"No, you are so wrong that I am considering ending our friendship," Sophie said seriously.

"You are so off base that I can't even believe we are friends," I shot back.

"Lana, how can you even fight me on this, Damon is a way hotter character than Klaus," she scolded.

"I am not saying that Damon isn't super-hot. I am saying that if I had to choose Klaus just does it for me."

"He is a psycho killer if you love him you should be in intensive therapy," Sophie replied in an exasperated tone.

"Really, because Damon is oh so innocent," I said mockingly.

"At least he is attempting to be good. Besides if he ever saw me he would instantly reform himself and fall madly in love with me," Sophie said smugly.

"Okay then I shall apply that same logic to Klaus, if somehow I was transported to Mystic Falls and he caught a glimpse of me he would also become good but still have that bad boy attitude that is so irresistible."

Me and Sophie had been best friends for practically our entire lives. We bonded over our shared love of horses, Austin Powers' movies, and imaginations that bordered on the crazy and delusional.

The only way we weren't similar was in our appearance. Sophie had long straight brown hair with hazel eyes and a very petite build. I on the other hand had wildly curly hair, blue gray eyes and a tall curvaceous figure.

We had just finished watching the mid-season finale of season three of Vampire Diaries and had been debating the merits of our fantasy husbands from that show to kill time while waiting for the ferry.

As the ferry arrived I lead the way up to the top deck because it provided the best view for taking pictures. Sophie and I continued our heated debate surrounding the Vampire Diaries as we found seats. Luckily the ferry only hosted a few other passengers who had chosen seats on the opposite end keeping our conversation just between us.

"Alright it's time to take some pictures. You are only here for a week we need to document this historic gathering," I said.

Sophie began scouting for the best spot to snap some pictures. She decided to lean against the railing so I could get the water and the outline of the city in the background. I took a few pictures before she claimed it was time to switch.

I glanced around to see if we were being watched, the coast was clear so I clambered up on the railing.

"Jesus Lana! What do you think you are doing?" Sophie snapped shrilly.

"I'm king of the world! Jack, I'm flying," I cried re-enacting some of the immortal Titanic movie scenes.

"Get down from there; you are going to get us arrested," Sophie said an edge of panic slipping into her words.

For some reason her unease made me want to push the boundaries even farther. I climbed over the railing resting my back against the bars. As soon as I looked down at the water beneath me I realized that this had been a bad idea. My palms began to sweat making the metal under my hands slippery. I felt Sophie's hands grip the back of my shirt.

"I am not kidding around Lana get your ass back on this boat now," Sophie said sounding very much like her mother when she got angry.

I reached my hand around and maneuvered myself so that I was facing Sophie again. I moved my foot up one bar, as I was about to push off on the other one I felt my foot slip to the side. I lost my balance and was barely clinging to the side of the boat; I felt the ballet flats I had been wearing fall off. Sophie tried grabbing my arms but to no avail. Without thinking she leaned over the edge and wrapped her arms around me in an attempt to pull me up. I was just beginning to get a foot hold when a wave hit the ferry broadside. For people on the boat it would have hardly registered but for Sophie and me, it was enough to send us flying over the edge toward the dark blue water. I gasped in anticipation of the icy abyss awaiting us. I held my breath until I felt like my chest was going to burst yet there was no impact. I opened my eyes and saw Sophie next to me her face turning red as she continued to hold her breath. What had happened?

I looked around. Why were we sitting on a bench? I heard a gasp as Sophie finally took a deep breathe. Her eyes met mine and I assumed the confusion and fright in her face was a mirror of my own.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Sophie yelled. The few people nearby stared at us before averting their gazes and continuing on about their business.

"I don't know. We were falling and then we weren't," I replied dumbly.

"Thank you, captain obvious!" Sophie said angrily.

I looked around thinking that perhaps we had fallen asleep waiting for the ferry and had shared some weird simultaneous dream. I tried to recognize any landmarks that would indicate that we were still in Kingston. The place had the same historic feeling but I knew deep down that it was different. For one thing it was lacking the copious amounts of limestone construction that populated Kingston's downtown. Instead all I could see was a small store and a Greyhound bus. Even though my view was limited I had a feeling of recognition as if I had seen this area before. I stood up and the cement sidewalk burned the soles of my feet.

