twenty five

Hey guys :) So I'm back from my army weekend (thank god), and I should be ok to update regularly now for a few more weeks until they throw another weekend at me. 

Here's chapter 25 for you :)

- Chapter Twenty Five -

I curled my upper lip in disgust as Elena lifted up her hand, dragging up the frilly black dress clutched between her fingers.

I watched as a frown appeared on her face, her arms dropping dramatically as she threw the hanger back onto the rack. "You do realise how insufferable you're being, don't you?"

"I try."

She simply rolled her eyes before pinching her lips as she scanned through the next aisle of dresses. I let out a huff of air between my lips as I slowly slumped after her, my hands aimlessly filing through the lacy dresses on display. Elena should be happy that  I was at least trying to be interested.

An hour ago, she had literally dragged me to the mall as she claimed that I needed a new outfit if I was going to attend the party Dylan had invited us to.

"What about this one?"

I lazily lifted my head, a grimace quickly covering my face as she placed the light green item in front of her.

"Are you trying to look like the boogey man?"

"You're hilarious, please stop before my sides split."

I frowned at her, turning my head from the rail in front of me. "Leave the sarcasm to me. It doesn't suit you."

"Like all the dresses I've shown you?"

"That was a low blow, Gilbert. A real low blow."

"I try."

"Well, excuse me, but you're actually the one suggesting all these clothes. You just insulted your own skills."

 A smirk pulled at my lips as her smug expression dropped, an unamused one replacing it. "Shut up."

Letting out a childish snicker, I turned my head away, continuing to file through all the dresses of the store. "These people really love lace, don't they?"

"It's in season at the moment."

"I'm going to avoid asking how you know that."

"Don't you read magazines?"

"Not really. I don't really enjoy reading how some famous kid was seen eating a hot dog or something. It's stupid."

"There are other types of magazines you know."

"I'm supposed to the ancient one here."

We both grinned at each other as she let out a laugh, simply shaking her head. I let the smile stay on my lips as my fingers pushed past the metal hangers, my eyes scanning the different colours of the dresses.

"Do I have to wear a dress?" I asked for the third time since we'd gotten here.

"Yes."

I muttered under my breath, a frown deepening my eyebrows as I pushed away from the rack with an over-dramatic sigh.

"There is literally nothing here that I would want to be seen out in public in."

"There has to be something." Elena snapped back. "Just keep looking."

"If you haven't noticed, we have been looking. In fact, we've been looking for over an hour."

Elena smacked her hand on the rail, turning to me with a scowl. I raised an eyebrow at her sudden harshness. 

"So, you want to go to the party in sweats and a tank top, is that it?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was joking about that, jeez."

She simply replied with a simple eye roll, obviously not thinking that my response deserved anything more than that. I simply stared at her as she intensely stared at every single dress she flicked past. I never understood why she cared so much about what you wear to a party. I'd never actually gone to a party before. And, being completely honest here, I was actually slightly nervous. One reason being that there were going to be a shit ton of teenagers there that were most likely going to end up drunk and grinding like their lives depended on it.

Another reason being that I was probably going to be expected to drink some sort of alcohol. Now, obviously being a "vampire", my metobolism was a lot faster than a humans'. 

But...I wasn't exactly 100% pure vampire.

I know, I know, plot twist and all that. When Katherine thought she was doing me a massive favour by biting my neck and damning me to a life of eternity, she didn't exactly complete the transformation process properly. 

She was rushing when she did it, so she didn't really think carefully about what she was doing. 

It's all quite complicated, to be honest. She also didn't feed me a sufficient amount of human blood when she attempted to finish my transformation. So, after a fortnight, it seemed to everyone around me that I had completed my process. Damn, even I did. 

It wasn't until about a month later that it started to show that I obviously hadn't.

Katherine sent me over to a 'friend' of hers to collect something they'd stolen from her weeks before. And it didn't click until later, that I realised I didn't have to be invited in.

I'd been able to just push past the guy without saying anything. It shocked the hell out of everyone, but I had no idea that I shouldn't be able to do that.

So, I was named a hybrid.

I'm aware of the werewolf-vampire hybrids, but as far as the vampire's I spoke to, I had no werewolf genes in me. 

Long story short:

I'm a halfling. Half human-half vampire.

A mystery.

I shouldn't be able to exist. I shouldn't be here right now. But somehow I am. I don't know what happened or what Katherine did when she attempted to transform me, but she made me something special. 

As far as I'm aware, I'm the only human-vampire halfling and no one, except a few of the Mikaelson's since they practically stalk their entire race, knows that I'm a halfling.

Not even Stefan or Damon. And I hope to God, that Liam doesn't either.

Back in the village that Katherine took me to to finish my transformation, once the other vampire's found out what I was and how special I was, they treated me differently. My friends suddenly became my guard dogs. It just all changed. And it pissed me right off.

I was still the same Brooklyn they met when I was first transforming. Just because I still had a heart beat and a small amount of blood was still running through my veins, didn't make me a different person.

Yeah, ok, I don't have the super-strength and super-speed, but I'm still a lot faster and stronger than all the humans I've come across. I can compel most people, but it does drain a load of my energy so I leave that to my brothers'.

But back to the topic of the party and drinking alcohol, just because I have a high metobolism, doesn't mean I can't get drunk. The human side is still there and I can get intoxicate if I drink too much.

Trust me I tried.

