Monday morning arrived quite soon and Emily just wanted to sleep the whole day and avoid her mother and most importantly she really did not want to go to school.

She huffed and stared at the ceiling for quite some time before actually getting out of bed.

She put on her favourite jeans and a total black t-shirt, took a deep breath, grabbed some money and left to face the hell of a day she had ahead of herself.

Once out of the mansion she saw Frank and smiled a little for the first time.

She liked Frank.

He was probably between fifty and sixty years old and quite chubby.

He looked sweet and funny.

'Morning Frank'

'Good morning miss Prentiss' he was ready to open the door for her but she stopped him

'Okay let's make a deal, you'll let me get on and off the car alone and I'll think about something I'll do for you. Deal?' she held up her fist for it to bump his against.

He chuckled at her and shook his head 'Deal'

She smiled and got in the car waiting for him to get in too and start the engine.

Emily didn't say much until Frank spoke to her 'Nervous?' He asked and she took her eyes away from the window and looked at him through the rearview mirror

'I've done it way too many times to be nervous at this point' she smiled sadly and they didn't speak again.

The silence was comfortable.

Once at school she knew the kids were going to look at her and talk about her because she was the rich kid who couldn't take the poor bus to school and had to have a personal driver to take her every where but she decided she was simply going to ignore them.

None of them knew her and she didn't know them so their opinion didn't matter.

She went straight to the principal office to get it over with and be free of all the futile formalities as soon as possible.

Once in the office she saw a quite beautiful woman.

Blonde with blue eyes and just for a moment JJ's eyes flashed in front of her.

She shook it off and read the name 'E. strauss'

Emily? Elizabeth? Please don't be an Elizabeth. I don't want to hate you she thought.

'Good morning dear. You must be Emily Prentiss' she shook her head and introduced herself

'I'm Principal Erin Strauss and quite happy to finally meet you. Have a seat'

Good, not Elizabeth

Emily sat and waited for Erin Strauss to go over all the things she has to say.

'You're going to have a tutor to show you around and help you in case you needed anything. Luckily it's barely October you didn't miss that much. Still, the teachers will give you extra work to catch up and also some more time so you can adjust to the new school and routine. In case you need anything you can speak to your tutor or ask for me. We'll try to make this transition as easy and painless as possible'

Emily snorted painless

'Is something wrong?'

Emily apologies 'No, I'm sorry I interrupted you'

Erin Strauss eyed her for a couple of seconds and then asked her if she had questions.

Emily shook her head no but when the principal said she was free to go and meet her tutor and welcomed to the Washington High School, Emily was paralysed on the chair.

Crap, I have a question she thought.

'Prentiss?' She asked 'Something's not clear?'

'No' Emily started 'Uhm...it's just that I actually do have a question'

'Go ahead'

'After all this' she gestured to her and the principal and the room around her 'this thing we just did, usually they tell me that they want to meet my mother and speak to her about me and school and how it'a going to work'

'Oh don't worry about that. I spoke to your mother over the phone'

Here it was.

Emily changed attitude all of a sudden.

And she was angry

'I see, okay then. I'll go' she quickly got up and made it to the door when the principal stopped her

'We only spoke about the school rules, what we expect from you and what you both expect from us. I didn't say anything more and she didn't either'

They both knew what the issue was and it was loud and clear to Emily what Erin Strauss was trying to say.

She was telling her that her mother didn't ask any favours just because of who she was.

She was saying that she didn't make any special promises just because of who her mother was.

'How did you-' Emily was stunned by the fact that the Princiapal just knew it.

'I've done this for quite some time now Emily Prentiss and students your age are no mistery or secret to me. I can read you all like an open book. I'm good at what I do'

Emily nodded. Strauss smiled a little and Emily excused herself and left the room.

As soon as she was out a very colourful girl attacked her

'Hi Emily! You're Emily Prentiss right? Of course you are! I saw the pictures so I know it's you! Hi!'

Emily's eyes almost dropped out and she really didn't know what to do or say.

'I'm Penelope Garcia, your tutor. You ask me anything, I'll get it for you. I looked you up on internet and geez Italy uh? You must be so jet legged I can't even imagine! I know your mom is-'

'Ehy! I don't even know you but rule number one: don't speak of my mother. Don't even say her name'

Penelope looked at her a bit shocked but let it go quite soon and went back to being her usual hurricane self again immediatly after, trying not to push any wrong button this time.

