"Its lookin real purple, man."
"Yea, well, that's what happens when I have to save your ass."
Jared tore his eyes from Seeley's shiner and turned towards the car's passenger window.
"Thanks," he mumbled to the glass, "Really. Dad was pretty crazy last night."
Seeley squirmed a bit out of awkwardness. Jared never said thanks, for anything, let alone his big brother's heroics. Truth was, Seeley never expected a thank you, and wasn't sure if he wanted one. Gratefulness from Jared just made their situation feel more real, more difficult to brush to the side and forget. Especially so close to the beginning of the school day.
"Uh-huh. Sure."
There was a lengthy silence in the Booth boy's car, the cold rain pattering against the windshield. Seeley could almost see the high school now. Despite the impending late bell, the sidewalks were deserted, except for one miserable looking figure splashing through the puddles. A distinctly female figure, he could tell, even though she was all bundled up in her rain coat. She didn't have an umbrella. His inner white knight flared up and he pulled up next to her, rolling down the passenger window.
"Hey!" he called across Jared, "want a ride?"
She slowed and turned to look at him and Jared in their beater car, and Seeley was a bit startled by the loveliness of her face. He flashed his trademark charm smile that had successfully melted the hearts at least a third of the girls in the senior class.
"No." she said, and kept on walking. He rolled along to keep up with her.
"You sure? Its pretty chilly out there."
"And the company's great in here." supplanted Jared. Seeley winced at his brother's opaque come-on.
"No. I'm fine." Okay, so she wasn't the friendliest, but then again Seeley wouldn't expect anyone to be especially bubbly while plodding through icy, grey rain.
"Going once, going twice…" No response. "Alright, see you around then." He rolled up the window and pulled back into traffic.
"Dude." Jared burst.
"I know."
"She was fine"
"I know"
Seeley spent geometry and economics doodling on his rather empty binder and tapping out beats with his pen. It was March and the lethal Senioritis was definitely setting in. He tried, a bit, to pay attention in geometry because he needed to pass that class to graduate. But honestly, he was so lost it didn't matter if he paid attention or not, he wasn't going to understand. Besides, the duo of cheerleaders in the front row were far more interesting to gaze at than Mr. Patterson's turkey neck. Economics he had more of a handle on. He was passing, at least. By the time third period Biology rolled around, he was strongly considering ditching the rest of the day. But his attendance was already in the dumps and if his record showed anymore cuts, his coach would chew him out big time. Not to mention his dad. He reluctantly sank down into his seat at lab station four, right next to Angela Montenegro. She was a very sweet, very hot girl who was kind of famous because her dad was in ZZ Top. She spent most of her time in the art room or behind the bleachers, but she was far from being labeled as easy, because, well, she simply wasn't. A guy had to be on the very top of his game to get her. Seeley knew that, but for the fact that he was soon joined by Zach Addy, all the other guys in class would have been very jealous of Seeley's seating arrangements.
"Wow, Seel, what happened?" exclaimed Angela.
"What?"
"Um, your big black eye? Hello?"
"Oh, right" He'd practically forgotten. "Point guard from last night's game was a sore loser. I put him in his place, of course." He charm-smiled her for effect.
Angela just rolled her eyes. "Id never doubt it, Seeley Booth."
"Did you 'put him in his place' before or after his fist impacted your ocular cavity?" said Zach in his nasally little voice.
"What?"
"I said, did you-"
BRRIINNGG!
The late bell. The door flung open and a huddled figure rushed in with the rain. Seeley recognized the girl from the sidewalk this morning and perked up. She was clutching a map as she approached the teacher, Mrs. Demaria. So, she was new. Interesting. After saying a few words to Demaria, she headed towards the seat across from him, as it was the only available seat in class. Most likely, the vacancy was due to its location right next to Zach.
"Well, hello again!" He whipped out a full strength smile as she sat down. "How was the walk?"
Her blue eyes gave him a sidelong, somewhat disapproving look. "It was pleasant enough, hampered only slightly by the unenjoyable atmospheric conditions."
"Oh Zach look, someone you can use all your big words with," Zach's glare intensified under his floppy hair. "Im Seeley Booth. Welcome to Washington High." Seeley held out his hand to shake hers. She looked at it for an awkwardly long moment before grasping it gingerly with a stone cold hand.
"Temperance Brennan." she answered. Temperance, he noted. Unusual.
"Hi! Im Angela, welcome to lab station four." Angela leaned forward to shake Temperance's hand. "And this is Zach, hes crazy smart."
"Wait- Is he crazy or is he smart?" Temperance asked. Seeley chuckled before he realized abruptly that she was dead serious.
"The two arent mutually exclusive." Zach deadpanned.
"But one does have a detrimental effect on the other. Although the detriment could be beneficial depending on which factor was the influencer and which was the influencee."
"Ill concede. I believe I am more smart then I am crazy."
"So where are you from, Temperance?" Angela interrupted with her usual social grace.
"Oh, lots of places. Most recently Idaho." Her words were casual but her tone was anything but.
"Did you live on a farm?" Seeley joked.
"No, I found that stereotype to be nearly exclusively wrong."
"Oh" Seeley didn't really have an answer. Just then, Mrs. Demaria called the class to attention and began her lecture on photosynthesis. About halfway through, she jumped up and wriggled across the room flailing her arms, with sound effects, to demonstrate the state of electrons in the photo…something. Seeley scribbled "She is definitely more crazy than she is smart" onto a piece of paper and flipped it so Temperance could read it.
"Psst."
She looked at him, confusion in her blue eyes, and he tapped his fingers on the note. She glanced down and he saw a hint of a smile flash across her face. Seeley felt a surge of triumph.
"Agreed" she scribbled back.
He studied her far more intently than he did photosynthesis for the rest of class. She had pretty shabby clothes, and her shoes were old and worn. Her hair curled around her pale neck, still a bit damp from the rain. Her face was undeniably beautiful. It was…pure. Clean and fresh and pure, and he liked it more and more. Her expression was cold and guarded whenever he caught her eye, but Seeley of all people knew that didn't necessarily mean she was a cold person. He himself had some pretty thick walls built up. He found himself wondering what must have happened to her to cause that. Before he knew it, class was over and she was packing up her impeccable notes.
"Hey, Temperance, Ill give you ride home." he figured the direct, no-question approach would be best. She was slightly taken aback.
"No, that's really not necessary"
"Ah- I insist. Ill feel horrible knowing you're walking home in the rain. Ill be devastated. Meet me at the front entrance after last period, k?"
"Okay…"she answered weakly and disappeared out the door. Seeley didn't miss Angela's knowing smile and cheeky chuckle.