𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 [spencer reid]

8. two for two

          "𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐈𝐓, 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐋𝐘 who you're talking about."

The next morning, the team and Francesca woke up early to make it to Charlotte High School in time for the first bell. Divided in the same groups as the day before, every pair was instructed to relay the profile to faculty and try to get some names. Francesca and Spencer were assigned the science wing on the second floor. After visiting a couple of classrooms and not having much luck, a light bulb went off with a friendly psychology teacher.

"You do?" Spencer eagerly persisted, taking out a notepad from his crossbody.

The teacher, Ms. Granby, nodded nervously. "Yes, I think so. Her name's Penny Sherman. She's a senior in my last period psych class. She's a sweet girl, but she's been mouthing off recently. I don't blame her, though. She's had a rough past couple of weeks."

Francesca's eyebrows rose. "What happened?" she questioned, beating Spencer to the punch.

Ms. Granby shook her head with what seemed to be empathy. "Last month, her parents separated. I don't know much about her life at home, but students talk. It sounded like she was experiencing some serious physical and mental abuse. Poor girl."

"That's the stressor," Spencer whispered, jotting things down. Ms. Granny's eyes widened with confusion.

Francesca put one hand on Spencer's arm, her other over his frantic scribbling. He froze, realizing the girl was telling him to do this at another time. "Thank you for your help, miss," Francesca smiled softly. "We'll keep you posted."

"I was writing something, you know," Spencer complained as the two headed towards the staircase.

"Yeah, but you were mumbling things about a stressor and the woman was so lost," Francesca laughed, pushing the door open with the side of her hip when they got to the first floor. "No need to petrify her."

"Reid, we've got a name," Derek called across the room once he saw the agent and the girl appear from the stairwell.

"Us, too," Spencer replied, joining him and Emily.

"Penny Sherman. Senior," Emily handed Spencer a photo of the girl, which the registrar kindly printed out. Him and Francesca analyzed it.

"Brunette," Francesca muttered. She looked up at Derek and Emily. "Like the victims."

"Perhaps Penny is seeing the victims as herself,"' Spencer theorized, giving the picture back to Emily. "One teacher told us she was undergoing abuse at home, so maybe she's replicating that abuse on victims that look like her. We've seen that before."

"Could be," Emily supported the idea. "Bad news is that she's not in school today."

"Good news, though, is that no other students are absent today," Derek added, "so we know she isn't busy with someone else."