Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is on tonight! If I owned it, do you think I would have to point that out and wear a sweater vest to school to prove that Spencer is highly unappreciated? Well, for promotion so I get more money, then yes. But other than that I think not.
A/N: Slightly different style than the others, but I still think it turned out okay.
Consequence
Spencer Reid stood outside the door of number 24 Redbrook Road in disbelief. The mother of his one and only friend had just informed him that his one and only friend was sick and would therefore not be attending school that day. At the time, Spencer had stood there, nodding politely, asking her mother to give her his regards. But once that door had shut, Spencer was lost.
And so there he stood, staring at the door, desperately hoping, wishing that it would swing open again and she would come bounding out the way she always did when given too much caffeine.
But nothing of the sort happened.
No, poor Spencer was left there, standing on that front porch, utterly alone. For the first time in years, he would be going to school alone, without the one person who helped him through the day.
Eventually, Spencer gave in to the fact that she would indeed not be coming out. With a sigh, he turned and headed back down the miniature set of stairs onto the street. As he walked, the cool autumn breeze ruffling his immaculate hair, Spencer thought. He wondered what it would be like to be on his own, if anything had really changed. Would he still be ridiculed, abused? Would the teachers still refuse to lift a finger to help? Would he even survive the day?
Before long, Spencer arrived at school. He was still small for his age and suddenly thankful he had not ventured on the bus as he witnessed a slight freshman fall face first off the steps, much to the amusement of the neighboring upperclassmen.
Spencer took a deep breath and continued walking. If he could just keep his head down, stay unnoticed, everything would be all right. But no such luck ever accompanied the child prodigy.
"Hey, runt!" Almost immediately, the ridicule began. It was too much to hope for that the captain of the school football team would turn a blind eye to the boy. Yes, too much to hope for indeed.
Spencer kept his head down and continued to walk.
"Hey, pipsqueak, are you deaf? I'm talkin' to you!" A shadow was cast over Spencer as his path was blocked.
Spencer looked up cautiously, knowing full well what he would see - the hulking figure of the older boy, surrounded by a group of his teammates and fellow brutes. He remained silent, knowing that saying nothing was better than a vocal response.
"Where's your girlfriend, huh, brainiac? She finally break up with you?" The word "girlfriend" was laced with its own special dose of sarcasm.
Spencer's hands formed fists at the sound of his friend being made fun of as well, but otherwise remained still, seeming not to care.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The quarterback's thick arm shot around, grabbing Spencer by the front of his shirt and lifting him inches off the ground.
Spencer didn't say a word as he gazed at a spot on the ground, observing a lone leaf amongst the browning grass. If he looked, he would see everything in the eyes of the bully that he had learned to ignore. If he looked, he wouldn't be able to remain quiet any longer. And that could only make things worse for him.
"Think you're being funny, do you?" Spencer's assailant bellowed, tightening his grip. "Let's see you laugh at this!" He reeled back his free arm and swung, meaty fist colliding with Spencer's jaw with a sickening crack.
Tears sprang to Spencer's eyes, but he did not cry. Blow after blow landed on his frail body, each urging him to cry out in pain, but he did not yell.
Soon, the quarterback grew tired of holding him up, and dropped Spencer with a thud onto the ground. He and his friends then began raining more blows on the boy, each leaving bruises on more than just skin.
A swift kick came to Spencer's ribs, and he had to bite his lip in order not to whimper. Another kick came, and another, and another. Spencer closed his eyes tight to the pain, willing himself not to give in and cry out, for that would make them happy. No, he would suffer in silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, the bell tolled, signaling the students to their first class of the day. The football captain give Spencer one last kick before turning away and heading inside the building.
"Later, geek." he jeered.
One by one, his friends followed, each stopping for one last hit or two before moving on. A few spit in Spencer's face as their final act.
Spencer remained where he was for a while longer, curled up on the ground, pain radiating throughout his small body. Eventually, he picked himself up from the ground, wincing slightly as he made his way inside the school, already feeling the effects of the beating.
The next day, Spencer made his way up the same front steps and stood in front of the same front door. He knocked three times, waiting patiently for the door to open. It did, revealing a teenage girl a few years older than him still in her pajamas. She took one look at the battered boy and gasped in horror.
"Spencer, what happened?" she exclaimed, looking horrified. Her eyes scanned over the small boy, taking in every bruise, every red mark that marred his frail frame. "Never mind. I know what happened. Come on in, I'll be ready in a minute."
Spencer followed her inside the house, taking in the always-comforting smells of cinnamon and apple cider. She gestured to a chair, which he lowered himself into gingerly.
"I'll be right back!" With that, she jogged up the nearby set up stairs to where Spencer knew her room to be.
From the second floor, he could hear part of a conversation.
"What do you think you're doing?" A voice, which Spencer identified as his friend's mother, exclaimed.
"Going to school." The answer was short, simple, seemingly leaving no room for debate.
"Oh no you're not!" Came the first voice again. "You're not going anywhere with a temperature like that!"
"Mom, I have to! Spence's downstairs and he needs me to go. So I'm going. End of story."
The conversation continued, but Spencer could no longer hear it. A twinge of guilt presented itself in Spencer's stomach for being the reason why his sick friend was going to school that day, but was soon overwhelmed with relief as she came bounding down the stairs, hurriedly tying her hair back in a ponytail.
"All right, let's go!" She grabbed her messenger bag from the table and slung it over her head.
Spencer nodded eagerly and the two headed off down the street. As they walked, they talked.
