𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟏𝟏

"𝙽𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚜"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝕒 𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕜 𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

     "YES, EMILY, I know the drill," Noah chuckles into her phone. "Don't you think we've done this enough times now for you not to have to remind me of all this?"

"Trouble follows you and I'm not taking any risks," Emily replies.

"I'll be okay, me and P had fun the last time you went away...which was just last week."

"I know, but I can't ask serial killers for a day off," The mother jokes.

"No serial killer talk," Noah pleads. "Go be a hero."

"I'll try my best."

"I'll call you later tonight," The teen tells her.

"Alright—"

"And if you don't answer, then I'm gonna call JJ instead—"

"Hey!" Emily exclaims with jealousy.

"Kidding," Noah giggles. "Be safe."

"I will," Emily assures her daughter. "I love you."

"Love you too," Noah beams before hanging up the phone. She stuffs her phone in her back pocket and steps into the classroom she was waiting outside of.

"Thought you weren't gonna show," Mr. Holden says as he stands from his desk.

"Uh, my mom has to go on a work trip, so she was calling to tell me she was getting on her flight," Noah says, lying a bit about her mother's situation.

It is not that Noah is embarrassed by Emily's job, but she is not sure how secure it is for everyone to know that she is an FBI agent. With all of the unsubs that seem to be out to get the team directly, Noah keeps tight lips about her connection to them.

"Okay, well, was there something specific you wanted to work on?" Mr. Holden asks.

"I actually wanted you to look over my research for the speaker series," Noah replies as she pulls out her notes. She has gathered some topics together and thinks she may have found the perfect one.

"The evolution of artificial organs," Mr. Holden says as he reads the paper. "You sure this is the best topic for you?"

"I'm assuming that means it's not," Noah huffs as she sinks into one of the classroom stools.

"I'm just saying that you're way above this—and I mean this as a compliment. You could do so much more than this."

"I don't know," Noah shakes her head. "I tried looking for other stuff, but it's boring."

"Maybe to you," Mr. Holden says.

"What do you mean?"

"You're very advanced in these areas, Noah," Mr. Holden says as he looks down her list of possible subjects. "What we cover in these areas would be easy for you to research, but not so much for the other kids. If you can take one of these topics and deepen it so that it's challenging for you, it would be a breeze to impress the other kids."

"Yeah," Noah agrees.

"Dig deeper," Mr. Holden tells her and hands her the notes back. The teen looks at the paper and thinks of where she can take one of her topics further. And then a light bulb went off in her head.

—

"Hi!" Jess exclaims as she stands with open arms, her fingers doing a grabbing motion until Noah falls into her hold. "It's Friday!" She chimes.