To one of the reviewers, I imagine Vince Korsak as a young man to have brown hair (relatively dark), slimmer, quite big eyes, looks a very little bit like someone who tries to work out regularly, not overly tall… I don't know. I have the habit of just picturing him as he is now, but turning him into a dorky teenager, but I know that's not right. If you go to Google and type in "Bruce McGill young" you can find a couple of images that might help you to build a picture of what he may have looked like as a teenager. I'll do my best to further create the characters in my story so that you have a clear picture.

"Ooh! Come on!" Jane shouted at the television, unimpressed with the Red Sox performance this game.

"Chill, Rizzoli, it's just a game," Frost joked, knowing all too well that it was way more than that to Jane.

"But they're making stupid mistakes today!" She practically whined.

"No kidding," Vince chimed in. "I don't know how they've missed so many catches!" He said, reaching out for his can of drink.

Jane was frustrated to say the least. She knew that they were going to lose sometimes, but she hated it when they lost against the Yankees… Ew.

Frost just shook his head a little. He liked baseball as much as the next guy, but probably liked the pizza that always accompanied watching the game more.

Jane slumped back on the couch with a hand on her forehead. "They better get the crap together before tomorrow's game…"

"Totally," Vince said in complete agreeance.

"So, have you guys studied for tomorrow's exam?" Frost asked casually.

"What?" Vince said, genuinely surprised. "Crap, I forgot that was tomorrow. I gotta go." He quickly began gathering his things.

Jane and Frost laughed a little. They'd all been in that situation, but it was still a little funny to watch.

"Bye!" Frost said, but he was practically out the door already.

Jane groaned and lifted a hand to wave goodbye. "Ah… I should probably get going too. Ma will kill me if I'm not back soon."

"All good, have a good one."

"Thanks," she said with a tired smile. She grabbed her back pack and made her way out to her car. As she stepped outside, she took a deep breath in of the pleasant evening air as she looked around the street which was lit only by street lights. Barry lived on a fairly quiet street, so it didn't get a lot of traffic at night.

•••

Over the next few weeks, school was pretty normal for Jane. At least, to an outsider. She'd been relatively attentive in all her classes, she'd done most of her homework, and she'd most definitely spent time with her friends. Family wasn't great, but it never was. She didn't really think she actually had any right to complain though. Although she hated when her mother used the 'there are people out there who…" line, but that didn't mean she didn't believe it.

It wasn't until the end of period 4 history one day that things began to change.

"Jane, would you mind staying back for a moment?" Miss Isles said very politely.

Jane looked up, a little shocked by the request and shyly nodded. She looked over to Frost and Vince and said, "I'll meet you guys at the cafeteria." She managed to maintain a smile, despite her cluelessness as to why she was being asked to stay.

The students packed their books into backpacks and practically ran out the door to lunch.

Jane made her way to the front of the room as confidently as she could, before leaning back onto one of the front row desks. "What can I do you for?" She quipped.

"Jane, may I please see your workbook?" Her face began to look concerned.

"Wow, you get straight to the point, don't you?" She said pulling her book back out of her bag.

"Thank you," she said taking the book and beginning to have a look.
There was a minute of awkward silence, well awkward for Jane, as Miss Isles looked through the pages of her exercise book. After that, she simply went "Hm," and let out a small sigh.

"Um… is something wrong?" Now Jane is concerned. "I did the-"

"Jane, my concern is the quiz we had earlier this week." Her eyes almost looked hurt.

Jane didn't know why though and it was beginning to make her a little fearful, although she'd never admit it. Instead, she joked, "Did I get a hundred and you think I cheated?" She let out a small laugh, although they both knew that it wasn't exactly genuine.

Miss Isles sat down at her desk and clasped her hands in front of her as she considered how to move forward with the subject. "Not quite," she hesitated. She wasn't a huge fan of confrontation but knew it was part of her job as a teacher. "You earned a 48."

Jane's eyes grew wide in shock. "What?"

"You received a 48 for the quiz," she repeated, "and I am concerned there may be more to it." She waited for a reply, but didn't receive one, so instead she continued speaking. "During class you seem to be an attentive and bright student. Your homework is always done, and you aren't particularly disruptive. It seems quite out of character that you would perform so poorly on a test." She never stopped looking at the young girl before her searching for an answer, but too often her eye contact was not reciprocated. "Did you study, Jane?" She said kindly.

