As I lay in bed the next morning, watching the second hand on the clock tick by, I knew I was going to be in for a killer of a day.

School on set of Scandalous was bad enough, public school were words not even in my vocabulary. I had begged and pleaded with my parents to just let me be homeschooled instead, cranking up the complaints about how I would hardly get any learning done with everybody asking for photos and autographs. They had just brushed my concerns off though, claiming that normalcy was exactly what I needed right now.

I couldn't help the niggling thought that stuck to the back of my mind like glue. What if they were there? I knew they'd been expelled, I'd made sure of it. And besides, even if they hadn't, I was Savannah freaking Silvers. They couldn't touch me anymore.

"Savannah, honey, are you dressed? You don't want to be late!" Sarah called out, and, seeing that I couldn't stall any longer, I pushed myself out of the warmth and over to my closet.

I ran my hands along the fabric of a few of my favorite shirts. If I was going to be forced to go to school, I could at least make myself feel and look good. Having showered last night, I threw on a maroon Burberry cashmere sweater , a pair of black tights and some knee-high boots, wrapping a cream scarf around my neck for good measure. I finished off the look with a pair of gold hoop earrings before heading to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

A few minutes later Mia came barrelling into the bathroom, thrusting a protein bar in my face. "Brooks said..." she wheezed breathlessly, "he'd take us... to school... if we're downstairs in three seconds."

I spat the remaining toothpaste out of my mouth and pulled my Coach bag over my shoulder, offering Mia a salute. "Ready." I informed her, and we sprinted to the front door.

Brooks was leaning nonchalantly against the wall, twirling his car keys around his fingers. I froze in place for a moment, watching him apprehensively. Today he was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a plain black t-shirt. How was it possible for someone to look so good in something so simple?

Brooks' dark eyes flashed to mine, and I looked away quickly. Gazing into those warm eyes made me feel like a little kid again- like I would melt into the floor at any second.

"We better get going." Brooks mumbled quietly, hiking his backpack over one shoulder. I followed the two siblings out onto the street where Brooks' car was parked and clambered into the back seat.

"Are we picking up Dallas on the way?" Mia asked conversationally, and Brooks gave a grunt of what I could only assume was confirmation. Mia flipped down her sun visor and used the mirror to meet my gaze.

"Dallas is Brooks' best friend." She explained, digging through her backpack and retrieving a tube of lipstick a moment later. "You might remember him actually! He was really short back then, had kind of this weird frizzy blonde hair and braces. He always used to try and lock us in mom's car when he came over?" She rolled her blue eyes daintily.

I ran my tongue over my teeth thoughtfully. "Dallas O'Laughlan? Oh yeah I remember him! Surprised he's still around- he always struck me as the type of kid who'd be expelled for throwing water bombs at the teachers or something." I laughed, only just able to conjure up a mental image of the tiny fourteen year old.

Mia snorted and puckered her newly-red lips into the mirror. "Tell me about it. He's actually going to Duke next year, so apparently there are some redeeming qualities in him."

Brooks, who was as silent as ever, pulled up outside a modest yellow house covered in pot plants. He sounded the horn once, and a few moments later a tall boy came running outside towards us, tripping over his untied shoelace in the process.

He yanked the car door open and all but threw himself inside, breathing as heavily as if he'd been running a marathon.

"Hey Dallas." Mia chirped and offered him a small wave.

"Hey Mia, hey Brooks," he turned to me with wide eyes, as if we had never met before, "hey teen superstar Savannah Silvers."

I caught Mia's eye in the mirror again as we both struggled to hold in a laugh.

"Just 'Savannah' is still fine, Dallas."

"Right. Of course. Hi teen superstar Just Savannah." He corrected with a flirtatious wink. 

I rubbed my hands on the sides of my tights, instantly relaxing into my seat. I had never been very close to Dallas before I left-- he had always just been Brooks' friend and an occasional extra at our table, but he had an easy going presence about him that made me instantly like him. 

"My little sister Katie is pretty much obsessed with you." Dallas continued, "She's seen every season of Scandalous and she can't believe that someone 'as cool as Savannah Silvers' is actually from Beaufort. She also doesn't believe that I know you."

I smiled. I met people in the industry everyday who gushed over how much they loved my work but in reality didn't know a single thing about it. Our fanbase, on the other hand, were the most amazing, supportive people you could ever hope to meet. I literally owed my career- my life- to the fans.

"Well maybe I could meet her sometime." I suggested, knowing that even though I'd known Dallas forever, I'd never been been able to talk to his sister before.

Dallas froze, and even Brooks' hand reaching for the stick shift faltered for a split second. "You'd really want to meet an eleven year old?" Dallas asked, his eyebrows shooting up so high I thought that they'd blend into his hair line.

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Aside from the fact that Scandalous was aimed at teenagers over the age of fifteen, that is. But who was I to deny the eleven year olds of quality television?

Dallas grinned the biggest, goofiest smile I'd ever seen. "You're really something, you know that, Savannah Silvers." He leaned over to ruffle my hair playfully.

I slapped him away gently. "Are you going to keep calling my by my whole name? Because it just gets weirder every time you do it."

Dallas opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he was going to say was lost forever when Brooks interjected, "It's basically just a brand name now anyway, Dal. Used, abused and exploited for money."

The car went silent. I glared at him through the rearview mirror, wondering why on Earth that seemed like a necessary comment to make.

Sensing the tension, Mia suddenly started chatting idly about the teachers she didn't like and who was dating who, filling me in on all the gossip I'd missed since I'd been away.

My mind wandered, unable to pay attention to what she was saying. Brooks' words whirled around in my mind. Used, abused and exploited. Is that how he saw me? As someone who only cared about how many zeroes were at the end of my pay check? Who would do anything for publicity, even if it meant tarnishing my reputation?

I turned to look out of the window, feeling my pulse race.

He could think whatever the hell he wanted-- that didn't make it true.

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