Zander's eyes were so blue, blue like morning on the very first day of summer vacation. There was intel igence and laughter with just a touch of a wild longing in them. He leaned in closer, and Bonnie was sure he was about to kiss her, their first kiss at last.
She tilted her head back to meet his lips, her eyelashes fluttering closed.
After a moment of waiting for a kiss that didn't come, she sat up again and opened her eyes. Zander was staring past her, out into the darkness of the campus, frowning.
Bonnie cleared her throat.
"Oh," he said, "sorry, Bonnie, I got distracted for a minute."
"Distracted?" Bonnie echoed indignantly. "What do you mean you - "
"Hang on a sec." Zander put a finger to her lips, shushing her.
"Do you hear something?" Bonnie asked, uneasy tingles creeping up her back.
Zander got to his feet. "Sorry, I just remembered something I have to do. I'l catch up with you later, okay?" With a halfhearted wave, not even looking at Bonnie, he loped off into the darkness.
Bonnie's mouth dropped open. "Wait!" she said, scrambling to her feet. "Are you just going to leave me here" - Zander was gone - "alone?" she finished in a tiny voice.
Great. Bonnie walked out to the middle of the path, looked around, and waited a minute to see if there was any sign of Zander coming back. But there was no one in sight.
She couldn't even hear his footsteps anymore.
There were pools of light beneath the street lamps on the path, but they didn't reach very far. A breeze rustled the leaves of the trees on the quad, and Bonnie shivered. No sense in standing here, Bonnie thought, and she started walking.
For the first few steps down the path toward her dorm, Bonnie was real y angry, hot and humiliated. How could Zander have been such a flake? How could he leave her al alone in the middle of the night, especial y after al the attacks and disappearances on campus? She kicked viciously at a pebble in her path.
A few steps further on, Bonnie stopped being so angry.
She was too scared; the fear was pushing the anger out of her. She should have headed back to the dorm when Meredith and Elena did, but she'd assured them, gaily, that Zander would walk her back. How could he have just left her? She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and went as fast as she could without actual y running, her stupid high-heeled going-out-dancing shoes pinching and making the bal s of her feet ache.
It was real y late; most of the other people who lived on campus must be tucked into their beds by now. The silence was unsettling.
When the footsteps began behind her, it was even worse.
She wasn't sure she was real y hearing them at first.
Gradual y, she became aware of a faint, quick padding in the distance, someone moving lightly and fast. She paused and listened, and the footsteps grew louder and faster stil .
Someone was running toward her.
Bonnie sped up, stumbling over her feet in her haste.
Her shoes skidded on a loose stone in the path and she fel , catching herself on her hands and one knee. The impact stung sharply enough to bring tears to her eyes, but she kicked off her shoes, not caring that she was leaving them behind. She scrambled up and ran faster.
The footsteps of her pursuer were louder now, starting to catch up. Their rhythm was strange: loud periodic footfal s with quicker, lighter beats in between. Bonnie realized with horror that there was more than one person chasing her.
Her foot skidded again, and she barely caught her balance, staggering sideways a few steps to keep from fal ing, losing more ground.
A heavy hand fel on Bonnie's shoulder, and she screamed and whipped around, her fists raised in a desperate bid to defend herself.
"Bonnie!" Meredith gasped, clutching Bonnie's shoulders. "What are you doing out here by yourself?" Samantha came up beside them, carrying Bonnie's shoes, and doubled over, panting for breath.
"You are way too fast for me, Meredith," she said.
Bonnie swal owed a sob of relief. Now that she was safe, she felt like sitting down and having hysterics. "You scared me," she said.
Meredith looked furious. "Remember how we promised to stick together?" Meredith's gray eyes were stormy. "You were supposed to stay with Zander until you got home safely."
Bonnie, about to respond heatedly that it hadn't been her choice to be out here alone, suddenly closed her mouth and nodded.
If Meredith knew that Zander had left Bonnie out here by herself, she would never, never forgive him. And Bonnie was mad at Zander for leaving her, but she wasn't quite that mad, not mad enough to turn Meredith against him. Maybe he had an explanation. And she stil wanted that kiss.
"I'm sorry," Bonnie said abjectly, staring down at her feet. "You're right, I should have known better." Mol ified, Meredith swung an arm over Bonnie's shoulders. Samantha silently handed Bonnie her shoes, and Bonnie pul ed them back on. "Let's walk Samantha back to her dorm, and then we'l go home together," she said forgivingly. "You'l be okay with us." Around the corner from her room, Elena sagged and leaned against the hal way wal for a moment. It had been a long, long night. There had been drinks, and dancing with the huge shaggy-haired Spencer who, as Samantha had warned her, did try to pick Elena up and swing her around.
Things got loud and aggravating, and the whole time, her heart hurt. She wasn't sure she wanted to navigate the world without Stefan. It's just for now, she told herself, straightening up and plodding around the corner.
"Hel o, princess," said Damon. Elena stiffened in shock.
Lounging on the floor in front of her door, Damon somehow managed to look sleek and perfectly poised in what would have been an awkward position for anyone else. As she recovered from the shock of his being there at al , Elena was surprised by the burst of joy that rose up in her chest at the sight of him.