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"A sky full of stars and he was staring at her"
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BELLE SOMMERS SIGHED AS HER ALARM WOKE her from her blissful sleep. She sat on her bed and let a smile overtake her lips. She was happy. Belle sommers hadn't been happy in a long time.

Her feet padded softly on the hard wood floor as she made her way to the bathroom and for the first time in years, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled "You know what? Stefan is right. I'm not ugly, I-I-I'm a magnificent beast." She said. Soon her face morphed into one of determination as she pointed at herself "You are a magnificent beast and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!"

A slow clapping sound emitted from behind the closed bathroom door "Yeah that's great sweetheart! But can you please hurry up." Belle smiled sheepishly "Yeah Sorry about that mom!"

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Belle smiled at her friend, Stefan as he sat in the seat next to her, she leaned over to whisper to him "I heard what you did this morning. You totally pulled a Jacob." Stefan rolled his eyes at the twilight obsessed redhead. Only for her cousin, who was sitting on the other side of Stefan to lean down and contribute to the conversation "FYI...Our team sucks. They could use you. Also Belle if you make one more twilight reference I'm going to burn all your books."

Belle let a quiet dramatic gasp and gave her cousin a playful glare "Do that and I'll tell Stefan all about mister muffin!" Now it was the brunette's turn to glare as she leaned over an amused Stefan "You wouldn't dare!"

Belle smirked "Try me, you filthy muggle!" While Stefan gave the girl a confused look not catching the reference, Elena gasped and growled at her cousin "I am not a muggle. I am clearly-"

"Miss Gilbert?" The three were suddenly taken away from there conversation by an irritated Mr. Tanner. The brunette gave an innocent smile while shooting a glance at her cousin who was trying not to laugh "Pearl harbour?"

Stefan who clearly saw the struggle on Elena's face decided to intervene trying to ignore the snickering Belle behind him "December 7, 1941." Tanner rolled his eyes and sneered at the tan skinned boy "Thank you, Miss Gilbert."
Stefan smiled fakely at the teacher "Anytime."

Tanner growled "Very well. The fall of the Berlin wall."
"1989. I'm good with dates, sir."
Once again Tanner growled. Belle was beginning to question if the grown man before her was secretly a dog. "Are you? How good? Keep it to the year. Civil Rights Act."

"1964"
"John F. Kennedy assassination."
"1963."
"Martin Luther King."
"'68"
"Lincoln."
" 1865."
"Roe vs. Wade."
"1973."
"Brown vs. Board."
"1954."
"The battle of Gettysburg."
"1863."
"Korean war."
"1950 to 1953."

Tanner grinned widely and giggled like a little school girl who had just seen her crush "Ha! It ended in '52." But Stefan didn't loose his composure "Uh, actually, sir, it was '53."
Tanner narrowed his eyes at the forest eyed boy before yelling out "Look it up, somebody. Quickly."

A student quickly replied "It was 19...53." Belle giggled quietly and gave Stefan a small high five.

⚜️

Belle adjusted her glasses and sighed softly while shutting her book, she quietly made her way downstairs to where her cousin and Elena where in the kitchen preparing for dinner. Apparently Elena had invited Stefan over so Bonnie and him could bond.

"'Lena putting takeout in a nice bowl isn't going to fool anyone." Belle called out as she entered the kitchen. She sent a small wave to Bonnie who she noticed was staring at her slightly "Umm hi Bonnie."
Bonnie surprised the redhead and pulling her into a hug "Hi Belle! You look great." Belle shyly pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, her face flushed red before mumbling a thank you.

The doorbell rang and Belle giggled excitedly as she skipped towards the door. She opened it to see Stefan standing there with a large smile. She placed a fake pout on her face as pretended to be upset "Oh it's just you?" Stefan cocked his head and he spoke curiously "Who did you expect it to be."
"Well I thought god had answered my prayers and finally sent me my own Bucky Barnes."
Stefan rolled his eyes fondly as he placed his arms around her shoulders and led her into the house.

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The four teens sat in awkward silence. Belle picked boredly at her takeout as Elena tried to converse "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Stefan shrugged "Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right."

Elena smiled at her boyfriend before turning excitedly to her best friend "Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and..." Bonnie rolled her eyes "Yeah, I heard."

Awkward silence filled the room once more and once more Elena decided to try and clear the air."Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Bonnie kept her eyes on her meal while Belle shifted uncomfortably "Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Elena rolled her eyes at her best friend "No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool."
Bonnie gave Elena an annoyed look "Cool isn't the word I'd use."

