Hidden secrets My Candy LOve

by amylbarrow

My fan fiction based on the website , if you wish to see what most of the charaters in my story look like i recomend you visit the website i will try my best to update regularly but please be aware that i am about to start university therefore i will be quite busy so bare with please

1. Hidden secrets

Prologue

The dry Arizona landscape was magnificent during late June many different animals appeared to bask in the warm sunlight and unusual plants flowered in the sand and rock and a warm breeze whistled through her riding hat blowing loose strands of her black hair around. She pushed her black thoroughbred into a gallop throwing up dust as she listening to the thunder of his hooves as they flew over the ground and the sound of the wind as it whistled past them.

Crystal dismounted in the yard of her best friend's house. Crystal led star to his stable and untacked him, a familiar face appeared over the door, "hey cryst" "hey Arianna" crystal turned to face a ginger haired girl, grinning at her. Crystal and Arianna had been friends since before they could remember. Arianna was very pretty even when she was in her stable gear. She hardly needed any make up and yet every boy swooned over her, probably because those honey coloured eyes could bore into them and make them melt. "Shouldn't you be getting back your parents will be home soon plus its starting to get dark" Arianna said casting a look at the fiery sky now interjected with inky blackness,

'Oh' crystal had forgotten her parents were returning from there anniversary cruise today. "Thank god you reminded me I best get home and start cleaning, can you feed star for me please" "sure thing I was just on my way to do conkers anyway" but crystal had already set off across the yard "tell your parents mine say hi" Arianna called after her "will do, thanks again ri" crystal cried as she mounted her bike.

"Jeez I'm knackered, do we have any lemonade Nate?" crystal called out, expecting her brother to reply, she slung her riding hat and gloves in the open cupboard under the stairs. She started to walk down the hall towards the kitchen "Nate, Naa..." *humph* crystal felt her legs go from underneath her as her big Alaskan husky came barrelling past her before turning on his heels and licking her entire face as she lay helplessly on the floor trying to draw breathe. Crystal heard a throaty laugh somewhere above the mound of grey and black fur. "Good boy Shasta" Nate laughed at his sister "get …. Him ….. off…..me" crystal felt the huge dog move off her chest and stared up into her brothers blue eyes as he knelt over her still laughing, his thick Marble black fringe plastered to his head by sweat, she tried to frown but this only made Nate laugh harder, annoyed crystal grabbed her brothers ankles and heaved on them causing Nate to topple backwards. " ha who's laughing now" crystal cried as she climbed to her feet but before she was fully straight, her brother had already recovered himself and shoulder crashed into her, lifting her off her feet and slinging her over his shoulder, she pounded her fists against his back " Put me down Nate I mean it, or so god help me I will …." But before she could finish, her brother had flung her on the couch and was sat on her chest "so god help me you'll do what streak?" Nate smirked at his sister; crystal opened her mouth to reply when there was a knock on the door. The siblings looked at each other then at the mess that surrounded them, a look of panic crossed there faces, Nate climbed off his sister before frowning at the antique clock that sat on the fireplace mantle, "there early" Nate proclaimed, "yeah well you know what dads like on the accelerator" crystal remarked as she climbed off the couch, and began trying to quickly make the room look decent.

A police officer walked in the room after Nate, Crystal went to sit beside her brother who was now sat on the couch, they had but moments ago been play fighting on. The officer stood in front of the two teenagers, and explained the situation that had prompted his visit but crystal had stopped listening the words deceased and parents circling in her head "it was a head on collision there were no survivors". Neither she nor Nate said anything. After a while the officer explained he had to go and would inform the siblings of any developments. Nate stood up stiffly, his tanned face now drained of colour, his eyes threatening to spill over the tears that hung there, he showed the officer the door, crystal heard the officer talking but she couldn't hear the conversation over her sobs, the only word she heard came from her brother "Auntie".

First day

'Ugh what is that smell' crystal thought as she turned over in her bed eyes still shut, as she lay on her side she heard a big sigh followed by a blast of hot air. Crystal's eyes shot open only to find she was staring in to the ice blue eyes of her dog. "Ugh what time is it" she asked patting the dog's fluffy head, she looked over at the alarm clock it said 6:30 am crystal moaned knowing she would never get back to sleep. "Everything alright" crystal jumped she hadn't expected her aunt to be up; she looked to her bedroom door to find her aunt poking her bubblegum pink head round it. "Excited for your first day at a new school my little senior" ugh crystal had forgotten about that "come on get out of bed you've got the horses to do". Crystal looked out the window, from here she had a view of the land that her auntie owned, she could see the plot that her aunt grew her produce on, the paddocks (one with yesterdays jumps still set up), and of course the stables, were right now her black horse stared up at her intently. "Fine" crystal muttered at the horse's intense gaze, she turned towards her aunt who was now flicking through her wardrobe. "Maddie can I asked you something" "sure sweetie what's up" maddie came and sat down on the bed next to crystal "its just I need some advice I'm a little nervous about my first day especially as it's halfway through the semester" "listen sweetie If you just be yourself you'll be fine ok you're a beautiful charismatic young woman making friends won't exactly be hard for you" crystal laughed at her aunts response "your supposed to say that you're my aunt but thank you anyway" "sorry I can't be much help sweetie" maddie stood up and kissed crystals head "come on get ready you".

Crystal laughed at her black thoroughbred as he tossed his head whilst eating his hay sending it everywhere "knock it off star, I have to look good it's my first day at school stupid" she patted the horses silky black neck before brushing herself down. She turned her horse out with her aunt's Clydesdale and Shetland. "See you guys later" crystal cried as she shouldered her bag and plucked a strand of hay out her blue chequered shirt before heading to her new school.

Crystal was looking in awe at her new school sweet amoris, huge white buildings surrounded the large school yard in which she and plenty of other students where walking through now. *humph* crystal felt the wind get knocked out her as she slammed into something hard before landing on the concrete "Damm it" she said to herself "hey watch were your going" came a sulky reply from above her, she looked up only to find that the something she had run into was in fact a someone, a very handsome someone, with gray eyes that looked as through they held many secrets and a head of vicious fiery red hair, that fell down to his collarbone. Crystal just stared at this handsome smirking Stranger 'smirking?' She suddenly realised why he was smirking, her eyes hadn't left his face, she quickly turned away and hid behind her blue tinted fringe and began picking up the books she had dropped, she stood up hastily "I'm sorry I didn't see you" "that much I guessed" . Now that crystal was stood up she got a better look at the fiery red head, he was tall, lean and muscular, a dark red t-shirt with the winged skulls logo clung to his chest accompanied by a black leather jacket, he wore black pants with chains hanging off the belt, heavy motorcycle boots were on his feet. His face was handsome and masculine the contours of his face were solid and strong. "I'm crystal I'm new here" she held out her hand for him to shake but he just looked at it and gazed past her, Crystal rolled her eyes and walked off only to feel something tug on the back of her hair, she turned around to see the red head holding a piece of hay, before casually putting it into his mouth, she stared at the piece of hay (which rested against his soft lips) "Damm horse", crystal growled to herself she shook her head in disbelief and stalked away from the laughing red head.

'Jeez what's his problem'. Crystals thoughts were interrupted as She flung open the doors and slammed into yet another solid object, she looked up. She was looking up at a trio of girls whom were all very pretty, "watch were your going bitch, don't you know who this is" the small Asian girl in the trio proclaimed gesturing to the pretty blonde in the middle before tossing her rich black hair over her shoulder "I'm sorry I didn't see you I was in a rush to sign in" crystal clambered to her feet "so you're the new girl" the pretty blonde asked looking at crystals blue chequered shirt and jeans combo with Swede boots, then turning to her friends "since when did they let hillbillies into this school" she began to laugh, her blonde ringlets bobbing up and down on her shoulders, the Asian girl began to laugh and a third girl joined in too, her mousey brown ponytail swinging as the pair followed the blond, she shoved crystal back down onto the floor and strutted off down the corridor. 'Cow' "hey are you alright" crystal looked up to see a pretty girl with a single braid in her hair stood above her holding her hand out. Crystal gratefully took it and climbed to her feet "my names Iris by the way" the auburn girl replied "thanks I'm crystal it's nice to know there are some nice people in this school" she replied "yeah ambers a real piece of work, couple of things you need to know if you wanna survive here 1. Don't get in her way, 2. No flirting with her brother and 3. no eyeing up castiel" crystal raised an eyebrow "that's castiel" iris pointed at the redhead crystal had bumped into moments ago, "Amber has had a major crush on him for years plus I would stay clear of him anyway he's not very friendly, or not as friendly as he used to be anyway" crystal snorted "no worries there" .

Iris led crystal down 2 corridors to the science department after crystal had signed in "alright this is were we are" the auburn girl smiled at cryst and opened the door, the room smelled heavily of disinfectant and a blinding white light reflected from the floors and science desks. "ah iris I see you helped miss lena find her way excellent" exclaimed her science teacher Mr Clarke "would you mind coming to the front and just giving us a brief introduction to your self" crystal nodded gingerly as she walked to the front, she turned to face the class and looked nervously around the classroom her eyes fell upon a small boy with large glasses and a bowl cut hair style 'Oh no what's he doing here' "Miss Lena?" Mr Clarkes voice brought her back down to earth "sorry, erm hi my names crystal Lena, erm I moved to town about a week ago due to family…" she let her voice trail off as the snapshots of that june evening flooded back, Mr Clarke notice she was uncomfortable "thank you Miss Lena would you like to take a seat" Ken (her dorky stalker from her previous school) began to wave madly and started to point at the empty chair next to him, crystal walked past the boy with the strange bowl cut and instead went to occupy the seat next to iris.

Halfway through the lesson crystal noticed a flash of red out the corner of her eye, and turned to see the fiery red head she had run into this morning standing under a tree outside 'castiel, nice name and nice looking' crystal thought smiling to herself, all of a sudden castiel turned and looked straight at crystal giving her a cheeky wink before stubbing out the cigarette that crystal had some how missed, she just rolled her eyes and continued to listen to Mr Clarke.

Lunch

The bell rung to signal the end of 3rd period and the beginning of lunch, crystal walked over to her locker 'the day turned out pretty decent, iris is in two of my classes so I have someone to talk to at least', "hey crystal" she turned to see iris and a purple haired girl hurrying towards her "me and Violette were just heading to the lunch hall you wanna join us" " yeah and don't worry about everyone else, there super nice its just amber and her crew" Violette remarked, crystal smiled at the offer "thanks guys" .

The lunch hall was huge, down one side a huge assortment of meals were set out or being served and in the middle, rows and rows of tables were set out. Crystal gazed around as she moved along the queue for lunch.

