CHAPTER NINETEEN | GRADUATION

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GRADUATION DAY WAS THE DAY THAT MOST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS LONGED FOR. The day that they officially left highschool and transitioned to college—which in turn would open up a world of possibilities for them. Unsurprisngly, Mick hadn't really been apart from Klara since his return. He wanted to be there for her while he could— or at least until Bonnie put the vial to the Other Side back up. 

Music roared through the Salvatore House at Lexi and Klara danced without a care in the world, while Stefan and Mick sat on one of the couches drinking bourbon from a bottle each. "Do you mind?" Damon wandered into the parlor with an unreadable expression on his face. The music was obnoxously loud, Stefan and Mick were drinking the house dry and he was bored of hearing them.

The youngest Salvatore pulled the bottle of bourbon from his lips and offered it in his brother's direction. "Damon, come help me celebrate my seventeenth high school graduation." Damon rolled his eyes, stepped forward and turned off the music. "Hey, you remember my friend, Lexi, of course."

Klara stopped dancing with the blonde and narrowed her eyes toward Damon. "Yeah, didn't you kill her?" 

The vampire immediately sped forward, grabbed hold of Damon's throat and pushed him against the wall. "What's up, Buzzkill?"

"Stefan, Klara, are you two just gonna sit there and let her enact her ghostly revenge?" A strained voice echoed from Damon's throat as he watched sit on the arm of the couch, beside Stefan.

"You reap what you sow, buddy."

"Let's be very clear. Whatever time I have left here, I sure as hell don't plan on wasting on you. You got me?" Lexi snapped, her grip tightened around his throat.

"Yeah, got you." He breathed a sigh of relief as Lexi took a step away from him. "So, if you, Mick, Ric and little Gilbert are all flesh-like and real-seeming, that means something went horribly wrong when Bonnie tried to put that vial up and here you four are having Dance Party U.S.A." Damon glanced to Mick. "Aren't you a little old to be partying with a bunch of high schoolers."

"Aren't you older than me, Damon?" Mick tilted his head to the lift, and Damon clamped his mouth shut immediately. "I actually am here to spend my last few semi-living moments with my daughter before I get forced back onto the Other Side for all eternity. Is that so wrong?"

"He would much prefer us all to be sacrificing our own happiness for the good of others." Stefan rolled his eyes, took another sip of his drink and gasped. "I should be upstairs grooming my hero hair."

"Definitely doesn't need any grooming." Klara chuckled lightly as her hand ran through her boyfriend's locks.

Damon raised an eyebrow toward his brother. "Are you drunk?"

"I don't know, mom. Am I?"

A few chuckled echoed between the four vampires until Damon stepped forward with a stern look on his face. "Well, I guess that's one way to celebrate our supernatural apocalypse." He took a sip of the bottle he yanked from Klara. "Now care to hazard any guesses on what the hell went wrong?"

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Klara arrived at the high school with the rest of her friends, despite the clear problem with the Other Side and the vial still being down. Klara and Stefan walked over to the rest of the group, who appeared to be waiting for them. "We're here. Stop the search party."

"I can't believe it." Caroline gasped out as she looked at everyone: Elena, Bonnie, Klara, Stefan and Matt. "We're actually all here. We are all here together!" 

Klara smiled and then let her eyes fall to the Bennett witch, who seemed more emotional than anyone else. "Bon, are you crying?"

"It's our last hurrah before you guys go off to college." Bonnie sadly spoke with a few tears in her eyes.

"Before we go off to college." The Forbes vampire corrected her friend in an excited manner.

"I kind of sort of missed the deadline, you know, being an emotionless bitch." Elena spoke up. Considering the last few months had been the absolute worst for the doppelganger, applying to college hadn't really been on her mind.

"You're a vampire, Elena. We can go wherever we wanna go. We can choose who we share a dorm with." Klara slowly began to run away with her imagination. College had been something she always wanted and now she got to experience it with her best friends. 

Bonnie painted another smile on her face and grabbed hold of Klara's hand. "I'm happy we're all here."

"Aw! Group hug!" Caroline spread her arms out wide with a huge smile on her facce. Everyone seemed into the idea of hugging, except Stefan.

"Ah, I dont—I don't hug." He awkwardly tried to pull away, until Klara grabbed him.

"Shut up. You do now."

The group of supernaturals all stood by the side of the stage and waited for their names to be called one by one by the mayor. Bonnie was the first of their friendship group to go up, followed by Matt. Then Caroline, Elena, Klara and finally, Stefan. 

Once the graduation was over, Bonnie slipped away and the rest of the group recieved a phonecall from Alaric— Damon had been shot with a bullet that was laced with werewolf toxin, they couldn't get hold of Klaus and the only other option of a antidote was the cure to vampirism, which he refused to take.

"Alright, look. Just hang on a little longer." Stefan looked over to the blonde vampire who held her phone up to her ear. "Caroline's calling Klaus again."

"Stefan, we are past the point of hail mary phone calls. What do you want me to do, stand here and watch him die or force feed him the cure?" Alaric asked the Salvatore. He looked around to see Elena and Klara both nod. "Stefan!"

