A/N: Hi there! Long time no see! I have been pretty much absent from FanFiction for a long time now, mostly due to my final internship that started in late March, and my final exams before graduation... In between working four 8,5 hour shifts in a row and ordering way too much make-up, I sometimes find time to write some lines for this story.

So I started writing this story a long time ago, I guess since the beginning of last summer, but never actually had the courage to post anything, afraid that nobody would like it. I have finished about 35 pages of this fic so far, so I thought it was about time to see if people were interested in this story idea - otherwise, it would be a giant waste of time to continue writing it! So here you go, the first sneak peek into this story line, and I hope you like it!

Fair warning: this story is an AU, so if you were hoping to find some canon stuff here, you're at the wrong place.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.

'Dismissed'

Chapter 1

"Dismissed," Kimball Cho said, followed by the relieved sighs of about 28 teenagers. Mobile phones appeared, hoodies were returned to their original place and the separated friends were reunited once again. No matter what he would do or say, these kids wouldn't listen.

"Mr. Kimball?" His students knew not to use too many words around him, seeing as he would cut them off halfway through anyway, if he noticed the excessive details weren't really important. He turned to the person the voice belonged to and just stared at her. They knew what it meant. "I have an older sister who is into older men, perhaps she's something for you?"

"Out."

The girl returned to her friends whilst giggling, and the young girls joined gladly. Of course, Cho couldn't help but smile, even though it was just a small one.

Older sisters, former teachers, mothers and even grandmothers, he'd had all the invitations, sometimes even arguably appropriate, but these students didn't care. He could laugh about it, too, but he knew that if he were to start a relationship with somebody, it most certainly wouldn't be through his students.

"Just think about it, Sir! You haven't even seen her!"

Cho picked up his bag and his recently used textbooks and walked towards the door.

"Elyse seems to forget that I would become her brother-in-law."

All the girls started laughing except for the mentioned Elyse, who went pale and started shaking her head.

"N-never mind."

She ran nearly faster than a gazelle chased by its siblings. The other girls followed her, still laughing and giggling.

Cho closed the door behind him and locked it.

"Hey Cho," a familiar voice said.

"Wylie."

"Which grade did you have?"

"Grade 9."

"Ouch."

They turned right in the direction of the teacher's lounge.

"I had 10. Did you know that Cynthia Pebble has a new boyfriend? I do now. She couldn't stop talking about him."

"She's not the only one with that problem."

Wylie gave him a glare from the side but then disregarded that statement.

"I sometimes have no idea what to do with these kids from 10. For some reason they don't want to listen to a single word I say when it suits them."

Cho knew why – Wylie was too young. Rookies never did well in this school, in any high school really. It had nothing to do with his capabilities. Honestly, Wylie was a damn good teacher who knew his subject well but then again, it might be his subject, too. Cho had never liked IT related subjects either.

"Hey, did you know we'll be getting a new English teacher today?"

Cho opened the door and let Wylie enter first.

"Whom is he replacing?"

"Rose Harding. She's on maternity leave, but something tells me she won't be coming back."

They made a quick pit stop at the coffee machine and then sat down in their standard booth in the lounge.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Teresa!" Wylie said enthusiastically and scooted over a little bit so that she could sit down, too.

Jason Wylie, 23 years old. This was his second year at the high school and he fits in, but well, he's simply too young for the moment, especially to teach the older years. He was quite the talker, but Cho let him. Frankly, he didn't really mind listening to him. Wylie was a good guy, after all, and a good IT teacher.

Teresa Lisbon, English teacher, age unknown as of yet. He'd never had the courage to ask, but he didn't really care either. All he knew was that she was older than him and had been working at the school for almost fifteen years, after having been transferred from another school for unknown reasons. Again, he didn't really care.

And then himself: Kimball Cho, 36 years old, former soldier turned Math teacher. Even he didn't know how he'd ended up here, but there was something about teaching that made him feel at home. Perhaps it was helping these young people prepare for their future, or passing down his own knowledge. In any case, he enjoyed this life.

"Jacob Hobbs has a girlfriend, I heard," Lisbon stated while taking a sip from her coffee, quickly realizing that it was still too hot. She was a generally patient woman except when it came to her coffee. Cho had quickly learned not to disturb her during the breaks before she'd poured herself the hot beverage.

"Any chance it's Cynthia Pebbles?"

"Could be. He didn't mention a name, just texted her all the time. Well, I assume it was her anyway, he was smiling at his phone all the time. Shame I had to confiscate it."

Wylie chuckled and Cho smiled while taking a sip of his own coffee. She was such a romantic – not.

There was not a lot he knew about Teresa Lisbon, even though he had known her for almost a decade now. Then again, he was certain she didn't know a lot about him either. Despite all of that, though, she was one of his best friends, if not his best. He trusted her and looked up to her, as if she was his boss or sister.

"How's Michelle?"

Wylie's cheerful mood from before faded quickly and he gave a mere shrug.

"Hell, I dunno," he murmured. He focused on his coffee. "I've tried calling her but she won't pick up. I don't know what I did wrong." He sighed. "Whatever."

Wylie acted like he didn't care, but it was obvious that he did. They took his feigned disinterest as a hint that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Did you hear about the new English teacher?" Cho asked Lisbon. She put her coffee down.

"No? Will she be replacing Rose Harding?"

Wylie nodded, his sadness forgotten now that he had something to gossip about. "But I've heard it's a he."

"Well aren't we glad about that, another guy, just what we needed," Lisbon deadpanned.

Wylie and Cho smiled and the former shrugged.

Suddenly an unknown person sat down at their table. Cho's natural instinct was to reach for a gun that wasn't there, the other two simply stared at the intruder.

"Uhm, hi?" Wylie tried. Oh, for real. They were all adults, if somebody wanted to sit at their table, they should let them.

"Hello. Sorry to interrupt your small talk and gossip like this, just wanted to quickly introduce myself. I'm Patrick Jane, the new English teacher."

Wylie was the first to extend his hand. "I'm Jason Wylie, nice to meet you. I teach IT." Suddenly, Lisbon got up and was about to leave before she seemingly realized they were still introducing. "Teresa Lisbon, English," she added, her mind obviously somewhere else. She left, her coffee and bag still at the table, so it was obvious she would return. They all turned to the direction she had just walked into, to find her talking with one of her students.

"That's a nice name," the recently acquainted man murmured. He turned towards the other men. "You must be Cho? Heard a lot about you, from students. A man of little words but the knowledge of a million. The strict but just man. That Cho."

"Seems about right." He shook the man's hand.

"Kimball Cho."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"If you need any help getting around the school, let us know."

Mr. Jane nodded and got up. "Now that you mention it, where do you store the tea?"

A/N: There you go! I know it's fairly AU but I was just toying around with the idea of Jane and Lisbon meeting in a different setting, accompanied by some of our other favorite characters, and this was the final result. I hope you like it, and let me know if you did!

Also, I like to mention that I'm Dutch and have no real knowledge of how the American school system works. I did ask some of my lovelies on Tumblr for some advice and I used everything they told me, but there are likely still some holes to be filled up. Therefore, if any of the grades and all that jazz don't make a lot of sense, I'm terribly sorry. I will chalk it up to artistic freedom, I suppose.