Iris and Violette dragged crystal over to a small group of people "hey guys I would like to introduce you to crystal" iris said as she gestured to crystal. Iris and Violette introduced her to everyone, crystal tried to keep up 'so the green haired boy is jade and I already met Nathanial, the dark skinned girl is Kim and blue dress is melody and…' she felt something slam into her back she stumbled forward from the force and lost her grip on the tray in her hand, with a loud clatter it landed on the one person she had been warned to stay out of the way of.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID YOU STUPID IDIOT" amber who's blonde hair now contained pieces of pasta and meat had gotten into crystals face and was screaming at her "YOUR GOING TO PAY FOR THIS DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THESE PANTS COST ME" "hey it wasn't my fault alright someo.." suddenly she felt rather than heard the slap, she raised her hand to her face and felt the heat rise on her cheek, tears in her eyes she looked up in anger at amber who looked like she was about to strike again, she clenched her fists ready to defend and strike back when a voice came from somewhere in the crowd "don't you dare amber" a second later castiel had stepped in front of crystal and was facing amber "it wasn't her fault that idiot collided with her" he pointed an accusing finger at ken, "WHY ARE YOU STICKING UP FOR THE HILLYBILLY LOOK WHAT SHE DID" amber gestured to herself. Crystal felt her anger rise "AT LEAST I'M NOT SOME STUCK UP TWO FACED RICH GIRL WHO THINKS SHE RUNS THIS SCHOOL JUST BECAUSE HER MOMMY AND DADDY ARE WELL OFF" crystal outburst had not only surprised castiel and amber but herself as well.

"what's going on here" a shrill high pitched voice echoed through the lunch hall, everyone scattered everyone except, iris, vi, castiel, amber, a silver haired boy and Nathanial the student body president. Crystal watched in shock as amber suddenly burst out into fake tears and began twisting the truth to make herself look like the victim.

"Thanks for sticking up for me back there" crystal muttered as she walked to her next class with castiel "s'ok" "you're a man a very few words aren't you" the red head shrugged, crystal smiled and shook her head "listen I'm sorry you had to get punished because of my clumsiness" crystal arrived at her English class "so I guess I'll see you in detention then" "yeah see you hick" crystal stared in disbelief as the red head walked down the hall 'Great my first nick name" she smiled and shook her head as she walked through the classroom door

Detention

The bell rung to signal the end of the day, crystal walked out the classroom, she was talking to iris, "right I guess it's time for detention then" "Honestly when I thought she couldn't sink any lower she then goes and does this" iris replied "I've been here one day and I can see she's got the entire school under her thumb" "yeah well if she was under my thumb I would of squashed her like the cockroach she is" the two girls started laughing "crystal… crystal" a high pitched voice came from behind her, she rolled her eyes and continued walking, but ken had already caught up and stopped in front of her "Crystal hi how exciting is this, that we have classes together I'm so …" iris raised her eyebrow at crystal who just shook her head "listen ken I don't know what your doing here, but I'm in abit of a rush, I still have to get my forms in before detention" she went to walk past him "oh I transferred here when I heard you were going to go here and I'm sorry about what happened somebody tripped me I didn't know that would happen, to say I'm sorry take these you can eat them in detention" ken reached into his bag and pulled out some cookies before handing them to crystal "erm thanks ken, I've really got get going" "oh of course" his smile now stretching the entire length of his face and his huge glasses began to steam up. Crystal and iris walked past him heading towards Nathanial's office and the exit "he's a little weird" "yeah I know but his intentions are sweet, however they are far to sweet for me" crystal stopped in front of Nathanial's office "good luck in detention, no scrap that good luck with Castiel, haha see you tomorrow" "yeah see you tomorrow iris".

She knocked on the door before entering, Nathanial looked up at her nervously "hi" crystal said feeling slightly awkward "I have everything you asked for, for my registration" she handed, forms, money and a Photo over to him. She walked to the door when his voice spoke from behind her "listen I'm sorry about amber, iris, Violette and melody told me the truth, but I can't convince the principal otherwise I'm sorry" crystal turned around slightly shocked at the apology "it's ok as long as you believe me I'm happy and listen I'll pay for your sisters clothes, I should have had a tighter grasp" "no, no its alright you don't have to I'm sure my mom and dad will buy her some more" there was slight resentment in his voice "are you sure" "yes honestly its fine" Nathanial looked like he wanted to ask more "spit it out" crystal said smiling at the blonde "it's just I've never seen castiel stand up for someone before are you and him you know" it was crystals time to feel awkward "I just met the guy this morning and even then all I did was fall over in front of him" "oh right well forget I asked" Nathanial replied flushing red he glanced at the clock on the wall "it's nearly 3 you best going don't want to be late for detention" crystal nodded and thanked him before walking out the room and heading towards detention.

The Ride

"Alright you two detentions over" crystal looked up from the papers she was grading. Miss kanthia was sat at her desks grading more papers, a couple of loose strands had fallen from her tight blonde bun. Crystal turned to a gently snoring castiel next her and couldn't help but laugh he had managed to drool in his sleep, she began to shake him but he wouldn't wake up so instead she slapped him across the arm, he jumped awake and turned to crystal rubbing his arm "what was that for" he replied groggily "time to go home sleeping beauty".

The two of them walked to the exit "hey can I ask you something castiel" crystal looked up at him from under her eyelashes, she watched him turn and raise an eyebrow she took that as an invitation to continue "why did you step in and help me earlier you don't even know me and plus I thought you would have wanted to watch two girls fight" "it's true I like a good chick fight as much as the next guy but I figured I would save you an agonising year, if you would of struck amber your life here would have been 1000x worse" "oh and spilling pasta on her will only make my life 100x worse, well aren't you my knight in shining armour " crystal retorted sentence heavy with sarcasm," castiel chuckled, they walked in silence then until they reached the doors. Crystal groaned, it had started to rain 'great the one day I forget my umbrella' she thought "your not afraid of a little rain are you hick" she gave castiel a sarcastic smile as he stood holding the door open "I'm not, but my hair is" he rolled his eyes as he walked out into the rain "chicks" he muttered, she watched him put his helmet on before mounting his red Ducati motorcycle 'ever the gentlemen' she thought as she pulled her jacket over her head and prepared to walk in the rain. She stepped out of the building and began to walk to the exit, there was a whistle followed by "your steed awaits" behind her she turned to see castiel holding a helmet in her direction, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face he truly was her knight in shiny armour, she put her black jacket on and sprinted towards the bike, grabbing the helmet and placing it over her head. "you ever been on one of these hick" "nope" "well hold on" "too what" "me stupid" "oh" crystal was glad at that moment that she had the helmet on as she felt her entire face flush bright red. She wrapped her arms around castiel's waist. He started the ignition and they were soon flying down the streets, crystal every so often interjecting with directions to her house.

They pulled up in front of her aunts house, the wooden structure of the house was dark and made everything smell musty were the rain had hit it. Crystal spotted Shasta sat on the window box in the living room, she dismounted off the bike and removed the helmet, she laughed as Shasta started bounding up and down on the window seat. She turned to castiel, she handed the helmet back to him "thanks castiel I owe you one" "yeah you do" his head was turned towards her, she just rolled her eyes, though crystal wasn't sure if he had seen it as her fringe was plastered to her forehead from the rain, she turned and ran up on to the porch "bye castiel" she called behind her as he let go of the clutch and sped off in the direction they had come.

Hiding place

Thursday dragged by slowly, seeing iris and Violette made the day bearable 'and castiel' she thought smiling to herself as she walked to her fourth day of detention. She opened the door to find the desk occupied by someone other than Miss Kanthia. A plump looking man with a large bald spot on his head was leaned back in the chair fast asleep, crystal took her seat and waited for castiel.

5 minutes later castiel's head appeared round the door and silently gestured to her to follow him. "Where are we going" she asked as she followed him down the empty corridor. A couple of minutes and 2 flights of stairs later, they arrived at a door with a 'no admittance' sign on it, castiel brought out a set of keys and placed one in the lock "do I even want to know where you got them from" she looked at castiel who turned and smiled at her "probably not" "alright then". The door opened and crystal gasped she could see the entire town from up here "nice huh" "I'll say, wow". The two of them sat down on the floor facing the view in front of them, castiel put some music on from his phone, rock music began to play, he lent back and closed his eyes. Crystal sat with her legs crossed looking in awe at the town that she was starting to warm up to 'it strange' she thought 'ever since I moved here I've felt more like myself' crystal thought back to the months that had followed her parents deaths - the horrid thoughts that used to circle her head if Nate was just 5 minutes late and the night terrors but since she had moved to this new town with her aunt, she was starting to relax, the night terrors no longer plagued her as much as they used to - she turned to a snoozing castiel 'no' she thought 'in the four days that I've known him I've felt more like myself' she sighed happily and let the music pulse through her.

The two of them made it back in time just as the balding teacher woke up and dismissed them. "well I best get going see you tomorrow" she began to walk deliberately slow towards the exit, "I have the spare helmet" crystal smiled to herself and turned around to see castiel holding the same helmet she had been wearing, she skipped over to him and took the helmet from his hands before swinging her leg over the motorcycle "thanks" she laughed at his annoyed yet amused expression.

She climbed off the bike outside her aunts house and gave the helmet back "thanks again castiel" "I believe that's is a total of 4 favours you owe me now" "oh your keeping count now are you" crystal laughed as she searched for her keys in her bag. "Shit" she said after a couple of minutes "Language Hick" but he chuckled all the same "I can't find my keys I thought I had them, great I'm going to have to wait for my aunt to come home and god knows how long that's going to be" she was still rummaging in her bag, she looked up and threw her hands in the air "nope definably not there" "well if you want you can come back to mine, it's just me who lives in it for the week anyway plus my bands coming over to rehearse tonight, if you wanna stay and watch us play" crystal smiled shyly at him "you didn't tell me you were in a band" " you never asked" he retorted handing back the helmet, which crystal was only too happy to take.

Castiel's house

They pulled up in front of a huge modern house, the outside was all white with large windows on all three floors, a large covered walkway went from the drive up to the entrance were a large circular door was locked waiting to be opened. Crystal dismounted from the bike and shook her black hair free from the helmet "wow" "just come on I'll show you the inside" castiel rolled his eyes as he locked up his bike. The inside was just as impressive as the outside, a large hall opened up in front of them as they walked through the door, crystal craned her neck and looked up at the 2 stories above her, all the walls were decorated with unusual artefacts from around the world, the biggest one being a large African mask placed at the top of the stairs as it split off to opposite sides of the house. Castiel led the way down the laminate hall, into a large open kitchen, white marble Worktops shined and reflected the sunlight. "You want a drink" "Huh?" crystal was pulled out of her thoughts, castiel just rolled his eyes "I said do you want a drink" holding up a pitcher of Lemonade "oh yes please", castiel handed crystal her drink, "you want to go out into the back garden" "depends am I gonna be shocked by it" castiel again rolled his eyes "I take that as a yes", she walked through the door that castiel had opened for her only to get knocked backwards into him by a large black and tan Belgium Shepherd, castiel steadied her "down demon, down", the dog did as it was told, "sorry about that he gets excited around new people especially if he can smell another dog on them"

The two of them walked over to a bench perched on a wooden decking, overlooking the large garden, a dog kennel was placed in one corner and a large rectangular pool in the other. Crystal bent down and stroked demon's head, "this place is amazing and so big" "yeah well its too big , especially when there's only me and demon living here most of the time" crystal lifted her gaze from the dog and looked at Castiel "what do you mean" "My parents are archaeologists, so they travel the world a lot, so its just me and Demon" he leaned over and patted the big dogs head "so that explains the unusual decorations in the hall" "yeah every time they come home something else goes up on those walls".

