Update!
I have decided that I will make the chapters go month by month so that each year will be twelve chapters. I will make this one in September though. Enjoy!
Chapter Two-September
Their first project game about a week later.
It was simple; all they had to do was read a book and write a report on it and make a diorama of one of the most important scenes in the book. The problem for Rick and Kate, however, was which book to choose.
Kate wanted to do Harry Potter. She'd just finished the first in the series and thought that Harry and the mirror of Erised would be a great scene to remake. Rick, however, wanted to do The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.
"How do you even know that story?" Kate asked when he'd suggested it.
"My mom read it to me…dramatically, of course," he said, smiling, "it's awesome, Kate! There's this guy and he lives with some old man but he's got this weird eye that makes the guy go all crazy, so he kills him! And then he hides the body under the floorboards and he starts hearing the heart go, "Pump-pump, pump-pump!" and it drives him even more crazy than the weird eye! He tries to ignore it, but he can't. Then, one day, the police come, looking for the old man and the guy tries to stay calm, even as the heart keeps on pumping in his ears and getting louder! Finally it gets so loud that he can't even hear the cops anymore and he finally breaks down and confesses to killing the old man! He tells them where to find the body and everything!" Rick takes a deep breath, having explained the whole story in one breath, making wild arm movements, reminding Kate that his mother was a famous Broadway actress. She shook her head at him.
"That doesn't sound like a good story to tell our class," she says, "too much death."
Rick's face falls. "Aw, come on, Kate! It's really good, I promise! And only one person dies! Plus the confession scene would be really fun to remake, don't you think?!" Kate still looks reluctant so Rick gets on his knees, dramatically, in front of her, "Pleeeeaaaassssseeee, Kate? Pretty please with cherries on top?" His begging blue eyes look up into her hazel ones and she relents.
"Fine!" she sighs, "But you have to write the report; I'll make the diorama."
Rick pouts. "Then what's the point?" he moans.
"The point is I'll let you read the report for the class and even present the diorama."
"Can I reenact the scene?" he asks, hopefully.
Kate rolls her eyes. "Sure…why not?" she says, shaking her head.
Rick brightens up at that and stands. "I'm gonna hold you to that," he promises.
Kate shakes her head.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
When the day for their presentation arrived, Kate arrived first at school with the diorama in hand. Her father carried his backpack for her while she carried the cut up shoebox her father helped build into the front hall of a large, 19th century Manor house. They'd cut one of the sides off of the box and made two levels, with a small piece of fitted wood to act as the floor. Underneath the floor they placed a clay body that was supposed to be the old man, and above him was the protagonist of the story on his knees in front of two policemen, clad in blue, confessing to his crime. Kate and Jim Beckett spent at least three hours on it. It looked fantastic and almost as soon as Kate had placed it on her desk, Javier and Kevin were approaching her, their own project being carried by Javi.
"Hey, Kate!" Javi greeted, setting down their Wizard of Oz diorama of Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man meeting the Wizard. It was mostly just a background drawing of the Wizard's head and a few messy clay characters, but it was still pretty good. The boys were mesmerized by her own diorama, acting like it was a piece of art.
"That must have taken forever!" Kevin said, looking at all the detail.
Kate shrugged. "Not really; Daddy did a lot of the hard stuff. I just made the people."
"Still, it looks awesome!" Javi said.
Kate smiled, proudly. "Thanks! Have you guys seen Rick? We're supposed to present first today."
Javi and Kevin shook their heads.
"I saw him in the hall," Lanie said, coming up to stand beside her friend. Lanie had already presented her project. She'd chosen a Fairytale; Little Red Riding Hood and had even worn a red cloak for her presentation while her partner, Sidney, had put on a wolf mask and gloves. Montgomery had applauded their creativity and promised them both good grades.
Kate and Rick hadn't planned anything like that, but knowing him, he-
"Oh, no…" Kate moaned as she looked over Lanie's shoulder as Rick entered the classroom, dressed as Edgar Allan Poe, complete with a Raven in his hands. He waved to her and she buried her face in her hands.
Lanie, who'd already seen him, patted her friend's shoulder, sympathetically.
