School-Same Morning

Brennan was worried about Seeley. He barely said anything to her the whole ride to their Prep School, and was still doing a very good job pretending he was the only person on the planet and no one else existed. She sighed while watching him through the window of his art class. She had been very supportive of him taking both sketching, and oil paints. When it came to art, he just had a gift. She examined the canvas he was painting and was struck with its beauty. It had a gray back round with flecks of black, gold, red, and purples; all swirling together as if in a confusing haze that somehow made perfect sense. "Huh," she mumbled. And okay, so yes she could get into deep shit if her dad finds out she skipped her World Literature, but hey…it's the 'if' he finds out that's important here.

She laughed quietly then. Oh, he'll find out; but the worst she'll get is two weeks without her Porsche. It would be painful, to say the least, but it was a necessary evil. She had to figure out what to do with her friend. Since he hadn't been open with the details of the night before, she could only assume the experience had been terrible. Something that made her hands itch for violence – not that she would tell anyone that, mind you. But yet, she couldn't help but wish for that boy to accidentally bump into her in the hall, especially today. Her "Protecto-Seeley Meter" was off the charts and with or without the help of Zack she'd castrate him right and proper. "Get sued, but it'd be worth it." She grinned.

From out of nowhere, she was hit from the side and fell to the floor in mix of limbs and shock. "Watch it!" she exclaimed than frantically looked around to see if anyone opened a door in suspicion. With a sigh of relief, she turned her blazing blue eyes on her attacker. "What the hell, dude?" she asked while helping sit the prostrate male teenager up.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry!" he answered.

After cleaning off her skirt with not well hidden irritation, she looked up to be met with familiar soulful brown eyes. She sat back on her heels in shock. It was Seeley's date! Well that was good-or bad…depending on who you are. For her, it was great; him, not so much. "Well shit." She mutters with a shake of her head and a slight chuckle. "As if the fates had deemed it so."

"Excuse me?" he asked trying to stand up and rearrange his own rumpled uniform.

She stuck out a confident hand and smirked at his rather adorably confused face. "My parents named me Temperance Brennan, but call me Temperance and lose a rather important appendage." Sweets paled. "The name is Bones, and only Bones. If you want to know why it's Bones, I'll tell you; but I can't promise you'll live afterwards." She smiled when his eyes get as big as saucers.

"Bones - got it. I'm Lance Sweets." He nodded in polite acknowledgement and stood up to formally shake her hand.

She considered the gesture for a moment before smiling like the Sylvester with an evil plan to eat Tweety bird. "Swee-eets, nice. Kinda rolls off the tongue and easy to remember, eh?" she flicked him a slightly menacing once over. He gulped. "Now, let's get down to brass tacks, what did you do to him?" she asked in an all business tone.

"Do to who?" he replied while crossing his arms in a defensive manner.

She stepped forward and pushed him against the locker, steeling him with her eyes. "Seeley, as in Seeley Booth-Hodgins, the boy you went out with last night? What did you do to him?"

Sweets, for his part, was terrified of the strange girl that seemed to have it out for him for a reason unknown. "I'm sorry, but…are you like friends with him or something?" he asked trying to sound just as menacing. He knew it failed when she smirked.

"You could say that, yeah. I know a whole hell of a lot about him, and I swear if I find out you tried something-…" she growled when his eyes widened again.

"No! No, of course not! I wouldn't even think about doing that to him Temp-Bones." He corrected himself…phew!

She clacked her tongue and pulled back a little after searching his eyes full of disgust at the very idea of what she was suggesting. "I believe you." She mumbled, still wary of this little punk's intentions.

"Well, good I guess." He snorted. "I can't believe you think I would do that to him." he said, staring her down.

"Listen, honey, I have my reasons. None of which you, my friend, are privy to as of yet. So don't get all high and mighty on me, big boy." She rolled her eyes when she saw his soften a bit in embarrassment. "Men are such wimps." She muttered under her breath. Clearing her throat, she continued. "Something must have happened though last night. I haven't seen him this sad since he first came here. Spill."

"He's sad?" he asked almost panicked. Bones raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, very. Wouldn't say anything at all really to me this morning, and while he is usually closed off, he is never this far gone. So spit it out boy, before I lose my patience."

He shifted on his feet looking at the suddenly intriguing scraped maple floor. "Last night…it was all going well till the chef came and brought us pizza and…and I might have said something that made Booth feel like he had misread my intentions and…and he went off for a while." He shrunk a bit when he saw Bones' eyes flare again. "But when he came back he was…he was trying to get me to…well um…hmm-mm, uh he was…"

"Don't swallow you tongue, Sweets, I might need to rip it out later." She growled, knowing where this was going.

"It didn't happen! I swear!" he insisted raising his arms as a signal for a white flag. "I didn't let him seduce me! But he just…sorta freaked out on me for a little bit and then told me to leave. I tried to tell him that I thought he was great but…damn it!" he cursed while hitting the locker with a closed fist and growling a bit.

Bones observed him for a second, registering how genuinely upset over everything he seemed. She nodded some. "I believe you, Sweets. I don't think you wanted to hurt him."