"Why don't I have shoes?" I asked Sophie.

"You kicked them off on the ferry. I told you not to play around and climb on the railing but you just couldn't resist it and now we are in a strange place," she fumed.

I wanted to say sorry but somehow I felt that a simple apology wouldn't quite makeup for the predicament we found ourselves in so I opted to stay quiet.

We sat on the bench not saying anything for a while. Both of us were trapped in different thoughts. I was trying to think of any survival techniques I had picked up from my mom who is in the military.

I finally stood up deciding that we should try to at least figure out where we were. Sophie followed me towards the store. I had almost made it to the door when I noticed a beautiful sign proclaiming cheerfully 'Welcome to Mystic Falls'. I stopped dead my vision taking on a tunnel like quality so soon all I could see were the yellow letters spelling out Mystic Falls. Sophie followed my gaze.

"No," she whispered. "This is impossible! It's a show it's not a real place."

As scared as I was I couldn't help but feel excitement at this turn of events. Whatever had happened was a mystery but since we were here I figured we might as well make the best of it.

"Sophie let's go explore," I said.

"Explore what exactly?"

"The town, don't pretend you're not curious."

"Lana there is no proof that this is the Mystic Falls from the show."

"Well if you want proof lets go and find some."

I could tell Sophie was reluctant to go with me so I started walking towards the town knowing full well that she would follow.

Thank god I had been raised in the country and was used to going barefoot I thought as we wandered into the town. I didn't know how to explain how we had arrived here but I knew that we had been moved into the fabric of the television show and not just into a town bearing the same name. We followed the main road until we found ourselves in the downtown area.

"Oh my god! This is amazing," I said as I looked across the street and saw the Mystic Grill. I turned to Sophie expecting to see the same look but instead she appeared rather pensive. She noticed me looking and quickly painted on a smile.

"Yeah it is remarkable," Sophie uttered before resuming her questioning look.

"What's up?" I said.

"Nothing," Sophie said attempting to be breezy and nonchalant.

"Please woman, we have been best friends our entire lives I know something is bothering you."

"What wouldn't be bothering me? In case it slipped your mind we are in a town infested by vampires," she quietly hissed under her breath. "Not only that we don't know when we are. There is always turbulence in this place and we are walking blindly into it."

"Sophie we have watched the show and discussed it dare I say zealously. We are hardly feeble citizens. Besides no one knows us and they have no reason to suspect that we are anything but common tourists. Plus I believe we are sharing a hallucination from the trauma of falling in the water, chances are we will wake up at my house tomorrow to my mother berating me for being so reckless," I said

"I think you are over simplifying everything," Sophie said.

"We have talked about being in Vampire Diaries for ever. We get one day to actually do it; why are you so against enjoying this?"

"Fine, we will do some minor sightseeing and then get out of here as fast as possible. Also I think it's a real bad idea to talk about the show or reference the word vampires at all. I think we should assign it a code name."

I smiled as I saw her finally getting into the spirit of adventure.

"Hmm, how about as an homage to all the hot men we call it the sexy pants secret," I suggested.

'Yeah Lana, because that won't draw any type of curiosity or questions. Get a grip it needs to be something simple. I vote we call it the plan, because it's short and sweet."

I opened my mouth to protest and she cut across me,

"All in favor say Aye. Aye. The Aye's have it."

"Fine you get this one but the next time I get to pick the secret code names," I said stubbornly.

Sophie shook her head before saying, "We have been standing here for a while perhaps we should move along."

"Alright, do you want to go through the town square?" I asked.

"Might as well."

