"So it's true then."

I glanced up from my textbook and towards the redheaded girl on Brooks' other side. She was glaring at me, her green cat eyes practically piercing into my soul.

"Uh... excuse me?" I looked at Brooks questioningly, but he was looking at the other girl too.

She rolled her eyes and clicked her  nails against the table top. "There were rumours that Savannah Silvers would be coming back to Beaufort High. I didn't think they were true."

I snapped my textbook shut and squinted at her. Beaufort wasn't that big of a place-- I swore I would've remembered someone with such striking features and a bad attitude. "Yeah, well, looks like you thought wrong."

The girl twirled a strand of hair around her finger and pursed her lips, before narrowing her eyes. "I'm surprised. The Savannah I remember never would have shown her face around here if she could help it. Wasn't she kind of, well, a loser?"

Wait, so we did know each other?

"Hey." Brooks shot her a sideways glance, his lips pressed into a thin line, but she ignored him and pressed on.

"What? I'm not saying you are now. It's cool that you're famous or whatever. I'm just saying I still remember when you were the dork with braces and acne. Tell me someone leaked those yearbook photos on the web, please."

"Cut it out, Elisha. Your voice is giving me a headache." Brooks quipped, beating me to the chase. Part of me was glad that he'd defended me, the other part wanted to scold him for fighting my battles for me. I wasn't that defenseless little girl anymore.

I gasped as all of a sudden the recognition set in. Elisha as in, hung out with the crowd that hated my guts for no reason, tripped me over in the hallway at least twice per day and once poured an entire bottle of coke over my head in the cafeteria Elisha?

The thought made me flush red with embarassment, but I forced myself to hold her gaze and keep my face blank. That's not you anymore, Savannah.

Just then the teacher-- a small, overweight, bald man-- waddled into class, mumbling a greeting before turning immediately to scribble a bunch of equations on the board. I pulled the cap off of my pen with my teeth and dated a clean sheet of paper.

There was something strangely soothing about solving a math problem. There was always a logical way to find a solution. There was almost always a clear answer.

"Aren't you, like, a Junior?" Elisha continued, peering over Brooks-- who was now leaning heavily on the desk with his eyes closed--so she could keep grilling me.

I rolled my eyes. Freaking hell, I hadn't met someone this annoying since that one paparazzi guy stalked me all day everyday for a week. All I wanted to do was go and eat pizza, but there he would be at the pizza parlour, waiting for me. The loser. Who dare deny a girl of her pizza?

"Yes. And your point is?"

"This class is even harder than twelfth grade math."

"Indeed it is." I hummed, only half paying attention. Where was this pointless conversation going?

Elisha opened her mouth to say something else, but Brooks cut her off before she could. "Would you two shut the hell up?" He groaned, laying his head back on the desk. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Senioritis much." Elisha grumbled, turning back to the problems on the board.

Brooks ignored her and settled down for two hours of slumber, content with the knowledge that his college early-acceptance letter was stuck to the fridge with a pretty little flower-shaped magnet holding it in place. I, however, actually needed to do well at school if I ever wanted to be able to convince my parents to let me go back to LA and film the fifth season of Scandalous.

I could practically hear my mother's conditions as if she were speaking them right in my ear. "You will live with Sarah and Lewis, attend school with Mia and Brooks, get good grades and do everything you possibly can to lay low until all of this blows over. I don't care how long it takes or how long we have to defer filming. You're getting far too out of control."

Far too out of control. What a joke.

"Is there a problem, Miss Silvers?"

I hadn't realized that the words had slipped out of my mouth until Mr Kent addressed me, one hand frozen in place on the board and his eyebrows raised.

I cleared my throat as 30 pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. Well if they hadn't noticed my presence before, now they sure had. "Uh, no, no problem here sir. Sorry for the disturbance." I said.

Kids snickered around me and I shrunk down into my seat, hiding my face in my hair. I snuck a glance over at Brooks, but he was fast asleep on the desk, and instead I caught Elisha's eye. She smirked smugly, and I looked away quickly.

Welcome to hell. Population: me.

***

When lunch finally rolled around a number of torturous hours later, I couldn't wait to sit down and attempt to revive my brain-dead mind.

I pushed open the double doors to the cafeteria and glanced around, ignoring the stares and hollers of the kids around me as I searched for Mia. I scanned the room for her familiar blonde head, finally spotting her a moment later sat in the corner next to Dallas, Brooks and another girl I didn't know.

"Yo it's Savannah Silvers!" Someone yelled from the opposite side of the room as I walked towards Mia's table. Simultaneously, everyone turned towards me.