'I'm sorry. Sorry. I promise I won't mention her'

'Good' emily started walking ahead 'Do you have any idea where I need to go?'

Great, now I'm pissed. Just great.

Penelope walked with her and never once stopped talking and, weirdly, Emily found it quite nice.

She even found herself smiling genuinely at some point. This Penelope was surely one of a kind.

She walked her to her locker and then to her first class promising her to see her later because they had second period together.

She pulled out of her bag a very peculiar pen and wrote down all her infos

'In case you need anything, you know where to find me and how'

Emily thanked and Penelope looked like she wanted to hug her but Emily didn't really want to and it was clear to the blonde and colourful girl so she went for an awkward pat on the arm instead.

Emily smiled and went inside.

First class was maths.

The likes maths.

To be honest, she liked school and learning.

She liked knowing things and she was definitely a very smart girl.

A very smart girl who could speak six languages.

She was introduced to her class and thank god the professor didn't mention Italy, any other country or her mother.

At the end of the lesson the teacher gave her her catching up and while she was giving it a look Penelope arrived, took her under her arms and walked her to their next class.

'Okay so next one is philosophy. Mr. Rossi is just awesome you'll see. He's super fun and he's also Italian and he never misses a chance to remind us. He's cool but very serious when it comes to exams and all that stuff. His lessons are just the best. Also, all my friends are here too so I can't wait to introduce you to them. They're amazing'

Once in the class, Emily saw that the teacher wasn't there yet and that everyone was pretty much minding their business. She realises they were talking towards a small group of people at the left corner of the class.

She couldn't see who they were and how many because the two turned on their backs were pretty much blocking the view.

One of them turned around hearing them approach.

'Baby girl you're late' he exclaimed.

'Oh chocolate th-'

'EMILY!' She was interrupted by the second person who turned around and wow it was JJ.

They were both shocked.

They talked and never once it crossed their minds that they might be the same age and in the same class.

'JJ!'

'Wait, you two know each other? But you've only been here like fine minutes' Penelope looked confused and so did the chocolate th-something who called Penelope Baby Girl.

'Yeah' JJ was the first to speak 'A couple of night ago I was walking Olly and I bumped into her'

Emily was grateful she left out the part where she was crying without even knowing it.

'OMG THAT'S LIKE FATE!'

'Actually the chances they were going to meet were-'

'Yeah Spence, we don't care' JJ smiled at him and he shut up without protest.

'This is so exciting! Okay so, the chocolate thunder here is Derek Morgan, Genius Boy there is Spencer Reid and of course there's JJ which apparently you knew already. This is the amazing gang'

Penelope sounded as excited as she said she was and her friends made it very easy for Emily to feel comfortable around them and chat with them about stuff.

They asked her some things but even though it was clear they wanted to ask even more, Emily appreciated the fact that they decided not to.

Derek was making fun of Spencer when the teacher arrived so they all sat down and got ready for the lesson.

David Rossi, philosophy teacher, introduced Emily to the class and had the time of his life when he found out she arrived from Italy just a couple of days prior as that she spoke Italian fluently.

Even though it was everything Emily hoped to avoid, Mr Rossi, being as awesome as Penelope told her, didn't make it awkward or uncomfortable. It was the exact opposite in fact. For the first time Emily was actually happy about sharing that part of her life and she managed to have fun while doing so.

Once she was in her seat again Penelope leaned over 'I know, he's great. You're welcome. And OH it gets better! He's principal Strauss' husband'

'WHAT? You're serious?'

'Mhhhmhhhh' she nodded dramatically

'And they have the most amazing story. Basically they-'

'Penelope I don't think the Principal would like to know why I had to send you up there, am I right?'

Busted.

On the first day.

Great.

'No Mr. Rossi I'm sorry. I'll zip it'

'Awesome! Also because she isn't really into gossip and if the knew I told you guys the story she would actually divorce me' they laughed.

David Rossi was a man in love and wasn't scared to say it or talk about it.

He thought that it wasn't something to hide or be ashamed of and more importantly it was teenagers he was dealing with.

Not all of them had the best examples of love and integrity at home so he wanted to be sure they knew there was good out there and not only bad.

