Chapter 4: High School and Meetings

Dr. Spencer Reid began to feel queasy and his palms began to sweat. Even sixteen years after graduating he still felt like a small, nervous twelve-year-old around high schools. In his mind they were beacons of awkwardness, hormones, and torment. Reid sat with his head bent his dark eyes fixed upon his shoes, his medium length brown hair falling over his slim, pale face.

"What're you about thinking kid?" Agent David Rossi asked glancing at Reid from the driver's seat.

"High school." Reid said shortly without looking up. He was not the person who would go into explanations of feelings, at only twenty-eight years old he was the youngest ever member of the Behavioural Analysis Unit (he joined when he was twenty three). Because of this fact he kept his fears and insecurities to himself so as to not seem weak or unable. Only a few people had ever chorused him into saying what he felt; Morgan managed to find key times in which to talk to Reid and get information out of him, Hotch seemed to see through him, and of course former agent Jason Gideon who had hand picked Reid for the team and had always seem to understand him.

"Ah, the 'best years of our lives'." Rossi commented his voice dripping with sarcasm. He drove the SUV through a set of lights and they entered the town of Metcalfe. They continued down Victoria Street passing a gas station, a pharmacy, a hair salon, a few small shops, some houses, a bank and a restaurant called Main Street before the turned onto 8th line to reach the school. This road had obviously undergone recent construction. The sidewalks looked new and the road not as cracked and bumpy as one would expect a small town country road to be.

They pulled into the school, a large brick building, the words Osgoode Township High School posted by the main foyer entrance. A poster hanging underneath it depicting students representing extracurricular activities. Students were scattered around the school, by the looks of it, it was lunch time. By the far end of the school large groups of teenagers were clustered, a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging around them. Rossi drove the Tahoma to the parking lot at the back of the school. They pulled up to the crime scene tape surrounding to big dumpsters set by the first of three pairs of portable classrooms. Students sitting out at a set of bleachers over looking a large football field, that dipped down into a slightly smaller soccer field with a running rack around it were staring over curiously as Rossi and Reid emerged from the car. A few passing students scrutinized Reid as the walked. He felt his palms become more sweaty and his heart beat faster. "this is ridiculous," he thought to himself, "you're twenty-eight and they're kids. Calm down, you're smarter than that."

"You the FBI guys?" said the man in the Ottawa Police uniform standing beside the dumpsters. He had a gruff voice and sounded somewhat disgruntled. The man stood at about 5 feet 11 inches, both Reid and Rossi had to gaze downward to look him in the eye. Streaks of white intruded on his cropped blonde hair, he had round blues eyes, his uniform stretched across a fit muscular body gone slightly to seed. He seemed to be about forty-five years old.

"That's us," Rossi said extending a hand, "I'm Agent David Rossi, this is Dr. Spencer Reid."

At hearing the title doctor the cop looked Reid up and down sceptically, "Doctor eh?"

"That's right." Reid said trying to keep the frustration from his voice as he shook the officer's hand. People's disbelief was no longer flattering or amusing to him.

"Alright then, I'm Staff Sergeant Grahame Hills. Now down to business," He grunted turning toward the nearest dumpster, "Miss Harris was found in that one."

You're the FBI?" there came a voice behind them. They all turned to see an eccentric looking woman standing just outside the yellow crime scene tape. She was of average height Reid would put her at about 5 feet 6 inches, slim, black hair with streaks of red and blue dyed into it fell around her shoulders and framed an almost ghostly pale face. Her green eyes flitted between Reid and Rossi with curiosity. She reminded Reid forcibly of Garcia. She was holding an X-Men lunch box.

"What are you doing here Kiara?" Hills said staring daggers at the woman.

"Allie forgot her lunch, and she doesn't have any money," She said without looking at Hills, her eyes had stopped on Reid and she was observing him with interest, "If I don't bring it to her she'll come back to the house after school complaining that she's hungry and eat me out of house at home."

"Well go find her then." Hills said his face going slightly red, his dislike of the woman was apparent.

This time she ignored him, "So you're profilers right?" She said still looking at Reid.

"Uh, yeah," Reid said nervously failing to hold her gaze. So Rossi stepped forward and held his hand out to her.

"Agent David Rossi, and my socially challenged colleague here is Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Doctor, really?" She said still gazing at Reid past Rossi's arm "That's pretty impressive, you look so young."

"Oh. Uh, thank you um… Reid said slightly taken aback by her lack of disbelief or scepticism. The sweat on his palms no longer had anything to do with high school.

"Oh, Kiara Morbins, but please call me Kia." She said smiling sweetly

" It's nice to meet you Kia" Rossi said, looking from her to Reid with amusement.

Kia suddenly seemed to register the red angry face of Sergeant Hills standing behind Reid. "well I should go find my sister, but if your not to busy at some point Doctor Reid, I'd like to talk to you, I'm studying Criminology and am interesting in profiling."

"Oh, uh, That'd be, uh…" He trailed off

"He'd love to," Rossi said with a smile, he reached over into Reid's breast pocket and pulled out one the cards with his phone number, "this is how you can reach him." he added handing Kia the card.

"Thank you, it was nice meeting you agents, Have a nice day Grahame." at this she walked passed the tape and towards the school in search of her hungry sister.

After she'd walked out of sight behind what appeared to be a car garage for the auto-shop class Reid fixed his dark eyes upon Rossi in a glare. Rossi simply grinned at him and moved toward the dumpster.

"That girl's nothing but trouble," Hills mumbled darkly, still staring after Kia, "her and her sister."

"What makes you say that?" Rossi asked glancing over to make sure Kia was actually gone.

"Not what we're here to discuss is it Agent?"

"Alright, Reid check out the dumpster."

Reid stared at Rossi incredulously, "Why me?"

"You're younger and more able."

"I was shot in the leg." Reid said pointedly

"Almost a year ago, go on."

Reid rolled his eyes but argued no further, he hoisted himself up onto the side of the dumpster and leaned inside. "There's a lot of blood in here." He poked his head back out to look at Rossi,

Rossi pulled himself on to the side of the dumpster and looked inside curiously, "Well this either isn't just a dumpsite, or this Unsub's especially twisted."

"The guy's twisted," Hills snorted humourlessly, "well what amazing skills you profilers have, we now know he's twisted."

Reid bit back a flow of nasty comments, insulting the officer's intelligence would get the team no where. Rossi however jumped down off the dumpster and fixed Hills with a stare, "once we know more, we'll have more to tell you." he said simply, and without further comment walked toward the car to leave.