Chapter 2

The flight had been quiet and, with a copy of the identity of Keith and now with the wig, Kate gave her documentation on the desk of Stanford, satisfied.

"Here are your schedules and a map to your dorm. Unfortunately with so many new students, your request not to share the dorm was denied, Mr. Beckett."

"What?" The voice of the girl sounded shrill and she coughed, quickly thickening her voice: "No, it's all right then

"Have a great semester."

I'm screwed. The girl thought, as she headed to the male dormitories. Kate kept an upright posture along with her confidence, trying to ignore the nervousness as she passed by several boys in the hallway talking, pushing some of the newcomers and trying to play football in the hallway.

"Hey newbie!" Kate turned, seeing a young man with brown and rebel hair and with a wry smile, looking her up and down and the polished shoes. "Are you a model or something like that?"

His friends laughed at the joke and Kate rolled her eyes, ignoring them, but the man pulled her by the arm and, with the movements that her brother had taught her, Kate quickly overthrown him, startling them for a second, before the other two men with him advanced to Kate.

"What's going on here?"

Kate saw an older boy staying in front of her, protecting her from the two bullies who retreated. Kate couldn't see his face, but he was a little taller than her, strong, with straight brown hair. And had a wonderful scent.

"Sending your henchmen to attack the model that defeated you, Davidson?"

"And you're defending him, little writer? Have you become gay now?"

"I can't deny that he's pretty." The young man joked, winking, before getting serious. "Are you afraid he steals the girls from you?"

The man, Josh Davidson was furious at the implication, but seeing one of the monitors approaching, he made a sign for his friends and they left. The 'little writer' turned to Kate, smiling gently.

"Are you ok?"

"Richard Castle?" She asked, surprised, staring at his blue and bright eyes and Rick frowned upon hearing the voice of the young man, sounding so girlish. Kate coughed and asked, blushing: "The writer?"

"Shh…" He said, taking a finger to his lips as if it was a secret. "Here is Richard Rodgers. I'm still not very well known, but you never know, right?" He then held out his hand. "What's your name by the way?"

"Keith. Keith Beckett."

Kate was surprised to find him there. He had published two books, though they weren't much known yet, Kate had fallen in love with them and with the author. He had an incredible talent with words and was handsome too.

"Are you still a student?" She asked as they walked down the hall.

"It's my third year. And what about you, what's your course?" Rick looked at his new friend up and down, finding him weird.

He was tall, with light brown hair and looked a little awkward with the polo shirt, khaki pants and polished shoes. But he had beautiful hazel eyes and a delicate face and soon the young man shook his head, erasing the thought from his head.

What am I thinking, finding another man pretty?

"Pre law. Room 101."

"That happens to be my dorm too." Rick said, surprised and Kate stared at him when they reached the bedroom and Rick opened the door for him.

"I thought you would have an apartment, with all the money from your books."

Rick put his hands in his pocket, as they entered and Kate looked at the bed with desk and empty cabinet and then to the side of Rick's room, which had a shelf lined with books on top and a dresser full of perfumes, mini airplanes and cars. Kate held a giggle, seeing that he had a kid's side.

"There were no apartments nearby and the dorms are full now."

Kate sat on her bed, before opening one of the bags, removing some objects while being observed by Rick. Kate found one of her dresses and rushed to hide it under several shirts and the writer smiled as Keith remove some books, among them one of his.

"Pride and Prejudice?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow at his roommate. "You're one of the first guys here I found that like reading Jane Austen."

"Um... It's from my sister. She must have forgotten it by mistake." Kate quickly tried to fix the situation.

"You have a sister?" Rick asked interested, sitting next to Keith, who blushed with the approach.

Keith took a family photo where she was with Keith and their parents and showed him.

"Oow, she's beautiful!"

"Her name is Katherine, we are twins."

Rick watched the brunette in the picture, finding her beautiful and to be true, if Keith had long hair, he could pass by his sister... Hey, what am I thinking?!

Rick hurried to get away from Keith, because the young man had an aroma of cherries that was messing with him, which was unusual, since Rick liked girls, with their soft skin and long hair.

"And she came to Stanford as well?"

"Um, no. She went to England to study nursing." Desperate to change the subject, Kate asked in a deep voice: "So Rick, are you going to publish more books?"

"Right now I'm concentrating on the tests, but soon I'll begin to write something. Will you be interested in reading when I publish it?"

"You know I will." Rick blushed a little, but smiled pleased to learn that his roommate liked his books.

As they talked and Kate told him of his life, or rather the life of her brother, the girl tried to put one of the empty bags on top of the closet, but, although she was tall, she was struggling so Rick stood behind her.

"Let me help you..."

Kate was startled by the proximity, slipping and ending up on the floor with Rick's arms holding her o prevent them from getting hurt, their legs intertwined. Kate turned her face to the side, feeling Rick's breath and found his blue eyes.

I can't fall in love... not when I'm pretending to be Keith and trying to achieve my dream...

Rick quickly removed his hands from the body of his roommate, standing up and helping him and for a few seconds there was a strange atmosphere, before Rick quickly started a conversation.

When Kate finished installing herself in the room, Rick asked if he would go with him to the cafeteria, where Rick introduced him to his friends, Ryan and Esposito and soon Kate, or better saying, Keith became friends with them. Rick spoke a little about himself, relying on being from New York, where his mother worked as an actress, spoke of a serious girlfriend he had had in the first year but that had cheated on him and then he had given a break in having dates, focusing on his books, although many girls still tried to go out with him.

Esposito was a Latin boy who played on the football team and was studying crimes and was dating Lanie, who had been studyinh pre medicine. Ryan, a blond and Irish boy was studying pre law too, despite being ahead of Kate and was dating a girl named Jenny, from the arts course.