A/N: Apparently Tuesdays and Thursdays are not good update days. (Wish someone would've told me that earlier. You know who you are.) Anyway...
Emily Time!
But first, shout outs!
Writer Nicole (Guest): You are completely ridiculous. You know that right? ;-)
Before we start reading, I need to say this: Mothers can be wonderful people and the opinions found in this chapter are purely for characterization purposes. Thank you.
Enjoy!
Date: Friday, 8/28/2015
Friday morning woke Emily Prentiss with a cat to the face. She was in her bed and snuggled in warmth, when Sergio decided now would be a good time for his breakfast. He nudged her face with his moist little cat nose several times and when that did not rose her, he attacked her hair.
"Go away, Serg…" Emily groaned, trying to push the cat off the bed. Sergio simply jumped away from her hair and on to her feet. When he managed to bite her big toe through the quilt, she decided enough was enough.
Emily wiggled her feet around and watched her cat with a sleepy, but playful grin. Sergio sat ready to pounce. There was a beat and then the cat was all over her feet. She laughed as her feet fought to free themselves from the clutches of Sergio.
On her nightstand, her phone buzzed. She glanced over at it and saw the time.
7:08.
Emily took a moment to process that, then she panicked. She needed to get going or she would be late for school. Personally, she didn't give a crap about school, but her mother did, and if Emily ever had to hear that lecture again, it would be too soon.
She pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a tight fitting red t-shirt. Contrary to what Penelope thought, she was not goth. She was not one for makeup, but she still put on mascara everyday. She laced on her grey Converse high tops and pulled her Union Jack sweatshirt on. She grab her purse and backpack from the floor and headed out.
When she got to school, Emily checked her phone. Her mother had sent her a text.
I will not be coming home for the weekend. I am going to be in DC for a translating assignment. You will have the house to yourself. Do not destroy it.
She rolled her eyes. Her mother had to be perfect even in her text messages. But at least she would get the house to herself. As soon as this day was over, she had two days to do absolutely nothing. Her pain-in-the-ass mother was going to be away for the weekend and it would just be her and Sergio. Pure bliss.
Emily lounged in the chair attached to her desk in English 3. She was so zoned out, she barely noticed when JJ sat down in the seat in front of her.
The sophomore quickly spotted Emily's smile, "You finally dumped Ian?" the blonde asked.
Emily sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, JJ. My mom's going to be gone for the weekend."
JJ chuckled knowingly. "Ah, I see."
Derek sat down and stared at his books with a serious expression. Emily raised an eyebrow at his strange behavior. "What's got your panties in a twist, Derek?"
He sent her a pointed glare. "Very funny, Emily." She flashed him her Cheshire cat grin. He paused for a second as if debating whether to continue. "Do you guys think Dave and Hotch have been acting weird?"
JJ seemed to think for a moment. "Sure, I guess."
Emily rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't worry about too much. They had," she paused for dramatic effect, "The Conversation."
"What?" asked Derek. He and JJ both looked confused by her statement.
"Remember how Hotch called Dave outside the cafeteria on Wednesday?" They both nodded. "Well, they had what I call The Conversation. I don't really know much about it, besides that it's happened at least once a year since their freshman year. They don't speak to each other for a day, but eventually patch it up. It should be over by Monday."
"How do you know all that?" JJ asked incredulously.
Emily shrugged. "When someone's been your only consistent friend for four years and have had the same argument every year, you learn things."
Derek was about to ask another question, but was interrupted by the bell and Blake starting class. Emily zoned out of the lecture and planned her weekend.
When the bell rang at the end of Trig, Emily nearly cried in relief. It was the most horrible class she had ever taken. She would ask her mom to drop it, if she did not think the woman would have a panic attack at the suggestion.
She met up with Spencer and Derek in the junior locker hall and the three made their way to Chemistry. Emily did not have high hopes for this class either. There were a crap ton of math concepts already and that was not her strong suit. The only reason she had a decent grade was because Spencer just could not help but correct her when she made a mistake. Which was mildly annoying but to her benefit in the end.
