AN: I wanted to give a special shout out to Savage Kill for all the help you've given me regarding details of later scenes. I can't wait for you to read them. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, left a favorite, or followed!

Chapter 4

If Sydney hadn't been using her skills to bully Cassie, she would have praised the bottle blonde for her ability to find out stories that should have been buried. By Monday, the entire school had known that Cassie's mother had not married her father when she'd become pregnant, and then walked out. New rumors spread every day that her mother was a prostitute, a drug addict, an alcoholic, or just smart enough to walk away from the worthless baby she'd brought into the world. The rumors about her mother were nothing new to Cassie, but to hear speculation that her father had gone to Afghanistan to get away from her hurt more than she had prepared herself to handle.

Cassie had taken to bringing lunch to school and hiding in the art room rather than risking Fili or Kili attempting to talk to her. The flock kept Fili away in class, and she took caution to learn when he was at his locker so she could avoid him. But no one thought to warn her that the entire schedule changed on Friday for the big pep rally before the football home opener. So Fili caught her Friday morning heading from the art room after dropping off her camera. "Go away," she hissed as he pulled her back into the studio, trying to yank her hand away.

"No. We need to talk," he insisted, blocking her way as she tried to escape. "Cassie, please, I need to fix this."

"This?" she demanded, hoping she could be cold enough to keep out the warmth she knew he would use to break through to her.

"Us. I thought we were getting somewhere last week, and then you were crying in chemistry." She didn't care if he was stressing about her all week, she didn't, but she wasn't even fooling herself.

"There is no us, Philip. I don't want to be your friend." Snapping the words at him stunned him and allowed her to twist free and stalk away from him.

"Liar," he snarled, spinning her around by her shoulders. A thick gold braid whipped around her to lash against Fili's shoulder, and empty gold eyes met pleading blue. "Cassie, talk to me. What did I do?"

The last week of descending misery in school, on top of the last month of being unwanted at her grandparent's finally stirred up a reaction other than tears. Knocking his hands off her shoulders, she shoved him back a step. "You made me believe you were different, that I was special to you! If you'd just left me alone, none of this would have happened. I could have just been the lower-class school art-nerd. But you had to catch me and talk to me and now your flock is screaming for my blood if I even look at you. Do you know how hard it is to ignore you when you're in five of my seven classes? It would be so much easier if you were an arrogant brat like all the others, then maybe I could hate you. But you're not. You're the intelligent, honest, hard-working golden boy and I want to be your friend so much it hurts." By the time Cassie finished speaking her anger was spent and she sank onto a stool behind her. Dropping her head in her hands, she hid her face from the boy above her, praying he would just leave.

Instead he knelt on the floor in front of her. Gentle hands encircled her wrists and drew her arms down into her lap so he could see the misery, loneliness, and longing in her eyes. "Then why aren't we friends?" he whispered, reaching out to brush a strand of hair back into her braid.

"Because I'm nothing special. You'll forget all about me and I'll disappear into the background, and you'll go back to being the perfect golden boy," she murmured, long lashes fluttering against pale cheeks as her eyes closed.

"I'm not perfect, Cassie." The claim was so absurd to the girl that she lifted her head to stare at him. "I'm not. I'm selfish. I knew what they would do to you if I spoke to you, yet I sat with you at lunch anyway. I should have walked away after I caught you and left you in peace," he reminded her, running his hand down her arm to twine their fingers together.

"You should have let me fall," she protested, pale fingers tracing the veins on the hand that held her wrist.

"Never," he promised, looking up to meet her eyes. "Come on. We're going to be late for that quiz," he sighed, settling for covering both of her hands with his own. Standing, he drew her upright into a hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Slim arms slipped around his waist as he tucked her under his chin. "Nobody gets to drive us apart again, okay? We're going to be friends whether the flock likes it or not."

"Even Sydney?" she asked, leaning back in his arms to look up at him through her hair.

"Especially Sydney," he assured her, pressing a light kiss to her forehead. Chuckling as she blushed, he smiled and teased, "You know, you're adorable when you blush."

She ducked her head, stepping back so she could wrap her arms around herself. "Now what?" she murmured, uncertainty and hesitance pulling her lips down into a frown.

