Thank you for reviewing, and I apologize for the slow update. :P

Spencer's crusty eyes slowly opened to be greeted by the bright Nevada sun. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, he didn't sleep well last night for obvious reasons, he could still hear the laughter echoing through his ears, he could still feel the rope scraping against his pale skin, his pleads for dignity, his begs for mercy.

He crawled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom, he almost didn't recognize himself in the mirror with such bloodshot eyes and tear stains, he had hints of sunburn thanks to being left there the whole time. He turned on the sink and splashed cold water on his face before he decided to finally take a shower.

Of course, he had to get naked in order to do that.

Sighing, he mustered up as much willpower as he could and shed his pajamas before he started the water and once it was at the right temperature, he slid off his boxers and stepped inside to wash off the crud from yesterday.

Finally clean, he grabbed a towel and dried himself, allowing his hair to drip dry since that was healthier for it than scrubbing it a towel or blow drying it. He hurried into his room and pulled on another pair of boxers, a green sock with white four-leaf clovers and a plain gray sock, a pair of khakis, then a white polo shirt. He pulled it over his head and quickly fastened the buttons before slipping on his glasses. He headed over to his mother's room, she was awake and reading, which she's been doing a lot lately whenever she's lucid, and that worried the young genius. He made sure she took her medication before he announced he was going outside, this time, she let him go without any objection.

He sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, he just wanted some fresh air, without being tied to a pole that is. Then it occurred to him that this torment was almost over, graduation was closing in, and he could finally say goodbye to all those teenage jerks. For the first time in a while, he felt a smile forming on his face. Oh hallelujah! He couldn't wait to get out of there. Next to discovering the library, this was probably the best thing that's happened to him since he first came there, he was so excited, he was finally getting away from it all.

It ached him to think that his mother probably won't attend the ceremony, she rarely gets out of bed nowadays, and when she does, she's either having an episode, or she sits on the couch or at the dining table to read some more. She almost never goes outside too, Spencer spoke with her doctor on the matter and he suggested Diana started taking a vitamin D supplement. Spencer sighed, feeling that it's practically another thing to get his mother to take, but just like her meds, she needed to.

He stared out into the street, he half wondered where Jeff might be. Maybe he would go and see if he was home, but just when he was about to get up, he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Hey, Spencer!"

"Hi, Jeff." He replied.

"Whoa," Jeff said after taking in the younger boy's face. "You feeling okay, dude? You don't look so hot."

Spencer swallowed a growing lump in his throat. As badly as he wanted to talk about it, just let it out, cry on someone's shoulder, even if it was Jeff's... he couldn't. He even lost the courage to tell his own mother about the goalpost incident, there was no way he could tell his only friend, what if Jeff thought differently of him if he did open up to him? He couldn't take that risk of losing the only person in his life so far that he's been able to call a friend. Part of him was telling him that if Jeff really was his friend, he would listen, but another part of him screamed "Don't say anything! It's too embarrassing!"

He sighed and chose to listen to the second half and keep his mouth shut. "Rough night." He answered, and that wasn't entirely a lie.

The shaggy blonde nodded sympathetically.. "I hear ya, it happens to all of us sometimes."

"Mm." Spencer acknowledged.

"So, wanna toss the old pigskin?" Jeff asked.

"Huh?" He honestly did not understand what he just heard.

"It's another way of saying 'wanna play catch with a football'." He explained.

"Oh." Spencer blushed a little, he shuddered slightly at the word 'football', it nearly gave him flashbacks from yesterday. "Sorry, I'm still not good at catching." He admitted, and that too wasn't really a lie, he was terrible at catching, and he didn't want anything to do with footballs right now.

"That's okay." Jeff shrugged. "You got a bike? We could go for a ride."

The genius pondered for a moment. He did have a bike he got for his birthday a couple years ago, he rarely used it. Maybe now would be a good time to start again. "Sure." He replied with a smile.

"Cool, let me go get my helmet and I'll meet you back out here." With that, the older boy jogged back to his house and disappeared inside. Spencer proceeded to the unused garage by his own home and retrieved his dusty red bicycle and blue helmet. He was already feeling better despite what all happened to him the day before. He blew as much of the dust off as he could, the particles spread and irritated his nostrils, he sneezed once and pulled out a handkerchief from his back pocket and relieved his nose of the newly formed nasal mucus. He folded the cloth and put it back before he put on his helmet that surprisingly still fit, then pulled his bike out to the street where Jeff was already waiting. His bike was green and his helmet was orange.

"You ready?" He asked as he hopped on the seat.

"Yeah." Spencer replied. He gulped nervously as he seated himself, it was ironic to think that a person never forgets how to ride a bike once they've learned, and while he knew very well how to ride, it was his lack of coordinance that made riding difficult. Balancing in particular. He couldn't stand the thought of not being capable of riding a bike, even when he knew how to.

Wordlessly, Jeff had already began to ride down the street. Spencer took a deep breath and started working the pedals, he nearly fell over a couple times but he managed to stay up. Keeping his weight shifted and in check, he maneuvered the handle bar at the same time, he soon got the hang of it, only now he had to catch up with Jeff, who was already several feet ahead. He breathed a sigh of relief, he was worried for a minute, but that was gone now.

He pedaled faster just as Jeff slowed down to give him a chance, once they were next to each other, the older boy headed for a small descent.

"Woo-hoo!" He whooped, Spencer took a swallow before he followed him down the hill, he felt a smile form on his face as the welcoming cool breeze flowed by his face, he closed his eyes for a second as he exhaled and relaxed.

"Whoa, Spencer, look out!" His eyes shot open in time to see that he was about to ram into a parked car, he squeezed the brakes and braced himself. He managed to slow down enough by the time ha made contact with the vehicle so that no damage was done either way. Jeff biked over to the distraught boy and settled a hand on his shoulder.

"That was close, you okay, man?"

"Yeah." Spencer gasped. They took a break to allow his nerves to calm down before they eventually reached a local ice cream shop. Jeff suggested they both get a cone, but Spencer declined because he didn't have any money with him. The older boy bought one for each of them anyway.

"It's on the house." The blonde shrugged.

"Thank you." Spencer said before taking a lick off the cold, sugary goodness. Some time passed until he realized how late it'd gotten. He and Jeff rode back to their street and they split off for their houses.

"See ya." Jeff waved.

"Later." Spencer finished. He put his bike and helmet back in the garage before making his way to the front door. He hoped his mother was doing okay since he'd been gone, he cautiously opened the door to see Diana on the couch, reading. He breathed and shut the door, his mom barely acknowledged his presence. He went upstairs to rest his sore legs from biking and read a book or two.

As he sat on his bed, he once again was thinking about how graduation wasn't too far away, he was finally going to be rid of the blues that high school brings, or in this case, what the other students there provided. No more of the drama he's put up with for so long already.

He smiled as he flipped the page of his book. Yep, soon, it will all be over.

To be continued...

I'd like to point out just in case some of you might've thought otherwise, Jeff is not an OC, but he's never physically appeared in the show. He was only mentioned once during Reid's second flashback in "Revelations", so how he may have appeared or behaved is entirely up to our imaginations.