Happiness and not only pain.

So he shared his experience to let them all know that life was more than the reality they lived at home and it was important to him that they believed in love and knew it existed so they could hope and look for it.

That's why his class knew about his and Principal Strauss' relationship and also because that being open about it might save him from the gossips and rumors.

His wife didn't and when he was proven right he made sure to remind her every chance he god.

Her answer would always be en eye roll and a playful smack on the shoulder or the chest.

And he would always take her in his arms, smile lovingly and kiss her cheek.

Another amazing thing about David Rossi was his relationship with his students.

They didn't always have families to back them up or anyone they could really talk to so he made sure to be someone they could trust and go to if they needed help.

'Oh come on Mr Rossi! She's new, you have to tell her the story!' some guy said

'It's like a requirement to take this class' another one added.

'Okay okay, I get it. Your lazy butts don't want to have anything to do with lesson today so you're taking advantage of the situation to waste time. I'll tell the story' the guy the spoke first laughed and turned around to high five his friend and while doing so, their eyes met and Emily couldn't help but think that he had the most amazing blue eyes.

He stared at her for a moment longer than he should have and then turned back.

'But we're still going to talk about Arisotle later and you' he looked at the blue eyed boy 'Mr Doyle'

Doyle 'are definitely going to help me'

Apparently David Rossi and Erin Strauss met when they were just teenagers and he fell in love with her the moment he saw her even though 'she hated me with a passion'.

How could she hate him? Simple.

He was a womaniser and 'even though she definitely thought I was cute, because trust me, she did' she held back and rejected every attempt he made because he was, basically, a gerk.

After a huge declaration of love and another big, fat no from her, he decided it was time to move on.

'Being as handsome as I was hard' he jocked 'but that means that girls were always dancing around me' he said.

So when she saw him around those girls again and realised he had lost interest in her 'she was so jealous I swear no matter what you nut heads do, she'll never get as angry as she did when she saw Stacy Ferguson attached to me'.

Apparently she started dancing around him too, but kept denying it when asked and gave him the cold shoulder whenever he spoke to her.

'I was always civil and the fact that she was rude all the time told me she was jealous and actually wanted me back'

'But I couldn't just let her win' he had his fun for a while until she just lost it, got crazy and furious at him and told him 'I was a stupid blind jerk that needed to go to hell' and that she was done with him.

'So when she turned around to walk out of his life forever, I pulled her back and kissed her senseless'

At that point all the 'whoooos' started. The boys complimented him for the good job and the girls just smiled at the thought of a moment like that.

'But life sometimes just has different plans for us. College broke us up and didn't see each other for 20 years. We lived our lives and did our own things until we met at a high school reunion'

They both avoided the previous 19 ones like the plague but fate wanted them to attend the exact the same one after all those years for a reason.

'We reconnection and here we are, 30 years later'

That sure is a good story Emily though.

Like WOW! That is something you read in books or see in the movies.

It doesn't just happen like that.

It truly was fate.

'Okay, story time is over. Ian Doyle come up here and let's talk syllogisms'

Ian Doyle reluctantly got up but was actually glad he did the moment he realised he had a better view of the newbie.

Damn he thought.

She definitely was a girl to look at.

He didn't really hide the fact that he was staring at her and he probably didn't even do it on purpose but Emily, after reciprocating the looks for a while, felt the urge to look away.

JJ and Penelope shared a knowing look because Ian Doyle was definitely bad news but it's not like they could do anything about it especially because they barely know Emily and more importantly Emily barely knew them.

Still, it didn't stop them from making sure she would leave the class with them and not him.

JJ got one arm and Penelope got the other and together they took her away from Ian Doyle.

This is so weird Emily thought but still she didn't question it or stop it because after the bad days she had, it was definitely weird but also nice.

'Get used to them, they're crazy' Derek must have noticed the confused look on Emily's face but neither JJ or Penelope said anything because they were sure Derek hadn't noticed the looks Emily and Ian gave each other in class.

If he did, he would be on their side in a blink of an eye and he wouldn't say a word about it.

Whether she liked it or, as a metter of fact, knew it or not, Emily was part of their little gang now and nothing ever felt more normal and natural to the four friends before.

It was just like that.

Maybe fate?

Whatever it was, they were going to protect her from the trouble Ian Doyle could cause.