You heard me

Chapter Three: how to catch an UnSub

And just like that, it was finally time for the class I longed for all day. I grab my notebook from my locker as well as my pencil case and head to class.

My eyes land to the empty spot right beside Eli and strut to it. He wears his usual grin and winks at me, and I silently gag in return.

"Don't act all innocent, babe, everyone knows you want me." He says with confidence.

I hum. "I'm afraid my type revolves around women, but thank you for the offer."

Now it was my turn to grin at his smug look turning into a look of hatred. I pout at him and rub his hair. "Aw, poor little Eli has a thing for the lesbians, huh?"

"You know what-" he raises a finger. "That was one time, how was I supposed to know she was into women?"

"I dunno, I thought the lesbian flag pinned on her purse was an obvious giveaway." I snort.

"Well normally people don't look at bags when they're trying to flirt, now do they?"

"Oh," I say. "So her offering me to her apartment that night also went unnoticed?"

"Fuck you, Evans." He rolls his eyes.

"I love you too," I reply with the biggest smile on my face.

I watch him pull out his MacBook, along with his journal and a pen and I follow his actions. I cringe at the rose gold coloured laptop now sitting on my lap and open my notebook to a blank page.

Somehow, Eli managed to convince me to switch my MacBook and his. For our Sweet Sixteenth, our mom's agreed on gifting us the same thing. All was well, until they realized that the colour option was not discussed.

I had been gifted a matte black MacBook, whereas Eli was given a rose coloured one. I remember the pain I felt in my stomach from laughing so hard at his reaction. Of course he was grateful, but I knew he did not wanna be seen interacting with such a bright colour.

So, me being the best friend I am, had offered for switch with him. Only catch? Our mom's had custom engraved our names on them, so now we look like a corny couple with our names on each other's computers.

"I wonder how many people have thought we were dating throughout our whole lives." I hear Eli say.

"This generation just doesn't want opposite genders to just be friends, I guess." I shrug.

We talk amongst ourselves to pass time until the teacher walked into the room. Before he could even tell us to simmer down, the room automatically turned into a deafening silence.

He seems pleased by this, as he claps his hands and greets us with a smile. Eli and I lock gazes before turning back to the front of the room.

"And today's topic is based solely on the ways to profile an UnSub. How might one approach this person properly?" Mr. Ross asks.

When no one offered to raise their hands, he sighed, then looked at me and nodded. "Creating a baseline is the most important part in order to profile a person. In order to get the UnSub to speak, the profiler must first study his or her behaviour, whether it be a slight shiver, or the fidgety fingers, or maybe even a sly scratch on their forehead."

I pause, wanting to see if he'd wanted me to add more. When he didn't say anything, I continued.
"All individuals display their behaviours for different reasons, and if studied correctly, these actions could indicate signs of anger, deception, and nervousness."

"Good work, Ms. Evans." He says with a smile. "Now, the rest of you I expect to interact more with this class. Many of you are failing the course, and yet there are no questions being asked. If you want to succeed, you must participate."

Eli and I share a glance and smile, knowing that our grade consists of high 90s in Criminology. Considering the fact that we both will be majoring in this field in University, we willingly research about the ways into FBI during our free time.

However, the rest of the class seems to hold a grudge against us for being too 'participating.' I laugh at the fact, finding it absurd that the exact same people signed up for this class and are failing it.

As Ross continues on with the lesson, I turn my attention to the girl sitting right beside me. As if she could feel my eyes on her, she turns to me and smiles. I wink at her and focus back on my screen.

Distracted by Max, I become unaware of Mr. Brown calling out her name. "What do you think is the next step to the development process?"

My eyes trail to her, her fingers clawing at each other, and her leg bouncing rapidly. Judging by the behaviour, I could tell she did not have a confident answer.

I quickly grabbed my phone from my back pocket and texted her what to say. Suddenly, her eyes wander to the computer in front of her, and I hear a soft sigh of relief being let out.

"Comparing and contrasting. The UnSub will soon grow to be tired of questions after questions, and their behaviour will differ from how they were in the beginning." She pauses, her eyes then snapping at Ross.

"If they are hiding something, after time they will grow irritated and snap. Or, they just stop talking in general. If this is the case, then the next step would be to bring others into the room with you. This way, you can see if the UnSub's behaviour changes when he or she is now forced to interact with more than one person in the room."

I focus my attention on Ross and grin at his surprised face. He nodded at Max, praising her then moves onto his next victim. I look back at Max only to find that she's already looking at me.

'Thank you,' she mouthed, her face covered with a smile. I signalled at her phone, which she understands immediately.

Prince (lucille)
You owe me, Princess.

Princess (max)
It's like you sensed that I needed
saving, and sure.

Suddenly, I hear Eli whisper into my ear. "I was staring at the board, not her." He mocks my words from last week. I give him a kick on the shins, and he accidentally lets out a loud groan. My eyes widen and I fight every urge not to burst out laughing.

"Anything you'd like to add, Mr. Woods?" Ross says.

"Nope, perfectly fine here buddy." He says with a thumbs up.

Ross laughs before continuing and my cheeks burn from the unstoppable smile covering my face which only makes Eli glare at me even more.

"Just cause of that, you're walking home after school today." He whispers, and I feel my jaw fall to the ground.