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Nervous, sweaty and self-conscious in his school uniform, Parker Booth stood in line to enter the upper year’s doorway. A couple of the boys ahead of him turned and nudged each other, a new face in the crowd was always bound to attract attention, he’d seen it in his own school back in America. England wasn’t that bad, really … despite what he’d heard, the food was decent, the people he’d met had been polite, the house they were in was big and much older than the house they had lived in in DC. He had his Mom, Steven and a really nice babysitter called Pauline who came from Newcastle and, even though he couldn’t always understand her accent, she gave great hugs.
All in all it was great, an adventure just like his Mom had said. But he couldn’t see his Dad, couldn’t even call him whenever he wanted because of the time zones. His Dad and Dr Bones were together now, which made Parker happy because he really liked Dr Bones, and they were having a baby too. He was a little sad that he wouldn’t be there to welcome his new brother or sister into the world but he lived in England now.
Where he had to wear navy pants, a light blue shirt and a green and gold striped tie to school every day. Where he was the new kid in class who had a different accent. Where he couldn’t go to science club at the Jeffersonian or visit the lab. He missed the lab and the Jeffersonian, not as much as he missed his Dad or Dr Bones. He missed his baseball practice and going to the hockey on the Saturday nights his Dad had him. Steven had taken him to a couple of soccer games but it just wasn’t that same.
The bell rang and they filed into the school, down the corridor where they hung up their jackets on the assigned pegs and on to their classroom. Miss Muldoon, his teacher, taking note of every face that walked through the door, smiling at some, raising a brow at others. Blinking at the groups of desks, Parker looked for his name. He hoped he’d be sitting next to smart kids, or at least nice kids. Finding his seat, he put his back pack on his lap and opened it to take out his pencil case.
“Hello, you’re new.” A soft voice spoke and he looked up at the girl standing next to him. “I’m Rosie Bedford.”
She walked around and sat opposite him. “I’m Parker Booth.”
“That’s a nice name, are you American?” Rosie had a slight lisp and had her dark blonde hair in pigtails with pink bows at the end to match the pink frames of her glasses.
“Yeah, I’m from Washington DC. My Mom moved here for work.” Parker shrugged and bit his lip.
“Urgh! Are ya jokin’?” One of the boys that had been nudging and staring at Parker tossed his bag on the desk and slumped in his chair with a sour look on his face. “Stuck with Ghostie, the new kid and Stinkbomb?”
Rosie narrowed her eyes at the boy. “You think we’re happy about being stuck next to you, Taylor?”
“Whatevah, Ghostie!” The boy smirked and Rosie dipped her head down.
“Why are you calling her that? Her name is Rosie!” Parker frowned at this Taylor character, he didn’t like him at all.
“Her Dad works in the morgue, touching all the dead bodies … eugh!” Taylor grimaced and chuckled as Rosie attempted to make herself look as small as possible.
Turning to Rosie, Parker smiled. “Is your Dad a pathologist? My Aunt Cam is a pathologist!”
Blinking at Parker, Rosie’s eyes darted to Taylor before answering. “He is, yeah.”
“I found a finger in a bird’s nest once and my Dad took it to the Lab where Aunt Cam and Dr Bones work and they solved a murder!” Parker grinned. “My Dad is a Special Agent with the FBI.”
“Oooh get you!” Taylor sneered. “Dumb yank!”
Ignoring Taylor, Rosie came out of the shell he had put her in. “There’s a pathologist called Dr Bones?”
“Oh, no, that’s not her real name, and she’s not a pathologist. Dr Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist - she can tell how people lived, how they died just from their bones … so my Dad calls her Bones and when I was a little kid I would call her Dr Bones and I guess it just stuck.” Parker shrugged, pleased that he had found someone he had something in common with on his first day.
The last member of their table group arrived, he was bigger than Parker or Taylor and didn’t look happy to be back at school.
“Oy oy stinkbomb!” Taylor snickered.
“I farted in year 2, once, let it go Bishop.” The new arrival raised a brow at Parker before holding his hand out. “Gordon.”
Taking a firm grip and shaking twice, like his Dad had taught him. “Parker.”
“Parker is from America!” Rosie grinned.
“Cool.” Gordon nodded.
“Okay, year 7, let’s get busy with the wizzy!” Miss Muldoon spoke loudly and clearly and Parker paid attention.
#
The morning break, or ‘interval’ as Miss Muldoon had called it, saw Taylor rush off to kick a ball around with his friends, Gordon going over to a bench with a fistful of cards and two other boys and Parker and Rosie standing looking at each other.
“Umm … you don’t hafta stick around with the new kid, you can go play with your friends.” Parker shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the concreted ground with a hopscotch board painted in bright rainbow colors.
“Oh, I’m a lone wolf!” Rosie grinned to mask the sadness but soon shrugged one shoulder and sighed. “No one really talks to me because of what my dad does.”
“That sucks.” Parker frowned. “So, you wanna go over to the bushes and look for bugs? The lab at the Jeffersonian, Dr Hodgins works there and he has a room full of the most amazing bugs!”
“I’d like that.” Rosie smiled.
They ate their snacks, putting down some crumbs to try and tempt bugs out of their hiding spots, and crouched close to the shrubs looking for something interesting. Parker found a weevil, Rosie found a stinkbug and they swapped stories about their lives.
#
The day ended with Parker and Rosie as firm friends, they had spent lunch time together and ignored the jibes and comments from Taylor and his friends. Glad to see Parker smiling as he exited the building, Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey, Parks, how was your first day of school?”
“It was good! I found an acorn weevil, can I go to Rosie’s house to play?”
“Rosie? You made a new friend already?” Becca grinned and ruffled Parker’s hair. “Is she girlfriend material?”
“Mooom!” Parker frowned and Becca chuckled.
“Okay, okay!” She scanned the playground. “So where is Rosie and I can talk to her Mom about a play date.”
Parker pointed at Rosie and waved her over. A tall man, wearing scrubs, was holding Rosie’s hand as they walked towards Parker and Rebecca.
“Hey, this must be Parker. Rosie just couldn’t wait to tell me about you!” The man grinned and extended a hand to Rebecca. “Simon Bedford, Rosie’s dad.”
“Rebecca Stinson, this is my boy.” She stroked Parker’s hair. “I’m so happy he made a friend on his first day!”
“Wotcha Parks! See ya tomorrow!” Gordon tapped him lightly with his fist as he walked past.
Looking at his Mom, Parker frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s just a typical English thing to say.” Simon smiled kindly. “Like ‘what’s up’.”
Nodding Parker grinned at Rosie. “Can I come and play at your house?”
Rosie looked up at her Dad and he suddenly seemed very uncomfortable. “Umm I don’t know if that’s a good idea, I’m actually on a break from work and Rosie will be coming back to the … umm … lab with me.”
“I’ve been in a lab before!” Parker offered, to Simon’s surprise.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to get in the way of Mr Bedford’s work, Sweetheart.” Rebecca frowned.
“Doctor, it’s Dr Bedford … but you can call me Simon.”
“Dad has a book about insects at the lab - we could see if there are other types of native weevil to find!” Rosie’s eyes lit up.
“Are you working on a body right now?” Parker asked gleefully. “Aunt Cam and Dr Bones never let me see the bodies!”
Rebecca rubbed her face with both hands, you could take the boy out of the Jeffersonian but you’d never take the Jeffersonian out of the boy.