Hi guys! We've got a plot twist comin'! And this also marks the beginning of what I hope will be longer chapters! I can't wait to see your reactions to this ;) Don't forget to review!

Two Months Later

The bell rang, signaling the end of seventh period, and kids flooded into the hallway. Chatter filled the halls of Sioux Falls High School. Everyone was chattering excitedly about the upcoming homecoming game and dance. Football players tossed a ball back and forth over the crowd, earning half-hearted scoldings from the teachers.

Sara gathered the books from her desk, exiting the classroom and squeezing into the hallway. Some people called out to her and she'd smile and wave as she headed for her locker, which was towards the end of the school with the other seniors lockers.

Claire was already waiting for her by her locker. Sometimes Sara still wasn't used to Claire putting effort into her appearance – but ever since she and Gavin had got together and she entered her senior year of high school, she radiated much more confidence. Even wearing a holy pair of ripped jeans, black combat boots, and a dark purple leather jacket, with her hair messily thrown into a ponytail that showed off her piercings, Claire gave off the perfect cross between badass and chic.

Of course, Sara had also changed things up a bit. Her hair was growing out again and beginning to curl into wild ringlets not unlike her grandmothers. She had chosen a much more subtle look than Claire, opting to go with her favorite green polo, a pair of khakis, and some oxfords. Still, she didn't think she looked too bad, though she still worried sometimes.

She may be half demon, but she was still also a seventeen year old girl.

Claire snapped her gum, glancing up from her phone when she saw Sara approaching. "How was calc?" she asked.

"As harrowing as ever," Sara sighed, opening her locker and putting her books inside of it before withdrawing a few more. "History?"

"I made a paper football and almost made it over Mr. Braxton's shiny bald head."

Sara grinned but rolled her eyes, shutting her locker and leaning against it.

"You got a free period?" Claire asked. "I gotta go to the library and work on this book report if you want to come."

"I'll catch up, I have a student council meeting," Sara said, shaking her head.

Claire grinned. "Oh, right, I forgot you're a politician now. Getting ready for the big shebang?"

"I really don't understand why Americans have so many dances," Sara agreed. "But it seems pretty important to everyone, so I'll do what I can."

"Rumor is you're gonna be homecoming queen," Claire winked.

Sara blushed bright pink. "Stop that, don't tease me."

"I'm not. Everyone loves you. That's what you get for being a cute British exchange student with a go-getter attitude." Claire glanced at her phone. "Dean says he killed Hitler. Not really sure how to respond to that."

As if on cue, Sara's phone buzzed, and she glanced down at it.

One new message from Dean:

I KILLED FREAKING HITLER!

Sara grinned amused, and quickly texted back, Congratulations?

"Speaking of work," Claire said, putting her phone away and crossing her arms. "You heard anything from Rowena?"

"No," Sara shook her head, holding her books to her chest and heaving a sigh. "Though I'm not sure what I expected – she sent Lucifer to the bottom of the bloody ocean. He's going to be pissed when he gets back topside."

"Keeps him outta our hair," Claire shrugged.

"I suppose," Sara admitted begrudgingly. She brightened, though, when she remembered something. "Oh, I forgot! Gavin gets back into town today, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," Claire nodded, picking at a loose string on her jacket. "He needs to do some work on his truck so I figured we'd head over to Singers. Not that Jody's too happy about it. She thinks I'm still too young to be going out with Gavin," she rolled her eyes.

"You did just turn eighteen," Sara reminded her. "And he is eight years older than you."

"Technically he's like 326 years older," Claire retorted, and Sara rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever. If you want to date my brother, go right on ahead. But just FYI, men in our family go bald early. Dad told me so."

"Shut up," Claire snorted.

"Hey," Alex said breathlessly as she joined them. She looked very pretty as well, in a grey sweater dress and tights with a pair of converse that belonged to Claire. She pushed some long, dark hair behind her ear, frowning. "Did you guys get some weird text from Dean about Hitler?"

