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ONE: "She admired his intelligence, but it was more than that..."
Anastasia Harper had always wanted to help people, that was her goal in life. Her childhood was rough, to say the least. Her and her siblings had always told each other that they would just do good in their future. And... that's what brought her here, the outside of the FBI academy, in Quantico, Virginia. She was fresh out of college with a degree in criminal psychology, and the next step in her future was completing training at the academy. Her first required course was Dr Spencer Reid's seminar on criminal profiling, followed by a bunch of others, plus the physical training portion. So, there she was, it was her first real day of training. She had been to orientations and introductions and was introduced to a few of her teachers, but she hadn't met Dr Reid, who was teaching her first class.
Dr Reid wasn't like the other instructors she had met previously. The ones she met were mostly middle aged men who loved to give inspirational speeches in place of actual orientation related speeches. She expected her first class to go like that again, but Dr Reid was young, younger than he should be to be an experienced agent in the FBI. He was lean and had a full head of hair, unlike the other instructors she had met. It gave her hope that her time in both training and in the FBI would be more interesting than she thought it would be. Trying to figure him out was hard, though. She couldn't figure out why he was so damn young, yet spoke with so much poise and experience.
There was actually a team of people behind him as well. He introduced himself to us and told us that he would be teaching us this course. After that, the group of people standing a bit behind him stepped up.
"This is the first class of your training," started a young, blonde woman.
"Pay attention, your experience here in the academy will shape you," added a taller, short haired woman.
"No matter what you think you want to do, work in profiling, forensics, surveillance, whatever it may be, you must put all of your effort into every aspect of your training," added a darker, muscular man.
"You must know this by now, but the academy only accepts 3% of applicants. You may have been chosen, but you must prove to us that you can stay," said an older, Italian looking man.
"Don't take this experience for granted. Your teachers, like Dr Reid here are exceptionally talented and you should never undermine their teachings," added a man in a crisp suit.
"And lastly, don't forget to do it all with a smile," concluded a woman with extremely bright clothes.
Anna liked whoever these people were, they must have been a team on the FBI of some sort. Maybe a profile team, considering the class they were speaking in. They looked close to each other and it made Anna want to join the FBI even more. She wanted to be what they were, successful agents who practically saved the world for a living. She even wanted to join this specific team, but they were probably way above her ranks would ever be.
But she took a particular interest in Spencer. He seemed so talented and he just had this way about him. And she wasn't the only girl in class who noticed it.
"Well, everybody, that's my team. We work in a division of the FBI called the BAU, the behavioural analysis unit, and we specialise in profiling. Be familiar with their faces, they'll be coming to teach with me often," said Spencer.
Just then, Anna's phone rang. It could be heard across the whole room.
"And that brings us to our first example of what not to do, and that is having phones on in class," said Spencer sternly.
"I'm sorry Dr Reid, that won't happen again," Anna said, embarrassed.
Her cheeks turned red and all she noticed was Dr Reid's gaze still on her. What is he looking at?
He was looking at her in a way she felt no one had ever looked at her before. It was with admiration, almost, as if no one's phone had ever gone off in class before.
That being said, the woman in bright clothes's phone had just rung. It appears that the rest of the team had a case, but Spencer would stay until the course was over.
He started his lesson after his team left. He gave the class an introduction to criminal profiling and what they would learn throughout the course. He was so poised, so gentle. Yet, she almost wanted him to be the exact opposite of gentle with her. She wasn't exactly sure where those thoughts were coming from, but the way he had looked at her before was a look she wasn't sure that she could get over.
When the hour ended and class was over, everyone else started to leave the classroom. Anna was one of the last people out because of where she was sitting its distance from the door. On her way out, Spencer came up to her.
"Hi there, I just wanted to apologise, I know it was rude making an example of you like that when your phone rung," he said.
"Don't apoligise, it shouldn't have been on," said Anna, before quickly leaving.
She was left flustered that Spencer had approached her like that, and he was left quite confused. Usually, his students would have been all over an opportunity to have a one on one conversation with him. He didn't like to encourage it, but it definitely happened a lot. But she just walked away, how strange, he thought.
She saw Spencer around a lot that day, as she went from class to class. She realised that he must be quite important because everywhere she went, he was there, talking to someone new. She wondered why so many people in so many different fields around the academy went to him for help. It was strange, no one is that smart.
But, he was. She learnt that after going to his lessons for a week. He could answer any question, just like that. He was never unsure. He just seemed to know things. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Teachers were never 100% perfect, even they had to look things up sometimes, but Dr Reid just seemed to be some sort of genius.
All she wanted was to get to know him better. Something about him intrigued her so deeply. She admired his intelligence, but it was more than that. He almost seemed to put on the awkward facade, to have people think he was this awkaward, nerdy type. But she could see through that. He walked with a certain confidence, yet at the same time, he didn't. He was just so interesting.
