"…after the Roman Empire collapsed, Europe was divided into to regions: the East, which came to be known as the Byzantine Empire, and the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah....blahdeblah, can you tell us the importance of this Eowyn?"

It was 2:30, and there was a half hour left of school. Just thirty more minutes, and Eowyn might have escaped World History scratch-free. But no. Of course the world didn't work like that.

Eowyn didn't even hear Mr. Sanville call on her.

"I said can you tell us the importance of this, Ms. Rohan?"

Eowyn looked up from her notebook. It was full of scribbles and lead smears – she hadn't paid attention to a single word all class; she had been trying to distract herself from the falling feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach. As the teacher's repeated question brought her out of her stupor, she started to feel a sense of panic. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Boromir holding up 2 fingers nonchalantly.

"….two?"

"Ms. Rohan, will you please do us the favor of joining the class? The rest of us are trying to learn European history," Mr. Sanville snipped at her. Then, he leaned in closer to whisper in a false discreetness: "One more strike, and I'm going to have to call your parents."

Boromir's mouth gaped open. He couldn't believe those words had actually been spoken. The teacher had meant nothing by it, but Boromir could feel the sting even resounding in his own gut. Those words must have been murder for Eowyn.

The teacher moved on in his boring lecture. Boromir could see that Eowyn had stopped breathing. He half-expected her to burst into tears, but was surprised to see that she remained motionless, staring blankly, fixedly at the white board in front of her. Her hands had clenched into fists, but other than that, no trace of emotion could be found in her face. She was lifeless, as if those words truly had murdered her.

A million years passed in those next 30 minutes, and Boromir couldn't focus on anything else but that blonde-haired, pale-faced girl sitting next to him. There were so many things he'd never really noticed before. The way her hands looked so broken, curled up in rage. The way her chest evenly rose and fell and she forcibly breathed in and out. The way her hair, even when it wasn't fixed nice like usual, still reflected every ray of light that hit it, causing her to look angelic, even when she was going through so much hell…

The bell rang, and they both broke from their trance.

Eowyn bolted from the room. Boromir couldn't let her go like that. He couldn't leave her to retreat to her house and cry for the rest of the afternoon, as he knew she had many times before. Some cautious part of his brain warned him that he shouldn't get involved, that he shouldn't risk being alienated by her… That he shouldn't risk getting too close to her…

"Eowyn!" he yelled. He scrambled to get his stuff, and pushed through the crowd exiting the classroom. "Eowyn, please, wait!"

He could see the top of her head down the hall, see her adjust her pace quicker even as he called out her name. Had she noticed him staring at her in class? Was she ignoring him on purpose? Now he was determined. He ran full speed down the hall, rashly deciding that helping her was more important than giving her space. He rounded the corner in a blur --

And there she was, with the last person on earth he wanted to see.

"Baby, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Faramir. How are you?"

His arm curled around her waist, and she was smiling at him – as if the past hour had never happened. Boromir seemed to run into an invisible wall. Speechless, he tried to regain his composure.

Faramir caught sight of Boromir, and his voice hardened.

"I'm having a WONDERFUL day," he said smoothly. "I don't want to seem overly selfish, but honestly, I couldn't be happier." He flashed a huge, sardonic grin directly at Boromir and forcibly kissed Eowyn in the middle of the hall. Faramir was impressed with his own smoothness. He was definitely getting better at not being a "prick".

Boromir felt as if he had been slapped in the face. He shouldn't have, but he couldn't help it. And strangely, his temper began to rise. Faramir shouldn't use her like that, just to prove a point to him. Eowyn can't be seriously going along with this. She can't seriously be happy with all of his bullshit.

Indeed, Eowyn did look a bit surprised, perhaps even uncomfortable, with Faramir's random public affection. She didn't pull back however. Boromir realized she must be unaware of his presence feet behind her. She was generally a private sort of person – she was uncomfortable with PDA, and she would have been even more embarrassed to know Boromir was watching.

"Well, that was, nice," she managed to say as they broke apart. She seemed to like the fact that he was giving her attention. Then, with more animation than either Boromir or Faramir had seen her show in weeks, she asked, "Can we do something fun tonight? I want to get out of the house!"

"Uhh..I'm not sure about TONIGHT, really.." Faramir mumbled as he guided Eowyn away from his overbearing older brother.

"Why not?"

"I have work this afternoon. You know, my new job down at the port…" Faramir said these last few words barely above a whisper.

"Oh, I..I forgot I guess. Well good for you. I guess I'll…."

"Why don't you call Arwen and have a girls night, huh?"

"Yeah…that could be fun."

Boromir was still following them, trying to look casual, hoping to hear the end of Faramir's cover-up story. He heard the sarcasm in Eowyn's voice, but he doubted Faramir did. Faramir seemed preoccupied with something outside the glass front door of the school.

"Actually I have to go, now….I'll see you later, hun," he said abruptly. With a frustrated look over his shoulder at the stalking Boromir, and with hardly another glance at her, he rushed out the front doors and over to a group of dark-haired boys gathered in front of the school.

Boromir looked at Eowyn from behind, who seemed to have returned to her emotionless state -- He could tell by the way her shoulders went rigid as soon as Faramir was out of sight. This was his opportunity.

"A..."

She recognized his childhood nickname for her, and spun around in shock.

"Geez Boromir….way to sneak up on a girl."

"I'm sorry. I, um." He pondered his words for a moment. "I was trying to catch you after History. I'm…sorry I wasn't much help."

"Yeah really," she said, easing up a bit. "What the heck was 'two' supposed to be?"

He chuckled uneasily. "A peace sign. The answer was that it brought peace to the empire. I…I tried."

"Right. Well. Thanks…for trying I guess." And as she said it, she realized she really was grateful. She saw the sincerity face, and let her shoulders relax. She didn't mean to be so cold to him. She just didn't want to pretend to be okay…and simultaneously, she didn't want him to see how deeply she hurt. He was the only person who treated her like she was normal. She knew that she had let her mask slip in class, and that he saw it. She didn't have the strength to deal with that right now.

"I have to go."

"No, wait!"

"Boromir -- "

"A, please. Are you…are you…"

He closed the space between them, and as he did, he could see her freeze up in front of him; he could see her adjusting her expression, preparing to say those empty, lifeless words: I'm fine.

"Are you feeling up to going into the city tonight?"

She wasn't expecting that – she instantly smiled, for real.

"Really? What's going on?"

Boromir was forming a plan as fast as he possibly could. He started by saying a name he knew she couldn't resist.

"Legolas…and I…we were going to go check out that over-18 club on Meridian Street. I imagine he'll be, well, busy with girls and whatnot. I'd love some sane company."

Eowyn liked being called 'sane'. It made her feel normal again.

"I would LOVE to go! I was just saying that I need to get out of the house. Its….well it's just getting…boring." And depressing, but that went without saying.

"Alright. On one condition though."

"What?" Eowyn asked, puzzled.

"You have to let your hair down. You can't let that bum brother of mine be the only one to see you dressed up these days." Was this crossing the line? He couldn't tell. Fingers crossed.

"Oh…well, I guess so," she said, embarrassed a little, but flattered.

"Sweet. I'll pick you up at 7?"

"You mean, 'we'll pick you up at 7'?"

"Of course."

"…Okay. Till then," Eowyn said with a smile.

They parted, each walking separate directions to get to their cars. Now, all Boromir needed to do was tell Legolas of their plans. Tonight, they were on a rescue mission. Operation Cheer Up A.