They all looked up as Principal Rossi walked in, dressed in one of his best suits. Nobody quite understood why he wore them: he was a high school principal, not a member of Congress. He had several sheets of paper in one hand, and several pencils in the other. At this, Spencer froze. A test? Was he really going to give them a test in detention? This really wasn't fair!
Principal Rossi stood in front of the table Derek and JJ were seated at. "Well, here we are," he started, looking around at all of them. "Congratulations to all of you for actually being on time." He seemed to eye Emily for a minute, but that was quickly interrupted by JJ.
She raised her hand. "Excuse me, sir? I think there's some sort of mistake," she started, looking up at him and setting her hand down. "I understand that it's detention and I need to be punished for what I did wrong, but I don't think I really belong in here…"
Emily scoffed, rolling her eyes, as Rossi checked his watch.
"You five have exactly eight hours and fifty-six minutes to think about why you're here today, and think of the error of your ways that led you to this library on your Saturday morning."
Emily leaned back in her seat, putting her feet up on another chair and loudly groaning.
Rossi pointed to JJ. "I don't want to hear any talking," he motioned toward Spencer, "I don't want you moving from your seats." Spencer quickly paused, shifting back to his seat and blushing slightly. "And you will not sleep," he finished, pulling the chair out from under Emily's feet. He looked around at all of them before setting down a paper in front of each of them. "Today, we're going to try something different than the norm. I want each of you to write an essay with a bare minimum of a thousand words," he started, setting down a paper and a pencil in front of Garcia. She quickly looked up at him before distracting herself with her fingernails, which were painted with likenesses of comic book characters on them. "I want you to describe who you think you really are." He walked over, setting down another in front of Emily.
She eyed him. "…Is this a test?"
He ignored her, distributing the rest of the papers and pencils. "When I say essay, I want to see an essay. I don't want to see one word repeated a thousand times." He glanced at Emily again, who had moved her combat booted feet to the table. "Is that completely clear, Miss Prentiss?"
She gave him a thumbs up. "Absolutely crystal clear, sir," she muttered sarcastically, avoiding looking at him.
"Good. Maybe you'll all learn a little something about yourselves, and maybe, perhaps, decide whether or not you care to return to Saturday detention again."
Spencer immediately raised his hand, standing up. "I can answer that question for you right now, Mr. Rossi, sir. I can honestly say that I don't wish to return. It's a no for me, because-"
Rossi looked at him. "Sit down, Reid."
He nodded and muttered a quick thank you before sitting down again.
Rossi pointed out to the hallway. "My office door is going to be open, and as you all know from your recent visits, the office is right across the hall from this library. I don't want to hear anything. Any questions?"
They all looked down at the tables, shaking their heads, except for one of them.
"Yeah, I have a question," Emily started. "Does Ringo Starr know that you've raided his wardrobe, or is that just a well kept secret?"
Derek gave a soft chuckle, but luckily, Rossi had been distracted with his answer. "I'll give you the answer to that question next Saturday morning, Miss Prentiss." She shrugged slightly. "Don't mess with the bull unless you want the horns." At that, he turned around, walking out.
"God that man has fucking problems," Emily muttered as soon as he was out of earshot.
They all watched as he walked out and sat there in an awkward silence.
Garcia stared at her nails for a minute before sighing, reaching into her purse and digging through, setting several things on the table while searching for her nail clippers and file. When she finally found them, she threw everything back in, opening the clippers and starting to cut off her uneven nail. It always killed her when she did up her nails perfectly and had to remove a piece of the artwork, but she could just go home after this and repaint them with a new theme: maybe this time, it'd be Marvel instead of DC. She filed them down, humming show tunes to herself, before starting to clip the nail that was bothering her. The constant clicking sound of the clippers seemed to get the attention of everyone in the room, as she looked up and saw all of them staring at her. Shrugging it off, she kept working. She wasn't going to care what any of them thought, because mainly, none of them cared about her.
