Spencer Reid got out of his Father's car and cast a desperate glance in his direction. He stood outside of what he was nearly positive would wind up being the worst experience of his life. Boarding school. His Father had decided to send him to boarding school. Spencer shouldn't have been surprised, really. His Father never had much tolerance for him and since...
He couldn't bring himself to think of it, that thought was strictly off limits.
"Here are the rest of your things," ihs Father,William Reid, told him as he handed him another suitcase. Spencer was a tiny boy, much too small for his age, and the weight of his suitcases nearly caused him to tip over. William Reid looked his son up and down. "Good," he declared with a nod of approval.
Spencer looked at his Father, misery was the most readable expression on his face. William Reid sighed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. He hadn't a clue what to say to his son. "Spencer...I...it'll be alright." He tried to smile down at him. Spencer just continued to look up at him with despair. "This is a smart school for smart kids! You'll fit right in!" The same kicked puppy look. "Maybe they'll actually even put you back in your correct grade level."
"You mean they'll let me graduate today?" Spencer snipped. He should have graduated high school, but his Father was intent not to allow it. He felt Spencer would lose valuable lessons if he went into college too fast. Deep down, Spencer just thought his Father felt it would draw too much attention to them, which would have drawn attention to his Mother.
"Don't." William Reid held up a warning finger to his son. "Don't start with that, Spencer. I allowed you to skip two grades, and I already believe it to have been a mistake."
Spencer could have brought up the same arguments he always used. He could have argued it tooth and nail, right there, in the parking lot. He could have caused a scene. He could have smashed his things onto the ground and declared how he was not going to stay at that boarding school. ...but he didn't. Instead, he just hung his head, and nodded.
"That's my boy." William sounded relieved and placed a gentle, hesitant hand on Spencer's shoulder. "You'll do fine, Spencer," his Father assured him. Spencer felt his eyes well up with tears.
"You must be the Reids!" A woman approached them. She had short trimmed blonde hair, polished, and poised. She was well dressed, head held high. To put it plainly, she was so prim it was terrifying.
"Yes, Ma'am!" William quickly stuck out his hand, and the woman shook it. "You must be Erin Strauss, I believe I spoke to you on the phone!"
"Indeed you did." Erin nodded and shook William's hand firmly. "This must be your son, Spencer." She turned to look at the boy, and seemed as though she were sizing him up. Spencer shrunk back. She then stuck out her hand to him, and his whole body froze and his eyes widened.
"My-uh-my hands are full." It was the perfect excuse, though it didn't stop his father's face from falling. But it didn't much matter to him. If his Father truly cared, he wouldn't be sending him away.
Erin Strauss looked at his various bags and nodded. "Indeed they are. I'll get one of your new roommates to help you with all that. You are to be sharing a room with two seniors. You will inform me or Mateo Cruz, who oversees your section, if they cause any trouble." Spencer nodded his head immediately.
"Well." William cast another smile towards Erin. "That should be my cue to go." He then looked at his son, who had been struggling to hold all of his things. Reid looked up at his Father with sadness, once again. "Be good, Spencer." With that, he turned to leave, ithout a word of affection, without a hug...nothing. He just left him there, got in his car, and drove off.
With immense sadness, Spencer watched the car go. He heard a deep sigh next to him, and looked up at Erin. She offered him a tight smile. "It's hard, I'm aware. But you'll enjoy it here."
Spencer highly doubted that.
"Ms. Strauss?" He heard the voice of some other boy sound from behind him. He turned to see a tall, serious looking boy. "You wanted to see me?"
"Ah, Aaron." She nodded. "This," She gestured to Spencer, "Is Spencer Reid. He'll be rooming with you. He needs some help with his things."
"Can see that." Aaron walked over and took one of the larger suitcases from Spencer. "Too bad you didn't send Morgan," he told Erin, "He could have taken all of these with one arm."
"I don't exactly consider him a part of the welcome committee." Erin sniffed. Aaron looked at her in surprise.
"Yet you consider me part of it?" he asked in disbelief.
Erin rolled her eyes. "Out of the two of you? I'm taking the lesser of two evils." Spencer's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. That wasn't comforting. "I'll be going about, now. I have duties to attend to." Strauss looked at Spencer once again. "Come get me if they cause trouble." With that, she left. Spencer stood still and terrified as he watched after her.
