A/N: Demi (portrayed by Aimee Teegarden) pictured above!! :)

There was a break in the storm less than an hour after Brooks and I arrived at the diner, which we used as our opportunity to scram. It took us another hour to reach St. Elise's Boarding School for Girls via the alternative route, and when we finally got there I felt like I'd been travelling all day.

"Man I feel like a mess." I flipped down the sun visor to check my reflection in the mirror, but quickly slammed it shut. "Oh great! And I look even worse." I cheered sarcastically, smoothing back my unruly damp hair.

Brooks rolled his eyes at me and cut the engine, pushing open the car door. "You look great, as always."

He didn't wait for me to respond before he jumped outside, leaning against the car as he waited for me to do the same. I threw my bag over my shoulder and waddled out of the car, my damp clothes sticking to the seat.

Brooks gave me an apprehensive look, his head tilted to one side. "Ready?" He leaned over and pulled the hood on my borrowed hoodie over my hair. It took me a second to realize that he was making me more inconspicuous.

I smiled and smoothed down my jeans. "Yep. You?"

Brooks nodded grimly, looking like he'd rather lay in a bath of live insects than go inside. I walked towards him and reached out to grab his hand, squeezing it gently in the hopes that I could convey how grateful I was for him.

I took a deep breath as we marched up the stairs, hand in hand, and into the ancient building.

St. Elise's was one of the oldest buildings around here, and was so prestigious and elite (read: expensive) that you practically had to sell an unborn child to get in. I was sure that my parents would have loved to send me here as a kid to get me off their hands, had we had the money back then.

"Do you know her room number?" I whispered under my breath, careful not to catch the attention of the receptionist behind a huge oak desk. The last thing we needed was to get kicked out for being after hours visitors. Brooks nodded once, towing me towards the elevators at the end of the hall.

"How did you get it?" I asked in a hushed voice.

He grimaced, his nose wrinkling adorably as he avoided my gaze. "Long story." He muttered before pressing the button to bring the elevator to our level. We rode in silence up to the third floor, and I could practically feel the waves of tension rolling off him.

By the time Brooks stopped in front of room 309, his jaw was clenched so tightly I worried that he was going to crush his molars.

"Hey," I stopped him gently, placing my hand on his arm. He glanced at me cautiously, nervously.

"We don't have to do this, Brooks. We can turn around and go home right now and you'll never have to see her again." As I spoke the words, I found myself meaning them too. It didn't matter that we'd practically had to jump through hoops to get here; if Brooks didn't want to do this, then we would leave. Nothing was more important than him.

The thought sent a jolt through me. When had Brooks become my priority?

Brooks let out a breath of air, his body finally relaxing a little as he smiled down at me softly. Instead of replying, he let go of my hand and reached up to knock quietly on the wooden door.

There was shuffling on the other side of the wood and then, a moment later, the door swung open. In front of us stood a girl with chin-length black hair, and the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen. She chewed a strip of gum aggressively as she gave us both a once over.

"Hello. You must be Francesca. I'm Brooks... we talked on the phone yesterday?" Brooks introduced himself, offering his hand. I wondered briefly how Brooks and the girl had already had a phone conversation, but I kept my mouth shut. The girl stared at Brooks' hand distastefully, turning her nose up.

"Yup that's me. And I know who you are. You're looking for Demi, right?" The girl— Francesca— asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Her huge eyes flickered to me, and she chewed her gum even more loudly when I gave her a small smile.

"Yes. Is she here?" Brooks asked.

Francesca nodded her head towards the inside of the dorm room and stepped back so that the door was completely open. "She's in her room. I'll get her for you."

"Thank you."

Francesca disappeared off somewhere while I followed Brooks into the room, which was more basic than I would have expected for a school like St. Elise's. The walls were white and bare, and a couch and television occupied most of the room. In the corner was a small work station with a desk and a lamp, but otherwise there wasn't much to see.

I sat on the arm of the couch, waiting for Demi to show up.

"Hey do I know you from somewhere?" A voice appeared from behind me, making me jump. I turned around to find Francesca staring at me intensely, her gum now half in her mouth and half wrapped around her finger.

I smiled humorlessly. "No I don't think so."

"You look major familiar." She persisted. "You come round here often? Maybe we met at a party or something."

I shook my head. "Not really. Must just have one of those faces I guess."

Francesca continued to scrutinize me as if she didn't believe me, but after a second she shrugged and gave up.

"Frannie." A new voice chimed in, and my breath caught in my throat. Demi. "I got it from here, thanks."

A petite girl with wavy strawberry blonde hair suddenly sat down on the couch opposite us, her eyes locked on Brooks. With her wide sweetheart face and feathery bangs, she looked so... innocent. I didn't know what I'd been expecting, but I guess after everything I'd heard about her, I'd wanted her to look like a villain.

Brooks was stiff beside me. I waited for him to say something, but he didn't.

I swallowed loudly and spoke instead. "You must be Demi, I'm—"

"—Savannah Silvers. Trust me, I know." Demi cut me off tersely, still not looking away from Brooks.

I frowned, closing my mouth.

Okay then.