"You couldn't have possibly done that at another time?" Emily asked. "That had to be done right now? It was an absolute nail emergency in the world of oddballs?"
She rolled her eyes, sweeping the clippings off of the table and onto the floor, throwing the clippers back into her purse.
Emily raised an eyebrow, pointing to her. "You know, I've seen you before."
She ignored the comment, not knowing if it was a genuine comment or just a setup for another moment in her life where she was the punchline of the joke. She fully dismissed it when Emily leaned back in her seat, as if she'd never said a word to her. The rest of her company had turned away from her too, so she decided to occupy herself with what she enjoyed most: taking out her notebook and working on her own comic. She was sick of all the stick thin and handsome superheroes, so she'd opted to make her own character – one with charisma and spunk who wasn't a size zero. She could swear she felt everyone staring at her again, but she didn't give a single damn. Let them.
Spencer sat at the table, twirling his pen in his fingers, thinking to himself. There were several ways that he could approach this essay. For one, he could write about himself autobiographically, and give Principal Rossi a slight history of himself leading up to the person he is now. On the other hand, he could write it from someone else's perspective and show how others see him, or at least his assumption of it. Another approach would be lying his way through it, noting that everything in his life is going just fine, that he wasn't constantly the target of bullying, and that he wished he'd never done what landed him in detention in the first place. Figuring this was the kind of bullshit answer that he wanted, he brainstormed the right way to start it.
Looking up, he saw Emily staring at him from her table and nodded nervously, before shifting his attention down to the blank sheet of paper in front of him and trying to come up with the best start. He went to take off his jacket and saw Emily doing the same, and knowing the angry face of bullies well, he knew not to do something at the same time as her. He'd yet to aggravate her and see what she was capable of, and he didn't want to start now.
Emily looked down at the blank sheet of paper in front of her and rolled her eyes. An essay? He wanted an essay about who she really was? She highly doubted that he wanted to read a thousand words stating that her mother didn't give a shit, her father never tried to get in touch with her, and mom's new husband was a pervert. No, that definitely wasn't happening, mainly because she knew Rossi didn't give two shits about her home life and only cared about making her school life a living hell. Frustrated, she crumpled up the paper into a ball, aiming between Derek and JJ and throwing it. She then started humming to herself loudly, not caring if it bothered anybody else in the room.
JJ sighed, turning to Derek. "I can't believe this is really happening to me right now."
Emily hummed louder, hitting her hand against the table as a drum, causing everyone to turn to look at her.
"What?" Derek snapped.
She smirked. "You're kind of sexy when you're angry."
He rolled his eyes, turning back around.
Emily then turned her attention to Spencer, whose pen was hovering over his paper. "Why don't you get that door over there for us, homeboy?" she asked, pointing to it.
Spencer raised an eyebrow, pointing to himself.
"Yeah, you. I think we can have some fun harassing the princess over here."
JJ turned around, glaring at her.
"Hey!" Derek snapped.
"Yes?"
"Don't make me angry," he warned her.
"Let me guess, I won't like you when you get angry, and you'll turn into the hulk?"
"Why don't you just shut up?" JJ told her. "Nobody here is interested in what you have to say."
Emily made a face, feigning pain, before turning her attention back to her table.
"Seriously," Derek mumbled, turning back around.
Emily scoffed. "What did you do to get in here, big shot? Did you forget to wash your jock strap, or were you too busy grabbing someone else's? I've heard some talk about you, buddy, and nothing's really that peachy."
Spencer cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me, I think we should just all settle down and write our papers before Principal Rossi comes in here."
Derek turned to face her again. "Just because you practically live here doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass, so why don't you knock it off?"
She shrugged. "It's a free country, isn't it? That is, of course, known to those of us who actually pay attention in history class and don't just coast along because the teachers like us for touching other guys."
"She's just doing it to get a reaction from you," JJ explained, "just ignore her and she'll shut up."
Emily smirked. "You couldn't ignore me even if you tried."
