Thanks so much guys for the response to the last chapter! I'll try to update at least once a week, but (being in my final year of school also haha) sometimes I just get swamped by work :( But I'll do my best to update regularly! Enjoy! xx
P.S. I have used a similar age difference between Emily and Hotch in CM, which is about 12 years I think? So Em is 17 here, so I'm imagining a late 20's early 30's Hotch in this story. And I forgot to say last chapter, but I had Spencer be a little older than the actual age he graduated high school because it fits the story better. :) Okay, enough from me haha.
Spencer turned out to be a nice kid, Emil mused while she watched him animatedly talked about the statistics involving coffee; a little strange, sure, but nice.
She felt bad for the boy, he had no friends, and at least two years younger than any of the kids in their grade; she could tell that he'll have a hard time fitting in. So naturally she befriended him, hoping he'd find some sort of comfort within her. She had gotten the feeling that he hasn't had many friends in the past.
Time flew by, and before they knew it the two of them were heading to their first English class, which they had together. She introduced Spencer to Morgan and JJ, who both smiled and made polite conversation with him. Morgan gave Emily a bit of a strange look, but didn't comment.
Taking their seats, Emily and JJ, along with most of the students in the class, were talking in hushed whispers about who would be the new teacher. When Mr Gideon announced his retire last year, the whole school was devastated. But not too long after, the excitement of getting a new teacher in their tiny school seemed to be the talk of all the students, and that didn't change now.
"I hope he's cute!" JJ whispered excitedly, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of the new teacher in the hallway.
"Cheating on your Hawaii boyfriend already Jayje?" Emily teased, pushing JJ's shoulder softly. JJ rolled her eyes and sank back into her seat, before looking at Emily. "What makes you think he'll be a he anyway?" Emily asked, to which JJ just shrugged.
"I hope they won't be mean." She sulked. "While Gideon was cool, he did have his moments." Emily nodded her head slowly in agreement. She remembers one of her first lessons with him where he just picked on her the whole lesson, for no apparent reason.
"I'm sure that-" Emily stopped mid-sentence, as did everybody else in the classroom as they watched the new teacher walk into the room. His back was to the students, nobody catching a good look at his face. He seemed overly formal for a high school that had almost four hundred students, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He had the overpowering air of authority which presented itself the second he stepped into the classroom, gaining control over all the students without uttering a single word. His hair was short and neatly groomed, and he had a nice and firmly defined back. Emily could almost hear the heartbeats of the girls in the room quicken.
When he turned around, everyone in the room seemed shocked with his age; the way he commanded control over the students wouldn't suggest he was younger than thirty, however the lack of age lines of his face and his undeniable youthful features spoke otherwise.
"Hello." He nodded to the students. "I'm Mr Hotchner and I'm your new English teacher." His voice was firm, not leaving any room for questioning from the students. He met a few of the eyes of various students in the room, and when he looked at Emily, she felt like his gaze burnt into her soul. "As I'm sure you all know you've reached your final year of high school. It's my job to assist you in any and every way possible to help enrich your learning, and give you every opportunity to achieve your best. That's not to say, however, that I'm going to be holding your hand and walking you through the year. You are senior students now, you need to take control of your learning and be inquisitive." Emily felt herself captivated by his voice. There was something in it, something which just made him so trusting that she felt completely at ease with him as a teacher, confident that in every word he spoke, he spoke the truth. "It should be noted," He continued, "That I will not tolerate any foolish behaviour or nonsense in this class. Not only are you all senior students, but you are Advanced English students. This tells me that you are all clearly capable with completing the coursework and keeping up to date with homework. Anything less will not be tolerated."
Complete silence in the room followed the speech as Mr Hotchner look around the room to see if all the students were following what he was saying, they all appeared to be.
"Excellent. Now, let's get started." There was definitely a more uplifting tone in his voice now, a small smile on his lips. Not like a happy smile, more of a small comforting smile. Mr Hotchner walked behind his desk and pulled out two piles of what were obviously Shakespeare texts. Emily smiled, she loved studying Shakespeare. Whilst many of the students complained about not understanding the old English, Emily understood it with surprising ease, grasping concepts of the plays quickly. "Hamlet." Mr Hotchner announced as he held a copy of the play for all the students to see. "This is one of your assigned texts for the year, and we will be studying Shakespeare for the next seven weeks." Mr Hotchner stopped talking for a few moments while some students let out a small groan.
"Now," He continued with that little smile on his face. "Who can tell me some of their own personal favourite quotes from any Shakespearian play you've studied previously?" There was a silence in the room as students racked their brains for a quote that they can claim as their favourite. Emily looked over to Morgan, but he just looked bored and uninterested in answering and JJ was staring out the window. Slowly, Emily raised her hand into the air, gaining the attention of Mr Hotchner.
"A personal favourite of mine is, 'Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't.'" Emily smiled shyly.
"Macbeth." Mr Hotchner nodded. "A good quote." He praised.
"Macbeth is one of my favourites." Mr Hotchner raised an eyebrow.
"What about it makes you enjoy it so much?" He questioned.
