Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any of the Castle characters L
"Here we are," said Martha Rogers, smiling at her two children. "Stormfall town."
Her son, Richard, raised his eyebrows. "It's more like a village," he commented, surveying the sleepy suburban town. Whilst it was true that Stormfall was not large, it probably seemed a lot smaller to Rick as he had lived all his life in New York.
"Well, I like it!" argued his sister , Alexis, smiling around. "It's a proper little town."
"I never said I didn't like it, I just meant that it was small."
His sister rolled her eyes before grabbing his arm. "C'mon Rick, I wanna go look round the house."
"You do know that we've been round already, right?"
Alexis just grinned. "I'll race you upstairs!" She ran off before Rick could reply and he chased after her, laughing.
Katherine Beckett surveyed her high school with familiarity. Stormfall high was bustling with teenagers, dying to share their summer news.
"Kate!" called a voice from behind her. She spun around to see her best friend, Lanie, pushing her way through the throng of teens towards her.
"Hey Lanie," she grinned, hugging her friend.
"Oh my god, I've missed you Kate!" laughed Lanie.
Kate laughed. "You saw me yesterday Lanie. We had pizza, remember."
Lanie just grinned. "I've missed school you," she joked.
Kate raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, school me?" she asked.
"You know, serious, focused. Boring." Lanie teased.
Kate scowled, but not seriously. She knew that Lanie was only messing with her.
Lanie looked back over Kate's shoulder and let out a squeal.
"What?" asked Kate, excitedly. "Is it Josh?" Josh was the year above them and Kate (and the rest of the girls in the school) fancied him.
Kate spun around hopefully, only to sigh. Two of her best friends, Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito, were heading towards them. Much to Kate's surprise, Lanie rushed up to Esposito and grabbed him in a hug, before standing up on tiptoes to kiss his lips. Kate caught Ryan's eye. He looked as puzzled as she did.
"Did you know about this?" she mouthed to him.
He shook his head and shrugged. "Weird!" he mouthed in reply.
"Tell me about it!"
As Lanie and Esposito broke apart Kate walked up and grabbed her best friend's arm.
"A word Lanie?" she asked, as she dragged her friend to a less crowded part of the playground.
"When were you planning on telling me that you and Esposito are going out?"
"We're not going out." Lanie replied.
"Oh, nice try. I just saw you two making lip action right in front of me. You are definitely going out!"
"Yeah, sure we kissed. But we haven't actually gone on a date or anything, so we're not really going out, just..."
"Making out?" supplied Kate helpfully. Lanie gave a sheepish smile.
"How long has this been going on for?"
"Um, the whole summer." Lanie bit her lip, looking guilty.
Kate gave a mock scowl. " What happened to Best Friends!?" she asked, vaguely annoyed that her BFF had not filled her in sooner. After all, it wasn't as though they hadn't seen one another. The entire holiday had been filled with sleepovers, parties and movie nights, but not once had Lanie so much as suggested that she was playing tonsil hockey with one of Kate's best friends (practically a brother, since Kate and Javi had known each other since they were babies and had lived right next door to one another for their entire lives).
Lanie blushed. "I wasn't sure if it was just a summer thing."
Kate rolled her eyes, but couldn't stay mad for long. After all, it was a new school year and a new adventure.
"Come on," she said "let's head back to the boys. I haven't even yelled at Javi yet. Boy is he getting an earful!" she grinned, showing her friend that she was only joking.
Lanie flung her arms around Kate. "I'm so glad that you're not mad! I felt so guilty about not telling you. No more secrets, I promise!"
With her arms still around Kate's neck, Lanie let out a sudden squeal. "OMG!"
Kate jumped. "Oww- eardrum!" she winced, rubbing said ear. Lanie, however, wasn't listening.
"Look over there. New boy! Looks like Josh has some competition for hottie of the school!"
Kate looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a new boy. With dark blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, she supposed he was handsome, in a rugged sort of way. She wrinkled her nose a little. "I still prefer Josh," she said.