One time I tried to have a drinking contest with this man at a tavern, and even after he passed out; completely drunk, I kept going on because of everyone cheering me on. 

It wasn't until my...73rd cup, I think it was? That I began to feel tipsy and realised that I could indeed get drunk. 

So, I was worried about being pressurised by a bunch of hormonal teenagers that thought I had this weird talent of being able to hold my drink.

My plan was to try and convince everyone at the party that I was a lightweight so they wouldn't take any interest in me.

I was so lost in my train of thought that I didn't notice or hear Elena shouting my name and eagerly smiling at me. I shook my head, trying to rid my mind of the daze I had been in.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, blinking.

Elena's grin only grew as she lifted up the hanger. At first I frowned, noticing immediately that it wasn't a dress. But then as I began to take in her other option, I found the same grin growing on my face.

"You know me so well."

"I know, it's a gift."

"It's not a dress though." I pointed out, raising an eyebrow as I recalled her persistance earlier in me wearing a dress. She shrugged.

"You're right. They're not really your style."

On the hanger was a pair of light blue, slightly ripped jeans. They were folded over with the top hanging just over it. The top was a stormy grey and looked as if it would barely cover the bottom half of my stomach. I pushed my tongue around my mouth as I stared at the outfit.

"Is that a crop top?"

I watched as Elena frowned and reached down, grabbing the back of the shirt where the label was and bringing it up to her face, inspecting the label. "A long crop top." She confirmed, looking up at me with anticipation.

"Long? That is considered long?"

"You are so out of date, I swear to God."

"That thing will barely cover me!"

"You should see what Caroline would make you buy, honestly."

"Have you forgotten that my brothers are practically my guard dogs and would rather see me going out dressed in bubble wrap than ever wear a crop top in public?"

Elena stared at me. "Believe it or not, I actually hadn't forgotten that. Just wear a jacket over the top then take it off once we're there. Simple."

"Why would I want a bunch of hormonal teenagers staring at my stomach?"

"They'll all be too wasted to notice, trust me." She rolled her eyes playfully.

"Somehow that doesn't comfort me." I shot back.

"Look, it's a nice outfit. Plus you've got the body, you should show it of-"

"Ok, stop right there. We are not having this conversation because we both know how it's going to end." I said, raising my finger to silence her speech before she got into too much detail and started going all Fashion Guru on me.

I didn't need the whole "aw, but you're so pretty" speech. It wasn't that I thought I was pretty, because I didn't.

I just generally, don't care what people think of me. I've always thought that if you don't like it, don't look. Simple as that. It just made me feel really uncomfortable when people complimented me on my body and stuff, because I didn't like thinking of myself like that.

And before you ask me why, I have no idea. It's just how I am, I guess.

I let out an exasperated sigh, throwing my head back to groan at the ceiling. "Fine."

"Holy crap, did you actually just let me win."

I threw my head back down to glare at her. "You didn't win, I just can't be bothered to argue with you."

"So, you are letting me win?" A cheeky grin spread across her face as she threw the hanger over her arm, ready to head to the check out. I threw her another glare.

"Shut up, before I change my mind."

"Shutting up." She laughed, throwing her hands up in defence as I trudged past her, waiting for her to follow me with her handfuls of shopping.

"You so owe me now." I groaned as we joined the back of the queue, my eyes involuntarily glancing down to the crop top that they claimed to be long.  "Yeah, you definitely owe me."

"Quit moaning, you love it." She grinned, her eyes shining.

"Then quit looking so damn smug." I laughed back. "The only reason I'm letting you win, is because I actually like the jeans."

She opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off as an electronic voice called out, telling the next person to go to the cashier point available. I smiled smugly at Elena, following her down the row of people paying, squeezing past a couple of girls that were laughing way too loud than was necessary for such a small shop.

I frowned at them over my shoulder, stopping at the cashier point that Elena had scurried off to. I didn't take any notice of what she was doing as I turned my body around, leaning against the dark wood counter, watching all the teenagers mill around the shop.

"That'll be $51.95."

My head shot around, my eyes wide as I stared at the screen, my mouth dropping open as Elena casually handed over her card, not even looking bothered that that one outfit cost that much money. "Jesus Christ." I muttered, shaking my head as the blonde girl behind the counter handed over the dark red bag to Elena, smiling professionally before quickly calling out for the next customer.

"I think you'll find that actually, you owe me." Elena laughed, throwing the bag into my arms before I could say anything.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm thinking maybe another chapter for the party? Or I might just dive straight into it for the next chapter and make it two parts or something.

But oh my god, I had to throw the crop top in there. I hate those things and I just thought the idea of Brooklyn wearing one would be absolutely hilarious.

This is also a bit of a filler chapter as some people are wondering why all vampire rules don't apply to Brook. 

I was just waiting for later in the book to explain it :)

BUT ONTO THE IMPORTANT THING: 1,000 VOTES

THAT IS CRAZY AND I CAN'T THANK YOU GUYS ENOUGH

For the next chapter:

- 25 votes

- 10 comments

I really, really love it when you guys comment. I love reading them, seriously. TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS LIKE AND WHAT YOU DON'T LIKE.

Who's your favourite character? Do you prefer Happy Elena or Sad Elena? I know I've made Elena a lot more happier and sarcastic but I just thought it would make a good twist.

Again, thank you all so much. LATER GUYS!

- Emma :B