FICTION TURNS TO FACT

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Callum Laken grinned as he stepped into the late April sunshine, his eyes immediately lighting on Kate Hotchner. The slim brunette had caught his eye the first day he'd met her, their first day of rehearsal for the school's production of West Side Story. Following, he'd done some quiet asking around about her, discovering that she was the little musical star with a big heart. Sometimes he wondered if the world wasn't just a handful of clichés instead of anything particularly unpredictable.

Though, even he had to admit there were huge parts of Kate's life that seemed unpredictable. He'd met her best friend after rehearsal one day and he knew he'd looked surprised. Both Kate and the very blond-haired blue-eyed Calleigh Reid just laughed it off, used to odd looks as to their friendship.

"Yeah, my best friend's the school's biggest brainiac. I adore her," Kate said with a laugh.

Calleigh shot her best friend a look. "And my best friend is the school's little starlet, what can I do?"

It was obvious, even to Callum, that their friendship ran deep, something cultivated over almost too many years as friends. He respected that, and respected both girls even more when he overheard Kate telling their musical directors that she was going to have to miss a rehearsal one Thursday night because her best friend was competing in a Reach for the Top tournament. The director didn't even blink, just waved her off.

Now, she was sitting comfortably under a tree enjoying the sunshine and warm weather that had been missing from Washington for the previous five months. Her head was tilted up to the sky, eyes closed and he was stuck. He knew he'd pretty much fallen for her, an inevitability with all of the time they spent together added to her adorably sweet demeanour. So he wove around other groups of students out to enjoy the uncharacteristically nice weather until he stood over her, blocking out her sun.

"Hey," he greeted, flashing her his most brilliant smile.

She laughed. "You know your charm has absolutely no effect on me."

He grinned as he took a seat. That was something he'd learned in the first week of meeting her. Kate was immune to any sort of flattery or charm. It was one of the other things that had endeared her to him. Something in her life kept her down to earth and didn't let her build that diva personality that 'career' performers often had. "I thought I'd give it a try anyway. Missed you in Politics this morning."

She sighed. "Unfortunate side effect of stressed parents because your brother has the flu. Mom said she could teach me anything I missed."

That was how he'd gathered his information about Kate. She said little things like that in passing, little things he filed away for safe keeping. He knew she and Calleigh had been friends since birth because their mothers were long standing friends. He knew her mother spoke multiple languages such that Kate had taken to swearing in said foreign languages. He knew she'd been dancing and singing since she was four and she'd let slip that her parents probably had tapes of her childhood performances somewhere. Still, she was extremely tight lipped about her family. And she and Calleigh not only talked too fast for him to absorb everything sometimes, but they also threw out too many names for him to remember. Apparently, Kate had a huge family.

"The flu is never fun," he said eventually.

"Doesn't help my brother's a suck."

She said it with such affection that Callum was under no false pretences of how much she adored her brother. "That's not a nice thing to say about family."

She laughed. "I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true," she replied.

Callum's stomach flipped at her bright grin. "Well here," he said, handing over the notebook he usually used for Politics. "Take my notes, look 'em over."

"Thanks," she said partially in surprise. And that was another thing he liked about Kate. She never expected things from anyone else. She did everything as close to by herself as she could, and he knew she was usually reluctant to ask anyone for help. Well, except her family.

"How long has your brother been sick?"

"Couple of days," she replied. "Today was a bad day."

"Bad day?" he asked, reaching over and filching a piece of celery from the container on her other side.

Kate sent him a mock glare. "Yeah. He had a bad night, so Mom and Dad didn't set their alarms. I guess I forgot to set mine and well, my brother doesn't need to set his because it's not like he's coming to school..."

"Ah," Callum said around the celery. "I understand."

"Yeah," she breathed out on a sigh.

He'd just opened his mouth to ask about it when her cell phone rang. He felt a pang of jealousy at the gentle smile that blossomed across her face when she recognized the name on the ID.

"Hey."

Callum strained his ears for the other side of the conversation, but couldn't hear a bloody thing.

"Yeah, Seth, I've got it, stop worrying." There was a pause. "Yeah, I can do that, no worries." Pause. "No, I have rehearsal and Cal's got some lab to finish so I probably won't be around until dinner. Yeah, well that's what happens when I rule the world, hon."

He felt the jealousy spike again at the affectionate way she talked to whoever was on the other end of the line. Then she laughed loudly.

"Yeah, I can sneak a sundae to you. Anything else while you're twisting my arm?"

Callum found himself chewing the inside of his cheek.

"Ha! Yeah right, smartass. Okay, I'll see you tonight. Love you too." She was shaking her head as she hung up.

"Boyfriend?" he asked.

She looked at him, and he was struck with the sudden feeling that she could read him better than he'd like. She grinned. "Nah. Seth's my brother. No reason to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous," he contradicted.

"Okay," she answered in a sing-song voice. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"Hey Kate!"

He looked up with her to see the flashing eyes of Susan Cortese, the girl he knew was the bane of Kate's existence.

"You might want to fire your vocal coach. She's useless if she can't even help you carry a tune. Oh, and hire a dance tutor or something. I know babies who dance better than you."

Callum's eyes went to Kate as Susan walked away, cackling with laughter. The brunette was biting her bottom lip.

"Hey," he said, his hand automatically coming up to squeeze hers. He wanted to take the hurt our of her eyes more than anything in the world, a thought that had startled him almost two months before, the first time those protective instincts had reared their ugly heads. "She's wrong. You're doing fantastic."

Kate blew out a sigh. "I know," she said, sparing him a small smile.