"Now we get to class," he grinned, taking one of her hands so he could pull her along at his side as they rushed through the halls. They slipped into the classroom just before the bell rang, and Cassie blushed crimson as Legolas and the twins gave her identical arched eyebrows. Fili's flock was gaping at them as he led her to the empty desks where she usually sat and slid into the seat in front of her.

He walked her to their lockers between classes, and in second and third period, he made the point to sit in front of her or beside her. His parting words before fourth period were "Smile," and they went in opposite directions. He had business management while she was in Spanish.

Sydney caught her arm as she walked out of Spanish. The bottle blonde, who Cassie had learned was the perfect stereotype of a cheerleader, threw the smaller girl into the wall at her back. Once more slapping the binder out of Cassie's hands, Sydney crowded into her face. "Haven't I made your life hell enough? I told you to stay away from Philip Durin." Sneering down at her, the blonde's eyes weren't protective or caring. They were possessive.

As if Fili were a prize waiting to be won. Cassie couldn't stop the image of Fili with a price tag on his forehead from breaking into her mind, and a smirk grew on her lips. "We'll see if you're still laughing at the end of the day, freak," Sydney snapped, raising one hand.

Cassie's arms flew up a second too late to deflect the stinging slap across her face. Her head cracked against the wall behind her as Sydney flounced away. One of her friends knocked Cassie aside, and the smaller girl slid down the wall to the floor. Dizzy and stunned, Cassie had to blink a couple of times before the dark form in front of her came into focus as an agitated Kili. "Kili, calm down, I'm fine," she muttered, raising a hand to the wetness under her nose. Her fingertips came back stained with blood and she sighed. Waving him back so she could breathe, she dug around in her backpack for a pack of tissues.

"You're bleeding, Cassie!" Kili protested, gathering her Spanish binder and notebook.

"And I'm sitting on the floor, so will you please stop swearing under your breath and help me up?"

Kili leaned over, hooked his hands under her elbows, and lifted her as if she weighed nothing at all. Then, being Kili, he had to comment on the feat. "My god, do you eat at all?"

"What do you want me to say? I'm small, I'm aware," she huffed, pressing her tissue to the bleeding right side of her nose. "Can we just go to lunch now, please?"

"Fili fixed you two huh?" he teased, and Cassie blushed again. "Did he kiss you?"

"On the forehead after he let me be mad at him, held my hands, and hugged me," she assured him. His big brother had done everything right and more.

"I bet he wanted to really kiss you," the brunette mused, shifting Cassie's books to his other arm so he could open her locker.

"You know my combination?" she demanded, pointing to the green binder she needed for after lunch.

Handing over her brown paper bag, he informed her, "Memorized it off your schedule last week. Did you want to kiss him?"

"Why are we talking about this, Kili, he's your brother!"

"And that makes it my job to know if the girl he wants to date is attracted to him too."

"He wants to date me?"

Kili shot her a withering look as he led her towards the table he shared with his brother, who bolted to his feet on seeing the bloody tissue in Cassie's hand. He went to shove his way between the rows of round tables, but Kili reached him first. The younger Durin stopped his brother with a hand on his shoulder, allowing Cassie to slip into the seat on Fili's right. Kili settled to his brother's left, watching as Fili leaned over and drew Cassie's hand away from her nose.

"Who did this?" Fili rumbled, his voice low in his throat and stemming from somewhere deep in his chest. "Cassie, who slapped you?" She shook her head, eyes flicking around in shame as he wiped the blood off her face. She could feel the stares on the red handprint decorating the side of her face. "Cass, they won't let us outside for lunch with the shortened periods. This is all we've got for privacy."

"I'm fine, Fili. It's nothing new," Cassie closed her eyes as she realized what she'd said. Warm, calloused hands cupped either side of her jaw, forcing her to raise her chin and met that ocean blue gaze. "Sydney thinks you're some kind of prize to be won. I may have laughed at her."

"So she slapped you," he growled, lifting his head to scan the cafeteria for the cheerleader. While he was distracted, Cassie looked up to see who else shared their table. On Kili's other side was his rival for the eleventh grade flock, Bain. The dark haired boy was Sigrid's older brother. Next to him was one of the twins. She was fairly certain it was Elrohir and Elladan was one seat over. Legolas was two seats over from Cassie's right, and an auburn haired girl sat between them.

