[  for the sake of transparency and so you know what you're getting into, I've changed the description from what it was when I first published this. I finally decided on the direction I want to take it. understandable if you're not interested in it all

also, KLAUS MY BABY BOY IS HERE  ]

☽︎

DUMBASS.

Clementine was lounging in the Boarding House like she owned the goddamn place — she basically did what with Elena signing the deed to the house. It was as much Clem's as it was Stefan and Damon's now. So, she had her feet kicked up on the coffee table, knowing Damon wasn't coming in to yell at her.

"Please sign here and here," the lawyer was saying, marking the documents for Elena.

"So, this place is all yours?" Bonnie asked, a bit surprised. "They just gave it to you?"

"For now," she shrugged. "As sole owner, I'm the only one who can invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean."

Clem smiled despite knowing it wouldn't work. "Your own personal safe house."

"That's the idea," Elena murmured.

Bonnie grinned and looked around as Elena finished signing the papers. "Wouldn't want to clean it."

"Damon compels their housekeeper," Clementine muttered bitterly. God, she hated compulsion when used the way Damon did.

Once Elena finished signing everything, she let the lawyer out while Clem and Bonnie gathered their things for school, giving her a minute to invite Stefan and Damon inside.

"So," Clementine said, eying Bonnie with a smirk. "You and Jeremy?"

Bonnie looked stunned for a moment, her face heating up. The last thing she expected was for Clem to ask about them, especially when everyone with eyes knew Jeremy had been obsessed with Clem since they were kids. It had been a shock to Bonnie that Jeremy showed interest in her at all.

"What about me and Jeremy?" she asked, keeping her eyes down.

"You going to the decade dance together?" she asked, bumping her shoulder into hers. "If you can get him to dress up, I'll give you ten bucks."

Bonnie laughed and nodded her head. "You're on. Now, come on. You don't want to miss your first day."

Clementine sighed and grabbed her backpack. She was finally starting back at Mystic Falls, but she'd only be going for a month before summer break hit.

And Clem couldn't even focus on her education because she was fairly certain this was the day that Klaus possessed Alaric's body.

Way to take the attention off of her first day back.

Bonnie followed Clem to the door, giving Elena her jacket, which she thanked her for.

"Wait," Stefan said with a confused look, "where are you going?"

Elena looked at him like he was stupid, which made Clem snicker. "To school."

"Huh?"

"No, no, no," Damon denied. "We didn't create a safe house for you to leave it."

"Yeah, guys, Klaus is out there. We know that," Stefan claimed.

"Right. But where? No one knows. Look, I really appreciate what you guys are doing. And I'll be able to sleep at night knowing that I'll be safe here, but I'm not going to be a prisoner," Elena insisted, standing up for herself.

She looked pointedly at Damon, daring him to defy her. It was her house now, metaphorically and literally.

Damon scoffed. "Your way, Elena."

"Don't worry, I'm ready. If he shows his face, I can take him. Know how," Bonnie promised.

"The way I see it, next to Bonnie is the safest place that I can be. And with Clem there, she can see whatever he has planned."

"Her powers don't work like that," Stefan said, shaking his head. "She doesn't control what she sees and when, and you know it."

"Well, I'm still safer with her," Elena insisted, reaching for Clem's hand. "Come on."

As the girls left, Stefan shared a helpless look with Damon before grabbing his backpack. "Wait, um, coming."

☽︎

Clementine felt a bit antsy as she waited for Alaric to enter the classroom. Well, not Alaric. So, she instead focused on her surroundings.

Some students were glimpsing at her — it was the first class of the day, after all, and the town crazy was sitting right behind Elena in the back row.

Elena, who was flashing the sign for the most recent decade dance in her face, an adorable smile on her lips.

"I don't have a date," she said, shrugging.

"I'll be your date," she said earnestly.

"Ha!" Clement said, snapping to look at Stefan, who had an amused smirk on his face. "Suck it, Squirrel Breath. She's mine."

Elena had to look away at Bonnie to hide how much she liked the sound of that. She shouldn't have felt that way knowing she was in love with Stefan who thought she saw Clem as no more than a friend. A best friend.

Finally, though, Klaus arrived, looking just like Alaric. Clementine couldn't help but chew on her bottom lip nervously. No, he wasn't going to kill any of them in the middle of class, but still, he made her nervous.

The quickest way for her to die would be to make the wrong move around the man.

"Hello, class. What are we learning today?" he asked, looking lost as he flipped through a notebook.

It was Dana who spoke up, a girl that Clem hardly knew. "With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week."

