Hi guys! This is my first fan fic, based on castle, it's A/U - the gang have met in boarding school, it's gonna be mostly esplainie, but with some caskett and kenny stuffed in there, hopefully won't be all fluff, but there definitely will be some. ENJOY!

Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, they would have been little castle babies by now.


Chapter 1 - Every exit is an entrance somewhere else

"LAAANNNIEEE!" A screech pierced the silence of Lanie Parish's bedroom, accompanied by a small girl hurtling into into it, wrapping her arms around a surprised, but resigned Lanie.

"It's only for a few months Beth...Well, maybe a bit longer, but I'll be back for christmas break! I promise." Lanie held out her pinkie to her sister, who shook it solemnly.

"But Lanie! Why do you have to go! Storm Ring school is so far away!"

"Storm King girl," She smiled at her sister's antics - Beth had started pulling all her not very neatly packed clothes out of the suitcase lying open on her bed. She then frowned, as she was reminded that she was leaving all her friends, family and well-liked school to go to a boarding school somewhere on the outskirts of New York. Not even the city, just the state. It could've at least been in the city that never sleeps, right in the action, but no. It was just tantalisingly close.

"But Mama and I are gonna be so lonely Lanie." The child's voice broke into Lanie's thoughts, and she realised Beth had now succeeded in retrieving all of her clothes from the bag, and was proceeding to the wardrobe with an armful.

"Girl you'll be fine without me, and mother, I'm sure won't miss me. Besides! You have your friends like Tami and Jane." Lanie stopped the little girl, and gathered her now very messy bundle of clothes and shoving them nonchalantly back into the rather large plain black suitcase.

"They're not like you Lane!" The 'Lane' in question was ambushed by a ferocious hug. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I know girl," she picked up the small girl, and held her close. "I'm gonna miss you too."

Suddenly she lifted Beth up high, swinging her around a few times, then, after a squeal from the little girl, Lanie dumped her on the bed and sat heavily down beside her.

"I wouldn't go if I didn't have to. But I have to girl, mama... Mama wants me to. But I'll be back before you know it." She sighed, then moved Beth's head from where it lay on her shoulder. "I gotta finish packing sweets, wanna help? You can choose what shoes I should take."

The little girl nodded enthusiastically, her sad mood immediately disappearing with the thought of helping her idol pick clothes. Watching Beth run off to the closet, diving into Lanie's rather limited shoe collection, Lanie slowly got up herself, off the dark thick duvet and, chuckling at her sister's enthusiasm, went to join her.


Dumping the 'carefully' packed suitcase on her bed, Lanie looked around what would be her new home. A three tenant room, in which was beds for each, as well as a personal cabinet, a bathroom off to the side, a small kitchen, and 2 medium sized windows - one of which was next to Lanie's chosen bed, looking out over the lacrosse fields, the other over the sink, looking in the opposite direction at the main campus buildings.

One bed lay empty, still awaiting it's owner, however, the other bed, the one Lanie hadn't claimed, was already taken, but it's keeper had apparently decided to step out. A bright pink bedspread covered it, while an equally bright suitcase lay at it's end, unzipped but not open. The surrounding wall was already covered in posters of famous actors and actresses, while on the dresser stood several photos of a pretty redhead, wearing various stunning dresses that were no doubt worth a lot of money.

Lanie, despite her respect for privacy, was curious to who had the extreme taste in pink, and wandered over to the blinding bed and matching suitcase to check the name tag. Meredith Lee Harper was written in such decorative cursive writing Lanie had to stare at it for several minutes to decipher it. She smirked at the small heart placed as the dot on the i. This girl was seriously crazy.

Upon peeking into the unzipped bag, she found a rather large stash of shoes and designer clothes, folder neatly and precisely. The collection of shoes seemed much like a dragon's horde of gold in Lanie's opinion - they were all perfectly shiny and clean, looking almost new, and the sheer amount of them was more than Lanie thought her mother, sister and herself combined had ever had.

Deciding that it would be a rather awkward meeting if Meredith entered while Lanie was standing over her bag, the girl moved back to her own - plain in comparison, bed, and sat gazing out her window.

Watching the tearful goodbyes of students and parents from her comfy perch, she scrutinised her soon-to-be classmates, watching them go from their parents' cars, to groups of friends, and lastly, splitting off in genders to go to their appropriate dorm buildings, to set up camp.

