❝a family thing❞
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"ARE YOU REALLY THAT DRUNK YOU CAN'T EVEN OPEN THE DOOR– SHERIFF FORBES?" Charlotte stopped short, her hand wrapped around the doorknob as she frowned at the sight of the teary-eyed woman. "What happened?"

"There's been an accident."

She feels her heart plummet and she laughs uncomfortably. "W–What do you mean? An accident?"

"Elena is being looked over in the hospital right now, but Charlotte," Liz Forbes stops again, swallowing roughly. "Your parents, they– they didn't make it. I'm sorry."

The girl says nothing, but her brows furrow confusedly as she tries to process the woman's words.

"Charlotte?"

Elena– accident– parents– gone–

"Charlotte, are you alright? Charlotte–

"Charlotte!" Jeremy's voice came from the closed door, and she reached out of the chilled water of the bathtub, pushing herself back above the surface. "Come on, I need to brush my teeth!"

She groans, pushing her wet hair off of her face. "Go use Jenna's bathroom, idiot!"

"My toothbrush is in there!"

Her eyes flickered from the bathtub to the counter and she rolled her eyes at the sight of his green toothbrush. "Crap– just give me like two minutes!" She lunged forward and unstopped the drain, letting the tub begin to empty.

Charlotte stood, water sliding off of her skin as she stepped over the porcelain siding and onto the bath mat, wriggling her toes around on it to dry them off faster. She grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body, reaching for a second one to wrap her hair into.

Her dark eyes shift to look at her reflection and she heaves a sigh, wiping at the remnants of leftover mascara smeared beneath her eyes. Belatedly, she holds up finger guns at her reflection and grins overly-sweet, before the expression falls.

Charlotte turns and swings the door open, meeting Jeremy's annoyed stare with the same practiced smile her reflection had just had. "All yours, Jer-Bear."

Jeremy groans and rolls his eyes, pushing past her. "Don't call me that."

"Don't be such a downer! It's the first day of school, Jer-Bear, it's a glorious day!" Charlotte's laugh echoes over Jeremy's muffled response, and she shuts the bathroom door behind her as she walks back into her bedroom.

She shuts her door tight and stands at the foot of her bed, placing her hands on her hips. "First day of school," She mutters to herself, glancing at the mirror hanging on her wall. "Can't wait."

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"Hey, Charlie!" Cory's voice carried down the hallway and she flushed as eyes turned to her, the attention making her want to crawl into her locker and rot there.

"Cory, come on," She groans, turning to face her best friend. "I thought we talked about using our inside voices."

He tilts his head, feigning obliviousness. "You talked and I forgot what you said because I didn't care. Besides, there's something much more important at hand,"

The older Gilbert twin huffs, cocking a brow at him. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that we have a new kid and he's smoking hot. And like Elena busted Jeremy in the boy's bathroom already,"

Charlotte's eyes widened and she slapped Cory's chest, making the boy smack her hand away irritatedly. "Really? Will you take my stuff to class so I can handle this?"

He nods, sighing, and Charlotte gives him a grateful look as she takes off down the hallway, bursting into the bathroom with no regard. She stops at the sight of Elena patting Jeremy down, and yanks her twin away from their little brother. "Seriously? It's eight in the morning,"

"And he's stoned already!" Elena gestures to Jeremy, earning another eye roll from the boy that Charlotte sighs at. "Come on, Charlie, he can't be stoned during school. He shouldn't be at all."

"I know that, but as the oldest, I'm the one that has to do the scolding." She gives Elena a firm look, turning her away from Jeremy so she stood between them. "You have to get to class, Elena. I'll handle this."

Elena gives her a grateful nod and turns, leaving the bathroom. She thinks she hears her sister's voice again, but she pays no mind to it as she turns to face Jeremy, who has the decency to look somewhat sorry, yet still irritated.

"Are you gonna interrogate me, too?"

"God, no, I just had to get rid of Elena." Charlotte rolls her eyes. "But seriously, either wait until after school or don't be so obvious about it."