"I'm Tauriel, Legolas's sister," the other girl leaned over to whisper as Fili glared around the cafeteria.

"Cassie," the blonde girl replied. She grimaced as Tauriel offered a hand to shake, and Cassie held up hers. Blood was still smeared across her fingertips from her nose. The other girl frowned and handed over a napkin. "Thanks." Wiping off the blood, she went to throw the napkin in the trash barrel behind Kili only to remember that Fili still had the tissue. She turned to find that his glare, still fixed on Sydney's blonde head, churned his ocean eyes to a gray storm. His fingers were clenched around the tissue on his thigh, so she drew his hand into her lap. As hard as she tried to open his hand, Cassie could not get him to let go of the tissue. Reaching up to catch his chin, she forced him to turn back towards her. "Relax, golden boy," she suggested, tapping the back of his knuckles.

"Can't you just let me be protective?" he sighed, reaching up with his free hand to smooth her mused hair.

She winced as his hand pressed over the tender spot on the back of her head, sighing when he frowned in concern. "Not when being protective distracts you from everything around you. I'm fine, Fili, now let go." He gave her a sheepish smile when he realized she'd been trying to get the bloody tissue from his hand. "What do you do, wield swords to build up your grip?" she teased, leaning towards him as her hand came up to untie the thick French braid at the back of her head.

"Yes," Kili laughed, and she choked. Coughing water out of her lungs, Cassie stared at the brothers.

"He's not kidding," Fili grinned, and she looked to Tauriel.

"We all have extensive training with weapons," the other girl informed her, smiling faintly.

"Don't forget the hand-to-hand combat," Elladan threw in, sharing a grin with his brother.

"You're sitting with the most dangerous kids in the school," Bain grinned, and she looked around at all of them.

"You're serious. All of you," she realized, shaking her hair out of her face. "Where do you all train?"

"Ered Luin," Legolas supplied, looking up from the laptop in front of him.

"Translates to Blue Mountains. It's a gym in Brooklyn. Uncle and his best friend Dwalin founded it for veterans after our great-grandfather lost Erebor," Fili explained. Cassie nodded; she knew the story of Erebor Inc. falling to the tricks and greed of the vice president after Thror Durin had been overcome by addiction. She'd just moved to Germany when Thorin Durin had sued Miles Smaug, the former vice president of his grand-father's company, and gone to trial. With the help of one Bilbo Baggins, Thorin had won the trial and taken back the company that rightfully belonged to him and his heirs. Fili and Kili's uncle had restored Smaug Industries to the thriving Erebor Incorporated after living near poverty for years. She knew Thorin's wealth, and the fact that Fili was heir to the company, was the reason for the flock, but Casey Mason had raised his daughter right.

She'd watched her father work to give her everything in life. Now, watching this school full of spoiled brats flaunt money they'd done nothing to earn, she could appreciate how toned down the group at her table was compared to the rest of the school's population. All of them worked, even if it was at their parent's company, but still. They pushed themselves so much further than their peers.

There was a smile on her face as Cassie leaned forward, chin brushing Fili's shoulder to whisper, "I want to take pictures of you guys training."

Fili turned his head, nudging her ear with his nose. "I'm warning you now, I train shirtless."

She giggling, flushing at the image in her head and his proximity. "Golden mane, muscular, protective, and you're a warrior; you really are a lion."

"Does that make you the sweet little lamb that the lion learns to love?" Fili murmured, reaching up to run his hand through the loose braid. Knowing looks passed between Kili and Bain as the elder Durin wrapped one of Cassie's curls around his finger.

"Do you want me to be the lamb?" Cassie breathed, panic flaring in her chest as she realized he was flirting with her and he was holding nothing back. Is this what her father had meant that it was okay to have a boyfriend? Had he known there would be a boy that his daughter would allow to protect her? Cassie's blush darkened as she acknowledged how much she wanted Fili to say yes.

AN: Hey guys, just wondering, do you want these chapters to be longer, or are you getting enough for each scene? Let me know in the reviews! Thanks!