"Welcome to the Friedman Browning Ingles Academy! Named after our three founders, Andrea Friedman, Edith Browning, and Harry Ingles, our school is committed to providing students with a quality education. Here at the FBI Academy, our students can explore various academic pursuits and extracurricular activities. Our surfing and equestrian teams are number one in the state of California, and our school musical has won Best Musical four years in a row! During your time here, you will meet lots of new friends and create countless memories with those friends! You have been chosen out of thousands of applicants to attend the highly selective FBI Academy. You children are the cream of the crop. You all have brilliant minds that will will take you far! Congratulations to students, old and new! And with that, let's get started!" Headmistress Erin Strauss said into her handheld microphone as she walked across the small stage that had been set up on the front lawn of the Friedman Browning Ingles Academy. She finished her short welcome speech to applause and cheers from the student body of the Friedman Browning Ingles (FBI) Academy. Once the crowd had settled down, she continued speaking again. "In order to promote collaboration, friendship, and mentorship across grades, the school is implementing a new system. Each student will be placed in an assigned study pod. Think of this study pod as your 'squad'. Your study pod is one of your support systems here. You and the members of your study pod should become like family, since you'll be spending so much time together. Each study pod will be assigned a room. This will be your designated common area to study and hang out in. Of course, you're not going to be forced to study and hang out in your study pod's room all the time, but you are encouraged to spend some time there," Headmistress Strauss told the students. Her secretary handed her a clipboard with the different study pods listed on it, and she began announcing who was in which study pod. "Once your study pod is assigned a room, please head to that room and start introducing yourselves. Make the room your own. I expect that you'll be spending a lot of time in there. In study pod number one, we have...Jason Gideon, David Rossi, Spencer Reid, Aaron Hotchner, Elle Greenaway, Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, and Dana Prentiss! Your assigned room is 213 in the Burkhart Building." Headmistress Strauss said.
Emily and Dana saw some students high-fiving each other after Strauss announced who was in their study pod. They figured that most, if not all of the students in their study pod, were already friends with each other.
Emily was glad that there were two familiar names in her study pod. Penelope Garcia and Jennifer Jareau were her new roommates. She hadn't met them yet, but she saw their names listed on a piece of paper that was taped to their dorm room door, and she saw what she assumed were their suitcases when she was moving in earlier that day
The ten students in study pod number one navigated their way to their assigned room.
The room used to be a science lab/classroom. It was spacious and well-ventilated. There were lots of cabinets with old beakers and flasks in them. Lab counters were placed on two and a half out of the room's four walls. There was a fume hood where the shortest lab counter ended, and behind the fume hood was a sink and a chemical emergency shower.
The three seniors in the group got to the room first, since they knew the campus best. The juniors, sophomores, and one freshman trickled in one by one. The Prentiss sisters arrived last after getting lost. They were the newest of the group. This was their first year at the FBI Academy.
"Hey! Emily Prentiss!" a blonde girl in an outfit full of vibrant colors called out to Emily as she entered the room.
"Uh, yes?" Emily answered, slightly confused.
"I'm Penelope! You're me and my pal, JJ's, new roommate!" the blonde girl said excitedly. She pulled Emily into a hug, making the dark-haired girl flinch.
"Oh, yeah! I saw your stuff, but I didn't see you two when I was moving in earlier today..." Emily told Penelope.
"We just dropped our stuff off and left to go catch up with people instead of unpacking," Penelope explained. She smiled at Emily. "JJ and I were talking about you earlier. We're so excited to have you as our roommate! We can't wait to get to know you!" she squealed.
"Oh, well, I look forward to getting to know you and JJ too," Emily said, unsure of how to respond to Penelope's extremely chipper attitude.
"And who is this cutie patootie?" Penelope asked, noticing the young girl, who was awkwardly hiding behind Emily.
"I'm Dana. Emily is my big sister," the girl said. She looked liked carbon copy of her sister, only smaller, and she didn't have bangs. She offered a bony hand to Penelope. The chipper blonde took the skinny girl's hand and gave her a vigorous handshake.
"Aren't you just the most adorable little thing!" Penelope gushed, bending down so she was eye-level with Dana. Dana gave the eccentric blonde a shy smile. "Now that everybody's here, let's sit in a circle and introduce ourselves to our two newbies!" Penelope said, gesturing to Emily and Dana. The rest of the group already knew each other. They were either friends with each other, or they had taken classes with each other in the past. Penelope spotted a blue foam stress ball on one of the lab counters and picked it up.
The students formed a circle in the middle of the room and sat down.