Belle gasped bringing the attention to her "Holy Hera! That's awesome! You're like a female Harry Potter. I always wanted to be witch but mom hid all my mason jars when she found me doing a summoning. Anyway do you know where you're family lineage is from?"

Bonnie gave the girl an amused smile."My family came by way of Salem" Belle squealed "Oh my Zeus! That's so epic. Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity. Do you think you're Hogwarts letter is just late." Bonnie giggled at the excited redhead who had began to go on a rant on how awesome it would be to be a witch in Harry Potter.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Elena sprung up to get it while Belle continued to rant about Harry Potter to Bonnie, who was beginning to think Belle wasn't as bad as everybody made her out to be. Close up she was really gorgeous.

Belle's rant concluded upon seeing a familiar head of raven coloured hair. His icy blue eyes found her doe brown ones and he smiled genuinely "Hiya Princess." Belle smiled shyly her face flushed a bright red. He chuckled as he made his way over to where she and Bonnie were sitting "You look gorgeous, princess, but then again you always do."

Belle smiled but it soon disappeared as she saw a blob of blonde hair and heals make her way over to Damon's side. Caroline smirked at the redhead before wrapping her arms around the raven haired mans bicep. "I hope you don't mind us dropping in 'Big Belle." She sneered while Damon looked between the two. "It's fine." Belle said through gritted teeth.

The group, now with added addition of Damon and Caroline were stood around the island "I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it." Damon smirked as he stared at his brother, who seemed tense. "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Belle looked between the two Salvatore's sensing that something other than small talk was going on between them.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines." Belle rolled her eyes at Caroline's rude remark "God doesn't she have an off button." She mumbled, surprisingly Damon heard and he chuckled which caused Belle to send him a confused look "I've been trying to figure it out myself."

"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon said while staring at said brunette causing Stefan to tighten his hold around her waist. Caroline spoke up "Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity." Belle glared at the blonde.

Damon spoke with fake sincerity "I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." Belle narrowed her eyes dangerously at the blue eyes man "No your not." She hissed into his ear causing him to jump. He held her gaze for a second before switching it to Stefan when he spoke "We don't need to get into that right now, Damon."

Damon smiled before turning back to Belle who was no longer glaring at him "So what do you do? Do you run some kind of twilight fan club." The redhead giggled but before she could respond Caroline took it upon herself to answer for her "No not really. Although she does go to the library and sit there like a loner." Caroline giggled loudly as if someone had told her the funniest joke ever.

Belle squeezed her eyes closed and spoke quietly "I just like to read" Damon looked down at the redheads down cast expression and had the strangest compulsion to hug her. Although he didn't, he couldn't help but be scared no one had done that to him in a long time.

He was here for Katherine and only Katherine.

Damon was broken out of his thoughts by Caroline's voice "Just like you like to eat. Little tip sweetie try a salad." Tears pooled up in Belle's eyes and she ran towards her bedroom.

All eyes turned to Caroline and she shrugged carelessly ignoring all their glare "What? I was just speaking the truth not myself if little miss Bigfoot is a wuss."

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Damon knocked softly on Belle's door, entering only when heard a faint 'come in' giving him permission. Belle was sitting on her bag window her eyes trained on the night sky before her. Damon hesitantly sat next to her. She turned her head to face him. He could see her puffy red eyes and he placed a hand over her own "Belle.."

"Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be happy with myself." Her voice was quiet as he gaze remained in the starry night sky. "I worry that if I can't be happy with myself. Then- maybe their all right, Caroline, Tanner and Tyler- nobody will ever be happy with me. And that makes me even more paranoid."
She giggled humorously as she leaned into Damon's embrace. Somehow when she was talking she found herself on his lap. His hand tracing non existent patterns on her back.

"You see. I've always liked the idea that someone. Somewhere is made for you. Forever. But then I look at myself in the mirror. I'm less arousing than Voldemort. It's a cycle, insecurity, unconfidence. It's all a cycle and it's destroying me."

Damon scoffed "I'm sorry but that's some bullshit right there, cause the girl sitting in front of me is the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen. Who would be stupid enough to give that up!"

By now the redhead was sobbing quietly into Damon's chest while he spoke "You see cause I'm looking at all these stars and none of them compare to the one I'm holding right now."

Belle pushed herself off Damon. "Thank you Damon. I wish I could believe you but I know better."

The raven haired man sighed as he walked towards the door only to be stopped by Belle's voice "I'm sorry. About Katherine. You lost her, too."

A small smile overtook his face "It's okay I think I'm getting over it."

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Extra long chapter to make up for the amount of time I took to update so sorry.

Also Belle and Damon make me soft

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