A/N: Got a couple new follows this morning which means we hit seven new follow since the last chapter, so here's chapter 11 as promised! I'll either update Thursday or if I can get another seven new follows or reviews. Thanks for the support xx

Song: Yeah

Artist: The Golden Dogs

I've hit the hard times, I'm off the course
The winds of change... are blowing with brute force
The load is getting heavy, back is gonna break
Starting to believe it's more than I could take
All of my decisions end up a mistake
No long term plans in my hands
Throwing my whole life on tape
With everything I wanna say
Listen up, My epitaph is screaming out

I walked out of Mr. Saltzman's classroom in search of Elena. I had no clue how I was going to tell her, or how she would take it. Hey what's up Elena, remember how we're both adopted? Well my birth father is your apparent douche nozzle of an Uncle. Yeah I've known for over six months. Just decided to bring it up since he showed up at your doorstep today.

Yes, I'm sure that will go over well. Truth be told, I wasn't even sure how I'd react if the roles were reversed. In the grand scheme of things, I hadn't known her that long. It hadn't even been a full month. Sure, we've told each other some major secrets in that time, but we've also kept some major secrets. Both of us.

I found Elena by her locker, talking to Matt. He was just walking off as I came up. I was surprised he even came to school today. Maybe he just wanted something to keep his mind off of things, like I did. I tapped Elena's shoulder, and she jumped when she turned around and saw me.

"Lucy oh my god!" She exclaimed. "Is everything okay? You ran off so quickly this morning."

"Actually . . ." I took a deep breath. "I kind of need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah sure, what's going on?" She asked.

I looked at all the students around us. "Not here. Let's go find somewhere more quiet."

She nodded, and we ducked into an empty classroom. We had about ten minutes until classes started, which should be enough time. I leaned against the teacher's desk, and sighed.

"What is it?" Elena looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Well . . . you know how I told you I tried to find my birth father?" I asked.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, you said you couldn't find him. Why, did you hear from him?"

"No. I mean . . . sort of. But no. There was more to it." I admitted.

I closed my eyes for a moment. I just kept seeing his face. There's no way to explain the feeling of seeing your birth father in person for the first time. Sure, I had the almost eighteen-year-old photo my parents had given me, but I hadn't even made the connection between the pictures and the present day John Gilbert until Elena had said his name.

Elena put her hand over mine. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"Did I ever tell you my parents were both from here?" I could already feel tears welling up in my eyes, and my breath was shaky.

"I think you may have mentioned it. Why? Lucy you're starting to scare me." Elena's voice trembled with worry.

"Well they were. They lived here until they adopted me, and then they left. Something about not wanting to have to cross paths with the birth family all the time, or something." I told her.

"Okay . . ." Elena nodded, clearly confused.

"The last address they could find for my birth father was still in Mystic Falls. His name is John Gilbert." I started crying.

"What? Oh my god." Elena gasped.

I searched her face for any sort of reaction. It was like her face had completely frozen. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth agape.

She finally broke the silence. "You're my . . . you're my cousin?"

I nodded. "I guess so."

"Oh my god." Elena stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of me. "Lucy, how could you not tell me this?"

"I didn't know how." I sniffed. "I met you that first day, and you clearly hated John and I didn't want you to hate me too."

"And you didn't think that it was something that maybe you should tell me at some point?" Elena raised her voice.

"I wanted to, but I just . . . I don't know." I wiped my face with my sleeve. "Elena, I'm sorry- I . . ."

"No don't." Elena cut me off. "You knew I just lost my parents, that my birth mother doesn't even want to talk to me, you didn't think that maybe I'd want to know that I have family that actually wants to be in my life?"

"Really Elena? It's not exactly an easy thing to bring up." I said. "Besides, you're not exactly the queen of being honest with me."

"Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" Elena crossed her arms.

"You refuse to tell me anything! About Damon, and Isobel, and Mr. Saltzman. Why didn't you just tell me that Damon was the last person to see Isobel before she went missing?" I asked.

Elena froze. "Who told you that?"

"Mr. Saltzman." I replied.

"Why were you talking to Mr. Saltzman about Damon?" Elena glared at me.

"Because you won't!" I yelled. "Because I wanted answers. About him. About the animal attacks. About those weird freaking rings they all wear. I just want to know what's going on!"

Elena held her hands to her head. "Lucy, tell me you did not ask Mr. Saltzman if vampires are real."

"I did." I nodded.

Elena shook her head. "Lucy, you promised me you would drop it. You can't just run around asking people things like that."

"Why, because they'll think I'm crazy? Because he didn't seem to think so. And I'm not the only one who's curious about them." I said.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked.

