A/N: Hey! I'm totally going to pretend it hasn't been months since I last updated. Sorry :/ At least the next chapter is almost half way through though! I'm thinking this may only have 2-4 more chapters before its all wrapped up in a pretty little bow, but I'm working on the epilogue, and I think you're going to love it! Please let me know what you guys think! I'll post the next chapter as soon as I'm finished (this one has been done for a couple days, I've just been too lazy to actually post it).

Thanks for sticking with me! Enjoy!

~Shay

When 10 rolled around and I hadn't received an irritated call from Ray, I knew the prank had fallen through and the desperate looks from our server let us know that we were staying past our welcome.

Belle and I hadn't meant to stay that long, but the alcohol had us speaking more freely with each other, and had even tempted us into dancing to a song we both knew.

It was hard to have two left feet when I had trained with professional dancers of all groups, but I put on the best show I could manage- even colliding into Belle in move that nearly sent us to the floor.

While I paid the bill, Belle sauntered off to the restroom with a few smiles thrown my way as she made her journey. I just hoped she wasn't as naseous as I was, and that she wouldn't vomit while she was in there. Then the truth serum I had slipped into her last glass would be completely useless.

I couldn't help but laugh after her, despite being worried, and the waitress gave me a knowing grin. I immediately stuttered, the combination of surprise and a bit of alcohol making me slight less eloquent.

"Uh- yea, sorry about, yanno, staying so long." I said, and she counted the money I had given her.

"Oh, and keep the change. If the woman I'm with comes out of the bathroom while I'm gone, tell her I'm at the ATM."

There wasn't much change to begin with, and I could see her mute look of disappointment as I disappeared from the diner.

There was a machine right outside the doors, so I would be able to see if Belle came out. I hoped I would be done by then, I preferred people not to see me being kind.

I pulled out the largest amount of cash I could, and walked back into the diner as I fumbled for my wallet to put my card away. I had gotten more than a few wide eyes since I had started using my little black card, but I learned the best thing was to just move on and ignore it.

The waitress greeted me with a genuine smile, despite the fact that it was closing time and I had pretty much stiffed her on the tip. Or perhaps she thought I was too drunk to take her anger out on. It didn't matter to me either way.

I wadded up the cash and stuck it in her apron, not even letting her touch it.

"I know how hard it is when your pregnant and trying to make ends met. It's not much, but I hope it helps somehow." I explained, just as Belle came out of the bathroom and made her way toward us.

"Maybe not count it here." I added, while Belle was still out of ear-shot, but the waitress just stared, almost dumbfounded at how fast I went from tipsy to professional and then back again.

"You ready?" Belle asked, smelling strongly of mint.

The mint lead me to believe she had gotten sick on the bathroom, and that I'd have to get information from her some other way. It was hilarious that she was such a lightweight, but it made giving her a truth serum so much harder since it had a mildly intoxicating effect on some.

Belle yawned and I knew it meant the night was over. I was exhausted as well, so it wasn't too much of a disappointment when she turned to me and said as much.

We said our goodbyes as Belle was about to open her driver door when she stopped after a moment of not moving. Even though there was a bit of distance between us, it was as if I could feel her heart beating rapidly

"I know it's not quite Halloween yet, but, there's a haunted house just up the road. It's open for the week, I'll pay for us to get in. If you want to go." She offered, even pointing up the road where a line of people were spilling into the streets, and I could help but see hope in her eyes as I looked past her toward the crowd.

I thought about Sierra Leone and why the plan hadn't gone through; I couldn't help but feel something bad had happened, so I shook my head reluctantly as I looked at her again.

"One of my students messaged me while you were in the bathroom and she needs me. When you home-school kids, you become more of a friend or mentor than a teacher." I explained, lying so flawlessly that Belle smiled.

"That's okay, maybe we can go before they shut down, or we could do something else." She said, quickly letting me know that she knew haunted houses weren't really my scene.

I don't know what changed in the atmosphere but suddenly, very suddenly, Belle had leaned forward and was kissing me, knotting one of her hands in the buttons on my shirt to pull me closer.

I froze as I remembered two things. The man who had kissed me just hours before this moment, the man i had enjoyed kissing as much as I regretted it, and then the only other woman I had been with in my life. Sure, I had slept with and kissed plenty of women since Gail, but none had been for my own pleasure. They had all been for an assignment.

I didn't know who I was to be standing here, kissing this woman, leading her on. I definitely wanted to kiss her (and didn't mind doing it) but I knew a relationship would never work between us- and I couldn't help but feel as if I were cheating on someone by kissing two people in one day.

When had kissing become so complicated? I decided not to search for that bit of information in my mind, and focused back on Belle just as she pulled away.

"I'm... sorry, I realize now that I shouldn't have done that." Belle apologized, picking up on my stance as defensive rather than contemplative.

"I'm sorry, I realize now that I shouldn't have done that." Warren said, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes, but his words were just repeated from muscle memory.

"You didn't just steal a cookie from the cookie jar, Warren. You don't understand what you've done, what you've given her to use against me!" The was a pregnant pause in our yelling, "but of course I'll forgive you, I always do."

I couldn't face Belle anymore, not even to tell her I wouldn't mind if she kissed me again, so I turned and left.

