CHARLIE WAS GOING TO PROM AS A SOPHOMORE. Caroline had invited her to go as her date, trying to hopefully get her out of her slump. She had accepted, trying to think positive and hope that a night with her friends would distract her for a little bit. They were dress shopping for Caroline and Charlie, and Bonnie was telling them about these weird dreams that she was having about Jeremy. "What kind of dreams?"

"Usually I'm at his grave and all of a sudden, he appears to me," Bonnie explained as they made their way over to the center of the room. The Lockwood had already gotten her dress, and the Forbes girl had picked out hers months ago. She was just making sure that she still liked it.

Caroline inspected herself in a three-way mirror, running her hands up and down her sides. It was a beautiful dress. "Well, you never got to say goodbye, Bon. You're grieving, that's normal. Charlie stays in her bed for weeks, and you have weird dreams."

"When I woke up, the couch was on fire," the Bennett girl informed them, which surprised both of them. That meant that said dreams were affecting her magic.

Charlie winced and shook her head. "Yeah, that's not good."

"I don't know if it's because I was emotional in my dream, or if Shane was right," she groaned, and she sat down on the couch next to the Lockwood girl and rested her head on the younger girl's shoulder. "Without his help, I'll lose control of my magic."

"No, it's because you need a night off from mourning. You too, Char. And I'm gonna make sure that you guys have it," the blonde girl informed them, and all three of them smiled at each other. A break from mourning sounded nice, but Charlie was still doubtful that it would happen.

Bonnie looked up at their friend in the dress and informed her with a grin, "Um, you look super hot, by the way."

"You think?" the Forbes girl asked with a small giggle. She turned to look at herself in the mirror again before looking back to them with raised eyebrows.

The hybrid girl nodded enthusiastically because her friend did look amazing in the dress. It really suited her, and the flowers on it made her eyes stand out. She confirmed, "Oh yeah. I am gonna have the sexiest date there."

"You know what, I love friend-prom. And it's exactly what prom should be — friends and memories," the vampire breathed out, trying to calm herself down and convince herself that it was fine. "Yes, it sucks that my boyfriend can't be here, but the three of us are gonna have the night of our lives."

The door jingled as someone entered the shop. Caroline looked up and her smile faltered, causing the other two to turn to see who it was. Elena and Rebekah walked into the store. Charlie had heard that they were best friends now that the younger vampire's humanity was off. "The Gilbert girl grinned at them. "Hey, Bonnie. Heard you got your mind wiped — that sucks. Pretty dress, Caroline."

"I know. You helped me pick it out months ago when we were friends, before you tried to kill me," the blonde girl reminded her, and she did not miss the opportunity to try and guilt trip her friend into flipping her switch back on.

Elena tilted her head curiously and smiled. "I thought it looked familiar"

"Can you press this for me? I'll pick it up later," Caroline said to the store clerk before turning back to her current friends. "Bonnie? Charlie?" The two got up and followed her back into the fitting room.

☾❄☽

CHARLIE WAS HAVING A LOT OF FUN AT PROM. It was kind of stressful for the first part because Elena had stolen Caroline's dress, which meant that instead of going to the store again, she decided to go to Klaus for help. Of course, since he was in love with the girl, he dug up one of his old dresses in his basement or something that Rebekah had worn or someone had left behind — Charlie was not paying attention to the details.

The Forbes girl ended up looking beautiful, and she had to force herself to be nice to Elena about the dress thing because Stefan and Damon had a plan to get her to turn her humanity back on. So, to get her mind off it, the hybrid girl had dragged her onto the dance floor, and they had the time of their lives laughing and dancing with Bonnie and Matt.

The Lockwood girl decided that she needed some fresh air for a bit, so she excused herself and stepped outside on the red carpet. There were screens everywhere, playing a slideshow of pictures. Charlie froze when a picture of her and Jeremy dancing at the decade dance last year appeared on the screen.

