One
I'm the new kid. Again. We move every six fucking months. This is the third high school I've been in and I'm only in eleventh grade. I can't stand it. I barely have time to make friends before we have to leave again. But this time my mother says we may be able to stay here a little while longer. A few years even. I don't really care, as long as we can stay here until I graduate, then I'll go off to college and she is free to move around. I actually like it here, in D.C. It's big and crowded, but it's nice, homey.
I walk into the cafeteria and walk right into a blonde girl holding a tray with pasta on it. The tray fly's out of her hands and all over her shirt. I stand there stunned for a second as I watch her smile fade and tears well in her eyes. She turns and runs for the bathroom.
I come out of my daze and realize what's just happened and turn to go after her. I push open the bathroom door to find her leaning over the sink, wetting a paper towel.
I walk over to her and put my hand on her arm. She flinches. She turns to look at me. Only for a second and then she hides her face again, but I saw it. She's got a black eye. I'm not exactly sure how I missed it before, but it's there.
She wrings out the paper towel and starts to rub at her shirt with it. I put my hand over hers and she looks up at me.
"Let me help you." I say. She nods and hands me the paper towel. I take it and gently rub at the sauce on her shirt.
Once I manage to get most of it off, I throw the paper towel in the trash and turn back to her. "Are you okay?" I ask.
She nods. "I'm fine." She says.
I reach up to touch her cheek. "Who did this to you?" I ask. She shakes her head.
"It doesn't matter I'm fine." She says and tries to move away from me.
"Yes it does." I say.
She shakes her head.
"I don't even know you." She says.
"Emily Prentiss." I say.
She smiles a little bit. "Jennifer Jareau. My friends call me JJ." She says.
I smile. "Now you know who I am. Can you tell me who did this to you?" I ask.
She ducks her head down and mumbles something. I put my hand on her arm.
"Who did this Jennifer?" I ask.
She looks up at me. "My father." She whispers.
"Why? What happened?" I ask.
She closes her eyes. "I told him I'm gay. He hit me and told me that I could leave and never come back." She says.
"He hit you because you told him you're gay?" I ask. She nods. I wrap my arms around her.
"I'm sorry Jennifer." I say.
"What did your mother say?" I ask.
She buries her face in my neck. "She died last month." She says, a sob escaping. I close my eyes for a second.
"I'm so sorry." I say, squeezing her tighter.
She takes her head off my shoulder and looks me straight in the eye. What happens next isn't something I ever thought would happen. At least, I didn't think I'd be the one to initiate it. I put my hand on her arm and slowly lean forward, capturing her lips with my own. I feel her tongue slide across my bottom lip and I open my mouth, whimpering as her tongue touches mine. Fireworks.
I pull back and she smiles. "Wow." I say. She smiles.
"Is it bad that I want to do that again?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "No, cuz I want to, too." She says. She smiles and puts her hands on my shoulders. She leans forward and kisses me again. I slide my arms around her waist and pull her closer. She pulls back.
"You're really beautiful, you know that?" I say.
She shakes her head. "Oh yeah, the giant purple bruise around my eye is gorgeous." She says.
"Well it is a rather nice shade of purple." I say.
She laughs.
"I mean it. You're beautiful." I say.
She smiles a little bit. "Come meet my friends." She says.
I nod and follow her out of the bathroom.
We walk into the cafeteria and over to a table in the centre of the room, where six people are sitting, laughing and joking with each other. We get to the table and the six people that are sitting there stop to look at us.
"Hey Jayje." Says another blonde girl. Jennifer smiles.
"Guys, this is Emily. Emily, this is Spencer, Derek, Penelope, Dave, Aaron and Alex." She says.
I smile. "Hey." I say.
Jennifer sits down and motions for me to do the same.
"So where are you from Emily?" Jennifer asks.
"Originally, here. But I've lived just about everywhere you can imagine." I say. She smiles.
"Why did you move so much?" She asks.
"My mother's an ambassador." I say.
She nods. "That's really cool." She says.
I nod.
"What classes do you have Emily?" Derek asks.
I look down at my schedule and say "math with Becker, science with Thompson, English with Wilson and history with Jones."
Jennifer takes my schedule from me. "Seriously?" She says.
I turn to look at her. "Seriously what?" I ask.
She hands me her timetable.
"We have all the same classes." I say. "At least I'll know somebody." I say. She nods and hands me my schedule.
"I'm gonna go grab a bag of chips from the vending machine. Anybody want anything?" Jennifer asks.
"I'll come with you." I say.
She smiles and nods. "Okay." She says.
I stand up and we walk down the hall to the vending machines. "Do you have a place to stay?" I ask.
Jennifer shakes her head. "I've been staying at a homeless shelter for the past three days." She says.
"Do your friends know what happened?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "No. I told them I tripped over my bike." She says.
I put my hand on the small of her back. "Do you want to come over to my house tonight?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "Emily, we barley know each other." She says.
"I want to know you Jennifer." I say. She smiles.
"Would it be okay with your parents?" She asks.
I nod. "They're in Italy for the next two days. I'm alone." I say.
"I guess I can come." She says.
"Good." I say, wrapping my arm around her waist.