Author's Note: So, here is chapter 4! Sorry that I don't have chapter 4 for The Littlest Things done yet. I am working on it, promise. I just got more done with this story than that one. I hope you all enjoy this chapter though.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist.

Patrick wasn't quite as pessimistic the second day about going to school. Of course, he was still unhappy about waking up as early as he had to, but it wasn't as bad as he had anticipated. He put on his rather boring, but not totally atrocious, uniform and headed out for school after eating some breakfast and grabbing his bag.

"Hey, Grace!" He called, waving as he saw the redhead about to walk in the gates of the school ground.

"Oh! Hey, Patrick!" Grace smiled back, stopping to wait for him to catch up. "How was your night?"

"Pretty good, I guess." Patrick had caught up and they both walked to the school doors.

"I bet you still have tons of unpacking."

"Actually, it's not a lot." Patrick shrugged.

"Really?" Grace was surprised. "Everyone I've ever talked to that moved said they had tons of unpacking."

"I just pack lightly, I guess. Also, your hair is very nice today." He had noticed that she had taken a bit of extra time and care with her morning routine. A little bit more sparkle in her eye shadow and a very nice half up/half down hairstyle with braids. She even had some nicer earrings on. Clearly she was trying to get a certain someone's attention. Maybe a certain someone who was a football jock and went by the name Wayne Rigsby?

"Oh." She smiled and blushed a bit. "Thank you. I woke up and felt like doing a bit extra this morning."

"You did well. You look very nice."

"Thanks."

"Hey, that's the same necklace you were wearing yesterday, wasn't it?" Patrick vocalised his observation.

"Yeah." Grace smiled, one of her hands raising to touch the pendant. "It's a friendship necklace." She stopped and they moved over to the side of the hallway so they wouldn't be in anyone's way.

Patrick looked at the necklace. It was gold and there were two linked handcuffs. Upon a closer look he noticed that written around one of the handcuffs links was 'Partners in Crime'. "So, who has the other one?" Patrick asked. "Your 'partner in crime'."

Grace smirked. "It's not the typical friendship necklace, but all the others I saw were so ordinary. Teresa has the other one. Hers is silver. I just saw them and thought they were cute and funny."

"It is cute." Patrick agreed. Though, he didn't recall Teresa wearing a friendship necklace. She'd been wearing a gold cross. Hmm. Odd.

The warning bell rang, letting all the students know that they should get to their classes.

"Well, don't want to be late. See you in science." Grace waved and headed off for her class as Patrick said goodbye and headed for his as well.

Cho was still very limited in the words he spoke, causing Patrick to search for some friendly conversation elsewhere. The two kids sitting behind him, Will and Jerry, were receptive to his friendly hello, though. They had a decent conversation and swapped phone numbers before the bell rang to end the period. Patrick packed up his things and headed to science. He found that he was actually looking quite forward to that class.

"Hey." Grace smiled and waved at him as he sat in his seat in front of her. Wayne was getting his things from his bag.

"Hi." Patrick smiled back. He couldn't help but notice that Grace seemed a little bit disappointed. Just slightly. Wayne probably hadn't noticed her extra effort and attention in her preparation that morning. No. That couldn't be it. Wayne's body language showed that he clearly had noticed. Ah-ha. He hadn't told her he'd noticed. Well, he was just going to have to help them along, wasn't he? "I really like your earrings, Grace." He stated, then looked at Wayne. "Don't you think her earrings are pretty, Wayne?"

"Uh." Wayne looked up from his blank notebook page that he was trying to occupy himself with as opposed to creepily staring at the pretty redhead next to him. "Yeah." He smiled, awkwardly. "The earrings are very pretty. You look very nice today, Grace."

The redhead all but fainted at the compliment from Wayne.

Patrick grinned as he turned back around to get his things from his backpack. His work here was done for the day. The bell rang and he looked at the door, waiting for Teresa to come running in, barely making it on time like the day before. He slowly felt his hope slipping away once the door was closed and the lesson had begun. Five minutes passed and there still wasn't a knock. Ten minutes. Nothing. Half an hour. Where was she?

"Mr. Jane." LaRoche said, snapping him to attention.

"Huh?" Patrick blurted cluelessly.

"What is an ionic compound? And can you give me an example of one?"

"Yeah. Uh." Patrick thought for a moment. He knew this. He had read it somewhere. He cleared his throat. "An ionic compound is the bond between a positively charged molecule and a negatively charged molecule. An example is ordinary table salt. NaCl. Ionic compounds also-"

"Thank you, Mr. Jane. That is correct." LaRoche seemed quite peeved that Patrick had answered right when he'd wanted to catch the boy off guard.

There were a few giggles from the class at the fact that Patrick had gotten it right and a few surprised looks, but the lesson forged on.

-Mentalist-

"Thank god that's over." Patrick sighed as he packed up his things after the bell rang.

"Ready for geography?" Grace asked in a perky voice. At least she was having a fantastic day. She was standing next to his desk, backpack on and ready to head out.

"Oh, I'm so excited." Patrick replied with sarcastic enthusiasm.

Grace laughed. "Yeah. Mr. Bart isn't the best teacher we have."

"Oh, I would seriously hope not." Patrick and Grace left the science classroom and headed down the crowded hall for geography. "Do you know why Teresa wasn't in class?"