Jane took it a little as an insult though. Survival instincts quick to kick in, she said, "Nah, I was just tired." She tried to gauge the teacher's response as inconspicuously as she could. "I'll do better on the next one."

Miss Isles looked back to her and tried to remain positive and professional. She didn't quite believe Jane, but had no real way to prove it either way. So, she simply smiled and returned the exercise book. "I hope so, Jane."

Jane nodded in acknowledge and walked toward the door.

"And Jane," she watched as Jane turned back to look at her. "If you feel you need any help with history, I offer tutoring after school at no cost to my students." She smiled, and her eyes were kind.

God, were her eyes kind… She nodded again and returned a polite smile. With that, she was out the door and she put Miss Isles out of mind.

"Hey Jane," Frost said pleasantly. "We got you a sloppy joe, despite the creepy looks that the lunch lady gave us.

Vince held up the extra serving of food as an offering.

"Sloppy Joes, yes!" She exclaimed. "Thank you, Frost."

"Thank Vince. He's the one who copped most of the eying." He joked.

Vince looked at her with a head tilt, as if to say, "Yep, I did that." He smiled.

"Well, thanks Korsak." She said in a cutesy sort of way.

"Don't mention it," He smiled. "So, what did Miss Isles what?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to talk about the quiz earlier this week."
Her face didn't give anything away, but the boys knew better.

They looked to each other cautiously, knowing something wasn't right as Jane took a bite into her lunch.

"Um… did you okay?" Frost asked carefully.

"Yeah," she lied. "I mean, I passed, it was just a little lower than usual," she continued. "Had a big night before though, so I'm not worried." She shrugged it off.

Korsak nodded. "Ah okay. Oh well, there's always the next one," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Frost agreed. "Besides, it's you. You've never failed anything. Hell, you barely get anything lower than a B!"

Without knowing it though, the boys had poked something inside her that made her a little uneasy. She nodded though, and instead began talking about their formal plans. "So Frost, you taking Anna to the formal?"

"Yeah," he said excitedly. "It's gonna be such a good night!"

"You guys wanna come to mine before and we get have some pre-drinks," Vince said.

"Yeah, sure," she said casually. "Sucks that we can't have booze at this thing."

"Yeah," Frost said in agreeance. "Although," he remarked, always somewhat rational. "We aren't exactly of legal age," he laughed.

"Legal schmegal," she mocked.

They just laughed.

"What about you? You taking anyone special?" She directed at Vince.

"I was thinking of asking Jessica," he blushed.

"Ooh!" Frost joked.

"You totally should though," Jane said seriously. "You know she's had the biggest crush on you ever since you started doing track."

"Maybe she just likes the fact that you win at track," Frost went on joking.

"Oh ha ha," Vince said, completely unimpressed.

"Ignore him," Jane rolled her eyes. "You should ask her," she said with a friendly and honest smile.

"I will," he proclaimed. "And I bet she'll say yes," he rubbed in Frost's face.

Frost just laughed.

•••

That night, as Jane sat in her room staring at her homework, she found herself thinking back to the events of the day. Well, one event.
It scared her. Jane wasn't one to be easily frightened, but as mentioned beforehand, she prided herself on being as in control as possible. What if that control was slipping away? What if someone found out something she didn't intend them to know?
She tried hard to shake the feeling, but it seemed to linger. Even through dinner, despite maintaining her normal pleasantries, she found herself drifting off while the others talked and bickered. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing, she half joked.
And what was that feeling she got when Miss Isles was speaking to her? I mean, not surprisingly she was nervous, but it felt like there was something else.

Letting out a futile huff of air, she returned to her work wanting not to focus on it. Or on her.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Thank you so very much for reading and please feel free to leave some feedback, a prompt (related or otherwise), or even send me a message to say hello.

You can also find me on Tumblr at rizzoliandislesformiles.

As added in the description, my apologies for the changing title. I am undecided on what to actually call it.

Hope you are all very happy and well.

CC