A/N: First things first: I edited the dialogue from Emily's French class. (Thanks again!) I'm not French nor do I take it, so when I found out it was wrong, I corrected it. Sorry.
Big thanks to all the followers and favorites this story has received. Onto the reviews!
ahowell1993: Thanks for the ideas. But Hotch is too close to Foyet and you're about to find out why Peter Lewis won't work.
SpenceFTW: I really like idea of Owen for Derek. There's a lot of ways I can spin that. ^_^ Easter's going to show up later, but I like the idea of using the exorcism episode. As for JJ, Askari or Hastings could work, but I think I may go a different direction with her. However, I can promise you that at least one of those two will make an appearance some time soon.
Etolrah: I hope you can figure out what's wrong with your updates/email. I'm glad you liked the Hotch chapter so much. I panicked just like he did when I found out Pirates of Penzance was a musical. But it's actually really funny. As for the whole Emily-knowing-the-seniors-for-four-years thing, I made who she was talking about intentionally vague. (We'll get to that later. ;-) ) What I can tell you is that Emily would have been an 8th grader when the Hotch/Foyet thing happened, so she would have been in middle school. In the US, most public schools split up the middle and high school. Emily met them when she was a 7th grader and they were 8th graders, year one. She didn't count the year she was an 8th grader and they were 9th (when the incident occurred) because they didn't go the same school. When she became a freshman, the three met up again. She's known them ever since aka three years. Therefore, four years. As for Pettora, I'm so glad you pointed him out to me. I've actually been looking for this episode for a while. I'm going to re-watch the episode and see if he'll work.
[Phew! Long review = long response.]
CriminalOutsider'sGirl14: I'm glad you're liking it. It always nice to see a familiar name pop up in my email.
WriterNicole: It's funny how you think you know what's going on. -_-
Nerdyknitter1: Thanks! I'm trying to include as many characters as possible. Speaking of which...
I have an important note at the end. Read it!
Also, thanks to all the people who checked out my one-shot, Fear. We needed some fanfiction for that episode and I was tired of waiting.
On to the cupcakes! *cough* I mean, chapter!
Enjoy!
Date: Monday, 8/31/2015
For quite possibly the first time in her life Penelope Garcia was happy that it was Monday. She, like Emily, was aware of Hotch and Dave's arguing habits and knew that everything would be back to normal today.
As she hopped off her bus, she spotted Derek standing nearby She was confused as to why he would be out here. He did not take the bus. She remembered when he told the story of how he got his license - it was hilarious. She shook her head to clear those thoughts away. That was not important right now. She had a mystery to solve.
She wobbled along in her pink high heels. "Why hello, my chiseled chocolate dreamboat," she said from behind him. Derek spun around in a panic, before realising that it was her.
"God, Penelope!" he gasped. "Don't do that!"
She instantly picked up on the lack of nickname and made a mental note to never sneak up on Derek. "Sorry. Whatcha doing?"
"Waiting for Pretty boy," he replied simply. At her confused expression, he clarified, "So he doesn't get jumped on his way to the lockers."
Penelope nodded. "How long have you been doing this?"
"Well I've been waiting for about," he glanced at his watch, "seven minutes."
She shot him a wry smile. "Not what I meant and you know it."
He grinned back. "Since the third day of school."
"Handsome and chivalrous. Just the way I like my men." She winked.
Derek laughed and so did she. The junior was the perfect addition to their little group. He balanced them in a way Penelope had not realised they needed. He could be serious like Hotch but joke around like Dave. He had the perfect mixture of Emily's stubbornness and JJ's civility. Not to mention, he had appointed himself Spencer's protector - a sure fire way to get into any of their good books.
"What's in the box?" asked Derek.
Penelope had been so preoccupied that she had nearly forgot the large desert box in her arms. "Oh! That's a surprise. For lunch." Which reminded her that she needed to get them inside. She started for the front doors. "See ya later, chocolate thunder!"
"Can't wait, Baby girl!" he called back.
She smiled and made her way inside. The hallways were crowded in the typical Monday fashion, so she was extra careful on her journey to her locker.
Her smile grew when she saw it. Her locker never failed to lift her spirits, and, on good days, only made things better. The thing was a shrine to individuality. Every year she had a new theme; this year's was rainbow safari. The front of the locker was decorated with pink cheetah print, blue zebra stripes, and green leopard-spotted scrapbook paper. On the inside, hung pictures from various dances and events she and her friends had gone to.