Aaron snorted. "She doesn't really know much about how to make people feel welcome." He looked at Spencer, almost sympathetically. "We're really not all bad. She just has high standards." With that, Aaron walked away with most of Spencer's things, he looked back at the boy, who he had expected to follow him, and inclined his head towards the door. Spencer's eyes widened, and he rushed to catch up.
~.~.~.~.~.
The staircase was much too high for Spencer's liking. Aaron looked at him, bemused. "They say they do it on purpose."
Spencer just nodded his head, still too nervous to say a word. Aaron raised an eyebrow at him. Something about Aaron's eyes had frightened him. Far too serious. Too analytical.
"What are you? A freshman?" Aaron asked him. Spencer whimpered when he saw another level of stairs.
He registered Aaron's question and shook his head in the negative. "No. Senior," he replied.
Aaron froze, and turned to look at him with disbelief. "There's no need to lie to me," he told him.
Spencer narrowed his eyes. "I'm not lying. I skipped two grades. I'd have skipped more but-." He stopped himself. Aaron continued to eye him analytically.
"But what?" The boy pressed.
"Nothing," Spencer shook his head. He wasn't going to spill his guts out to a boy he barely knew on the first day of school.
"Well," Aaron seemed to let it go, as they approached a door. "This is it." Spencer let out a breath of relief. Aaron opened the door, and Spencer walked into the room. It was nice. Probably would have been nicer if they weren't clothes and various other items tossed haphazardly around it. It almost took him a minute to notice two boys who were situated in the room. One looked to be of italian descent, and the other was mocha colored and had his earbuds in. He looked at Spencer, unimpressed.
"Spencer, this is David Rossi." Aaron gestured to the italian, who rose his hand in a half-wave. "He doesn't live in this room, but he can't seem to stay in his own. Then that's," He gestured to the other boy, "Derek Morgan."
"Don't' feel insulted by his rudeness," David told Spencer, as he cast a glance at Derek, who glared back at him. "He's too cool to be here, if you can't tell."
"Screw you." Derek snapped at him. David rolled his eyes and smirked, as did Aaron, who set Spencer's stuff down on the clean bed and sat on the ground next to David. Derek's eyes followed Spencer as he went to set things on his corner of the room. He cracked opened one suitcase, and a large amount of books spilled out.
"Damn." David looked at the books in surprise. "You like to read?"
Spencer nodded. He smiled as he held up one of the books, a favorite of his Mother's. She had given it to him, for when they wouldn't be near one another. She had promised him that as long as he kept the book by his side, that she would forever be there, with him.
"Do you talk?" Derek asked him. Spencer tore his eyes away from his book and looked at him in surprise.
"Cut him some slack, jackass." David whacked Derek's leg from his seated position in front of his bed. "He's been here for .2 seconds, and this is the first you've spoke."
Derek glared at him and kicked him in the back. It was more of a tap, really, not intended to do any damage, but David looked pissed by it, all the same. "Don't call me a jackass, you-."
"Both of you cut it out." Aaron rolled his eyes and looked at Spencer, who still clutched the book, except now he held it tight to his chest. "Strauss already has him terrified."
"Ah, don't be threatened by Strauss, kid." David waved his hand. "Trust me, that lion can be tamed." He winked at him. Spencer just gazed at him in confusion. He obviously had no idea what David meant.
"I still call bullshit to that story." Derek rolled his eyes. "There's no way, man."
"Dude, I'm telling you, she's totally into me. Could've expelled me a million times, but she didn't," David said proudly.
"You're a moron," Derek stated.
"You like a teacher?" Spencer gasped. It escaped him before he could stop himself. Derek looked at him, and Spencer scooted backwards in fear.
"How old are you, anyway?" Derek asked him. "You don't even look old enough to be here."
"Skipped two grades, kid's a senior," Aaron told him. Derek looked at him in disbelief, as did David. "Said he'd have gone further."
"Bullshit," Derek snorted. "You got two years ahead in boarding school, man. Don't try to oversell it."
Spencer narrowed his eyes. If there was one thing in the entire world that would get Spencer Reid mad, it was a shot at his intelligence. "I have an eidetic memory, an IQ of 187 and can read 20,000 words per-minute," he snapped at him. "I don't need to sell anything." He instantly regretted his words. The boy was much more than simply twice his size, and he didn't seem to have a sunny disposition.
All of the three boys looked at him in shock. "What the hell," Derek was the first to speak, "Is an eidetic memory."
