282I. AM. SORRY. I dunno what happened... I suppose I got sidetracked and before you know it nearly a year has gone by. I imagine most of you would have thought I had disappeared, but Im still here! Anyway, I hope this chapter makes sense as it was written a LONG time ago and I havent changed much.
I suppose you want to read it now, so go on.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
"Oh Seeley!"
Booth cringed when he heard his name being called. It was before school and he was standing in the corridor with some mates. The last thing he wanted was the floozy cheerleader throwing herself all over him in front of his friends – it would only serve to encourage the ridiculous rumour that he was bedding her. All the same, he forced a smile before he turned around.
"Hello Camille," he said a little too brightly.
"Don't call me Camille," she replied haughtily.
"Don't call me Seeley," Booth retorted.
"Anyway Seeley," Cam bulldozed on, completely ignoring him. "I want to talk to you about the foster girl."
Instantly, Seeley was on guard and listening closely.
"It took a lot of effort for me to convince the little nerd to help."
Booth opened his mouth but she cut him off with a glare.
"I know you're failing Seeley. And if you keep failing you will get kicked off the team, which can simply not happen," Cam continued. "I'd have to dump you them and your too handsome for that."
Booth was so surprised with the conversation that he didn't have a clue what to say.
"So," Camille summed up. You better listen to the freak, let her do your work, cheat off her in exams – whatever. Just make sure you pass."
With that she gave a wave and flounced past him to catch up with her fellow cheerleaders. She had almost reached them when she turned back and called out to him.
"You owe me one Seeley. I'm sure you can come up with something to show how grateful you are!"
But Seeley didn't hear her, nor did he notice the cheering and whistling of his team mates, because his mind was stuck on something she had said earlier. She was making Bones help him? And if so, what had she done to Temperance to 'convince' her?
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
This week he didn't have Chemistry on Wednesday, so Seeley didn't end up seeing Temperance for the rest of the day. When the final bell rang he hurried out of the classroom, hoping to find her before she headed for home.
First he checked the queues for the busses, but had no luck there. He then walked back and forth along the front of the school to see if she was walking home, but with all the people pouring out of the buildings he could have easily missed her.
By the time he gave up, well over half the car park had emptied and he was feeling rather disappointed. With a sigh, he got in his beloved car and headed out of the lot. The thought that he could drive to the Saroyan house and hope to find her along the way came to him, but he dismissed it immediately and berated himself for thinking like some kind of stalker.
He sighed again and turned toward home, cranking the music up as he did so. It was not a long drive to his place from the school and he was quite distracted with thoughts of one Temperance Brennan that he was nearly half way there when he remembered that he was supposed to pick his younger brother up from the middle school.
"Damn it!" he swore as he turned into the first side street he came across. Growling angrily he turned the car around and headed back the way he had come.
"What are you doing Seeley boy?" he grumbled under his breath. "You should be staying the hell away from this girl. She doesn't belong in your world. You're the captain of the football team, the star player, the most popular guy in school – she's a nerd and a weirdo. She's a nobody."
Even as he said it the words sounded shallow and pathetic and he couldn't find it in himself to believe them. Still frustrated, he pulled up a red light and yelled, bashing his hands on the steering wheel.
"Get out of my head Temperance Brennan!" he screamed.
The light turned green and he floored it, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from the people in the cars on either side of him.
He arrived at the school a few minutes later to find his brother standing alone at the front entrance, looking rather annoyed.
"Sorry I'm late bro," Seeley apologised as his younger brother Jared got in the passenger seat. "Stupid teacher kept me late after class."
He knew he shouldn't lie, but he had absolutely no intention of telling his baby brother – he still called him that even though Jared was thirteen years old – that he had been distracted by a girl and forgotten about him. Some things were best kept private.
"I'll let you off this once if you go to MacDonald's and get me something on the way home," Jared said with a grin.
"You drive a hard bargain little brother," Booth joked. "But you have yourself a deal."
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
'It's not like he would actually want to spend time with a freak like you anyway' – Cam's cruel voice had been on repeat inside her head as she tossed and turned in bed all the night before. She couldn't help but think there was some truth to Camille's words, and by morning the shield that she so often wore was firmly back in place. There would be no more socialising with Seeley Booth.
On Wednesday she spent the day actively avoiding Booth, hiding away in the library then taking a back path home from school, but Thursday was a day with Advanced Chemistry scheduled in the morning. Luckily, they weren't working on their assignments, so Temperance was able to avoid Booth quite easily. She sat beside Angela and worked quietly, not looking around at him once and when the bell rang the pair left the classroom quickly to get to their next classes.
After being unable to get a minute with her during Chem, Booth spent the rest of the day frustrated and was easily annoyed by the mindless chatter of the cheerleaders that surrounded him and his team mates during recess. Half way through the break he stalked off toward the outdoor basketball courts to let off some steam, leaving his surprised friends behind him. Shooting hoops for the remainder of the lunch hour really didn't do anything to relieve his frustration, so he headed off to English in just as bad a mood as before.
"Jeez Booth," Tim Sullivan commented as they flopped into seats in the back of the room. "What's up with you man?"
Booth ignored him.
"Ah, trouble in paradise?" Sully continued with a grin. "That hot little thing Cam Saroyan ain't doing it for you anymore, huh?"