Javi and Kevin smiled and tried to hold back laughter as Rick approached, practically choking each other to keep from falling over.
"Hey, guys!" Rick greeted, grinning widely, "Like my costume?! I'm Poe!"
Javi fell over in hysterics, pulling Kevin down with him. Rick frowned.
"What?" he asked, "Lanie and Sidney dressed up!"
Lanie shook her head. "Rick, all I did was put on a red cloak and Sidney wore a mask and gloves! We didn't come to class wearing our costumes! I hope you have a change of clothes, crazy boy."
Rick shook his head. "Nope. I couldn't fit them in my backpack. Besides, these clothes are awesome! You like my raven?" he held up the stuffed bird, making Kate and Lanie roll their eyes at him.
"Okay, class, it's eight-thirty!" Montgomery called out. "You know what that means! Seats!"
Javi and Kevin shot up and raced to their seats with their diorama, while Lanie took her seat across the aisle from Kate, who couldn't take her eyes off her ridiculous partner.
They went through the usual morning routine; handing in their spelling and math homework, writing down and handing out the new homework, then doing their morning math exercises before it was time for English.
Montgomery took out his seating chart to see who was next to present. "Rick and Kate," he called, "come on up!"
Rick beamed and raced up to the front with their report while Kate lugged the diorama up, setting it on the teacher's desk.
"For our book report we read, The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe," she announced, before stepping back and letting Rick start the book project.
"The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe, is about a man, who does not have a name, who lives with an old man with a clouded blue eye that creeps the guy out." There are snickers at this line. "The eye creeps out this guy so much that he plans to kill the old man, claiming that he loves the old man but the eye just creeps him out too much." More snickers. "So he plans for seven days, visiting the old man's room every night to shine a light in his eye. But every night the eye is closed and so the guy has no reason to kill the old man. But on the eighth night, the eye is open and the old man's heart is beating wildly with fear. The guy attacks! He smothers the old man until he is no longer breathing, then di-dismembers him (that means he cuts off his arms and legs) and hides them under the floorboards, cleaning up all the evidence. The next day police arrive, saying that a neighbor complained about a scream. It was the old man who screamed but the guy says it was him who screamed because he had a nightmare. He shows the police the old guy's room and says he's not there and that he's out of the country. He even sets three chairs over where he hid the body, but as he talks to the police he starts to hear a heart beating. The cops don't seem to hear it, but it keeps getting louder and louder and louder. It's gets so loud that the guy can't take it anymore and he confesses to killing the old man. The end." Rick smiles at the class as they clap.
Montgomery smiles. "Very good, Rick. And just why do you think the narrator heard the heart beating?"
Rick shrugs. "I guess he felt guilty," he answers, "for killing that old man."
Montgomery nods. "I think so, too. Now, what scene did you two make?"
Kate smiles and turns the diorama to face the class. "It's the confession scene, where the narrator is telling the cops what he did. You see, there's the body under the floorboards. I made it look like the arms and legs aren't attached, you see?" she shows them the body. Montgomery smiles and nods.
"Good work, Miss Beckett. A-plus! You two can take your seats now. Oh, and Mr. Rodgers…nice costume." Rick beams at him and smiles at Kate.
Kate just shakes her head and walks back to her seat, depositing their project on the windowsill and handing the report to Mr. Montgomery on the way.
Rick gets there first and places the Raven on her desk. Kate finds it there and looks at him. He smiles at her. "Keep it; it's not the only one I have."
Kate laughs. "Why am I not surprised?"
Rick sends her a mock annoyed look, before turning back to watch Javi and Kevin give their report.
Kate strokes the fake bird absently as she watches.
So, I lost a reader because I started writing for Castle. I don't really care, though, because I really like this show and though I loved Bones first, I will not abandon this fandom. Bones and Castle are both great shows and neither one of them copies the other (just so that is clear to EVERYBODY) because they are really not the only crime shows on television, not now, not ever. They both have original material and both derive from past shows and hey, that's fine. Almost all shows do that. I really wish this stupid war between the fandoms would just be over now. It's pointless. Anyway, let's just move past my little tirade and REVIEW, shall we?