𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟗𝟑

"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕟𝕖𝕩𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

     NOAH WALKS into school with her headphones on. She takes a deep breath, trying to decompress after a terrible morning. She and Emily did not speak ever since her little shout in the car. Emily did not even bother to make her breakfast this morning or say goodbye to her when she dropped her off at school.

Noah tries not to be too upset about it, seeing as she did not speak to her mother either. She did tell her that they would speak when she was ready. Noah knows she cannot blame Emily for being silent when it is sorta what she asked her to do.

Putting it in the back of her mind, Noah makes her way through the hallways. She is trying to make her way to her locker in time before class starts.  As she tunes out the chatter and obnoxious noise of her peers, she feels someone grab her arm.

"Hey!" Liv exclaims as Noah takes her headphones off and leaves them around her neck.

"Hey," Noah says as they walk up to her locker.

"Been wondering where you've been," Liv mentions and sees Noah nod with a frown.

"Sorry, just been going through some stuff, but I'm good," The teen lies and flashes a smile.

"You've got some making up to do," The redhead notes.

"What do you mean?"

"Jess called me last night rambling about how she hasn't heard from you and you avoided her yesterday and something about talking to Parker," Liv says casually.

"What?  Talking to Parker about what?" Noah questions as she puts her jacket in her locker.

"I don't know, I started zoning out at that point," Liv says as she leans against the lockers, "I mean, I love Jess, but boy can she talk—"

"Do you remember anything?" Noah asks.

"Something about them getting into a little argument.  I guess she snapped at him and he seemed pissed off by the end of it."

"Great," Noah grits and grabs her books, shoving them into her bag as the warning bell rings.

"I'm sure it'll work itself out," Liv says, trying to calm Noah down. She can see the anger building, knowing she would probably be upset too.

Noah nods and walks down the hallway with Liv by her side. They talk about other things, but Noah's mind stays on Jess. She regrets not having spoken to her recently. A part of her wonders if their being together has affected their friendship already.

Nonetheless, she heads to class and waves Liv off.

𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

Emily sighs as she puts her stuff down on her desk. Between Noah not speaking to her, getting stuck in traffic, and having to take the stairs because the elevator was busy, she has not had a great start to her day.

"This one's bad," JJ says as she rushes past Emily, Morgan, and Reid's desks. The three look at each other and scramble to grab their things and run to the round table room after JJ.

"What's going on?" Morgan asks as they step into the conference room.

"Something's happened with Haley," JJ answers quickly as she sets up the room.

"Hotch's Haley?" Emily questions.

"Yeah," JJ nods, "So, we found out Foyet's been corresponding with Karl Arnold through letters to get Hotch's attention," She explains as she pulls up a map, "There are approximately 115 miles between Fredericksburg and Westminister. Why mail a letter from two cities?"