Penelope carefully placed the box on the top shelf of the locker. She couldn't afford to let anything happen to those cupcakes.
Penelope's first class was Computer Sciences. When she first heard about it she did not think it would have anything of value for her, but she signed up anyway. She had never been so glad she had arbitrarily done something.
For starters, there was Kevin Lynch. He was good - almost as good as her. Almost. But he was funny and sweet and she liked him from the minute he tried to block her from getting into his computer. He failed. No one beat Penelope Garcia at coding.
Well, almost no one. The teacher of the class was a man called Peter Lewis. He was quite possibly the most brilliant man she had ever met. He was a certifiable genius - she would know since she hung out with Spencer as often as she did. His codes were nearly invisible to most scans she knew and even to some she created.
Mr. Lewis's teaching methods were a little strange though. He thought the best practice was hands on. Meaning he had them hack into places. Places like each other's laptops, the school library, even the teachers' gradebooks. Not a great role model.
Today they were hacking each other again. She was paired up with Kevin since everyone else in the class was nowhere near her level. They were just getting into the nitty-gritty of it when the door opened and a skinny black boy came in. He held a laptop under his arm and approached the teacher.
Penelope paused her furious typing to listen to their conversation.
"Uh, Mr. Lewis?" the boy asked. "I'm Russ Montgomery. I just transferred schools and-"
"Alright," Lewis interrupted. He pointed to her and Kevin. "Try your stuff against those two."
Russ nodded. He came over to them and stood there awkwardly. "Hi."
Just then Kevin shouted, "Yes! I'm in!"
Penelope looked down at her laptop and saw the mouse moving on it's own. She sent Kevin a silly glare. Then she smiled warmly and gestured for the new boy to sit. "Hi! I'm Penelope. This is Kevin."
"Russ Montgomery," he introduced.
She brightened. "Okay, Monty. Let's see what you got."
He looked a little taken aback by the nickname but shrugged it off. "Bring it."
After Computer, Penelope had English 2 and then Algebra 2 with JJ. She bounded up to the other blonde.
"Jayje!" Penelope squealed. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
JJ laughed as she crushed her in a hug. "Pen, it was only the weekend!"
"And three class hours!"
"Technically two," JJ protested with a grin.
As they took their seats, JJ asked the one question Penelope was hoping to avoid.
"Do you think Hotch and Dave will have patched things up by now?"
She gave her a hopeful smile. "I don't know what I'd do if they weren't."
After the bell rang to signal lunch time, Penelope retrieved the box of cupcakes from her locker. She smiled happily as she approached the cafeteria. She was so ready for things to get back to normal.
She was the last person to their table - just as she planned. Derek and Emily were teasing Spencer about something, while JJ watched with an amused smile. Dave and Hotch sat as far away from each other they could and did not speak.
That was not right. The seniors were supposed to be friends again. Everything was supposed to go back to normal today.
Worry filled her mind. What if Hotch and Dave never forgave each other? Would their group disband? Would she lose her friends?
Penelope shook her head. She could not afford to think like that. She needed to be the happy one. As long as she had hope, everything would get better.
She adjusted her grip on the box and put on her best smile.
"I brought a surprise!" she exclaimed cheerfully as she set the box on the table. "Cupcakes!"
The light of sugar addiction filled Spencer's eyes. "Gimme!"
He made a move for the box but Emily pushed it out of his reach. "Oh no you don't."
Spencer's pout made everyone laugh. Penelope gave everyone a cupcake, setting two down in front of her her baby genius - he could use the calories anyway. JJ licked the frosting off her's, and Derek pulled the bottom off his, smushed it on top, and made some sort of cupcake sandwich. Spencer straight up devoured both of his and within minutes he was asking for another. Emily ate her's like a normal person, but quirked an eyebrow at the others' antics. As Penelope watched her friends enjoy their desserts, her smile grew brighter.
But when she glanced at Hotch and Dave, her expression fell. Hotch had not touched his, and Dave was just picking at the wrapper. Penelope felt tears prick her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, but Derek had already noticed.
"What's wrong, Baby girl?" His concern was palpable.
Penelope shook her head, trying to tell him that this was not a good time. He looked confused, but got the signal. She glanced back over at Hotch's untouched sweet snack sadly. What Derek did not get, Emily instantly understood.