A couple of girls attempted to approach me, but I smiled politely at them, waved and kept marching. By now, the majority of the people in the cafeteria had their cell phones out and were pointing them at me, but I kept my head low.

I slid into the space next to Mia, exhaling with relief. She gave me a grim look that was filled with understanding and pushed her tray towards me since I hadn't been able to buy any lunch of my own.

"Christ." The girl next to Brooks muttered, pulling her long black hair away from her face. "That happen to you often?"

I sighed, reaching up to shelter my face as a particularly adventurous boy wandered a few feet from our table with his phone in hand. "Pretty much."

I loved spending time with fans, I did. But there was a time and a place and the cafeteria at lunch was neither.

Something soft landed on my head whilst I wasn't paying attention, and I reached up to find that Brooks had placed his baseball cap over my hair. The brim was slightly too big for me, perfectly hiding my face from anyone standing in front of the table.

I glanced towards him to say thank you, but he didn't even look my way, choosing instead to continue eating like he hadn't even moved. The only evidence that the hat had even belonged to him was that his golden hair was slightly flatter than usual. As if on cue, he reached up to tousle the bronze locks back into their messy do.

"I'm Jazmin, by the way." The girl next to Brooks spoke, leaning over to shake my hand. "Most people call me Jaz."

I smiled. "Nice to meet you Jaz. I'm Savannah."

Jaz grinned mischievously. "Oh I know. Mia's only been talking about you coming back for the past, what? Month?" Jaz rolled her hazel-green eyes delicately, and Mia blushed.

"I have not!" Mia defended herself, flicking a stray piece of lettuce at her dark haired friend.

"Sorry, MiMi," Dallas chimed in for the first time, speaking through a mouthful of hamburger, "but I've got to agree with Jaz on this one. You haven't shut up about Savannah since you heard the news." He nudged her arm playfully, his gaze resting on her for a moment longer before flickering to me cheekily.

I laughed and picked at the fries on Mia's plate. Secretly, I was ecstatic that she had missed me. I'd missed her too. "Well I've been excited to see you too Mia. I really have missed you."

Mia stuck her tongue out at Jaz and Dallas in a 'told you so' manner, evoking laughter from them both.

I snuck a glance over at Brooks, watching as he stared out into the cafeteria, completely disengaged. Clearly his defensiveness of me in class was well over and now he was back to hating me.

"Oh my god." Mia suddenly whispered, pushing the tray closer to me and turning her face the other way.

I stared at her curiously. "Mia? What are you doing?"

Jaz let out a laugh and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Luke." Mia whispered through her fingers, which were currently covering her mouth.

I looked back at Jaz with confusion, who simply pointed towards the cafeteria door with a smirk. I turned, watching as a boy with a sleeve of tattoos down his left arm stalked towards us. He had the piercing blue eyes of a Siberian husky and a jaw line so sharp it almost matched Brooks'. Almost.

"Hey ladies. Brooks." The boy nodded towards Jaz, Mia and lastly Brooks, whose jaw ticked in response. Dallas rolled his eyes at the boy's obvious dismissal of him, his mouth turning up into a scowl. He scooted a little closer to Mia without even seeming to realize he was doing so.

Finally, the boy turned to me, his eyes running up and down the length of my body with intrigue before he offered me a grin. "I don't think we've met yet." He extended his hand, "You must be the infamous Savannah. I'm Luke."

I blinked. This was the boy Mia was so desperately in love with? I tried to catch Brooks' eye in concern. Tattoos and piercings didn't suggest that a person was trouble, but the way he was eyeing Mia and I as if we were objects did.

"Pleasure." I smiled quickly, ignoring his hand and turning back to my food.

Luke hesitated for a moment, obviously surprised by my lack of interest in him, before he leaned forward and placed both hands on the table in front of me, effectively stopping me from being able to leave if I wanted to.

My nose wrinkled in distaste before I could stop it.

"You know," He breathed, his face just inches away from mine, "my friends and I are going down to the lookout soon. Blow off sixth period and go for a drive. What do you say?" He asked me before he turned to glance at Mia, clearly wanting to invite her too. "You're invited too, gorgeous."

Before Mia could even register what Luke had said, Brooks stood up, his chair scraping against the linoleum floor. "I think it's time for you to go, Luke. I'm sure your friends are waiting for you at the lookout." Heat flashed behind his eyes as he stepped towards Luke, suddenly in protective mode. A moment of tension passed silently between the two boys as they stared at each other until, finally, Luke took a step away.

"Fine." He turned towards Mia. "I'll save you both a seat if you change your minds."

Offering Brooks one last glowering look, Luke retreated. A relieved sigh resounded around the table all at once.

"Well," Jaz said, "wasn't that fun."