𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣—"𝙤𝙝, 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙚"

———

"𝙂𝙊𝙊𝘿 𝙈𝙊𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂, 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀."

𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙍𝘼 𝙈𝙊𝘼𝙉𝙀𝘿 out as she blinked a few times, her blue eyes adjusting to the sunlight leaking through the curtains. She was completely tired, and really didn't feel like getting up from her comfy spot; laying her head on Kol's bare chest as her arm laid out over his stomach and on the other side. He had a tight grip on the girls shoulder, while the other was playing with her short, blonde locks.

"I told you I could get so used to this," Clara smiled, gazing up from Kol's chest to his brown orbs. She snuggled closer into the crook of his neck, and a smile appeared on her face.

Throughout everything, with no humanity Elena to ignoring Damon because he chose helping the Gilbert girl rather than his best friend to Clara finding out that Jeremy had died on the island where the cure was. She wasn't particularly happy to find out that Katherine, the annoying doppelgänger of Elena, stole the cure and ultimately killed the Gilbert boy.

The hardest thing of all was Tyler. Her twin had to leave because of the threat Klaus opposed him, and because of Caroline, Klaus let him go. She hadn't talked to him since he left, obeying his orders that the girl not call or text.

"I should get up," Clara mumbled on Kol's skin, making him tickle a bit from her warm breath bouncing off him.

"Hm, really?" Kol hums in Clara's ear, pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"I promised Caroline and Bonnie I'd help them with their prom dresses," Clara answered, clearing her throat as she leaned forward from cuddling Kol. She swung her legs over the bed, and placed her bare feet on the cold wooden flooring.

She was only wearing her underwear with one of Kol's v-necks, this time a dark blue one, that reached right past her mid thigh. She smiled as she caught Kol staring at her, and she felt a hint of a blush appear on her face. Even with being this far into a relationship with the Mikaelson, he could still so easily make her blush.

"I thought that wasn't until later?"

"I still have my dress to try on and stuff, I wanna be early," Clara explained, clearing her throat as her eyes hovered from the ground to Kol.

Kol pouted as he leaned over a bit, placing a hand on the warm spot that Clara was just laying in. She sent a toothy smile to the boy as he sent her pleading eyes, and she swiftly walked over to the other side of the bed.

"Sorry, love," Clara responded, placing a quick peck on Kol's cheek.

She waltzed over to Kol's shelf unit, by now she had her own clothes here. A few shirts and jeans, underwear, and tank tops. She grabbed new, clean clothes from the shelf and throw them over her arm. A sly smirk started tugging on her pink lips, and she turned over her shoulder to eye Kol.

"I'm showering, are you joining me?"

•••

Clara hesitantly rose her closed fist to knock on the red door in front of her, swallowing hard as she let out a shaky breath.

"Hello?"

Clara gazed from staring at the ground in front of her to an older woman, who had just swung open the front door. She smiled brightly at the woman as she waved hello.

"Oh, Claire, what a surprise," the woman spoke softly, returning the smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Delilah. I-I wanted to be here, since it's the...the second month that Ashlyn and Trey passed away," Clara answered, the tears tugging on her eyes as she almost choked on her words. "I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am."

"Would you like to come in for some tea, Claire? I have your favorite, orange peel," Delilah asked, tilting her head a bit but the sadness was still noticeable on her face.

I present Delilah Karrington, mother to Ashlyn Karrington, the college girl Clara so vicariously killed when she had flipped her humanity switch. Her guilt ate her stomach so evidently much that she thought the only way she would get through it, was to talk to the family of the girl that she took away. She's stopped by Delilah's place a lot since her emotions were back on, so she convinced the older woman that she was a friend of Ashlyn's, grieving just as hard as she was. So thus, Claire was the name Clara picked, because she was too afraid to tell her who she really was.

"I don't have time today, I'm really sorry," Clara answered, raising both of her arms to pull the older woman into a quick hug.

"Well, thank you for stopping by, darling," Delilah smiles gently as she pulled away from the hug. "Be sure to come by soon, I do miss our talks."

"Of course."