"Well of course not!" he paused for a brief second and then added, "And you know, this is all so crazy cause I have only known him for one day! I really shouldn't be this affected by him, its completely nuts!"

"He has that affect on people." She supplied, quietly recalling the way he captured her fierce loyalty so quickly.

He sighed long and hard as if he was holding the weight of the world within his lungs, "Yeah. He is just so…so…"

"Beautiful?" she asked, hiding a grin.

He looked at her and released another breath, but this one from something far from weariness, "Yes, beautiful. He seems so lost but I just…I just can't help but sit in amazement of him."

Brennan did grin there. She liked this guy. He's exactly what Seeley needs! Never mind the fact that she had been inches away from mutilating him not five minutes ago. No. He passed the test. Now all that was left to do was plan how to fix everything…which could take a while…but a while well spent!

"I tried to find him this morning, but he wasn't around." He crinkled his brow in question, mouth forming a resemblance of an 'o.' "How did you know I was his date? Did he tell you?"

Brennan frowned, cleared her throat and averted his eyes. "Umm, uh…that is not important." Sweets raised his eyebrows. "What is important is that you fix it with Seeley, and become his boyfriend!"

He stepped away from the locker looking at her incredulously. "Just a second ago you wanted to kill me for coming within two inches of him, and now you're all for hooking us up?"

She sputtered a bit and then confidently said the answer that could never be argued by anyone, "I am a woman and as a woman, we are allowed to change our minds." With a firm nod and graceful ignorance towards his eye roll she continued, "So…what are your classes and where were you going?"

"Well, I was headed to the park for some fresh air, but now since that is shot…I have lunch next, and the rest is Geometry, Biology, P.E., and Speech. Don't ask me why I have Chemistry and Biology, because the only answer I got is that the principle hates me." He chuckled some at his joke.

Brennan chewed on her lip for a second, ignoring his lame joke, before snapping her fingers. "P.E…What time?"

He eyed her suspiciously for a second before replying, "Two thirty."

Brennan grinned wide. "Perfect!" she exclaimed.

"It…is?" he asked confused.

"Yep! Seeley, Zack, Cam, and I all have the same P.E. class. Which is two thirty…today." He gulped. "So, when that time comes around, follow my lead. Okay stud?" he was about to respond when she cut him off and said, "Great! Ciao!" And with that, the bell rung and students began filing out of their classrooms, making him lose sight of the weird teenager that just made him redefine the illness of the Bipolar Disorder. He shook his head in amusement, and some concern. Against all hope he prayed she didn't make do something stupid. Because from what he could tell, she would be one to do that. Isn't that just his luck?

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sweets saw Seeley come out of his Art class, and took a step forward to stop him. To say something to him…anything at all; but then he realized he had no idea what he would say. Or even what would be appropriate to say. He usually reads situations pretty well, but that boy throws him off his game in more ways than one. It was disconcerting, and frightening, and yet exciting all the same. He reasoned with himself that Seeley probably didn't even notice him, and pulled back. Besides, that girl said she had it all figured out right? With another heavy sigh, he walked behind the wall and wandered off in the direction of the South exist to the park.

What he didn't know was that Seeley indeed saw him. And when he did, he wanted him to go talk to him and see if what the chef had said was true. But when he had finally gathered the courage to turn around and say something, he was very sorely disappointed in finding only dead air. His chocolate gaze welled for a moment, acknowledging the fact that Sweets had made a point to ignore him, but quickly forced it away, slipping back into stoicism. He knew better than to get his hopes up; problem was, he had forgotten for a little while and now it was hurting him. He shook his head at his own stupidity, and shuffled into the bathroom. Effectively he avoided having to sit with anyone during lunch.

Alone was where he belonged. It suited him…or so he let himself believe.

The Lunch Room

"You." Brennan said plopping a tray down in front of her long time friend.

"Me?" Zack asked, and didn't even look up from his book.

"Yes, you and I are going to have a chat." Bones, to Zack's ears, sounded firm and unmoving. Silently he groaned. This was a place he hated finding her in. At times like these, she obviously had a -

"I have a plan." Shit.

"Is that so?" he asked, casually flipping the page and counting the seconds the clock ticked. In a moment she would begin to spell out a way he would put his entire professional career in jeopardy for the rest of his life. And why you ask? Because she had a "plan." A horrible, wretched, half-baked, only slightly measured "P-L-A-N." They aren't plans, they're kamikaze suicide attempts. In fact, the words, "I," "have" and "plan," in conjunction somewhere with "a," should be reason enough to have people start utilizing the math course they long since forgot, and figure out the cheapest way to Africa. Where no one will find you. Especially not Bones with her "plans." The things he puts up with amaze him at times.

"Uh-huh." Brennan replied with a manic grin, and clasped her hands together giving an amusing vision of a Miss America wannabe, about to give the standard line of wanting nothing but world peace. Zack almost smiled at that thought. Even he knew what those girls really wanted: a rich husband and family, a hot cabana boy by the pool, and a credit card with no spending limit. He truly had to stifle a snicker at that. Temperance and the chances of her allowing herself to become the typical trophy wife were about as likely as he would enjoy this new endeavor she had her sights set on. "It's a wondrous plan." She continued. "A glorious plan! A plan that should and will be forever-…"

"…remembered as worthy of being marked down on every history book, for the sheer beauty of it." He sent her a sarcastic smirk. "Yeah, Brennan - heard it before."

