Little Knight

~~~~~

{swimsuit top for chapter above}

"if it isn't the night owl herself."

~~~~~

Alora was sitting down at the kitchen island, eating her overnight oats and drinking her tea. Her attention was half split between the news that was playing quietly on the TV and her phone, where she was texting Vicki.

- I'm going to start tunneling straight down into the Earth, hopefully make it to China before the school day is over. You willing to help?

Context?

But I'm down for it.

- Elena just walked in on me while I was brushing my teeth. I am absolutely mortified.

Alora furrowed her brows, placing the spoon in the half-eaten jar of oats.

Elena Gilbert?

- Is there some other Elena in this town?

I wouldn't know.

I'm new to town, remember?

:)

- Yeah, yeah. You're more of a town person than I will ever be.

Alora smiled down at her phone, resuming to eat her food.

Back to it, why was Elena able to see you? You at her house or is she at yours?

- At hers.

- I spent the night with Jeremy.

Alora paused her movements.

Uh-oh.

Like spent-spent it with him? Or just, you know, were really tired and crashed at his house?

- First option.

Vicki!

He's underage. Like very underage.

- ???

You're a senior. You're 18. He's a sophomore? He's fifteen?

......

- Fuck.

- Shit.

Alora stared down at her phone as a few minutes passed without receiving a response. She slid it off to the side, letting it rest on the counter top before she hopped off of her stool and rinsed  her dishes, using her magic to dry them and put them away.

She walked back to the counter and checked to see if Vicki had responded.

She hadn't.

Alora sighed, beginning to overthink. She thought she may have overstepped with what she had said, but it wasn't like she had said anything that wasn't true—it just may not have been her place. Even if that wasn't the issue, maybe Vicki felt like Alora was judging her ( she wasn't ) and didn't want to talk to her anymore.

The witch shook her head to clear her askew train of thoughts. She then briefly looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. She waited there for a moment, trying to collect herself, only to hear a soft 'meow' as something brushed against her legs.

At her feet, she saw Arthur standing atop her socks, brushing against the flared pants she was wearing.

"Hey, buddy," She kneeled down next to her cat, petting the top of his head gently. "One second..." She stood back up, walked across the kitchen, picked up Arthur's bowl, and placed it on the counter. She then got the food from the lower cabinet before opening it and putting it in the bowl.

All the while, Arthur elegantly sat at her feet, staring up at her with wide, big green eyes, his tail occasionally swishing back and forth.

Alora grabbed the bowl and placed it back on the floor where it belonged.

Arthur sprung to his feet and sauntered over to his bowl of food.

Alora watched him for a moment, making sure that he was going to eat. Once she was, she went back to her phone.

There was a notification.

- Oh my fucking—

Dude! Where'd you go???

As Alora waited for a response again, she slipped on a pair of shoes and grabbed her bag for school. She then crouched down next to Arthur, who looked toward her as soon as he noticed she was there.

"See you later, little knight," Running a hand over his short fur.

Arthur softly purred in response.

- Jeez, sunshine! I wasn't gone for that long, but it is nice to know you miss me;)

Hahah. Very funny.

- I like to think so.

- I was making a quick escape.

Oh, how'd that go?

- I escaped through the window. Almost fell, but I'm good.

Does the Gilbert house not have a door?

- It does....I just didn't feel like having to have judgemental stares from Elena as I walked out there. The window seemed like a better idea.

Alora let out a laugh, shaking her head with a smile.

Do you want to meet up for coffee before school?

- And put my plans of tunneling to China on hold?

Yes?

- For you, sunshine, always.

- I'll meet you there in ten minutes.

Alora then excited the house, lightly closing the door behind her and locking it. She didn't want to make much noise if her father was still sleeping. She then walked down the steps until she reached the driveway where her car was parked.

It had arrived earlier in the morning, which was the reason as to why Dean was still sleeping. He had stayed up to make sure he could pay the guys delivering the vehicle. It had been around 5:00 in the morning at the time when he sent his daughter a text and then went off to sleep.

Alora had a giddy smile on her face as she saw the car.

She remembered when her father had given it to her on her sixteenth birthday. Apparently, he had been storing the Classic Baby Blue Volkswagen Beetle in a storage unit since it came out in 1972. He used to drive it back then before the engine gave out; however, Alora and Dean had fixed it with the help of a few videos and magic ( of course ).

Ever since then, the young witch had practically fallen in love with the car.