The two of them were quiet for a couple of minutes, that was till demon decided he wanted to play, he jogged up to crystal a worn slobbery tennis ball in his mouth and dropped it in her lap, she laughed "do you wanna play boy", the dog put his chest and head on the ground his bum in the air, tail wagging, crystal picked up the ball and stood up before launching the tennis ball in the air and sent it soaring over the garden, Demon charged after it, " nice arm hick, maybe having you on the basketball team won't be that bad" castiel had stood up and joined her. The two of them played with demon for an hour or so.

Demon was running up to Crystal, when he dropped the ball, he began barking excitedly, before darting past Castiel and Crystal and skidded through the door leading into the house, a moment later he darted back out and spun around facing the door tail going hundred to the dozen, "what's he doing" crystal asked "the band must be here" and sure enough three people came and stood in the door way, two guys and the most beautiful girl crystal had ever seen, she stood in between the two guys, she was quite tall almost the same height as the two boys, her slender body was framed perfectly by a purple bodice and white laced skirt, and her hair was amazing it fell straight to her hips and was a shade darker than her skirt, her eyes were an intense gold. The girl ran down the garden and picked crystal up in a tight hug "Oh thank god, finally another girl, I can have a conversation that doesn't include sport or music" she put crystal down, who was smiling but slightly winded "I'm Rosayla, but everyone calls me Rosa, I'm Leigh's girlfriend by the way I'm not part of the band" she pointed her thumb back at the tall black haired guy who along with the slightly smaller silver haired guy had walked forward to greet castiel "I'm Crystal" "oh I know, I've seen you round school" "oh right, well it's nice to meet you" "I'm so glad that there's another girl here I'm sick of having to listen to there pointless conversations" "our conversations aren't pointless Rosa" The silver hair guy came over, he was quite stunning to look at, his hair was silver to the point of being White, his eyes were odd in different ways, one of his eyes was Gold and the other green and yet it made him look more handsome, his dress sense was also odd, he was dressed in a Victorian era style coat and green cravat around his neck. He held his hand out to crystal "I'm Lysander" "don't I know you" crystal asked "yeah I sit at the back of your English class" "oh yeah well it's nice to finally talk to you I'm Crystal" "ah so you're the Hick" Leigh walked over, he like Lysander was wearing a Victorian style coat and his black hair was long at the front and shorter at the back, his green eyes sparkled as he walked over. "I'm Leigh, Lysander's older brother" "hi, I'm crystal not Hick as you have been told" she replied throwing an annoyed glance at castiel who only stood and smirked at her. "Well are we going to rehearse or stand around discussing names" castiel said before walking towards the back door, "don't you just love talking to him" Rosa said as she linked her arm through crystals who only laughed.

Crystal sat on brown leather couch in castiel's basement, Rosa was sat next to her, Demon had decided to lay straight across the two girls, the band was playing a second song on a small stage in front of them, Leigh was on the Drums, Lysander was the main singer and castiel was guitarist, crystal couldn't help but notice how amazing he looked playing his black and gold electric guitar. His red hair dangled in his face when he hit the large notes and rocked out. During the third song, Rosa tapped her shoulder and pointed to the door, she got up and followed, she couldn't help but notice that castiel glanced up at her as she left.

The girls were upstairs preparing snacks for the guys "it so nice to have some company other than Demon on that couch" Rosa was buttering some bread "I can only imagine, all alone with three good looking guys, it must have been torture" crystal laughed "do you realise you sound just like castiel" Rosa chuckled "actually I think I'm a lot more sarcastic" Crystal smiled at Rosa as she pored some drinks "haha I hope not" the two girls started laughing.

The girls were walking along the hall that led down to the basement "so what do you think of the band" Rosa asked turning around with the snack tray "there amazing, better than I expected" Rosa laughed "I'm sure the guys would appreciate the feedback" "have they ever played in front of a live audience, and by that I mean other than us two and our shadow" crystal nodded down towards Demon who was walking beside her "no they haven't been able to get a gig" "that's a shame I bet people would love them". Rosa opened the basement door, "finally were have you been, I've been dying for a drink" castiel said walking up to crystal and taking one of the glasses, she stood there and rolled her eyes, before putting the tray on a table next to the couch.

Splash down

"Bye crystal, see you tomorrow, oh will I see you at the next rehearsal?" Rosa asked "depends whether you guys want me" before anyone could reply castiel bluntly said "no" crystal looked at him hurt, only to find him now smirking at her "you git" she said, giving him a playful smile, "I can enjoy rehearsals again" Rosa said coming over to give her a hug, "see you next week Hick" she frowned at Leigh before smiling at him "bye crystal, see you tomorrow" "bye Lysander", she stood in the doorway of castiel's home with him and waved to her new friends as they got into Leigh's Corsa and watched as they drove off. "Did you really have to refer to me as hick when talking about me" crystal turned smiling at castiel as he shut the door "I thought you be more concerned about what I told them more that what I referred to you as" crystal shrugged truth was she was over the moon at the fact castiel had mentioned her good or bad she wasn't fussed. She walked off in the direction of the garden. Crystal sat down on the grass, she picked up the tennis ball off the lawn and tossed it for Demon. Castiel sat down on the grass beside her "so what did you think of the band" "eh I've seen better" she turned and looked at castiel, hurt spread across his face, she laughed gently "I'm kidding, you guys were awesome" castiel frowned but then smiled. Crystal watched as he clambered to his feet and picked up the abandoned tennis ball before throwing it for Demon. He looked so relaxed not the bad boy she had grown to know over the past couple of days, he looked his age rather than having the worlds problems on his shoulders. Crystal lent back and put her face to the sun listening to demons barks and castiel's praises, suddenly there was a loud *splash* crystal's eyes shot open to see the red head surface in the pool "holy shit, castiel are you alright" crystal shot up and ran to the poolside just as castiel climbed out "stupid mutt get in your kennel, go on get" castiel scolded the poor dog who skulked off to his kennel tail between his legs. "I'll go get you towel and a change of clothes where's your room" crystal asked as she and castiel walked up the lawn to the house. She ran off quickly following castiel's directions.

Crystal looked around castiel's room, the walls were dark and plastered with various band posters, his clothes and delicates were thrown all over the floor 'typical' she thought as she rummaged around in his drawers, she figured she would leave his boxers she didn't feel comfortable touching them after knowing the guy for 4 days. She picked out a faded grey top and washed out jeans, she breathed in, and as she did she caught castiel's scent and smiled a little.

"Couldn't stay mad at him huh?" crystal had walked into the large living room were castiel was sat on the grey material couch with Demon, Castiel looked up and gave her a smile that she couldn't help feel was reserved for her (she hardly saw him smile at school unless he was just with her or Lysander) she tossed the clothes at him "here best I could do considering I couldn't see your floor". Castiel climbed off the couch "whoa" crystal turned around and hid her eyes, castiel had just stood up in nothing but his boxers "what don't like what you see" she could here his grin followed by footsteps, she closed her eyes feeling the heat rise in her cheeks "put your clothes on castiel or I'll leave now I mean it" castiel laughed "fine, fine" she heard him shuffle around "alright hick it's safe" she warily opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief he was dressed.

Crystal fell asleep quickly that night her dreams filled with castiel, that smile that he reserved for her, the sound of his gruff laugh and best of all the image of him 90%naked, his wet red hair tousled contrasted perfectly with his tanned skin, his abs still damp looked amazing.

The next 2 weeks that followed were the happiest that crystal could remember, she hung out with her new friends, whether it was shopping with the girls or attending band rehearsals or just taking demon and Shasta for a walk with Castiel, all crystal knew is that she was enjoying her new life here.

Friday feeling

Crystal woke up to the beeping of her alarm, it showed it was 6:30am, 'yes it's Friday, and it's the last day of the school semester' she turned to Shasta who now had his head resting on the side of her bed tail wagging "Nates home today as well you excited, I know I am" the dog barked at her brothers name. Crystal always found it hard when her brother was away at college, he usually stayed for the entire semester and only returned for vacation but since her parents had passed now more than ever she missed him, so she couldn't wait to get this day over with.

Crystal felt happy and buoyant as she quickly flicked a brush over her black horse, she didn't know what she would do next week whilst she was off but she knew it was going to be good "lots of riding next week star maybe go for an all day trek with Nate and maybelle what do you say" the horse pushed his velvety black muzzle at her in agreement "that's my boy".

Crystal was walking to her next lesson when she heard footsteps approach "hey hick" castiel joined her as she walked, she could feel a pair of very jealous eyes boring into her back but she couldn't care less her mood was too good for anyone even miss perfect to spoil "hey cas, what's up with you" the redhead seemed to be brimming with excitement which was unusual "the band got there first gig" "seriously oh my god that's great" she flung her arms around the red heads neck but quickly retracted them, her face turning the same shade as castiel's hair "sorry" she muttered, castiel chuckled to crystals amazement "its tomorrow you wanna come with" "yeah I do" crystal stopped at the biology room door "I'll text you with the details tomorrow" "ok" crystal called after him as he continued walking.

The school bell rang for the end of the day, Crystal collected her things from her locker including her umbrella as it had started to rain "hey cryst" she saw Iris and Violette coming towards her "so glad semesters over" Violette complained as the three girls walked out the exit "yea me too I can't wait to go for a good gallop next week, the weath …." "Hey hick You want a lift" castiel interrupted, walking across the parking lot towards the three girls (out the corner of her eye she saw iris wink at Violette), crystal opened her mouth to reply, when she heard a car beep followed by a familiar husky voice shouting her name, she turned to see Nate hanging out the window of his banged up 4x4 waving to her "NATE" she waved at him before running towards the car "maybe another time castiel" she called back as she jumped on her brother almost knocking him out with her umbrella, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into the air. She looked over at her friends who were gaping at her brother, she even spotted amber and her cronies, a look of shear jealousy on all three of there faces, she noticed however castiel was no were to be seen. Suddenly there was a loud rawr as castiel's motorcycle came to life before he sped past the siblings, she watched him go out of the gates before jumping into the passenger seat of her brothers car. "so" Nate gave his sister a sceptical look as he started the ignition "so what" crystal looked at her brother "you gonna tell me who the red head is" crystal rolled her eyes "he's the friend I met in detention" "oh I still can't believe you got detention on your first day streak" crystal laughed "I told you it was a misunderstanding". They drove through the town heading for the outskirts of the sleepy town were there aunt's house was. They sat idling at some traffic lights "how's basketball going" "it's great, I've made some new friends and the coach says my dribbling is great I just have to work on my shots from half court". Her brother put the car in first gear and continued on down the road "oh that's cool, maybe I can teach you some of my bank shots" crystal laughed at the thought of her brother teaching her anything, any time he tried to teach her basketball the two of them usually ended up wrestling on the floor.

