Perched on her bed, Emily stared blankly at her ticking clock. It was 3:25 AM, and she was still awake. She never usually had trouble sleeping, in fact, amongst her friends, it was well known that she could sleep anytime, anywhere. It wasn't wrong. She had even fallen asleep on a rollercoaster once. While she tried to convince her friends that it was a joke, she knew it wasn't. That was the day after she had been kicked out by her mother, only a few weeks before school began. And now, here she was again, unable to sleep.

Spencer had knocked out pretty quickly, the exhaustion from the social events of the day making him tired. In a way, she wished he was still awake so she could talk about her feelings, but she knew it was best not to. Nobody needed to know her deepest thoughts, anyway.

Clearing her throat, she rolled over to lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. She placed some stickered sheep as a joke, but often, it was what helped her through hard nights. Today, the sheep seemed to take the form of an especially blonde girl and what happened at the party. It was all Emily could think about.

Shaking her head, she grabbed her airpods to pop them in and began to scroll through Instagram. Multiple people had posted pictures from the same party they went to, laughing and shouting in each video and picture. Did they know what happened towards the end? Did they know what happened to JJ and Emily?

She was checking her own profile when suddenly, a follow request popped up. Curiously, she clicked on it to only discover that it was one of the well-known artists at school, Elle Greenaway. Elle was a beautiful girl, she was kind, polite, and the two of them had never spoken but sometimes waved in the passing times.

She accepted the request, and it was only a few minutes later when she received her first DM from the girl. "Hey, this is Elle Greenaway! I just wanted to say that I heard about what you did at the party. In fact, I watched the whole thing play out. (even if you didn't notice me there, still a lil' bit salty ;p). I wanted to say thank you for standing up for JJ! That was so brave of you, I know I could never. I also… heard about her hitting you and calling you what she did. That was so NOT OK and don't worry, I gave her a thorough talk! Anyway, I won't waste your time anymore, just wanted to thank you for being awesome.:)"

Emily grinned at the message, surprised at how truly kind the girl she had never spoken to before was. She took a bit of time before responding, clicking on Elle's profile to see what exactly the girl was like. She mostly posted pictures of her art, but every so often, she would post some artsy-selfie with her grinning brightly at the camera. She had a nice smile.

Returning back to their messages, Emily began to write her own. "Hey Elle, thanks for this! I really appreciate it, I hope yk that. Thanks for talking to her about what she did, THAT was brave of you. If you really want to thank me for it, you could take me out for coffee sometime?;)" She clicked send before it dawned on her what she was doing. She was flirting with someone, a girl of all people. While she had never been especially in denial of her obvious sexuality, she had never acted upon it before and was quite terrified of what Elle might say. It took her a while to respond, as well. Taking a deep breath, she set her phone down until she heard a notification ring and she instantly grabbed it, reading it.

"I'm not really a coffee kind-of-gal, how about I take you out to dinner instead? :) my treat, obviously" Emily grinned, and didn't even hesitate a response.

"As long as you're there, anything is fine with me:)"

--

Emily's 7 AM alarm rang throughout her shared room with Spencer, although she didn't have to worry about alerting him as he was awake at the early hours of 5 AM. He hadn't woken up too much later than she had gone to sleep, talking for hours with the cute girl. They had talked about school, their dreams, their childhoods, their families, and had settled on going out to dinner tonight, they wanted to meet for sure as soon as possible.

"Oh, fuck, I'm exhuasted." She groaned, shutting off her alarm as the boy turned from his computer to look at her. "But hey, I got a cute date tonight. Elle Greenaway. Do you know her?" She sat with a grin on her face, beginning to pull off her pajamas from the night before. Spencer had come out to her a while ago, she was no longer worried about the younger boy looking at her like most men would. She walked over to her closet, only wearing a tanktop and a pair of lavender panties.

"Isn't she in my year?" He questioned, turning back to his computer as he scrolled through one of his favorite articles on Quantum Physics.

Emily pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, slipping them past her hips and grabbing a black hoodie. "Yeah, but remember, you're not that much younger than me. You're a sophomore, I'm a senior, I think it'll be OK." The boy shrugged, nodding slightly.

"I suppose. I heard she's an artist. I've always aspired to be an artist, but the time constraints of my schedule don't allow time for such. I think art is cool, though. If you dated her, I probably wouldn't mind if you brought her back as we could discuss such."

Emily shook her head, chuckling as she placed some bracelets on her arm and a necklace around her neck. She had already forgotten about the events of the previous night, not even phased anymore by the slight sting still running on her cheek.

"I think I really have a chance to like her, Spence." She turned to look at him and smiled slightly, walking over to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders from behind. "So now… when are you gonna find a boooooy?" She teased, before releasing him as he began grumbling.

"I don't need any further complications in my life, especially not one of the male breed. " He scoffed slightly, turning around once again in his chair to face her. "You're lucky you don't like men, we are gross. We smell weird, and we have weird mindsets, and ugh." He rolled his eyes, going to grab her hand. "Pay attention in class. Don't let this get to you, you need to focus!" He demanded, releasing her.