"You haven't changed one bit Brooks— still as gorgeous as ever." Demi mused flirtatiously, reaching up to push her bangs out of her eyes. Now that she had drawn my attention to them, I could see that she had the exact same piercing blue ones as Luke did.

I scoffed quietly to myself, wondering how this girl had the balls to flirt with Brooks after what she'd done to him.

"Been a while, Demi." He spoke through tight lips, tilting his head towards her.

She hummed in agreement, toying with the edge of the sofa as she looked at him from beneath her long eyelashes. "So what brings you here to Columbia? I'm assuming it's not just to hang out."

Brooks hesitated, his eyes flickering towards me as he tried to figure out where to start. "Savannah's in trouble, and we need your help." He filled her in briefly— very briefly— on what was happening and what we wanted from her.

Demi's eyes shot to me with intrigue, but she didn't appear overly worried. She watched me for a moment before letting out a short, humorless laugh. "I should've figured as much. All these years and she's still got you wrapped around her fingers, doesn't she?" She fired the question at Brooks, who narrowed his eyes in response.

"Don't do this, Demi." He spoke quietly, a warning.

"So certain that I'm the bad guy aren't you?" She continued in a mocking voice. "Bet you never considered that your little miss perfect over here isn't actually so perfect. It takes a skilled manipulator to figure out how to make someone let you back into their life after four years of radio silence."

Every muscle in my body tensed, and I couldn't help but wonder how much Brooks had told Demi about me when they were together. Enough for her to know what I had done and how I'd left things four years ago.

"I didn't manipulate anyone." I defended myself adamantly, crossing my arms. Demi smiled knowingly, as if we were sharing some kind of secret joke. The thought made me feel sick.

"Whatever you say. I just think it's kind of funny that you show up out of no where after four years and immediately jump into the whole damsel-in-distress role. There was no way Brooks would have let you suffer through this alone, even if he was still mad at you." Demi was busying herself looking at her fingernails, picking at stray edges.

It took a moment for her words to fully sink in, and then I realized what she was accusing me of. My mouth fell open in disbelief. "You think I'm faking being stalked to get closer to Brooks?"

Demi just shrugged nonchalantly, and I was so irritated I could have stormed out of the room right then. But I gripped onto the couch and forced myself to stay planted on the seat.

"That's low, coming from you."

Demi lowered her hands slowly, her blue eyes narrowed into slits. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

This was it, this was our chance to catch her in the lie.

"Falsely accusing Brooks of spreading indecent photos of you? Telling everyone that he cheated on you and lied to you all because he didn't want to sleep with you... any of that sound familiar?"

Demi turned an accusing eye on Brooks, as if she was annoyed that he had confided so heavily in me, but she smoothed out her expression quickly. "Is that why you think I did it?" She asked flatly, catching me off guard. "Because he wouldn't sleep with me?"

I was speechless for a moment, unsure what to say. It was Brooks who spoke up this time though, finally finding his voice.

"Isn't it?"

Demi lifted her gaze to the ceiling. "No, not even close. I mean I was mad about that, sure, but that's not the real reason." She sighed exasperatedly, and for the first time I got a glimpse at the young, vulnerable girl hiding beneath all of the bravado. "You never loved me Brooks, despite how often you told me you did. I saw it in your eyes every time I looked at you— you weren't into it as much as I was. It took me a while to realize why." She looked at me blankly. "I wasn't Savannah. Even then it had always only been her— anyone else and you were just settling. I hated that every time you looked at me you were probably wishing you were looking at her instead. I was hurt and mad, and that's why I did it."

The three of us sat in silence for a moment as Brooks and I digested all of this new information.

"Do you even regret it?" I asked quietly, not knowing whether I even wanted an answer. "You could have ruined his life if the police had gotten involved."

Demi scoffed again, and it was a sound that I was beginning to hate. "Please, I wouldn't have let it get that far. Besides, it was worse for me than it was for him anyway. I was completely humiliated when I realized what I had done— when people started calling me gruesome words and catcalling me in the hallway. I guess you could say the whole thing was a heat of the moment decision that I quickly regretted."

So, basically, she only regretted it because of the consequences she had faced, not because of how it had affected Brooks.

Lovely.

"A bunch of people suspected that I'd had something to do with it anyway," Demi continued, throwing me a dirty look, "apparently most of Beaufort thinks he's an angel boy who can do no wrong. Kind of sucks that they're right, doesn't it."

Neither Brooks nor I responded.

Demi sighed. "Look if you're here to punish me, I'm pretty sure I suffered enough when everyone saw those photos."

"We're not here to punish you." Brooks assured her before looking at me with wide eyes. "In fact, we've probably overstayed our welcome. Thank you for your... honesty." He told her, putting on a hard facade that I easily saw through.

I nodded and stood up, letting Brooks lead the way to the door so that he could get out before me. As I turned, Demi caught my arm, holding me to my spot.

"I know it doesn't seem like it, but I did love Brooks and I want him to be happy. You make him happy for some reason, so don't fuck it up again okay."

Demi gave me one last lingering look and then let go of my arm. I all but ran outside to catch up with Brooks, letting her words wash over me.