Garcia twirled her hair around her finger, looking over at the scene unfolding, before shifting her attention back to her drawing.
"So," Emily started, looking between them, "are you guys like, boyfriend and girlfriend? Going steady? Sleeping together?" She pouted. "Come on, you pumped up side of beef, tell me. You've done it, haven't you?"
"Go to hell!" JJ snapped.
"Enough!" Derek yelled.
Emily laughed to herself as Rossi leaned back in his chair, trying to look in. "Hey! What's going on in there? Spoiled little pricks," he mumbled before going back to his newspaper.
"Scumbag," Derek said under his breath, turning back around.
Rather than reacting, Emily got up from her seat. "What do you say we close that door, huh? We can't enjoy ourselves even the slightest bit with Rossi checking in every few minutes to make sure we're not 'roughhousing' or 'misbehaving'," she said, hopping up on the railing.
Spencer looked up at him. "He said that door's supposed to stay open, though, so I think we should respect that."
"So?" she asked.
"So why don't you just sit down and shut up?" Derek told her. "There's four other people in here, you know."
She gasped. "You can count?! I knew you had to have some smarts to be a wrestler."
"And who are you to judge anybody anyway?"
"Really," JJ muttered.
"You know, Prentiss, you don't even count," Derek retorted. "If you were to disappear forever, it wouldn't make any difference to anyone. To be completely honest? You may as well not exist at this school."
Emily wouldn't admit it, but those words stung. They hit somewhere she didn't even know could hurt. Rather than giving him what he wanted, she shook it off, exhaling. "Well, maybe I'll just go join the wrestling team." She ignored their laughs. "Maybe even the prep club and student council."
"They wouldn't take you," Derek immediately responded.
"I'm hurt."
"You know why people like you need to rag on everything that matters to other people?" JJ asked, looking up at her.
"Oh, I'm sure this answer is going to be enlightening," Emily said, crossing her legs. "Do continue."
"Because you're afraid."
She gasped. "You know what? You rich bitches are so smart. That is exactly why I'm not heavy in these fantastic school activities."
"You're just a coward."
"I'm in the Math Club," Spencer spoke up.
"You're afraid that they won't take you or accept you because you don't belong. Instead, you choose to dump on it, insulting other people's interests."
"Well," Emily started, leaning back, "It wouldn't have anything to do with all of you people involved in activities being assholes, now would it?"
"You wouldn't know," JJ responded, "you never tried to get to know any of us."
"True, but I don't know any lepers either, and I'm not eager to join any of their fucking clubs."
"Why don't you watch the mouth?" Derek stated.
"…I'm in the Physics Club too," Spencer added, immediately regretting it when Emily turned to look at him.
She held up a finger to JJ and Derek. "Excuse me just a second. What are you babbling about over there, whiz kid?"
"What I said earlier was that I was in the Math Club, the Latin Club, and I just added that I'm in the Physics Club as well."
Emily leaned forward to JJ. "Hey, Blondie, are you in the Physics Club?"
"That's an academic club."
"So?" she asked, shrugging.
She rolled her eyes. "Academic clubs and other clubs aren't the same."
"Oh, but to dorky little kids like him, they are." JJ glanced over at the kid, swearing that she recognized him from somewhere, but couldn't put her finger on it. "What do you all do in your little club?" Emily asked.
"Well, in the Physics Club? We talk about Physics, like the properties of Physics and things of the such, and it's actually quite interesting."
"So it's sort of social, if you think about it. Demented and a little sad, but it's social, right?"
He ignored the hurtful words. "I guess you could consider it a social environment, yes. There are other people in the club and we discuss things, and we um, have a banquet at the end of the year at the hotel down the street."
"So you load up and you party hard?"
He shook his head. "No, we actually get dressed up. No drugs or alcohol or anything."
"Only burnouts like you need to get high," JJ snapped.
