Escaping to the Genius

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As the next day was Saturday, the team had the day off, so Spencer and Celeste slept in.

About nine in the morning, Spencer woke up to a clang and rushed out of his room. "Celeste?"

She was kneeling on the floor, hastily rubbing a wet cloth over spilled batter. "Sorry. I tripped."

He picked up the pan and put it in the sink. "Don't apologize. It's fine. Accidents happen."

She smiled as she stood to wash out the rag. "You and Brent are so different it's hard to believe you're siblings."

He chuckled, beginning to help her clean the batter. "That isn't the first time I've heard that. Mom would say that to us all the time."

After cleaning up, Celeste remade the batter with Spencer's help, and they ate waffles for breakfast. "What time are the girls coming by?" he asked when they were finished.

"I don't know. Probably soon." She shrugged. "Garcia seemed too excited to not start in the morning."

He chuckled. "That's not hard to believe. Here." He raced back to his room and grabbed his billfold, pulling out a card to hand to her. "Take this."

She hesitated. "I'll pay you back."

"Not necessary. I'm your guardian; it's understood that I'll take care of your needs." He pressed the debit card into the palm of her hand. "I don't get much for myself anyway, so go crazy."

He said that because he knew she'd only buy the bare minimum if he didn't, despite probably needing more.

She nodded and took out her wallet, sliding the card into an empty slot for safe-keeping. He put his hand on hers while it was open, making her pause. "I thought you said Will paid you for babysitting?"

She shrugged sheepishly. "I left before he could?"

He laughed. "Get some cash then too." There was a knock at the door and Celeste looked at the dirty dishes. "I'll clean up. Go have fun."

Flashing a quick smile, she gave him a hug and pulled on her old sneakers. "Bye, Uncle Spencer!"

When she pulled open the door, she saw Garcia, JJ, and Prentiss on the other side, all wearing big smiles. "Ready to pick out some clothes that fit you?" JJ asked.

"I think so. I've never really been shopping."

Spencer came to the door to say hi before they left, and the girls immediately pulled Celeste out the door. "Nope," Garcia said. "No boys. Hello; goodbye."

He chuckled. "Bye, sweetheart. Call if you need anything."

She smiled and nodded before the trio was dragging her down the hall and outside to a car.

~

Celeste was in the back of the car with JJ, and the two sat in relative silence while Prentiss and Garcia talked enough for all four of them.

Finally JJ said, "Have you told Spencer?"

It took Celeste only a second to understand what she meant. "Yes. He freaked out, but when he learned I didn't do it to myself, he calmed down some. But it looked like it was just for my benefit."

She nodded. "Good. It was killing me to not be able to tell him."

Prentiss turned back. "Tell who what?"

Waving it off, JJ said, "Nothing. Uh, Celeste, what store do you want to go to first?"

She shrugged. "I've never been shopping. You guys pick."

"We've gotta know your style for that, sweetie," Garcia said. "What do you like?"

Again, she simply shrugged. "I wear whatever I can find usually."

Prentiss smiled. "Let me rephrase that. What style catches your eye? What do you want to try first?"

"Oh." She took a moment to think. "I like skirts. Not the short ones, they have to be at my knee." The girls nodded approvingly. "And I suppose bangles would be best for me to wear if I have on short sleeves." This time only JJ nodded; the other two looked really confused.

Celeste sighed; she had better just tell them. "Brent and his friends cut me a few times on my wrists. It hasn't happened recently, so they're all almost completely healed."

Garcia almost stopped the car. "I think I heard you wrong, Celeste. Can you please repeat that?"

She pushed back her sleeve. After telling JJ and Spencer, it was easy to talk about. Besides, Brent had no idea where she was. "My dad let his friends cut me," she said, complying with Garcia's request.

When the technical analyst saw the marks, wavy from Celeste fighting back, she gagged and almost fainted. Because she was driving, she caught herself and stayed focused. They were almost there anyway.

"So, bangles," Prentiss nodded, her face pale. "Sounds like a good idea."

~

Once inside the mall, Celeste looked around, her jaw at the floor. So many clothes shops-and the girls would probably drag her into each one.

Garcia looped her arm with Celeste's and looked around. "Since you're so much like Reid, let's try Old Navy first. It has more conservative clothes than some other shops."

She barely saw the store before the girls pushed her to the dressing room, directing her to stay there; they'd find and toss clothes over the door at her.

"What size do you think she is?" Garcia asked, rifling through a stack of skinny jeans.

"Probably a six or seven," Prentiss answered. "But all I've seen on her are Reid's pants, so I'm not sure how big her legs are."

Garcia grabbed a five and seven, taking a couple shirts from JJ to take back. "Try some button-downs," she called, "and sweater vests." Personally, she wasn't a fan of sweater vests, but her goal wasn't to turn Celeste into a mini-her, it was to find clothes that she would be comfortable in. And since she was so similar to her uncle, she thought that the best place to start was with what Spencer wore.

"Here, Celeste. Try these on, tell me if we need to go a size bigger or smaller."

Silently she complied, slipping on the smaller size of jeans. They conformed so closely to the shape of her legs that she thought they were too small, and had to ask Garcia. Garcia just shook her head. "Nope. That's how skinny jeans fit. Want me to look at bootcut?"

She nodded. "Please."

"Okay. Try on the shirts; tell me if you like them."

They were in Old Navy for close to an hour and a half-an hour and twenty-six minutes by Celeste's mental clock.

Next they went to Aeropostale, American Eagle, Maurice's, and about a thousand others that Celeste didn't bother to look at the name of. Each time she swiped Spencer's card, she felt guilty.

The girls were weighed down with bags on every arm, and Celeste was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt she'd gotten from the clearance rack in Buckle. When she had seen the prices on everything there, she immediately went to the clearance rack and refused to look at anything else.

It was three in the afternoon now, so they dropped their bags in the car; there was barely space for them to fit.

"Did we need to get so much? I don't need more than seven outfits."

JJ smiled. "Now you have some variety though. And Spence doesn't mind; I talked to him, and he knew how much we'd end up spending. You did just buy a whole new wardrobe."

She nodded, but she still felt guilty. Spencer had all of that money saved up, probably for something important, and here she was blowing all of it.