School the next day was brutal. I was jumpy and jittery, startling at the slightest noise and always looking over my shoulder. As I walked to second period, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a classroom window, and I grimaced.

My eyes were swollen and red from crying, and dark shadows hung beneath them from lack of sleep. The few hours of sleep I'd had were shallow and restless, and even those I had only gotten after sneaking into Brooks' room at 1am. I remembered how he had opened up his bare arms for me without question when I appeared in his doorway at the ungodly hour, his eyelids heavy as he wrapped me in his warmth. I longed to feel that comfort again, but I wouldn't see Brooks until lunch today.

To make matters worse, South Carolina was forecast to be struck by the worst winter storm in over ten years. It wasn't meant to hit us for another day or two, but as the black clouds had started to roll in from the ocean, so too had a buzz of mania around the school. The added atmosphere of anxiety and excitement did little to calm my nerves.

So, as I waited for lunch time to approach, I went about my day with as much caution as possible. I had dressed in black jeans and a huge grey hoodie that hid most of my body, trying to remain inconspicuous. I made it through my morning classes with my head down and my hair covering my face, paranoid that if I lifted my gaze, Luke or whoever it was would take their photographs and see my look of fear in them.

It wasn't so much the photos— sickening as they were— that scared me, but what those photos represented. If someone could be there watching every second of my life play out, then who knew what else they were capable of... or what else they wanted from me aside from keepsakes of my day.

And then there were the most vulnerable photos, the ones where I was half-dressed, or completely naked getting out of the shower. I had been making a conscious effort to keep the inside of the McCormack house as private as possible, yet there were still photos that made me feel sick to my stomach.

I was waiting for Brooks to suggest that we go to the police again, but I just couldn't. Even though I'd done nothing wrong, someone would see me leaving the station, take a photo and post it online, and then a thousand stories about what kind of trouble I'd gotten into would be all over the web.

When lunch finally did roll around, I had to stop myself from sprinting to the cafeteria.

"Hey Savannah." A voice spoke up from next to me as I made my way through the hallway, making me jump. I turned and saw Travis standing next to me, his face lit up with a smile.

"Oh." I breathed. "Hey Travis."

"You on your way to lunch?"

I nodded in response, feeling a jolt of ease now that I was back with a somewhat familiar and friendly face. "Yeah. Wanna walk with me?"

Travis grinned eagerly, his big blue eyes gleaming as he launched into conversation about how his day was going and how he couldn't wait to eat lunch because he'd been running late this morning and had skipped breakfast. I listened obediently, adding an appropriate nod or 'really?' where necessary.

"Damn and then there's this dance thing coming up— the Sadie Hawkins one." Travis mused as he ran a hand through his messy dark hair. "How am I supposed to find a date when I'm the new kid?"

I offered him a sympathetic smile, though I didn't respond. What could I say? I'll go ask some random girl to ask you?

That seemed weird, even to me.

I was just about to enter the cafeteria, Travis still on my arm, when a flash of bronze caught my eye through the window that overlooked the courtyard. I squinted, pausing with my hand still on the door handle as I tried to decipher whether my eyes were playing tricks on me.

But no, there it was again-- a sliver of short, shiny, bronzey hair that could only belong to one person. I let go of the door handle and stepped closer to the window, raising my hand to shield my face from the sun. Half covered by the bricked corner, I could just make out the back of Brooks' body. He was moving his hands animatedly, clearly talking to someone, but it wasn't until he shifted slightly to the left that the person he was talking to was revealed.

"Son of a..." I dropped my hands from my face and turned towards the cafeteria, marching straight through the abundance of kids towards the back exit. Travis trailed behind me, calling out my name in confusion, but I didn't stop for him.

I walked straight past Dallas, Jaz and Mia until I reached the courtyard. When I reached Brooks and Luke, they were talking heatedly, but their voices were suprisingly low.

"How many times do I have to tell you, jackass, that it's not me? I don't take compromising photos of girls, unlike you." Luke spat out from between gritted teeth, his arms crossed over his chest.

They were staring each other down, hard brown eyes against pale blue.

"I guess I just find it a little hard to believe that this isn't one of your sick ways to get back at me. First you tried to mess with Mia and when that didn't work, you moved on to Savannah right? Polaroid photos are the same way I supposedly took photos of Demi." Brooks shot back without hesitation. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. The photos that had been sent around of Demi— that she had accused Brooks of sending— had been polaroids?

Luke suddenly charged forward, shoving Brooks into the wall behind him. I released the breath I hadn't known I was holding and decided that now would be a good time to step in.

"Stop that!" I yelled, throwing myself at Luke and attempting to pull him off Brooks. Luke shook me off like I was a mosquito, so I changed tactics.

"Luke," I pleaded gently, but he didn't even flinch, not seeming to have heard me at all.

"You're a son of a bitch, McCormack. After what you did to my sister, how you ruined her life, you deserve to have your ass kicked a million times over and even that wouldn't be punishment enough." Luke snarled, his face just inches from Brooks'. Brooks' expression remained calm though, and he watched Luke blankly.

"She was a mess for months after what you did. Could barely show her face in public. You really think I'd do the same thing to some other unsuspecting girl?" Luke continued, his voice a mixture of menacing and incredulous. "I admit, I went after Mia at first because I thought she was fair game.. an easy way to taunt you after what you did. But I would never have hurt her. I just wanted you to feel as helpless as I did, to watch as something happened to someone you cared about that you could do nothing to stop. I didn't do anything to Mia just like I didn't do anything to Savannah. So leave me the fuck alone."

I watched, my mouth hanging open in surprise, as Luke ranted to Brooks. Brooks didn't even try to defend himself, instead continuing to watch Luke with the same smooth, blank expression. Even after Luke had finally let go and walked past us both, sneering at me on his way out, Brooks didn't say anything.

It was me who broke the silence, letting out a whoosh of air. "Do you... do you believe him?"

Brooks turned to me slowly, his eyes searching my face before settling on mine. "It's too much of a coincidence, Savannah. The polaroids— they have to be him."

I agreed with him that the coincidence was too much, but I also couldn't shake the feeling that Luke was telling truth about his involvement with my situation. He had seemed so... real. His flirty, couldn't-care-less-about-the-world demeanour had all but evaporated, and he went into the same protective mode when talking about Demi that Brooks did when he was discussing Mia.

Maybe that was why part of me believed that he was telling the truth.

And as I thought about Demi and Luke, that was when it hit me— how we could find out the truth for real. I turned to Brooks with my eyebrows raised.

"I think I might know a way to find our answers. How would you feel about a little road trip?"