Revenge does hurt

Crystal patted her horse's neck as he slowed to a walk, it was a lovely fall afternoon on Monday so crystal had gone for a ride to clear her head. She had received a text yesterday from Rosa asking what had happened between her and castiel, crystal remembered the relief that flooded through her at the fact that he was ok that's when the realisation hit, he had ignored her texts and phone calls but why crystal didn't know and that's what she was trying to figure out.

Crystal was sat at her dresser doing her hair, her phone next to her, It was 1:00pm on Saturday; "what do you think" crystal asked standing up and addressing ellie who was lying on her back on crystals bed, "I want to impress castiel", she was wearing a grey tank top and white leather jacket and black miniskirt with chains, her hair was straight "do you think I can pass off as a rock princess ellie" she said sitting back down on the bed and scratching the little cat. She picked up her phone waiting for his text.

2:30pm came and went. "I wonder were he is" she scratched the tabby's ears before picking up her phone and texting him.

It was starting to come up to 6:30pm, crystal began to panic "I hope he's ok oh what if he's been involved in an accident what about if he's in hospital" tears began to fall as she thought of her parents and then castiel, without thinking she picked up her phone and punched in his number, there was no answer. Crystal began to hyperventilate as visions of him lying in hospital flashed through her mind. She hardly slept that night her night terrors had returned this time castiel was the centre of them.

Suddenly a very excited very familiar dog darted out of the trees spooking star interrupting crystals thoughts as she hung on "whoa boy easy, demon down" the dog recognising crystal started barking scaring star further "DEMON" crystal groaned she hadn't planned on seeing him just yet, the red head came running towards the commotion and grabbed demons collar "sorry about tha…" castiel had looked up and recognised her, he stood up hastily and walked off. Crystal glared after him, she and star could have been seriously hurt and yet he just walked off "hey what the hell castiel" she pushed her horse into a trot after him and pulled the horse up in front of him "get out my way crystal" castiel almost growled "no you could of seriously hurt me or star, you should keep him on a lead here" "who are you to tell me what to do with my dog" "I'm a rider who is concerned for my horse's safety and demons, that idiot could have been trod on, and I'm am not being held responsible because of your stupidity and anyway I have a bone to pick with you, what the hell happened on Saturday I thought you were picking me up I waited for hours do you realise how worried I was I thought something terrible had happened ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME" castiel hadn't looked at her "get out of my way crystal" he shoved her horse's shoulder causing him to move sideways and letting castiel past. She glared after him feeling even more pissed at him "ARSEHOLE" she yelled after him 'you know what fine if that how he's going to be forget him'.

Crystal was lying on her bed later that day trying to hold back the tears, when a text came through she sat bolt upright hoping it was castiel only it wasn't it was melody, crystal couldn't help the sinking feeling in her heart. She flipped open her phone 'cryst I'm having a sleep over this Saturday, for my birthday, and your invited, can you make it' 'sure who else is coming' she text back, a moment later melody's reply came through 'iris, Vi, Kate and lea' 'great I'll see you then' at least she had something to look forward to.

Saturday ride

Crystal flung star's blue numnah over his back before placing his saddle on, "hey streak" Nate had appeared at the stable door, crystal turned and rolled her eyes at her brothers ridiculous nickname for her, ever since she had that one blue streak put in, that's all her brother usually calls her now. "Morning Nate" she took stars bridle from her brother, before sliding it over the horses head and placing the bit in his mouth "You going out for a ride" "yea gonna head through the forest" crystal replied pushing the horse's ears through the head piece before fastening his throat lash and noseband. "You mind if I come with you" Nate said as he stood aside to allow his sister through with star. "sure why not hurry up and tack up maybelle I want to get going" crystal placed her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over her horses back, waiting for her brother, a couple of minutes later he led the bay Clydesdale out of her stable, fastening his hat, he put his foot in the stirrup and swung himself onto the mares broad back. "what are we waiting for" Nate smiled down at his sister before whistling for Shasta, the 3 year old husky came bounding down the porch before sliding to stop in front of the four of them.

The group had been out for an hour now. The horses and there riders emerged from the forest onto open fields Shasta following, here they slowed down to a walk, crystal released stars reins and let him have his head, "so what are you guys gonna talk about tonight huh" "girl talk, hair, make up, clothes, stuff like that" "and boys?" crystal laughed at her brothers quizzical look "yes probably Boys" "I'm guessing your gonna talk about a certain red head right" crystals gaze dropped to look at her saddle "everything alright Cryst" "castiel and I fell out this week that's all" "oh sorry I shouldn't have brought it up" "its ok, you didn't know" Crystal looked up at her brother and flashed him a cheeky smile letting him know she was alright, she picked up her reins "catch me if you can" she cried as she pushed her horse into gallop, his black mane and tail streaming. In the distance she could here her brother calling after her "that's not fair" but he was laughing all the same, she heard the thunder of Maybelle's hooves a moment later as he pushed the cart horse into a rocking canter. There was barking beside crystal, she looked under her arm to see Shasta running beside her his tongue and ears flapping.

The siblings were walking back through the forest it was almost 3 in the afternoon, "so do you tell your friends everything" crystal looked up at her brother knowing exactly were he was going with that "no, they still don't know the reason why we moved here" "are you gonna tell then tonight or not" "I don't know, maybe if they start bombarding me with questions" "fair enough".

Sleepover

crystal climbed out the car at melody's and noticed every one else was here, they were staring out the window but not at crystal but at Nate instead, she turned to Nate "it looks like your gonna be centre of the boy talk tonight" she laughed pointing to the window, Nate followed her finger and laughed before saluting at the girls, the two of them laughed as the girls hid behind the curtains "see you tomorrow"

Melody's house was huge and open; the entire house was bathed in orange as the sunset streamed through the huge windows. "Up here Crystal" she looked up to see Kim hanging over the banister, her glasses slipping off her face, half of which was covered by her Dark Blue Hair. "Hey Kim" crystal ran up the stairs, before following Kim to melody's bedroom. She stepped through the doorway only to be hit with something soft and plump, the girls were laughing as crystal recovered herself, all six of them were holding pillows. "What was that for" "giving our position away to your sexy friend" Lea cried (lea was one of the three girls on the basket ball team, Kate and crystal were the other 2) "he's not my friend he's my brother and he is certainly not… crystal shuddered "sexy" "are you kidding he's totally gorgeous" melody interjected "ugh I would rather not talk about my brother like this", another pillow came flying at crystals face "What was that for" "for not telling us you had a sexy brother" iris laughed before a full blown pillow fight broke out.

"so crystal, what's the story with you and that Ken guy" Kate asked, her mouth full of popcorn, Crystal just rolled her eyes, she was sat leaning against Kim's legs who was sat on the couch in melody's room, iris and melody had joined her and Violette, lea and Kate were sat next to crystal on the floor, "come on cryst, the guy is clearly in love with you" Vi piped in before slurping her drink, "Don't I know it, Ken went to my school in my previous town, In fact we practically grew up together, he's sweet and nice but he's far too clingy and his whole lovey dovey attitude makes me feel kind of ill, so I try to avoid the guy, any little thing I say or do, he takes it as though I've just accepted his marriage proposal" Violette spat her drink out at that remark, crystal just raised an eyebrow "he didn't literally propose to me, I just meant, his face lights up as though I've made his day, and I just don't want him to feel like I'm leading him on" "well at least your being nice about it, I know some girls would have told him to clear off by now" melody said "I Know, listen can we go off the subject now please, it makes me uncomfortable" truth is it did but it wasn't ken it was instead the memories of her home town and all her previous friends Arianna mostly that flooded her mind and it made her feel homesick "alright, well how about we turn off the TV and do some make over's with the new set Vi got me", melody suggested, Kim and iris launched themselves of the couch (Kim catching Crystals head as she did so) and jumped on the bed squealing.

"Hey cryst, what's going on with you and castiel," Vi asked winking, she felt her face turn bright red "nothing, actually me and castiel fell out this week" "what why" Kate asked let go of the plait she was doing in her pink and brown hair "because he made plans with me and didn't have the decency to cancel and instead ignored me, not to mention I was worried sick and then the next time I see him the jerk almost injures me and my horse not to mention endangered his own dog and when I tried to ask him why he stood me up he rudely shoved my horse and walked off so I decided enough was enough" " wow really i didn't thing Castiel would be that rude to you" iris piped up "but you were the one who said he wasn't that friendly and told me to stay away from him in the very first conversation I had with you, I should have listened now" "I know but this past month, was the happiest I've seen castiel since the incident" Crystal frowned as melody threw iris a harsh look "what incident" crystal inquired, all four girls started to look uncomfortable, "guys come on, what incident", Iris , Kim and Vi turned to Melody so crystal did the same, melody caved "fine I'll tell you but you can't tell anyone that I told you alright" crystal nodded "Castiel hasn't always been this unsociable, he did like his own space and would usually go off and do his own thing but he would talk to people and what not, but, at the end of June, his brother was involved in a car accident, no one knows how it happened all we know is he didn't survive, since then castiel just shut him self off from everyone, that is till the day you walked through those school gates" "I can't believe he never told me" "me either, I thought the two of you were close, I was having fun watching Amber squirm this past month" Kim laughed, "yeah so was I, little miss princess had finally met her match" iris joined in, "oh god you should of seen the look she gave me when castiel offered me a ride home and not her honestly if looks could kill I would of dropped dead on the spot" crystal laughed remembering that day.

It was Thursday of crystals second week at her new school, she was walking out the school doors towards castiel who was stood by his Ducati (she had been getting lifts off him now since that first day of detention), she smiled at him across the parking lot, only to be shoved down by Amber and her two cronies. Crystal picked up her bag and looked up, to see Amber now stood talking to Castiel. Li and charlotte climbed into Li's pink Convertible, before they reversed out the space and drove out the parking lot, she got up and Strode towards Amber and castiel. Amber was leaning against the bike flicking her blonde curls over her shoulder and batting her eyelashes, crystal saw castiel look at her and flash her a look of annoyance, she couldn't help but laugh. "Your motorcycle's really cool, I love how you painted it to match your hair, so daring and feisty" "it was already this colour when I bought it" castiel replied with boredom "I bet you look great when you ride it huh, maybe I could see it first hand some time" castiel said nothing, Amber looked around to the empty parking space which moments ago had occupied the pink car, a sly smile appeared on her face, she turned back to castiel "Oh shoot, my friends have left me to walk on my own, hey I have an idea maybe you could give me that ride now" Crystal by this time was stood behind amber, "sorry Blondie" castiel said reaching for the spare helmet "seats been taken" he nodded to crystal before handing her his spare helmet, Amber turned around and saw crystal, pure rage shot across her face, before she composed herself and turned back to castiel "maybe another time then" she then turned on her stiletto heels and marched out the car park. "You couldn't have walked quicker?" castiel asked, slinging his leg over the bike "I could of but I didn't want to, I wanted to see whether you would snap" crystal replied putting on the helmet "oh trust me hick, I was very close, I even thought about running her over but decided against it I might wreck my daring and feisty paintwork" and with that the two of them started laughing.

