Hannah breaks her ankle the first week on swim camp.

    She was walking out of the pool, slipped on the steps, and bam. It totally sucks, and not just for obvious reasons. Swim camp was her ticket out of Mystic Falls for the summer. Mystic Falls, where another girl Bonnie loved has been pulled out of the ground. Mystic Falls, where the cops might be murderers and the teen girls end up dead or in mental institutions.

    Mystic Falls, where everything reminds Hannah of Bonnie. It's awful, how much she misses Bonnie because Hannah knows she has no right to. Bonnie is like—not a widow, exactly, but maybe the teenage equivalent of one. Which makes Hannah feel like the teenage equivalent of the creepy dude who takes advantage of the town widow. Even though she wouldn't do that, wouldn't even dream of trying anything romantic with Bonnie after she returns from vacation.

    Well, maybe she'd dream about it. But she isn't going to act on it.

    Anyway, it doesn't really matter now, because Hannah is back in Mystic Falls and Bonnie is still on the other side of the world. The summer stretches out in front of Hannah, long and foreboding. Six months off the ankle, which means six weeks of her mother fretting over her and her father giving her his "you're a disappointment" look. Hannah knows it well, at this point.

    She hates staying inside all day, but going out isn't much better, not when she has to hobble around on crutches in the perpetually muggy air. Hannah is in good shape, but it's hard not to get winded moving around like that, hair getting plastered to the back of her neck as she tries to maneuver any kind of ledge. It's especially frustrating when other people are watching. Especially when those people are Bonnie's perfect-looking friends.

    Hannah doesn't know Bonnie's friends that well. Sure, she knew Elena—everyone knew Elena—and she's hung out with Davina a couple of times. But Hannah thinks she's probably only said one or two words to Caroline and Katherine a piece. They've always been a close-knit, secretive bunch, and making friends has never been Hannah's strong suit. Girls like that have always put her on edge.

    So it comes as quite a shock when, one balmy afternoon, the doorbell rings and Hannah answers it to find Katherine Pierce standing there.

    "Oh," Hannah says, and then because she can't think of anything else, she adds, "I'm sorry it took me so long to answer the door." She side-eyes her right foot, dangling pathetically in the air as she balances on her crutches.

    Katherine smiles at her and chirps, "That's okay. Can I come in?"

    "Um," Hannah says. "Okay." She draws the word out long enough to make it sound rude, but Katherine doesn't seem to mind, merely angling her tiny body around Hannah's own awkward one.

    Katherine looks around the foyer approvingly once Hannah closes the door and manages to turn around. "Nice house," Katherine comments.

    "Thanks." Hannah frowns. "Uh. Why are you here?"

    Katherine shrugs. It's only then Hannah takes in her outfit: grey leggings and a pink off-the-shoulder shirt. Hannah suddenly feels incredibly underdressed in her sweatpants and her white tank top.

    "I saw you around town," Katherine tells her. "Thought maybe you could use some company. Are your folks out?"

    Oh great, Hannah thinks. A pity visit. "They're at work, but I'm fine," she insists. "Honestly. It's a bummer, but at least I'm not missing school."

    "Can we sit?" Katherine asks, nodding toward the couch.

    Hannah hesitates because she doesn't really want Katherine to stay but her standing leg is getting tired. "Sure."

    Katherine waits until Hannah is settled on the couch before sitting down beside her. "What do you do all day?" Katherine asks.

    "I've been taking some online courses," Hannah tells her. "With college applications coming up, it seemed like a good idea."

    "Really?" Katherine murmurs, incredulous. "You have this whole summer to sit around and do whatever you want, and you're taking classes?"

    Hannah bristles at the tone of her voice. "And what should I be doing instead?"

    "I don't know," Katherine replies. "Waiting. Taking pictures. Watching movies."

    "I'm going to be in this cast for six weeks," Hannah remarks. "I'll have plenty of times to do those things, too."

    "Hmm," Katherine hums. "I suppose so. Has anyone been by to see you?"

    Katherine doesn't mean it cruelly, but there is an implication there: that Hannah doesn't really have any friends, that no one likes her enough to make the trip. The worst part is that it's true.

    "A couple of girls from the swim team came by," Hannah lies. "But most of them are still at camp." That part, at least, is honest.

    Katherine may see through the story because she presses her lips together and studies Hannah carefully. "I'll come by again," she announces, as though she just decided it at this moment. "And I can bring you things."

    "What kind of things?" Hannah asks.

    "I don't know." Katherine shrugs again. "Art supplies, or something. Do you like to draw?"

    Hannah shakes her head.

    "Then ice cream," Katherine suggests. "You like ice cream, right?"