"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Derek, noticing Emily's distractedness.
"Did you know that that phrase is actually one of the few idioms that we know how it became popularized?" Spencer asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "In 1522, Sir Thomas More wrote "As it often happeth that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that, not without some note and reproach of such vagrant mind, other folk suddenly say to them, 'A penny for your thought.'" It's thought to mean that a wise man had fallen silent and in order to gain his wisdom, you have pay him. The saying is used nearly the same way today. However, despite More's use, the saying didn't gain widespread popularity until after 1547, with a book written by John Heywood."
"Thank you, Pretty boy," Derek said sarcastically. "I needed that."
Emily simply laughed at Spencer's bewildered expression.
Lunch dragged on. As Emily had predicted, Hotch and Dave were still not talking to each other. However, their bad mood did not put a damper on Penelope. She was gushing about a boy in her computer class called Keith or Kevin or something. The brunette was not really paying attention.
"Is that where all my lovin's been going, Babygirl?" Derek accused jokingly.
"You know it, my caramel mocha latte," Penelope winked.
Derek feigned a broken heart. "I knew a woman as great as the sugar goddess Penelope Garcia could ever love a poor excuse of-"
"Lauren," said a voice from behind Emily. She instantly knew who it was. Only one person called her by that name.
"Ian, I thought I told you not to call me that anymore?" she said without turning.
"Sorry, but you'll always be Lauren to me," he said smoothly.
Finally, she turned to face him. "Why are you here Ian?"
"What? I can't see my girlfriend at lunch?"
"You can, but you never do. So, I'll ask again. Why are you here?"
Ian Doyle dropped to a knee and pulled out a white rose. "I'm here because I need to ask a very important question. Lauren, will you be my date to Homecoming?"
Emily's face turned as red as a tomato. She hated being the center of attention. Ian, on the other hand, loved it and tried to make a spectacle out of everything.
"Yes," Emily answered quickly. "Now get up!" she half-whispered.
Ian grinned. "I'll be picking you up at seven," he said with a wink. He handed Emily the rose and left.
There was silence for a moment, then Spencer, looking very concerned, said, "Emily, your face is really red."
JJ snorted a laugh. Actually snorted. That set off a chain reaction of laughs, even Hotch and Dave joined in. Emily buried her head in her arms in embarassment.
When things quieted down, Derek asked, "What's with the Lauren thing?"
"That's Emily's middle name," explained Penelope. "She went through this identity crisis thing last fall and insisted everyone call her Lauren. The name didn't stick, but Ian and the clothes did. She went total goth. I think I might have her yearbook picture in my laptop somewhere."
Emily looked horrified. "What?! You told me you deleted all those! We had a deal!"
"I did." Penelope smiled innocently. "But our deal didn't mention anything about what could happen if I got a new laptop."
After Lunch, Emily had French 5. It was the highest level French class the high school provided. She would love the class, seeing as she actually enjoyed learning foreign languages, however, the teacher was her mother, Elizabeth Prentiss.
Because of this fact, the class was, by default, the worst.
If Emily were any other student, Mrs. Prentiss would be an amazing teacher. She spoke the language fluently and was a skilled teacher. But, in Emily's opinion, Elizabeth was harder on her than she needed to be. She was making an A, for goodness sake.
The bell rang just as Emily took her seat.
Mrs. Prentiss began class the way she always did. "Bonjour jeunes gens."
"Bonjour, Madame Prentiss," the class echoed.
"Commençons..."
Emily simply mouthed the words and pretended to be studious. She could not wait to get out of this class.
Emily made her way to the library for her fifth hour free period. She sat at her usual table and pulled out her Chemistry and Trig textbooks to use as pillows. It did not work out well. She sighed and opened up the Trig book and tried to work the problems Grace had assigned. That did not work out well either.
