A/N: Despite the fact that this chapter starts out during a tuition session, it's not on the same day. The last chapter was on 'January 11', and now it's 'January 26', so they've been having tuition sessions for a few weeks now.

Disclaimer: Hart Hanson owns Bones, not me.

January 26, 1991

"Let's take a break."

Temperance scowled at him from across the couch. "Booth!" she protested. "We've only been studying for twenty minutes."

He nodded, wide-eyed. "Yeah, and my brain's already turned to mush."

She rolled her eyes at that. "What brain?" she muttered under her breath.

He heard her and grabbed the nearest couch cushion, lobbing it at her. "Hey!" he mock growled. "I have a brain! So I'm not Doogie smart like you…"

She furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "What?" she asked incredulously.

He shook his head at her. "Never mind." Reaching over, he slammed the book on her lap shut. "Come on. Let's get a drink, watch some TV for a while."

He pulled her up by the hand and led her to the kitchen. And though she protested, she followed him in willingly anyway. "What do you want?" he asked, ignoring her jabbering about not procrastinating, and poked his head into the open fridge door. "We've got Mountain Dew and…Well, water."

Temperance cocked her hips to the side and folded her arms tightly across her chest. "What I want is to get back to work," she grumbled. At the look he gave her, she tilted her head to the side and relented with a small smile. "Water, please."

He grabbed a bottle of water and threw it at her. She caught it easily, unflinchingly, and had twisted the cap open and gulped down a sip or two before he could even blink. Booth smirked and grabbed a Mountain Dew for himself. "I'll put a bowl of popcorn in the microwave," he offered. "We could watch a movie."

Temperance sighed and shot him a disapproving look. She knew no matter how hard she would try to dissuade him, she wouldn't be successful. He was just stubborn that way. "A movie, Booth?" she didn't sound enthusiastic at all. "We won't get any work done if we watch a movie. It would take longer than our tutoring time today alone."

He shrugged, throwing her a cheeky smile. "So this won't count as part of our tutor session," he said simply, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

With all the girls he'd dated, it probably is, Temperance thought before catching herself. A movie didn't mean anything. He was just bored. Teenage boys were predictable like that. And she wasn't the kind of girl Seeley Booth would ever consider dating. Not that she even wanted him to consider it. She certainly wasn't considering it. At all.

Besides, he had a girlfriend. Perfect cheerleader Katie Quinn, with her perfect hair and her perfect face and her perfect life. Why on earth would Booth even look at anyone else if he had Katie?

Temperance blinked a few times, as if to shake away her recent line of thoughts.

"We'll start up again after the movie," Booth continued to coax, unaware of Temperance's inner turmoil. "Now it's just 'Seeley and Temperance Hanging Out Time'."

Temperance rolled her eyes. "You hate your first name," she said, completely deflecting his offer as she bit back a smile. It was ridiculous how charming the boy was.

He wasn't deterred. "Come on…" he cajoled, charismatic smile in place.

She sighed again and eyed him warily.

It was strange enough that he was nice to her at school - not just in class, either. These days, she'd get a smile in the hallways as they passed each other, or a 'Hey, Temperance!' in the cafeteria.

It was weird since guys like him - jocks - didn't hang around girls like her - 'total losers', as his girlfriend and her evil posse of cheerleaders had put it. But now he wanted to hang out with her? Not just be nice to her in passing, but spend more time with her than necessary? And doing something pleasant, too.

What was going on?

She sincerely hoped it wasn't another set-up, because she'd been caught in the middle of those one too many times. And she hoped Booth wouldn't turn out to be another Andy Fluger because, in her opinion, one Andy Fluger in the world was one too many.

Besides, she liked Booth. He was nice. And she liked Pops and Jared, too. If Booth turned out to be a jerk, then her memories of them would be tainted for a long while. That wouldn't be very nice.

Booth watched as she eyed him with narrowed blue orbs, a contemplative, cautious expression on her face. Rolling his eyes, he went to grab a bag of microwave-able popcorn. "I'm not about to sprout fangs and turn into a demon or something," he said sarcastically.

Temperance shot him a look as if questioning his sanity. "Of course you're not," she stated matter-of-factly. "That's not scientifically possible. And, even if it were, there are no such thing as demons."

Booth pursed his lips. "Right. Whatever," he pressed the palms of his hands on her shoulder blades gently and turned her towards the kitchen entrance. "Go pick out a movie. I'll scrounge up junk food."

"Why?"

"Because it's how people watch movies. You know, with a load of junk food. Candy, popcorn, chocolate. Whatever."

She shuddered slightly. "That is so unhealthy," she muttered. He chuckled at that. She paused briefly. "You don't happen to own any Mayan documentaries, do you?" she asked hopefully.

He thanked God he didn't.

Thank you for reading.

Juliet.