•••

Later that day, Clara was currently with Bonnie and Caroline at the dress place. Caroline was changing into her prom dress, so Bonnie and Clara were residing on a soft bench side by side.

"Hey," Clara spoke up through the awkward silence that grew between the two girls, because they hadn't really spoken since Clara's switched her flip back. "I'm sorry about Jeremy."

"Thank you," Bonnie smiled sadly towards the blonde, and Clara flashes a tight smile back at her. "I'm sorry about your mom."

Clara's eye flickered, "thanks."

"It's weird though, I've been having dreams about Jeremy."

"What kind of dreams?" Clara slightly jumped in her seat as Caroline peaked her head, in a rather beautiful pink ball gown, through the changing room curtains.

"Wow, Care, you look amazing," Clara smiled at the blonde, who instantly returned it. She nodded as a response, and then turned her attention back to Bonnie.

"Yeah, uh, usually I'm at his grave and all of a sudden, he appears to me," Bonnie explains, gaining both of the blondes full attention.

"Well, you never got to say goodbye, Bon," Caroline commented, looking at herself in the grand mirror in the middle of the room. "You're grieving. That's normal."

"Completely," Clara nodded along with Caroline's statement, switching from the beautiful blonde to the brunette sitting beside her.

"When I woke up, the couch was on fire."

"Oh," Caroline and Clara said at the same time, pinching their faces together as the comment made them change their minds.

"Well, that's just a little bit not normal," Clara shrugs a bit.

"I don't know if it's because I was emotional in my dream, or if Shane was right. Without his help, I'll lose control of my magic."

Bonnie rose up from her seat on the bench, careful not to speak too loud when she muttered anything about magic. She stood closer to Caroline, who was standing on a small podium in front of the mirror. Clara mimicked that same action, now standing rather than sitting, next to the brunette.

"No, it's because you need a night off from mourning," Caroline shook her head, adjusting her dress a bit as she spun around. "And I'm gonna make sure that you have it."

Bonnie switched from a tinge of sadness to happiness as she eyed the blonde in the prom dress. "Um, you look super hot, by the way."

"You think?" Caroline smirked, making the two other girls smile with her. The three girls started laughing all together as they all agreed Caroline looked absolutely stunning in the dress.

"Matt and I are gonna have the sexiest date there," Bonnie chuckles, turning to look at Caroline in the mirror. "Clara, when are you trying on your dress?"

"Not in front of you guys, it's a surprise," Clara smiled brightly at the brunette, winking.

"Well, I'm sure that Kol's gonna think he has the sexiest date too."

Clara couldn't help but let the smile cross her face broadly at the mention of Kol, this is how she always reacted when her lover was mentioned. "Thanks for...being cool with him and I."

"Of course," Bonnie smiles.

"You know what? I love friend prom," Caroline adds, interrupting the two chatting girls. "And it's exactly what prom should be: friends and memories. Yes, it sucks that my boyfriend can't be here but the four of us are gonna have the night of our lives."

"Five, including my annoying boyfriend."

The three erupted in a sort of laughing fit that they all made them happy, but their smile starts to fade as they soon recognize the familiar, no humanity Elena enter the store, with the original blonde beside her.

"Hey, Bonnie, heard you got your mind wiped. That sucks," Elena spoke with absolutely no care in her tone, and Clara wondered if she sounded exactly the same. "Oh, hey Clara, so you flipped your switch back, damn. We could've been quite the team, you know? Pretty dress, Caroline."

"You helped me pick it out months ago when we were friends, before you tried to kill me," Caroline retorts, folding her arms over her chest.

"I thought it looked familiar."

"Can you press this for me? I'll pick it up later," Caroline stated towards the woman who was standing behind the counter, who immediately nodded. "Bonnie, Clara, we should get ready."

"Yeah, uh, bye Elena."

a/n: sorry for switching the scene three times and this chapter is so short (ONCE AGAIN WOW). i'm not even sure how many chapters this book is gonna have, buttt i was rewatching the originals and i really want to write clara in with hope, for them to have a close relationship. what do y'all think?? would you read a book that has like 100 chapters???