we can keep another secret

"I THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MATT."

"Is now really the time?" Damon mutters, looking at Caroline with a frown. "We're plotting a murder. Your friend's biological father's murder, at that."

"Murder is the least of my concerns, Damon. Matt's supposed to match with me at the dance tonight and if he doesn't show, then my whole costume is pointless."

Damon looked at her in disbelief, his gaze sliding to Bonnie who just shook her head, silently exasperated. "Anyways," He says pointedly, ignoring Caroline's frown. "If John is trying to kill us, it means he knows something about Klaus and the ritual. Or he just really hates us, but I'm betting on the latter. Maybe a little bit of both."

"The full moon is next week," Bonnie mutters, biting her lip anxiously as Damon's gaze shifts to her again. "Elijah said the ritual has to be done under a full moon, right? That's next week."

"So, we've got a week to somehow get rid of John, find Finn and kill him without the dagger that will kill most of us, and avoid Klaus killing any of us. Any ideas on how we're going to do that?" His blue eyes shift from the witch to the vampire, and he raises a brow at her silence. "Caroline?"

The blonde snaps her head up from her phone, frowning still. "No, no, it's a great idea. Totally agree."

Damon narrows his eyes and shares a brief, concerned look with Bonnie who shifts in her seat. "Are you still caught up on the stupid dance? What is it even for?"

"It's a decade dance," Bonnie answers him, sighing slightly. She'd thought of asking Josh to go with her, but he had abruptly left, something about a rift in the timeline and being called off, she wasn't sure. He wasn't very good at explaining his godly duties. "The sixties."

"The sixties were awful," Damon groans, rolling his eyes. "There's nothing to fuss about, trust me."

"It's not stupid, Damon," Caroline huffs, putting her phone down. "And I don't care about the dance, I care about Matt. He's being weird."

"What even constitutes weird anymore?" Bonnie frowns, the question genuine.

Caroline shifts, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. "Remember when that witch tried to kill us all at the Grill, and I saved Matt?"

The two nod.

"Well, I had to compel him afterward because he was totally freaking out about vampires and talking about Vicki, I couldn't handle it. He was never going to be okay with it," She sighed, brushing her hair off of her face. "But he's been acting weird since then. I thought we'd sorted all of our feelings and stuff out, but he's still acting like he doesn't want this or doesn't want me."

Damon contemplates her words for a minute before he crosses his arms over his chest. "If Athena were here, she'd tell you to dump him and never speak to him again because he doesn't deserve you. I happen to agree with her on most things, so,"

"I can't just dump him, Damon. If there's something wrong, we have to talk, right? That's what relationships are, they're communication and talking about your feelings, no matter what. We all know what happened with my last relationship, so I'm trying really hard to make this one work."

Bonnie sighs at the distant, but not far-off memories of Athena and Caroline. It seems like yesterday they were all at each other's throats with Elena's manipulation right in the center of it all.

"Relationships aren't really my forte, so to speak," Damon winces, earning an agreeing eye roll from Bonnie. "And boy problems definitely aren't my forte, so can we change the subject before I vomit? Maybe we can get back to figuring out how the hell we're going to pull this off in a week."

Caroline sighs, rolling her eyes at Damon's dramatics. "Well, we can't go to Elena about it because she'll just tell John that we're trying to kill him. She's a horrible liar."

"She doesn't even like John, though,"

"Yeah, but it's Elena," Caroline shrugs at Damon's imploring look, urging her to continue. "No matter how much she hates John, he's still her family and Elena takes that seriously. Especially nowadays because the Gilbert population is quickly decreasing. She'd tell John our plans immediately."

Bonnie sighs, leaning forward on the counter and looking between the two. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know,"

"We should just go to this dance and see if we can't trick John into telling us what he's planning. He's going to be there, chaperoning because he's decided to be a dad this week. We show up, corner him, Athena maims him a little and he squeals like a pig. It's simple."

Damon looks at Caroline in surprise, but he quickly shakes it away. "Where was this five minutes ago?"

Caroline rolls her eyes, looking between her two friends. "Can you guys answer my question now?"

