A/N: Thank you guys for supporting this story so much so far! I certainly have a lot planned for it, and I promise nothing too infuriating will take place. I don't have the patience to write an intense slow burn, but conflict will arise.

Anyway, I wanted to mention updates for this story might slow slightly. I have to work on college applications and such. I still enjoy writing this story a lot, so I'll try my hardest to deliver!

Thank you :)

Emily

The cafeteria was surreal for Emily. Shouts and conversations from other tables blended into an emphatic white noise, barely allowing her to hear herself think. The clamoring rattled through her ears, and only subsided when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Sorry, what?" She jumped up, startled, looking at Spencer who had since retracted his hand.

"I was just asking how you liked Sidwell so far." He repeated, a subconscious frown on his face from shouting over the lunch room noise.

"Oh, I like it a lot! Even though it's a private school, the people here are certainly less pretentious than the schools for American kids in Europe." She repeated, recalling the elitist classmates that mimicked their parents that came with international schools in Europe. "But can you explain why there are multiple lunch periods though? I don't really get it."

"Basically it's because the cafeteria is far too small to house all of the students at once, so there's three lunch blocks, Lunch A, Lunch B, and Lunch C. They all take place during different parts of fourth period, and because we already finished fourth period, we're in Lunch C. Penelope and Aaron are unfortunately in Lunch A this year." Spencer explained, visibly frowning. Emily nodded in understanding as Derek spoke up.

"So where exactly have you lived? Europe had to have been fun to some extent, right?" He quirked an eyebrow and leaned forward on his crossed arms to listen to her.

"Well, I was born here, and my mother was appointed to be a U.S. ambassador when I was four, which meant moving a lot. I've lived in the embassies in Russia, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Egypt." She listed, counting off her fingers. "It was fun, seeing all of the cultural things and such, but it was kind of lonely, a bummer being an only child. Although when I was 12 and she was reappointed, my mother got me a pet cat." She sighed, pushing her hair back.

"Did you ever study hieroglyphics?" Spencer chimed in, suddenly a lot more excited about conversing with his friends.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Egypt was probably one of my favorite countries. Obviously they don't use hieroglyphs now, but it was interesting to me how Ancient Egyptian society worshipped domesticated animals like cats and birds but western civilization sees-"

"Animals as subservient." Spencer finished, an intriguing gleam in his eye.

"Reid, don't drive her away before she has the chance to catch her breath." Derek chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry about me." Emily grinned, the two only receiving a tight lipped smile from the younger boy. "I doubt I'm going anywhere unless the ambassador gets reassigned somehow."

As lunch progressed, Derek walked across the lunch room to throw away his trash and then buy something to bring to class with him, Emily turned to Spencer to change the subject to Dr. Who, except he suddenly wasn't there.

A tall, blond boy with blue eyes was in the process of lifting Spencer by his collar out of his chair. She was rendered speechless as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She thought this only happened in TV shows or cliche fiction.

"Don't touch me, thank you." Spencer spat, adjusting his shirt. "And what do you want, Ian? JJ will be mad when she hears about this."

"Not everything's about you, Reid, especially this. Get lost." Ian Doyle mumbled with a certain gruff to his voice. "And you can't expect your cousin to get you out of everything, coward." Spencer's brow furrowed as he nervously tugged at the strap of his bag. "I said, leave. Or you'll wish you did when you had the chance." He growled, and Reid hastily turned on his heel before looking over his shoulder, hoping Emily would be ok. He assumed so. She looked like she could take a fight better than he could, and even then, he was on his way to JJ, across the room.

"JJ, do you think you could help me out with something?" Spencer asked her while he stood in front of her table. He got a couple confused or judging stares from some of her friends, he couldn't quite tell which. A concerned expression formed on JJ's face, as he began walking towards an unoccupied and isolated area near the doors.

"You have soccer after school today, right?"

"Yes- wait, Spence, what's going on? Are you ok?" Her brow furrowed as he fidgeted with the latch on his bag, advertising his agitation.

"Yeah, I'm ok, but I need to ask a 'favor' of sorts. I know you are sort of reserved when it comes to new people but-"

"Whatever it is, I'm happy to help you out." JJ cut him off, nodding and urging him to continue.

"Well I made this new friend, Emily." Immediately, JJ inwardly frowned. Of course this had to do with her. But still, she had a hunch as to what it was about. She had overheard Ian Doyle earlier, his move on Emily was imminent. "And Ian Doyle just approached her. I don't know what he wants to do with her, but he was kind of rude about whatever it was. He made me leave, so I just came over here." He explained, as JJ grew more and more upset.