It was her baby besides Arthur, of course.

~~~~~

At the Gilbert House, Elena walked down the stairs of the house with a confused expression and a sense of sudden urgency. She immediately made her way to the kitchen when she hit the bottom step of the wooden staircase.

"Jenna!" She exclaimed once she saw her aunt with a cup of coffee. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?"

"Uh-huh."

Jenna didn't know what to think about what was happening up there. She was supposed to be the adult and make sure that Elena and Jeremy were being taken care of properly, but she also knew that when she was their age, she wasn't any better than them. She had probably been worse.

So who the hell was she to interfere?

"And you have no objection?"

Jenna sighed, "He could be cratifer about it, at least make an effort to sneak her in and out."

Elena paused, deciding her little brother could be up to worse than sleeping with Vicki Donovan. The thought of Jeremy being underage didn't even cross her mind.

It should have.

But it didn't.

Jenna turned to Elena, a thought crossing her mind, "Oh, and just so you know, I won't be home for dinner."

Elena raised her brows in surprise. "Oh! So you're actually going to do it. You're gonna go out with Logan," She paused, frowning a little, "But what about the tall, mysterious man you're always talking about."

"Who?"

Jenna acted clueless.

"You know, the one who was charming, tall, brooding, covered in tattoos. I believe you described him as 'incredibly hot' and he apparently has an English accent, which you said made him 'even hotter,'" Elena continued with a teasing tone and sly smule.

Jenna ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes, I did say all that, but he's closed off and not a people person. Plus, Logan wouldn't take 'no' for an answer," Jenna shrugged. '

"Shouldn't that have been taken as a reason to keep saying 'no'?"

A massive red flag.

"Probably," Jenna hummed. "But all I'm going to do is show up and torture him. And have you heard from Stefan?"

The switch in topics was abrupt.

Jenna didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Elena noticed, but she didn't push any further, "Not since he left that very vague message three days ago. "Hi, um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days.""

The gruff tone Elena put on made Jenna shake her head in amusement.

"Haven't you called him?"

"Nope. Not going to either."

"And you're ok with everything?" Jenna just wanted her niece to be happy.

"No," Elena admitted the hard truth. "I'm not okay with any of it. But I'm not going to cry about it, either. I refuse to. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not going to be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy."

Jenna internally applauded her nieces' determination on the matter. She doubted it was going to work, but the effort was there. It was respectable.

"Ok, then," Jenna couldn't conceal the skeptical look.

Elena noticed, "I'll be fine."

Neither truly believed the words she spoke.

Elena went to walk away, only to turn back around and face her aunt, "You know, you should go for the mysterious, brooding guy instead of Logan."

"Elena..."

"I'm serious," Elena wanted her aunt to be happy. "Just give it a chance, who knows, he'll probably make you happier than Logan ever could."

Jenna didn't say anything, instead she watched as the teenager walked out of the house to school.

She thought about what Elena had said, but she had just met Dean. She knew nothing about the man besides the fact that he was very attractive and he exuded confidence no matter how simple of a task he was doing. Maybe...

No.

He was attractive. She could give him that.

But she didn't know him.

She knew Logan, all too well. Even though he was a shitty person, she was always going to feel safer falling back into something she had once been comfortable with—someone she was more familiar with.

That was how she had always been.

But even as Jenna made that decision, she couldn't help but think that she should still get to know the new guy in town.

~~~~~

Alora and Vicki entered the school together, the latter catching a ride with Alora. The two were walking down the hall together before someone else caught Vicki's attention.

"Hey, Vick!"

The older girl looked to see one of her friends, which was used as a loose term to describe the person. In reality, she didn't really like him that much and the only reason she put up with him was because he was occasionally hooking her up with a good price.

Besides, the only person she could remotely classify as a friend would be the bubbly teenager that was walking next to her down the halls.

"Jared," She greeted him with a nod.

Jared gave Alora a once over, checking her out.

Alora noticed but didn't say anything. She didn't want to cause a scene. Instead, she turned to Vicki, "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"See you, sunshine," Vicki grinned at her.

Alora then stepped away from the little group and continued her way down the halls, alone. At least she was until she was joined by Bonnie, who dragged her along to meet up with Elena.

"I still can't believe your friends with Vicki Donovan," Bonnie commented as the two approached Elena, who was by her locker, retrieving something from it.

The name caught Elena's attention, causing her to turn around and face the two girls.

Alora frowned, "Why does everyone always say her name like that?"

"She has a reputation."

The phrasing was off.

Elena added on to what Bonnie had said,  "Everyone knows she does drugs, which the whole town frowns upon."

"So?" Alora shrugged. "Just because someone has a reputation doesn't mean that it's a rightful representation of who the person is."

Bonnie and Elena exchanged glances with each other, clearly disagreeing with what Alora had said.

Alora sighed, "Have either of you had a real conversation with her or even tried to get to know her? If the town agreed to communaly shun someone because of their ways of coping, then that's their prerogative."

Vicki and her had one of those heart to heart's.

Alora told her about her mom—lack thereof.

And Vicki told Alora about her dad leaving and her mom's sudden appearances and disappearances.

"However, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If one person believes something, it doesn't mean that the rest of the people have to believe the same thing or even remotely agree with them. Plus, the rumors or reputations should warrant judgment without some type of evidence to back it up, which no one seems to have against Vicki."

The way that Alora fiercely defended her new friend made Bonnie smile.