"I'll start. I'll introduce myself, then I'll toss this ball to someone else. The person who I toss it to will introduce themselves, and they'll toss the ball to a different person, who will then introduce themselves...and so forth and so on. Sound good?" Penelope said. The group nodded their agreement, and she began introducing herself. "Hi, everyone! My name is Penelope Garcia. I'm fifteen years old. I'm a sophomore, and I'm from San Francisco!" she told everyone. She tossed the ball to her best friend. He caught it with ease and flashed her a grin. "I'm Derek Morgan. I'm also fifteen, and I'm also a sophomore, and I'm from Chicago," he said. He tossed the ball to serious-looking boy with dark hair. The boy caught the ball and introduced himself. "I'm Aaron Hotchner. I'm sixteen years old. I'm a junior, and I'm from Manassas, Virginia," he said. He tossed the ball to a girl with black hair and long bangs. He gave her a brief smile as she caught it. Emily smiled back before introducing herself. "I'm Emily Prentiss. I'm fifteen. I'm a sophomore...and I transferred from Lockwood Prep," she told the group. She tossed the ball to a brown-haired girl. The girl caught it and introduced herself. "My name is Elle Greenaway. I'm sixteen. I'm a junior, and I'm from New York," she said. She tossed the ball a thin blonde girl. The blonde girl caught the ball with one hand. "I'm Jennifer Jareau, but my friends call me 'JJ'. I'm fifteen. I'm a sophomore, and I'm from East Allegheny, Pennsylvania," she said with a friendly smile. She tossed the ball to a nerdy young boy. The boy tried to catch the ball, but it ended up hitting him in the shoulder. "Sorry, Spence!" JJ apologized, stifling a giggle. The boy straightened himself out and picked the ball up. "I'm Spencer Reid. I'm twelve years old. I'm a senior. I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada," he said. He saw Emily's look of disbelief and looked at her. "Yes, I'm really twelve years old," he told her. He tossed the ball to a small girl with dark hair. The girl looked just like Emily. She was just barely able to catch the awkwardly-thrown ball. "Hi, I'm Dana Prentiss. Emily's my big sister. I'm about to turn thirteen, and I'm a freshman. I'm from Washington D.C.," she told everyone. She gave them a shy smile. The group looked at her with incredulous expressions on their faces. They couldn't believe that there was another little kid who had been admitted to the school. "I skipped a few grades," Dana explained after seeing the looks on people's faces. She tossed the ball to a dark-haired boy who carried himself with confidence. The boy caught it and gave the group a charming grin. "I'm David Rossi, but you can call me 'Dave'. I'm seventeen. I'm a senior, and I'm from Long Island," he said. He tossed the ball to the last person in the group, a grumpy-looking older boy who was playing Angry Birds on his phone. The boy looked up just in time to clumsily catch the ball. "I'm Jason Gideon. I go by 'Gideon'. I'm eighteen. I'm a senior, and I'm from Massachusetts," he grumbled before going back to the game on his phone.
"Well now that we've introduced ourselves, let's get to know each other! We can toss the ball around, and whoever catches it can share a fun fact about themselves!" Penelope cheerfully suggested. No one had any objections. They looked at Gideon, who still had the ball. "Umm...Gideon?" Penelope said. Gideon sighed in annoyance and looked at the perky blonde girl. "What?" he asked with an irritated scowl. Penelope pointed to the ball. Gideon rolled it over to her then returned to his game.
The group scooted closer to the center of the room, making their circle smaller. Gideon was left out of the new circle, but he didn't notice or care.
"I love cats!" Penelope said. She tossed the ball to JJ. "I play varsity soccer," JJ said. She tossed the ball to Emily. "I'm multilingual," Emily said. She tossed the ball to Spencer. "I have an eidetic memory," Spencer said. Dana smiled. "Hey, me too!" she told the scrawny boy. They high-fived, then Spencer tossed the ball to Aaron. "I have a younger brother named Sean," Aaron said. He tossed the ball to Dave. "When I get really stressed out, I cook a lot of spaghetti," Dave said. He chuckled. "If anyone is craving spaghetti during exam week, just hit me up!" he joked, earning himself a few giggles from the group. He tossed the ball to Derek. "I have a black belt in Judo," he said. He tossed the ball to Elle. "I'm half-Cuban," Elle said. She tossed the ball to Dana. "I'm double-jointed," Dana said. She tossed the ball back to Penelope.
The group tossed the ball and shared fun facts about themselves for twenty more minutes, then they ran out of things to say and stopped playing. They decided to just hang out and chat with each other. They started out by talking together in one big group, but eventually people each branched out into their own smaller groups. JJ, Penelope, and Elle gave Emily the lowdown on the social scene at the FBI Academy. Reid and Dana were discussing quantum physics. Hotch, Rossi, and Derek conversed about sports and their school's upcoming sports season. Gideon continued to ignore everyone and play on his phone.
The students chatted until they heard the lunch bell ring.
The kids wrapped up their conversations, and began walking towards the dining hall.
"Hey! I think we need a group name!" Penelope exclaimed.
"Alright. What did you have in mind?" Elle asked. Penelope shrugged.
"Let's choose a badass name," Derek said.
"What about the 'Bad Ass Unit' or 'BAU' for short?" Emily suggested.
"I like it!" Derek said with a smile.
"I'm okay with it," Aaron commented.
"It's fine with me," Dave added.
"Whatever," Gideon grumbled.
The rest of the group voiced their support for Emily's suggestion.
"I now dub us 'The BAU'!" Penelope announced with a big grin.