Spencer cleared his throat. "I have a cousin named Kendall, he lives in Indiana and he got high once." Garcia stuck her pen in her mouth, pretend shooting Spencer to put him out of his misery. "He ate like a lot of really weird food and he was sort of kinda in the Twilight Zone, you know?"
"Sounds like you," JJ said, looking at Emily.
Derek rolled his eyes, hoping to get the kid to stop talking. "You guys keep up your talking and Rossi's going to come in here. I've got a meet next Saturday and I'm not going to miss it because you assholes won't stop blabbing."
"Wouldn't that be tragic?" Emily said sarcastically. "Missing a whole meet? You poor thing."
"You wouldn't know a damn thing about it, not competing in anything your entire life."
She mock cried. "And I'm so empty inside because of it. I have such a deep understanding and love for guys who decide to spend their spare time rolling around on the floor, grunting and groaning with other guys."
"You'd never miss it, mainly because you've never had any life goals."
"Oh, but I do! I want to be just like you, sporto. I just need some really tight tights and possibly a lobotomy."
Spencer smiled slightly at the image in his mind. "You wear tights?"
"No, I don't wear tights. I wear the required uniform."
Spencer raised an eyebrow before responding. "So, tights."
He tried to think of a response, but had nothing. "Shut up."
Garcia smiled to herself, watching the scene unfold in front of her. She couldn't have had a more entertaining Saturday if she'd tried.
Everyone's attention turned when they heard movement in Rossi's office. Emily immediately hopped off of the railing, taking the seat between JJ and Derek. Neither of them had time to react negatively as they thought he was coming in. When they heard footsteps going down the hallway, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Emily shot up from her seat, exhaling and walking toward the door.
"There's not supposed to be any trouble," Spencer reminded her.
Emily pointed a finger at him. "Excuse me, young man, have you finished your paper?" She walked out into the hallway and, seeing that it was empty, she reached for the screw in the door.
"Come on, Prentiss, don't screw around," Derek warned.
"What the hell are you doing?" JJ asked.
"Dropping dead, I hope," Derek mumbled in response.
"Prentiss, that's the school's property, and it doesn't belong to us. We can't tamper with school property, it's in section 4 of the student handbook assigned every year. It's not to be ruined or played with."
She ignored him, pulling the screw out of the top that held it open.
"Very funny, now fix it," Derek yelled.
"You should really fix that," Spencer added.
"Am I a genius?" she asked them, sitting back down.
"No, you're an ass, fix the fucking door!"
"Everyone just shut up. I've been here plenty and I know what I'm doing."
"No, fix the door!" Derek snapped again.
"Shut up," she snapped, leaning back in her seat.
"God damnit!" They heard from the other side of the door. They all knew Rossi had returned from wherever he'd gone and realized the door was closed. He walked in, pointing to it. "Why is that door closed?"
They all stayed silent.
"Why is that door closed?" he yelled, louder this time.
Emily shrugged. "How are we supposed to know? We're not supposed to move from these seats."
He turned to JJ. "Why?"
She jumped slightly before giving him an answer. "We're just sitting here like we're supposed to."
He walked over to the side that Spencer and Garcia were sitting on, eyeing the two of them. "Who closed that door?"
"I think a screw fell out of it," Emily suggested.
Derek cleared his throat. "It just closed, sir."
"Who?!" he repeated, still looking at the two.
Spencer sat there silently while Garcia squeaked, setting her head down on the table.
"She hasn't talked all morning, sir, I don't think she can talk."
He walked up to Emily, hand out. "Give me the screw."
"I don't have it."
"Prentiss, I will find it on you if I have to."
She shrugged. "Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect place."
"Give it to me, Prentiss," he warned.
JJ turned to face him. "Excuse me, sir. Why would anybody want to steal a screw?"
"Watch it, young lady."
Emily looked up at JJ, who had pretty much just saved her ass, but all she gave her was a glare.