I had always claimed that if this ever happened I would find Damon and Stefan right away, but now that I was faced with the possibility of facing vampires for real I was much more hesitant. Perhaps we could see them from a distance giving me a chance to build up courage before I accidentally on purpose crossed their paths. We walked along taking in the sights. The town was beautiful even the air had a delicious smell that reminded me of baked bread and pine needles. We rounded a corner and I spotted Sheriff Forbes walking towards us. She was walking as if she had a purpose. I glanced around quickly to see if her destination could be for anyone or anything besides us. The relative vacancy left me in little doubt.

"Good Morning Ladies, I don't think I've seen you around town before, are you visiting?" she said in a friendly but direct tone.

"We are tourists," I said quickly.

"Oh is that right," she smiled.

"Yup. It's a beautiful town," I said nudging Sophie slightly.

"Umm yeah, it's really nice here," Sophie added nervously.

The sheriff surveyed us for a moment, "Well for all the tourists I've seen this is the first time I have ever seen one without shoes on," she said as she stared pointedly at me feet.

Crap, crap, crap, I panicked as I tried to come up with some plausible excuse. I tried catching Sophie's eye for help but she was looking at the ground as if by staring at it she could convince it to open up and swallow her whole. The moments ticked by. Sheriff Forbes cleared her throat loudly and waited for me to say something.

"I lost them," I finally said as seriously as I could manage.

The sheriff sceptically glanced at us raising her eye brows so high that I couldn't help but wonder if they would hit her hair line.

I decided I should elaborate.

"We decided to take a walk in the woods and we got tired so we were resting, I kicked my shoes off and then we accidentally fell asleep and when we woke up my shoes were gone," I stole a glance at Sophie who was now staring at me with a mingled look of outrage and amusement.

"Is stealing a common occurrence in this place Sheriff?" I said as I put on what I hoped was a convincing expression of concern.

"No theft is not generally a problem around here," the Sheriff replied. "Well I suggest you find some new shoes and be more cautious with the new pair. Plus be careful if you go out in the woods, people tend to get lost in them."

"Okay Sheriff for sure, we saw the woods and I can assure you I don't think we will go back to them again."

"Alright you two have a good day," Sheriff Forbes said before departing. She looked back at us once as if trying to take our measure. I could see her pondering if we were just eccentric weirdoes, or if we were a supernatural threat.

My breath whooshed out in relief as we avoided our first measure of trouble. I grinned at Sophie who gave me a blank stare before erupting.

"You lost your shoes in the woods. Really that was the best story you could manage. You know she is on the founder's secret council why didn't you just paint a sign on our chests saying please come and keep us under surveillance. Why, WHY, couldn't you keep it simple this once? Your shoes could have just broken and you threw them out."

"Hey I didn't hear you speaking up I just said the first thing that came to mind."

Sophie finally let her smile crack through, "I can't believe you even got away with that."

"I am also rather surprised," I said smiling back at her. "She was right though I need some shoes."

I reached into my pocket hoping I would have put some cash there earlier. I thanked the higher powers as I pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill.

"I saw a clothing store back on the main street," Sophie said.

"Well as much as I would love a new pair of shoes I find my budget is better suited to a thrift store. Luckily I noticed one tucked just off the main drag."

A look of repulsion crawled across Sophie's face.

"You can't seriously be considering wearing someone's old shoes. The thought of the foot sweat in them makes me want to vomit."

"Hey I love a bargain, thrift stores are awesome," I said defensively.

"Fine let's just go and get it over with," Sophie sighed as we headed off to the store.

The bell over the door jingled cheerily as we stepped into the small store. A little silver haired lady smiled at us from behind a counter.

"How can I help you today?" she inquired.

I was busy looking at all the treasures hidden on the shelves my eyes been drawn to the large bookshelf covered with a sign saying hardcovers one dollar. Sophie noticed my distraction and replied to the woman

"We are looking for shoes?"

"At the back dear."

"Great thanks," Sophie grabbed my hand forcefully dragging me away from the books. The shoe selection was small but varied. A pair of red stiletto's caught my eye but I felt they wouldn't be practical for a day of walking. I narrowed down my choices to a pair of yellow flip flops with large daisies attached to the toe straps and a pair of purple plaid flats both tagged at four dollars. I was weighing my choices when a familiar voice drifted over to us.

