Caring and Smashing

Kate ran as fast as she could, sliding through the people that showed up from the middle of nowhere and joined her in the hallway. The tears she had fought were now running down her cheeks, as she entered one of the cabins in the bathroom. 'How mean can this Meredith chick be? How could she even ask something like that so harshly' Kate thought, as she sobbed.

The bathroom door opened and close before Kate heard footsteps and a slightly hesitant knock on the cabin's door. "Hey, girl. It's Lanie, umm, from Literature class? I came to... Are you alright? I mean, you're obviously not alright, after what 'Queen Meredith' asked, but I wanted you to know that you can lean on me if you need anything." she sounded sincere and concerned.

Katee hesitantly opened the door, not quite sure if she trusted the girl. Lanie pulled her up to her feet and let her cry her eyes out. The sobbing had finally stopped and she'd calmed down, before looking up at Lanie.

"I'm sorry. I soaked your shirt." she said, shyly. Her voice was hoarse from crying.

"Don't worry, girl. I have another one in my locker, for P.E." she waited a moment, as Kate washed her face "What's your next class?"

"I guess it's French."

"Girl, you're definetely unlucky." Kate raised a brow at her, guessing what she meant, but not completely understanding. "Come on, I'll take you there and you'll see for yourself.

Lanie left Kate by the door and told her she'd meet her there at the end of the period.

Kate walked in by herself. She was late, but as a newbie, she had the greatest excuse. "Je suis vraiment d sol . Je ne pouvais pas trouver la salle de classe. Je suis Kate Beckett. (I'm very sorry. I couldn't find the classroom. I'm Kate Beckett)" she smiled at the woman sitting by the desk.

"Il semble que nous ayons un fluent ici. O avez-vous l'apprendre, mon cher? (It looks like we have a fluent here. Where did you learn it, my dear?)"

"Ma m re m'a appris (My mother taught me)." she sighed.

"My dear, you shall take your seat. And don't worry, you weren't late. I hadn't started the class yet."

As Kate walked to the only free desk, behind the boy with braces and freckles from the previous class, she saw Meredith, by the corner of her eye. She fisted her good hand hard enough for her knuckles to be white under her skin. She wanted to punch that bitchy girl so badly...

She controled herself, though. She didn't want to get in trouble.

The boy in front of her turned around on his seat as soon as the teacher turned her back to them and started writting on the board. "I'm Kevin. I think it's really cool that you are like a ninja!"

Kate choked at the comment, thankfully not loudly. "I'm not a ninja. Ninja's are assassins. A vigilante, maybe." she joked.

He laughed. "Do you know Lanie, from the previous class?" Kate nodded. "Well, she always has lunch with Javi, Jenny and I... Would you like to join us? Kate was surprised, really surprised. Stunned. She kept running thoughts in her mind about what her dad would say if he found out that boys were at the same table she was.

"I'd like that, thanks." his blue eyes glowed at her answer and he turned back around to pay attention to the teacher.

"And then, when she came in, the teacher was stunned, 'cause she started to apologize in French!" they all turned to look at Kate, wo was sitting at the other side of the table, playing with her food.

"What?" she asked innocently. She wasn't engaged in the conversation, she was worried about how many classes she'd have to share with Meredith. The first 4 periods had been enough.

"Is it just French or are there any other languages you're fluent in?" Jenny, Kevin's girlfriend, asked.

"I speak Russian, and a bit of Spanish."

"Really, chica?" she nodded. "See,guys. There are still a few people in this world who have good taste."

"Shut up, Javi!" Lanie elbowed him, making Kate laugh. "Now, girl, tell us more about you or Imma smack you."

"What do you want to know?" Kate asked, finally taking a bit on whatever thing on her plate was.

"I dunno... When and where were you born?"

"November 17th, 1997. Here in New York."

"That's a start." Lanie sighed. 'Why is this girl so closed up from the world?'

Before anyone could ask anything else, they heard someone screaming Kate's name and they watched as she moved her eyes from the tray and looked up at the source.

Rick came running thorugh the crowd and stopped abruptely in front of her. "Kate, are you okay? I'm so, so sorry about what Mer said to you. I would've never expected her to do it. I forgot to tell you about the interview too. I'm so -"

"RICK!" she put a hand on his arm. "Calm down! It's okay, I'm okay. It's actually the first time I feel okay this week."

"Oh, great! And, I see you're making some friends!" he smiled "Hi, guys!"

"Hi!" they said back in unison.

He stood there for a while, smiling at her, who also smiled. "So, um... I'll see you outside at 3, so we can walk home together."

"Sure, I'll see you there.

"No, Meredith! You had no right! I can't believe you're giving me this stupid excuse. You're lucky she ignored your comment, or this speech would be worse on you! She's new and deserves some respect. I'm done with you treating everyone like this! I'm done, Meredith. We're done. It's over between us!" Rick walked over to Kate, who had been standing on the bottom of the stairs for quite sometime, listening to their fight as everyone else around. He clasped her hand in his and guided the way to their building in silence.

They stood by the door of Kate's new home for a few minutes, just staring at each other's eyes. It was hard for Kate to admit, but she was starting to like him. She was glad about how he reacted, but hated to know she was part of the motive of the break-up., though she enjoyed watching him send Meredith back to where she belonged. "Thank you, for defending me"

"Always."

A/N - Sorry, guys. It took me quite some time to get this idea. I'm already working on the 5th chapter and hope to be updating until Sunday! Not quite sure about the parts in French, I used Google Translator for that. Hope you guys enjoy it! Thank you for all the amzing reviews and if you have any ideas, don't hesitate, just send them over to me and I'll see what I can do to make you all happy!

XOXO

Nina K.