"So how is your first day at this new, wonderful school going?" Kate said sarcastically.

"So far? Pretty good. Met some pretty great people so far." He gave her a wink.

She laughed, "It's only recess, and I don't think you could've already assessed the people at this school."

"Hmmm I think you are underestimating me Kate" he chuckled. "So are you a loner or are all of your friends scared of me?" He wasn't being serious of course. If this beautiful, young girl couldn't find friends at this school he knew that there must have been something very, very wrong.

"No," she laughed, "They're all at the store getting food and should be back in a second."

"Sounds good" he said, "Can't wait to meet them."

"Trust me you will be regretting it by the end of the day" she joked.

They sat there for the next five minutes talking about school and what classes that both took. If turned out that Bio and Chem were the only different classes the two had. They then officially declared themselves as class buddies.

"K-Bex!" Madi yelled from about ten metres away. "I see you've made friends with the new kid. Hey new kid!"

"Um hi" Rick stuttered, "and my name is Rick."

"See? I told you so" Kate whispered to him.

Rick laughed and whispered back, "You should've seen my friends."

They were all gathered around the table eating there recess.

"Um guys this is Rick, Rick this is everyone." She spread her arms wide, they spaned the width of the whole group. Then in order she pointed, "This is Madi, Sam, Keith, Georgia, Carter and Mason."

"Nice to meet you guys" Rick said in return.

"Ditto" replied Mason. He seemed like a nice enough guy to Rick, and he was the only one other than Kate who attempted to talk to him.

So far he liked the new school, yes he had only been there for two periods but he was warming up to the place. Or was he just warming up to Kate? Nevertheless he wanted to get to know Kate better even if it was strictly in a 'just friends' way. The bell rang and relinquished Rick from his thoughts.

"Come on Rick" Kate called and started to walk away. Rick didn't say anything in return, just got up grabbed his bag and followed Kate towards the buildings.

Ancient history class. It was certainly not one of Rick's favourites but it was tolerable. Their teacher Mrs Garther seemed nice enough and Kate had given him all of her notes.

His mind was wandering all throughout the class but he could see that Kate was enthused in the subject. They were discussing Ancient Egypt and luckily Rick hadn't been asked a question yet, his mind was focused on more important things.

Was his mother going to be home for dinner tonight? Was she bringing Greg over? Just the thought of Greg in their house made him cringe. Usually he could stand his mother's boyfriends but time she had gone a little too eccentric with her choosing's. He could always invite Kate over, but would that be weird as they only met today? Maybe in a few weeks that would become a bit more appropriate. He could possibly try and finish his new chapter which was due next week. His publisher had liked the idea of his first book but needed some heavy convincing for her to publish it. So he had come to a conclusion. He would make dinner and sit down to a night of heavy writing and possibly some school work? Jeez it had been a while since he had voluntarily decided to study.

"Mr Rodger?" the teacher called out. Kate gave out a little chuckle.

"Yes miss" he answered.

"Who was the man who discover King Tuts tomb?"

He paused and collected his thoughts. "That would be Howard Carter" he answered. His ego certainly wouldn't be bruised today, especially in front of Kate. Even if it was just answering a simple question about history he knew that Kate was impressed, he didn't even need to look at his text book to find the answer.

"Very good Mr Rodgers. Maybe we have a historian in the making?"

Kate laughed and everyone shot her a look.

"Well maybe, that's if Miss Beckett here doesn't get there before me" he smirked.

"Well I have no competition so I'm fine" she whispered back to him and he gave her a slight tap on the shoulder because of it.

He drifted back into his collective thoughts. Mostly he thought about what he was going to write about tonight. Yes he did have an outline written out already but he knew better than anybody that you almost always never stick to your outline.

Law studies was next and Kate introduced Rick Mr Smith an ex-police officer. Rick took a note to find a time to talk to him and try and get an idea for his book.

Lunchtime reared its ugly head too early. None of Kate's friends would even attempt to talk to him; he even tried to strike up a convosation with a few of the guys but it quickly got shot down. By the second half of lunch he and Kate had wandered off and were sitting on the oval, cross-legged on the grass.

