BAU High School

Chapter 8: Plans

As soon as the bell rang and Gideon finished assigning partners, Aaron and Emily rushed over to their teacher.

"I can't work with her," he said the same time she said, "I can't work with him." They both glared at each other.

Gideon sat at his desk and eyed them warily. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Assign us new partners," they said at the same time. Gideon raised his eyebrows.

"You seem to be in sync," he said with a slight chuckle. "Besides, I've already partnered everyone up. There's no one left."

"So move some around," Aaron said quickly before Emily could say anything.

"Why can't you two work together? Give me one good reason."

"She's a brat."

"He's a jerk."

Gideon almost laughed, but restrained himself. "I'm sorry, but that's not good enough. You'll have to work together." He then picked up a book and began to read it, signaling the end of the conversation.

Both teens knew they weren't getting out of their situation, so they silently left the classroom. Derek and Spencer were waiting for Emily outside. Aaron stopped her before she crossed the hall to them.

"Look," he said bluntly. "I don't want to work with you any more than you want to work with me. But I do want a good grade, so-"

"If you think I'm going to do all the work for you, you are sorely mistaken," Emily said, cutting him off.

"I wasn't thinking that," he said through clenched teeth. "I was going to say we will work together only when necessary, and no longer than that."

"Works for me."

"Good," he said. He turned down the hallway and walked away without looking back. Emily let out a groan.

"Why me?" she moaned. Spencer and Derek walked over to her with sympathetic looks on their faces.

"You okay?" Spencer asked nervously.

"No!" Emily burst out. "Of all the people in the class, I have to be partnered with him. I hate him! I can't stand him! I-"

"Whoa," Derek said, holding his hand up. "Breathe. Relax. You don't have to be married to him, or anything. You just need to tolerate each other enough to get work done."

"Easy for you to say," Emily snapped. "You two are partnered together."

"What," Derek said. "You think I'm happy to be partnered with Genius Boy here?" He was teasing of course, but Spencer's reaction was enough to brighten Emily's mood a bit.

"Oh, and it's a walk in the park for me?" Spencer said incredulously. "Yeah, right!"

Emily found herself laughing, despite her bad mood. The three of them began walking down the hall.

"Thanks, guys," Emily said with a smile. "That did make me feel a bit better."

"Anytime, Princess," Derek said. "Anytime."


JJ hurried through the school hallways, cursing her locker location. Her last class of the day, Public Speaking, was on the second floor, but her locker was on the third. She also had soccer practice right after school. She was the captain, so being early was a must.

Usually she wouldn't be rushing, but because it was the first day of the class, it ran a few minutes late. She was turning a corner on the third floor when she rammed into someone.

"Watch where you're going, you-" she started to swear at whoever it was when she realized it was Aaron.

"Oh, Aaron, I'm sorry," she said quickly.

"It's fine," he said in a slightly harsh voice. JJ frowned in confusion.

"What's up with you?"

He sighed and said, "It's Psychology."

"Hate it already?" JJ asked. She knew if Haley found out she would insist he should have taken Acting every time she saw him. JJ actually felt bad for him.

"No, the class is great, except we were put into partners for work purposes, and I'm stuck with Emily Prentiss." He said her name like it was a swear word.

JJ immediately felt even worse for him. "Oh, that's rough. She's probably so stupid that you'll get a terrible grade." Aaron didn't have the heart to tell her Emily seemed really smart.

"She already accused me of forcing her to do all the work," he said angrily.

"Ask your teacher for a new partner," JJ suggested. He shook his head.

"I already tried. He said we had to suck it up."

"Wait," JJ said slowly. "This could work." Her mind was racing at the sudden possibilities that just popped up.

"In what universe could this possibly work?" Aaron asked in confusion.

"For mine and Haley's plan to ruin her," JJ said absentmindedly, still busy thinking.

"You don't want me to get close to her, do you?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "But you could lure her somewhere."

"I don't follow."

"You text her telling her to meet you somewhere, only instead of you, Haley and I will be there."

Aaron was silent. The small feeling of guilt had returned, though it was smaller than before. Finally, he said, "That could work. Just let me know where and when."

JJ gave him a devious smile. "Nice working with you."

Aaron smiled back, though his was half-hearted. "Right back at you."

They both went their separate ways, Aaron down towards the locker rooms and JJ to her locker. Once she was there, she pulled out her phone and sent Haley a text.

Just got a brilliant idea for our plan. I know how Aaron will factor in as well.

She waited for a reply as she grabbed a few books, and headed down the nearby stairs. She was on the second floor landing when her phone buzzed.

Perfect. I can't wait to hear all about it. I'm sure it's fantastic. ;)

JJ smiled and pushed down the miniscule feeling of guilt that appeared every time she and Haley planned something. She had did it all the time, so why she still got the feeling was beyond her.

This isn't even the worst thing I've done, she thought. Deep down, she knew it was awful, but she had so much fun, so why did it matter?


"Thanks a lot, Jason," Rossi grumbled to Gideon in the teacher's lounge after football practice.

"What did I do this time?" Gideon said in an annoyed voice.

"You got my star player all messed up in the head!" Rossi cried.

"What?" Gideon said, obviously confused.

Rossi rolled his eyes, and then said, "You partnered him up with some girl he doesn't like. He was still upset about it at practice, and it showed on the field."

Now Gideon rolled his eyes. "That's stupid. If he can't deal with it, he should drop the class." He started walking to the door, but he paused halfway across the room. He turned and stared at Rossi.

"There was something between them. During the class, I mean. I feel like they were drawn to each other, or something."

"Cut the profiler crap," Rossi scoffed. "Aaron clearly hates the girl, and he's dating Haley Brooks, the cheerleader."

Gideon shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I noticed." With that, he left the room.

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry for another short chapter, but the last two chapters I wrote are a whole lot longer, so stay tuned for that. THANK YOU to everyone who has reviewed/alerted/favorited this story. You guys are truly amazing. I never thought I would reach 78 reviews in just two weeks! I love hearing from all of you, so please keep it up, and give me some feedback! You're all fantastic! :)