A high pitch squael caused all the vampires to grab their heads in immediate pain. Stefan dropped his phone to the ground once a group of witches walked over. "Remember us, Klara?"

As the blonde looked up, the witch's head was completely severed by a graduation gap and the pain infliction spell was lifted. "There are plenty more of these to go around. Who's next? I can do this all day." Klaus' voice boomed from behind.

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Damon was cured, Elena had finally admitted her feelings for him and everything felt amazing though she knew that eventually, she would have to say goodbye to her father for good this time. She stood in her bedroom, her eyes fixed to the mirror as Stefan stood in the doorway. 

"How're you doing?" He asked with a tone of sincerity ringing through his voice as she smiled toward him. "I just wanted to check on you."

The blonde inhaled deeply as soon as her boyfriend entered the bedroom. "Oh, I'm fine. Just dreading when, you know..." 

"I know, me too." The Salvatore vampire nodded in understanding. He knew the feeling of dread since he had to say goodbye to Lexi, his best friend. "But, at least this time we get to say goodbye properly to the people we've lost."

Klara smiled as she sat on the bottom of her bed while Stefan's eyes followed her around the room. "I never thought he'd see me graduate. I never thought he cared enough to turn up, but there he was; in the crowd of parents. Like a proper Dad."

"Of course I cared." Mick's voice caused both their heads to turn toward Klara's doorway where her father was stood with a pointed look on his face. "When your mother died, I shut down, Klara. It was wrong—selfish. I can't excuse the way that I acted but when you feel that way about someone; someone you're conditionally in love with despite everything, you'll understand." Mick watched Klara and Stefan exchange a small look. "Every time I looked at you, I saw her and I couldn't..." 

"I know." The blonde slowly nodded as she lifted herself from her bed and walked toward her father. "I understand, I just... I lost my Mom and Dad. I spent so long wondering why me, why wasn't I good enough for you to stick around and keep yourself together. But, I understand and I forgive you."

"Stefan." Mick's eyes fell to the Salvatore vampire who was stood beside Klara. "I want to thank you for everything you've done for my daughter in my absence."

Stefan nodded slowly and held his hand out, ready for Mick to shake. The Adams man raised an eyebrow and then accepted the handshake. "I love your daughter, Mick." The Salvatore then turned to Klara. "I have to go, Lexi and I are taking Silas' body. We're gonna have one last goodbye." 

"Yeah, yeah of course. Take all the time you need." Klara breathed out as she felt Stefan's lips gently press against her forehead. "I'll see you soon."

"See you."

Klara and her father had joined Damon and Alaric in the parlor for a drink. Their time was almost up, so they wanted one last drink to say goodbye. Alaric chuckled quietly in his seat while he watched Damon pour out four tumblers of bourbon. "What's the joke?" Mick asked.

"He got the girl." Alaric Saltzman mused, his eyes lingered on Damon who clearly hadn't stopped to take a moment to realize he and Elena were officially together.

A smile appeared on Klara's face as he looked up at Damon. She had known just how long Damon had been in love with Elena, and now he had her. "He got the girl."

"I got the girl." Damon nodded with a smirk. 

"Now, don't screw it up." 

"Well, with you looking over my shoulder, how can I—" As Damon and Klara looked up, they noticed that the two dead vampires had disappeared. The blonde swallowed thickly, closed her eyes and took a breath. "Goldie-Locks, you alright?"

"Yeah." She shook the sadness from her body and grabbed one of the tumblers Damon had poured out. "Yeah, I'm okay. We all got to say goodbye to them, that's the main thing."

"True." Damon nodded in agreement.

"So, how's it feel to officially be official with Elena Gilbert, huh?" Klara gently nudged him with her elbow, which caused him to chuckle. "No, I'm serious. For the first time in forever we're all happy."

"Uh, this doesn't mean you're gonna ask to go on double-dates now because—"

"—Absolutely not!" The blonde immediately cut Damon off without a second thought. "No offense, but I can't think of anything worse."

"Thank God."

"You're a dick." Klara chuckled to herself as her phone began to vibrate in her pocket. She yanked it from her pocket and saw the caller ID was Stefan. "Hey, you. Damon and I were just celebrating the fact that we're all completely—"

"I'm leaving." Stefan's voice breathed matter-of-factly. Klara suddenly felt her heart sink as she turned to Damon who furrowed brows. "I know this is very sudden and I'm sorry but I just need some time away from Mystic Falls."

"Okay, well, I'll come with you. Where are you planning on going?" Klara hesistantly spoke, worried of the outcome.

"I need to do this alone, Klara."

The blonde felt the lump appear in her throat and the tears start to well within her eyes. "You need some time away from Mystic Falls, or me?" 

"Both." He breathed and she felt her entire world shatter. "I've just had to say goodbye to my best friend, again. I just— I need some time alone, okay?"

"Stefan, if this is you trying to finish with me then at least do me a favor and do it properly." Klara snapped but all she heard was silence. "If you're done; if you're so set on leaving then I'm not going to sit around waiting for you to just come back and expect to pick up where we left off. I'm not doing that with you. I think I deserve better than that."

"Goodbye, Klara." 

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