"Right. The sixties," he muttered, taking a moment to look at Elena in awe. Then he faced the board and started writing on it. "The, uh, ahem — The sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but... Actually, they kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, the... we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric," Elena interrupted with a smirk. Only to realize she'd called him by his real name. "I - I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

"Right. It all kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena," he said, nodding to her before turning back to the board.

"Dumbass," Clementine couldn't help but mutter under her breath. Little did she know he still had his supernatural hearing in his body, and he hesitated, settling his eyes on the blonde that was already doodling in her notebook — she wasn't the best student.

He paused for a second — it was hardly noticeable, but a pause nonetheless. He took in her blonde curls and beautiful face, the mischievous smile on her face as she shot some kind of teasing look at Stefan, the way that Elena snickered, having heard the comment since she was so close.

And then he had to go back to teaching. God, why hadn't he inhabited the body of someone with a more interesting job?

☽

︎

At lunchtime, Clementine followed behind Elena carefully. It was all so crowded, loud, and overwhelming, but Elena was leading Clem by her hand to their usual table, ensuring she didn't get lost. And as they were arriving, Jeremy was leaving.

"Hey, Jer," Elena stopped him. "How you doing? Are you okay at the house alone with John?"

Jenna was staying on campus most nights, still upset they lied about the sacrifice — and she wanted to be away from John.

"It's not ideal," he mumbled.

"You haven't heard from Jenna, have you?" she then asked.

"It looks like she's staying on campus. Look I'm - I'm late for class," he said before abruptly leaving.

Elena frowned before sitting down, Clementine following her, both watching Jeremy leave, clearly upset. "What's wrong with Remy?"

Bonnie smiled tensely and quickly lied. "I told him he had to dress up tonight and he got all uptight."

"Not you trying to influence the bet," Clem scoffed.

Then Dana walked over to their table, smiling brightly at Elena, ignoring the other two. "Hey, Elena, there you are. Okay. This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."

"Tell him she has a boyfriend," Bonnie said, unimpressed. Everyone knew Stefan and Elena were dating.

"You could at least meet him. He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."

Clem bit her lip to keep from smiling as Elena tensed up. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"His name's Klaus."

"Stupid name," Clem muttered.

"I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot," Dana told her.

Bonnie was looking around, trying and failing to spot an unfamiliar face. "Where is he? Is he here?"

Dana blinked slowly, not even looking away from Elena. "I don't know."

"She's been compelled," Bonnie surmised.

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?" Dana practically squealed.

"Fucking adorable," Clem grumbled, reaching for Elena's hand to comfort her.

☽︎

Everyone but Clem was standing in the living room of the Boarding House while she laid out in the couch, them talking about what happened at school while she lounged on the couch. And it was a big 'I told you so' moment for the Salvatore brothers.

"So we go to the dance, we find him," Damon said like it was that simple.

"Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like," Stefan pointed out.

"Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply," he muttered sarcastically.

"He could be anywhere at any time. He compelled somebody at school," Stefan said before looking at the girls. "I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"

A knock on the door sounded, and Alaric let himself inside, joining them. Damon sighed, not knowing what took him so long.

"There you are."

"Sorry, I'm late," Klaus said, glancing from Elena to Clementine. He hadn't realized she was in on everything — he had some questions for Katherine. Too bad she was clueless.

"Hey, I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move," Damon told him.

"Okay, so we find him, and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" Elena asked rhetorically.

"Me," Bonnie said confidently. "I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

"That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around," Klaus said, building up his own ego.

"Alaric has a point. I mean, what if he—"

Suddenly, Damon rushed at Bonnie, but she used her magic to throw him to the other side of the room, all without touching him. Clement snickered, thinking he deserved much worse.

"Well, I was impressed," Stefan said, smirking.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me. I can kill him, Elena. I know I can," Bonnie told her friend. "And if Clementine gets a vision, then we're golden."

"Speaking of, Tangerine," Damon groaned while getting back up. "Back to the problem at hand. Got any idea what this guy looks like? An inkling?"

Klaus tilted his head curiously as the young girl looked at him — well, looked at Alaric — with a coy smile. "I think he looks like Alaric, a little bit."

The Original tensed, but a moment later, Clem was laughing. "Just joking."

"Seriously, Clem," Stefan sighed. "Have you seen anyone that could be Klaus."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna have to be honest with you," Clementine said, looking at her purple nail polish. "You'll know him when you see him because he's a total babe. Just makes you wanna put him in your pocket and keep him forever."

"So he's hot," Damon said, rolling his eyes. "Better not tell boyfriend Enzo you think that. Or boyfriend Elijah for that matter."