"Shut up Sullivan," Booth snarled without looking across at the boy next to him.
"Whatever man. You're such a buzz kill," Tim complained before fake coughing. "Loser!"
"Real mature moron," Booth stated flatly before turning away. He ignored Sully for the rest of the lesson, not even reacting when a spit ball hit him in the side of the face just as the bell signalling the end of class rang.
A few hours later Booth was down on the oval at football practice. He was still distracted and was having an awful afternoon on the field, getting absolutely slaughtered by his opponents. He had just had an idea about how he could confront Tempe the next day when Sully smashed into him, slamming him to the ground and thoroughly winding him. Seeley lay on the ground struggling to breathe for a few moments before dragging himself back to his feet.
"Booth!" the coach screamed at him from the sidelines for the third time. "Get your head in the game! One more screw up and you won't step foot on the field next Saturday!"
Shaking his head, Booth forced her from his mind and threw himself into the practice, letting out all his pent up frustration on his opponents. By the end of the session the coach had forgotten his earlier threat and was instead praising him.
"You play like that in the finals and you'll be off to college on a full ride scholarship!" the coach said with a rare smile.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
Friday dawned bright, sunny and warm. Seeley Booth was not impressed – Mother Nature was mocking him and his bad mood. He had slept badly the night before, when he did sleep he dreamed of Temperance being beaten within an inch of her life by her foster father while he watched on, unable to do anything to save her.
He dropped his brother off and arrived at school just before the bell, hoping to avoid his friends and the trail of female fans that, to his chagrin, often surrounded him. His first class was a double of law studies which, thankfully, none of his friends were in because they were all to slack to do some proper work.
Booth got through the rest of the morning and the lunch break with relative ease, but was still feeling a bit anxious at the prospect of chemistry, which was up next. When the bell rang he raced to the room, wanting to have an opportunity to talk to Temperance before class began.
She wasn't there. He stood outside the classroom as most of the students had filed, waiting for her to arrive. She still hadn't shown when Mr Reid arrived.
"Come on Mr Booth," he said as he opened the door. "Inside please. I will not tolerate your continued lateness."
"Yes sir," Booth muttered sulkily as he went inside.
Moments before the bell rang Tempe arrived and took her seat at the front of the class, far away from where Booth was. She didn't look back while Mr Reid was reading a section from the text book, nor when he was writing on the blackboard.
Ten minutes before the bell, Mr Reid called out that they could spend the rest of the time working with their partners on their assignments. Booth moved to the front of the room so quickly that he was there before most people had even left their seats.
"Hi Bones!" he said cheerfully.
"Booth," she replied, acknowledging him with a slight nod of her head. "Let's get started."
Booth was a bit put off by her dismissal of him, but not defeated. They worked quietly for a while until his curiosity got the better of him.
"Why have you been avoiding me the last couple of days?" he asked.
"I haven't been avoiding you," Tempe lied. "I simply haven't had the need to speak with you. It's rather arrogant to assume that me not interacting with you equates to me ignoring you."
"Okay... I take it back," Booth said slowly before changing the subject. "So where and when will I meet you after school?"
"Oh, I had completely forgotten about that," Brennan said bluntly. "Unfortunately, something has come up and I am able to follow through with our plans of tutoring and assignment work tonight."
"Oh," Seeley stuttered.
"I am aware that Friday evenings are when most adolescents go out to attend parties, drink alcohol, consume illicit substances and fornicate," she continued. ""So I apologise if I have inconvenienced you by preventing you from making alternative plans."
Booth was, once again, too surprised by her little speech to come up with a reply.
"If it suits you, we will discuss a suitable time and location for a makeup tutoring session in class on Monday," she finished.
Once again Booth did not respond, but Tempe seemingly took his silence to be assent because she didn't speak again.
Moments later the bell rang and she was out the door and walking away with her colourful friends bouncing along beside her, all in a matter of seconds.
Not for the first time since he had met her, Seeley Booth was stupefied.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
Truth be told, Booth was getting rather annoyed with Temperance Brennan. He had only been properly introduced to her two weeks ago, and already she was crowding his thoughts and haunting his dreams. Add to that she was so hot and cold with him, changing her attitude every second day it seemed, that he had no idea how stay in her good books.
All that said, he needed her. He couldn't fail at Chemistry which meant he needed help with both his own work and the assignment that they had to do together. If he messed up, it would be goodbye to a possible career in football and to college, which he would never be able to afford it without a scholarship.
He lay on his bed later that afternoon, staring blankly at the ceiling while he pondered the issue. If things had gone the way he had planned, they would have been downstairs working on their chemistry assignment and maybe even having fun.
But for all Temperance Brennan intrigued and puzzled him, a small part of him couldn't help but look forward to the day this was all over and she could be out of his life and out of his head for good. Things would go back to how they were before – much less complicated.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
Verdict? Good, bad or ugly? Let me know. I will try an update again in the next two weeks before uni starts, but I cant promise anything. Fingers crossed!
On a completely different note, what does everyone think about this Hannah business? I think its ridiculous that Booth, who claims that hes "that guy", who for 6 years knew they would be together can go from that to proposing to another woman in less than a year. Craziness!