 16 ½ going on 182. Hell, the hall I currently stood in was younger than me. I looked back, needing to check his parents weren't still watching.
Before I left, Damon made sure to tell me all the reasons why dating a Lockwood would be a bad idea:
- that they were on the council, 
-they had vervain on them, 
-Tyler called him 'dude,' 
-That Tyler punched him. 
All this was fine, but it was more reasons for why Damon shouldn't date Tyler than I. At the time, I had scoffed at his immaturity.
Besides, we weren't doing anything. I would hardly call it dating, not that I had really done that before.
He did say they took preventative measures against our kind though. I could not drop my guard. Doing so might just get me killed.

As we entered, a bell tolled, everyone moving in to settle within the hall. It was a casual seating arrangement, guests picking their own seats at the tables. 

"Where do you want to sit?" 

I didn't answer. I think I was chewing my lip. It's what I usually did when faced with large crowds. The thought of being crammed between people wasn't too comforting. The hall was a lot more packed than I had anticipated. It was making me uneasy; almost claustrophobic. I guess it's what I deserved for acting like a human. All my human problems were elevated tenfold. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked, breaking me out of the panic.

I was freaking Tyler out. All of two seconds inside and I was having a panic attack. I needed to woman up!

 
"Yeah, it's just a bit claustrophobic in here."

"Must have a bit of what your brother has. It's okay, there is a spare seat near the door. That way we can get out quicker if you need to."

 I was touched - he remembered what I said about Dmitri.

"Okay."

We sat at a small two-person table, neatly adorned with cutlery and a solitary vase of white roses. He passed me a menu.

"What would you like?"

"Whatever you're having will be fine." I smiled politely. All of it tasted like ash to me.

Whilst Ty was away, I spotted where Damon was sitting, laughing and carrying on with a couple of middle-aged women. He was having a blast. He wore his black suit jacket over a white dress shirt that was probably going to get stained the way he was behaving, sloshing his drink back and forth the way he was.
The Lockwoods were at the table so it was all the founding families at that one. He caught my eye, simply nodding a hello before getting back into character.

Damon ended up leaving before I did. Must have gotten bored with his charade for one night. I noticed Tyler's parents leave just ahead of him.
Damon partook in one dance just after dinner then approached Tyler and I, a wine in hand. 

 
"Valerie," He said, switching gaze to Tyler, his expression turning bitter.

"Damon." I said, trying to be polite but also warning him to not make trouble.

He outstretched his hand, holding my keys by the ring. He dropped them into mine.

"Thank you for the ride." He said, his usual devilish grin creeping onto his face. 

I felt Tyler look to me in shock, eyes bulging, mouth partially open to ask a question. Damon, now content he had gotten the reaction he intended, lifted his glass in salute then walked behind me, slipping me a note as he did so. I watched him walk out the door, a young lady waiting for him there.

"I didn't realise he was the friend!" Tyler blurted, visibly irritated by Damon's presence.

"I may have used friend a bit loosely." I looked to the hand clutching my keys, not knowing where to put them now.

"I can hold onto them if you'd like." Ty said, reading my thoughts.

"If you don't mind." I placed the keys in his hand in which he placed them in the breast pocket of his suit.

The note Damon gave me was a phone number. Stefan had said something like this would happen if Damon left earlier than me. I tucked it into the band at the back of my dress, finding a slight hole in the hemming and wedged it in there so it was impossible to come out. Now that I had my keys and the note, I was starting to regret not bringing the red clutch purse Elena had found me.

"Want to go outside for a bit?" Tyler had mistaken my absent- mindedness for anxiety.

"Sure." 

A little fresh air couldn't hurt.