By the time she gave up, she had managed to burn forty-five minutes, which left fifteen until the bell. She glanced down at the front pocket of her purse where she stashed her smokes and lighter. There was plenty of time left to light up and still get to Behavior. Well, she would probably end up being late, and JJ would immediately guess where she had been.
That would not be good. Emily could deal with JJ's complaints, but if Spencer found out it would break his heart. She did not want to be responsible for that. JJ probably would not actually tell him, but she did not want to risk it.
Emily consoled herself with the thought that she could smoke all she wanted over the weekend. Mild guilt arose at the broken promise, but she quickly squashed it. Right now, she needed to figure out what to do for the last few minutes of her free period.
Gideon had given them Thursday's class period to work on the interactive profile reports, because today they were presenting their results. The presentations were supposed to be short and to the point. Gideon did not like long reports. They went in the order of the interviews.
Hotch and Dave stood at the front of the class. The tension between them was barely visible, but Emily knew that was simply because both seniors knew how to school their features to show whatever they needed.
"We concluded that Ms. Lewis typically spends her weekends outside. Usually gardening," said Hotch smoothly.
Dave spoke next. "During the colder months, she often reads and paints. When her fiance visits, they cook together."
"Occasionally, she visits her parents. When she does, they like to play board games," Hotch finished.
Gideon nodded. "Thank you." The seniors sat. "Girls? You're next."
Emily, JJ, and Penelope stood. JJ began, "Ms. Lewis enjoys spending her time outside. She often runs and has several gardens, including a vegetable and a herb farm."
"She also likes to draw and paint," Penelope added. "Her favorite things to paint are her flowers."
Emily finished their presentation. "She likes to make Italian and Indian cuisine with her fiance. She and her parents often play board games."
Gideon thanked them and they sat. Spencer and Derek went next but they did not really add any new information. After they sat, Gideon went to the front of the classroom.
"What did you learn from this exercise?" he asked coolly.
Spencer raised his hand. "We just told you."
Gideon cracked a small smile. "Not what I meant Ried. I want to know what you learned about each other." After more confused looks, Gideon sighed. "Alright. We'll start off simpler. Why did you approach the interview the way you did?"
Dave spoke up. "I did the talking because Aaron isn't personable."
Hotch frowned at the other seniors statement.
"We didn't let Emily talk for that same reason," JJ teased and Penelope let out a quiet laugh.
"We had Spencer do it because he's smaller and she would feel motherly," Derek commented.
"Thank you, Morgan," Gideon said. He turned to JJ. "Jareau, why did you disallow Prentiss from the interview?"
Emily answered for her. "We didn't want to overwhelm Ms. Lewis by all of us coming in at once. Every other group could only send two people in so we did the same."
Gideon nodded, obviously satisfied with the answer. He turned to the rest of the class and asked, "How many of you have started on your empathy projects?"
Spencer, Dave, and Penelope were the only ones who raised their hands. Gideon frowned. "The rest of you should get started on that. You need to have the person picked out by the end of next week."
Suddenly the school's intercom crackled to life. A female voice sounded over the speakers, "Jason Gideon. Principal Strauss wants to see you in her office."
Gideon's face twisted in annoyance. He spoke to the class, "As you just heard, Erin requires my presence, so I'm concluding today's lesson. You may leave when the bell rings. Have a nice weekend." And with that, he pushed open the classroom door and left.
The seven friends sat there, stunned.
After a few moments, Derek spoke up. "So... What do we do now?"
"Take a nap," suggested Emily.
"Study?" offered the genius.
Dave rolled his eyes. "Yeah. We can appoint Spencer as the new teacher. He's got the lectures down pat."
Penelope elbowed him and pulled out her laptop. "Who wants to see that yearbook picture of Emily?" She grinned.
Emily just groaned.
UnSubs:
Ian Doyle - 6:17 & 6:18
Audience participation time!
I need characters for Hotch, Emily, Derek, and JJ for the empathy project. I would love to hear your ideas for UnSubs or other characters.
Next time: Cupcakes - Penelope Garcia