"Just how Lady Macbeth manages to manipulate Macbeth the way she does. But also, how her involvement begs the question of if Macbeth hadn't said anything to her about the prophecy, would he still have become king? I just love how Shakespeare manages to ask all these questions, yet without really answering any of them, leaving it to be interpreted by the viewers." Emily shrugged. "I just really enjoy it."
As Emily spoke, Mr Hotchner's smile grew slowly as he listened to the obviously keen student who is eager to learn. She was rather beautiful, the way her eyes lit up as she spoke about the play, and by the end of her answer, he was smiling properly at her.
Mr Hotchner's smile sent a lovely feeling down Emily's spine, and she felt an immediate connection with her teacher through the appreciation of Shakespeare's works.
The way that Mr Hotchner smiled sent butterflies fluttering through the stomach of most of the girls in the class. They all straightened their backs and eagerly paid attention to the class, hoping that they could be on the receiving end of his surprisingly adorable dimpled smiles.
"Yes I agree." Mr Hotchner replied. Not wanting to draw more attention to a singular student, Mr Hotchner began to hand out the plays, making a little bit of eye contact with Emily as he walked past her, and Emily flashing a small smile his way.
"He. Is. So. Adorable!" JJ gushed at lunchtime for the third time. "I mean, Em, did you see his smile? Those dimples? I honestly didn't think he had it in him." Morgan huffed as he sat his tray down on the table the three of them usually occupied and say down.
"I didn't see anything too special about it." He mumbled. JJ and Emily shared a look before laughing.
"Aw Derek, are you jealous?" JJ cooed as she placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder. Morgan shrugged it off.
"No," Morgan emphasised while Emily stifled a laugh. "I am not jealous. I'm just saying he's an old man and I don't see what's so great about him."
"He isn't old Morgan." Emily admonished as she too sat down at their table. "He's what, twenty-five?" Emily asked, looking over to JJ as she sat down beside Morgan. JJ nodded as she took a bite from her lasagne.
"No more than thirty, I'd say." She agreed.
"That's like, almost the same age as your Dad, JJ." Morgan said, as if he was making a point. "Are you telling me you'd go out with somebody as old as your dad?" Both Emily and JJ cringed simultaneously at the mental image.
"No, Derek, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I am saying however, is that he's got the cutest smile." JJ looked to Emily for confirmation and she nodded as she chewed her food. "And he's hot." She added. Emily almost choked on her apple at the shocked and outraged expression on Morgan's face.
Before their bantering could continue, a small, hesitant figure approached the table, clutching a brown paper bag. Emily looked up and swallowed her chew before smiling at Spencer.
"Spencer, hey!" Emily greeted. Morgan and JJ also said their hellos before returning to a conversation between the two of them. "How are you going?" Emily asked. Spencer shrugged, trying to act dismissing but a soft blush which crept up his cheeks gave him away. "You alright?" She asked him.
"Yeah, I mean, psychically, I'm fine." He replied, fingering his brown bag, not making eye-contact with Emily. They stood in silence for a few moments before Spencer sighed and looked up to Emily. "Uh, yeah, just wanted to say hi." He said lamely.
"Um, okay." Emily replied creasing her eyebrows at Spencer's lost expression.
"See you around." He said before turning away. It took Emily a few seconds, but then the realisation crushed upon her. Why else would a new kid, who is two years younger than everybody else in his year walk over to probably one of the only people who had made an effort to befriend him, lunch bag in hand?
"Spencer! Wait!" Emily called as she stood up, fully prepared to catch up to Spencer if he didn't turn. Luckily for her, he did turn around at the sound of his name. "Come sit with us." She offered. Spencer looked hesitant. JJ and Morgan were looking between Spencer and Emily curiously, knowing that Emily didn't normally make such an effort to include somebody outside her friendship circle.
"Sure, I mean, I'd love to, thanks." Spencer replied, making his way over to the table again and sitting down. Conversation resumed again on the table, and for a few minutes, Spencer sat awkwardly, not really involving himself, until he picked up of Morgan complaining about a question in maths he didn't understand, and Spencer jumped in, involving himself in a territory of conversation he could work.
Emily smiled appreciatively at Morgan, who pretended to be enjoying Spencer's extremely thorough explanation of how to answer the question. When Morgan met Emily's eye, he simply winked at her, turning his attention back to Spencer.
It took a few weeks for Spencer to be able to comfortably walk up to the table at recess and lunch without asking for permission to sit. He no longer needed to be prompted to involve himself in conversation, adding facts and statistics wherever he saw fit. Emily would never say it aloud, but she was proud of the timid boy she had met three weeks ago, and how he had opened up so much in such a short amount of time.
Despite how quickly the weeks had gone past, Emily felt like the school year couldn't possibly go any slower. Lessons like Maths and History dragged on for what felt like hours instead of forty minutes, and she quickly found herself eagerly waiting for her English class every day, which seemed to be the only place which had the time flying past.