"I'm sorry about them" she apologised. "They usually aren't like that. They are truly a good bunch of people they just need to warm up to you."

Rick gave her a smile and his blue eyes dug deep into hers and melted her heart.

"It's okay you can't control your friends. As long as I've got you to talk to I should be fine" his smile grew wider.

"Yeah and somebody to save your butt in history!" she exclaimed and pushed him over.

"Hey I saved my own butt today but I'm glad that you have my butt." Awkward and confused looks spread over both of their faces.

"There was way too many 'butts' and 'buts' in that sentence wasn't there?" he asked.

"Just a few" she replied, laughing at his stupidity. "So you got anything planned for tonight? It is Friday; does Richard Rodgers have a party to go to?"

Was she actually wondering what he was doing because maybe she could be involved in his plans? Surely she was just making small talk.

He laughed, "No, no parties for me. I've got a night planned at home with a homemade meal and my laptop finishing up some writing."

"Really?" she said in surprise. "For some reason you don't seem like the sitting at home and writing type" she answered.

"Looks can be deceiving Katherine" he replied.

"How'd you know?"

"What? That your name is Katherine?" he chuckled. "I heard Madi call you that before. Frankly I think it's beautiful."

She blushed. "Well thank you. I think Richard is quite dapper."

"Really?" he asked while giving her a cheeky smile. "Dapper? Kate it's a hideous name" he laughed.

"Well maybe" she replied and winked at him.

They sat there for the rest of lunch not eating, just talking about their plans for the weekend or what Rick should expect at this school. According to Kate he was to expect a lot of cold shoulders and not many warm ones. Apparently kindness was hard to find at this public school.

The bell disrupted their convosation about the food shortage at school and Rick was impressed that Kate was a foodie, even if her interest only extended to canteen food. He knew that he had to eventually invite her over to his house for dinner and he would cook one of his famous meals for her. It would be casual, maybe a few other friends could come? Or they could make it a study session? His thoughts were suddenly disrupted by Kate swinging her arm over his shoulder and dragging him towards their next class. Maths, ew.

They skipped through their maths lesson revising extended trigonometry and Kate was pretty much tutoring Rick as the lesson proceeded. He had no idea what he was doing; he was never great at maths.

Last period of the day and they both had forensics. Their teacher was like none other he'd seen before. Think a crazy science teacher then times that by ten. His name was Mr Marrot and he had a well groomed moustache and a bald head with patches of hair along the back and sides. He was crazy and certainly took a liking to Rick. Today they were doing theory on fingerprint analysis and DNA fingerprinting.

The bell rang for the end of the day and it was just like a movie how the students piled out of the classrooms. Rick and Kate took their time just walking slow beside each other until they reached the front gate.

"How are you getting home?" Kate asked.

"Just catching the bus, unfortunately my mother is absent today and took my car with her."

"Come on" she waved, "I'll give you a lift."

"Sure?" he asked.

"Yeah I always have a spare helmet with me just in case."

"Helmet?" he questioned.

Riding on the back of that bike with Kate was extraordinary. It's not like he'd never been on the back of a bike before, but he had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist which was slightly arousing.

Kate had to go completely out of her way to drop Rick off at his house but she didn't mind at all. It had been ages since she had rode through this part of New York and it was nice, maybe even nicer since Rick was clinging on to her for dear life. They finally came to a stop out the front of the address that Rick had given her.

"Wow Rick" she exclaimed, "Nice!"

He turned around and smiled at her while he took his helmet off and gave it back to her. "Thanks for the lift home" he said. "We will have to do it again sometime."

"Yeah" she answered. "Have a good weekend Rick."

"You to Kate" he replied as he walked off into the building giving the doorman a wave as he entered.


Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Keep the reviews coming and keep telling me what you want to see in future chapters! I'm taking everything you say into account and some ideas will happen! So keep them coming! Hope your week has started off well:)

-Ainsley