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Chapter Six: Cassidy

I ran all the way home.

Well, first I searched for Rosie again but I still didn't find the red-headed girl. So I gave up and then ran all the way home.

Now I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, playing the recent events that had occurred just hours before. My head was spinning from all the different thoughts that scattered my brain. All the different theories I had for Brandon's unusual behavior. It was possible that he had just had a severe case of a bipolar disorder, and as much as I wanted to believe that, I still had a vigorous feeling that that was not the case. It wasn't just the instant change of his emotions, it was the feeling that came along with it. As soon as that sudden change happened I knew that something was very wrong.

His light blue eyes turned into a dark sea blue when he held me against the wall, trapped me. And I knew that it was no mental disorder or whatever it was humans could get that caused it. Whatever caused Brandon to behave the way he did was something much more dangerous then anything like that.

And was it just a loss of focus that made me unable to read his mind, or was it something much more serious then that? I had no idea.

Deciding to give my brain a break from my wondering thoughts, I headed downstairs to the living room but stopped halfway down when I heard the sound of the doorbell. "I'll get it!" I called to my parents, but then realized that they were gone hunting.

I speed walked to the front door and pulled it open, only to be greeted by Brandon's expressionless face. He stood tall in my doorway, the sight of his face made today's incident replay in my head instantly. I wanted to run. To slam the door in his face and run. That feeling of complete and utter fear was forming in my body. The feeling that came along every time I laid eyes on his mysterious yet rather intriguing face.

Wait. Did I really just think of his face as intriguing?

"What? So no hello?" Brandon's snarky tone interrupted my thoughts.

"Um...hi," I practically whispered. Jerk. My subconscious quietly added, and I couldn't agree with her more.

Silence. Nothing but the hushed whistles of the wind outside.

Come on Cassidy say something!

I decided to obey my controlling inner-self. "So," I began, crossing my arms, hoping that that would make me look more confident. "What exactly are you doing here?"

He stood up straight and raked his eyes across my body, making my shyness awaken.

"I came to return this." He pushed his hand into his sweatshirt pocket and held up a silver chain with a small circle with a ruby red dot in the middle of it. Silver lines joined the two circles together. It was my necklace. The symbol was thee official symbol of the entire vampire kind. My grandma had given it to me as a gift for my sixteenth birthday.

Now, the question was: When had I lost it?

And, how did he get it?

"How-," but he of course cut me off.

"I found it lying on the ground outside of the school. You must have dropped it or something."

I reached out and grasped the delicate chain in my hand. "How did you know it was mine?"

He shrugged. "I've seen you enough to know."

What? Did he really look at me that often to know the physical characteristics of my most precious item?

I examined the string of silver and came to realize that it was split in half. It was broken. Broken. Then it hit me. When Brandon had pinned me against the school he must have torn it from my neck. It must have been him. There's nothing else that had happened that day that would have lead to my necklace being ripped off.

Without even thinking I blurted the words out. "You broke it."

"What?" He leaned over, looking down at the fractured chain. "I didn't do that. I found it like that."

Liar.

Rage had taken over my body. "It must had happened when you had me pinned against the school wall." I could hear the noise level of my voice raising as each word left my mouth.

He looked stunned. Looked as if he didn't have the slightest idea of what I was talking about. And his next words were the answer to my assumption. "What the hell are you talking about, Cassidy?"

"Oh don't even think about pulling that card, Brandon. You know exactly what I am talking about." Not only the words, but the tone of my voice took me by surprise. I'd always been the girl who was weak. The girl who had no confidence in herself whatsoever. The quiet goody-good.

"Again. What the actual hell are you talking about." He couldn't have been serious. Did he really not remember what he had done?

"So you're telling me that you don't remember what happened after school today?" I tried to stay calm as I asked him this.

"Yeah. I went to soccer practice," He said. And technically he was telling the truth, but it was still only half of it.

I shook my head in disbelief and then put all my focus on to him. It was time I found out for myself. I focused on getting into his mind. I was basically staring at him, but at that point I didn't care. I had to know if what he had said was the truth or just a stupid fib. But I shouldn't have had to put as much attention on him as I did. That wasn't what I had needed to do with all of the other kids at school today. For them all I had to do was literally look at them and I was able to read their most precious thoughts, but with Brandon all I got was a blank space.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Brandon suddenly asked and my eyes almost immediately left his face.

Nothing. Not a thought to be seen; to be read. He had locked me out of his head. And I had no idea how.

"I can't believe you don't remember," I said under my breath but he heard me.

"Look, I came here to return your necklace not for you to tell me some ridiculous lie. I'm leaving." he turned and marched down the deck stairs, leaving me, once again, speechless on my front porch.