"Who did this to you?" The girl asked, looking angry. Whoever Spencer named would wish they had never toyed with the boy once she got through with them. "Was it Karl? Dom? Colin? Pat?"
Spencer walked with his head down and muttered something softly.
"What? Didn't catch that."
"It was Devin." At the mention of the football star, the girl's eyes lit up in a blaze of fury.
"Devin..." she hissed, mentally planning his torture.
"Don't do anything...irrational, all right?" Spencer said softly, looking slightly worried.
"Me? Irrational? Never. I'm just gonna beat the shit out of 'em, that's all."
It took considerably less time than usual for the two to arrive at school, which could be attributed to the fact that when she was mad, she power-walked. Spencer practically had to jog to keep up with her. Within minutes of stepping foot on the campus, she had located the football team, huddled together with a few of the cheerleaders.
"Hey, Devin!" she called, storming over to the group. "Got a bone to pick with you!"
Devin turned around slowly, annoyed that he had been interrupted. He spotted Spencer standing some ways off, and knew what was about to happen.
"Yeah? What?"
"You know your little prank yesterday? Well, I'm gonna have to kill you for it."
Devin smirked.
"I don't hit girls."
"Yeah? Well maybe you better make an exception." The girl's knee met with the quarterback's groin. Devin doubled over with a groan, much to the amusement of his companions.
"If you ever think of even touching him again, you will die, you hear me?" Fire blazed in the girl's eyes.
Devin nodded, eyes glazing over in pain.
"Good. Have a nice day!" With that, the girl turned on her heel and strode back to where Spencer was standing, looking shocked.
"You-you-"
"Yeah. Now let's go. We're about to be late." She slung an arm around Spencer's shoulder, turning her head slightly to catch one last look at the wounded football star. With a chuckle, she and Spencer headed inside.
They had hardly walked into the room for their first class when the teacher stopped them.
"You're both wanted down in Mr. Hubener's office." She said, perplexed as to how someone could get into trouble so early in the morning.
The girl shrugged and wheeled around. Spencer, however, did not take the news quite as well.
"Lex, what're we going to do?" he asked frantically, a terrified expression distorting his boyish features.
The girl shrugged again.
"Don't worry about it. I've been down here tons of times. Mr. Hubener loves me." Sarcasm dripped from the last words. Spencer was still unconvinced. "Spence, really, chill out. It's not that big a deal. You didn't do anything, anyway. I'm just gonna get chewed out for kneeing that asshole and probably get detention and it'll be over with. Really, relax."
They walked the rest of the way down to the office in silence. They were greeted at the door by the vice principal himself, Mr. Hubener. He indicated they should follow him into his office, which they did promptly. Once they were all seated, he began.
"Now," he said in a passive-aggressive tone of voice, "It has been brought to my attention that Ms. Cabot here caused serious bodily harm to one of the school football team members. Is this correct?"
The girl scoffed loudly.
" 'Serious bodily harm'? Really, sir, he'll be fine. Maybe now he'll start thinking with the bigger of his heads..."
Spencer had to choke back a giggle. Mr. Hubener appeared amused as well, but would never admit it.
"Still, as true as that may be, this is a serious matter. Do you have any justification for your actions, Ms. Cabot?"
"Of course I do," the girl said indignantly, "He beat the crap out of Spencer here yesterday!" She gesticulated toward the aforementioned boy, who, until that point, had been sitting very rigidly, staring hard at the carpet.
Mr. Hubener turned to him.
"Mr. Reid? Is this true?"
"Look at him!" the girl exclaimed, "Do you think he did that to himself?"
"Ms. Cabot, I am relatively sure that Mr. Reid is perfectly capable of answering for himself. So if you wouldn't mind..." The girl crossed her arms and sank back in the seat, looking indignant. "Mr. Reid?"
Spencer continued to stare at the floor as he nodded slowly.
"Did you in any way provoke Mr. Roberts into doing this?"
Spencer shook his head, staring resolutely in front of him.
"Yeah, except for the existing thing, Spencer didn't do anything!"
"Ms. Cabot, for your own good, please, shut up. Now, although what Mr. Roberts did was clearly the wrong choice, the facts remain the same. Though Ms. Cabot believed herself to be acting in her friend's best interest, she still took the incorrect action when she should have reported to an administrator-"
"Who wouldn't have done jack shit."
"-Who would have then dealt with the problem accordingly. But, due to the bodily harm caused to a fellow student, punishment must assigned. Ms. Cabot, you will serve detention for two days for one hour starting today after school. Mr. Roberts will do the same. In addition, both your parents will be called and notified of your actions. Does this seem reasonable?"
Both Spencer and his friend nodded, Spencer being the more relieved of the two.
"Yes, sir. Nothing's going to happen to Spencer, right? He wasn't involved in anything I did, so he shouldn't be punished."
"Ms. Cabot, you and Mr. Reid have nothing to worry about. Mr. Reid will not be suffering any punishment as a result of your actions."
"Good." There was a pause. "Thank you, sir."
"Make sure this type of thing doesn't happen again, Ms. Cabot, or more drastic measures will have to be taken." Mr. Hubener stood and opened the door to his office, signaling the others were free to go.
"Don't worry, sir, it won't."
The two students exited the office, looking considerably more relieved. Spencer, however, was still worried about something.
"Lex, I'm sorry you have detention because of me..."
His friend stopped walking and turned to him.
"Spence, given the chance, I would do it again. So don't be sorry that I care, all right?" With that, she turned back around and strode down the hall, leaving Spencer standing there by himself.
"All right."