It had been happening for six long months and Aaron didn't know how much more he could take. He didn't tell Emily because he remembered her words clearly. She had made him promise to come to her if anyone teased him or hurt him. Not for this.
"Hey, Hotchner. What are you doing in here?" Chris asked, walking by him with two lunch trays. Aaron stiffened. He wasn't supposed to be in the cafeteria. Aaron remembered fighting back once upon a time. Chris had always known more than the average kid his age. His parents were never shy about sharing what they knew about Aaron with Chris. It hadn't taken much digging on their part. All they had to do was watch the news and pay attention. Chris was the same kid who had told Aaron he didn't have a family back in the third grade. Aaron remembered giving Chris a bloody nose and being suspended, but not really feeling badly about it. He had proven he could take Chris, but that was before Chris was friends with Martin.
Chris was thin and muscular - more a physical match for Aaron - but Martin was taller and stocky. Kids called Chris the brain and Martin the enforcer. Because Chris made the plan, and did everything that didn't involve physical strength. Martin made sure that whomever they targeted knew Chris was serious. Martin did the shoving, the grabbing, and the squeezing. It didn't hurt. It never did, because of Aaron's abnormally high pain tolerance, but it did scare him.
It was why he asked Derek about weight lifting. Because he had to be able to fight back. He knew, from overhearing some of Spencer's former teachers that they were sorry for what happened to him, but felt that if he had just "worked harder to fit in" none of the rest would have happened. That's how Aaron knew that people who hurt others would always be above any kind of consequence. And that even if a consequence were applied to Chris or Martin, Aaron would ultimately be blamed, just as faculty and students alike, for their school's lack of a football team, were blaming Spencer.
Aaron blamed himself enough as it was, he couldn't handle anyone else doing it, too. Besides the fact that he wasn't actually being hurt. Aaron had meant what he told Emily months before, after what he went through as a kid, high school really was no big deal. At the time, it really wasn't.
When Chris and Martin cornered Aaron on the first day of school and demanded that he tell Chris his four-digit pin number for his school lunch account, Aaron had given it without much protest. He could still hear Chris's quiet rationale, as Martin got right in his face.
"You don't need food, right? You've starved before. We need this more than you do."
So, that was how it started. At the time, part of Aaron believed Chris. It was true. He had starved as a child, so he had it on good authority that missing one meal wouldn't kill him. But then, the money ran out the first time, and they cornered him in the locker room for the first time, demanding that he get more money into that account or he would be sorry.
That night, Aaron had gone home and asked Emily to write him a check for lunch, and then did the math in his room to determine exactly how much each meal was and when he would need to ask if she could put more money in it. It worked for a while. But lately, Chris was getting enough food for two people. He was going through the account twice as fast. Emily would have questions, and Aaron would have to pay.
He appreciated Emily's insisting he go to counseling, and making food available. He loved feeling like Penelope would listen to him. And Aaron really was grateful for Derek spending time with him and taking him shopping. But in the end, it simply didn't matter. Because no matter how much time and effort his family put into convincing him he would always be fed, it was all undone the minute he walked into school each day, knowing he wouldn't get to eat lunch. Knowing his entire freshman year, he had not been allowed that dignity. There would always be Chris and Martin, calling him by his former name, telling him he wasn't allowed to be in the cafeteria, when there really was no other option. They didn't have open lunch. All students had to go to the cafeteria during their lunch periods. So, basically, Aaron was screwed.
From lunch, it was directly to gym class. Aaron ran as fast as he could to arrive there before anyone else. He closed himself into a stall, with his uniform and changed quickly, not bothering to look at the bruises on arms and shoulder. He crouched on top of the toilet when he heard the other boys arrive. Aaron remained there, motionless until heard their footsteps receding. It was only a few minutes, but it was long enough to remember his own childhood. Being confined to a tiny area of an unused bathroom for days or weeks at a time. But he was glad for the experience, because from it, he gained the ability to wait and to be silent for long periods of time.
He got through gym class itself, with little trouble. They did a running test, and Aaron had the quickest time. He had always been a fast runner. But he kept his head down. He didn't move as the rest of the students clocked in with times slower than his. Or when Chris finished dead last. When class was dismissed, Aaron made a break for the locker room. For his bathroom stall. He closed himself in and was changed in no time, maintaining his agile squat on top of the toilet. He held his breath, feeling the phantom pain of wire digging into his skin. When he heard nothing for twenty minutes, Aaron eased out of the stall, and came face to face with Chris.
Aaron felt so lightheaded, he was afraid he might pass out. He had always outsmarted them. For weeks since gym started. And now, he was caught. Like the coward he was, he stood still. Not moving. Barely even breathing. Aaron had already proven that he could outrun them, but he didn't want to take the risk. Because if he did, tomorrow would be even worse. He should have failed the gym test on purpose. He knew that instantly.