After what had to be at least half an hour of kinda boring observation, Lanie found herself staring at one of the boys who had just emerged from a small dark blue car. Tall, dark skinned, with black hair, he was fairly attractive... In fact, very so. He briefly waved to his mother who stayed in the car, then started walking off, slinging a khaki duffle bag over his shoulder. Lanie hadn't realised she'd been gawking quite as much as she had been until he happened to glance over at the girls dorm, specifically, the 3rd floor window out of which Lanie had been viewing the scene below. Catching her eye, he smirked, turned and walked confidently away, joining a shorter boy with brown hair and braces.

She continued to stare at him until he walked through the boy's dorm doors, at which point she lay down on her bedspread, and took a deep breath in. Maybe her time at this school wouldn't be too bad after all...


Javier Esposito sat in his mother's car on the way to school. It seemed like a longer trip than usual, probably because he didn't have Kevin to keep him company. Usually one of them would pick the other up on the long journey, but Kev had opted to join his girlfriend Jenny this time. Espo didn't begrudge him for having a girlfriend, or spending time with her, in fact he was happy for him - Kevin wasn't really what you'd call a ladies man, but that didn't make the trip any less boring.

Deciding to take some action, he took out his phone and sent a quick message to one of his other friends; Kate.

JE: Yo Becks. Where you at?

He started flipping his phone in-between his hands as he waited for a reply.

He didn't have to wait long, Kate was a prompt and direct in answering messages as she was in real life.

KB: Stuck in traffic, going to be late, don't wait up for me ;) K xx

The short message conveyed Kate perfectly, to the point, but with a teasing undertone.

JE: Hows the car pool with Castle?

Espo smirked at the thought of those two stuck in a car bickering... Johanna must be getting frustrated about now.

KB: How'd think Espo? He is CONSTANTLY complaining! I don't know much i can last... So if i never turn up, you know who to kill.

He could definitely see Beckett's face right now. Calm, composed, but about to yell, maybe twitching slightly as she got more and more annoyed.

JE: Don't worry. Kev and i'll avenge your death.

KB: HEY ESPOSITO! I THINK CASTLE IS AMAZING AND VERY RUGGEDLY HANDSOME!

Oh wow. Castle could be so subtle. Espo wondered how Beckett had let her guard down for long enough for Castle to grab the phone. She was usually so careful.

JE: Nice to know you love yourself Castle.

KB: He's inflating his own ego. Cause he's the only one who thinks he's cool. :p

R(C)R:HEY! Everybody thinks i'm cool!

KB: Oh sorry Castle, i didn't realise we were talking about your imaginary world.

RR: You know you wish you lived there!

KB: In your dreams writer boy!

RR: Nope, in my dreams you're alw-

Javier put down his phone after watching the banter between Castle and Beckett for a while. He knew it would be even worse in reality in the car they were sharing. Johanna, he thought, was probably at her wits end. Although from what he once overheard, she though it was awfully cute. Women were always calling things 'cute', even when it was just plain annoying. His mother was more sensible then that, always thinking things through logically. Beckett and his mother were the only two girls he could stand, but even Beckett was a little too much sometimes. Girls like Meredith were just plain annoying! Always yakking on about shopping and hair. If she wants to shop, she should just do it, not announce to the whole world what she bought. It was even worse now that she was dating Castle; hanging constantly around, making it impossible to have a normal conversation with him that didn't involve shoes. What did he see in her?

"Javi, we're here." His mother's statement surprised him. The trip had gone faster than he expected. Stuffing the phone on his lap into his back pocket, he opened the car door, and stepped out onto the ground. Saying a quick goodbye to his mother, he wheeled round to the boot of the car to grab his bag.

He walked slowly to the sidewalk, looking for Kevin. He heard a car toot behind him, and turned to wave to his mother. The blue car disappeared fast and another took it's place, dropping off some random student he didn't know. When he turned back around to continue his search for his friends he happened to glance up at the girls dorm. Wondering who Kate would have for roommates, he searched for her usual room window, and finding it, saw a girl looking out. He hadn't seen her before, he would have remembered. She had dark skin and darker hair framing her face in curls, a smile played at her lips and he realised she was staring right back at him.

Suddenly, he heard his name being called, and turned to see his best friend walking over to him, carrying a dark grey bag.

"Earth to Espo. Dude. I called your name a bunch of times! You, Castle and me are roomies again..." Kevin Ryan reached his slightly taller friend, and together they turned and strolled towards the boys dorm. Javi slightly distracted by the thought of the new girl; she might be one girl he could stand.


I hope you liked it, if you did please review, if you didn't please review as well to help improve it (but nicely please) THANKS!

Skye xx