In all honesty, it was nice to see someone with a different perspective, seeing as Mystic Falls was oftentimes suffocating with all their proverbial bullshit.

Alora's eyes widened when she realized all she had said, "And I don't mean any of that in a rude way, I'm just saying that sometimes how someone is perceived isn't all they actually are."

As if on cue, Caroline's cheerful voice was echoing down the halls.

Another prime example of a person who was more than what the town saw them as.

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow!" Caroline announced to a group of students, handing them one of the flyers from the stack she was carrying. "The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the bands. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake."

Using the sexual appeal of highschoolers to raise money?

Cool!

It seemed a little off putting to Alora, but there were good motives behind it.

Plus, she had already been wrapped into the event by Caroline the night before once Caroline had sobered up from the panic and confusion she had been feeling.

"Unbelievable," Elena commented, "It's like nothing happened."

"She's in denial."

Alora went to speak up to say something, but didn't get the chance to before Stefan had joined them at the lockers. She quickly looped her arm through Bonnie's, the other girl getting the hint that they should leave the couple alone.

"Hey, you know, I just realized that Alora and I have somewhere very important to be right now," Bonnie announced.

The two girls then quickly left the scene before Elena could object to them leaving.

~~~~~

"No friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here. No, we are not."

That was the first thing that Alora heard as she approached the school fundraiser the next day. She didn't get far to where the blonde was before Bonnie had bounded over to her with a bright smile on her face.

Bonnie immediately had taken notice of Alora's outfit. She was wearing a dark red bikini that was a plunging v-neck with tiny little dark-colored patterns dancing across the suit. She was wearing faded black ripped shorts that were frayed at the end. The button was undone as was the zipper allowing for the same colored bottoms to peak out. Her hair was halfway tied up with a ribbon of similar coloring. Lastly, she had different jewelry adorning her neck.

Brightly colored chokers, a few separate black necklaces that all stayed closer up on her chest, besides the singular necklace that had a colored gem hanging from it, falling a little above her breasts.

She looked really pretty.

No.

She couldn't think like that.

"Bonnie?"

Alora tilted her head with an easy smile on her face.

Bonnie snapped out of it, "Yeah?"

"I asked how you were," Alora had noticed the obvious staring but didn't mention it.

"I'm good!" The cheerful smile retook her features.

Alora's eyes drifted away from Bonnie for a moment, her eyes widening when she saw Caroline approaching them. "Incoming," She muttered to Bonnie, who quickly picked up on what she was talking about.

Bonnie and Alora both turned to face Caroline.

"You came!" Caroline looked over at Alora. "And you dressed correctly for the event. Mind giving Elena a few pointers next time. The whole point of this is to look sexy and you've accomplished that."

"Thank you....I think."

The last part was more to herself.

"Anyways, get on with it," Caroline ushered the two in the direction of the cars. "The money for the football team isn't going to raise itself!" She gave the two a shove before walking off to yell at another group of teens who also weren't doing as they were supposed to do.

"Come on," Bonnie looped her arm with Alora's, "We better get going before Caroline comes back and yells at us...or worse."

Alora's lips tugged up into a smile as the two walked to where all the action was going on.

They were both quick to assume a role in washing the cars, joined by Matt only moments later after they started washing their first car.

"Haven't seen you at the Grill recently."

"Miss my company that much or do you just need more tips on how to play pool better?" Alora teased.

"As if," Matt nudged his shoulder against her.

Bonnie bit her bottom lip to stop from smiling at the interaction between her two friends. However, whatever peace she was feeling quickly fell when she saw Matt staring off into the distance. Following his line of sight, she saw Elena...and Stefan.

"Uh, uh, no," Bonnie stepped up to Matt's side, giving him a pointed look. "None of that tortured pining stuff."

"I'm just observing."

Alora snorted, earning their attention before she flashed them an innocent smile and went back to rinsing the soapy suds off of the car they all had been working on.

"Mmm-hmmm," Bonnie hummed, clearly not believing a single thing Matt was saying. She then turned away from Matt as another car pulled up—dirtier than the rest of them.

"Tiki. This one's yours."

Tiki scoffed, glaring at Bonnie, "Why do I always get the homely ones? Just to be clear, your car's a P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S."

The way she talked to the owner of the car made Alora's blood boil.

How can someone just talk to someone like that without remorse?

It was just plain rude.

She went to say something, but Bonnie beat her to the punch.

"You don't have to be rude."

"Rude is uglying up a road with that junk."

The next thing anyone saw was Tiki getting splashed with the water from one of the buckets. It got all in her face, soaking her hair as she jumped back from it.

"Whoa! What the hell?"

Alora spared a glance at Bonnie.

Water didn't move like that on its own, not without some sort of...persuasion.

"Wet and wild, Tik."

Alora snickered.

God! Teenagers all were really assholes.

There was no denying it.

But that didn't mean that they couldn't be amusing at the same time.

Alora shook her head, watching as the