Crystal came back down to earth to find her friends looking at her "what were you thinking of" iris asked raising an eyebrow at crystal, "nothing" crystal felt her face flush at being caught "you were thinking about castiel weren't you" "maybe" "if you miss him so badly why don't you stop being so stubborn and go and talk to him find out why he stood you up and why he's acting like more of an ass than usual" crystal knew Vi was right about making the first move but she was also right about her being stubborn "come on you can't tell me you don't miss hanging out with him" Lea asked "well, yeah I have to admit I do, I miss the walks and the banter and the way he looked intense when he played his guitar or how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping" replied crystal dreamily, Kim launched a pillow at crystal bringing her away from the memories "girl you got it bad" crystal ignored Kim's remark "but I'm just as stubborn as he is and until he gives me a reasonable apology, he can forget me ever trying to talk to him" and that was the final word crystal was going to have on that conversation.

Heavy heart

Crystal lay awake that night, even though she was surrounded by her sleeping friends, she had never felt so alone, the moonlight flooded through a gap in the curtains and shined on her, she fiddled with her charm bracelet her mother had given her for her 16th, she opened the latch on the little gold heart, inside was a picture of her family from a couple of years ago at a friends wedding, the two adults stood at the back, her dad was handsome even in his 40's, in the picture his blond hair had been slicked back, and his piecing blue eyes shone as though they were watching her, he looked particularly handsome in his tuxedo, the woman beside him was beautiful, she was the older more beautiful version of crystal, her black hair was twisted up on her head and her fringe was blown to one side by the wind, her blue and gold eyes sparkled with happiness, a shimmering green dress fell down her slim waist to her feet. Nate and Crystal were in front, Nate hadn't changed much other than put muscle on and grown a couple of inches taller, he still had his blond lightning streak, he too looked handsome in his tuxedo only he had undone his bowtie as soon as the ceremony was over, he had his arm wrapped around his sister, crystal's hair was completely black with no streak to be seen in the loose curls, it was blown to the right by the wind her full fringe had been blown up but she didn't care, she was dressed in a simple short pink party dress. The four of them looked like they didn't have a care in the world. Crystal felt a tear run down her face 'mom I don't know what to do, are my friends right am I being stubborn? Should I apologise to castiel?' she lay awake waiting for the reply that would never come, she took one last glance at the locket before closing it and cried herself silently to sleep.

Lost Charm

"Nice job everybody, remember our next game is in 1 weeks time, if we win that then we face the timber wolves, who so far are undefeated but I think we can change that, you guys with me" Dajan said putting his hand in the middle, the rest of the team followed, crystal put her hand accidentally on Castiel's, the two of them broke apart causing the rest of the team to throw there hands up in a cheer. Crystal looked at castiel but he just turned and headed off towards the male changing rooms, it was there first week back and things were still tense between the two of them.

Crystal picked up her gym gear off the locker room bench and stuffed it in her gym bag, she noticed that she wasn't wearing her Charm bracelet, she calmly thrust her hand into her jeans pocket, it wasn't there, she checked all her pockets before pulling all her gym gear out her bag and searched every little bit, it wasn't there, Crystal began to panic. "Crystal you ok" Kate had just come out from the showers, she was wearing clothes but had a towel wrapped round her head, crystal looked at her, panic written clearly across her face "My bracelets gone" "your gold charm bracelet?" "Yea I usually leave it in my locker under my clothes but I've looked in my locker, checked all my person and my gym kit but its not there" "what's not there?" lea had just appeared around the corner fluffing her short blonde bob "Crystals Charm bracelet" Kate replied "it's gone?" "Yeah I've checked everywhere were it should be but it's not there" Crystal was close to tears "alright calm down we'll help you look for it, me and you will stay in here and lea can search in the gym, maybe it got caught on your gym gear and fell off in there" Kate suggested, Crystal forced a smile "thanks guys"

The girls turned the locker room upside down and yet they couldn't find the bracelet "do you think it could have been stolen" lea asked after an hour of searching "it can't have been it was in crystals locker and unless you know the combination no one could have opened it except Crystal" Kate replied. Kate turned to crystal who was now sat on a bench with her head in her hands holding back the sobs "why don't you report it to Nathanial, that way if someone finds it in here or anywhere else, he can let you know" Crystal looked up at Kate and nodded, before standing up and giving the two girls a hug, "thanks guys, I appreciate you helping me" "anytime I hope you find it" lea said.

Crystal knocked on Nathanial's office door "come in" she heard from the other side. Nathanial as usual was sat with a large pile of paperwork in front of him. He looked up from his desk "hey Crystal what can I do for you" "I was wondering if anyone had handed in a gold charm bracelet" "not that I'm aware of no, but if you tell me what it looks like I can keep hold of it, should someone hand it in is there something distinctive about it" "yeah there's a heart shaped locket with a picture of my family in it oh and a pair of white gold wedding rings" crystal eyes began to fill up with the thought of having lost her parents wedding rings. Nathanial got up and put an arm round her shoulder "it's ok I'm sure it'll turn up and I promise I will let you know as soon as it does" crystal sniffed "thanks Nathanial" she smiled at him, before jumping at the bell.

Apologies at last

Crystal walked across the parking lot with iris and Vi, who were discussing the Fate the school was doing for bonfire night following the basketball game next week, the two of them had tried to get crystal involved with the conversation but she wasn't reacting, all she could think about was her parents wedding rings. "Yeah I got it today, the horse is a bit tacky but the rest of its nice, especially the two rings" Crystal looked up in curiosity and gasped, there on ambers wrist sat her charm bracelet, she turned to iris and handed her, her books "could you hold these please" but she had already dumped them in iris arms before she could say anything and marched over to Amber "YOU BITCH!" she shouted across the parking lot, amber looked at crystal stunned no one had ever talked to her like that. "THAT'S MY BRACELET, I knew you were a lot of things Amber but I would never of thought you were a thief" "I'm not a thief, and anyway how can this be yours hilly Billy you can't afford anything this expensive" she said flaunting the bracelet in crystals face "that is Crystal's" Kate and Lea had come running as had most of the school when crystal had shouted. "That was in my locker whilst I was at basket ball practise, I remember putting it in there and yet when it came to putting it on it was nowhere to be seen but here you stand wearing MY bracelet and claiming your not a thief" "what was it you said earlier Kate about people who knew crystals combination would have access to it" Lea turned to Kate "that's right and considering your brother is the student body president and has access to the files that contain locker combinations, who's to say you didn't sneak in to his office and steal the combination, because lets face it, you've had it in for Crystal since she first arrived" Amber began to look nervous, the entire school had there eyes focused on her and Crystal "is that true Ambs" Nathanial had pushed his way to the front and was staring at his sister, "of course it isn't, I, I found it" "YEAH IN MY LOCKER, NOW GIVE IT BACK" Crystal Snarled at Amber, amber looked scared for a second, but she quickly composed herself "no, finders keepers" "amber" came Nathanial's cry. Crystal had, had enough she screamed and launched herself at Amber, only to find something holding her back, strong muscular arms were wrapped around her waist "Crystal calm down" Castiel's breath blew gently against her ear, she wanted to tell him to piss off but she couldn't bring herself to do it, instead she found herself sinking back into his chest. "Amber give it back now or I'll, I'll …." Nathanial stammered "you'll do what tell Mom and dad what are they gonna do" Amber laughed harshly in her brothers face "no I'll get you expelled" Nathanial said coldly, Ambers face dropped, she looked at her brother then at castiel who still had his arms around Crystal and finally Crystal herself, she shoved the bracelet at crystal, "you've even managed to turn my own brother against me" she spat at her "No Amber you did that yourself" Iris had stepped forward along with Violette, Kim and Melody who were stood beside crystal and castiel. Amber's face was pure thunder, she climbed into Li's car and they drove out the car park without a second glance. Everyone started cheering, but crystal; who was now free from castiel's grip had walked off not bothering with the celebrations, she was stood a little further off from the crowd, she checked that all the charms were correct and not broken, and made sure her parents rings were fine before finally checking the photo in the locket. "Who's that" Crystal jumped as castiel's voice appeared out of nowhere, she dropped the bracelet, she watched as castiel picked it up and looked at the picture "who's that" he repeated before pointing at the young boy in the picture, crystal looked at the picture before turning her gaze to Castiel "That's Nate my older Brother", Castiel's eyes opened wide "so that guy who picked you up the other week isn't your boyfriend" "no he's that little boy in the picture" "oh, I thought that he was…" "seriously, wait is that why you stood me up last Saturday" "erm" castiel looked awkward crystal actually felt sorry for him "I tell you what apologise for shoving my horse and we can call it even we can forget last week ever happen and go back to how things were deal?" "deal, I'm sorry for shoving your horse and I'm sorry demon scared him I should have had him on his lead" "good we can finally go back to normal you know I've really missed you, err you know missed hanging out with you and Demon of course and Lysander and Leigh" Crystal hoped Castiel had missed or at least ignored her little slip up" "well if we truly are back to normal then a guess I'm giving you a lift home then?" he asked as he replaced the bracelet on Crystal's wrist "depends do I get my helmet" he laughed at her "oh so it's your helmet now is it" "err it's always been my helmet" Crystal laughed.

That following week everything had gone back to normal with her and castiel and better yet amber hadn't even looked at her never mind insulted her.

Sweat and paint – lovely!

The first week of November was busy for the entire school, every were Crystal looked students and teachers were busy doing something for the bonfire Fate this Saturday, many were designing there specialist booths or decorating the school with pieces of art work and sculptures, others were setting up the bonfire, the entire school was alive with activity.

Crystal was sat in the gym with Kate and Lea on Thursday; the girls couldn't play with the team this Saturday so instead of practise they had volunteered to design the booth associated with the club. Lea had come up with the idea of a basketball hoop toss and you could win a stuffed teddy if you got the ball through the hoop in 3 tosses, they already had three hoops and 4 large nets, as well as various stuffed animals, they were now designing and painting the back board and table cover. The three girls were sat on the gym floor surrounded by large pieces of card and paper and pots of various vibrant colours, underneath them was a large blanket to prevent paint from ending up on the gym floor, (they had been told by the principal that they were to stay behind and clean the entire gym should paint end up on the laminate floor).

