Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Once they walked through the door, Brennan went straight for a desk in the front row of the class just like she had done for the first class of the day.

“You’re welcome,” Booth mumbled to himself and shook his head. He was usually very good at conversing with people and making new friends, but clearly he was doing something wrong with her. The bell rang and he figured he should sit down instead of musing about his sudden inability to make a new friend.

He walked to the back of the class and sat down at the desk Sully had kindly kept for him.

“Why were you with the new girl?” Sully whispered. “She’s kinda hot.”

“Shut up Sully, I was just showing her around the school.”

The conversation ended when their history teacher asked for silence and jumped right into the curriculum for the year. Booth listened as much as he could manage, his concentration slipping as he stared at the back of Temperance’s head.

At the front of the classroom, on the other hand, Temperance sat completely unaware that she had captivated his attention and jotted down a few notes of what the teacher was explaining. Truth be told, she already knew the information and she was ready to bet that she knew even more than her own teacher when it came to history. In fact, she was pretty convinced she knew more than the entirety of her teachers. She had already skipped a grade and wanted to skip more, but her mother had said no, insisting that she experienced high school like any teenager would.

At least she had managed to convince her parents to let her take college and university classes in the evenings, but with the sudden move to Philadelphia she still hadn’t had the time to sign up for those meaning all she had for now were good old high school level classes.

Temperance didn’t exactly know what to think of Philadelphia yet, her older brother seemed to like it and had already made friends at a college party he went to. Her dad had taken up a job as the ninth grade science teacher at the same high school she was now going to. They had moved to Philly because her mom was offered a position as the main accountant for the company she works for, but at the Philadelphia branch and her parents figured it was a perfect opportunity for a fresh start.

Temperance had spent a few hours looking up what she could enjoy in the city and was relieved to see that there were good museums and free college classes at Temple University which she could go by taking the bus.

Her mother had still asked her to attempt to do activities at the high school and Temperance had an appointment at with the guidance counsellor at lunch time to see if anything would capture her attention. She doubted it, but she had promised to at least try.

Her attention went back to the class when she heard her peers laugh. She wasn’t sure what was going on as she had clearly missed whatever was so funny.

“Very funny Jonathan, if you don’t mind I’m going to go back to the subject now,” the teacher, Mister Jackson, said and Temperance turned in her seat to look towards the disturbance. She had no clue who the Jonathan was and she stopped caring when she noticed that Booth was staring at her.

When he realized that she was onto him he stopped dropped his gaze to his desk and pretended to take down some notes as he turned slightly red.

Temperance had a hard time understanding why he seemed so interested in her, she wasn’t the type of girl captains of sports teams liked to go after. She wasn’t sure she wanted the attention either if it meant having more eyes on her.

Although, she had to admit he was traditionally very attractive. He had a strong jaw, symmetrical face and he was obviously in great shape from his athletic activities. He seemed kind too, they way he had simply walked her to class and talked about his brother meant showed he cared for his family.

Temperance started to wonder if it would be that bad to be his acquaintance.

As scheduled, the bell rang and Temperance stood up as she gathered her things back into her bag. She had AP biology after lunch break which meant that she would have about twenty minutes after her meeting to find the classroom. As she moved to walk out of the class her teacher called her over.

“You’re the new student, Temperance Brennan?”

“Yes.” Brennan said simply standing in front of her teacher.

“You weren’t paying attention in class today.”

Temperance was surprised that he had noticed, as teachers usually left her to her own. “I already know the material for the curriculum so I was simply drawing to keep myself entertained.” There was no point in lying, she truly wasn’t paying attention.

“I see, I met your father in the teacher’s lounge, he told me you liked History so assumed you would like my class.”

“I love History, I simply already know about the evolution of the Inca Empire when I took a class at the University of Illinois last year.”

“I’m the coach of the Academic Decathlon team, so if you are interested there’s a spot open on the honours team. I’m sure you would like it and maybe it could keep you more entertained.”

Temperance was shocked to get invited so quickly to a club, but was pleased that it meant she would keep her promise to her mother and get involved with normal high school activities. She had a feeling her father had meddled a little bit, but she was more grateful than anything else.

“We meet around two times a week, more if it’s a competition week and I think you would get along with the other kids on the team.”

“I think I would enjoy that, yes.”

“Great! The team usually eats in our training room so I can walk with you there and introduce you.”

“You have a training room?”

“Well, it’s one of the group work rooms in the library that we have taken over, but it’s better than a storage closet somewhere or an empty classroom.”

“That would be pleasant. I do have meeting with the guidance councillor in twenty minutes.”

“No problem, you can join them at the library after. I’ll be in meetings for the rest of lunch, but I promise the team members are nice.”

“Thank you. I will be there.” Brennan didn’t know what else to say so she walked out of the classroom. When she saw the mass of ninth graders grouped around the lockers, she suddenly wished that she still had Booth to accompany her.