Jeremy looks shocked for a moment, but he finally laughs, earning a grin from Charlotte. He nudges her, giving her a grateful look. "This is why you're my favorite, Charlie."

She rolls her eyes, pushing him towards the door. "Don't start sucking up now, I'm totally making you do my chores for the next week."

Jeremy groans, but Charlotte pays no mind to it as she heads down the hallway for her first class, hoping Cory actually brought her things with him instead of ditching her entirely.

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Charlotte leans forward on the lunch table, grinning deviously at Elena, her expression matching Bonnie and Cory's, too. "So, Bonnie tells me you've spotted a stunner. Tell me everything, Lena, spare no details,"

Elena blushes, shaking her head at her sister's dramatics. "There's no details to spare, okay? I– I ran into him coming out of the bathroom– the boy's bathroom, and couldn't even explain what I was doing. I totally embarrassed myself in front of him."

"But," Bonnie drawls, looking at Charlotte with a grin. "He was totally staring at her in history this morning, and she was staring back."

"You're basically married now," Cory smirks, his words making Elena flush deeper.

"Guys, seriously, it's nothing. Can we drop it? Please?" Elena begs, but her eyes drift to her sister, and Charlotte relents easily at the sight of her desperation.

"Okay, okay, what else is there to report back on?"

Cory makes a noise of exclamation, a smirk growing on his face. "Well, I heard that Tyler Lockwood has been hooking up with Vicki Donovan, much to Matt's utter dismay, I'm sure."

Charlotte shakes her head, her brows furrowing. "I thought that Jeremy and Vicki had a thing, though? She was around all summer."

"Oh, come on, Charlie," Bonnie huffs. "Like mother like daughter, you know?"

"Bonnie," Charlotte scolds, earning another eye roll from the girl.

"Tyler is your ex, shouldn't you be pissed he's getting with someone else?"

Charlotte shakes her head, scooping a bite of her pudding out and holding it before her mouth. "Maybe if Tyler had dumped me, but I broke up with him. A guy like Tyler is never gonna be serious, and Vicki will realize that one way or another."

"You are way too forgiving," Bonnie points her plastic spoon at the Gilbert twin. "If I were you, I'd be making voodoo dolls or something."

Charlotte smirks, reaching across the table to steal Bonnie's pudding cup. "Well if I ever want revenge, or voodoo dolls, I'll come to you, Ms. Psychic. Now, are we still going to the Grill tonight?"

The three nod and Charlotte narrows her eyes at them. "Did anyone invite Caroline?"

Their sudden enthusiasm dwindles and Charlotte sighs. "You guys, she's our friend no matter how much she gossips, okay? And you have no room to talk, Cory."

"Char–"

"Nope," She stands up, pudding cup in hand. "I am going to invite Caroline, because I'm the only nice one here. And Elena, you're gonna be home after school, right?"

Elena looks bashful, but she nods her head, earning an accusing look from Charlotte. "Directly after school. No pit stops."

"I know, I know," Elena holds her hands up in surrender, hiding her hesitancy. "Straight home, no detours."

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A knock sounds on the door and Charlotte groans, pushing an earring through the piercing in her ear as she walks to the front door. She swings it open carelessly, her eyes on the ground as she tries to blindly put in her other earring.

When she sees an unfamiliar set of legs, she frowns, dragging her eyes up to look at the stranger standing on her porch. "Uh, who are you?"

The blond boy's dark brows furrow and he seems to do a double take, which makes Charlotte run her hand through her curls, fluffing them slightly. "Hello?" Raising her hands, Charlotte signs out her first question, making the man shake his head.

"I'm sorry," He huffs, shaking himself from his stupor. "I'm, uh, I'm Stefan Salvatore. I– you forgot this in the cemetery earlier."

He hands her a diary and her frown deepens as she realizes it's Elena's diary. "The cemetery?" She echoes, earning a slight nod. She quirks an unamused brow, glancing over her shoulder as she hears Elena come down the stairs behind her. "Elena, you left your diary in the cemetery earlier."