Spencer rolled his eyes, of course they wouldn't know what it was. He'd go the simple route of explaining, he decided. "It's almost like a photographic memory," He explained. "Almost. The definition of eidetic is 'relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.'." He explained.
"So what?" David asked him. "You remember everything you see?"
Spencer shrugged. "Just about."
"That sucks," Derek said. Aaron and David looked at him disbelief. 'Dude!' David cried out. "What?! Who the hell wants to remember all the shit they see?! He'll never forget this place for the rest of his life."
"It's alright," Spencer replied. It was weird. No one had ever said it like it was a bad thing before. "It means I also remember every book I've ever read," he said cheerfully.
"Then why the hell did you bring so many?" David asked. His eyes traveled to the overflowing bag of books.
Spencer just shrugged his shoulders, not intent on answering the questions. He hated meeting people. He shouldn't have said a word about his intelligence, but it would be a lie to say that he hadn't been irritated by people who didn't believe him. His Father had held him back from advancing in school, so he was forced to be looked at as less than who he was. He was too far advanced for his classes, and they bored him to tears.
"Hey, name's Spencer, right?" David asked him. Spencer looked back at them and nodded. "Got a last name?"
"Reid," Spencer answered. David chuckled, and Spencer looked at him curiously.
"Reid likes to read," David stated. Derek and Aaron groaned.
"You suck, man," Derek complained and whacked David, who had been laughing, on the back of his head.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
"Thank Christ for the school being co-ed." Derek sighed as he loosened his tie. They were on their way to the start-of-the year party. "Can you imagine how much it would suck if it were guys only?"
"Yeah, then Aaron couldn't make eyes at his girl from across the room," David teased. Aaron glared at him. Spencer just merely trailed behind, listening in to the conversation. He learned it was always better to not interact.
"Please, says the guy who is making eyes at Strauss," Derek replied in disgust. His nose was wrinkled as he looked at David. "You're just nasty, man."
"Oh? I'm nasty? You've been with most of the entire female population at this school," David replied. Spencer raised his eyebrows. He wasn't entirely surprised. Derek did strike him as...well...the type.
"At least the girls I've screwed haven't been nearing menopause," Derek shot back at him.
"Ha, just another month you'd have to wait," David said with a sly grin. Aaron looked back at Spencer, and rolled his eyes as he inclined his head towards the two guys. Spencer smiled back at him.
"Why wait?" Derek split into a cheshire cat type grin. "Doesn't bother me."
"UGH!" David groaned and covered his mouth. "You're disgusting!"
Spencer furrowed his brow, but then when he realized what they had been referring to his eyes had widened and he let out a surprised gasp. All three boys stopped and looked back at him. Spencer flushed bright red and rubbed his arm shyly.
"Good job, asshole. You just scarred the poor kid for life." David smacked Derek in the arm.
"You're the one talking about trying to seduce Strauss!" Derek defended himself, and whacked David back. "Besides, the kid's like, what? Turning sixteen? Not like this stuff is new. Kid has a Mom." Spencer flinched at that, and Derek must have caught it out of the corner of his eye, because he turned to look at Spencer. His eyes widened, and he actually looked apologetic. "Oh" is all he managed to get out.
"God, dude, look what you did! You suck!" David also looked sympathetic, but he was focusing a glare on Derek. Spencer was pretty sure what idea they had, and he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
"Come on, Spencer," Aaron walked a few paces behind to grab the boy's arm. He gently pulled him ahead, so they boy walked beside him. "Just ignore them. Party will be fun."
Spencer kept his eyes trained on the ground. He didn't like parties. He was never invited to one. He hadn't a clue what that party would even be like. "I've never even been to a school dance," he told Aaron. The older boy looked down at him and smirked.
"Just don't drink the punch." David reached into his pocket and subtly pulled out a flask. He raised an eyebrow. "Or chug it. Depends on what you like." He winked at him.
"How do you even sneak that stuff into here?" Derek asked David in astonishment.
David grinned at him and winked. "I have connections," he said simply.
"Yeah, man, I heard about your supposed 'connections,' but I highly doubt they're sneaking booze into your boarding school," Derek replied. Spencer frowned, he didn't know what Derek meant by David's "connections."
Aaron noted Spencer's confused expression and smiled. "Don't pay any attention to them, Spencer. Don't try to understand it, either. You'll exhaust yourself."
