Hey! Here's chapter 11! Lots of thanks to all my reviewers, I love you all!! hehe. R&R.

I was wrong. I did get used to it, after about a week. Eventually, I got to the point where Cassie answering mine and the other's thoughts was just natural. I even talked to her mentally a few times, being too lazy to use my mouth.

It's also been 5 days since I had that 'back spasm', and so far nothing like that has happened. Though, ever since then, I've had a non-stop headache. It was very annoying and frustrating before, but by Wednesday I was used to it, and ignored it. I didn't mention this to anybody, I had no clue what was going on with me, and I didn't think it mattered much. But, of course, Cassie probably knew something was up with me, though she hasn't mentioned it to me or anybody else.

At least, until this morning.

Cassie skipped up to me on Friday morning before school, happy as she always is. I was just getting out of my Camaro, taking the keys out of the ignition and shoving them in my purse.

"Hey, Holly!" She exclaimed hugging me.

"Hi, Cassie," I said, pulling away and grinning at her. I turned back around to duck into my car and get my text books from the passenger's seat.

"Can we talk?" She sounded serious. She's never serious. This made me stop what I was doing and straighten up, facing her fully.

"Of course," I told her, my brows furrowed in confusion. There must be something wrong. Is it Derrick? I started to panic.

"No, no. Calm down. Derrick's fine, he's walking with Jason," Cassie said gesturing to the two vampires who were walking into to the school talking. Derrick turned around briefly, smiling brightly at me. I smiled back before turning to Cassie again.

"What is it, then?"

She hesitated, "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.

"Um, ye-" I started, she cut me off.

"I can still read your mind, Holly," Cassie said sternly, "And it's... hurt, lately, to go into your mind."

"What do you mean?" I asked, worried. Why would it hurt for her to read my mind?

"It's like, every time I do, I get this horrible headache," she said, wincing.

When she said that, I suddenly became conscious of my killer headache, and I cringed slightly, putting my hands up to my temples.

"Holly?"

"Y-yeah. I think I know why," I told her, "I've had this... headache, it's been bothering me a lot."

She nodded, "You've had it ever since that spasm." It wasn't a question.

I almost asked her how she knew that, but then remembered. "Yeah. I don't know what's wrong."

"It reminds me of..." she trailed off.

"What?"

"It's not even possible, you weren't bitten," she said, shrugging it off.

Derrick had never told any of them that I was bitten, I didn't know why, but he had his reasons. I tried desperately tried to not think what I wanted to think, I tried shoving other thoughts to the front of my mind so she wouldn't hear it. I had to get away from her.

"Yeah, um, I wasn't, I'm probably just getting sick, but Cassie, I'm gonna be late for class, so uh, see you later," I waved slightly and speed-walked away from her. I learned her range of reading minds is 100ft. Thank God our home rooms were so far apart. I slowed down as I neared my classroom, the halls were almost empty, the only people left were the skippers or regularly late people. I realized I had forgotten my text books in my car and sighed. Too late for that now. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and slipped in right as the late bell rang.

For the rest of the day I couldn't focus on any of my classes. Ever since Cassie had reminded me of my headache, all I'd done was sit there, looking like I was paying attention, and rubbing my temples. Of course even that didn't soothe the pain. I would've taken the Advil in my purse, but I had learned quickly that medicine had absolutely so effect on it.

All the thinking I did didn't help either. What had my spasm and headache reminded Cassie of? And what did it have to do with being bitten? Was it some side effect? The questions never ended.

At lunch I sat with Derrick, Cassie, and Jason again, as I had all week. I glanced up at Nick and Emily, who were sitting at their table. Nick sent me a deadly look, and I glared at him. I wasn't even sad about it anymore. I was just pissed off. Why couldn't he just accept I was friends with Derrick, and get over it?

I ripped my gaze away from him and focused on Derrick instead. He was so gorgeous. And nice. And funny. And perfect. I didn't even refrain from thinking these things because of Cassie anymore. She knew what I thought.

I was falling for Derrick.

He's everything I ever wanted in a guy. He was a perfect gentleman. I could hold an intelligent conversation with him. And also, he didn't agree with everything I said. Yes, I liked that. I liked that he had his own opinions, and that he wasn't afraid to share them.

I felt someone nudge my shoulder and I looked up into his beautiful golden eyes. Derrick smiled, and mouthed something to me. Why didn't he just say it aloud?

I shook my head, saying I didn't understand, "What?"

Wait. I didn't hear myself say it. Maybe I didn't say it. So I repeated it, "What?" Again, nothing. Derrick gave me a confused look and said something again, I didn't hear it. I looked around the cafeteria, at all the students, their mouths moving, but I heard no sound. The bell must've rung, because people started getting up to leave.

The silence was deafening.

I kept the panic off my face, trying not to let anybody see that something was wrong. How had I gone deaf in just a few seconds of my life? What happened?

Suddenly sound hit me like a giant, painful wave. The bell rang so loud. The departing students were screaming. The chairs being scraped across the floor were completely deafening.

I heard everything, a hundred times louder. It was overwhelming. So, I fainted.

When I woke up, my ears were ringing terribly, my head hurt worse than it ever had this week, and there were 3 vampires standing over me. I realized I was laying on the cafeteria floor. I must've fallen out of my chair. I sat up on my elbows, making the painful ringing increase. I winced and looked around. The huge room was empty, we were the only ones in it.

"What happened?" I asked groggily.

"You fainted," Jason said. And then it all came back. I went deaf. Even if it was for only a minute, I went deaf, and then... ouch. I don't even want to think about it. And it's a good thing I didn't cause Cassie was listening to my thoughts with a furrowed brow.

"I need to get my ears checked," I told her, trying to cover it up, "They must be infected or something. And, with this headache... I guess it was too much."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Derrick asked.

I smiled at them reassuringly, "Yeah, like I told Cassie this morning, I'm probably just getting sick."

With that, I got up and started walking towards the door, waving as I went, "Better get to class," I told them.

I started running, not wanting to be asked anymore questions, or for Cassie to hear my thoughts. I ran into the girl's bathroom and slid down and sat against the wall with my head in my hands. It hurt so much. Like someone beat my head with a hammer a million times. I dug in my purse and retrieved the Advil, swallowing a few pills, just for the heck of it. Of course, it didn't help. My ears were still ringing slightly, the pain of all that intensified sound at once made me dizzy just thinking about it.

What's happening to me?

Ooh. What is going on?? Sorry the chapter was kinda short, I promise I'll try to make it longer next time.