Spencer decided to get to school early on Monday, hoping to avoid any awkward run-ins. Sure, Saturday had been a learning experience, but he wasn't sure that everyone would stay true to their word. JJ had her father drive him home on Saturday, and she even walked him to the door, giving him another hug and making him swear, once again, that he wouldn't kill himself. He had to swear that he wouldn't before she went back to the car. He opened up his locker, going through his bag and taking out a few books before looking inside. He raised an eyebrow, stepping back, confirming that this was, in fact, his locker. His books and other things were still there, but the inside was decorated. Before, all he'd had inside his locker was his books and notebooks, but now, there were several comic strips and drawings all around it.
"Do you like it?"
Jumping slightly, he turned to face Garcia. "Is this your doing?"
She leaned against the locker beside his. "Guilty."
"How did you-" he paused, "records?"
"You bet. I figured after everything on Saturday, you needed a little bit of a pick-me-up." She chewed her cheek. "I don't know if the others are going to be honest, but I am, and I think both of us could use a friend right now."
After putting his books into his bag, he smiled, reaching over and pulling her into a hug. It wasn't a gesture he did often, so for it to be done to anyone was a big deal. She laughed to herself, patting his back.
"I'm glad you like it, Boy Wonder."
He smirked, pulling back and adjusting the strap on his bag. "Do you think it'll happen?"
"What? Them actually seeing us today instead of walking through us in the hallways?" He nodded and she sighed. "There's only one way for us to find out, right?"
JJ ducked into a bathroom, fixing her hair and smoothing a hand over her skirt, checking her reflection. After reapplying her lip gloss, she took a deep breath. Today was going to be a new day: it had to be. She wasn't going to be just the captain of the soccer team or just miss popular anymore. Everything Emily had said about her was right, and she wanted to be a genuinely good person.
"Hey, Jayje. Didn't see you at Anderson's party on Saturday."
She turned around and was face to face with Ashley. Clearing her throat, she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I just wasn't in the mood for it. I had my entire Saturday here after getting busted going shopping last week, and I just wanted to relax at home for a weekend."
"Derek didn't show up either. I guess that detention really did you two in."
She raised her eyebrows. "You have no idea."
"Being trapped in this school with that Prentiss delinquent and two freaks? I'd be exhausted too."
She rolled her eyes, picking her books up off of the counter. "How did you know about that?"
"Your text." She held up her phone. "Saturday morning it woke me up. 'S.O.S. Derek, the delinquent, Thing 1 and Thing 2'. You poor thing."
She swallowed. "It's not like that. It wasn't that bad. It was actually," she shrugged, "interesting."
"Yeah, I'll bet. Are you in for skipping Physics today? Some of us are going to-"
She held up her hand, shaking her head. "No thanks. My days of skipping are over. I need to start focusing on academics and get a scholarship. It's the only way I'm getting into college."
"…One weekend in detention and all of a sudden you care about school?"
She rolled her eyes – she wasn't going to have this argument, it wasn't worth it. If one of her friends couldn't see what mattered to her, she wasn't going to bother. Toying with her necklace, she walked past her and walked out, making her way to class. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her.
Emily couldn't believe she was doing this. She'd let JJ and Garcia have their fun with her on Saturday, but she never expected to actually follow up on it. Her mother had even noticed her before she left the house that morning, which never happened. She complimented her, called her beautiful, and told her to have a nice day at school. Though she wouldn't admit it, her mom noticing her instead of talking down to her felt nice. The fact that she was now walking into school with this new look was definitely nerve-wracking. Of all things, she was currently wearing a dress, a dress. Her hair was actually done and she'd put in the red clip-in from Garcia, just for a little something extra. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to her locker, noticing that her lock was missing. Rolling her eyes, she reached down, taking out her books for first and second period. She heard the hallway quiet down and knew it was because of her. She stood up, putting her books into her bag, before preparing herself to face the crowd. The first face she saw was JJ's, and JJ quickly gave her a nod of approval. She smiled slightly, leaning against the lockers and suddenly feeling self conscious.
One of the guys in her Math class leaned beside her, smirking. "You must be new." He held out his hand. "I'd love to show you around."
