Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or any of the Castle characters L

When they reached their homeroom, Castle found himself surrounded by girls. Unfazed by this, he flirted easily, though occasionally paused to glance in Beckett's direction, as if to gauge her reaction, although he found none to speak of. Instead, Beckett was chatting with Lanie about some boy who was apparently 'gorgeous'. He didn't bother to hope that it might be him, but that didn't stop the slight jealousy when he heard the name 'Josh' mentioned. He didn't know the boy of whom they spoke, but he was already pretty sure that he didn't like him. After homeroom, which was decidedly uneventful (although he had got the phone numbers of at least 5 cheerleaders) he had his first class- English. As luck would have it, so too did Kate. As she was sat alone and he knew noone else, he took a seat next to her.

"Hi again," he said, with a hopeful smile, but she was unimpressed.

"Hi," she said, with a slight hint of annoyance. Just her luck to be stuck next to the most egotistical person she had ever met.

Castle decided to ignore her reaction. "I love English," he began. "It's my favourite subject."

Beckett looked at him with a slight hint of surprise. She wouldn't have thought that he would really bother at school- he had a laid back attitude that seemed to imply that he didn't really care about anything educational at all.

"You like English?" she said incredulously.

"Why is that surprising?"

Kate shrugged. "You just don't seem like the scholarly type."

"Oh, trust me, I'm not. I just like writing. I'm good at it you know."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Narcissistic, aren't you?"

"It's not just me who thinks that my writing is good. My book sold a fair few copies."

Beckett was even more startled. Then the penny dropped. "Oh my God- you're Richard Castle."

Castle nodded. "Yes, we covered that with the introductions," he said slowly, as though speaking to a very young child.

Kate shook her head. "No, i mean, you're THE Richard Castle."

Castle flushed a little. "Shhh," he said, placing a finger lightly over her lips.

She pulled away, trying not to let him know him much his touch had affected her. Once again, she felt as though she were falling into those blue eyes, but she ignored the sensation this time and pulled herself back to the real world.

"Why don't you want anyone to know?" she asked. "I would have thought that you'd love the extra attention."

Rich put his hand on his chest. "Katherine Beckett, I'm wounded that you think so little of me!"

She rolled her eyes. "You haven't really done anything to dispell the image, have you?"

He grinned. "It's my Mom who wants to keep it quiet anyway. Things got kind of crazy at my last school. It's one of the reasons that we moved away from New York actually."

Kate smiled. "Why does that not surprise me?" she wondered aloud.

Rick gave a slight laugh. "What can I say. I make an impact."

"Clearly. I've read it you know. It's really good."

"I know," he said, with a teasing yet infectious grin. "Writing is just one of my many talents."

"What other secret talents do you possess then?" asked Kate, smiling slightly, amused despite herself.

"Well I'm musical..."

"What do you play?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I play a few, but I think that my best is probably..." he paused for suspense."...The triangle. Although I also do a brilliant rendition of Hot Cross Buns on the recorder."

Kate couldn't help herself from laughing out loud.

"Something amusing Miss Beckett?" the teacher asked coldly and she flushed scarlet and shook her head.

"And as for you Mr Castle. It's only your first day. I suggest you wait a little while longer before leading our pupils astray."

Castle nodded demurely, looking scarily angelic, but rolled his eyes at Kate once the teacher's back was turned. She tried not to giggle and instead shot him a glare for getting her into trouble on the first day. They were quiet for the remainder of the lesson.

Beckett's next lesson was with Lanie, who quizzed her about sitting next to Rick.

"Careful Lanie. You're showing a lot of interest in the new boy. Wouldn't want Javi getting jealous!"

Lanie stuck her tongue out at Kate and countered her teasing with "I think it's Josh we need to worry about actually. You and Writer Boy sure seem to have hit it off. First day and he's already corrupting our resident angel!"

Kate shook her head. "He's not my type," she stated. " I like my guys a little less self-centred and I'm really not into players!"

Lanie rolled her eyes. "You have to admit, he is cute."

Kate bit her lip, deliberating her next words. Eventually she said, rather lamely, "He has nice eyes."

"Mmmmm," Lanie agreed, licking her lips.

Kate laughed and slapped her friend's arm lightly. "Seriously Lanes, you are a one guy kind of girl. Stick with Javi. I'd choose him over Narcissus anyday!"

"I'm with Javi," agreed Lanie, "But that doesn't mean that I can't look!"

The lesson dragged on (as Math did so often) but finally lunch came.

The group found their usual table and saw that Castle was looking lost, so beckoned him over.

"Hey," he said, greeting them with a grin that made Beckett's stomach do a strange jump.

"What fiendish plots am I interrupting?"

Lanie grinned. "Just discussing Kate's outfit for tomorrow."

Rick was puzzled. "What's tomorrow?"

The boys rolled their eyes. "It's the football tryouts. Josh is playing, so obviously Kate wants to look her best for him," Esposito explained, ignoring Beckett's glare at sharing such intimate secrets with someone who was practically a stranger.

"Who's Josh?" asked Castle, remembering hearing Kate and Lanie discussing him earlier.

"Josh is, like, the hottest guy in the school!" said Lanie. Esposito raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" she asked. "He is!"

Rick ignored them and turned to Beckett. "So you have a crush then?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "No! He's just cute is all. And sweet and modest and clever…"

"And a dirtbag!" interrupted Ryan, unusually vehemently in comparison to his generally mild disposition.

"Seriously Kevin!" said Beckett, beginning to loose her temper. "What is your problem with Josh?"

"Nothing!"

"No, spill it!" commanded Beckett, looking pretty annoyed.

Ryan shook his head but spoke, not wanting to face Beckett's wrath. "A couple of years ago, before I was dating her, Jenny was going out with Josh. He cheated on her with at least two other girls."

Beckett looked startled, but shook her head. "People change Ry. You can't judge him on what he did over two years ago. I know you're just trying to protect me, but I can date whoever I want to."

Esposito opened his mouth and closed it again, knowing that nothing he could say would have the intended effect of keeping Kate away from Josh. She was stubborn, always had been, and nothing that he would say was going to change her mind. Lanie lay a calming hand on his arm and he nodded, letting her know that he was going to let the issue be for now.

Castle had been sitting through the entire conversation looking rather bemused. He finally decided that it was safe to speak. "Umm, does anyone have Chemistry next?"

The others all turned to Beckett.

"Yes," she sighed, once again cursing her bad luck.