Mr Hotchner quickly became Emily's favourite teacher, and Aaron surprised himself when he realised that Emily was his favourite student. He never wanted to be the teacher who selected a 'favourite', not wanting to make it seem like he was more interested in one student's learning over another's. But with Emily, he couldn't seem to help it. Every class discussion, he always found she had something insightful and exciting to say, and in the times where they had to work by themselves, she worked silently and diligently.
'She's a model student.' Aaron said to himself as he marked her long response question on Hamlet. He studied her handwriting, and it wasn't cursive or girly like many others he had seen over the course of his marking, but hers was more defined, it had more personality. She wrote in block letters, but her letters began to join together as she wrote more enthusiastically. Aaron graded the response and she had gotten the top mark out of the ones he had seen so far.
A soft knocking at his classroom door attracted his attention. And for a split second, he thought it was going to be Emily, and he thought that he would be able tell her what her mark was in private, just to see her smile as she silently congratulated herself.
It wasn't Emily though, it was David Rossi. He assumed he was touching base with the newest teacher at the school, checking to see if he was holding up okay. Aaron put away the Hamlet questions as David walked in.
"Aaron, hey, how's it going?" The deputy asked casually, an easy smile gracing his middle-aged facial features, as he pulled out a student's chair to sit on.
"Not bad, David, I was just marking some extended responses on Hamlet I asked the year 12's to do, the year 8 class are working well, year 10 and 11 are a little distracted however, but I guess they'll settle in soon once they find their rhythm." David smiled at Aaron, there were not many teachers which could fit into a new school and gain control over his students with such ease as he managed to without the use of any intimidating threats of detentions.
"Call me Dave, please." Dave responded. Aaron nodded in acknowledgement. "You're going well Aaron. I'm not here to praise you like a small child who needs confidence, but I still feel it's important to let you know you're going the right track. I always hear that the year 10s are the worst, but they eventually settle down. Most of the time." Aaron laughed softly. "So, any particular students giving you any grief?" Dave asked.
"No, not really. There is the occasional disturbance, but they quickly return back to their set work." Aaron explained. Dave, to his surprise, started to laugh.
"I bet they do. I would hate to be on the receiving end of a glare coming from you." He joked and Aaron smiled along with him.
"I'm not all bad. The year 12 class saw me smile a few times." Aaron defended weakly. The two men chuckled before shaking their heads.
"How is your year 12 class? I know that many of them were hesitant about getting a new teacher, everything holding up okay?" Dave asked, back to his informal check-up.
"They are marvellous. They work well, extremely cooperative. One of the best I've taught to far." Aaron commented, idly realised he wasn't talking about the whole class, but his thoughts more focused on one student in particular.
"Who's the favourite?" Dave asked casually. Aaron looked into the older man's eyes, wondering if he had just read his thoughts.
"I don't have a favourite." Aaron answered, trying to sound as honest as he could. Dave however, just laughed.
"Of course you do. Each teacher always has a favourite. The student who always does the work, who never brings your temper to a boil, has a positive influence on her peers, always exceeds your expectations?" Dave prodded with raised eyebrows. Aaron sighed.
"Emily Prentiss fits that description rather well." Aaron admitted. "She has a drive for learning, hardly needs any motivation from me to complete her work to excellent standards." Dave nodded knowingly.
"Yes, I've heard quite a bit about her from the other teachers. Every subject is the same, always on top of the coursework, contributing where necessary, non-disruptive." Dave continued before sighing. "Her mother pushes her a lot, though. You may not see it now, but give it a few months. The pressure to always achieve better than perfect results from her mother really wears her down." Dave shook his head. "She had a bit of a breakdown last year when the pressure of the yearlies got to her. I calmed her down in my office of course, but when I mentioned that I'd ring her mother to talk to her about the stress she was under, she begged me not to." Dave had a regrettable look on his face. "I wish I had called her though, because I don't think her mother realises the stress our young Emily is under."
"That's terrible." Aaron commented with a frown, his mind racing through every lesson with Emily to see if he could pick up on any signs that she wasn't handling the coursework.
"Indeed." Dave nodded. He stood up, tucking the chair back under the desk. "Anyway, it was a good chat Aaron, I'm glad to see you've settled in well." Dave smiled. Aaron replied with his thanks and walked Dave to the classroom door. "Oh, and Aaron, can I ask a favour?" Dave asked before leaving.
"Of course." Aaron answered.
"Keep an eye on Emily. I can see she has developed a fondness for not only this class, but you as a teacher. Maybe just check up on her every now and again to make sure she's coping." Aaron nodded, he could do that. "Excellent. Thank you, I would do it myself, but I feel it would be a little imposing, having the deputy question you about your feelings." Dave smiled. "Thanks Aaron, it means a lot. We wouldn't want somebody as talented as Emily to crumble with the pressure of her final year of school. I think she just needs somebody to talk to. She is a rather exceptional student." Dave added as he left the room. Aaron closed the door behind the deputy before making his way back to his seat and pulled out the papers to finish marking so he could hand them back next lesson.
"I quite agree with you, Dave." Aaron mumbled to himself as he corrected the spelling of one of the students. "She is rather exceptional."