"Oh, don't try to act so prissy, Aaron." David rolled his eyes. "You used to be fun."
"Yeah." Aaron nodded his head. "Then I grew up."
"No," David disagreed. "Then you met a nice little good girl and decided to earn your scouts badge." Derek snorted.
"Hey," Derek chuckled, he eyed Spencer up and down, and Spencer shrunk away from him. "Wait 'till Penelope gets a load of the kid."
"Oh God," both of the other two boys groaned. "Rest in peace, kid," David told him.
Spencer wondered what on earth his Father had gotten him into.
~.~.~.~.~.
Spencer had been forced to recite most of an episode of Doctor Who for Penelope Garcia. The bubbly blonde had seemed excited to meet him, and had been even more excited when she heard of his "talents" and the fact that he was a fan of the Doctor. When he'd told her he'd actually gotten his hands on a signed script from the show, and could recite the entire thing, she had forced him to prove it. Randomly the blonde had cut him off with a squeal and a huge hug.
"I love him!" she declared. "He stays!"
Derek chuckled and threw back another glass of punch. He had thrown his arm around Penelope, and was watching as some kids got much more wasted than they should, and as the teachers struggled to find out the cause.
"Morons," Emily Prentiss snorted as she watched the scene unfold. "Seriously. Kids randomly getting drunk and the first thing you suspect isn't the punch?"
"Strauss is tied up," David pointed out. "She won't be able to sniff it out for at least another thirty minutes."
"That is unless Gideon gets a whiff of it." Emily inclined her head, and they all turned to see Jason Gideon approaching the party. It was all happening outside, with tables set up. The weather was still nice enough for it. "This isn't gonna be pretty."
"David, you might wanna hide the evidence," Derek hissed at him. "He's gonna know it was you."
David waved his hand dismissively. He then burst into a fit of laughter when one of the girls tripped over a walk and fell flat on her face. Her friends had rushed forward to try to help her get back onto her feet. "Ah let him."
"Seriously," Penelope whispered to him in concern. She had one arm still thrown around Spencer, who uncomfortably watched the scene unfold. "Get rid of it. Your parents are going to be really mad if you get kicked out."
"What are they gonna do? Send me to military school?" David snorted. He then, in a move that made everyone who he sat around either gasp or turn their head away, he took the flask out of his pocket and took a drink. "I wanna join the military anyway. No skin off my back."
"Dude, the military would be screwed if you joined," Derek told him. He had then looked amused, which caused Penelope to glare at him.
"Screw you, man. Military would be lucky to have me." He took another quick drink before he hid the flask back in his pocket. He looked towards the rest of them and groaned at their expressions. "What do you guys want me to do? Bury it?"
"Nearly nine million youths, ages 12 to 20, in this country report they have had alcohol in the past thirty days." Spencer informed David, who didn't seem at all impressed by the facts. "71% of kids drink because they're at a party."
"Yeah," David gestured to the scene around him and gave Spencer a look. "No shit, Sherlock."
"Hey!" Penelope shouted. "No need to be rude!"
"Oh great," Emily groaned and threw her head back. "Penelope's found herself a puppy."
"68% stop drinking because they have a run-in with the law," Spencer told him softly. David glared at him.
"So what? Show up on day one and you start lecturing me on my drinking?" He glared at Spencer, who shrunk away. He wished he hadn't opened his mouth. He always did, and it always got him in trouble.
"I-I wasn't try to-." He was cut off when he noticed David had once again removed the flask from his pocket, but this time he shoved it in Spencer's direction.
"Relax and take a drink," he ordered him. Spencer's eyes widened. Penelope gasped and Emily just groaned.
"Cut the shit, man." Derek pushed the hand with the flask in it down. "You're drunk."
"He needs to chill out," David told them. He kept his eyes trained on Spencer, who had begun to scoot away. He had hoped to, perhaps, escape the party altogether.
"What's happening?" Aaron asked as he walked over. He looked at the tense scene with his analytical eyes and a raised brow.
"David's trying to get the kid drunk," Derek told him. David glared at him, and Spencer continued slowly trying to escape.
"He's freaking lecturing me, Hotch," he spat out. He was obviously more drunk than he had planned to be. His moves were sluggish and his words had become slurred. "'Bout what happens to teenage drinkers and all that shit."