"Caroline will kill me if she realizes I am waiting until the day of the decade dance before looking for an outfit, so no I don't think it's wise that we call her for an opinion," Elena said to Bonnie as they stepped out of the small change room across from us.

Sophie's look of disgust that she had been wearing as she examined the other shoes was replaced by one of horror. I froze in place. Elena and Bonnie didn't even glance at us as they headed for the front door. As soon as the bell quit jingling from the exit I shakily sat down on the bench, Sophie joined me.

"I guess we know where we are in the time line," I said quietly.

"This is bad Lana."

The old lady at the counter saw our combined looks of distress.

"Are you having trouble deciding?" she asked misinterpreting our concern.

I realized she was waiting for an answer, "Yeah I only have enough for one pair. But they are both so cute," I said hoping that my tone was light and airy.

"How much do you have?" the lady asked.

"Five dollars."
"How about you just give me what you have and we'll call it even."

"What. Thank you so much," I said, my elation temporarily blocking out my worries.

We walked to the counter I handed her the flats as I slipped on the flip flops.

"Come back soon," the lady called as we walked out the door.

The sunshine blinded me as we stepped outside. I blinked rapidly trying to adjust.

"We need to talk," Sophie said seriously.

"About the sexy pants secret," I said.

"What? We agreed we were calling it the plan," Sophie huffed.

We headed back to the town square looking for a place where we could talk in private. We found a large tree off to one side and sat down under it.

"If the Decade Dance is tonight that means Klaus is here," Sophie cried.

I couldn't help that a small tingle climbed up my spine.

"What should we do? Do we help them with what we know or do we just steer clear of the school?" I asked.

"I don't know. If we try to change the events we will change the story and if that happens we won't know how to stay safe"

"Well I think we should at least try to push them in the right direction," I said.

"People can't know about us Lana. Can you imagine if Klaus found out what we knew he wouldn't hesitate to come after us," Sophie replied fear plain in her face.

I began to think about what would happen if we changed the story and who we could depend on in a crisis situation.

"Sophie I just had a brainwave! You will think we were dumb for not seeing the answer sooner. Damon," I said jubilantly.

"That is the stupidest idea you've had," Sophie scoffed.

"No think about it. Damon is all about his own self-interest and the man can keep a secret for ever if need be. We should go to the boarding house and put him on the right path. This way we can be sure of the outcome and keep our heads down until the current danger has passed."

I looked at Sophie eagerly.

"Go to the boarding house," Sophie sputtered.

I nodded.

"That is ridiculous and maybe the worst idea you ever had; even worse than pretending to be on the Titanic while we were on the ferry this morning," Sophie snapped.

"Alright I will go without you," I said.

"You don't even know where they live."

I looked around I spied a jogger moving towards us, I hailed him over.

"Sorry to stop you, could you give us directions to the Salvatore Boarding House?"
"Take the main exit on the west side of town and follow that road for about three miles. It's the only house out there so you can't miss it."

"Thank you kind sir," I said smugly.

I turned back to Sophie triumphant. The man ran around the corner and disappeared from sight.

"Well shall we?" I asked.

Sophie struggled to find the words she was looking for. Suddenly she lashed out punching me in the arm. I was shocked. Sophie was never one to get physical, she hadn't hurt me at all but I was stunned into silence for a few moments.

I stared at Sophie, by the expression on her face I deduced that I wasn't the only one surprised by the aggressive outburst.

"What was that for?" I demanded.

"Isn't it obvious? I am not going to the Salvatore's house and neither are you," Sophie exclaimed.

I took a deep breathe. All of this wasn't real! What was the worst that could happen?

"Fine if you aren't coming along, I will just leave you here," I announced as I turned and began walking across the square. As the distance between us grew I knew Sophie would be getting more stressed. I could picture the way she would wring her hands as she debated the pros and cons of staying safely in the town and her fear of being left alone. I was coming up to the edge of the road when I heard,

"Lana wait. I'm coming with you."