"What question?"

"What should I do about Matt?"

Damon rolls his eyes, and Bonnie mirrors the action.

"Dump him,"

"Talk to him,"

The two's voices overlap and Caroline rolls her eyes as they immediately face one another with glares.

"She should dump him, he's an annoying human, who cares?"

Bonnie grits her teeth, glaring at Damon. "I'm an annoying human, so watch it, dickhead. She needs to talk to him and communicate her feelings."

"Oh, my god," Caroline mutters, looking at them incredulously. She yanks Bonnie's arm, dragging the witch away even as the two continue to argue. "It's eight in the morning, I can't believe you two."

──────

Athena picked up the colorful piece of paper off her desk, skimming it briefly with a smirk she turned onto Stefan. The vampire looked up from his desk, brows furrowing as he read the paper that Athena dangled before him.

She raised a brow, making Stefan mirror the expression before he nodded slightly. Her grin widened and she sat back in her seat victoriously. She felt an elbow nudge her in the ribs and she turned, facing Bonnie with a smile as she waved the flier for the dance at the witch as well.

Bonnie smiled, nodding silently.

"Hello, class," Alaric's voice filled the room and the two girls looked to the front of the classroom, eyes focusing on the familiar man. "What are we learning today?"

A pause shuffles through the room for a moment before Dana raises her hand slightly. "With the decade dance tonight we've been covering the sixties all week."

"Right. The sixties," Alaric drops his folder carelessly on his desk, and Athena furrows her brows as she watches his face morph into a look of confusion for a moment before he turns towards the chalkboard.

She watches as his eyes flicker over the classroom, over Stefan, herself, and Bonnie before finally landing on Elena. Something seems to flicker in his gaze at the sight of the doppelgänger, and Athena narrows her eyes suspiciously, looking in between their teacher and the oblivious girl.

Alaric clears his throat, the unfamiliar smirk disappearing quickly. "The sixties. I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but actually," He sighed. "They kind of sucked. Except for the Beatles, of course. They made it bearable."

The man frowns a bit, facing the class once more, and Athena keeps her watchful gaze on him. She didn't mind Alaric, not recently as he and Damon grew closer and his hostility for all of them dwindled, but even with her sparing knowledge of what he was like she could tell something was off.

"Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, we walked on the moon, there was Watergate."

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric," Elena's voice came, humored at the man's slip-up. However, she quickly realized her slip-up and winced when she saw everyone's eyes on her. "I mean Mr. Saltzman."

"Right," Alaric smiles, feigning innocence. "It kind of all mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies. Thank you, Elena."

Alaric turned back to the chalkboard, and Athena slumped in her seat, her eyes never leaving him as suspicion built up with each word he spoke.

──────

"I might actually be getting dumber just by walking around this school," Athena dropped her lunch tray carelessly on the table, sitting before Bonnie and Jeremy with a frown at their proximity. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," Bonnie shook her head. "Just wondering what tonight's going to be like."

Athena rolled her eyes, biting into an apple. "The only thing I'm looking forward to is the spiked punch. Hey– is Alaric acting weird or am I just paranoid?"

Bonnie raised a brow, her apprehension disappearing as the subject of the spell was dropped by Jeremy. "You're definitely paranoid, but I haven't noticed anything,"

Athena huffed, shrugging slightly. "All this stuff with the Originals is getting to me. And it doesn't help that Caroline is dead set on making me help her with this dance crap. You think she'll ever get the message that I'm not a people-person?"

Bonnie laughs and shakes her head, her brown eyes shifting behind Athena as Elena approaches them. "Hey,"

Elena smiles slightly, eyeing Athena warily as she moves as far away from Athena as possible. "Hey guys," Her eyes shift to her brother and his frustrated look. "You okay, Jeremy?"

The boy's eyes snap to Bonnie and he scoffs under his breath, gathering his things quickly as he stands. "I'm fine,"

"Hey, you haven't heard from Jenna, have you?"

Jeremy stops, shaking his head. "Looks like she's staying on campus. Look, I'm, uh, I'm late for class. I'll see you at home."