Rossi walked over, attempting to hold the door open with a chair unsuccessfully. Garcia peeked out from under her hood to watch, and she was glad she did. Though Emily warned him not to, he put a folding chair in front of it, watching as the door shut and pushed the chair away while doing so. All of them held back laughter when he started to very loudly swear at the situation. He called for Derek to come help him, moving a magazine catalog to hold the door open. They did get it in, but he had trouble getting back into the library. Emily warned him about the trouble if there was a fire, and he instantly snapped at Derek for putting it there. After putting it back, he shoved Derek back toward his seat, lecturing him that he expected better behavior from a varsity athlete. Though slightly wounded by the remark, Derek showed him no fear.
Rossi turned his attention back to Emily. "You're not fooling anybody, Prentiss. Keep this up and the next screw to fall out of place is going to be you."
"Bite me," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?" he asked, walking around and standing next to her table.
"Bite me," she told him, looking up at him defiantly.
"You just bought yourself another Saturday in this library."
She scoffed. "I'm devastated."
"You just bought one more with that comment."
"Well, I'm free the next Saturday, but after that, I'll have to check my calendar."
"Good, because it's going to be full. We'll keep going as long as you'd like. Do you want another one? Just say it. Instead of marching your ass to juvenile hall? You'll come here," he told her, pointing to the table.
She was definitely getting upset, wondering why the principal, who was well into his 50's, if not older, enjoyed harassing her so much. She wasn't necessarily a bad kid, she was just cocky, and put up a front of not giving a shit. In reality, she did give a shit, but it hurt too much to care what everyone else thought of her. She crossed her arms, remaining silent.
"Are you through?"
"No."
"I'm doing the world a favor locking you up in here."
She crossed her arms, keeping a straight face. "So?"
"And that's another one right now. I've got you here for the rest of your life if you don't watch your step. You want another one?"
She knew whatever answer she gave, it would happen. "Yes."
"You've got it. You got another one right there. That's another one."
"Cut it out!" JJ snapped. When Emily looked at her, all she did was mouth "stop".
"Are you through?"
She shook her head, turning her attention back to him. "Not even close."
"Good, you got one more right there."
She shrugged. "Do you really think I give a shit?"
"Another." She narrowed her eyes to a glare as he pointed at her. "Are you through?"
"I'm not sure. How many is that?" she asked.
Spencer spoke up. "That's seven, including the one when we first came in when you asked Mr. Rossi here whether Ringo Starr knew that he raided his closet."
"Now it's eight." He spoke up before shooting a glare at Spencer. "Stay out of it."
Spencer cleared his throat. "Excuse me, sir, it's seven," he said softly, holding up seven fingers.
"Shut up, peewee."
Spencer immediately shrunk back, eyeing his paper and wishing he'd never said anything.
Rossi glanced at Emily again, smirking. "You're mine, Prentiss. For two months, I've got you."
"What can I say? I'm thrilled beyond words."
"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe. You know something, Prentiss? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people. You might be better off."
She avoided looking at him, refusing to show him any fear or weakness, letting him win.
"All right, that's it," he announced to the room. "I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time I have to come in here, I'm cracking skulls." Emily imitated the last part, and Garcia, looking over, assumed she must've heard that same speech every time she was in here. From the looks of it, she knew Emily couldn't be all that bad, and just had to put up with a lot of shit from a lot of people who never truly tried to understand who she was.
Rossi turned to look at them one more time before the door closed behind him. It couldn't have happened any sooner, because Emily had finally snapped. "Fuck you!" she shouted at the closed door. She waited for a reaction, but when one didn't come, she just exhaled, staring down at the table and muttering to herself. "Fuck."
Everyone stayed quiet, all unsure of how to take in the situation. In that moment, they saw a different side of Emily, almost a vulnerable side of her. Arguing with Rossi, they realized that she wasn't always the instigator, and he seemed to live just to egg her on. JJ studied her face, and suddenly noticed that Emily was, in fact, human. She was seconds from just crumbling under the pressure. She wasn't an asshole for the sake of being an asshole: she was an asshole because that was how she saw her way of survival in high school.