She shook her head, smacking his hand away. "Even think of touching me with that hand, Jones, and you're going to lack necessary equipment for what you want to, but never will do with me."
He blinked a few times, confused, before looking at her again. "Prentiss?"
"And who says you're not a bright one?" she clicked her tongue, patting his cheek a few times, before walking to class.
She spotted Spencer and Garcia by what she assumed was one of their lockers and nodded her head at them, acknowledging that she'd seen them. She may not be buddy-buddy with them, but she didn't have it in her to be an asshole to them either.
Spencer glanced down the hall at Emily, impressed, before looking the other way.
"JJ's coming," he mumbled under his breath.
"Oh, this is going to be awkward," Garcia whispered, attempting to bury her head in Spencer's shoulder.
JJ stopped in front of them, smiling. "So, Pen, it looks like our evil plan worked."
Garcia paused for a second before looking at her, pointing to herself. "Did you just-"
"Oh, shoot, do you prefer Garcia, or something else?"
She gaped at her for a minute before realizing that she was being sincere. She gave her a smile, relieved. "That it did, and Pen works just fine, thanks. It's going to sound weird, but nobody's ever given me a nickname before."
She shrugged. "It's a good time to start." She tapped her textbook a few times before looking at Spencer. "What about you, Spence? Doing okay?"
He nodded nervously, looking up and down the hallway. "Aren't you worried?" he asked, lowering his voice. "You know, other people are going to see you talking to me. I don't want to hurt your social standings."
She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for what I said. I thought about it and I realized that what other people think doesn't matter, because there's a good chance I'm not going to see any of these people after high school anyway. I'd rather be remembered for being nice to everyone than for anyone to think of me as some super popular mega bitch."
He smiled slightly. "Well, I appreciate it."
She patted his back. "Come on, I'll walk you to class."
"…In front of everybody?"
"No, we're going to dig a secret tunnel," she said sarcastically. When he didn't catch on, she shook her head. "Yes, in front of everybody."
He raised his eyebrows, impressed, and after telling her where his class was, she linked arms with him, walking him there and kissing his cheek before leaving. She figured that he could do with the bit of an ego boost, and he didn't mind it one bit. If this was what having someone as a protective older sister was like, he could get used to it, not to mention that he now had Garcia looking out for him, who could hack into somebody's records just for looking at him the wrong way, and he was sure that Emily wouldn't let too much harm come to him. The only question was, would Derek stay true to his word?
Spencer was having a good day, the best school day he'd had in a while. Mr. Ryan had come up to him in shop and apologized for his grade, because he'd retested his lamp and saw that it was actually functioning properly. He met up with Garcia shortly before lunch and walked to the cafeteria with her. They picked up their lunches together and sat down at a table, setting their bags down.
"How was the first half of your Monday?" she asked, peeling her orange.
He opened up his chocolate milk. "Not too terrible. What about you?"
She shrugged. "People still don't understand me, but I think to do that, they'll need some form of psychology degree. The highlight of my day, aside from being acknowledged by Jennifer Jareau despite what she said, may just be having someone in English class to goof on people with."
He raised an eyebrow. "Goof on?"
"Poke fun at. Just little jokes here and there, you know, having a bit of fun with the monotony."
He raised an eyebrow. "I think I can do that."
"I thought so."
Emily sat down at the opposite end of their table, giving both of them a small smile. Spencer eyed Garcia before moving a little closer, still leaving her some personal space. She looked up at him appreciatively before focusing on her lunch.
"Hey, Reid."
Spencer set his jaw, eyeing Garcia. He knew what was going to happen. Every single day at lunch, never fail, one of the jocks found a reason to have a problem with him, and it usually resulted in him getting beaten up behind the bleachers. He took a deep breath, setting his food down and turning around in his seat. Before he knew what was happening, he was yanked up from his seat by his shirt.
"What were you doing with JJ earlier, man? What do you have on her?"
He stayed silent and screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for a punch, but it never came. He was dropped down to the ground and when he dared to look, he saw Derek holding the guy in a headlock. Speechless, he scrambled into his seat.
"What the hell, man?!" he snapped.
"Leave him alone, or you have me to deal with." He tightened his grip, looking down at him. "Got it?" He nodded and Derek released him, glaring. Once he walked away, he turned his attention back to Spencer. "Are you okay, kid?"