    "I'm not supposed to have it," Hannah admits. She isn't trying to be difficult, but nothing about this interaction is coming naturally.

    "That isn't what I asked," Katherine points out. "Come on, Hannah. Work with me, here." Her expression is somewhere between mildly frustrated and genuinely hopeful like she thinks Hannah's ankle can be cured by sheer force of goodwill.

    "Mint chocolate chip?" Hannah says softly.

    Katherine grins. "You got it." She nods towards Hannah's phone, sitting beside her on the end table. "I don't have your number."

    Hannah feels herself start to blush, embarrassingly, because obviously Katherine isn't asking for her number, not like that, but still. She's a pretty girl—if a downright odd one—and Hannah is only human.

    "Give me your phone," Katherine demands. "I'll put in my number and then you can text me and I'll have yours."

    Hannah does as she's told, though she's not really sure why. She doesn't particularly want Katherine to come back. But she also doesn't particularly want Katherine to leave.

    All the same, it seems like Katherine is ready to go now. She gathers her ridiculous bag and starts heading to the door, motioning for Hannah to stay seated as she does.

    "Mint chocolate chip?" she confirms before leaving. Hannah smiles and nods, and Katherine opens the door before hesitating.

    "Hannah?" Katherine says, swiveling back around. Watch something funny. Laughter is the best medicine."

Katherine does come back, bringing with her a gigantic tub of ice cream and a disposable camera. "In case you like taking pictures."

    "I didn't even know they made these anymore," Hannah says with a frown. "You know I have a camera on my phone, right?"

    "Of course I do?" Katherine replies. "But this is more symbolic."

    "Of dated technology?"

    "I said I was going to bring you things!" Katherine huffs. "Anyway, it's fine if you don't like it." She moves the camera off the couch between them, but Hannah reaches her hands out and gently drapes over Katherine's.

    "I do like it," she insists. "I'm sorry. I should have said thank you."

    Katherine's hands quickly flick down to their hands and Hannah wrenches hers away. She shouldn't have done that. It was too intimate.

    But Katherine's face remains neutral. "You're welcome," she says quietly. "I brought you some movies, too. From the video store." She reaches into the second paper bag on the couch.

    Hannah bites down on the comment that her family has Netflix and OnDemand; she hasn't stepped foot in a video store for years.

    Katherine seems really happy, and Hannah finds that she doesn't want to ruin it.

    "So," Katherine says on her third visit. "I heard from Bonnie yesterday."

    Hannah's stomach drops. She's been waiting for Katherine to bring Bonnie up with a mix of nausea and curiosity ever since her first visit. The truth is, they haven't really talked all that much, not about anything real. Hannah has been more than okay with that, but all the same, she can't help but wonder about Bonnie.

    "How's she doing?" Bonnie asks, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible.

    "She's fine," Katherine replies. She shakes her head. "Maybe not fine. She sounded really distracted. Tired."

    "She's working hard," Hannah muses.

    "She always does." Katherine folds her hands together. "I don't know what to say to her."

    "That makes two of us."

    Katherine looks up at her, nodding in recognition. "I can't imagine going through what she's gone through. Losing someone like that. Twice." She frowns. "She told you about Elena, right? About how she felt about her?"

    "She did," Hannah confirms, guardedly. "How'd you guess that?"

    Katherine studies her for a beat. "I know that you two tried dating. Before you..." she trails off.

    Hannah inhales. There's no real point in denying it now. "Well, yes. She did tell me about Elena. Although she didn't really have to. I saw the way Bonnie looked at her." Because it's the same way I was looking at Bonnie, Hannah thinks but doesn't say.

    Katherine makes a noise in the back of her throat, like the start of a laugh minus the humor. "I don't see it. If I had paid more attention, maybe Bonnie wouldn't have felt so alone back then."

    Hannah sighs. She doesn't really feel like walking a straight girl through the complexities of coming out, but Katherine doesn't need to be holding on to unnecessary guilt. "Being closeted is a very unique experience. And I'm not saying you can't get it, but Bonnie probably didn't want you paying attention to what she was going through."

    "I do get it," Katherine says quietly. "The being closeted thing."

    Hannah rights rolling her eyes. "Because of Damon?" she asks, trying to not sound unkind.

    Katherine looks up at her sharply. "You know about that?"

    "Come on, Katherine," Hannah murmurs. "I'm not stupid. And even if I was, I think everyone knows about you and Damon. And I hate to tell you this, but what you have going on with him is pretty different from being gay."

    "I know," Katherine says. "I'm not talking about him."