"Your little brother has been writing papers all about the mythology of Mystic Falls. Including vampires." I explained.

"Oh my god." Elena whispered.

"What Elena?" I shouted. "Why is it a big deal? If they aren't real, why does it matter?"

We were both staring each other down. I refused to blink first. If she wanted me to be honest with her, she had to do the same for me. It was very apparent she wasn't doing that right now. Whether it be vampires, or some other more logical explanation, she wasn't giving it to me.

"There you guys are!" A perky voice came from the doorway.

I turned my head to see Caroline practically skipping into the room. I attempted not to look incredibly annoyed at her presence. Now was not the time. Caroline looked back and forth between the two of us, and realized she had just walked into some drama.

"Woah, what's going on with you guys?" She asked.

"Lucy's my cousin." Elena said with a fake smile, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Woah, what? I mean I joke that you guys are basically twins, but that's awesome!" Caroline exclaimed. "Wait, so what's the problem?"

"Really Caroline?" Elena retorted. "You don't think it's a bit shady that she's known she's my cousin this entire time and she's just now telling me?"

I braced myself. In my short time here, I had managed to piss off Caroline on multiple occasions. Now she had the perfect opportunity to rail into me with full support from Elena. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"I mean . . ." Caroline paused. "Lucy's been here what, like a month? That would've been a huge thing to drop on you the first day she got here . . . it must be hard to bring up."

"What?" Elena was seething. "Are you seriously taking her side?"

"No no no. There aren't sides Elena. This is a good thing." Caroline explained. "You guys are cousins. You have a new family member now. I mean doesn't that explain why you guys became best friends practically the second she got here?"

Elena sighed and looked at me. "I guess it does."

"Exactly." Caroline said. "You guys are made to be friends."

Elena's expression softened a bit. Afraid that if I said anything it would piss her off again, I remained silent. I was shocked that Caroline was being such a mediator in this. I had expected her to literally link arms with Elena and tell me to turn in my cheerleading uniform and get out of town.

"I know exactly what can fix you two being mad at each other." Caroline said with a smile.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Shopping!" Caroline clapped her hands.

Elena and I both raised our eyebrows and looked at each other. I had to laugh at Caroline using our conflict to further her personal agenda of constantly wanting a new outfit. Thankfully, Elena saw the humor in the situation as well, and also let out a laugh.

"Come on you guys." Caroline pleaded. "The Founders Day kickoff is tomorrow and I don't have anything to wear. We can blow off school and make a day of it."

"My parents did say I could skip today." I looked at Elena for approval.

Elena rolled her eyes. "You'd better not make me try on anything pink."

Caroline squealed and clapped her hands again. I was relieved that she had talked Elena down. I was still upset that Elena was clearly hiding something from me, but I knew I had to let it go for the time being. Bringing up my vampire theory again was just going to give her an excuse to be mad at me. I'd just have to do research in my own time.

You gotta watch out, it'll tear you down

Find your weakest link and pull it, pull it out

Get inside your head and find your hidden lies

Twist you til your dripping, hang you out to dry

A pen without the ink, a storm without the eye there's no way out, no way out

Throwing my whole life on tape

With everything I wanna say

Listen up, my epitaph is screaming out

I was thumbing through a rack of dresses, trying to find something that was my style. Caroline already had an arm full of dresses, all of them equally lavish, embellished in some way. Elena had picked out a few dresses, and was standing off to the side making a phone call.

"So what's the deal with this town anyways?" I asked. "I mean, there's some sort of event like, every weekend."

"That's Carol Lockwood for you." Elena rolled her eyes.

"It's just because it's the months leading up to Founder's Day." Caroline explained. "But come on, isn't it fun? Who doesn't want an excuse for new clothes?"

"Yeah you're right." I laughed. "My closet here is pretty empty."

"Well then pick out some dresses silly!" Caroline said.

I shook my head and laughed. That girl would have me try on the whole store if she could. Elena had put her phone away and was walking back over to us. She looked worried, but I didn't want to question it in case she was just still made at me. Thankfully, Caroline wasn't built with the same filter.

"Is everything okay?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah I just can't get in touch with Stefan." Elena sighed.

"Again?" I raised my eyebrow. He seemed to disappear a lot.

"It's fine he probably just didn't get my message that we'd be here before he got to school. His phone's probably off." Elena tried to brush it off.

"Elena." Caroline whined. "You know he's going to show up here the second he checks his phone. This is supposed to be girl bonding!"

"I know, Caroline." Elena sighed again. "He's just going through some . . . stuff right now. I don't want him to be alone at school all day."