He nodded slightly, swallowing and looking up at him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emily get up from her seat and walk up to him. She shoved his back. "Hey!"
He turned around to face her. "What?"
"Next time? Pick on somebody your own size."
"What, Prentiss, you expect me to pick on you?"
She shook her head. "No, I don't, because you really shouldn't pick a losing battle."
"Excuse me?"
She kneed him before smirking to herself, walking back and taking her seat. She looked at Garcia, pointing over to him. "If Rossi asks, he provoked me."
Garcia gave her a thumbs up." You bet."
Derek sat down beside Spencer, resting his elbows on the table. "Kid, can I ask you a favor?"
Spencer shrugged. "…Sure."
"…I could really use some help in Trig, and I was thinking maybe you could help, possibly tomorrow after school?"
Spencer looked around the crowded cafeteria before turning to him, giving him a smile. "No problem. How about your place?"
"Sounds great." He reached over on Garcia's plate, picking up a few chips. When she gave him a look, he shrugged. "What? I threw my tray down when Captain Dickhead tried hurting Pretty Boy over here."
Spencer blushed, pushing his tray toward Derek. "Here, I owe you one."
JJ looked around the cafeteria after getting her lunch. She could sit with the 'popular' kids, but they'd all pity her for her detention, when in reality it had been one of the best days of her lives. If she sat with the jocks, people would assume she was sleeping with at least one of them. Shaking her head, she threw all of those thoughts away. She was done giving a shit about what everyone was going to think of her. For once, she was going to do what was going to make her happy. She walked up to the table they were all sitting at, fidgeting with the tray and chewing on her lip, pointing to the seat next to Garcia.
"Is this one taken?"
They all looked up at her, genuinely surprised. Garcia took her bag off of the seat, setting it on the table. "Not anymore."
She smiled appreciatively, setting her tray down and sitting beside her. She eyed Derek.
"Come on, stealing Spencer's lunch? Looking at the size of the two of you, he could use it a little more."
He mock laughed. "You missed it, Princess. Ramsey over there tried picking a fight with Reid, I choked him, then Prentiss over there gave him something to cry about."
She raised her eyebrows. "What, so are you two a new badass duo?"
Prentiss scoffed. "I could find a better partner."
This was the first of many lunches the five of them had together. Slowly, but surely, they were all forming friendships with each other, though it definitely wasn't an overnight process. Emily was growing out of her badass persona, and coming into her own, no longer feeling a need to have some sort of image to other people so she could establish herself. What especially helped was her mother promising her that there would be no more moves in her high school career. The icing on the cake was when she divorced her stepfather the pervert, and was more focused on fixing her relationship with her daughter. She served her eight Saturday detentions, then didn't have a single one after. JJ threw away any thoughts of giving a damn what other people thought of her, because life was too short for it. She had a bi-weekly shopping date with Garcia, and the two of them enjoyed each other's company. Sometimes, even Emily would join them on it. JJ spent her time with who she wanted to because she wanted to, not because it would give her a certain image. Garcia's parents slowly noticed a change in her, noting that she was happier and bubblier than ever. This was all she ever wanted: her parents to notice her. They did, and for something positive, which was more than she could've asked for. She was able to make friends just by being herself, and it was refreshing. Though she still spent a few school lunches in the library, she spent a good amount of time sitting at a table with her four newest friends.
Derek stayed involved in sports, but he didn't let himself be a jock anymore. Outside of the sport, he was still Derek. He would be tutored by Spencer in Trig, and the two of them would talk afterward. Surprisingly, Spencer knew a lot about sports, even though it was just what he'd read in books. Derek's mother even noticed the change in his behavior, and she approved of the life choices he was making, including the new friends he had. Then there was Spencer. Slowly but surely, he opened up to his new friends, his shyness eventually going away. He had friends now, something he never really had before, and it was good to have people to rely on. He didn't feel a need to hide or make himself unseen in the hallways. Instead, he had friends to walk him to class and keep an eye on him, to be sure he was taken care of and protected. Eventually, the bullying came to a complete stop, and he was able to have a normal high school experience. It amazed all of them that so much had developed just from the five of them happening to be in the school library on a Saturday morning.