The junior girl slammed her hands on the table and everyone turned to her in surprise. Emily never made a scene unless she was angry. "Dave. Hotch. Will you two just kiss and make up already?!"
The two seniors stared at her. The tips of Dave's ears turned pink at the accusation and Hotch's face colored.
"Wha-" Dave's voice squeaked and he cleared his throat. "What?"
"You heard me," Emily stated harshly. "I get that you had The Conversation. But that was last Wednesday - get over it already."
Hotch's face was still a little red. "The conversation?"
Emily sighed. "Last Wednesday you pulled Dave out of lunch and ever since you've both been acting like six year olds." She paused, then added, "It's upsetting Penelope."
The seniors' faces held a mixture of confusion and concern as they turned towards the usually peppy blonde. She looked them in the eyes before dropping her gaze to the cupcake box in front of her. But that one glance was all it took. She instantly realized that Hotch and Dave had no idea their behavior was affecting everyone like this. They did not recognise the fact that everyone was worried about them. They probably did not even realise that they had this fight every year.
Dave reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. He looked so sad. He seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He opened his mouth "I'm sorry, Penelope. I didn't-"
"I know," she said quietly. She pulled a small smile on her face. "But if you do it again, you and Mr. Hotch-rocket over there aren't going to be able to access to your laptops ever again."
The managed to dispel any remaining redness from Hotch's face. In fact, he looked paler than before. Neither senior knew how extensive Penelope's computer skills were, but they did not want to take any chances.
Dave sent her a mock salute and a wink. "Aye-aye Cap'n."
The conversation turned back to more basic things. However, slowly but surely, everyone's spirits picked themselves up. Maybe her plans had gone sideways , but she accomplished what she set out to do.
Penelope walked into the library with Derek and Spencer by her side. It was their fourth hour free period.
The three sat down at an empty table. Penelope pulled out her laptop and opened up her writing program. She had a brilliant idea for a new fanfiction. It had come to her during History and she wanted to get it down on paper before she forgot.
But before she could get to it, she heard a small sob come from across the room. She looked up and spotted a red haired girl with her head buried in her arms.
All thoughts of writing vanished from Penelope's mind. How could she just sit here, now that her friends were fixed, while someone else was suffering?
Penelope immediately snapped her laptop shut and piled her books into her arms. Startled at the sudden noise, Derek looked up at her - his question written on his face. Spencer was too engrossed in his book to notice the world around him. She used her head to gesture at the upset ginger and he nodded in understanding.
She walked over to the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. The ginger's head shot up in panic and surprise. Penelope instantly felt bad for scaring her.
"Sorry," the blonde whispered. "Can I sit here?"
The girl nodded but the scared expression remained on her face.
"Hi. I'm Penelope. What's your name?"
"Monica." The girl spoke so quietly Penelope almost missed it.
"That's a really pretty name." The blonde smiled.
Monica did not respond. Not even a nod. The ginger simply continued staring at the table. The girl's obvious sadness only filled Penelope with determination and sympathy. She was going to Monica to smile if it was the last thing she did.
By the end of the free period, Penelope still had not gotten much of a response of any sort out of Monica. The girl's expression barely changed. There was no light or happiness in her eyes. But Penelope refused to give up.
It was right there that Penelope decided that Monica would be a better choice for her empathy project than Kevin. For starters, she was pretty sure have a crush on the subject she was doing it on would skew the results. Also Monica really needed someone. When Gideon told them of the project, Penelope assumed that he wanted them to make friends and then write about that friendship.
"Hello? Penelope? You in there?"
The blonde blinked and suddenly JJ was there waving her hand in front of the hacker's face.
"Huh?"
JJ snorted. "You zoned out there for a minute."
"Oh." Penelope flushed a little.
"Thinking of Kevin?" JJ asked, a little smirk lacing her features.
Penelope shot her an mildly annoyed frown. "No." She rolled her eyes playfully. "You are such a gossip, Jayje."
"I'm a gossip?" JJ asked with fake sass. The thinner blonde knew it was true. "Have you met yourself, Miss Garcia?"
"As a matter of fact-" Penelope was interrupted by the bell. Somehow they had arrived at their biology class without them realizing it. They quickly took their seats. They sat next to each other - something Penelope was forever grateful for.
