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Elena held her head high and started walking toward them again, fixing a smile on her face. She didn’t own Matt. She’d prepared herself, she thought, to see Stefan with Caroline. She wasn’t ready, though, for the sharp sense of loss at seeing Matt with her instead. Elena hadn’t quite realized how much she thought of Matt as belonging to her, at least in this time. Beyond her feeling possessive of him, Caroline couldn’t possibly be good for Matt.
Vickie had wandered off toward the refreshment table, and Meredith and Bonnie, one after the other, were asked to dance and went off onto the dance floor.
“Hey, Elena. Want to dance?” It was her lab partner, a tall, gangly guy with a wicked sense of humor who normally she’d have enjoyed dancing with. But Elena just shook her head, barely glancing at him.
“Not yet,” she said shortly. “I need to talk to somebody. I’ll catch up with you later.”
As Elena reached the outskirts of the group around her, Caroline looked up and their eyes met. Elena smiled, but Caroline just gazed at her. And then she smiled, and, turning toward Matt, tipped her face up to his and kissed him, a long passionate kiss.
Elena felt her own face drawing into a scowl and consciously smoothed it over, fixing a neutral, almost bored expression in its place.
“Hello, Elena,” Caroline drawled, as soon as the kiss ended. “Don’t you look”—her eyes flicked over the crimson dress—“nice. It’s so original of you to wear that shade of red with your complexion. A lot of people would worry about looking washed out.”
Elena forced a smile. “Hello, Caroline. Hello, Matt.”
Up on the stage near them, the principal tapped his finger against the microphone, clearing his throat. “Can I get the Homecoming Court up on stage, please? It’s time to crown your queen!”
The crowd cheered, but Elena was hardly listening. Instead, she was looking beyond Caroline and Matt. She was positive that Stefan was here, somewhere in the crowd. Even if he hadn’t brought Caroline, surely he had come.
The crowd was shifting around her as the princesses, Bonnie and Meredith among them, climbed the steps to the stage. Elena turned her back on them for a minute, scanning the faces behind her for Stefan.
Then strong fingers, their pointed nails digging into her arm, dragged Elena back to attention. Caroline, eyes blazing, leaned in close as Elena pulled away.
“How does it feel, Elena?” she whispered, her voice hard. “How does it feel to know I’ve taken everything you wanted?” Almost stomping her feet, she swung around in a sweep of gold and auburn, and climbed the steps onto the stage, holding her head high.
Elena cocked a cynical eyebrow at Matt. “Caroline Forbes? Really?”
Matt’s cheeks reddened and he looked away. “You broke up with me, Elena. I’ll date who I want.”
“Oh, Matt,” Elena said, softening. She thought again of Jasmine, of the beautiful, smart, compassionate woman who would fall in love with Matt, who would hold on to him through all the dangers his life threw at them. “I know you can do better. Don’t waste yourself on someone who just wants you as a trophy.”
Matt sighed. “At least she wants me.”
The principal had finished introducing each girl. Now he tore open an envelope. “And your new Homecoming Queen is Caroline Forbes!” Around them, the crowd cheered.
Elena squeezed Matt’s hand. “I know you, Matt,” she said in a quick, fierce whisper. “You don’t take the easy route. You’re not going to be happy unless a relationship is real, unless it’s true. I’m sorry it’s not going to be with me, but you don’t have to settle. Promise me you’re going to be ready, when that great girl shows up. Don’t waste your time on the wrong people.”
The principal lifted the shiny, plastic crown and placed it carefully on Caroline’s head.
For the first time, Matt looked up and made real eye contact with Elena. There was a little bit of warmth in his eyes now, and his mouth turned up into a half smile. “Yeah, maybe,” he said. “One of these days.”
Caroline’s eyes were shining, and she gripped her plastic scepter as if it were made of pure gold. Elena leaned forward and hugged Matt.
And then, behind Matt, she finally saw Stefan. With a satisfying sense of something slotting into place at last, her eyes locked with his. This, she thought, all this time, I’ve been waiting for this.
They were in a crowd of people, and his eyes were only on her. Just for now, couldn’t she at least pretend he was hers?
Stefan looked perfect. Under the dim auditorium lights, Stefan seemed so poised and handsome, his black blazer somehow better cut, more sophisticated than the other boys’. Elena couldn’t make out the color of his eyes, not from this far away, but she knew how green they were, and how, with his sunglasses finally stripped away, they must be broadcasting every emotion he felt.
Elena’s chest tightened as raw longing shot through her. She suddenly felt like she was suffocating, the noise and heat of people pressing in around her. She sucked in a desperate gasp of air.
Stefan’s eyes were fixed on hers as he began to make his way toward her through the crowd. Elena’s heart fluttered in her chest. No. She wasn’t even allowed to pretend. The connection between her and Stefan could kill them both.
“I have to go,” she muttered, and let go of Matt.
“Elena?” Matt called, but she was already turning on her heel and walking away, as fast as she could without actually running. Stay calm, she ordered herself, but she was panting, unable to catch her breath. She hit the swinging door hard and found herself out in the brightly lit, almost empty halls of the school.
Elena leaned against the cool metal of the row of lockers across from the door of the auditorium, and closed her eyes for a moment.