I thought about suggesting that she call Damon, but I knew that bringing up Damon right now would be like stepping on a landmine. This wasn't like Stefan though. Normally he was such a great boyfriend, and now he disappeared two days in a row? Did he know how much that worried Elena?

"Oh my god, Lucy." Caroline interrupted my thoughts with a squeal. "You have to try that one on."

In my absentmindedness, I hadn't even paid any attention to the dresses I was sorting through. I paused to look at the dress she was referring to; she was right, it really was pretty. It was an emerald green satin material, with an A-line skirt and spaghetti straps. It was my favorite color, and a classic cut without any sort of crazy embellishments, very my style.

I picked up the dress to try on, and Caroline shoved a few more into my hands without giving me the chance to protest. She dragged us both to the dressing rooms. There were only two, and Caroline and Elena had more to try on so I hung up my dresses on one of the hooks let them go first.

Knowing Caroline would come show me every single dress whether I liked it or not, I waited outside the changing room area. A few minutes later she came out, practically dragging Elena by the arm.

"What do you think?" Caroline asked, referring to the light blue dress she had on.

"It's . . . pretty." I replied.

"Ugh, just be honest and say you hate it." Caroline pouted.

"I don't hate it." I protested. "I just think it's . . . a lot."

It was a lot. The entire bodice was embellished with rhinestones, and the skirt was puffy tulle. It would gather a lot of attention, and it was definitely very Caroline, but it seemed more like something for a homecoming dance than a party that would be full of the town's most respected adults.

"Fine. That just means you get to watch me try on the others." Caroline smiled. "What about Elena's?"

Elena's dress had a similar tulle skirt to Caroline's but her dress was all black. It had a lace top, with lace long sleeves. Elena gave me a pleading glance, and I tried to hide my smirk.

"It doesn't look very Elena." I admitted.

"It's not very me." Elena shot a playful glare at Caroline, who nudged her back.

"Okay, okay." Caroline laughed. "We'll be right back."

I leaned against the wall, tapping my foot and looking around the store. Being midday, there weren't many customers in the store, but I still put my best efforts towards people watching. There was a frazzled looking mother, pushing a stroller with two sleeping children, a businessman on a call, and a guy that looked a lot like . . . Stefan?

"Stefan!" I called out, walking over to him. "Stefan what are you doing here? Elena's been calling you, she's worried about you."

"I texted her back and told her I would meet you guys here." Stefan noted the confused expression on my face. "And I take it my message didn't go through. Huh."

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine, why?" He replied quickly.

I scanned his face. "You just look . . . a little pale."

That was an understatement. He wasn't exactly a tanned person to begin with, but his face was sheet white currently. His forehead was a bit clammy too, and if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me he was shaking a bit.

"I had a bit of a headache when I woke up, maybe I'm getting a cold." Stefan shrugged. "Listen, can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah sure, what's up?" I was pretty sure that this conversation alone was practically more words than I had ever exchanged with Stefan in the time that I had known him, I was confused as to what he could possibly want to talk to me about.

Stefan looked over at the businessman a few feet from us. "Not here."

I looked over at the entrance to the dressing room area, figuring that Caroline and Elena would be out by now, but there was no one there. I followed Stefan over to a corned of the store, figuring it wouldn't be long. Stefan crossed his arms and sighed.

I looked at the ring on his finger, and remember my theory on the rings he, Damon, and Mr. Saltzman wore. I scanned the store, looking for witnesses. I knew I was being ridiculous but . . . something was off about him and his brother.

"Are you okay? You look nervous." Stefan asked.

Apparently it showed on my face. "Yeah I'm fine. I just . . ."

"Think I'm a vampire?" Stefan chuckled.

"I . . . what?" I was shocked. Elena had told him? She seemed to want to keep that theory very under wraps.

He laughed again. "Yeah, Elena told me. Don't worry; I don't think you're crazy. But that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Why so?" I eyed him, trying not to let on how terrified I was in that moment.

"Listen, Elena would never tell you this because she doesn't want to disrespect her parent's memory but . . ." He trailed off. "Her parents were very into the whole supernatural history of the town. They were so certain that vampires were real that they tried to convince the entire Founders Council. Understandably, it was a little embarrassing for them. Elena's worried that the same thing is going to happen to you and Jeremy."

"Wow." I mumbled. "I had no idea."

"She doesn't really talk about them much." Stefan said.

"But why are there so many stories about he supernatural in this town?" I asked. "Clearly I'm not the only one who's been wrapped up in it, there has to be some substance there."