Elena frowns, taking Jeremy's previous seat beside Bonnie. "What's wrong with him?"

Bonnie shrugged, her smile not fully reaching her eyes. "I told him about Caroline's dress code for tonight and he got all upset."

Elena chuckles knowingly, but the three girls are interrupted by Dana's sudden urgency. "Hey, Elena, there you are. Okay, this is gonna sound freaky but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight,"

Bonnie frowns slightly as Elena smiles uncomfortably. "Who was it?"

Dana shakes her head, still grinning. "At least meet him, he'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."

Athena's eyes widen and she looks at Dana confusedly, her hands clenching around the plastic lunch tray. "What did you just say?"

"His name's Klaus," Dana trails off, looking confused at having to repeat herself. "I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot."

Bonnie looks over her shoulder, feigning interest. "Where is he? Is he here?"

A misty look appears in Dana's eyes and her smile falters. "I don't know,"

Bonnie and Athena share a sudden look. "She's been compelled,"

"But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance," Dana suddenly gets over her brief lapse in confusion, and the three girls eye her with varying levels of fear and wariness. "How cute is that?"

Elena chuckles, the sound horrendously forced. "Yeah, um," She swallows roughly. "Thanks, Dana."

The girl nods with a smile and walks off, leaving the three girls to sit in silence for a moment.

They all startle when a brisk snapping noise echoes and Athena shoves her cracked lunch tray away from her abruptly. She grabs her bag and swings it over her shoulder, standing swiftly with a deterring glare.

"Wait, Athena," Bonnie grabs her wrist as she walks past the table, looking up at the girl worriedly. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going home and telling Damon what just happened, and then I'm going to come to the dance and formally introduce myself to this Original asshole."

She yanks her wrist out of Bonnie's grip and storms through the lunchroom, anger rattling in her bones. Obliviously, she walks right past Alaric and completely misses the curious look that the man gives her as she tries her best to control the dangerous hue of her eyes and contain her emotions while she's still amongst so many humans.

──────

Damon paced before Athena and Bonnie, a frown on his face. "So we go to the dance, and we find him,"

"Really, how are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like."

Damon shifted his stare onto Bonnie, brows furrowing deeper. "Something tells me he's not going to be sixteen and pimply,"

Athena heaves a sigh, tucking her hair behind her ears. "He could be anywhere at any time, okay? He compelled Dana at school, we don't know how far his range reaches. Have you heard back from Elijah?"

Damon nods, rolling his eyes slightly at the mention of the Original. "Yeah, he's coming to the dance tonight. Hopefully, he can help us spot Klaus, or at least help us out if there's an ambush."

A knock echoes on the door and it swings open, Alaric's frame quickly filling the doorway.

"There you are,"

"Sorry I'm late," Alaric looked at the three of them, his eyes lingering on Athena for a moment as she regarded him accusingly.

"I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move,"

Alaric tilts his head, regarding Damon's words, although he doesn't seem that surprised.

"Okay," Athena sighs, holding a hand out as her frustration builds again. "Say Klaus shows his face tonight, or whatever. What are we going to do? We can't kill him, and we haven't decided where we stand on the whole helping him thing, so,"

She frowns momentarily. "Well, I've decided. You haven't," She jerks her head at Bonnie, who sighs curtly.

"If we just hold Klaus off a little longer, I can find a way to save Elena," Bonnie shakes her head. "I can take Klaus tonight. He has no idea how much power I can channel. If you can find him, I can kill him."

Athena runs her tongue over her teeth, contemplating Bonnie's words. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does, I'll help,"

Alaric chuckles, breaking his silence. "That's not gonna be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around."

"Alaric has a point," Damon concedes, earning a scoff from Athena. "I mean what if he has a backup plan? Elijah had his own witch when he came to town, I don't doubt Klaus is short of one, either."

Athena's eyes flicker to Alaric as his eyes widen, watching him silently mouth Elijah's name to himself and take a slight step back from the group. "Yeah," She drawls, eyes shifting to Damon and Bonnie briefly. "But we handled Elijah. He's taken care of, thanks to John Gilbert's idiocy."

