A/N: I'm super sorry this took so long! I've been so occupied with my Quantico high school story in the making and school is just so annoying. I hope this chapter makes up for it.

Also, I need to make a shoutout to a new Criminal Minds writer who wrote this awesome AU High School fic that I currently love. It's called America by EvilRegal10. I enjoy it a lot, and please check that story out.

Here's chapter four!

Penelope woke up at approximately at midnight. The only reason why she woke up was because she was woken up. She was woken up by the same man that visited the day before Thanksgiving. She stared at him, all wide and afraid as the man's yellow smile tore through her soul. She should've known that once a middle aged man visits you one time, he'll visit you another time, and another, and another, breaking into a vicious cycle that would be further known as sex trafficking.

"Hey, love," says the man, lifting up another twenty. "You know the deal."

In the back of Penelope's mind, she knew that this was just the beginning, that these kisses were going to turn into another things. That she was going to end up doing things that nine year old little girls should never, ever do. For now, these were kisses. But what Penelope was wondering was what was next? And...was she that desperate for a twenty?

That twenty taunted her, laughed at her.

Yes.

Yes she was.

As soon as Thanksgiving break was over, everyone had to go back to school. Spencer was in second grade, JJ in third, Derek in sixth, and Emily in ninth. No one was really eager to go except for Spencer. Even JJ wasn't all too excited.

"Do you know we color less?" JJ sulked. "I have to focus on drawing on my own. Plus, art class is canceled for this whole week! That's the only reason why I go to school!"

Emily smirked at Haley. "That must be encouraging for you to hear."

"Delightful," Haley smiled back, pretending to be annoyed.

"Hey Derek," Emily said, spotting her brother walking into the room. "Are you excited for your cafeteria job?"

Derek groaned. "Am I really?"

"I put in a good word for you, you should be thanking me," said Emily, with a teasing smile. Last year in middle school, Emily volunteered in the school's cafeteria in the morning, just because the school offered an Archon award for service, as well as extra credit for whatever subject they wanted. Before she graduated, she talked the cafeteria workers into letting Derek assist them. Nepotism? Works like a charm.

"...I should," says Derek, smiling slightly. "Thanks. But I'm looking forward to eating most of the peanut butter sandwiches I know they keep in the back."

"Just don't get caught," advised Emily.

Haley sighed. "Do I even want to know?"

"Mom, school food is free, so technically we're not stealing," said Emily.

"She's got a point there, mom," added Derek with a wide grin.

"Don't forget that I won't be home until later. Spencer has an appointment with Dr. Blake until 4:30. So please take your keys," Haley said to her children, sighing again.

"What about me?" JJ said.

"I'm picking you up and we're walking," answered Derek.

"Are you nuts?" Penelope asked Shane, sounding horrified at the idea he was suggesting. Stephen was just as afraid as Penelope was, but chose not to show it.

"They wouldn't expect a thing," says Shane. "We're kids, after all."

"Sneaking into the local middle school to get some breakfast?" Stephen asked, in a voice that clearly made him think that Shane was possibly insane. "If we're not recognized, then we're sure to get a CPS call."

"We'll be separated, Shane," Penelope tried to emphasize. "And besides...I'm nine, not ten."

"Don't tell me you think they'll seriously question your age?"

"How will we be able to leave the building, that's what I'm worried about," said Stephen.

"We will," assured Shane. "We just eat, then we floor it."

"Floor it," repeated Penelope. "Just like that? You make it sound so simple."

"Because it is," Shane said, as if it were obvious. "Now let's go, breakfast is soon."

"You know, Dave," Hotch started off, trying to work at his desk as his former professor walked around his office. "When you said that you wanted to see how I was doing, I didn't think this would turn into some big evaluation."

Dave smirked slightly. "Is that how I made you feel?"

"I feel like I'm a student," Hotch admitted with a joking chuckle.

Dave laughed too. "Sorry about that. It's just...I'm proud of you, you know that?"

Hotch smiled. Words that he never heard from his own father. "I couldn't do it alone."

"I'm waiting for your daughter to pop out and yell at us to kiss," Dave said, teasingly.

"I am so sorry she said that."

"Eh, it's funny now, but it wasn't then," said Dave, dismissing the topic. "So, how are your cases?"

"So many."

Dave glanced at the files and gave out a low whistle. "This makes me glad that I'm retired."

"Shut up, old man."

"So wait, that's it?" Derek asked the cafeteria lady who was teaching him. "I thought I'd actually have to work."

The lady's lips thinned. "Is this too easy, for you?"

Derek chuckled nervously. "I mean, NOPE! Ha, ha. An eleven year old like myself will hopefully figure out this task." The cafeteria lady said nothing, only nodding as Derek put syrup on the cheap school pancakes. Soon, students began to line up for these pancakes that Derek found himself wondering why they'd want them. He tasted a few, and they might as well shit on a tray and hand it to them. Seriously, they were disgusting. He was thankful that Haley's pancakes were the farthest thing from these pancakes.

The line got shorter and shorter, and he was about to stop working until he saw three kids, that he'd never seen before.

Except for one.

He didn't know how, but the girl looked somewhat familiar. Or maybe she, felt familiar. The girl had pink glasses with blonde hair that reminded him of his sister JJ. She was a little on the pudgy side, and she...wore a Doctor Who scarf that looked much like his little brother used to have. On the other end, Penelope's heart was beating rapidly against her chest... not in a good way. She knew who this was, that was the brother of the boy he stole the very scarf she was wearing right now! Oh no, this is bad. This was really, really bad. "We have to go," she whispered to Shane, who only ignored her pleas.