She smiled slightly and walked over to the door, sliding on a pair of converse. "Have fun, Spencer Reid! Maybe you should text Derek!" She laughed, grabbing her bag and running out the door before he could respond.

He sat there for a moment, contemplating her statement. Why would he text Derek Morgan? He was a blatantly straight man who Spencer had absolutely no interest in. None. Nope.

--

Emily ran into her class, her shoelaces flying behind her and her hair flying out of place. She hadn't taken the time to do it this morning, and now her short hair was all over the place. She was more focused on how she was going to look for dinner tonight, more than how she would look for her only class period of the day: Introduction to Philosophy. It wasn't a class she would normally take, but she needed the credit.

Glancing around the room, Emily took note to see who was in there today. It was often very mixed, people wouldn't show up or would go online.

Jennifer, however, was always there. But she wasn't there today. With curiosity getting the best of her, she walked up to her professor. "Is JJ online?" Mr. Hotchner turned from his computer to stare at Emily, cocking his head.

"No, Ms. Jareau is not online. She's probably just sick, there's a cold going around. Now go sit down, Emily, please. We have a lot to get through today."

Responding to the order, Emily quickly walked back to her seat near the edge of the room, closest to the door. It was her fault for being late on the first day of school. She barely paid attention to the lesson of the day, hearing something about existentialism, but she couldn't stop thinking about JJ. What if Will had hurt her out of anger? She was sure JJ would contact Elle, who would tell Emily.

Time flew by, and suddenly the class was being dismissed. She wanted to be thinking of Elle, but the only thing she could think of was that one blonde who she so clearly hates.

Scrambling out of her seat, she stuffed her empty notebook into her bag and grabbed her laptop, heading towards the door when suddenly Mr. Hotchner cleared his throat. She hesitantly turned to him, offering a slight smile of reconciliation. "Sir? Is something wrong?"

The man sighed softly, pointing to a seat in front of his desk. She sauntered over, bracing for whatever was about to be said. Of course she was getting in trouble, she had been zoned out of class and had no excuse for it except that she was simply preoccupied. "Emily," he began softly, looking at her. "What's going on with you? You're usually attentive, and quite frankly, a bit obnoxious." He cracked a rare smile. "Today, you were silent and just staring at the ceiling. Is there something going on that I need to know about? With Ms. Jareau?"

She shook her head sternly, looking at the files on his desk. "No, sir, nothing is the matter. I suppose I was just tired today. An 8:00 AM class will do that to you." She nodded, looking up to make eye contact with the man. "No reason to stress. Everything is fine." She said, although, she couldn't even bring herself to believe that. She didn't know if everything was fine. She didn't really understand why she was so worried about JJ, their last interaction had been JJ slapping Emily across the face. "Thank you for the concern, I have to get to breakfast with Reid." She stood up from the seat, saluting him jokingly.

He grabbed her arm for a moment, looking up at her. "You know you can always talk to me, right? I know I'm just a grumpy old man, but I really am always willing to listen. Perks of being friends with your mom, right?" He winked, releasing her. "Have a good day, and tell the little genius I said hello."

She grinned at him, before turning around and running out the door, already late to breakfast with her best friend.

--

"Hey, Spence, I'm so sorry about being late. Hotch wanted to talk to me," she rolled her eyes, taking place in the seat across from him. "He says hi, by the way," she said with a sly smile.

"Of course, Emily, you are statistically late about 15 minutes 9/10 times, so I've come to expect you to not be here on time. In fact, I came 5 minutes later than we discussed. You are 30 minutes late," he said with a scowl, although there was a hint of a smile somewhere in there.

"Oh, whatever, you'll be fine, jackass." She leaned over to smack him on the arm, before grabbing the menu in front of her. "Hmm.. what shall we try today, Spencie?" In response to the nickname, Spencer glared at her further. "Ok, sensitive today, I see. I'll get an french toast platter with a side of whipped cream, and you can… get your normal, I suppose. What is that again? Plain scrambled eggs, cut out the cheese and milk? At least spice it up, get a piece of rye toast or something."

Spencer shook his head softly, not even bothering to look at the menu. Of course he wouldn't change up his order, it's what he has gotten every single time they have gone out to breakfast since he started at the school. Why would he change up his proper routine? "Don't undermine it until you try it."

Emily laughed softly, shutting her menu and placing it beside her. "Isn't it 'Don't knock it till you try it'?" She questioned, cocking her head. Soon, her gaze turned to the blonde who approached their table. "JJ?"

The waitress immediately jerked her head up, turning to stare at the two sitting in front of her. Of course, the one time she works, her one shift a week, Emily and Spencer had to decide to eat there. It wasn't Spencer she was especially bothered by, but instead Emily, who was examining the purple bruising she thought she had covered up on her neck. Clearing her throat, she opened her little notebook. "Hey there, my name is Jennifer, what can I get ya?" Emily stared in shock.