That was another thing that had struck him about her. She had everything going for her, a slim curvy build, dark hair, expressive dark eyes, classic beauty and elegance and yet, she was one of the most insecure people he'd ever met. It wasn't like she asked for constant reassurance, but when people criticized her abilities at the things she loved or the things she was supposed to be good at, it hurt more than she'd probably like to let on.

"Anyway, I've had worse."

He arched an eyebrow. "Worse?"

She laughed slightly, slipping her hand out from under his to twist it in with her other one in her lap. "Yeah, worse. My parents reluctantly dance in a few political circles. I've dealt with a few judgmental divas in my time. And anyway, she's saying that because she wants to play Maria and hopes I get into a car accident a week before I'm supposed to go on stage for opening night."

The hurt was still there, but she was protecting herself, he could see it in every line of her body. She had a poker face to rival any professional actor, but when it came to body language, Kate Hotchner was an open book. Names actually hurt, more than the childhood rhyme let on.

"They couldn't have picked a better Maria," he told her. "She's just jealous."

"I know," Kate sighed. "But I've worked my butt off for four years to get this part. And she thinks because I've taken vocal and dance lessons and she hadn't I'm not worth it and I don't have raw talent."

Callum snorted. "First of all, I'm living proof that they didn't just pick based on favourites. Second of all, just because your 'raw talent' had to be harnessed doesn't make you any less of a performer than she is. I'd say you're a classier performer than she is because you don't need to put others down to make yourself feel better."

She looked away. "Yeah."

He sighed inaudibly. All he wanted to do was make this better, but he had a feeling this was something that he just couldn't fix. Which didn't sit right with him at all. Kate had gotten under his skin from the day he'd met her and he'd been contemplating asking her out for ages. He just thought she deserved better and more than he could give her. The fact that they only really spent time alone together going over lines didn't help his self-esteem much.

But he could still dream.

Kate sighed as she hoisted her backpack over her shoulder at the end of rehearsal. She was done and she felt utterly exhausted yet she knew she had to call her father to come get her. Her parents weren't comfortable with her taking the bus by herself after dark. She glanced up as Callum fell into step beside her. Her gut twisted. She liked Callum, had confided such a thing to Calleigh just after the Christmas break, but was way too terrified to even make a move. And since he hadn't made the first move either, she figured he was comfortable with the little dance they were doing.

"So I hear through the grapevine that the lady is in need of a gallant knight to deposit her at her doorstep," he said, leaning into her ear.

Kate pinched the back of her thigh to keep herself from shivering even as she laughed. "Well, the gallant knight's steed would do, but I'm just going to call my dad to come get me."

"I'll drive you."

He'd already grasped her elbow and was steering her towards the doors to the parking lot. Kate was too tired to really put up too much of a fight and this way her father didn't have to leave the still-sick Seth. Sometimes she wondered if Seth's sucky nature while sick came from the way their parents hovered. Though, she was the same so she probably shouldn't be throwing stones. "So long as you promise you're not abducting me to take me to your dark torture chamber of a basement to rape me, torture me and eventually kill me."

Callum stopped dead shooting her a confused and definitely shocked glance. "Where did that come from?"

"Parents. Both FBI," Kate replied with a tired smile. "My mom even got abducted once. I was on the phone at the time."

She saw Callum shake his head. "You never cease to surprise me."

"Good," she replied as they started moving again. "Someone's got to keep you on your toes."

"FBI, you say," he asked.

She nodded. "We don't talk about it, but that's where they met."

"So um... they carry guns?"

Kate nodded. "Whole family does, minus Aunt Pen. Aunt Jenny's the best shot, I think. Unless Mom passed her this year. Dad sulks about it. Why? Thinking of asking me out?" Good Lord, she really was exhausted if things like that were just falling out of her mouth.

"Actually, yes," he replied and Kate's heart started beating double time. "Will your parents shoot me?"

"Are you a psychotic murderer?"

"No."

"A serial arsonist?"

"Another no."

"Pedophile?"

"No."

"Then I doubt it," she said. "And if Daddy wants to shoot you, Mom will make sure he doesn't."

They spit as they reached his car and Kate managed to slide in despite the pounding of her heart and her now-shaking hands. Were they actually talking about him asking her out? Was he being serious? She had no idea whether he was actually going to ask her out of if this was a completely hypothetical conversation. The radio took over while she directed him to her home. She stayed sitting when he pulled the car into her drive way, finally turning to him and biting her bottom lip.

"Were you being serious?" she asked. "About asking me out?"

She saw his grip on the steering wheel tighten. "Do you want it to be serious?"

"I wouldn't be against the idea of dating you," Kate replied evasively.

Callum nodded. "I really like the idea."

"Then ask me."

His warm hazel eyes met hers, the same hazel eyes that had struck her right off the bat. "Go out with me."

"When?" she immediately shot back.

"Saturday," he replied. "Afternoon."

"Okay." She felt a massive grin spreading across her face.

"Okay," Callum agreed. He grinned back. "We'll iron things out over the week?"

She nodded as she got out of the car. "Thank you. For the ride home."

"Sure."

She almost skipped around the front of the car then paused, a decision flashing through her head quickly. She allowed her bag to drop to the driveway as she made her way to his door. He rolled down the window.

"Something wrong?"

"No," she replied cheerfully and leaned down, taking his face between her hands. She'd been thinking about kissing him since coming across the scene in her script almost four months ago and they had yet to play that scene through in its entirety. She moved slow, giving him enough time to stop her, to propose that this be the way they end their first date instead, but he never stopped her, just slipped his hand to her neck as her mouth met his. She kept the kiss relatively short but sweet.

"I'm starting to wonder why I waited so long to ask you out," he said, his eyes floating open again

"You know," she replied. "I'm wondering the exact same thing. I'll see you tomorrow Callum."

And with that, she scooped her bag back up and made her way up to the front door. She couldn't wait.