In the making

Alright, listen up guys. I wrote this story back in 2012 and it was still kind of sitting here on my old laptop. As I'm a sucker for AU/younger Castle & Beckett I wanted to share this with you even though it might not be that good. I'll upload the first four chapters today. Up until now there are fifteen chapters written and ready to go - but I might add some more if there's an interest in the story. Let me know if you want to read the rest of it. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

People change over time. I guess that we all know that. That cheerleader you used to know from kindergarten started dating another guy on the football team and that nerd from your science class finally found the comic book he had been looking for years. That girl you were once friends with is now pregnant with her first child. Your best friend suddenly wants to be more than just friends. Shit happens. Yet, there is always a chain of events that solves the mystery of life and explains why something happened in the first place.

Another day at a new school.

Mother really has to stop moving us around for acting-jobs.

He walked down the hallway, trying to ignore the eyes that were glued to him. People are watching him, of course they are, he is the new guy this year. He was actually hoping that they would just leave him alone. He knew that this wasn't going to happen since he is a social guy and, well… ruggedly handsome as he'd liked to call it. He walked past a group of gossiping girls, most of them still in their cheerleading uniforms. He heard giggles as he passed them and showed them his signature smile. It was a fake one nonetheless, but it was probably for the best if he kept up this act that felt all too comfortable to him.

He continued walking and found some of his friends throwing a football in the hallway. He wasn't sure if he could call these people his friends though. He was never sure if they were after him because they knew he had money or just because they really liked him. It was his mother's money but still. He wasn't planning on living of her money for long. The last few months he had started working on a novel that might even make him some money someday. One can always hope. Yet there was another thing that he probably shouldn't tell people: he was quite a sensitive guy and he loved to write. He'd always had trouble being himself in social situations, so he took on a persona that was easily likeable. Just to make his life a little easier. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

He walked up to his friends and found Alex there. Alex was probably the most reasonable one of the guys. Alex was a freakishly tall guy, even next to himself and had his short brown hair styled with too much gel. He saw Tony trying to tackle Miles a little further down the hall. Tony was a nice guy, he was a lot smaller than Alex, but he was also faster. That is probably what made him such a great football player. With his big brown eyes and his curly hair, he was a guy that made girls' hearts melt. And yet Tony was nothing compared to Alex, who seemed to be dating his third girl this week. Steve, Logan and Chris joined the conversation. They said something about having pizza after school in a restaurant down the street. He said he'd be there and left the group.

He made his way over to the vending machines when someone suddenly caught his eye. There she was sitting at one of the tables in the back of the cafeteria. A face in the crowd, that was all she was, but holy shit she was breathtaking. The guy behind him gave a little shove to make him go forward. Instead he just stepped out of line to get a better sight of her.

Her long brown hair, casually falling over her shoulder as if she wasn't really trying. Still looked gorgeous. She didn't look like the typical girl he would usually date and she… she even looked out of reach for him.

Girls were never out of reach. Ever. He immediately made himself a promise, he was going to befriend her no matter what.

Eye contact.

That was the first thing that came to her mind. She looked up from her lunch, where she saw a guy staring at her from across the room. Creepy. She had never seen him before, but he was definitely good looking with his styled short hair and his adorable boyish look. It was only when her friend Lanie nudged her softly in the ribs before she looked back at her friends, who were patiently waiting for her to answer a question that she couldn't remember.

''Girl, did you just space out on us?'' Lanie looked at Kate with concern. ''Hello? Earth to Kate please.''

''Yes, I'm fine. It's just…'' Kate once again made eye contact with the guy standing on the other side of the cafeteria and quickly looked away. He hadn't even moved. She dared to watch one more time, giving him a small smile, hoping that it would make him look away. Instead, he sent a smug smile back.

''Just what?'' Kate motioned to where the guy stood and Lanie's eyes followed the movement. ''Oh, that! That's Rick Castle. He recently moved here, and he is fairly new to this school. All the girls seem to be falling at his feet already.'' Kate huffed. Of course he was one of those guys. ''I'm pretty sure Meredith already made a move.'' She shuddered at the sound of Meredith's name.

''Okay. So now I know who he is, but why is staring at me?'' Kate questioned.

''Do we need to take him down Kate?'' A hispanic guy chipped in. He sat across from Kate, next to a white, half-Irish guy. Javier Esposito was not someone you would want to get into a fight with, especially with his best friend next to him named Kevin Ryan.