Elena's eyes widen at the sight of Stefan standing before her sister and she grimaces, rushing to the front door. She looks at Charlotte, apology shining in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Charlotte, I– I know I said I wouldn't–"

Charlotte smiles slightly, but Elena can clearly see the irritation in it as they turn to look at a shell-shocked Stefan. "I'm sorry about my sister's forgetfulness, you didn't have to come all the way here."

"No, it's," He clears his throat, still looking between them almost fearfully. "It's fine, really. I was in the neighborhood anyways."

"Right," Charlotte smiles slightly, offering him a hand. "I'm Charlotte, but you can call me Charlie. You've obviously met Elena,"

He nods, a small smile quirking on his lips as his gaze drifts back to Elena. Charlotte raises a brow, a scheming look glinting in her dark eyes. "Stefan, you wouldn't happen to have plans, would you?"

"Oh, uh, no, I don't."

"Do you want to come to the Grill with us? It's just gonna be a few of us having dinner, no big deal."

Elena makes a noise of panic that Charlotte chuckles at, and she dutifully ignores her twin's forceful nudges as she awaits Stefan's reply.

"I don't want to intrude,"

"No worries," Charlotte smiles, pushing Elena out of the front door and stepping out behind her. "I'm sure no one will be mad at the extra company."

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"Charlotte!" Jenna's voice echoed up the stairs and the brunette looked up from her hunched over position on her bed, holding her finger on the page of her book as her aunt entered the room.

"What's up?"

"It's Elena,"

Charlotte's heart dropped at her Jenna's words and she chucked her book aside on her bed, the story long forgotten as she met the strawberry blonde halfway. "What is it? What happened? Is she okay?"

Jenna shook her head, slightly confused at the girl's sudden panic. "She just needs a ride home from the party. I guess a girl was attacked by an animal, so it was shut down."

Charlotte let out a silent sigh of relief, but her stomach swirled with nausea as her anxiety dwindled. "What about Jeremy?"

"They're both fine, Sheriff Forbes called me from the falls. I– I would go myself but I have a presentation due in the morning, and I'm not even halfway done–"

"Jenna, it's alright, I promise," Charlotte soothes her aunt, stepping away to grab her car keys and her jacket. "I'll go pick them up, you're good."

Jenna groaned in relief, pointing a grateful finger at her niece. "You're a lifesaver, Charlie, I swear!"

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"I'm gonna run by the Grill and check on Bonnie and Caroline, see if they need a ride." Charlotte put the car in park in their driveway, glancing over at her siblings. "You guys should just get to sleep, alright?"

Elena nodded, running a hand through her pin-straight hair as Bonnie's ominous warning echoed in her ears. "Thanks, for picking us up, Char. You didn't have to drive all the way out there,"

Charlotte shrugged, smiling at her twin sister. "Of course I did, I'm the oldest and therefore the most responsible."

Elena huffed a tired laugh, shaking her head. "By eight minutes,"

"And what a blissful eight minutes it was," Charlotte taunted, watching Elena playfully roll her eyes as she stepped out of the car and walked into the house. Her dark brown eyes flickered to the backseat where Jeremy was slumped against her leather seats, his eyes red-rimmed with tears and his posture rigid.

"Jer?"

"Sorry," He mutters, opening the door. "Be careful, Char,"

"Hey, Jer, wait," She reaches back, her seatbelt restricting her movement slightly as her little brother stopped, looking at her expectantly. "I'll call Matt and see if there's any update on Vicki, okay?"

Something seemed to loosen in Jeremy at her words and he let out a long sigh, his shoulders losing some of their tensity.

"Try to get some sleep, okay, Jer-Bear?"

He huffs, forcing a smile that doesn't last more than a few seconds. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Lottie-Bear."

Charlotte grinned as Jeremy shut the door, and she waited for him to shut the front door behind him before she put her car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

Despite her ability to soothe her sibling's anxieties, she couldn't seem to do the same for herself. 

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author's note; AHHH im so excited to write this book. it is nothing but pain. i don't like peace, i want problems always !!!!

published; 10.11.21.

- liz