A/N: I know I was going to wait until LMHYW was finished, but I couldn't resist.

Hey there. For those of you who messaged me privately regarding my Polarity story, well...this is its replacement. The stories are being told much differently, and a lot of characters are more involved in this story. And when I say a lot, I mean, A LOT. As in, some unsubs of Criminal Minds are in it too. Now before you critique me for this, I am not, repeat not, going to make all of them the most evil people in the world. This is an AU, they are teenagers trying to survive in high school. Some story lines coordinate with the characters in this fic as well as in canon. (Ex: Spencer's mom will have schizophrenia)

This is Hotch/Prentiss, but everyone has a part in this story. Some have bigger parts than others. This is an AU High school fic, after all. The chapters, besides this one, are going to be very lengthy compared to what I normally write.

Now I am going to do warn any new readers who don't know me as a writer, and I'm not putting this lightly—I write dark shit. I'm not going to lie. I don't sugarcoat things, this will be explicit. I've thought about this so long and hard that this story will eventually be Rated M. I never ever wrote a story that's rated M. Here are the warnings, I might as well get them out in the open now, and I'm not going to tell you twice.

Ahem *clears throat* Mental Illness, Eating Disorders, Teen Pregnancy, Mentions of Abortion, Smoking (oh god, so much), Drug/Alcohol Use, Rape/Attempted Rape, Sexual Content, Hazing, Violence, Abuse, Character Death, Talk of death. Possible Suicide and Self Harm.

Angst like WHOA.

Did I mention this was AU at least three times already? Good.

Reviews are better than ice cream.

Alright. Now, you've officially entered the Twilight Zone...

"…and these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through…" ~David Bowie

"Life's just one giant soap opera, isn't it?"

Aaron Hotchner—nicknamed Hotch—remembered one Emily Prentiss saying those words to him just a few months ago. He shouldn't have been surprised, she always had a flair for the dramatic. He noticed this from the first day he met her. She'd engross herself in plays, quoting many playwrights–Shakespeare was her favorite by far–acting out each character in whatever play she was fascinated with at the time. She was such a drama queen, literally and figuratively. God, it reminded him painfully and fondly about how much she was like the girl he used to love, but she's been gone for a while now.

It repeats again in his head, "Life's just one giant soap opera, isn't it?"

If she had said this to him the first day they met, then he would've laughed bitterly in her face. After all, he hated her—she was so annoying back then. She's still annoying, but after learning about the truth—he may have realized that she was right. Besides, he couldn't hate her for too long—she was too pretty, too overwhelmingly beautiful, and...perhaps he shouldn't have judged her back then.

Hotch felt his rage boiling. Then again, that was nothing new. This whole year made him feel anger, but, could anyone really blame him? Now, everything was hitting him at once, like the very day he found out about this mess, and that was long ago. Eight months, to be precise. Then, along with all of his friends that he had connected with, people that he wouldn't have called friends if it were months ago, came face to face with the person who caused this ruckus. They came face to face with him.

"So..." He says, with a grin. "You've found out?"

"You son of a bitch!" Hotch screamed at him, letting out all his emotions on that shadowy figure, the person who has caused his pain. It had taken all school year to scream, to shout, to express the bottled emotions that he'd kept inside. He knew that he'd explode eventually, but not on this particular person. Yes, he was a resident asshole, but he didn't think he was sadistic and cruel. But he was, and no one knew what to think of it.

Pain, pain, pain...

Hotch kept punching, but the other person didn't even bother to fight back. As much as everyone wanted to say something, they couldn't. They were in too much of a shock to do anything. Alex, Jason, and David were going to graduate in a month, and they were in shock over something that changed everything of how they were going to live in the adult world. Spencer, Ashley, Elle, Luke, Matt, and Kate were only freshmen, high school would never be the same for them. JJ and Penelope were crying hysterically. Maeve wished that she was anywhere but here. Cat and Lindsey may have been mean girls, but they even felt their hands go cold at their mentor suffering such a fatal fate.

And as for everyone else, they've dealt with horrible things happening in their high school years and before, but not like this.

The line had been crossed.

He had crossed it.

They were teenagers, damn it.

"Hotch!" Derek shouted, trying to pull him off the guy, with the help of Jason and David.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Emily appeared after they managed to pull Hotch off of him, this person, who was way darker than anyone knew. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, preventing him from doing anymore damage. "Aaron, don't! It's not worth it! Please—" She was cut off when Hotch dropped down to his knees, hunched over, crying his eyes out.

Emily tried to calm him. "Aaron..."

"...Emily," he croaked out, his voice worn out by his never ending screams. He looked up at her with eyes so desperate and vulnerable, something no one has ever seen before from the usually stoic Hotch. Well, now that was over. "She's...dead. I...I couldn't do anything! And she's gone, when she could've been here!"

"There was nothing you could've done, Aaron..." Emily said, tears in her eyes much like everyone else's. "Nothing could've been done..."

It was going to hit them hard, but not like this. Not like they imagined. Why was everything so twisted? Would they ever find peace? Would they ever catch a damn break? Every obstacle thrown their way was harsher than the last. Now with this, what the hell would come next? Did they even want to know? Here they were, in front of Haley's grave...

Just like Hotch was eight months ago...

A/N - Yes, I know this is really confusing and makes no sense, but it will, I promise. I'll update the next chapter tomorrow.

Like I said, reviews are better than ice cream.