    It takes a second to reach Hannah, and then her eyes widen. "You mean...?"

    "Her name was Anne," Katherine murmurs, not quite looking at Hannah. "We met in Bulgaria."

    "And you guys...dated?"

    "Something like that," Katherine continues. "It didn't last long. We spent a couple of weeks together, mostly walking around. Going to museums, out to lunch. She was beautiful and curious. She liked to write."

    Katherine finally makes eye contact with Hannah. She looks close to tears. "She kissed me, the first time. It felt amazing, so we did it again and again." Katherine sniffs. "When she left I cried for a week. But I never told anyone about her."

    "Not your friends?" Hannah asks gently. "Not even Bonnie."

    "Not even Damon," Katherine replies like it holds more weight. A bizarre notion, that Damon of all people could be a more significant presence in someone's life than Bonnie Bennett.

    "Why did you tell me?" Hannah questions.

    "I don't know," Katherine says. "I just wanted to." She narrows her gaze in Hannah's direction. "Are you in love with Emily?"

    "Maybe," Hannah answers truthfully. "But I haven't ever been in love before, so I'm not sure what it feels like."

    "Does it feel like you can't breathe?"

    Hannah considers that. When she thinks about Bonnie, she feels like one of those dolls with a string in the back, like someone is pulling her insides tighter and tighter until she screams. "Sometimes."

    "That's love," Katherine tells her, knowingly.

    Hannah shakes her head. Katherine is probably right, but the answer is still unsatisfying. "It's terrible."

    "It is," Katherine agrees. She leans back against the couch. She could be twelve or thirty right now, and that quality reminds Hannah of Elena. "It's also the best things in the world.

Hannah quickly learns that Katherine can be incredibly persistent. She's good at getting her way. Maybe it's her eyes, or maybe people underestimate her because of her size. Whichever it is, she works it to her advantage.

    Which is how Hannah ends up with red, white and blue toenails on the 4th of July.

    So it's no huge shocker, but it turns out that Katherine has a real love for sweeping romance movies.

    Hannah does too, though she doesn't admit it, but Katherine totally catches her crying at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's.

    Davina calls Katherine one day when she's at Hannah's house. Katherine immediately looks panicked, like she's caught cheating on a test, and she lurches off the couch to go take the phone call in the other room. Hannah manages to catch a mention of the mall and an amazing sale, and it doesn't take her long to put two and two together.

    "Your friends don't know you come to visit me," she states when Katherine slinks back into the room.

    Katherine bites her lip, guilt written all over her face. "No, they don't," she admits.

    "Why not?" Hannah asks. She isn't really hurt, not yet at least, but she is confused.

    "At first it seemed...I don't know." Katherine scrunches up her nose as she sits back down. "Disloyal to Nora, somehow? Like, I was picking sides."

    "There are no sides," Hannah assures her. "Bonnie and I aren't even together." And Nora isn't even alive, she thinks darkly.

    "But then," Katherine continues, "I kind of liked having something just for me. My friends and I tell each other everything."

    Hannah doesn't particularly like the way that sounds. "So I'm, like, a special toy that only you get to touch?"

    "No," Katherine insists, scooting closer and putting a hand on Hannah's elbow without hesitation. "You're, like, my cool secret friend."

    Hannah studies Katherine for a moment. "Are you one of those weird people who need to have a secret?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Like those people who always have affairs," Hannah explains. "Damon was your secret, but now everybody knows. Rebekah tortured you, or whatever, but now everybody knows about that, too. Am I just your latest secret?"

    Katherine pulls back, looking stunned. Hurt, even. "How could you say that?"

    The look on Katherine's face makes Hannah's stomach feel weird and nervous, but she still has to ask her next question. "Does Damon know you come to see me?"

    Katherine blinks at her. "Damon doesn't know," she says quietly. "But why does that matter?"

    Hannah feels a flair of anger ripple through her. "What are you even doing here, Katherine?"

    "I'm helping!" Katherine exclaims.

    "I never asked for your help!" Hannah replies fiercely, feeling the anger start to get bigger, the flames in her head and belly growing hotter. "In fact, all you've made me do is watch movies I don't like and have conversations I don't want to have and pain my toenails ridiculous colors!"

    Katherine lurches off the couch, her eyes filling with tears. "I thought we were friends."

    "No," Hannah grits out. "You already have friends, remember? So why don't you go back to them and leave me the hell alone."

    Katherine makes one last little noise of upset before stomping out of the house. Hannah wants to slam the door but it doesn't matter; Katherine does it for her.

    Hannah feels awful in the days after the fight. She's still kind of mad at Katherine, but mostly she's mad at herself. It was an overblown reaction, and Katherine would have talked it through with her if Hannah would have listened.

