The Parallel (Bones Fan Fiction)

Prologue: Brennan

It was the first day at my twelfth school. It came as no surprise when I felt just as unattached and emotionless about this school as all the others. Chances were that my foster family would change their minds about taking in a genius seventeen year-old with a troubled past.

There were only two months left of my junior year...all I had to do was get through it. All the incompetent, inadequate, untalented people I'd gone to school with had always regarded me as the social pariah, despite my efforts to fit in. After the third high school, I stopped trying.

Was it really worth it?

I ran a hand through my dark brown hair. Despite that I was quite attractive, I was still viewed as socially inept.

Hitching my backpack onto my shoulder, I headed for my first class: Anatomy. The campus wasn't a huge one—it was actually pretty easy to find the classroom on my own.

Everyone stared at me as I walked down the hall. They whispered behind their hands, making me uncomfortable.

Here I am, I wanted to say to them. It's the awkward new girl.

I found my way to the classroom and quickly pulled the door open. I was in a hurry to get this day over with. I stepped inside, my eyes scanning the room.

The teacher was middle-aged with a full beard and hard eyes. There were several girls with revealing shirts sitting at the front lab tables.  All the jocks and nerds were sitting at the back. There was only one seat available, next to a handsome, yet stupid looking boy. Of course, why would the universe conspire against me and put me next to a jock?

As if he could read minds, the boy met eyes with me. I blinked. There was intelligence in his eyes—unlike the blank stares the other boys wore.

"Are you Temperance Brennan?"

I nodded.

"Welcome to my class. I'm Mr. Connelly," he said. "You can sit next to Mr. Booth over there."

The boy—Booth, I guess—looked at me up and down, as if analyzing me. I quickly took my seat and pulled out my Anatomy book, sitting quietly. Mr. Connelly returned to his lesson. After a few seconds, the boy next to me cleared his throat.

I glanced at him. "Um...can I help you?"

"Seeley Booth," he said, holding out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

I stared at his outstretched hand skeptically. Was this some kind of joke? Jocks didn't talk to girls like me. I scanned his face for any sign of deception or malice and finally decided that his intentions were pure.

I took his hand and shook. "Temperance Brennan."

"That's a beautiful name," he said. "Are you new here?"

"Assuming you mean new to this town, the answer is yes."

I sat there trying to listen, but I soon became agitated. I turned towards Booth and demanded quietly, "Why are you smiling?"

"It's just that I like how you talk," he answered, trying not to smile.

"How do I talk?"

"Very serious and straightforward," Booth said. "It's quite refreshing."

I shrugged and turned back to the front where Mr. Connelly began passing out worksheets. "This is just a pop quiz to see if you're anywhere near ready for your final or not. Don't flip out, it's not for a grade. I just want to get an idea of what areas of the body we need to work on."

"I've got a few places in mind," Booth said to Mr. Connelly.

Everyone in the class—except me—laughed. Booth threw a quick glance my way, clearly wondering why I hadn't.

"That's enough, Seeley," Mr. Connelly said, putting a single sheet of paper on our desk. "Now you'll be working with your partners. Get to work."

"Looks like we're partners," Booth said to me, leaning his face on his open palm.

"I find it difficult to believe that someone of your stature doesn't already have a partner," I said, pulling the worksheet towards me. I wrote my name at the top, then pushed the paper over to him.

He grabbed it, wrote his name, then pushed it back at me. "Wendall Bray—he's on my football team—was my partner, but he changed classes. The damn squint left me and went to Anatomy II instead."

"What's a squint?"

"You know," Booth said. "A geek. You know when someone does a math problem or something, and they squint when they're figuring it out? That's a squint."

"Did you come up with that yourself?" I asked, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

"One hundred percent Booth, baby."

"Don't call me baby," I scolded.

The worksheet in front of us had a picture of a human skeleton, with arrows pointing to blank spaces.

"We have to name all the bones," Booth said. "Just write down all the bones you know and I'll try and fill in the rest."

I shook my head. "I know them all. You go first."

He took the paper and began writing things down. Every few seconds he would stop and think before writing another. After a full five minutes, Booth stopped, looking very pleased with himself.

I took the paper and examined his work. I looked up at him, appalled. "There are 206 bones in the human body and you only know 10?"

"Oh no," Booth said crossly. "You're a squint, aren't you? Figures."

"Most people would be offended by your anger, but anger is a natural emotion that encompasses people to take charge and—"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that most people view anger as a negative emotion, but it really drives us to change. Now you'll be more driven to expand your knowledge of the human body. You should be thanking me."

Booth stared at me, before sighing. "Fine. You're the genius, you do the work."

"Very well."

I murmured the bones as I wrote them. "Coronal suture, parietal, sphenoid, temporal, zygomatic..."

"Bones."

I glanced up at Booth. "Sorry?"

"I'm going to call you Bones."

"Don't call me Bones."

"Whatever you say, Bones."

To my surprise, I smiled. The first time I'd smiled in a long time. It felt unfamiliar on my face. I glanced at Booth, who was watching me with interest.

"Fine," I said. "You can call me Bones."

We both smiled and kept working, naming human bones as the universe shaped an unlikely, yet promising, friendship.