"She texted me and told me she didn't feel well, so she went home after first. I think one of the kids that sits next to her in first was sick a few days ago. She probably just got a cold or something." Grace had a reassuring smile on her face, but Patrick felt that there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Well, chicken noodle soup will probably do her some good." He smiled and played along, not feeling it was appropriate to accuse his new friend of being a liar. They settled into their desks, saying hello to Anna and Kevin.

-Mentalist-

The rest of the day had been quite boring. Patrick's more optimistic opinion from that morning was gone. Now he had homework to do and yesterday Agent Darcy had issued chores for both him and Charlotte. She insisted that it was so they would know what it was like to be 'normal', but Patrick was sure it was because she was too lazy to want to do them herself and didn't have the budget to hire a maid.

As he waited for Charlotte to be released from school, it occurred to him that he'd forgotten to meet his guidance counsellor. Oh, well. That probably wasn't very important anyway. He was doing just fine regardless.

"Patrick!" Charlotte called, running over to him.

"Hey." He smiled and waved at her as she approached. "How was your day?"

"It was so. Much. Fun!" Charlotte squealed.

"That's good." Was everyone having a fun day, but him?

"Did you do lots of fun stuff, too?" Charlotte asked.

"Probably not as exciting as you."

He listened to Charlotte with feigned interest as they walked home. Agent Darcy wasn't there when they got back. She was probably off attending to other FBI stuff, Patrick unlocked the door and put in the alarm code as he and Charlotte entered. "Go do your homework, Charlotte. If you even have any. I'll see what I can find to eat." The house wasn't huge, but it was by no means small. To the immediate left of the front door was a decently sized coat closet, then further down the hall still on the left was the spacious living room that shared space with a nice dining room. At the very end off the hall was a kitchen, separated from a casual dining area by a counter. Across from the entrance to the living room was the stairs leading to the second floor and next to those stairs was the steps to the laundry room/basement.

"I don't have any homework." Charlotte replied, happily.

"Lucky you." Patrick muttered as he walked down the hallway to the kitchen. On the kitchen counter separating the kitchen from the casual dining area was a note. Patrick picked it up and read it.

Patrick and Charlotte,

I have some other business to handle and that is why I'm not at the house. I will be back around eight and stocked up the fridge with food for you both. Don't go out anywhere, but if it is absolutely necessary, you are to call me and tell me first and you both must go. No going places by yourself, especially after dark. Make sure you both get your homework done. Yes, Patrick, I mean you as well.

Agent Darcy

"Thanks, mom." Patrick thought with bitter sarcasm and rolled his eyes as he went to the fridge to find something to eat. He bumped his hip on the counter, and was reminded of the cell phone inside his pocket. Since he'd never really had one before, or anyone to text, he fumbled with the buttons and controls until he managed to send out a mass text to all his school friend contacts with the word hey to see if he could find some entertainment on that front.

-Mentalist-

God, he was so bored. B-O-R-E-D. Bored! He had finished his homework-which was not exciting in the least-and everyone he had been texting was now too busy to text. He glanced at the clock. Six thirty. An hour and a half until Darcy got back. Charlotte was downstairs being entertained with TV and colouring or whatever. Patrick was laying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling. He sighed heavily. His phone made the funny little noise that let him know that he'd gotten a text. Confused, he went over to his desk and picked up the piece of technology to read the message.

'…Who is this?' It was a text from Teresa. He'd sent his text over two hours ago, and she was just replying now?

'Patrick. Grace gave me your number yesterday. Sorry if I disturbed you.' He was surprised that this time he didn't have to wait so long for a reply.

'Oh. You didn't. Its fine.'

'Ok good. Missed you in science and history. Grace said you're sick' The reply wasn't as quick as the last one he'd gotten. He glanced out the window over his desk that he was standing next to. The sun was getting a little lower in the sky. It was half way through September. Idly, Patrick wondered what all the girls with short skirts were going do when winter hit. Get frostbite on their legs? Didn't sound like fun.

'Just wasn't feeling well this morning. Probably be back tomorrow.'

'Ok. Have a restful day?' He knew she probably needed her rest, but he couldn't help it. He was so bored. And she was the only semblance of entertainment he had.

'Yeah. But I gotta finish the homework Grace brought me.'

'An example of an ionic compound is table salt. Question 1 on the science sheet. And question 1 on history is Michael Angelo'

'Thanks. Talk to you later.'

'Sure. Feel free to text me if you need any answers'. "Or if you wouldn't mind making me a little less bored with my sucky life." Patrick added in his head. He put his phone back on his desk and was about to turn and see if he could find something good to watch with Charlotte when something caught his eye outside. A figure dressed in all black was standing on the sidewalk near the front yard of their next door neighbours, but they were standing facing his house. Patrick squinted, trying to make out something more substantial than black clothes and a masculine form, but couldn't because of the neighbour's hedge and the distance. After a few minutes, the person turned and walked away casually. Patrick couldn't help the unsettling feeling in his gut. Quickly, he went downstairs to check on Charlotte. She was fine. He checked the alarm. Still fine. A few minutes later, Darcy returned home early.

"Everything was fine?" She asked him.

"Yeah." Patrick lied. Maybe the guy was just some weird kind of extra security. He didn't want to start raising false alarms. "Nothing happened."

Author's Note: Dun. Dun! DDUUUNNN! That's chapter four. Hope it was enjoyable. Please leave a review.