A/N: And we're back! Chapter 2, ladies and gents. This time: JJ!

Quick shout out to my reviewers: SpencerFTW, CriminalOutsider'sGirl14, and DaJa (Anon). It was great seeing your reviews when I woke up. As well as a big thanks to everyone who favorited and followed. I'm so happy that you like this.

Also, a special thank you Tattered-Petals. I read your story, The Misfits, and that inspired me to write this. The rest of you should totally check it out if you haven't already.

Warning: Swearing

Enjoy!

Date: Thursday, 8/20/2015

They were only on their fourth day of school and JJ was already eager for their next break. She loved her friends and all the teachers were wonderful, except for Frank Breitkopf, the Biology teacher. School just took so much time.

Just then Emily came walking up, arms waving dramatically. "JJ! I don't know what to do about him!"

"Who?" she asked confused.

"Ian. He won't leave me alone. He calls me at least once a day and texts all night. All he wants is to get into my pants," Emily complained.

JJ gave a small chuckle. "If it's like that, then take my previous advice and dump him."

The older girl just sighed. "If he asks for sex again, I will."

The blonde glanced at her watch. "C'mon. We need to get to class."

When the two girls sat down in their seats, Derek had not arrived. That was strange since he was always there before them. He had been coming in early since Tuesday when he had come to school and found Spence struggling to pull himself out of a trash can that Billy had shoved him into. When Penelope found out, she told Hotch that he needed to do something about it. There had not been any incidents since, but JJ did not know if that was due to Hotch's intervention or Derek's protective streak.

JJ was just glad something was being done about it.

The bell rang and Mrs. Blake began class. About twenty minutes later Derek came in looking rather disheveled.

"What happened to you?" Emily asked, not even trying to hide the disgust in her voice.

"Emily!" JJ chided in a whisper.

"Well, for starters, I was fifteen minutes late to school. Once I got here, I found Spencer trapped in his locker. Some jerkass had but black paper over the slots and there was no light inside. It was easy enough to get him out, but he was crying and I had to calm him down."

JJ knew their was more to the story but she did not press the issue. The tears probably had something to do with Spence's fear of the dark. She was so glad Derek had come to school. Spence needed someone to look after him.

The blonde turned her attention back to the teacher. Emily and Derek kept talking behind her but she tuned them out. Right now, her focus needed to be on school.

After English came American History. None of her close friends were this class with her. She had Kate Callahan, of course. But Kate was not like her other friends. She had big plans for herself and seemed to always be working.

JJ's next class, Algebra 2, she took with Penelope. It had not been as difficult as she had expected. Everyone had told her that the teacher, Henry Grace, was strange. JJ did not agree with most their assessments of the man. Aside from his strange fashion sense, he was really good at his job. She learned a lot.

Penelope, on the other hand, was struggling. All you had to do was take one look at the peppy blonde and you could see the horror that came with Algebra 2.

"Pen, do need help?" JJ whispered.

Penelope only nodded. Her nose was scrunched in concentration. JJ tried to explain the problem to the other blonde, but eventually Penelope just shook her head at her.

"I'll get my junior G-man to help me during free hour." She smiled sadly.

JJ could only shrug in sympathy. These positions had been switched in Geometry last year. Everyone in their friend group went to Spence whenever they needed help, even Hotch had asked the kid for help once or twice last year. She did not know why the genius was still in high school, he had told her that he sat bored through most of his classes. But she was glad to have him as a friend regardless.

Then came lunch. The group of seven always sat at the same table. None of them ever knew why no one else had ever sat there. Dave had once joked that nobody ever sat there because they thought their group's weirdness would rub off. Everyone had laughed.

JJ pulled her lunch from the locker. She and Penelope refused to eat the school lunches. She could never tell what the gunk was and she had no intention of putting any of it in her mouth. Today, she brought an orange, a ham sandwich, and a sugar cookie. She smiled at the cookie. It was the first time Mom had made them since…

JJ pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

As she approached the lunch table, she saw that Penelope and Derek were already flirting and Spence was lecturing Emily on chemical bonds. She sat down and began pulling out her lunch.

As soon as Emily saw the fruit, she asked, "Hey, Spencer. Why don't you tell JJ here about oranges?"

JJ's eyes widened. "Oh, no. That's not-"

But Spence had already turned his professor voice on her. "Oranges are the official state fruit of Florida, and the official flower is the Orange Blossom. In fact, Florida produces about 70% of the total U.S. crop, and 90% of its production goes to make juice. However, Brazil is the world's largest exporter of oranges. Did you know that the orange isn't actually a fruit? It's actually a hesperidium, a type of berry."

Hotch and Dave had shown up by this point. Dave had instantly figured out what was going on. "No, Spencer we didn't know that. Tell us more," he said with a grin.

JJ groaned.