''Yeah, you know we would do that for you Kate. Just give the word and we are off.'' Kevin said giving Kate a serious look. She had known the boys for a little over a year now, but they were the like very close brothers to her.

''That's sweet guys, but I think I can handle it myself.'' The group laughed at her statement and they fell into an easy conversation.

''So, I was thinking…'' Kevin said as he tried to swallow his barely chewed sandwich. ''We should totally go see The Avengers next week. I mean, this movie got so many good reviews… I just need to see it for myself.''

''And let's not forget that Joss Whedon is in fact a genius.'' Javier said and fist bumped Kevin. Kate rolled her eyes at them and laughed.

Kate looked at the place where Rick had stood earlier. He was gone.

Of course he was, did she expect him to stand there forever? She quickly scanned the room and saw him nowhere near. A little disappointed she mixed herself once again in the conversation Javier, Lanie and Kevin had started.

''Okay. So Friday evening? Does that work for you, Kate?''

''Yes, Friday evening sounds perfect. What time does the movie start?'' She said, taking another bite from her sandwich.

''I'm pretty sure it was six thirty.'' Javier noted.

She chuckled. ''Pretty sure isn't going to get me there in time Javi.''

''Funny Kate. Now, I'll text you the correct time once I get home, alright?''

''Sounds like a plan! Could you pick me up?''

''Yeah, that would be the plan. I'll pick you guys up at seven. We want to have good seats… '' He gave a nod towards Kevin. ''…and we want to have popcorn before it gets too busy.'' Lanie and Kate laughed at their friends and shook their heads.

XXX

After the somewhat awkward eye contact he felt a hand on his shoulder. Alex was standing next to him asking if he was alright. He looked over to where Rick had seemed to space out over and saw the brunette. Telling him about how he could probably get a better looking girl or at least one who was already at his feet. He pulled Rick along to a table on the other side of the cafeteria. All while talking about his upcoming football match. Rick couldn't even see her from this point of view and that made him a little sad much to his own annoyance. Before he knew it, the bell rang and everyone left the table to go their own separate way.

It still took him a huge amount of time to find the right classroom, which resulted in him being late for his first class of Creative writing. Although school had already started two weeks ago, he was still getting used to this new environment. And yes, that meant getting lost in the hallways. Finally seeing the right classroom down the hall he took a sprint before the teacher closed the door behind him.

''Ah, you must be Rick Castle?'' The older man said. ''I got a note saying that you might drop by, since this class wasn't on your schedule before.''

''Yes, sir. That would be me.'' He gave the teacher a polite smile and then quickly scanned the room. At least some of the faces were familiar.

''Do you want to introduce yourself? There might be some people in here that you haven't seen yet.''

''No sir, I'm fine.'' Attention was the last thing he wanted right now.

''Okay. Well, go ahead take a place. There should be some spots left in the front.'' He pointed at the rows and dismissed Rick. ''Oh and I'm Simmons by the way''. Rick nodded in appreciation and continued walking.

Looking for a seat, he found something way better.

Her.

And there was a place free right next to her. Yes!

Quickly making his way across the room, he dropped his backpack and sat down next to her. And that happened to be next to a window. Score. She was unaware of his arrival and was still talking to her friend. That was until her friend stopped speaking all of the sudden. The brunette wondered why her friend stopped talking and turned around to find Rick Castle staring at her once again that day.

''Hey.'' He said, reaching out his hand for her to shake. She accepted. ''I'm Richard Castle, but everyone just calls me Rick.''

''Hi. I'm Kate. Kate Beckett.'' She was still holding his hand. Why was she still holding his hand again? Shocked by her own recognition she dropped his hand. He was grinning. Oh great, he's also cocky.

She heard wolf whistles coming from the back rows.

Really? He was friends with the 'popular' guys? This could not get any better.

He turned around and gave his friends a stern look. At this point he would be willing to beg if they'd just shut up. She didn't seem like the kind of girl that would like much attention. A more private person to be exact. And man, what he wouldn't do to find out every little detail about her. She blushed when she saw that he was still looking at her as if she was the only person in the room.

The teacher cleared his throat and the class slowly became silent. Both Rick and Kate suddenly turned back to listen to Simmons. He was an average looking guy with glasses and his hair was slightly turning gray in some places. He was nice and reasonable, but only when you treated him the same way.