That shouldn't be there, she thought. Neither of them were seniors, so that picture of them should not be there. She did not want it there, grouped in with all of the pictures of happy friends, blending in with all of them as if he was still there.

She jumped when, suddenly, Jeremy appeared next to the screen in real life. He was wearing a tuxedo, and she gasped as she looked him up and down. Reason and thoughts left her completely as she smiled, her eyes glistening. She muttered, "Is this real?"

"Does it matter?" he asked, and she laughed and grinned at him. He stretched out his hand for her to take, just like he had done at that dance, and raised his eyebrows. "May I have this dance?"

She walked over to him and took his hand. He pulled her to him and placed his hands on her waist as hers went to his shoulder. They swayed along to the faint music playing inside, and the Lockwood girl was not completely sure what was happening, but she liked it.

"Do you miss me, Char?" he questioned.

What kind of question was that? She had been mourning him for weeks and weeks. She ate only blood and saltines. She cried non-stop for days and days. She prayed every day that it was not true, that she would go outside, and he would be there, waiting for her. "Of course I do."

"Do you want this to be real?" he quizzed, and she hummed in response, her head resting on his shoulder with her eyes closed. She wished that they could stay like that forever. "Then it can be. Bonnie's magic can bring me back for good. She has the power to do the spell now. You can convince her."

Charlie's face fell when she realized what was going on. She pushed away from him and began to back away. "Oh, my god. You're Silas. Get away from me." She started to run away, but Jeremy/Silas grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"Please, Charlie. Bring me back," he begged in Jeremy's voice, and she fought the urge to cry because even though she knew it was Silas, him saying that broke her. He released her and allowed her to go back inside. She ran over to Damon.

"We have a problem," she informed him, and once she told him what it was about, he grabbed Stefan and Bonnie, who brought Matt along with her so that the Lockwood girl could explain what had happened. "It's like Jeremy was there. I could talk to him, feel him." She groaned and placed her head in her hands. "Oh, my God. This is so embarrassing. I was so stupid."

Stefan sighed and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Charlie, that's what Silas does. You can't let him get to you again."

"Hey. Okay, the ballots have been tallied, which means it's time to announce this year's prom king and queen," April said into the microphone, interrupting them, and the people around Charlie went on to talk about Elena. The Young girl pulled out an envelope and opened it. "All right, your prom king and queen are...Matt Donovan and Bonnie Bennett."

Rebekah was not happy about that.

Charlie had had enough of the party, and Caroline had left some time ago. She made her way home and used her key to unlock the door. She froze when she saw who was inside. Caroline was dancing with her brother, who definitely should not be there. She yelled, "Tyler!"

She ran over to hug him, and he laughed as he picked her up and spun her around. She had not seen him since the day when he had to run, moments before she found out what had happened to Jeremy. She was in desperate need of a brother hug.

"Hey, Char. You look amazing," he told her as he put her down, and he looked between the two smiling girls in front of him. "I have to go soon. People will be here for the party, and if anyone sees me..."

"I know. I know. Thank you for the best prom ever," the Forbes girl said, and she kissed him. For once, Charlie did not make gagging noises because of how sweet the moment was. Tyler walked away and toward the door, and his sister walked him out.

They closed the door behind them, and she gave him one last hug before he had to go. He prepared to speed away, but both of them froze when Klaus appeared in front of them. The younger sibling shoved her brother behind her. She was not letting the Mikaelson take anyone else from her.

"Was it worth it? To see her smile, to make her dream night come true? Was. It. Worth it?" he asked, and Tyler did not answer. He just stared at him unblinkingly. "In the shared interest of giving Caroline the night of her dreams...I'm going to allow you 5 seconds before I rip your heart out of your chest. 5...4...3..."

Tyler sped off the porch and into the woods, and the two standing on the porch watched him go. The girl sighed and shook her head before turning to the man with a large amount of hatred and sadness in her eyes. "I hate you, Klaus."

Then she turned around and went back inside.