"Jayje, what.." She began, but as a cold stare penetrated her soul from the blonde, she quickly shut her statement down. "I'll just take the french toast platter, thanks. He'll have the.. Um… what was it you wanted?" She turned to her friend, barely being able to rip her gaze away from the blonde.

"I'll have the scrambled eggs- hold the milk and cheese, thanks. Could you add two slices of rye bread as well as bring some butter to the table?" Spencer nodded at the waitress, seemingly unphased by her obvious instability. JJ wrote all of the information down, before collecting their menus, and scurrying away.

"What the hell, Spence? Did you see that? Why did she have a bruise on her neck? She looks like she didn't sleep. Why is she here, but wasn't in class?" Spencer turned his attention back to her, and tilted his head.

"She wasn't in class? That's strange. From what I've observed, she attends class 96.6% of the time, rarely missing any lessons. It must be a good reason for her to be in such a… dingy little restaurant compared to getting a quality education." He shrugged, looking at his friend who was obviously distracted. "Emily, since when do you care about Jennifer Jareau? Shouldn't you be caring about Elle Greenaway?"

"I.. I don't care," She stuttered as she looked down at her recently bitten nails. Since when did she start biting her nails again? "I just, I just think she's stupid. Um… not trying hard enough to be a good waitress." She couldn't even believe the words coming out of her mouth. Why was she trying so hard to be mean to JJ, when it used to come so naturally?

"Whatever, Em, I need your help." She came back to life, turning to her younger friend, who continued speaking once he gained her attention. "I think… Well, okay, earlier, when we were talking, you said I should text Derek. What did you mean by that? I understand that the two of you have some form of a weird bond, but why does that mean I should text him?" Emily chuckled, shaking her head at him.

"Spence, don't be dumb. You may be the smartest guy I know, but you're also the most oblivious. He's funny, smart, athletic, and strong. He's like the perfect guy, why wouldn't you want him?"

Spencer shook his head. "Em, you're forgetting one thing- he's not gay." The girl nodded in response, shrugging.

"You've asked him?"

"Well, no… but, it's pretty clear from his use of derogatory slang, and his hundreds of girlfriends," the end of his sentence dripped in jealousy, which caused Emily to grin a little.

"Do you like him?" She looked at him, curious.

"I mean, I suppose he has a nice body, and I kind of like his hair, and he makes me laugh when I hear him talking, but Emily, I've never dealt with this before. What is this strange feeling? I feel like I'm going to throw up just thinking about him." Suddenly, Emily froze at his words. She knew exactly what feelings he was describing, and just so unfortunately, when she happened to look at JJ in that moment, she knew why she understood.

"Yeah, that's called butterflies, doofus," she laughed nervously, hitting him on the arm once again. She couldn't possibly have butterflies for Jennifer fucking Jareau, the girl who literally hit her last night. Forcing the butterflies in her stomach to go away, she instantly thought of Elle. The cute girl who was taking her out to dinner tonight, and then maybe taking her home. They hadn't discussed such, but Emily knew it was an option.

It couldn't be if she kept looking at JJ, the blonde who walked over, their plates on a tray in her hand. "French toast platter for the lady, and scrambled eggs- no milk, no cheese- for the nerd. Anything else for you guys today?" her voice dripped with venom as her and Emily made eye contact. They were both unsure of why the sudden anger was coming out of JJ, but JJ was almost positive it had something to do with the fact that she could feel Emily staring at the back of her head ever since she walked in.

Emily turned to look down at her plate, suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore. "Can you bring me over a box?"

JJ scoffed, shooting daggers at the brunette in front of her. "Hmm, that's weird. I thought I was the one that constantly needed help, the one that relied on everyone except herself. And now, all of a sudden, Miss Emily Prentiss needs MY help? What a shocker." She laughed, turning around to go and follow the order given by her customer.

Emily stared at her from behind, but made a point to avert her gaze as the blonde returned. JJ didn't stop to talk once again, but the brunette grabbed her wrist, stood up from her seat, and dragged her to the bathroom hallway. "JJ, I'm sorry for what I said."

"No offense, Emily, but I don't really care. We can just move on and forget about what happened at the party. Honestly, I'd rather that. I'd rather forget you." In the short time they had truly met, Emily knew that there was more hurt to what JJ was talking about. Her anger bubbled up, not because she hurt JJ, but because JJ was refusing to even acknowledge that Emily was sorry for her actions.

"Fine, gladly. I reiterate my statement- have fun with your boyfriend, JJ." She spat, turning around. JJ didn't move until Emily had completely exited the restaurant, abandoning both Spencer and her meal as she stormed back to her dorm.

"Here, Jayje," the brunette boy walked up to the blonde, handing her a 50 bill. "Keep the change, please." He grabbed his jacket, and ran out the door after his friend.