"Stop," he whispered back, "We're scoring some food."

"Pancakes?" Derek offered, not taking his eyes off the pudgy blonde. All of them nodded eagerly as Derek put syrup on their pancakes and handed it to them on trays. Before Penelope could get herself out of there, Derek said to her, "I like your scarf."

Penelope wanted to die. "Th-thanks um, my br-brother bought it for me yesterday," she stammered as she lied to him. As quickly as she could, she rushed over to a table and began to eat, with Stephen and Shane following behind her, all of them not noticing Derek's confused yet concerned look.

"What is your problem?" Shane hissed, taking a mouthful of the pancake. "We got free pancakes and you want to leave?"

"That's the brother," Penelope said, as if that explained everything.

Stephen's brows furrowed. "Huh?"

"The brother of the little boy I stole this scarf from. Why do you think he said, 'Nice scarf?' He's on to me."

"How do you know it's him?" Shane asked.

Penelope fiddled with her fingers nervously while glancing at Derek. "I...I just felt it. The way he looked at me. Once he spoke I knew it was him since I recognized his voice."

"Take it to go," said Shane, sighing.

And they left, with Derek continued to stare as they casually exited the school building.

After a long debate with between Haley and Hotch, they decided to see what would happen if Spencer didn't have a para for the remainder of the school year. They discussed this multiple times during the recent IEP meeting since school professionals mentioned Spencer was making dramatic leaps with Asperger's.

Still, Haley was a little nervous since it wasn't about his academic success, but his emotional stability. But it was noticed that Spencer didn't have a meltdown or what he would call, a Bad Day in a long time now.

Spencer liked the second grade, even if it was still unchallenging for him. Still, the class was learning how to add and subtract big numbers. The teacher was fully aware that Spencer was a bit bored in class, so she recommended that Spencer just finish the worksheets and she'll reward him eventually with a book. This system worked out perfectly, remaining focused and on task.

He was finished with the worksheet quickly and began reading his book at a fast pace. That is, until he heard one of the girl's in his class crying quietly to herself next to him.

Her eyes were red as she stared at her incomplete worksheet.

"Why are you crying?" He asked her, trying to keep his eyes on the novel and focusing on it. Truthfully, she was distracting him since she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was. To anyone else, they'd say that Spencer had highly sensitive ears, which was true.

"I'm stupid, that's why," she murmured softly.

"...Is it math?" Inquired Spencer, still keeping his eyes on the book. He didn't see the little girl nod her head once, he waited for her to speak. "Do you...do you need help with the worksheet?"

"Y-Yeah," she stammered, trying to gain her composure as she shared her worksheet with Spencer. Finally, he put his novel to face that girl he never talked to, the girl he never made eye contact with until now.

She had brown wavy hair with bangs, her hair always pulled back into a medium length ponytail, yet there were two curls that framed her face perfectly.

"Sixty five minus thirty nine," Spencer read the first problem aloud. "What is it you're having trouble with?"

"You know how we're supposed to start with the ones side first and minus in a row? Well...I can't. You can't minus nine from five."

"Actually you can but that'd be a negative integer and..." He stopped himself mid ramble, having a small sense that the girl was confused by what he was saying. "I'm sorry, I'm socially awkward and I'm...weird."

The girl gave him a small smile. "I don't think you're weird. You're nice."

Spencer saw her smile, like on the Facial Expressions Chart, and before he realized he should smile back, he found himself already doing it, because he felt it. "Thanks, um, so in this problem, you add a one in front of the five, and that becomes fifteen, but you have to subtract one from the six in the tens place, and that six becomes five."

"So it's like borrowing," the girl clarified.

Spencer nodded. "Yes. And then you do fifteen minus nine instead and get six, then you subtract from the tens place, five minus three and you get two."

"So it's twenty six," she clarified again. She grinned at him, "Thanks. You're a really good teacher. Why couldn't Miss Mckenzie explain it that way?"

"We all learn in different ways and paces," Spencer replied.

The girl's smile grew big at his understanding. "I'm Maeve."

This time, Spencer found himself smiling again at her. "I'm Spencer."

Derek made sure to arrive at JJ's elementary school, picking her up on time. Still, his mind was a little frazzled from this morning's breakfast. That blonde girl from earlier, in particular. He swore he knew her from somewhere, he just didn't know where. And then, there was that scarf that looked so much like Spencer's. Plus, he had never seen her and those two boys in their middle school before. His mind was adding things up, but he couldn't be too sure. She could be saying that her older brother bought her that scarf, but he didn't know. He didn't know if this was the whole truth, or if there even was a truth.

"Derek?" JJ asked, grabbing his hand as they began to walk home. "What's wrong? You don't...look right."

Derek had his brows furrowed and his head down as they walked. "I just...I'm confused."

Now, JJ was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I think I..." Derek paused, wishing he was completely sure. "I think I met the person who robbed Spencer." He paused again, meeting JJ's horrified and critical eyes as he said: "And I think I let her get away."

A/N: I'm sorry that the scenes are very short and scattered, but like I said, I'm more focused on my Turmoils at Quantico High story that'll be out as soon as LMHYW is finished, (Which is soon, btw) so I'm sorry if this isn't as good as the previous chapters.