The two shrug, sharing a nod and Athena watches as Alaric's shoulders release the sudden tension they'd been holding. His relief was practically palpable to the girl.

Mindlessly, she trails her fingers over her jawline, still watching Alaric closely. "Bonnie, if you can neutralize Klaus long enough for us to just ask him some questions, it'll be fine. We'll keep Elena distracted and she won't even know what's going on."

Damon hums slightly, nodding at her plan. "This might be the perfect opportunity for Stefan's compulsion to come in handy. If we tell him that Klaus is going to be at the dance, he'll make sure Elena stays safe. I'll just tell him to get her home at the first sight of danger."

Athena rolls her eyes, her jaw tightening at the thought. "If there's no other way, sure. But we'll have to be careful about what we say to Stefan. God knows what he's compelled to do in order to keep that hag alive."

Athena's gaze slips off of Alaric just in the nip of time to see his interested stare land on her at the sound of her disdain for Elena.

"Bonnie, are you sure you can keep Klaus down for a few minutes?"

The witch nods, sure of herself. "I know I can,"

"It's not going to hurt you, is it?" Damon's sudden question catches the attention of the two girls. "Athena will handle it if you don't have the power for it."

"I have the power for it, Damon. At most, I'll get a nosebleed."

The vampire seems uncomfortable at the prospect, but he shakes his head and gestures for Alaric to follow him. The two girls wait with bated breath as the men leave the room, and Athena meets Bonnie's guilt-filled gaze with a knowing one.

"It'll kill you, won't it? Channeling that much power."

Bonnie nods her head silently and Athena rolls her gaze to the tall ceilings of the boarding house. "I understand, Bonnie. But I'm not going to let that happen."

The girl furrows her brows, shaking her head slightly. "Athena, if this is our chance to figure everything out and maybe even get Klaus to help us out with Finn, I'm going to do it."

"I know that, and I agree. But you aren't going to actually kill yourself to do it. You're going to channel me as much as possible, but you've got to figure out a way to make it seem like you're not."

Bonnie looks at Athena, her eyes wide as she takes in the girl's words. "If I channel you, it'll make you weaker."

"I'll be fine, I promise. I've got a lot more power than you," She says the words truthfully, not to insult the witch. "But Bonnie, Klaus has spent a thousand years trying to do this ritual. He's not going to stop if he sees you as a threat, and he's going to want you out of his way which means we'll have to make him think that you are."

"Do you mean–"

"Can you do it?"

Silence falls between the two girls for a moment before the witch nods. "There's an old spell from Emily's grimoire that I've been studying. It's actually what Jeremy and I were arguing about today."

"As long as you can do it, I don't care about anything else. I'll play my part, and you play yours. Just do me a favor, yeah?"

Bonnie nods.

"Don't tell Damon. He won't be onboard with any of it."

"I know," She mutters, eyes flickering to the hallway Damon had gone down minutes ago. "He''s going to be mad."

"He'll be pissed. But he'll be glad you're okay," Athena nudged her slightly, a small smile forming on her lips. "You should probably go home and get ready. We'll meet you at the dance, alright?"

Bonnie mirrors the smile and nods, grabbing her bag off the couch before she heads for the front door, quickly leaving Athena alone in her silence.

Her dark eyes shifted to the hallway Alaric and Damon had gone down and she took a deep breath as she thought of her history teacher and his odd behavior. Call it intuition, or perhaps a side effect of the whole goddess thing, but something was wrong with him, and Athena wouldn't stop until she figured it out.

──────

author's note; I really wanted to fit the dance in this chapter but there's going to be so much going on that I literally can't do that without making this chapter like 7k words asdldkd PLS im sorry here's this slight filler chapter.

the next chapter will contain, in no particular quantity or order: Bamon, Homicidal Athena, Simp Stefan, KLAUS, FINALLY! and a dollop of angst in the form of Bamon and everyone's favorite BROTP, Athena/Damon <3 love y'all 

originally published; 2.23.21.

edited: 12.4.23.

- liz