JJ felt the day breeze by as she sat through Spanish 2 and Biology. The classes were over in the blink of an eye and then she was off to Behavioral Psychology.

She and Penelope walked to their lockers. Pen was upset about the dissection coming up. JJ could see where the girl was coming from. For as long as JJ had known Penelope, the girl had never once frowned, everything about her was sparkly and bright. Cutting up dead things just was not in her. But Mr. Breitkopf had said there were to be no exceptions, everybody had to take part. Hopefully, their next class would cheer her up enough to reawaken the other blonde's spirit.

Once they entered Mr. Gideon's class, Penelope instantly perked up. JJ looked at the class and saw why. Derek was already here. The bubbly blonde made her way over to the young man and they began to talk.

Someone cleared their throat behind her and JJ spun around to find Emily. "Oh, Emily! You scared-" She paused for a minute and sniffed the air. "Why do you smell like smoke?"

"'Cause I was smoking," the dark-haired girl replied dryly.

"Spence won't be happy," JJ said harshly. Emily at least had the courtesy to look abashed. "I thought you were going to quit. For him."

"I know," she said sadly. "But Mom's been on my case all week and I just needed release."

"That's not an excuse he'll take."

"I promise that I won't do it again… Just don't tell him, okay? Please, Jayje?" Emily asked tiredly.

"Fine," she agreed. "But if I smell it again, I'm gonna tell him. And Hotch."

Emily nodded her acceptance and took her seat. JJ took hers as well. Dave and Hotch showed up moments later. The bell rang and Mr. Gideon began class.

"What can you tell me about this school?" he began.

"It averages about 510 students per year, and offers-" Spencer said.

"Not what I meant, Reid."

That was one of Mr. Gideon's strange quirks, JJ supposed. He always called everyone by their last names, sort of like a cop show or an old-timey western movie. Other teachers did that too, like Mr. Grace, but when they did it it was always with a mister or miss. Not Gideon though. With him, it was just the last names.

Mr. Gideon turned to the class. "What I meant was how would you describe the social structure of this school? What are the different groups how do they interact? What could you tell me about them?"

The class of seven was silent for a moment then Derek spoke up. "I've seen several different groups since I started here. But I saw those same groups at my old school too."

"You did? The exact same students acted the exact same way?"

"Well, no. They were different people. But the social structure was the same."

"What does that tell us?"

"People are awful," responded Emily glumly.

Gideon sighed. "True, but not what I was getting at."

"That no matter where we are on earth humans form groups," answered Dave.

"Thank you, Rossi. But what do we have here, in our lives, right now?"

Another silence came over the group as they thought for a moment.

"A chance to learn," Hotch spoke suddenly. All heads turned to him as he continued, "To learn about the people around us. To help them because we can see them struggling."

Gideon smiled. "That's correct, Hotchner. But now the question turns to how can we do that?"

"Help them?" queried Penelope.

"No. See their struggles."

JJ raised her hand. "Empathy? If we can't empathize with them then we can't help them."

"Exactly, Jaroue. That's your assignment," Gideon spoke quickly as the bell was about to ring. "You are to find a person in this school to empathize with. You are not allowed to pick any student in this room or that you are good friends with. This is a long term project. You will be required to write a five page paper on this and turn it in for your final."

The all the students, except Hotch and Spence, groaned at the prospect.

Spence raised his hand. "Are we allowed to become their friend?"

Gideon chuckled. "That the point."

The bell rang and they all collected their things, rushing out the door.

When JJ returned to her locker, she was surprised to find Will LaMontagne waiting for her. She blushed when she saw him. She had a crush on him back when they were both freshman and had become close friends. When his father died, Will had turned to her for comfort and they mourned him together. He had wanted to give back to the school so he joined the Student Council and had been appointed the event planner.

"Hey," he said to her. Will almost sounded nervous.

She smiled encouragingly at him. "Hey, Will, what's up?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. He was definitely nervous. She began putting all the books she needed into her backpack. "Um, well, you know how I'm the new event planner and all that." She nodded and gestured for him to continue. "I, uh, was wondering if you could help me do Homecoming."

JJ's eyes lit up. "Of course! I'd love to."

He smiled brightly, all the nervousness drained from his body. "Thanks."

"When do you want to meet up to talk about it?" she asked.

Will's chin dropped in surprise. He obviously had not thought this far ahead in his plans. "Uh, you free Saturday? We could go to Jewel's Diner?"

"Yeah. Sounds good. Does one-thirty work for you?"

Will nodded and grinned crookedly at her. JJ slung her backpack over her shoulder and started down the hall. Once she reached the corner, she called over her shoulder, "It's a date then."

Chapter Unsubs:

Frank Breitkopf - 2:13 & 2:23

Next time on Quantico High: Mentor Program - David Rossi