Penelope looked at the board and saw a diagram and instruction on how to dissect a worm. She nearly fainted. She had completely forgot that Mr. Breitkopf had assigned that dissection today.
JJ noticed her distress. "Don't worry, Pen. We work as partners, remember? I'll do dissecting and you can take notes. Okay?"
Penelope nodded, but she did not feel much better. As much as she hated worms she did not want to cut one up. That was just disgusting.
Mr. Breitkopf began class. "As you can see from the board, we are dissecting a worm today." He pointed at the instructions written on the whiteboard. "Follow these instruction to the letter. You will be required to write a lab report for this experiment and I expect all of this to be completed in it. You will work in your assigned pairs, but I expect both students to take part. Understood?"
The class murmured their ascension.
"Good. One member of your team can come collect the specimen now."
JJ patted Penelope on the shoulder reassuringly and went up to get the worm. When she came back, Penelope almost lost her lunch right there. The worm was huge. The thing was swollen and slimy and so very dead and gross and-
Penelope took a deep breath. She needed to calm down. Puking would not help right now.
JJ watched her friend with a concerned expression. "You okay?"
Penelope nodded and pulled out her most sparkly and fluffy pen. "Let's hurry and get this over with."
The other sophomore nodded pityingly. "Okay, the first step-"
Suddenly the fire alarms went off.
"Oh thank God," cried Penelope, making off for the door. "A fire drill."
JJ chuckled to herself and decided not to point out that they would have to come back inside and finish the dissection anyway.
"That was quite possibly the disgusting thing I've ever done," JJ said to Penelope as the two blondes walked into Behavior.
"Dissection today?" chuckled Dave from behind them.
"Yeah," replied Penelope with a moan. "A worm."
Spencer popped up out of nowhere. "Did you know that some schools dissect cats?" Penelope and JJ stared in horror as the little genius continued. "This school used to up until this year."
Dave nodded in confirmation.
"Why'd they stop?" JJ asked, still horrified.
"Too many complaints from parents and students. Apparently, it's inhumane," Dave explained sarcastically.
Penelope gasped. "David Rossi! If I wasn't against violence of any sort I would slap you so hard your head would fly off."
"That's highly improbable," stated Spencer. "To break the neck of a human, 1,000 to 1,250 foot-pounds of torque is considered sufficient. That's not counting the fact that you'd have to break the skin as well. The amount of force a hand can apply to the face is nowhere near that amount. In fact-"
"I think she was speaking figuratively, Pretty boy," interrupted Derek. Hotch was following close behind the junior and he rolled his eyes as he picked up on the conversation.
"Can we move whatever this is out of the doorway?" asked Emily as she arrived.
Dave smirked at her. "Of course, m'lady Prentiss."
She gave him the stink eye. "No one finds you funny Dave."
Derek raised his hand. "I think it was hilarious."
"Then why didn't you laugh?" retorted JJ.
Derek opened his mouth, probably to respond with some witty remark, but Mr. Gideon cleared his throat loudly from outside in the hall.
"If you wouldn't mind taking your seats…." he deadpanned.
The seven students scurried to their desks just as the bell rang. Gideon walked to the center of the teaching area and wrote RAPPORT in big black letters on the board.
"Reid. What is this word?"
Spencer looked confused for a second, as if he didn't understand the question, but at Gideon's expectant expression, he spoke. "Rapport. It has it origins in French and is defined as 'a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well'."
Gideon nodded. "Good. Morgan, what does this word mean in a casual setting?"
"Um…. Making friends?" he answered, unsure.
"Prentiss, how would a therapist define this?"
"Getting someone comfortable enough to share their secrets," she said with an eye roll.
"Rossi, a cop's definition?"
The senior answered with a confident smirk. "Getting the suspect to trust you enough to spill the dirt."
Gideon raised his eyebrows but nodded. "Jareau, how would accomplish this?"
"Play to your assets," she responded confidently.
Gideon's face was expressionless. "Garcia, how could one 'play to their assets'?"
"W-Well, i-it would depend on th-the person you were dealing with." Penelope hated how she stuttered as she spoke, but Gideon always made her nervous. This wasn't her forte. The only reason she was in this class in the first place was because JJ and Emily had talked her into it.
Gideon's expression morphed into one of satisfaction. "Exactly. Everything depends on the other person. This is a big part of your empathy projects. The point of this project is to learn about others through what they tell you. Not from what you learn from outside sources. That's why I asked you find someone you don't know well.