"That's it, I'm calling him," Claire said, pushing herself off the lockers and pulling her phone out of her pocket. "I'll catch you guys later." They could hear her as she trailed off down the hall – "Hey Geezer, what's goin' on? C'mon, no you didn't," – and the girls smiled as they watched her.

"Free period?" Alex asked Sara as she opened her own locker.

"Student council," Sara replied.

"Ugh, have fun." She caught sight of someone over Sara's shoulder and grinned. "Well, look at the time. I'd better get to class . . ."

Sara glanced behind her and grinned, rolling her eyes. Scott Copeland was making his way towards them, smiling and waving. He joined the girls, leaning against the locker.

"Hey, Sara," he said. "Alex."

"Hi, Scott," Alex smiled. "I was actually just leaving – I'll see you after school, Sara!"

"Bye," Sara called as Alex disappeared down the hall, winking at Sara behind Scott's back.

Scott was several inches taller than Sara, with a muscular build. He had dark blonde hair, currently pushed off his face. His eyes were a brilliant blue, and his smile was absolutely swoon-worthy. He was senior class president, as well as captain of the football and track teams. He already had all the ivy leagues set on him, though it certainly didn't go to his head – Scott was as kind as they came, nice to everyone and easily the most popular kid in school. Every girl had a crush on him, but for whatever reason, he only had eyes for one girl.

"So," Scott started, trying to look casual. "You ready for this student council meeting?" As class president, Scott resided over all SC meetings and played a big part in any sort of school activities, from fundraisers to dances.

"I think so," Sara nodded. "I made up a schedule for the dance committee volunteers, as well as the float decorators and clean-up crew, I just have to make some copies before the meeting. I also made sure the payment to the DJ and photographer went through, I have to take the receipts to the office, so I may be a few minutes late to the meeting."

"You'll put me out of a job, Evans," Scott grinned, and Sara grinned back.

"Well, I know how hard it must be for you, what with the stress from the big game and all the girls vying for your attention," she teased. "I'd watch out for that Amanda Clarke – I swear I saw her slip a love potion into your protein shake."

"Good to know," Scott laughed. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Hey, so look, I was wondering . . . would you . . . do you wanna do something this evening? We could go get some ice cream or see a movie or something . . ."

Sara smiled sympathetically, blushing. "Scott," she started.

"It's cool," he said quickly. "I know you're busy, with your family and stuff. And it's totally cool. I just – I think you're really great, and even if you don't want to go on like, you know, a date, we could still hang out, you know? If you want."

Sara blushed even harder. "Scott, that's so nice," she started again. "But I actually have plans with Claire and Alex this evening. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, hey, no problem," Scott said, trying to play it cool. "That's great. I, uh, I'd better get to the meeting, make sure everyone's there. I'll, uh, see you there." He hesitated, before pushing himself off the lockers and walking away, slightly dejected looking.

Sara bit her lip, stifling a smile. "Scott," she called.

He turned quickly, and Sara grinned.

"I'm free tomorrow night," she continued.

Scott's face brightened. "Great! I mean – yeah, cool. That sounds cool. Okay."

"Okay," Sara laughed.

"Okay," Scott said, also turning a bit pink. "So I'll – uh – yeah. I'll see you in a little while."

Sara waved as he backed away, bumping into someone and apologizing quickly, before he jogged towards the locker room, a spring in his step.

Sara smiled and shook her head, hugging her books to her chest and biting her lip for a moment, heart aflutter, before hurrying to the library to make some copies, and then making a beeline for the office. She rounded the corner in a rush, and slammed into someone. She squeaked in surprise at the impact as her copies flew everywhere.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, leaning down to pick them up. "I really should have been looking where I was going."

The boy she had bumped into leaned down to help pick up the papers, and for a moment Sara was stunned.