"Wow that's amazing" crystal exclaimed, looking at the drawing Vi had done earlier that day that was to be the backboard. She had drawn at the bottom, a large clump of long grass that went along the bottom and where the hoops were to be placed she had drawn Adders (the mascot for the school) with there mouths wide open as though to catch the ball before it went through the hoop, there bodies coiling out of the grass, in the top right hand corner she had drawn a large sun. On the floor beside the backboard lay the table cover, which Vi had also designed earlier, the cloth itself was orange but Vi had drawn, where the stations were, coiled adders, with a basketball resting on top of its coils, each Adder's head was up in the air, its tongue flickered out. "yeah Vi did an awesome job" Kate said looking between the backboard and table cloth "alright first off we need tunes" Kate pulled out her MP3 player and began to play Big time Rush 'Windows down' Kate then clapped her hands "lets get painting".

The girls had been painting for half an hour now (with the odd dance break), the large backboard was starting to take shape, the girls had painted the sun a vibrant orangey red and the sky itself was bright Orange with pinkish clouds. They were just painting the grass, when the team walked in from practise outside, the lot of them were sweating heavily considering it was November, " hey girls how's it going" Dajan asked, walking over, Crystal stood up "come take a look" she beckoned to the team.

There were various "wows" and "That's amazing" from the team.

"Phew you reek" Crystal remarked turning to castiel, who was stood slightly behind her, his hair was no longer contained within a bobble and was instead stuck to his head, face and neck, his face was starting to return to its normal colour but he was still slightly red on his cheeks "oh I do, do I", he smiled evilly, before grabbing crystal and locking his arms around her arms and chest and lifted her off the ground "oh gross get off me castiel" she half screamed and half laughed, she pushed herself away but as she did so, she caught him with the paintbrush she was still holding, he now had a huge Green line that started at his right eye and went all the way to his left jaw, crystal's hand flew up to her mouth as she started laughing, "think that's funny huh" Castiel quick as a flash had grabbed the paintbrush off crystal and came at her with it. She playfully screamed, "CASTIEL NO, DON'T" she ran off down to the other end of the gym laughing, Castiel took off after her. Behind him the rest of the team had decided to join in and had picked up any spare paintbrushes and were now pursing Lea and Kate who had pushed themselves quickly off the ground as the team advanced on them.

"What in Kiki's name is going on here" everybody had stopped what they were doing and turned to the principal who was stood, beside a young Blonde man, her eyebrows had shot up so high they were in danger of getting lost in her hairline. "I am so sorry Mr wolf that you had to see this" the principal replied, ushering the young man out the gym, she returned a moment later her face the same colour as Castiel's hair "I don't want to know who started this or why, but you will all stay behind tonight and clean the entire gym, the locker rooms and your uniforms is that understood", the entire team nodded, without another word she turned on her little Pink heels and clattered out the gym. Crystal turned to Castiel and burst out laughing, he was covered in about 7 different colours most of which were in his hair or across his face, "you can laugh" he pulled a piece of hair that had stuck to Crystal's face it was Bright yellow, "oh great that's gonna be a pain to get out" she complained. She turned and saw the damage of there paint war, various coloured trails on the floor pointed out which way the players had run, there were small paint splatters up the wall and the entire team was covered in head to toe with at least 3 colours.

The girls got out of the showers, after vigorously scrubbing there hair, face and necks to remove the paint. "I best go wash our clothes and the guy's uniforms" Crystal suggested, she carefully picked up the painted clump of clothes, before making her way to the guys locker room, "Hey it's Crystal am I alright to come in" she called through the door, she heard a muffled yes from the other side. Crystal opened the door, only to be hit by the heavy smell of sweat, she wrinkled her nose. She looked around for the dirty uniforms, only to find almost every guy was dressed only in a towel that was wrapped loosely around there waists "whoa" she turned her gaze away from the guys, "What are you doing in here" Castiel was stood in front of her, like most of the guys he wore a towel around his waist, in one hand he had another towel that he used to dry his hair, which was now paint free as was the rest off his body (which crystal couldn't help but admire once more), "I came to stare at you guys dressed in nothing but towels" Crystal replied sarcastically, however there was a hint of truth, Castiel raised an eyebrow "What" crystal replied innocently "I came for your Uniforms I'm going to go and wash them" she smiled at him, all of a sudden 15 paint covered sweaty, orange and red uniforms came flying at her from every direction, she yelped and ducked.

"right Hick were to, yours or mine?" castiel asked putting his helmet on as he sat on the bike after they had finally cleaned the gym "how about mine, you can stay for dinner if you like, my aunts out of town for the night, and my brothers still at college" "I don't know" "Castiel come on please its got to be better than spending the night on our own, plus if you don't I'll get off this bike right now and walk home" "fine by me" "ugh please castiel, please, please, please, please, plea …." "Alright woman I'll stay for dinner" "yay" Crystal wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him; he just shook his head as he started the ignition.

Crystal opened the door into her aunts house "It's not much but it's home" she said turning to castiel, he just looked around and said nothing, all of sudden Shasta came thundering down the stairs, he was heading for crystal until he spotted Castiel, he ran straight past Crystal and launch himself at the red head, luckily castiel could withstand the weight and held the dog up. Crystal grabbed the dogs collar and dragged him down "get down you big dope, sorry about that" Castiel bent down and stoked the dogs head "it's alright" castiel chuckled. Crystal showed Castiel into the small living room, "make yourself at home" she said gesturing to the living room "don't mind if I do", he walked over and sat down on the cream couch. "Do you want a drink" crystal asked as she walked into the adjoining Kitchen "erm sure you have any Lemonade" "coming right up", Crystal poured the drinks and went back into the living room, Castiel was stood up looking at the Dresser in the far corner of the living room, he turned around as Crystal came up behind him "who are they" Castiel asked taking his drink and nodding at a picture. The picture held a photograph of 4 teenagers, 2 girls one of which looked liked crystal (this is probably what had prompted castiel to ask) and 2 boys. The two couples were posing for the camera. One of the girls had jumped on one of the boys back her long brown hair was teased tightly, her blue eyes sparkling, the boy was shirtless, and his black hair was cropped short. Next to them was the other couple, the girl was leaning back into the boys chest, her blue and gold eyes never leaving his, her black hair was long and loose as it pressed against the boys shirt, his blue eyes never leaving hers, his eyes clashed beautifully with his flat blonde hair. Crystal pointed to the brown haired girl and shirtless boy "That's my Aunt and my late uncle, and they" she pointed to the couple looking at each other "are my parents" she sighed, Castiel turned to her, "so how come you live with your Aunt then, do your parents travel a lot?" Crystal dropped her gaze and her voice "My Parents died in June of this year" "oh" crystal watched him frown a little as though thinking but he quickly composed himself "I'm sorry I didn't know, if its any consolation you look just like your Mom" "it's ok and I know I get that a lot" determined to break the awkwardness, crystal walked back towards the kitchen "what you in the mood for, food wise" Castiel followed her into the kitchen, Shasta stuck to him like Glue "don't know what have you got" he asked leaning against the Slate worktops, Crystal walked over to the freezer "erm you don't mind eating ice do you" she opened the freezer door to show him how empty It was. "I'd rather not" Castiel replied, "ok, well how do you fancy a Korma then, cause I'm sure we've got rice in and I know we've defiantly got the sauce" she said walking over to one of the overhead cupboards, "sounds good to me".

Castiel stood watching as Crystal struggled to reach the top shelf, she turned around "are you gonna just stand there or are you going to help me" Castiel made a face like he was thinking "I think I'll leave you to struggle" he answered after a 10 second pause, crystal stood with one hand on her hip and gave him a sarcastic smile, "alright fine, shift hick", he walked up behind her and reach up for the rice on the top shelf, Crystal felt his chest against her back and resisted the urge to lean back into him, he brought the rice down and handed it to her, she looked back to take it, not realising how close he was, there faces were close together, her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips, his gray eyes just staring at her, crystal dropped her gaze "erm thanks" she took the rice before ducking away from him and grabbing a wok and some diced meat from the fridge.

Crystal was stood at the sink cleaning the dishes "hey castiel, I'm gonna go and ride star in a minute are you gonna be alright entertaining yourself for a bit" she called out "erm sure I'll go outside and play with Shasta" "thanks and I promise I'll try not to be too long" "its alright I don't mind playing with him" Castiel appeared in the kitchen with a tennis ball.

Damm Cat

Crystal had been working Star for 20 minutes now, she cantered down the long side of the paddock, when Ellie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and jumped on the fence as star cantered past, the horse shied away from the cat, causing crystal to go the other way and land on the fence, before landing heavily on the ground, banging her head at the same time. "CRYSTAL" she heard castiel call her name, she felt slightly dizzy but looked up just as Castiel vaulted over the gate and ran towards her. Castiel knelt down in front of her and held her chin up looking at her face his expression stern "are you alright?" "I'm fine honestly" she pushed him away and stood up using the fence, she staggered abit as she saw black spots appear in her vision, she felt Castiel catch her elbow "ok you are definitely not alright" "I am I'm just a little dizzy ok, give me a minute and I'll be fine", Castiel looked at her with worry but he knew it was pointless arguing with her. Crystal was right, she felt fine after a couple of minutes "I best finish riding and cool him down" "oh no you don't" she felt Castiel grab her arm "you are not getting back in the saddle after that fall, you may feel alright now but what about later, you could have a mild concussion" crystal knew he was right, she sighed "alright fine but I'll have to get him rugged up and fed for the night".

Crystal climbed out the shower and climbed into her blue pyjama top and shorts before making her way downstairs, she was starting to get a throbbing sensation in her head. Crystal walked into the living room, Castiel looked up from the programme on TV "hey you still alright" "just a slight headache that's all" she went into the kitchen and returned a minute later with some aspirin and a glass of water. Crystal went and sat on the couch next to Castiel but first of all she had to move the tabby cat which had spread herself out on the other half of the couch.

The pair had been watching Men in black for an hour or so now, crystal was started to feel tired and her headache was starting to return. Crystal suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder, Castiel had actually fallen asleep on her, she looked up at the clock on the wall it said 11:00 pm, there was no way she was letting him ride home this late and especially as he was this tired, so she got up quietly and gently placed him on the couch, she went and fetched a blanket and lay it across him, as she began to walk out, Shasta at her heels, she stopped at the doorway and looked at the sleeping red head, a small smile appeared on her face, she sighed before switching the light off and going up to bed.

Morning

Crystal had walked into the living room with some toast and orange juice in the morning, she placed them on the wooden table beside the couch she watched for a minute, a piece of red hair had fallen across Castiel's face, crystal had to resist the urge to gently brush it away. She gently shook Castiel awake "Morning sleepy head", he opened one eye "What" his voice was rough from sleep, "I've got breakfast here" she said pointing to the toast, "plus I thought you would have wanted to go home and get changed and check on Demon before school" at that Castiel shot up "Shit I forgot about Demon" he started eating the toast as he was putting his boots. "I'll be back later to give you lift ok" "oh ok well just let yourself in", he got up and dashed off home, Crystal watched as he backed out of the drive and rode off.

