Childish| Criminal Minds

7

The last time one of his friends woke Spencer up this early in the morning, it ended in unwanted advancements and inappropriate outbursts of anger. The sun has barely risen, and everyone but Spencer has changed into bathing suits.

"You guys are actually gong swimming in the river? That's asinine."

"Oh, really?" Derek asks. "And you're not?"

"No way," Spencer says, shaking his head. Derek shrugs his shoulders and grabs a towel out of his bag.

"Suit yourself," Penelope says with a smile, holding a doughnut-shaped floaty under her left arm.

They leave Spencer alone in the tent, and he decides to get dressed. He can't really see himself falling back asleep, anyway.

Slipping his converse on, he takes a folding chair down closer to the bank and opens a book. The distant sounds of his friends' excited screaming from upstream is easily ignored as he reads.

"Hey Spence!" JJ yells. He looks up from his book. She's only a few feet from the shore, but the waves of the quick current are splashing against her ankles. "Can you help me out?"

"Uh yeah- sure," Spencer says. He puts his book down on the chair and carefully side-steps down the rocky shore of the river. JJ reaches out her hand, and Spencer takes it.

As he's trying to help her, JJ yanks her arm backwards and pulls Spencer into the cold water. He eventually struggles his way to the surface and stands on a relatively flat rock.

"JJ, what the hell?" he yells. JJ just giggles.

"It's fun!" she yells back. "See?" She chucks a rock a foot or two away from him and he flinches, the water splashing him in the face.

"This is your definition of fun?" he asks, annoyed. "I'm gonna go change into dry clothes."

"Hey," JJ says softly. She grabs Spencer's hand and leans back into the water. "Swim with me?"

Spencer sighs. Now that he's wet, he might as well try to have a good time. "Fine."

-

Elle Greenaway can feel her heart stop as her car comes to a screeching halt. She pulls her key out of the ignition and lets her head fall against the steering wheel. "No," she whispers to herself, but nothing can undo what she's done- nothing.

When she can finally bring herself to get out of the car, she sees it: Bobby Putnam's body, crushed beneath the low bumper of her vehicle.

"Shit," she mutters. She knows what she has to do, and she's not happy about it. She can't just leave him here. This road is quiet, but it isn't quiet enough. Someone might see him- someone might see her.

She takes a deep breath before grabbing onto his wrist, dragging his heavy body to the trunk of her car. It's no short effort; Bobby has at least seventy pounds on her, and after all, what they say is true: people really are heavier after they've died.

When she finally manages to lift him into the open trunk of her car, her arms are burning and she's sweating. She shuts it with a loud thud, and drives to the nearest secluded location she knows of; the nearest camping grounds to their small Virginia town.

-

After a good hour or two of messing around in the river, Spencer can genuinely say he's having fun. They take a ten minute walk up-shore, get on their floaties, and travel back to their campsite over and over again. Somehow it never gets old. Penelope and Derek's rafts get caught on a piece of driftwood near the opposite side of the river, and they make the most of it. They start walking through bushes, and notice a small creek relatively close to the river's edge.

Penelope steps ankle-deep into the water. "Oh my gosh, Derek, it's so warm."

"Gross," Derek laughs. Penelope points in awe at tadpoles and frogs that are in the water before she sees something that makes her jump back into Derek's arms.

"Oh my god!" Penelope screeches. She slips her shoes back on and starts running back to where they left their floaties.

"What is it, baby girl?" he asks, concerned.

"I saw a snake! I'm coming back to California with you."

"Penelope, I swear to god," Derek says as he holds back laugher. They start floating back as Penelope silently freaks out.

"I- I didn't even know snakes could swim!"

"Oh, sweets, they can and they do."

Emily and Aaron are the only ones not in the river. They're sitting on a bench near their tents. "So, how does it feel to be a legal adult?" Emily asks.

"Not any different," Aaron says with a shrug. "But I can vote now, so it's not all bad."

Emily had turned 18 a month before Aaron, and he was right. There really isn't anything different about being an adult until you're no longer living with your parents.

Spencer is sitting on the rocks by the edge of the river, shivering because his clothes are soaked. "I think I'm done swimming," Spencer chuckles. JJ leaves the water and wraps her arm around him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pulled you in," she apologizes.

"No, you shouldn't have. I could have had my phone in my pocket," he sighs. "I had fun though."

"I knew you would," JJ smiles. She helps Spencer up and they go back to the tent to change into dry clothes and keep Peter company.

Meanwhile, only a few miles downstream from their campsite, Elle Greenaway is dumping Bobby's lifeless body into the river. When she sees him finally disappear under the strong current she drives away, trying her best to pretend she hadn't just killed somebody.

This really wasn't how she wanted to start her senior year.

A/N: sorry for lack of updates! I was camping irl and some shit went down 🤦‍♀️

Word count: 984