Josh was tall, dark and handsome, with a cute laugh and aspirations to be a doctor. He was smart, sweet and, most importantly, modest- a trait that this new boy appeared to lack. In his short walk across the playground he had already flirted with half the cheer team, not that they were stopping him. In fact, Samantha, the most popular (and promiscuous) girl in the school, was practically wound around his leg. Even Sadie, the shyest on the team and usually unbelievably angelic and chaste, seemed drawn to him, giggling at whatever he had just said and tossing her blonde bob so that the sun glanced off the shimmering golden highlights that were clearly the result of a beautifully sunny summer and the new salon which had just opened. She turned to Lanie, a little disconcerted.
"When did Sadie get flirty?"
Lanie shrugged. "Beats me. As long as she leaves Javi alone, she can flirt with all the boys in the school."
Reaching the boys, they quizzed them about the new boy, figuring that one of them was sure to have heard something.
Kevin nodded. "He and his family just moved in near Jenny. Apparently his Mom is some Broadway star. Martha...Rogers?
Kate thought for a minute and her eyes widened. "The Martha Rogers?"
The other three looked puzzled. "You've heard of her?"
Kate flushed slightly. "Some of her stuff is good," she said, shrugging nonchalantly.
Lanie raised her eyebrow, as if to comment on Beckett's apparent admiration, but was interrupted by the entrance of Josh.
"Hi," he said. "I've been looking for you Kate."
Beckett blushed slightly. "You have?"
"Yeah. I was just wondering if you were coming to watch the football tryouts tomorrow?"
Kate gave what she hoped was a casual shrug. "I guess. If nothing else comes up."
"See you there then?"
Kate nodded and once Josh was out of earshot, turned to her best friend. "Eeek!" she squealed. "He asked if I was going to the game!"
Lanie laughed. "He is sooo cute!" she exclaimed, hugging her friend excitedly. "Get in there Becks!"
Kate pretended to be affronted, swatting Lanie's arm, all the while singing inside. The boys were giving them both incredulous looks.
"What?" asked Kate, puzzled.
"Nothing," shrugged Esposito. "Just don't know what you see in him."
"Josh is gorgeous and really sweet," countered Beckett, scowling.
"Espo's right. The guy's a dirtbag. He can be such a jackass. Did you know that he two-timed Sadie Martin with Becca Jenkins?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "I bet that's just a rumour. I can't believe that you would listen to all that crap. He's such a nice guy!"
"Whatever," said Javier. "Just be careful. I'd hate for you to get hurt!"
Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm a big girl Javi! I can look after myself."
Esposito was about to respond when they were interrupted.
"Hey," said an unfamiliar voice. "Do you know where room 23B is. Apparently it's my homeroom."
Kate turned to meet dazzling blue eyes, the colour of a clear pond in summer. For a moment, she lost her concentration, before Lanie thankfully intervened.
"Sure. We're going there too. I'm Lanie Parish and this is Kate Beckett. These are Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan." She gestured at the two boys.
"Hi," he nodded, shaking their hands. "I'm Richard Castle. Everyone calls me Rick."
"So Rick," began Lanie, in her usual, no nonsense way. "What brings you to officially the most dull town in the Northern Hemisphere?"
"I got into some trouble at my old school and my Mom decided that we should move before the 'Big City' had any undesirable influences on me. Or, more importantly, my sister. I'm already beyond saving," he said, with a wicked grin that made his eyes light up mischievously. "Anyway, I don't know about dull. I'm already finding it quite interesting." At this, he shot a sly look at Kate, showing some interest in her. She turned away, wrinkling her nose a little, as she did when annoyed or displeased.
Rick looked a little startled. Clearly he wasn't used to disinterest from members of the opposite sex. Kate felt a slight joy as she saw his surprise, but also a surprising hint of guilt, as she saw the hurt in his eyes. "Oh well," she thought. "It would do his already over-inflated ego some good."