So this week, we are going to work on building rapport. I already had you try this when you did the interactive profiles, but we are going to get into the mechanics of it now. I've already explained to you the different types of audiences you may find, so let's start with a unknown. What is the first thing you would do?"
"Introduce yourself. And begin a casual conversation," stated Hotch.
Dave shook his head. "But you need to know what you're looking for before you start talking."
The entire room seemed to hold its breath as the seniors spoke to each other. They had just begun to repair their friendship and no one wanted them to fight over something this petty.
Before the tension could get to tight, Derek interjected. "You're both wrong. Mr. Gideon has given us all the info. We don't know setting or goal yet. Or even the gender and style of person."
Penelope let out a quiet sigh of relief as Derek's answer defused the situation. Gideon smiled at Derek. "Good answer, Morgan. As I've said before, part of how people work is by confusion. Words can mean many things and smart people will use that to their advantage."
Gideon went on to explain more about the unknown they were dealing with. Penelope took dutiful notes and prayed that he would not call on her. Soon enough the bell was ringing and class was over.
As the seven made their way out of the classroom, Gideon called out, "Garcia, if I could speak with you."
Penelope froze. Spencer, JJ, and Derek all turned to look at her. Spencer smiled. "We'll wait for you outside."
She nodded and turned back into the classroom. Sometimes, it was annoying how readable she was, or how good her friends were at it.
"Garcia, I need to talked to you about your grades in this class."
Penelope instantly paled. She was doing that badly?
"I don't seem to be able to type them into the gradebook," Gideon continued.
She blinked in surprised confusion. "Uh… C-Could you repeat that sir?"
"I think there's a problem with the school's gradebook and I can't access your grades. I need to give you the point from the last assignment."
"Oh." Penelope flushed in pride that a teacher would come to her for help with a computer. "Yeah. Sure. Can I see your computer?"
Gideon motioned for her to take a seat at his school-issue desktop. Penelope quickly brought up the school's teacher page and started typing.
"My login is-" Gideon began.
"I'm in," Penelope said. She pulled up the gradebook and examined the page. A few more key-strokes and she brought up the code. "I see. Here's your problem…." She listed off a bunch of hacker jargon that with one look at the teacher's face, she knew he didn't understand.
"Is it fixed?" he asked when she finished speaking.
"Yep." She smiled broadly and stood.
Gideon gave her a slight nod. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Derek and Spencer were waiting for her in the hall.
She cocked her head in confusion. "Where's JJ?"
"Some guy-" Derek said.
"Will LaMontagne," Spencer interjected.
Derek rolled his eyes. "Asked to talk with her about Homecoming and they left."
"Wait. Will?" Penelope squealed. "Ooh! JJ! That little sneak! How dare she!"
Derek and Spencer looked at her as if they were debating whether to run away from a psycho with bow and arrow.
She shrugged it off. "Girl things."
They still seemed a little wary but accepted her explanation. They walked for a little bit.
"So what did Mr. Gideon want?" asked Spencer.
"Oh, just some help with his computer," Penelope replied flippantly.
"A teacher asked you for help with a computer?" asked Derek, astonished.
The sophomore looked taken aback. "For your information, Derek Morgan, I am this school's greatest techno whiz ever to walk the halls. No one is greater than this information highway."
Derek held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. My bad."
Penelope gave him a generous smile. "It's okay, my flarpy blundergruff."
A look of consternation crossed over Spencer's features. "What does that even mean?"
The other two students looked at him curiously. "What?" They had to laugh at honest confusion that lined the genius's face.
"What's a... flarpy blundergruff?"
Characters:
Kevin Lynch
Peter Lewis - 10:21
Russ Montgomery - Beyond Borders
Monica Kingston - 7:8
Important note at the end!
If you want to see more of certain characters, let me know. Homecoming is coming up soon and if you want to see a familiar face that's where you'll probably find it.
Also this is a forewarning, (I'll put another one on that chapter itself) I know nothing of actual Homecoming. Or even normal high school occurrences. Which makes this whole story kinda weird in retrospect, but moving on. If anyone has any suggestions or experiences that they think would fit well in this story or just want to inspire me, please send it in a PM or review. Everyone will get credit for their ideas.
Thanks for reading!
Next time: The Lead Role - Aaron Hotchner