Aaron turned to look at Spencer, who looked properly terrified. Aaron actually smirked a bit at him. "Valiant effort," he informed the younger student, "But ultimately pointless." He took a seat next to the others.
"The hell you doing back over here?" Derek asked. His face then split into a smirk. "You strike out?"
Aaron glared at him, but ignored him. Derek laughed wildly. "Man, you totally struck out!" Aaron continued to ignore him.
"Oh," Penelope said softly. She placed a manicured hand on Aaron's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, sweetie. She's just more dedicated to school. You'll get her," she assured him.
"Well." Emily stood up. "This has been fun, but I'm going to sneak off into the woods for a smoke," she told them.
"Oh no you don't!" Penelope grabbed the back of Emily's skirt and attempted to tug her back into her place. "You got busted last time and Strauss nearly sent you home."
The discussion, or really argument, between Emily and Penelope continued, but Spencer had been more focused on Aaron, who was intently focused on a pretty blonde. She was talking with her friends and drinking a bottle of water. She occasionally looked over to him, as well, which made him instantly look away. It was odd, Aaron hadn't really struck Spencer as the shy type. He seemed assertive enough.
Soon, a shadow was cast over the group, and they all looked up to be met with what looked to Spencer to be the man they had referred to as "Gideon." He was tall, his hair gray and thinned, and he didn't look amused. He crossed his arms and stared down David, who just smiled back up at him.
"Hiya, Gideon," he greeted pleasantly. His smile was sickeningly sweet, but there was nothing innocent about it. "Something I can do for you?"
"You can hand over your alcohol now, and therefore not have me report it, so that you can remain in school...or I can take you to Strauss and we can have a discussion with your parent," Jason informed him. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and his eyes were intent and serious. Spencer gulped and looked away. If he thought Aaron had an intense look to him, he looked like a puppy compared to Jason.
"You asking for an admission of guilt?" David asked him. He still was grinning up at Jason, who was still not amused. "I think I have the right to an attorney."
"You have five seconds before I take you to the office," Jason informed him. Penelope nudged David's shoulder, hard.
"One," Jason started slowly. David continued just to stare up at him, smirking.
"David," Aaron hissed at him. "Just hand it over."
"My attorney has spoken." David pulled the flask out of his pocket and handed it over to Jason, who had unfolded his arms to accept it. "But, this is not an admission of guilt. It was planted on me. I was framed. I knew not what I was doing."
"Yeah, right." Jason rolled his eyes. He reached out his other hand that didn't have the liquor in it, and tugged David to his feet. "You're spending the rest of the party in your room," he informed the boy, who looked at him in shock.
"What?! You said you'd let it slide!" David cried out in shock.
"I said I wouldn't contact your parents," Jason corrected him. "Never promised anything else." he reminded him. David glared at him, and was about to say something else, but next thing they knew there was a scream of horror.
Everyone turned to look at the cause of the scream, and gasped at what they saw. One of the girls was on the ground, her face was blue, she was trying to gasp for air, and her whole body was convulsing.
"No," David whispered quietly. Jason released him and rushed over. "Oh, God, no." David sunk down to the grass and put his head in his hands. "I didn't. I didn't."
"SOMEONE CALL 911! NOBODY TOUCH HER!" Jason called out. The teachers already had their phones out. "How much punch did she drink?!" Jason asked the girl who was next to her friend, who was still convulsing on the ground. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She looked horribly shaken.
"She didn't drink any! It was spiked! She only had bottled water!" The blonde responded. David looked up from behind his hands and breathed out a sigh of relief. It wasn't his fault.
"OKAY! EVERYBODY BACK UP! NOBODY TOUCH THE GIRL!" Jason screamed and everyone took a few steps back, except the blonde, who was still crouched over her ailing friend, whose movements were growing fewer...until, she finally just lay there, motionless.
"Oh my god," Penelope gasped out in horror. Tears ran down her face, and the little makeup she wore ran with them. She covered her pale lips with her hand and gazed in horror. "She's dead."
There was utter silence, save for the sound of sobbing, as everyone gazed at the body of the dead girl. Her hair was a dark brown, her eyes empty, her lips parted open - a horrible picture to be forever painted in their memories.
Spencer had decided that day that Derek had been right. It really did suck to have an eidetic memory.
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this! I know it's a little different, and that some of the characters seem a bit odd. But it's just because it's younger versions of them. I know some other team members haven't appeared yet, but just stay tuned! Thank you all so much for reading!