Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Here's my newest Morgan/Garcia story! It's AU and takes place with them all in high school. Many characters will be making appearances, all of them in a high school setting. I hope you enjoy...it's going to be light and fluffy. Hopefully, anyway. PLEASE ENJOY AND REVIEW!

Derek sat in the hard, unforgiving plastic chair set up in front of his high school advisor, Erin Strauss' desk. Currently the woman was typing away on her computer, checking his grades. He rubbed his head and groaned internally as he looked at the pursed lips of the counselor. This could not be good.

"Mr. Morgan, I hope you realize that you won't be able to play football if your English grade remains at a D," Mrs. Strauss said. She looked up at him and cocked a brow.

He gulped. He couldn't imagine getting through high school without football. In fact, he was depending upon it to get into college. It was the way he was planning on getting the money to pay for school. "So, what exactly do I need to do to, I don't know, not fail?" he asked, sitting up straighter.

"You'll have to talk to your English teacher, Mr. Rossi, for ways to improve your grade," she said. "I would suggest you study harder as well. With your other grades and your football standing, you'll get into a decent school. But your English grade has to improve. Football scholarships will do you no good if you're not playing football."

Nodding, he looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "Okay. Thanks for meeting with me, Mrs. S. I'll talk to Mr. Rossi."

She waved her hand. "Alright," she said. "I'll see you later."

He left Mrs. Strauss' office and rubbed his face as he left the counseling office. This day could not get any worse for him. In addition to his plummeting English grade, his girlfriend was pissed at him because he couldn't meet with her after school to go out. As he strode through the hallways of his high school, he couldn't help but think of his mother and sisters. If he was going to go to college, he was going to have to bring this English grade up. There was no way his mother could pay for school, not after his father had been killed. He sighed. He had to find a way to raise his grade. Fast.

"Derek!"

He turned around to see his girlfriend, Jordan Todd hurrying towards him, teetering in a pair of stilettos. A smile was covering her face.

Oh, shit, he thought, smiling tightly back. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be spending time with Jordan right now, not when things were going so poorly with his grades. He had to have time to think about what to do about it. And Jordan's incessant chatter would make thinking impossible. First thing he would do last period though was check in with Mr. Rossi. Maybe he had some ideas.

"Hi, Babe," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pecking her on the lips. "What's up?"

"Just cutting class to come and find you," she purred, putting her arm around his waist. "We've got lunch next period. Got any plans?"

"Oh, just eating with you," he said. But his mind was completely unfocussed. His mind was stuck on the issue of his grades. Before he could say anything more, the bell signaling the end of the period rang. Students began to pour out of their classrooms and head down the hallways. Along the way, Jordan rammed into a girl and sent all the girl's possessions flying across the floor.

Jordan's face turned malicious and she hissed, "Watch it, bitch!" She didn't even say she was sorry. As far as Jordan was concerned, things had to move out of the way for her, not the other way around.

Derek looked sharply at his girlfriend; he didn't understand her desire to be rude to everyone who she thought was below them. "Jordan, stop!" He went to look and see if the girl was okay after his girlfriend had knocked her things flying. But all he saw was a flash of honey colored hair before Jordan yanked him away from her.

It was pointless to try and help her because Jordan was already pulling him away towards the cafeteria. He hoped the girl would know that he was sorry. At that moment though, he wasn't able to tell her anything. All he could do was hope the universe was giving her a better day than him.

XXXXX

"Watch it, bitch!"

Penelope's things went flying all over the hallway as Jordan Todd, one of the varsity cheerleaders, rammed into her. She rolled her eyes and bent down, ignoring Jordan and her football captain boyfriend, Derek Morgan as they walked by. There was no point in saying anything to either of them about them having to watch where they were going.

If there was anything she had learned from high school, it was to just keep going until you graduated. And worrying about a junior cheerleader and her football captain boyfriend was pointless.

"Jordan, don't!"

This perked Penelope's interest. So Derek Morgan had a soul? Or at least a conscience?

Before she could look up at him to thank him though, Jordan had dragged him down the hall and all she saw was his back as he went away. She couldn't lie and say she wasn't attracted to Derek Morgan...physically anyway. The boy was extremely attractive. She had no idea what kind of a person he was. He could be a jerk, he could be a nice guy. Other than his status as a football captain and his terrible taste in women, there wasn't much she knew about him.

"Whoa, Garcia," a voice said behind her.

Penelope looked up and saw one of her best friends, Emily Prentiss coming up behind her. She rolled her eyes and gathered her things more securely in her arms. "Hi to you, too," she said.

Emily cocked a brow and snickered, pushing her black bangs out of the way. "What happened to you and your things that's got you all in a tizzy?" she asked.

"Jordan Todd, that's what happened," Penelope answered in irritation.

"Ah, yes," Emily said, slinging an arm around Penelope's shoulder. "The joys of Jordan Todd. You know, I know there are some nice people in that crowd. Like, that girl Jennifer! She's really nice. But people like Jordan and Tamara? They can burn in Hell."