Crystal stepped out her bathroom and into her bedroom, she jumped, Castiel was sat on her bed stroking Ellie and Shasta "you know it's a good job I put my clothes on" She frowned at him, Castiel just looked up and smiled before returning to Shasta, "how was demon" she asked as she unravelled the towel from her hair "oh he's sulking" Crystal laughed as she sat down at her dressing table, she could see Castiel in the mirror and smiled, he looked up "what" he asked "nothing" she smiled again before picking up the blow-dryer and drying her hair.

Crystal was finishing putting her make up on, when Castiel came up behind her "what the hell do you need all that make up for?" he glanced over the dresser at all the make up that was sprawled across it, Crystal ignored his comment before standing up, she stood in front of him hand on hip "what do you think, do I look alright?" "You look fine" "just fine?" Ok, you look fantastic, amazing, stunning, is that what you wanted to hear" he replied rolling his eyes "that'll do" she smiled at him before picking her bag up off the floor and walking past him.

Shopping

Crystal was walking from the gym with lea and Kate when a voice interrupted there conversation. "Hey guys" the three girls looked up as they entered the parking lot, Violette was heading towards them "me and iris are going clothes shopping for tomorrow are you coming?" all three girls looked at each other before squealing "yes" Vi laughed, "well come on iris is in her car waiting" "I'll be with you in a minute, I've just got let Castiel know, that he doesn't have to give me a lift" crystal said before running off in the direction of castiel's parking spot.

Crystal jumped into iris's white golf, "right were we going" iris asked starting the engine "how about we try 'the silk boutique'", crystal suggested smiling slyly, "yeah, I've heard a few people say it's amazing, in there" lea said. The girls drove down the high street and pulled up in front of a white shop, with a large glass window, the window displayed four manikins dressed in some of the most beautiful outfits, crystal had ever seen.

The bell above the door rung as the 5 girls walked in, "hey hick" crystal turned around "hey Leigh" "I see you've brought me some business" he said nodding at the group of girls, who had split off looking at the racks "yeah were looking for something for tomorrow" "oh yeah it's the bonfire right, well what are you looking for" "well something nice, that'll keep us warm at the same time really" "right well, let me get some back up and I'll help you and your friends out" "thanks Leigh" she called after him as he walked through a door that led through to the back.

Crystal was browsing some leggings in the shop "CRYSTAL", crystal spun around to see Rosa running towards her, her white hair swinging behind her, she ran over to her and the two girls hugged, "you would think the two of you hadn't seen each other in months" Lysander laughed emerging from the back Leigh following him, Rosa spun around "well we don't see each other that often at school" crystal laughed at Rosa's serious expression "hey Lys" "hi cryst" "Dibbs on helping Crystal" Rosa cried before grabbing crystals arm and dragging her to the other side of the shop, crystal felt her headache from yesterday return.

"Alright girls, lets see what you look like" Leigh asked, he, Lysander and Rosa were stood outside the changing rooms. Vi came out first, she was wearing a simple white coat, with a black netted skirt accessorised with Knee length black socks worn with brown suede ankle boots. Iris was next, she was wearing a long grey and lilac checked coat and a black dress which came to just above her knee, on her legs was long white lace socks with dark Brown wedged ankle boots. Kate exited next wearing a navy blue beret perched on her long brown and pink hair, she wore a beige long coat which was open to reveal a white lace shirt and denim shorts, she wore under them black leggings with white diamonds and black ankle boots. Lea came out of the dressing room next and did a 360 spin before posing to show off her outfit which consisted of a Dark green off the shoulder top with black leggings intertwined with white and silver thread and grey converse.

"Alright Crystal let's have a look at you" Leigh called out, crystal stepped out the dressing room "am I good or am I good" Rosa commented, Crystal turned and looked in the mirror and gasped, she was wearing a black and silver top then fell off one shoulder, silver and multicoloured chains were attached to the neck line and fell down her torso, a thin silk silver scarf was tied around her neck, she was wearing dark blue ripped jeggings with gold thread, creating swirling patterns around the rips and down the side of her legs, she wore on her feet black wedged boots, she had in her hand a dark leather jacket. "oh my god" crystal turned to Rosa and gave her a big hug "I love this outfit" "yeah and hopefully castiel might as well" Rosa whispered, crystal looked at Rosa who only winked before walking over to Leigh and putting her arm round his waist.

Playing cupid

Crystal stood in the window of the shop waving as her friends left, before walking over to the counter where, Leigh, Lysander and Rosa were "hey thanks again you guys for helping, the outfits look great" she said as she positioned herself on the counter next to Rosa "hey my pleasure, oh you don't mind staying for another couple of hours before heading to rehearsal do you?" Leigh said looking up from the calculations he was doing "no I don't mind, I'm sure castiel can survive for a couple of hours without my company" she smiled, "erm Cryst do you ... do you know whether your friend Violette has a boyfriend or not" crystal turned to Lysander "I happen to know she does not" Lysander's face lit up, "in fact give me a second" crystal pulled out her cell phone "what are you doing" Lysander asked slightly nervous, but crystal shushed him as she pressed the loud speaker, vi's voice echoed out the phone "Hello?" "hey Vi it's Cryst" "didn't we just leave you like 5 minutes ago" "yeah but I've got something to ask you" "alright shoot" "what do you think of Lysander" "Lysander as in the cute White haired guy, with the dreamy mismatched eyes and a smile to match, that we met at the shop and sits in the back in English" "yeah that's him, take it you like him" "kind of yeah why?" "Because, he, Leigh and Rosa are stood around me now and you're on loud speaker" crystal laughed as Vi screeched "WHAT" down the phone "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT CRYST…" Crystal turned loud speaker off before putting the phone to her shoulder "ask her to the bonfire tomorrow" she whispered to Lysander "but I…" "just do it Lys" crystal handed the phone to him "erm hi Violette, it's Lysander" there was a pause as Violette talked to him "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the bonfire tomorrow, you know with me", there was another pause "great I'll see you tomorrow then, bye" Lysander disconnected the call and handed the phone back to crystal, crystal turned to Rosa and quoted her "am I good or am I good" the two girls started laughing, Leigh even chuckled.

The Past is revealed

The bell over the door went, all four of them looked over, a girl a couple of years older than Crystal had just walked in, her Black hair was tied back into a short ponytail, she wore thick eyeliner and dark eye shadow. Her outfit consisted of black and red leather and lace. Crystal heard the other 3 groan, she watched as Leigh and Lysander walked out from behind the counter and walked over to her "What the hell are you doing here" Leigh asked harshly, the girl only smiled "it's nice to see you too Leigh, Lysander" she turned towards the two girls who had climbed off the counter "Rosa" Rosa just scowled "and I don't believe I know you" she pointed to crystal "never mind who she is, answer my question Kat NOW" Leigh practically growled, "I'm here to get some clothes" "I meant what are you doing in town" "oh that, I came to see you lot" she replied sarcastically, Rosa started to walk towards the confrontation "Leigh and Lysander can't hit you but there's nothing saying I can't" Rosa snarled, Crystal was taken back, she would never of thought Rosa could be so aggressive, "if you've come to see castiel he isn't here and I don't want you anywhere near him, you managed to screw up his life once and you sure as hell aren't doing that again I'll make sure of it" "oh yeah and what are you gonna do" the two girls were practically nose to nose, the two of them scowling at each other. Lysander turned to crystal who was now stood next to him "get Rosa and take her through to the back, me and Leigh will handle this" crystal nodded and took hold of Rosa's arm dragging her back into the storage room.

"Who's that" crystal asked once Rosa had calmed down, "that is Kat, she used to be dating Castiel's brother Ty" "oh, well what did you mean she's wrecked Castiel's life once before" Rosa sat down on a small desk "do you know what happened to castiel's brother?" Crystal dropped her gaze and nodded "he was killed in a car crash right?" "Yeah, well she is the reason why well sort of" crystal head shot up her eyes wide in shock "what do you mean sort of?" "it was the last day of June, there 1 year anniversary, ty had gone to Arizona to surprise Kat, that's when she broke the news that she didn't love Ty and instead she loved Castiel, so on the way home from Arizona, Ty rung castiel and they got into a heated argument, this caused Ty to lose his focus and he crashed head on into another car, he didn't survive and neither did the couple in the other car" crystals eyes widened her thoughts whizzing round her head 'can't be', "what did you just say" "Ty didn't survive and neither did the other couple" Rosa answered one eyebrow slightly raised, "well that but I meant the location and date" "oh it was in Arizona on the last day of June why?" Crystal began to feel physically sick, she looked up at Rosa and whispered "were exactly in Arizona did the crash happen" "Just outside the town of Hayden, I think" Crystal gasped and sank to the floor, "cryst are you alright" Rosa jumped off the desk and grabbed crystal round the shoulders, Crystal looked up at her and whispered "that was the night my parents were killed, I use to live in Haydon, Arizona" Rosa gasped, " you don't think" crystal just nodded too shocked to do anything else. Rosa grabbed a chair and let Crystal sit down, she was still in shock, she was mauling with her parents wedding rings, she felt Rosa put her arm around her shoulder.

Leigh and Lysander walked in a few moments later, the two were red from anger, but that soon disappeared when they saw the two girls. "What happened?" Lysander asked, the two brothers walking over to Crystal and Rosa "crystal found out that the couple killed in Ty's accident were her parents" Rosa replied sadly, the brothers looked at each other shocked "are you sure" Leigh asked, Crystal nodded "it happened on the last day of June right" Leigh nodded "and it was a head on collision that happened outside of Hayden in Arizona right" crystal began to sob, Leigh nodded again "oh cryst I'm sorry" Lysander gently placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked at the brother's faces "It's ok" she sniffed, trying to steady her breathing "can we just get going to rehearsal, I just want something to take my mind of it, and can none of you tell Castiel please, I have to tell him" she sniffed "sure thing, I'll close up early".

Guilty conscience

The four of them were pretty quiet during rehearsal, much to castiel's annoyance. Crystal and castiel were stood in the kitchen of castiel's house after waving good bye to Rosa, Leigh and Lysander. Crystal was stood leaning against the worktops her gaze constantly on the floor and was only replying with grunts or one worded responses to anything castiel asked. "OK what the hell is going on, the lot of you hardly talked during rehearsal and now I don't even get full sentences out of you" Crystal lifted her gaze to him, the stress finally got to her and she found herself running over to him and grabbing his shirt and burying her head in his chest crying. She felt him awkwardly try and console her "I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you" Crystal lifted her head and stared at his face "it's not you I found out something disturbing today that involves your brother" crystal sniffed "what, who told you about my brother" "Rosa did after Kat walked into the shop today" she sniffed again, she felt Castiel's arms tighten around her shoulders "Kat's back, kat as in short black hair and lots of leather and lace" Crystal wiped a stray tear and nodded, "Rosa only told me about your brother because I wanted to know why everyone behaved coldly towards Kat, but what she told me I, I, I …." She began to cry again, "don't worry about it, as long as you stay away from her, it'll be alright," "NO IT WON'T, IT WON'T BE ALRIGHT, IT WON'T BRING MY PARENTS BACK" she pushed herself away from castiel and turned her back on him, the tears still continuing, castiel walked up behind her "what are you talking about" "that couple, that was killed in your brothers accident, they were…" she dropped her voice "they were my parents" she choked, there was a moment of silence "I killed your parents" castiel whispered behind her, crystal spun around in anger and shock and grabbed his shirt "don't you dare blame yourself for what happened" "why not I'm the one Kat fell in love with, I was the one who argued with him, I'm the one who averted his attention from the road, I'M THE ONE WHO KILLED HIM WHO KILLED YOUR PARENTS" he had broken free of Crystal's grasp, and stormed off down the kitchen shaking before staring at Crystal's tear stained face, his face contorted in pain and he dropped his voice "I wouldn't blame you if you hated me right now" crystal's eyes widen in shock she had never seen him this hurt, he looked so vulnerable "castiel I could never hate you" she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug, they stayed like this for a couple of minutes.