None of them spoke a word, as Martin grabbed Aaron hard and wrenched his arms behind his back, holding him in place, and Chris deliberately dropped his fly, and urinated on him. The whole thing took seconds, and was completely silent. Then, Chris and Martin left for good, leaving Aaron feeling dirty, and unsure of what to do with his wet clothes.
In the end, he showered quickly; grateful the locker rooms were equipped with them, and changed back into his gym uniform. He could just as easily wear it home and tell his mom it was because it needed to be washed.
The shower would set him back some. There wouldn't be time for McDonald's today. He was on his bike before he realized that in his rush to shower, he had left his backpack in the locker room.
Aaron rode home, feeling hopeless, a pit of hunger growing in him.
He didn't know how, but Aaron had arrived home hours late. It happened sometimes, after a particularly bad day. Aaron would just blank out to cope. He usually could handle everything, but today had just been too much.
The first thing Aaron wanted to do was take another shower, but he found himself reaching under the bathroom sink. Instead of his two Big Macs, he felt a paper bag. Desperation and curiosity warred inside him and Aaron pulled it out. It was from McDonald's labeled with today's date. Two fresh burgers were inside, along with a note, scribbled on the receipt.
These are fresh. If you wanna save one, I put my mini fridge in your room.
Derek
Aaron felt tears fill his eyes as he ate. This time, he forced himself to savor it; feeling like his life had been saved. Carefully, he replaced the wrapper and the remaining burger in the bag and stuck it in the cabinet. Then, he thought better of it and went to his room and found the fridge, stocked with some leftover spaghetti and bottles of water. The outside was labeled in Derek's handwriting: AARON'S. DO NOT TOUCH.
Swallowing back the lump in his throat, Aaron showered again, letting a few tears fall as long as he had the privacy. This day had been so awful, but Derek giving up his mini fridge, where Aaron knew Derek had kept the tiny freezer stocked with ice packs for his knee? That was beyond kind. Beyond what Aaron deserved.
He took the clothes hamper from his room and added the gym uniform and the soaked clothes from earlier. He put them all in the wash and walked upstairs, prepared to find Derek. To tell him to take the fridge back.
"Did you see Derek gave you his refrigerator?" Spencer asked from in front of a stack of books. The thought of the teachers at school blaming him had Aaron stopping short. To listen, instead of blowing him off. "He says that none of the rest of us can touch it. Not even mom. Not even him. He says it's just for you, and that only the two of you will sit down once a week to go through it, to determine if anything needs to be replaced. The moldy burgers made him think of it, because I told him it was either that, or I was going to ask you if I could do experiments on what makes them petrify so well in some instances and mold well in others." Spencer continued absently, highlighting lines of text as he spoke.
"I don't want the fridge," Aaron said, matter of fact.
"Derek says you do want it, and he says you're keeping it," Spencer returned softly.
"Derek doesn't know everything," Aaron sighed, turning around to look for his older brother.
But he only saw JJ on the couch, looking exhausted. Then he remembered Emily saying that she and Derek were running errands this afternoon and Penelope might come, too. Aaron hadn't thought they would actually go through with it, leaving himself, Spencer and JJ alone in the house, but they had.
Aaron was about to turn around and head back downstairs when JJ stood up, surprising him.
"Hey," she said, squinting.
He took a few steps toward her on instinct, in case she needed a hand, but she shocked him again by grabbing his sleeve and pulling him closer to her. On instinct, he stiffened. Aaron had thought an old tee shirt would be fine to wear at home, but evidently, he was wrong, because even JJ and her poor eyesight was able to spot the bruises on his upper arms. He had walked around for so long with them and not really felt them that he'd gotten lazy. That's what he got for wearing his uniform home.
"It's nothing," he said reflexively.
"Come here," she said with an authority he had never heard, and he worried for a split second if she was going to hit him.
He took two steps toward her and waited while she examined his bruises.
"Tell me what happened," she insisted, holding onto his arm, as much for balance as to make sure he didn't go anywhere.
"I'm fine, JJ. It's no big deal," he sighed.
"Who…" she paused, searching him with an intense look, and he knew what she was thinking. Who did this?
But Aaron's first question was never who would do this. It was who wouldn't?
"No one," he said calmly.
"You're not no one," JJ maintained, and Aaron glanced up sharply. She had misspoken. It happened all the time now. But then he saw the look in her eyes and wondered if that wasn't what she meant to say all along.
Aaron stood there, clenching his jaw.
He could see JJ concentrating hard on whatever she was about to say next. "Tell Mom," she decided.
"No," he looked her in the eye.
"Yes," she shot back. "Or I will. You…tell Mom by this weekend. Or I will."
Aaron scoffed, and the thought was in his head before he could censor it. She'll forget it by then.
"Whatever," he shrugged like he didn't care, pushing past Spencer on the way back downstairs.
Aaron had handled this for six months. He could take it until June.
A/N: My heart is breaking for Aaron right now. But I'm glad his family is following their instincts with him. Update that you all might like: the story is going to be two chapters longer than I intended originally! Hooray for five more chapters instead of only three!
