Title: Best Days Of My Life (Part Two)
Author: Me, of course ( Chained Phoenix) and the beloved Seph ( Makai Goddess Ookami )
Pairing(s): Hodges x Greg, Nick x Bobby, Jacqui x Grissom, Catherine x Warrick (plus many minor...)
Rating: PG- PG13
Warnings: slash, language, hyper-active frosh (more may be added)
Summary: High School was a different experience for everyone, sometimes good, sometimes bad. This is an entanglement of their stories, woven together to make one larger one. (WAY AU)
Disclaimer: We don't own CSI or anything else that looks familiar. HOWEVER, we do (kind of) own: well, nothing.
Sephiroth's Rants: Sorry I haven't been able to update this. I've been a little sick, and now I'm heading out of town for a week. That slightly saddens me. Still, I'd just like to say two, three chapters top and the first day will be over, and the story will pick up. w00t!
Phoenix's Rants: I've been out of town for a few days with my boyfriend. –cheers- Went to New York together. It was great. I mean, uh, about the fic... Well, it's a fic. And since it's Seph's turn to go out of town, you can now blame her. We'll try and scuttle and get part three up, but don't hold your breathe.


In which we find there will be a play, fluorine water, and Jacqui collects freshman...

Some things really never changed and Catherine can honestly say she didn't really mind for once in her life. The Forensics 3 class was still one class and the highest Forensics class one could take, and it had been her second year taking it. This years main focus would be more along informational activities, which while this slightly depressed Catherine, it gave her a chance to have a class with Grissom.

The quiet older male was sitting next to her on the bench as she talked to another female friend animatedly. Jacqui Franco laughed about something, David muttering something obscene under his breath. It felt nice to be sitting and talking to people again. Especially Jacqui, her ex-next-door-neighbor. The two girls talked about random things for a while, randomly laughing. David resting with his head propped up on his hands, elbows resting on the table, and Grissom with his head in the clouds, thinking or something Catherine figured.

"So, you guys know anything about this year's musicals...?" Jacqui asked, sipping her Pepsi and casting a glance at the clock, but there were still five minutes.

"It's Assassins for the fall musical, aint it?" Catherine asked, giving the brunette a blank look, "I think it was because all the students wanting to take Drama this year had the chance to audition for it."

"And did you?" Jacqui asked.

"Sure, I had nothing better to do," Catherine shrugged, "Aren't you talking Drama, Hodges?"

David looked up at her, having only half paid attention, "What? Yeah. I never got my second arts credit."

"And the musical...?"

"Bah, don't make me laugh."

Catherine and Jacqui shared a look, but neither woman said anything. Catherine looked at the clock, then cast a glance at her watch and sighed, standing up.

"I've got to get going to English. Bleck. I'll see you later, Jacqui, Grissom, Hodges," Catherine smiled, patting Grissom's head gently, and he cast her a mildly confused, mildly annoyed look.

"Bye, Cath," Jacqui said, standing up also, "Hey, Griss, You've got a locker in the B-Wing, walk with me to mine. See you in class David."

"What? Oh, alright," David almost huffed, standing and slinging the messenger back over his shoulder, "Later, Grissom."

Grissom didn't reply and stood, walking with Jacqui away from the spot David stood. The lone junior stood, frowning, and tempted to put his hands on his hips. While it wasn't the first time Jacqui made him walk to class by himself, it was still highly odd. She'd normally at least tell him why. But no... She had to go and be all secretive and it was annoying David. He sighed and headed to the gym rooms. He could ask her about it in class.

X x X x X x X

Sara Sidle had always been a relatively quiet student, and a smart one at that. So it really shouldn't have surprised her that she was in all advanced classes. Still, it was a little frightening to think that she'd have a chance to take the practice SATs this year. Not that she was worried, she figured she'd do pretty well, but it still was a little odd. But that wasn't what was bothering her at the moment.

She'd been at her locker all nice and innocent like when she spotted him. He was an older student, probably a senior by the looks of him. He was sitting with his friends, two girls and another male, just spacing out like he had nothing better to do with his time. She closed her locker and watched him for a moment, and he must have felt her staring because he cast her a curious glance. She'd scuttled off at that point.

It wasn't hard to find her class, and settled into a seat towards the front, arms folded on her desk as she looked patiently onwards. Her teacher, a young male with flame red hair, who looked to be fresh out of collage, watched her intently for a moment, before glancing at the other five or six students in the room. They slowly started to flood in, and when the room was about half way full the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Grumbling, the teacher rose and went to the front of the room.

"Alright, I'm your teacher for this class, yadda-yadda-yadda. I'm sure you'll be getting this speech a lot, but let me go over the rules, and then we'll assign seats, and I have the joy of showing you around the school," The teacher almost grimaced, "By the way, in case you didn't notice, I'm Mr. Heinlein. Not Mr. H, period, end of discussion. So, as I was saying..."

Sara looked down at her notebook, where she had already drawn a few sketches in her boredom, mostly of stick figures. When Mr. Heinlein said the rules were going to be the same, he hadn't been joking. It was only her third class and she could recite it already. Arrive on time, no gum, respect everyone and everything, and raise your hand to talk... She let out a sigh, and doodled once again with her blue pen. A small stick figure with a flask, doing something or other, she really didn't know or care.

"Alright, any questions? No, everyone get up, time for seats," Mr. Heinlein said, gesturing for them to stand at the far side of the wall. "This isn't in alphabetical order, and is subject to change at a moments notice. Ready?"