    Maybe it's karma, in a way. Hannah asked Bonnie to keep their relationship a secret, and now the universe is giving her a taste of her own medicine. It doesn't feel good—fighting never feels good, even though Hannah does it a lot—but the worse part is how much Hannah misses Katherine. They didn't hang out that much, but Katherine was right: they were friends. And now Hannah has gone and messed it up.

    A week after the fight, she bites the bullet and calls Katherine. Hannah almost doesn't expect Katherine to pick up, but she finally does on the last ring.

    "Hi," Katherine says in a small voice.

    "Hi," Hannah echoes. "I'm sorry. I didn't handle that well. At all."

    "You didn't," Katherine acknowledges. "But I should have been honest. I'm sorry, too."

    Hannah sighs. She doesn't want to ask her next question, but she knows she has to. "Are you...are you ashamed of me, or something?"

    "Of course not," Katherine replies immediately. "I like you a lot."

    Hannah is grateful that Katherine can't see her because she can feel her entire face get red. "Oh," she says lightly. "I like you too."

    Katherine takes an audible breath. "I broke up with Damon."

    Hannah actually chokes on her spit and starts coughing, and Katherine is quiet while she pulls herself together. Finally, Hannah manages to get out, "Why?"

    "I don't really know," Katherine admits. Her voice has that humorless quality to it again, this time with some tears mixed in.

    "Do you want to come see me?" Hannah asks.

    "Yeah," Katherine murmurs. "Tomorrow, okay?"

    "Katherine," Hannah says before she can hang about. "I'm sorry about you and Damon."

    "Don't be," Katherine tells her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

    The coughing fit aside, Hannah doesn't let herself process the news that Katherine broke up with Damon until a few minutes after their phone call. And that, in and of itself, is troubling: the fact that she would feel the need to process this news at all. Friends don't generally need to process the news of fellow friends' breakups. Friends are there to provide support and a shoulder to cry on in such situations. But then again, she and Katherine had never been normal friends.

    And there's a thing that Hannah can't get out of her head, even though she knows it doesn't mean anything. But there were two thoughts that Katherine put perilously close to one another. I like you. A lot. And, I broke up with Damon. Hannah's mind starts working on overdrive, linking the two thoughts together into a cohesive story: I broke up with Damon because I like you a lot. Surely that can't be what Katherine meant?

    And even if she did, it's not like Hannah feels that way about Katherine. Of course, Katherine is beautiful and charming and she smells good, but anyone can tell that. Hannah likes being around her, but that's all friendship is. Liking to be around another person. A lot of the time. Maybe all of the time. But it doesn't mean anything.

    The internal conversation seems familiar, and as Hannah is getting ready for bed she realizes why: less than a year again, she was telling herself that same lie about how she felt toward Bonnie.

    "How are you doing?" Hannah asks when Katherine lets herself into the house.

    Katherine shrugs. "I'm not sure," she answers. She looks a little shaky like she isn't quite sure how to move around in this brave new world she's created for yourself. Hannah remembers feeling a similar way, not long ago.

    "Do you want to talk about?"

    "I don't know." Katherine comes to sit beside Hannah on the couch. It feels right to have her back in her usual spot.

    "You've had an intense week," Hannah comments.

    "You're telling me," Katherine replies, a bit ruefully. She looks up at Hannah through thick lashes. "I came out to my friends."

    Hannah smiles warmly, trying to respond like a friend and nothing more.

    "Hannah," Katherine says, putting her lips together. "I broke up with Damon. I came out to my friends. And now I'm telling you about it."

    Hannah feels her heart start to beat faster. "And..." she murmurs.

    "And," Katherine echoes, "I think that maybe the reason I kept you a secret was because, on some level, I knew you meant more to me than I wanted you to."

    "Oh," Hannah breathes, feeling oddly frozen.

    "Hannah," Katherine says again. "That was me making the first move." She scoots a little closer to Hannah on the couch, smiling softly, and god, okay, Hannah is officially done with denial, because the way Katherine is looking at her just could cure her ankle. And any other ailments she could have in her life, ever. "So this is where you make the second move."

    "Oh," Hannah repeats, and then she lets herself give way to the moment, raising a hand up to Katherine's cheek and tucking some hair behind her ear. Hannah's leg is still stuck up on the table, so Katherine has to be the one to physically move, but then Hannah is leaning forward and kissing her. It's soft and sweet, but when Katherine pulls away Hannah doesn't even try to cover her blush.

    "I'm sorry I had to pull back," Katherine says with a grin. "It was getting hard to breathe."