She hated the thought of Ian pushing Spencer around to get he wanted, treating him as a mere obstacle. And Ian knew better than to mess with Spencer. She looked past her cousin and saw him resting his hand on Emily's shoulder, as she continuously tried to shake it off. JJ was upset, but she knew what needed to be done.

"Look Spencer. I may have overheard something about Ian wanting to bring Emily back to his house after school." She watched him express both confusion and then mild anger before looking back at her. "If you want, I can invite her over after practice with you." She sighed, already beginning to mentally prepare herself. She disliked Emily but she loved her cousin more. A grin spread across his face.

"Really Jayj, you'd do that?" He pushed his hair back out of his eyes. She smiled and ran her hand up and down his upper arm, instantly calming him down slightly.

"Anything for you, Spence."

"Sorry, who are you?" Emily asked politely. Ian was now sitting where Spencer did before, his mere presence making her weary.

"You're Emily right? You must be new, most people have heard of me." His lips stretched back into an uncomfortable grin. She scoffed, refusing to believe that people were actually this full of themselves.

"I am new, and you didn't answer my question." She replied, quickly growing tired of whatever stunt this was. His smile quickly morphed into a pair of pursed lips, as he was used to girls showing interest in him at a near instantaneous speed. Still, he had already committed to this endeavor and was adamant on following through.

"I'm Ian Doyle, I'm on the football team." He announced as Emily's expression reflected boredom and annoyance, which only displeased him more.

"I don't like football."

"That's not really important, it's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you? You kicked Reid out of his own seat, and the longer you sit there, the more you piss me off." Ian frowned at her attitude as he tried to formulate a response. He was sure talking to this girl would've been easy. She was supposed to be new and nervous, and she was supposed to fawn over him, like everyone else.

"All I'm here to do is offer my assistance. This school has a lot of ins and outs, and why take the time to learn them yourself when my pals and I could teach you? It'd save a lot of time really." He pitched, and Emily's expression didn't waver. "After school, at my house. I could help you with that chemistry homework too."

"I don't need help with the homework, I understood it just fine."

"But you still don't understand this school in its entirety, right? So let me help out." The more Ian persisted, the angrier she got. This guy had the audacity to invite her over after he practically flung her friend out of his seat?

"I don't-"

"Doyle, what the hell are you doing here? What's with you trying to hook up with every girl that you encounter?" Emily looked to her left, and saw Derek leaning over the table, ready to strike.

"Stay out of this, Morgan." Ian hissed. "It doesn't involve you."

"Why don't you stay out of-" Derek quickly looked to his side, and pushed off the table, back to his feet, retreating.

"That's what I thought, we both know you couldn't take me." Ian's laugh was raspy, and annoyingly loud. He turned away from Derek and was met with the intense stare of JJ.

"Ian. Time after time I have told you to leave Spencer alone. But you just don't fucking listen." Even though the deafening chatter of the cafeteria persisted, the tension between the group at the lunch table made it feel like you could hear a pin drop. JJ's voice was eerily steady, calm, and quiet.

"Jennifer, I just asked to borrow his seat for a min-"

"Bullshit. Leave, Ian."

"You know JJ, this has nothing to do with you." He replied arrogantly, which just made the blonde angrier.

"I said leave, Ian. Her stare was cold and didn't falter. It even scared Spencer slightly. He glared at her once he got to his feet and muttered harsh words under his breath as he walked back to his table, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. Emily looked up at JJ as the blonde's jaw only unclenched when she saw him sit back down across the room.

"I'm sorry about just barging in like that. Spencer came and told me what was up and explained that you hadn't yet had the blessing of coming across Ian. I'm JJ, Spencer's cousin." She smiled slightly, now looking at Emily.

"No, thank you, for doing that. I just didn't know that people were actually like that. I'm Emily." Both girls hid the fact that they already knew of the other, and refused to acknowledge the awkward moment they shared in the bathroom.

"Knowing Ian, he's usually persistent. Spence and I wanted to invite you to my house after practice today." JJ hesitantly offered, attempting to read the expressions on Emily's face.

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you." Emily smiled, causing JJ to give her a genuine one in return. Nodding, JJ turned to head back to her own table. "Wait, how'd you know I have soccer practice?" Emily called out as JJ was walking away. Turning over her shoulder, she replied,

"I'm the captain."