Smiling, Penelope shook her head. "Em, let's just forget about them. I'm in no mood. Spencer is coming over tonight with Maeve, and we're all going to Alex's to get pizza. You in?"

"Sounds like a plan," she said, giving the thumbs up. "Band practice gets done at six, so I should be able to come on over." Emily was in a grunge band in which she played drums. She was the epitome of an alternative rock girl.

"Talking about tonight?" Spencer Reid said, coming up behind them. The genius, top of the junior class was Penelope's other best friend.

"Yep," they said simultaneously.

Spencer nodded and said, "Good. Come hungry. Alex is going all out. Anderson is coming, too...and he'll be bringing the booze." A mischievous smile covered his face and he added, "Oh, Penelope? Did you hear what Kevin has been up to lately?"

A groan escaped Penelope's lips and she slapped her forehead. "Oh, dear God," she muttered. "What did he do? He hasn't said anything to me yet, so I'm assuming this is new news."

"Oh, yes," he said with a grin. "This is very new. He's been telling all his buddies that he's taking you to Homecoming."

Emily started sputtering with laughter while Penelope's face turned bright red. She opened her locker and shoved her books into her backpack. Slamming it shut, she glared at no one in particular. Her moronic ex-boyfriend was going around telling people they were going to homecoming? "God, I'm going to kill him! What the hell is he doing that for? I don't even think I'm going to Homecoming." She was so mad that she could scream. She thought she had been done with the lack luster life that went along with Kevin Lynch. But apparently he wasn't willing to let her go.

Their dating life had been dull, their sex life boring. They were similar in their interests, but he never wanted to mix things up. She liked him, but she didn't love him. Penelope wanted more than just contentment with a boyfriend. She wanted something that was bursting with passion and always kept her guessing as to what would happen next. Love was what she wanted. Love that made her excited to wake up in the morning and warmed her insides so that she felt like there was a fire simmering in her belly.

And Kevin Lynch most certainly did not offer her that.

She opened her mouth to start ragging on her ex, but before she could, her English teacher, Mr. Rossi approached her.

"Hey, you three!" he said, stopping in front of the group of three. "Penelope, I needed to talk to you about something."

"Er, sure, Rossi," she said. "What's up?"

"I've got a student who's in need of some tutoring, and I was wondering if you would be interested in doing it," he said. "It would qualify as part of your semester's volunteer work."

Penelope nodded. She was in need of volunteer hours. "Okay," she said. "When do you need me to start?"

"This afternoon, right after classes end," he said. "You can come meet him in my room and then move on down to the library from there."

"I can totally do that," she said, nodding. "I'll come right down after school."

Rossi smiled. "Excellent. I knew I could count on you, Garcia." He waved to the three of them and said, "Have a good rest of the day, you three."

"I wonder who you're going to tutor," Spencer mused as they headed towards the cafeteria.

Penelope snorted. "Who cares?" she yawned. "I'm starving."

"Yes, I wonder what this fabulous establishment has in store for us today in the way of culinary palettes," Emily said sarcastically. "Let's go get some grub!" She said the last sentence in a raspy, old man voice, causing Spencer and Penelope to roll their eyes.

Spencer shook his head. "Emily Prentiss, if you laid on any more sarcasm in that comment, you would be drier than Oscar Wilde."

XXXXX

The school day had ended and Derek was sitting in Mr. Rossi's classroom, texting on his cellphone, waiting for his tutor to show up. He had about an hour to sit through with whoever this girl was. This wasn't exactly his idea of a fun afternoon, but it was better than dealing with Jordan, who had been annoying him since lunch.

"Okay, Derek," Rossi said as he opened the door to his classroom and entered. "This is who will be tutoring you."

Derek looked up at his teacher. He had just entered the room, and trailing behind him was a curvy blonde girl. She wore a pair of thick rimmed, black glasses and she was wearing a short patterned skirt and low cut blue shirt. Slung over her shoulder was a backpack with tiny cartoon pandas all over. This girl looked vaguely familiar to him for some reason.

What he couldn't figure out though was why he couldn't stop looking at her. There was something strange about her that kept calling his gaze back to her. She - whatever her name was - was...beautiful.

He rose to his feet and shoved his phone into his pocket. "Er, hi," he said, waving awkwardly. He smiled at the girl. In turn, she returned the gaze with a soft smile.

Rossi nodded and gestured to the girl behind him. "Derek, meet Penelope Garcia...she's going to be your tutor. If you want to bring your grade up, this is the girl to ask. She'll get you to where you want to be."

"Hi," she said, extending her hand. "I'm Penelope."

Derek cleared his throat and nodded stiffly, shaking her hand. Her skin was baby soft, and he could vaguely smell the scent of her cinnamon perfume. For some reason, he began to sweat and feel jittery. What the hell was going on with him?

"Nice to meet you, Penelope," he said nervously. "I'm Derek."