"Mom, can I bring a friend over after school? We have a huge test tomorrow and we were going to study together," Cori asked as she rushed to eat her breakfast so that she could get to school on time.

"Sure, honey," Lindsay replied distractedly. She was trying her best to feed a very fussy Sophia. The baby had kept her awake all night, so she was rather dreading going to work today. "I won't be home until five, so behave yourself."

"You know I will!" Cori pecked her mother on the cheek and grabbed her bag. She started to head out the door, but a squawk from her sister reminded her that she'd forgotten something. "Sorry Sophie!" she said, coming back and kissing her sister. Lindsay had given up on feeding her, so Cori picked the little girl up and held her to her chest. "Be good for mommy and the babysitter, alright, sis?" She kissed her again and handed her back to her mother. "See ya!" she called as she went out the door.

Cori smiled the whole way to school that day. She sauntered through the hallways, the fear that she had the first day totally dissolved. She arrived to Mrs. Lockhart's class with minutes to spare before the bell rang and slid into her seat next to Jason.

He brightened visibly. "Hey!"

"Hi," she smiled, "my mom said you could come over today. She won't be home until five, but I promised we'd behave. " She rolled her eyes.

"It's kinda hard to misbehave while cramming for the world's hardest test on the Roman Empire," he smirked.

"True. I see what you're saying," she laughed.

"I'll have to be home by six, though, so that I can get dinner on the table for my mom and brother."

"Oh!" the mention of siblings had reminded Cori of something. "I'll have to be watching my baby sister… is that ok? She should be quiet. She might even take a nap."

"Sure, that's fine," Jason assured her.

"Good. I can't wait."

Jason smiled. "Me neither."

The day passes slowly and was painfully uneventful. By the time lunch rolled around, Cori thought she was going to go insane. She forgot her purse in her last class before lunch and since she had to go back and get it, she arrived in the cafeteria later than usual. By the time she bought her lunch and headed over to the table where she sat, Marissa was sitting in her seat. Cori had become rather close with the little group she ate lunch with, but for reasons unknown, Marissa had always acted cold and aloof towards Cori. Cori shook it off, even though they all sat in the exact same seats everyday. She took a seat in-between Ryan and David and began to eat.

The conversation was minimal, for once. Usually Ryan livened things up, but today he seemed distant and upset. Marissa on the other hand, wouldn't shut up. She was hanging all over Jason in a way that made Cori resent her and feel a bit jealous. She was giggling and kept touching him on the shoulder and ruffling his hair. Jason just smiled and laughed along with her.

"I'm not too hungry," Cori announced and got up to throw away the lunch she had barely picked at.

"Yeah, me neither," Ryan stood up and followed her.

They both lingered at the trashcan for a moment, eyeing Marissa from where they stood.

"Guess we know how she feels about him," Ryan said ruefully.

"Yeah," Cori agreed, a tad bitterly. It dawned on her just then. "You like her, don't you?"

Ryan's ears tinged red, but he nodded slightly. "I've had a crush on her since we were 10. She lives across the hall from me, so we grew up together, but she's always liked Jason better."

"I'm sorry, Ryan. I'd talk to her, but she obviously hates me."

"You're competition, Cori. That's why she doesn't like you."

"What do you mean?" Cori honestly didn't have a clue what Ryan was talking about.

"Anyone can see that Jason adores you. She feels threatened by you."

"Oh." Cori's answer was simple, but her heart swelled and began to beat a little faster. "I like him." she said quietly. Now it was her turn to blush.

"I noticed," he teased. "Come on. It smells weird over here."

"Yeah," Cori laughed. "It does."

"I'm sorry about Marissa," Jason told Cori as they walked back to her apartment after school.

"What about her?" Cori decided to play dumb.

Jason rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that. I saw you and Ryan talking."

Cori bit her lip and blushed. "So we were both a little jealous. What's the big deal?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "You were jealous?"

"Yeah," she looked away.

Jason smiled. "Look, Ryan, Marissa and I have known each other since elementary school. We grew up in the same building. It was always the three of us until you came along. I mean, we hung out with other people, you know, Sam, David and all them, but it was primarily just the three of us. She feels threatened by you."

Cori took a deep breath. "Should she?" she held her breath until he answered.

Jason grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. "Yes."

Cori looked up at him, shy all of a sudden, and smiled.

"You know, you don't talk about your family very much," Jason said suddenly after several minutes of companionable silence. "I mean, I didn't even know you had a sister until this morning."

Cori stiffened a little. Jason didn't know anything about her adoption or her biological parents' murder. She figured she'd have to tell him eventually, and she supposed now was as good a time as any.

"I was adopted a little while before coming to Roland," she said quietly. "My biological parents were killed a few months ago."

"I had no idea, I'm so sorry," Jason's sympathy was obviously genuine.

"No, it's ok. I mean, I loved my parents, but I'm really much happier now than I ever was with them. You've probably heard of them. Ron and Maureen Davenport?"

"Oh yeah! I read about that in the newspaper. I didn't know they had a daughter."

"Not many people did. Being parents was not their first priority in life."

"I'm sorry." He said again, not knowing what else to say.

"Really, it's ok. Danny and Lindsay, my parents that adopted me, are both CSI's. They were involved with my parent's case. That's how we met. To make a long story short, we got really close really fast because we were in a safe house since we were being threatened and when they found out that I had nowhere to go, they adopted me. And now I have a real family."

"Well, I guess it all works out, then," Jason shrugged.

"Yeah. I really love them. And Sophie, my baby sister."

"Man, you're life sounds great."

"It is. What about you? You don't talk about your family much either." She felt like she could ask him questions now, since he knew about her family. She'd wanted to ask many times before, but it felt too much like prying, so she resisted.

"Ah, nothing too great. My dad walked out on us right after my little brother was born. My mom works two jobs to keep meals on the table for us. My little brother, Jonah, is in an after school program so that I can work, too. I work most days after school, but I had today off. My mom picks him up on the way home from work, and since I usually get off work before her, I make dinner and stuff so that she can eat before she goes to her second job." He blushed a little when he realized he'd been rambling.

"Today was your day off? You could have told me! You shouldn't have to waste it studying with me."

"I wanted to." He said simply.

They arrived at her apartment a few minutes later. Cori went to their next-door neighbor's apartment before her's to pick up Sophia. "Hi, Mrs. Marshall," she greeted their grandmotherly neighbor. "How was Sophie today?"

"Good, good, come in Cori," she beckoned them in, "Who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Jason, a friend from school."

"I see," the older lady said with a twinkle in her eye. "Sophia's in the kitchen." She led the way to the kitchen where Sophia sat happily in a high chair that was usually vacant except for when Sophie or Mrs. Marshall's grandchildren were visiting. Sophie squealed in delight when she saw her sister.

"Hey, Soph!" Cori lifted the baby out of her chair. She kissed the top of her head. "I missed you!"

"Here, I'll take your books," Jason offered.

Cori handed them to him. "Thanks!" she grabbed Sophie's diaper bag and headed towards the door. "We'd better go study. Thanks, Mrs. M!"

A/N Yep…so that's it for now. Up next…the study date and Danny meets Jason…should get interesting!

xoxo

Lia