He began to list off names, traveling up and down the rows, and Sara watched intently, shifting the weight of her book-bag lightly. He called her name as head of the third row, and she went to her seat quietly, staring blankly at a front board, ready to slip into not paying attention. She did catch the name of the boy on her left, David Phillips she believed. He smiled shyly and half waved and she half waved back, a gentle smile on her face.

David opened his mouth to say something, but the teacher clapped his hands together sharply.

"Alright, time for a tour of the school, everyone up," Mr. Heinlein said, "move it, move it, move it! No day but today!"

"Rather jumpy isn't he?" a girl behind Sara giggled, as they got up into a would-be line.

"Hi," David said to Sara meekly, causing her to jump, "I'm David."

"Sara," she smiled, "Sara Sidle. Nice to meet you."

"No talking!" the teacher snapped, "Alright, as you can tell, this is the math wing. The only wing on the third floor..." his voice trailed off, and he led them through the halls.

Sara followed quietly, obediently.

X x X x X x X

One thing he always hated about the first day of school was the tours. Idiot freshman running around the school, no idea where the hell they were going, running around the school with their teachers. It always annoyed him because they were constantly getting lost or separated from his teachers, and would ask the upper-classman where to go. Three times already he'd been asked about the band room alone.

It's not that he hated the freshman; it's just that he hated them. He paused in thought, pondering that for a moment, and then gave up. He hated freshman, and was thankful this would be his last year ever seeing them. It was so good to be a senior. Except, now that he thought about it, the tests would be harder and he'd have to study more often. Great, he'd spent so much time with the idiot freshman already that he couldn't think clearly.

Grumbling bitterly, he leaned over the water fountain, turned it on, and drank some of the near-freezing water. While water was supposed to be flavorless, the school water did indeed have a flavor. Maybe it was fluorine-water, like they used in elementary schools. It wouldn't have surprised him, but now he couldn't get the thought out of his head. He was paused over the fountain, the water still running.

"Conrad," A voice said, startling him, and he jerked his hands off the fountain, and the water stopped.

"Heinlein?" he asked, still a little startled, but he was quickly regaining his cool.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Heinlein asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"I've got a pass," he smirk-smiled, before turning and heading back to class.

He eyed the freshman as they continued on their way, noticing a young girl with brown hair to her shoulders. He paused and watched her for a moment. She wouldn't have been relatively cute if she hadn't been a freshman (and it was obvious she was because she was so tiny), but still... He shook his head and went back to class. He clipped the pass onto the wall with a thumbtack, and sat in his seat next to Catherine.

If Conrad Ecklie had a choice, really, he doubted he would sit next to the blonde, but still, she was a familiar and friendly face—even if they weren't technically friends.

"You took forever," Catherine smirked, whispering to Ecklie.

"Stupid freshman flooding the halls again," Ecklie grumbled back.

Catherine frowned and shook her head.

"They aren't so bad, you know," she said slowly.

"Only you would say that," Ecklie snorted, "Only you..."

"Ugh, how much longer is this class?" Catherine muttered, hitting her head on her desk, "I need to get away from you..."

"Miss Braun, Mister Ecklie! Stop whispering!"

Ecklie shot her an evil look, but said nothing. However, he was mildly amused that the teacher had gotten their names right on the first try.

X x X x X x X

"I'm starving..." Greg moaned, "I can't wait in this line..."

"You get used to it after a while," a girl said, and Greg turned and recognized her as the girl he bumped into earlier in the morning, "Oh, it's you."

"I'm so sorry about this morning!" Greg near squeaked, "It was an accident, I swear."

"It's okay," Jacqui sighed, waving her hand, a mildly amused look on her face, "Don't worry about it."

"I'm Greg," He said smiling somewhat nervously, "Greg Sanders."

"Jacqui Franco," she said, returning the smile, "Oh, hey, we're in."

An indeed they were. They walked into the small 'room', still walking and talking together. Both grabbed sodas and sandwiches before heading to the checkout with their student IDs.

"You sitting with any friends, Greg?" Jacqui asked.

"No, they've all got other lunches," Greg replied, smiling feebly, "I haven't even seen Archie..."

"The other boy who ran into me?" Jacqui asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Don't feel bad, he ran into Nick, too," Greg laughed, following Jacqui as she walked over to a table with two males sitting at it.

"Greg, these are David, and Gil Grissom," Jacqui introduced, pulling out a seat and sitting next to Grissom.

"Hey," Greg said chipperly, plopping down between Jacqui and David.

"Hello," Grissom said simply, sipping at a water and David cast him a weary eye, before muttering a quick "hey" as well.

"You've already got yourself a pet freshman?" David asked, still staring at Greg.

"Well, Bobby is a sophomore this year," Jacqui shrugged, and Greg looked at her.

"I know a Bobby," he said frowning slightly, "he's in my gym class. We used to be neighbors."

"Bobby Dawson?" Jacqui asked, interested, and Greg nodded quickly, "Heh. Go figure. That's my pet sophomore."

"You might as well put them on leashes, Jac'," David smirked.

"Too kinky," Jacqui shrugged, and Greg snorted on his Pepsi, looking at her blankly, "I'd get in trouble for it."

"You've considered it before?" Greg half laughed.

"Yeah," Jacqui nodded, "Tried to get Bobby to wear one once. Said he wasn't into that kind of stuff." She looked highly amused at this comment.

"Don't worry, you've still got time to run away," David informed Greg, "You haven't been officially initiated."

"Imitated?" Greg questioned.

"She'll have you whipped," David smirked, and Jacqui tossed a pen at him, "hey!" he cried, spited.

"It's not so bad," Jacqui said, still glowering at David, "besides, you need upperclassman friends. It makes things easier on you."

"I see..." Greg replied, nibbling on his sandwich.