She dropped her hands onto the polished table with a thud and gave him an irritated huff. "Do you have to suck the fun out of everything?"

"Do you have to ask me that ridiculous question?" he shot back and flipped the cover to his text closed. "I do not 'suck the fun' out of anything. I merely remind you why, how, and how often your saying: I have a plan, ends in catastrophe."

"You're a fun sucker, and you know it." Brennan soured out and sat back in her chair with a grumble.

"Well, if I'm a fun sucker, you're a fun breeder, which means that this friendship balances. So I suppose, being a fun sucker is not such a horrible mantle to hold." He nodded to himself and reached for his glass of water.

She opened her mouth to snark back, but another plop to her right caught her attention. Looking up, she was greeted with the lovely vision of Camille Saroyan-senior and valedictorian, not to mention labeled Most Likely to Succeed. Secretly, Brennan was relieved that the Prep School they all attended had uniforms, because if they didn't Cam would trump her without even trying in style sense. The woman was a goddess, and had her pick of practically every guy – staff or student - in the whole godforsaken place. Temperance was more than a little envious of that.

After giving her two younger best friends a big smile, Cam sat down and primly began to munch her healthy, green salad. "What's up, mi amigos?" she laughed at Bones' immediate glare in Zack's direction.

"He's being an ass." She griped and picked up her fork to start on her own lunch of her favorite chili, that only the cafeteria makes right. After much searching, she still had never figured out why only they make it perfect, but eventually chalked it up to another mystery not meant to be understood.

"Isn't he one every day?" Cam joked and giggled at Zack's put-out expression.

"I take offense to that," he mumbled and gave both women a snotty shake of his head.

"Yeah, well, Zackaroni - such is life." She giggled again and turned to Brennan. "Sorry I wasn't around yesterday; my duties in the office were like, tripled. I literally fell on the bed last night and passed out, when I got home." She heaved a sigh and unconsciously rubbed her sore back.

"Youch." Bones agreed scrunching up her nose in disgust and took another bite. "The principle has a lot of activities he doesn't want to do himself, so he gave 'em all to you, or what?"

"Something like that." she sighed again and then quickly perked up. "Where's Seeley?"

Brennan and Zack both gave morose glances to where there fourth friend usually sat, before averting the others eyes. "Guys?" Cam asked worriedly.

"He's probably in the bathroom, eating alone." Brennan finally supplied with a little shove to her own tray, suddenly not feeling the eagerness to eat.

"Why? What happened? I got your e-mail, he really had a date?"

Zack gave a nod and sipped his water. "It must not have gone well. In homeroom this morning he wouldn't even look at me."

"Well, who did he go out with? What happened to him?" Cam gave a cursory sweep of the surrounding students, trying to make a checklist of all the ones she could possibly see him with, when Brennan broke in her thoughts.

"His name is Lance Sweets, a new student from New Hampshire, and Seeley's chemistry lab partner." She pulled the tray closer to grab her Dr. Pepper and took a sip before continuing. "We ran into each other in the hall right before lunch, interestingly enough." Zack glared at Bones, which she had easily read as anger because she hadn't come forward with that information right when she sat down.

"Well, how many fingers does he have left?" Cam half joked and gave each one of them a critical stare.

"Enough for me to find out what happened...or, at least the idea of what happened, anyway."She shrugged.

Cam and Zack sat expectantly. "And?" Zack finally asked, spurring Bones to describe their rather memorable encounter and all of what Sweets had given as reason for Booth's regressive behavior.

"And you know guys; after looking at him…and I mean really studying him…I believe his story." She finally finished.

"So was this where your "plan," began; or am I missing a point?" Zack asked and looked to Cam who wore a pensive, unreadable expression.

Brennan scoffed and draped her arm across the back of her chair, before drumming her manicured nails on the table. "Of course this where my plan comes into play. Where else would it start?"

"I am truly terrified of the answer to that question." Zack deadpanned causing Brennan to snort in mock laughter.

Snapping out of her momentary daze of trying to paint a picture with such limited information, Cam looked to Bones. "What is your plan?" she asked if a little uncertainly.

Brennan grinned wide, and gave each one of her cohorts a conspiratorial glance. "Now if I told you every last piece, where would the fun be?" She sat forward and leaned in further, keeping her voice down, "I think we all know I'm better with showing, just as you two are better with following my lead."

"Or directing your lead from behind." Zack corrected with a pointed stare into her blues across the table.

She waved him off and sat back again. "Specifics don't interest me. Point is, I have already laid the concrete for this house we're building, and now, my over-indulged partners in crime," she sent them both a smile, "we make the framework."

"And how do we do that, without getting expelled?" Cam queried suspiciously. "After your last idea, I'm sure you understand why I'm not so quick to jump on the bandwagon anymore."

Brennan presented another conspiratorial grin, and simply said "You'll figure it out at P.E."