He had to be one of the most handsome boys she'd ever seen in her life, and somehow eerily familiar. He was tall and lean, well-structured to say the least. He had a sort of rugged attractiveness to him, wearing dark jeans, heavy boots, and a well-worn bomber jacket. It was his face, though, that Sara was transfixed on. He had a strong jawline, and alluring dark green eyes. He had a very light dusting of freckles that you could just hardly see unless you were really looking, and Sara realized how close she was. She leaned back a bit, suddenly very self-conscious.

The boy picked up her copies, glancing at one. He smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Homecoming committee?" he read, laughter evident in his voice, which was surprisingly deep and also familiar though Sara couldn't figure out how. However, she bristled slightly at his mocking tone.

"So?" she demanded, snatching the copies back and standing up, dusting herself off.

"Yeah, you look like the homecoming committee type," he continued, looking her up and down with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she challenged, feeling offended for some reason. Why should she care what he thinks?!

"Nothin', nothin', but I mean. Look at you," he continued to grin that infuriating little smirk. "You've got "homecoming princess" written all over you. Wait, let me guess the theme – black tie affair?"

Sara's nostrils flared and she huffed with anger, partly because she still felt offended, but mostly because he was right.

"Watch where you're going next time," she snapped, pushing past him towards the office.

He turned and watched after her with a grin. "You ran into me!"

The nerve! Sara was practically steaming. Here she was working her arse off to make sure everyone had a good time and things went smoothly, and then some guy with beautiful eyes who smelled amazing and looked like a model got to insult her? The nerve!

Sara stormed towards the office, trying to push him from her mind. She paused, though, as she entered the office. The secretary, Mrs. Wilkins, was talking to a pretty, dark haired woman who was leaning on the counter. The woman looked exasperated as she spoke.

". . . really he's not a bad kid," she was saying. "He's had some problems with schools in the past but he's not a bad kid. Look – he's actually really smart, he's just hard to motivate. But this is a new start, he just needs a chance."

"I'm afraid he'll be on probation until we can assess him," the secretary said apologetically. "After the trouble with the other schools, it was a little difficult to accept his enrollment. But I'm sure he'll be alright, ma'am. This is a great school." Mrs. Wilkins brightened when she saw Sara. "Here's one of our best students now," she beamed, and Sara blushed.

"Here are those receipts for the dance," Sara said, handing them to Mrs. Wilkins. Mrs. Wilkins turned Sara towards the woman. "Sara is new herself, she's only been here since about halfway through last year, though she was gone for a while. She's an excellent student, very involved. And her foster mother happens to be the Sheriff. She's a very good girl, indeed."

Sara was puzzled, but smiled anyway, not wanting to be rude.

The dark haired woman raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"I'm sure she'd be happy to show your son around!" Mrs. Wilkins continued. "Would that be alright, Sara?"

"Oh," Sara said, surprised. "Yeah, sure. No problem."

"Great!" Mrs. Wilkins looked relieved – it was a job she didn't have to do now, after all. "Sara, why don't you come here to the office in the morning and we can get you two set up?"

"Sure," Sara repeated, smiling.

The other woman looked like she might cry. "Thank you so much," she said with a sigh of relief. "I know he's a little different, but really he is sweet. Just don't take anything he says to heart, he just has a hard time coming out of his shell."

"It's really no problem," Sara insisted. "How bad could he be?"

The office door opened behind Sara, and the woman looked relieved. "There you are. Where have you been?"

"Just checking out the place," he said, and Sara's eyes widened a little at his voice. No. No way. Come on. Seriously? How had she not put two and two together?

"This is Sara Evans," Mrs. Wilkins said, turning Sara around. Yep. There he was, in all his gorgeous, cocky glory. "She's going to show you around tomorrow morning."

"Yeah?" He looked thoroughly amused. "Sounds like fun." He looked her up and down again, still grinning. "Loads of it."

"Stop being rude," his mother hissed.

"Sure, sure." He stepped forward, offering his hand. Sara reluctantly took it, and he squeezed gently as he shook it. "Nice to meet you, Sara Evans. I'm Ben Braeden."