Now it was Clem's turn to roll her eyes. "Elijah is not my boyfriend."

Damon smirked when she didn't deny Enzo being her boyfriend. They were something, at least.

"You and Elijah?" Klaus questioned, a frown on his face. He didn't know why he was frowning, but he detested the idea of anyone dating the somewhat intriguing young girl that apparently knew what he looked like.

"Oh, you totally saw them at the dinner party," Damon complained. "All 'Mr. Smith' and 'Miss Donovan' and twirling around and shit. It was nauseating."

Clementine looked at him coldly. "Well, I think you assaulting Andie all because you can't get laid on your personality and looks alone is nauseating, but oh well."

Damon's face vamped out and he rushed at her to attack her, only for Elena to throw herself in front of Damon. And Bonnie was just as quick, throwing him across the room again, which put a big grin on Clem's face.

"See you at the dance, Demon."

☽

︎

Clementine was at the dance with Enzo, looking very cute in a blue shift dress covered in hearts with a matching pair of blue platform boots. And from across the gym, Klaus watched her with a frown. According to Katherine, that girl was a Seer, which he found hard to believe. He hadn't heard of a Seer in centuries.

And even though his precious doppelgänger waltzed in along with the rest of their friends, he still watched the supposed Seer, knowing he'd need to take care of her if he was meant to succeed in any way possible over the next few days.

So, when she made her way over along with Damon and Enzo, he was ready.

"Secial dedication, huh? This guy's a little twisted," Klaus commented.

"Lame," Enzo muttered, crossing his arms.

"I'm not impressed," Damon agreed.

Klaus was a little disappointed, thinking his dedication to Elena had been a nice dramatic touch. "No? Clem?"

Knowing he was fishing for compliments, she just grinned. "Like Enzo said — lame. Lijah had more flare, I think."

Now that really ticked the soon-to-be hybrid off. But no one really noticed as Damon nodded to the dance floor.

"Let me know if you see anything out of whack," he said before going to interrupt Bonnie and Jeremy, who were dancing closely.

It left Clementine and Enzo alone with Klaus, not that Enzo knew that. But Enzo had other plans anyway as he smiled down at Clem, holding out his hand.

"Care to dance, Angel?"

"Not so fast," Alaric said, grabbing ahold of Enzo's neck, pulling him to look him in the eye.

Enzo tried to free himself but found Alaric to be stronger than he thought possible. "Mate, what are you—"

"Be quiet," Klaus compelled, none of the other vampires able to hear over the music. Clementine took a hesitant step back, not sure what was happening. "You're gonna take your date home and do something for me to make this night really memorable for her."

☽︎

There were no longer tears in Elena's eyes as she looked at Bonnie through the camera of the laptop. It'd been the worst night of her life thinking that Bonnie had died trying to stop Klaus in Alaric's body.

But she just cast a spell to make it seem like she was dead. Now, Bonnie was safe and hiding out at the witchy house with Jeremy to keep her safe. And her alive was all Elena could ask for.

"Elena, I'm so sorry," Bonnie said, shaking her head.

"It's okay. It's okay. I just needed to see you for myself."

"There wasn't enough time for me to tell you," Bonnie explained.

"It's okay, seriously. Damon explained it all. And I'm just glad you're—"

Elena was cut off by her phone ringing. She sighed and went to decline the call, only to see it was Enzo calling.

Enzo had never called her. She didn't even know she had his number.

"Bonnie, hold on," she said, answering the phone. "Hello? Enzo?"

She heard a shuddering breath over the line and then a choked sob. Elena repeated his name, sitting up straighter. Now she was realizing she hadn't seen Enzo or Clementine all night.

"Y - You have to come," Enzo whispered before letting out a pained cry. "She's at the trailer. She's at the trailer."

"Enzo!" Elena said louder, and both Salvatore brothers ran into the living room, beginning to listen in to the car. "Who? What are you talking about?"

"He can - can compel vampires. I didn't - I couldn't do anything to stop myself," Enzo murmured, his eyes clenched shut. "I didn't mean to."

"Mean to do what, Enzo?" she asked again. "Just calm down. Put Clemmy on the phone so she can explain. You're too upset."

"I - I can't," he choked out.

"Why not?"

"Clementine's dead."

☽︎

Klaus in Alaric's body had stared deeply into Enzo's eyes, the younger vampire blind to the dance around them as he tried and failed to fight off the unfamiliar pull of compulsion.

"You're gonna force dear Clementine to go home. Be a real gentleman and walk her to the door. Give her a kiss goodnight. And then you're going to snap her neck."