This had all been such a huge waste of time. Derek Morgan's high school football team had driven all the way here, only to have it canceled. Most of his team mates had gone home by now, but Derek was leaning against a goal post, sulking. The high school they were at was very large, but that wasn't uncommon for a Las Vegas High School.
Derek sighed, his thoughts turning to his father, as they sometimes did when he was alone. After his father had died, and after all that chaos with Carl, he'd promised himself he'd make something with his life, and would be a good person. Sure he was into football now, but that could always change, and who knew what'd he do with his life then?
He noticed movement on the other side of the football, and he looked over lazily. It looked like the whole football was standing there, and he found that rather odd. The game had been canceled, so why were they out here? And who was the attractive girl standing slightly ahead of them all? They seemed to be waiting for something, and he could hear snickers and laughs. He almost went over to see what was up, but decided it wasn't any of his business, turning away.
But only a minute had passed before a small voice jerked his attention back to the football players.
"W-what are you doing! S-stop!"
Derek's eyes narrowed in on the scene, then widened in shock. Three guys were grabbing hold of a small boy, a child it looked like, and were dragging him across the field. The attractive girl was laughing, putting her hands over her mouth as she giggled.
What were they doing? Where they going to hurt that little boy?
The tiny boy was struggling, his glasses falling off his face as he tried to pull away, his brown hair flying around wildly. But he was no match for the two dozen teen boys standing around him, who laughed at his efforts.
Derek's horror grew as one of the guys who weren't restraining suddenly reached over and pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a white undershirt. The boy stopped for only a moment, startled. He recovered quickly, though.
"Help! Somebody, please! Help me! Please!"
And even though the feild was occupied by dozens of people, no one moved. Some were laughing, some were looking like they wanted to help, even though they wouldn't, and others were just ignoring the whole thing.
What was going on! What kind of sadistic people were these guys!
Derek suddenly found himself crossing the field, picking up speed as the small, helpless boy pleaded once more for help, and for his attackers to stop. Something deep inside him was telling him he had to save this boy, though he didn't know what. He just had the feeling, if he didn't, that boy would remember it forever, and cause him pain in the future.
One of the players started to remove the white undershirt, but the small boy was able to hold them off for a second as he struggled. By now, Derek was running, as fast as he could, and this was largely due to the fact one of the players had just pulled out a rope.
What the hell?
Derek pushed past onlookers, and others moved out of his way as they saw him coming.
"S-somebody! P-p-please, help me!" the boy screamed again, and the boys around him laughed, cold-hearted, empty laughs that were happy to see his pain. Their laughs chilled Derek, and this is when he spoke up.
"HEY!" he roared, and the players looked up as they saw him. They looked stunned for a moment, as if surprised that anyone would actually want to help the boy they were tormenting.
"What the hell are you doing!" Derek shouted, pushing past the ring of players and grabbing the arm of one of the teens holding the boy. "Let him go!"
The boy was looking up him, and Derek could see now that tears streaked his small face.
"Please, help me." he whispered to Derek pleadingly, and Derek's flaring eyes rose to meet those of the ones holding the boy.
"I said let him go." he said, his grip on the arm tightening, and the teen visibly flinched as Derek's fingers began to bruise his arms. He let go when Derek pushed him back, stumbling into one of his friends. But the tiny boy was still being held by two others, and only know was Derek realizing that there was only one of him, and dozens of them. And, they were all begining to get geared up for a fight, spitting insults and flexing their muscles as they prepared.
But Derek payed no mind to the extra's and punched one of the boy's captors right in the face. The injured boy howled in pain, grabbing his face, backing up as his nose gushed blood.
Sensing his chance, the small boy ripped himself out of the last boy's grip. He stood in the middle of the muscled boys, scared, and Derek thought he would run away and leave him to get pummeled, but he didn't, he stuck his ground, apparently planning on sticking it out with the only one who had come to his aid.
One of the players made a move to grab the kid, but Derek was faster, and he grabbed the boy and crushed him against his chest. He felt the small boy shaking in fear against him.
The jocks around them were laughing now, and the one he had forced to let go first spoke.
"This is going to be too easy, you know? You can't possible believe you can take all of us, can you?"
Derek didn't believe that, but he wasn't going to let them hurt this innocent little boy.
"Kid, when I tell you too, you run, got it?" he whispered to the boy pressed against his chest. He looked up at Derek, his eyes wide in fear, and red with tears.
"B-but..." he protested. "Wha-what about you?"
"Just run. No buts. Got it?"
He was quiet for a moment, but then the tiny boy nodded against his chest, and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Derek smiled down encouraginly at the small boy. "It's cool kid. Now...go!"
Derek released the small boy and propelled him forward. The child stumbled and almost fell, but he was able to dart past the players and run. A few chased after him, but he was faster then he looked, and he darted into the crowd, losing them quickly.
Derek and the football team faced off, and a second later, fists began to fly. Derek connected with one of them, one of them connected with him, but despite being vastly outnumbered, Derek was able to keep his own, knocking down five or six in slightly over a minute. But then the team started to overpower him, and Derek knew he was screwed.
It was worth it, he guessed. Atleast the kid had gotten away.
"Hey!" a different voice shouted, followed by five or six other voices. The fighting halted, and the football team, and Derek all looked over. Derek was very surprised to see eight of his team mates, all charging towards them, joining the fray in seconds.
The fight brew on for a few minutes, but then died, and Derek and friends had come out victorious.
As the bullys ran off, Derek turned towards them.
"Dude, how you guys fine me?" he asked, panting and puffing, brushing blood out of his eye.
His friend pointed, and Derek followed his finger.
"That skinny white boy came and got us. Said, one of our team mates was in trouble." the friend panted back, and at that moment, Derek's eyes found the small boy, who was standing nearbye, his body twitching, looking extremely relieved, but equally akward as Derek saw him.
He went to the small boy, holding out his hand, who looked at him in surprise, but barely hesitated to meet his hand, small and pale compared to Derek's.
"Derek Morgan." he introduced himself, shaking the small hand firmly. "You did good, kid."
"S-Spencer Reid." the tiny boy introduced himself, then he smiled akwardly, looking into Derek's eyes as he said, "T-thank you! Thank you so much!"
He looked like he might start to cry, so Derek guessed this was a really big deal to him. It wouldn't come as a surprise if he was bullied a whole lot, but it would surprise him if this was really the first time anyone had stepped up to save the small boy. Who would just sit around and watch him get hurt.
Not him, he decided. No, he'd be there to protect Spencer anytime he needed him. He'd be this boy's friend, his older brother, his protector.
So maybe this day hadn't been such a waste after all.
Phew, that took awhile. But, I seriously loved it. It was so much longer and more epic than I expected! I'm proud of myself. This is a companion to my other story, "If I had been on that field with you." A few reviewers suggested this, so even though it's a wee bit late, here it is! Enjoy!