''Now that I finally have your attention. Good afternoon everyone, today we'll start with the basics of creative writing. Firstly, let me show you what we are going to do for the next semester.'' He put a document at the beamer and suddenly caught everyone's attention. ''Alright, now some of you might be here because it's an easy course or simply because you have forgotten to sign up for another course.'' Someone tried to suppress their laugher, but failed miserably. '' Let me tell you. If you don't want to be here… this is not going to be fun.'' He said dramatically, looking at the back rows in particular. '' If you do however… then this course is probably perfect for you.''

Simmons continued his speech and Rick started to get a little bit distracted. A little – well more like a lot. There was just something about having Kate here right next to him that gave him the attention of a cocker spaniel. He couldn't focus on anything but her.

''Rick.'' Her voice stern.

''Yes?'' He said hoping that it came out more than a whisper.

''Stop doing that.''

''Stop doing what exactly?''

''That. That thing that you are doing.'' She pointed between them. ''You are staring at me. And this is the third time I've seen you doing it today.''

''Sorry.'' He said shrugging. ''It's kind of hard not to.'' Smug smile on his face.

''Really? Now why's that?''

He leaned a little closer to Kate, invading her personal space. ''You're joking, right?''

'''Does it look like I'm joking?'' She said with a blank look on her face.

''Okay. You're not.'' He cleared his throat and leaned over a little further towards Kate just stopping with his mouth next to her ear, his breath hot on her cheek. ''It's because you are really pretty.''

Heavily blushing, Kate looked away, finding Lanie grinning like a mad man next to her. Rick sat back in his chair with a satisfied smile on his face. They once again actually paid attention to Simmons, who had put up another document on the beamer. Time went faster than ever and both kept sneaking glances at each other.

At some point, Kate could feel that Rick wasn't paying attention anymore. Instead, she found him writing in what looked like a journal. Trying to sneak a glance at what he was writing, she saw that he covered up his writing with his other hand. Being the curious person that she was, she just couldn't leave it alone.

''What are you writing?''

''Huh?'' He said looking confused.

''In your journal, what are you writing?''

''Oh.'' Rick, who now had a red color creeping over his face, quickly put the journal away. ''It's nothing.''

''You call that nothing? If it's nothing… then why are you hiding it?'' She said, raising an eyebrow.

''Okay. Listen. I like to write. Please don't make a big deal out of it.'' He was almost whispering.

''Really? Wow.'' Actually surprised at that statement she continued ''And here I thought that you picked this class because you forgot to sign up for another course.''

''Very funny Katherine. Now, let me explain to you…'' He said, carefully picking his words after he'd just used her full name. ''I picked this course willingly, simply because I love to write. Those guys in the back row, on the other hand, don't. They simply sit there hoping that they will get a good grade by doing nothing. The only reason why they are sitting here is because they can get a good look at the girls from there.'' He stopped for a moment. ''What you just saw, was in fact my journal. I always have it with me in case inspiration strikes me. Which is mostly at the weirdest moments of the day and when that happens… I happen to be prepared. And for your information, one day I'm going to be a best-selling author.'' Kate rolled her eyes at the last statement.

''Well, Ricky'' she said, drawing out his name ''When you do that, I'll buy your book.'' Oh, if only she knew the effect she had on him.

The problem was that she probably knew damn well what kind of effect she had on him.

''You would do that?'' He asked her, surprise written all over his face.

She shrugged. ''Yes, sure, why not.''

''That's nice of you Kate.'' He said with a genuine smile. ''Especially since you don't know me.''

''Oh, trust me. I know your kind.''

''Kind?!'' He said in faked disbelief. ''There is a whole 'kind' of me?''

''Come on. You are popular, sociable, handso-'' Realizing what she had almost said made her shut up. ''You are one of those popular guys every school has...'' Just saying that even made her regret her words. She knew he was different.

''I believe the words 'ruggedly handsome' have been used before.'' Once again putting a smug smile on his face.

''By who?''

''Myself.''

''Right, of course, how come that doesn't surprise me.'' She said, laughing at him. ''You are really full of yourself, aren't you?'' Just hearing her laughing made his heart melt.

And he was the one that had made her laugh.

Before he could find a clever response to her remark, the bell rang that signaled the students to pack their things and continue their schedule. Rick quickly grabbed his backpack and turned around to find that Kate was already gone. He was just able to see her slipping through the crowd with Lanie pulling on her arm. They both left the classroom with a smile on their faces.