My biggest regret is how often Warren and I fought in the last year before he died. It was always over small things, and we always loved each other through it, but both of us were ready to pick a fight in a moments notice.

The walk home seemed more brutal than before, and I wondered if it was a sign that I kept walking away from the wrong things. Or maybe the heels had seen their share of bad nights and needed to be retired.

I reached for my phone and sent a message for Rachel to meet me in the P&E Barn. I needed to work off some tension, but I didn't want to see Joseph at the moment.

When the device buzzed immediately after I hit send, I instinctively knew it wasn't Rachel, and yet I couldn't stop myself from opening it.

From Contact: Beauty and the Beast
I am so sorry. I misread some things, but I hope you don't hate me, and we can still be friends. I enjoy talking about books and whatnot with you.

I just sighed in response, shoving the phone in my pocket and looking up at the star. They were especially beautiful tonight, but I couldn't remember a night that the stars hadn't seemed to look like diamonds to me.

I found out why Rachel didn't respond as I entered the gates of Gallagher. She was standing on the steps of the school entrance, standing with her arms crossed. I couldn't help but see the headmistress in her, but I also found the big sister who held Abby while she cried about us leaving to Gallagher without her.

I smiled to my big sister, but her face remained stony and I realized that maybe the prank had gone through.

"Did you get my text?" I asked sweetly when I was within earshot.

"Just shut up." Rachel snapped and turned on her heel.

Rachel only scared me a handful of times, and this was one of them. So I bit down on my lip, and followed her to her office.

She didn't bother making small talk, or checking to see if I was following her. I knew Rachel was pissed; more pissed than just a harmless prank.

"Where were you tonight?" Rachel questioned me after we reached her office.

I took a seat across her desk, and waited for her to shut the door and sit in her chair.

"I was in town."

I knew at this point it was better to tell her the truth than pretend I had been at the Career fair the whole night.

"What were you doing in town?" She asked, pulling out a notepad and a red pen; I knew what she wanted.

"Clarice Ramirez, Russian nationality, she's a junior CEO at a popular martial arts studio that moonlights as a successful clothing business. They work a lot with police, outfitting them with athletic wear they can use on the streets but also training the rookies to be better fighters. No kids, not much of a family," I took a breath and watched Rachel's pen scratch words onto her pad.

"What's the nature of your relationship with the subject?" She asked, not bothering to look up as she wrote and I was glad she couldn't see the struggle in my eyes.

I didn't want to lie to her, but I didn't want my sister to know I had just kissed a woman and that my whole world was upside down at the moment.

"We're just friends."

Now she did stop writing, hurt shone on her face, and I knew I had just messed up somehow.

"I have information saying that you were caught in a compromising position with the subject." She said, her voice full of accusations she hadn't yet cast.

"You were spying on me?"

It wasn't a question, and Rachel realized her mistake; but I couldn't stop sifting through my memories. How many people had laughed at my cover story? That cop had definitely been a spy, maybe Charlotte, hell, even that waitress was becoming suspicious to me.

"For good reason, obviously." She replied just as venomously as I, "However, that's not what you're here for. That little stunt has every agency pissed off at a student. So you're going to sit here, and you're going to call every single director and apologize and take responsibility for your actions." She finished, sliding the phone over to me.

I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms, defiance etched in my features. I didn't like being told what to do.

"Which is it, headmistress, was I in a compromising position with the subject. Or was I in Gallagher, the mastermind behind some prank?" I questioned, and maybe I was going too far now, but I was too focused on the fact that she had been tailing me, watching every move and every breath.

"Do not play with me, Melantha. You already have a pink slip, don't work for a second one or you'll regret it." As she said this, she tossed a pink paper in my direction, I glanced down long enough to know what it was and the consequences.

A second pink slip revoked all privileges I received. No more random trips to town, I'd have to schedule each and every trip for the duration of the yard or until deemed rehabilitated. I would no longer be allowed to take students outside of the school, or use any of the experimental devices owned by Gallagher. The worst, I'd have to stick to a strict curriculum and write out a weekly planner for lessons, to be read by the headmistress and returned with critiques. I knew I couldn't live like that.

"Before you say anything, because I know how much you don't care about yourself and how self-destructive you are... If Sierra-Leone is found guilty by the administration of orchestrating and planning the prank, she will be stripped of all student earned titles and not allowed to participate in the running for Valedictorian or Salutatorian." She revealed, her voice more smooth now, perhaps she thought I was at the volatile stage of anger.

"It was me. I promised her that this was okay, she didn't know. It was meant to be a harmless prank, but from what you have been telling me, it got out of hand. I'll call everyone present tonight and apologize for any trouble I caused, and will fully reimburse them for any damages." I answered, my voice soft too, not because I my hand was being forced, but because I knew I needed to stop acting like Gallagher was just a fun stop in the journey, this was my home now.

"I'm sorry, Melantha," Rachel told me, standing from her chair after she gave me a notepad of numbers, but she paused before exiting the room, "if it makes you feel any better. I told Sierra-Leone everything I just told you. What she would lose, and she still maintained that she acted alone. I know it was you that taught her that, because last year, she would have tossed her best friend under the bus for an A."

She left the room, not seeing the smile grace my lips. That did make everything better I realized as I leaned forward and dialed the first number, an idea flickering like a light bulb in my head.

I think Sierra-Leone was destined to be my favorite senior.