Childish| Criminal Minds

12

Emily gets to school extra early this morning. The spring play rehearsals are after school, so she wants to talk to Rossi about acting. Being a technician was fun but she wants to try something new.

Emily walks through empty hallways, hearing the soothing echo of her vans against the tile floor. She opens the door to the drama room.

Rossi is packing things up in boxes. "Rossi?"

Rossi jumps a little bit. "Emily!" he yells. "Sorry about that, you startled me."

"Why are you putting your things in boxes?" Emily asks. Rossi's grin sinks to a frown and his brows furrow.

"I've been fired."

"What?" Emily shouts. "They can't fire you! You're a great teacher!"

"Emily.. I appreciate that. I really do, but principal Barnes disagrees. She says drama is too expensive to continue."

Emily runs out of the drama room with rage in her heart. She may have joined drama on accident, but she ended up loving it. It was her second home. How could Barnes shut it down?

She found Aaron in the hallway. "Why are you here so early?"

"I had football training."

"Football? Since when? I- never mind. We need to go see Principal Barnes."

"Why?"

"Rossi was fired," Emily seethes.

Aaron Hotchner has never been so confused and angry at the same time. "Let's go."

Emily and Aaron walk with their fists clenched towards the principal's office, praying she's already there.

Linda Barnes is doing paperwork when she hears the angry knocking on her glass office door. She motions for the two juniors to come in, and they do so. They sit down on the cushioned chairs in front of Barnes's desk.

"What is it?" Barnes asks.

"Pardon my language, but why the hell would you fire Rossi?!" Emily spits. "He's the best teacher this shit school has ever had."

Barnes raises an eyebrow at the two teenagers. "We simply don't have the funds."

"Bull." Aaron isn't a person who's afraid to speak his mind. "You fired Gideon. You fired Mr. Cruz. You fired all of these wonderful teachers and I turned a blind eye. But don't you  dare mess with the drama department."

"I can make some arrangements," Barnes says. She scribbles something down on two forms and hands one to each Aaron and Emily.

They smile and leave her office before reading them. Aaron glances down at the muted yellow piece of paper and his smile drops. "She suspended us."

Emily reads the form. "For three days?"

"We're screwed. We're actually screwed."

Emily and Aaron walk back home from school, defeated. Spencer sees his friends walking the opposite direction they should be and he approaches them.

"What are you guys doing?" he asks.

"Spencer!" Emily yells, pulling Spencer into a hug. In all honesty he feels like crying.

When Emily lets go she takes a good look at her friend. He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair is messier than usual. It looks like he hasn't slept.

"Are you okay?" Emily asks.

"Why are you walking home?" Spencer asks, changing the subject.

"We were suspended," Aaron responds. Spencer almost laughs.

"Sorry, what?" he asks. His voice is soft, but he can't help but think this is some kind of sick joke.

"We went off at Barnes about firing Rossi and she suspended us."

"Barnes fired Rossi?" Spencer asks. "I missed a lot, didn't I."

"And we found a shed!" Emily yells.

"Yeah! And it has snacks and blankets!" Aaron adds. Spencer purses his lips.

"I don't want to be late," he says softly. "See you guys later."

He continues walking to school, leaving Emily and Aaron fairly confused. "Is he okay?" Aaron asks.

"He'll talk to us when he's ready," Emily decides.

A/N: some spicy stuff is coming up oop

What kind of stuff do you want to see in future chapters?

Word count: 647