"You have to understand, the whole vampire thing happened during a very different era." Stefan explained. "I mean, it was a time where people were burned alive for allegedly being witches. People just didn't have the same knowledge we do today, they created these stories to make up for bad things they couldn't explain."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I don't know it just seems so . . . fitting."

Stefan chuckled. "Well they did name the town Mystic Falls. It's a bit of a let down that it's not actually haunted."

As much as I didn't want to believe him, what he was saying actually made sense. I felt guilty for pressing something that would bring up such a bad memory of Elena's parents. She not only had to deal with me, but Jeremy too. That must be hard for her.

"Listen, I hope you can understand that I'd rather you not tell her I told you." Stefan looked me in the eye. "For her sake, stop your research on vampires, and don't bring it up to Elena again."

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked. His pupils had grown and shrunk really quickly. "Your eyes look weird."

Stefan wiped his eye, and looked back at me, confused. "Uh, yeah. Must just have a piece of dust or something . . ."

"If this conversation is just between us," I started. "Why do you guys hate Damon so much?"

Stefan sighed. "Damon has a long history of not doing the right thing. He wasn't always like that. But he has been . . ."

"Ever since Katherine." I filled in the gaps.

"Ever since Katherine." Stefan confirmed.

"Are you sure that's the only reason Elena doesn't want me talking to Damon?" I asked.

"Why would you say that?" Stefan replied.

I shrugged. "I don't know, she just seems sort of . . . possessive of him, or something. Like she doesn't want anyone going near him."

Stefan nodded. "Just trust that there are things that happened before you got here that are a lot for either of us to talk about. You should stay away from Damon."

I looked at Stefan. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Stefan sighed, and looked away from me. He just seemed off, really pale and his eyes kept like, twitching or something. I wondered if he should even be here right now.

"Lucy?" Elena's voice called out. She and Caroline appeared from around the corner. "There you are. Stefan? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"I told you'd I'd join you in playing hooky, but apparently it didn't go through." Stefan said.

"I told you." Caroline looked annoyed with Elena for a moment, but then went back to smiling. "Lucy, we think we found our dresses. What do you think?"

I looked at the two of them. Elena had on a black dress with a shiny jacquard fabric. It had simple tank top sleeves, and a slight v cut in the chest. Caroline's dress was a peachy pink fabric, with a semi sweetheart neckline, and had beautiful flowers embellished into the lace.

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you definitely found your dresses."

Caroline clapped. "Yay! Now you get to try yours on."

I moaned with fake disdain as Caroline dragged me back to the dressing rooms. Stefan whispered something to Elena, and she hugged him and mouthed something back. I wondered if she also noticed that something was off with him, she had to, right?

I tried the green dress on first, because it was my favorite. It was a perfect fit. I absolutely loved the way the thin straps sat on my shoulders, and the way the deep neckline showed just enough skin to be seductive but still classy. The fabric was incredibly soft, and the emerald green color would go perfectly with my necklace.

Remembering that I had tucked my necklace in my pocket earlier, I got it out and put it on. It looked absolutely perfect with the dress. I stepped out to show Caroline and Elena. The noise Caroline made definitely almost blew out an eardrum.

"Oh my god I love it!" Caroline squealed. "Elena?"

"Your necklace." Elena said. "You found it."

I forced a laugh. "Oh yeah, apparently it was in my pocket the whole time. I forgot I put it there when I took it off last night."

Elena and Stefan exchanged glances, I couldn't read their faces. Elena nodded and forced a smile. "The dress looks really pretty."

"It looks so pretty." Caroline agreed. "What shoes are you going to wear?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Nothing too crazy. I don't want to fall again."

"I have some cute black heels you can borrow, they aren't too high. You're an eight, right?" Elena offered.

"Yeah, I am." I smiled. "Thanks Elena."

"If you want to try the other ones on just for fun . . ." Caroline suggested hopefully.

Elena and I both looked at Caroline, and I shook my head. She sighed, and I returned to the dressing room to change. We headed to the cashier, and out of the store, ready for whatever was next in our day of no school.

This is the last chance to put it down

To get it all just right to get that... to get that sound

High, high above the doubt

Loud, louder than the worry

Deep, into all the places no ones ever been

A/N: Here are pinterest links for the girls' dresses, since I know some people like outfit visuals and they'll be wearing them again in the next chapter. (Just type pinterest dot com and then copy and paste at the end) XO, Eden.

Caroline's dress: /fh4kglsc6j3lgt

Elena's Dress: (it's the one from the episode) /fh4kglsc6j3lgt

Lucy's Dress: /frymu4vauz42b4