STORY TITLE: DEATH OF A CHEERLEADER, the vampire diaries

STATUS: available

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PROTAGONIST: OC!Caroline Forbes 

FACE CLAIM: Candice Accola King

SEASON: One

LOVE INTEREST: tbd

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INSPIRATION FOR THIS FANFICTION

i have recently started re-reading l. j. smith's original 4 tvd books from 1991. it struck me just how similar book!elena is to show!caroline.

these quotes from the first book in particular:

(all credit to l. j. smith as these are direct quotes from 'the vampire diaries: the awakening'. some of them i have shortened for conciseness, but they still belong to her.)

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❝she didn't even glance at the mirror above the dresser; she knew what she'd see. elena gilbert, cool and blonde and slender, the fashion trendsetter, the high school senior, the girl every boy wanted and every girl wanted to be.❞

does this not give early season 1 caroline vibes?

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❝[elena] gave a little toss to her head, pulling the ribbon out of her hair so that it feel loose around her shoulders. without looking to either side, [stefan] moved on down the hallway.

he'd walked right by her, she thought, dazed. right by without a glance.

[...]

the shock still hadn't worn off.

he'd walked right by, without a glance. she couldn't remember how long it had been since a boy had done that. they all looked, at least. some whistled. some stopped to talk. some just stared. and that had always been fine with elena.

after all, what was more important than boys?

they were the mark of how popular you were, of how beautiful you were.❞

again, you cannot tell me this is not the mentality of 16-year-old caroline in season 1!

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book!elena also wants to find out everything she can about stefan, much like show!caroline.

❝"Frances! Come here."

Frances came eagerly, her plain face brightening.

"Listen, Frances, you remember that boy this morning? Well, I want his class schedule. Get it from the office if you can, or copy it from him if you have to. But do it!"

Frances looked surprised for a moment, then grinned and nodded.

[...]

"You know, you really are crazy," Meredith's voice said in her ear.

"What's the use of being queen of the school if you can't pull a little rank sometimes?" returned Elena calmly.❞

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❝Elena watched him as he went. He'd deliberately turned away from her. He'd snubbed her on purpose, and in front of Caroline, who'd been watching like a hawk. Tears burned in her eyes, but at that moment only one thought burned in her mind.

She'd have him, even if it killed her. If it killed both of them, she'd have him.❞

this scene must have been the inspiration for the back to school bonfire party where Stefan snubbed Caroline in front of Elena. right?!

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the premise of this fanfiction would be show!caroline forbes as the protagonist. it would be a season one re-write/au from caroline's perspective, using her show storyline but heavily inspired by book!elena too to allow for her perspective to be more fleshed out.

i would probably see this as being focused on caroline's pursuit of stefan, but with her still being kept in the dark about the supernatural. she would jump at the opportunity for damon to be her fake boyfriend to make stefan jealous. i would want to remove damon sleeping with caroline via compulsion as we all know that this is beyond wrong.

caroline is smart, i think that when asked 'and what would i get in exchange for being your fake boyfriend?' caroline would 100% offer her blood. it's a purely transactional relationship. caroline gets a hot older 'boyfriend' to make both stefan and elena jealous, and damon gets an all-access pass to the town's local events as her date.

book!damon was 22 years on when he was turned. i'm honestly not sure why the show changed this? show!damon acts so immaturely that it would make sense for him to be 20 or 21, not 25 lol.

thinking along the lines of twilight as well, the cullens all move to town and say they are younger than they are so that they can live there for longer.

it makes sense that stefan said he was 17, because that was the age elena was.

i would change show!damon's age to be turned at 21, or even younger tbh, but have him pose as 21 when he moves to mystic falls. this wouldn't change the actual plot too much as he could still drink at the grill etc but it would take away the extra creepy element of him being a 25-year-old appearance wise hanging around with 17/18 year olds.

a sibling age gap of 3-4 years would work better for stefan and damon

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