Unwanted visitor

Demon suddenly shot up off the long couch that he, crystal and castiel had occupied growling viciously, crystal lifted her head off castiel's arm and followed castiel's gaze to the living room door, he put his finger to his lips and quietly climbed off the couch, Demon in tow, she knew she should stay put but crystal couldn't help feeling scared but not for herself but for castiel, she climbed off the couch only to hear raised voices "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE" castiel shouted "I came to see you castiel" " DON'T YOU GET IT I NEVER WANTED TO SEE YOU AGAIN, YOU NOT ONLY WRECKED MY FAMILIES LIVES BUT SOMEONE ELSES, I DON'T WANT YOU HERE, I WANT YOU OUT OF MY HOUSE, OUT OF MY TOWN AND OUT OF THE STATE" "but castiel I love you, why can't you see that, I thought we had something …." Kat cut off, Crystal now had her head round the corner of the living room door, she could see Kat standing holding a key at the other end of the hall, castiel was stood in front of her, Kat had looked up and spotted her, "hey it's you from the shop, what are you doing here" Kat had started to walk towards her, Castiel turned and saw crystal, he stepped in front of Kat "leave her out of it" he growled, or it could have been demon, Crystal wasn't sure, "I only wanted to see if Rosa, Leigh and Lysander were here as well" Crystal could tell from Kat's clenched Jaw that she already knew they weren't, Kat tried to scoot around Castiel, but Demon blocked her path, his teeth bared and the Hackles on his shoulders were stood on end, his growling was almost deafening, "I SAID LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS, I WANT YOU NOWHERE NEAR ME OR HER DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR" crystal had never seen castiel this angry, he looked quite frightening and yet Crystal was transfixed on his expression. Kat glared viciously at Crystal before turning on her heels and storming out of castiel's house. Castiel slammed the door shut before slamming his fists against it, Crystal walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders "Castiel calm down please" he spun around he was still pretty angry "I can't believe she had the nerve to come back and break into my house or even the nerve to talk to you after what she did" "she doesn't know me" "yeah and I want you to promise me you'll keep it that way" Crystal nodded, Castiel was clenching his fists still, he noticed crystal looking "I had to restrain myself from hitting her for what's she put you through, that's all" " and you", castiel just shook his head and walked off into the living room, Crystal followed, when she walked in, castiel was holding the house phone out to her "your staying here tonight, I don't want to take the chance with her outside, I'd rather you be with me while I know she's still here" crystal just nodded and took the phone before dialling her aunts number.

"Here you can wear these" Crystal felt clothes land on her head, she pulled a black AC/DC shirt off her head and picked up the grey shorts off the arm of the couch, she looked up at castiel and smiled, his face remained the same as it had since Kat had left 2 hours ago, crystal went upstairs and got changed in castiel's parents room, she stepped out of the room and almost tripped over Demon who was lying in front of the bedroom door, she bent down and stroked the big dogs back "what are you doing up here Demon, I thought you would be with castiel" "he is" crystal jumped and looked up to see castiel leaning against the banister facing the bedroom "you don't have to survey me all the time, were in your house plus what's the worst Kat can do?" castiel walked towards her "you don't know her, you don't know what she capable of doing and the fact that she managed to get into my house puts me on edge even more" "castiel I'm more than capable of handling myself" "I don't care, I'm the reason she's here, there is no way I'm going to let her anywhere near you" crystal reached up to touch his arm but quickly put it back at her side "don't worry about me ok, now lets get some sleep we've got a big day tomorrow" "shit I forgot about the game, this is all I need" "hey it'll help us to take our minds off tonight, plus we've got the Fate to take care of as well" castiel rolled his eyes "whatever good night" and without another word he turned and walked off towards his bedroom, crystal sighed and turned and walked back into his parents room.

Morning after

Crystal woke up the next morning, she felt an urge of panic at the unfamiliar surroundings before the memories of the previous night came flooding back. 'I wonder if Mr paranoid got any sleep last night' crystal thought as she climbed out of bed, she walked past the mirror "ugh" crystal said aloud she turned and faced the mirror, her eyeliner from yesterday had run slightly so she had Blue panda eyes and her hair, well it was untameable, it stuck out all over the place and her fringe was stuck up, luckily crystal always kept a bobble on her person, she reached in to her jeans she had on yesterday. She quickly tied her black hair to the side and flattened her fringe with some water, before wiping the blue panda eyes away with wet toilet paper. She looked at her watch it said 9:00am, she figured castiel wouldn't be up yet, she tiptoed out of the bedroom, only to be greeted by a happy Demon "hey boy" she whispered and she patted his head "you wanna go out?" she whispered, the dog stood up and bounded down the stairs.

It was 10:00am when Crystal heard movement upstairs, she got up and decided to surprise him with breakfast, 'after all the only reason I stayed here was because he wanted to protect me' she smiled to herself, Castiel walked into the kitchen a couple of moments later "morning sleepy …" crystal looked up from the bacon she was frying, she stared for a moment (he was stood in front of her with no shirt on) and started laughing, half of his hair was stuck out at an odd angle "oh shut up" he rolled his eyes and walked over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice, "how did you sleep" he asked as he took a swig from the carton, crystal frowned at him but decided to ignore it "I slept like a baby actually, what about you" "not too bad, although it did take me a while to get off, what you cooking anyway" "bacon, eggs and Toast" crystal nodded at the toaster which had just gone off as though on Que.

The two of them sat eating there breakfast at the small dining table at the far end of the kitchen, "wht tie id djan ant us at scho or" Castiel mumbled through his full mouth, crystal looked up at him "finish what your eating and then ask me", castiel rolled his eyes but swallowed his mouthful anyway "I said what time did Dajan want us at school for" "12:00pm exactly" the two of them looked at the clock it was 10:45 am "remember I've got to go and collect my uniform as well" crystal said turning back to castiel.

It was 11:30 am when castiel and crystal pulled up in front of her aunts house "HEY I'M BACK CASTIEL'S HERE, I'M JUST GONNA GET CHANGED INTO MY BASKET BALL UNIFORM THEN I'M GOING" crystal yelled as she ran up the stairs, she came down the stairs 10 minutes later in her uniform with the team tracksuit over the top, fresh make up and hair pulled back into a neat ponytail and her gym bag with make up and hair appliances in, she put yesterdays shopping bag (which she had left in the hall when she came in) into her bag . "I won't be a second" she said to castiel who was still in the hallway with Shasta, she jogged into the Kitchen were to her surprise she found her brother "Nate" she ran over to him and hugged him "what are you doing here" "I have the weekend off so I decided to come back here maddie said there was a fate on at your school", "yeah oh this is fantastic" she beamed at her brother "Hey I thought you stayed at Iris's anyway, what's red doing here" he said quietly nodding his head in the direction of the hall, crystal rolled her eyes at her overprotective brother, "he rode past as I was walking home and offered me a lift" she lied, the suspicion left her brothers eyes "oh right", "hey will I see you and maddie at the game" she said, Nate smiled at her "you'll see me but Maddies got some deliveries to make so she'll see us at the fate instead" "oh ok well I'm gonna go see you later" she give her brother a kiss on the cheek "I'm glad your back even if its for two days" "me too streak".

"Wow" crystal proclaimed taking the helmet off, although it was only 12:00pm, most of the booths had been set up, streamers and flags were strung all over the parking lot and there was colour everywhere she looked. "Crystal, Castiel over here" the two of them looked over and saw Dajan waving at them from beside a white minibus. "Kate and lea are over there just setting up the booth, I'm just gonna have a talk with the guys" Dajan pointed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the booth, Crystal nodded and walked over to Kate and Lea "hey guys, wow this looks great" the two of them had managed to set up the scaffolding and the backboard and were just putting up the nets "thanks, do you think you could give us a hand connecting these nets" lea asked from up a ladder "yea sure".

The Game

The bus pulled up at Albany High school, home of the cougars, the game was being held on the outside basketball court. "Great were gonna freeze" lea remarked turning and looking at Crystal and Kate sat behind her, "don't worry, you guys are gonna do something during half time so you won't be too cold" Dajan answered from next to lea "WHAT" Lea was staring at him and Kate and crystal were leaning over the back of the seats looking at him "yeah the team here has a few girls on there team, so we decided, that you three and some volunteers from the crowd would go up against there girls and some more volunteers in a short half time match" "when were you planning on telling us this" Kate asked her eyes followed Dajan as he stood up at the front of the minibus "now" he smiled and winked at the girls "alright you lot, I'm not gonna bore you cause I know your itching to get out there and play" Dajan began to address the entire team "but remember play fairly today, castiel try not get sent off again ok and lets bring back a victory to add to tonight's celebrations" "HELL YEA" the entire team shouted.

The team were warming up at the side of the court, the girls were stood up chatting, the other team, the cougars were stood near by, "Hey you know what I'm might consider transferring to that school check out the chicks, those uniforms magnify everything" the three girls turned and scowled at the laughing team, who were all stood around a tall extremely tanned burly Blonde guy. The blonde guy noticed the girls looking "hey gorgeous" he looked at crystal, she noticed Castiel straighten up out the corner of her eye, "My cars in the parking lot how about a quickie before the game" he laughed "hey I'd watch what your saying" she called out, she had noticed Castiel had clenched his fists "or what gorgeous, your little boyfriend there is gonna pummel me" the whole team started laugh "HELL YEAH I AM" castiel was marching over to him "shit" Crystal ran over and grabbed castiel's fist before it could make contact with Blondie's face "don't you dare castiel, you'll get disqualified settle it on the court" "my pleasure" he growled, crystal turned him around and walked off "damm nice ass love" Crystal stopped before turning back she walked up to Blondie, and pulled her fist back letting it connect with Blondie's nose, she smiled as it crunched under the force "Castiel might not be able to hit you but I sure as hell can" she spun around making sure her hair hit him across the face before walking over to her shocked yet smiling team, she looked at castiel who was staring open mouthed "what, you can get disqualified but I can't, plus I told you I can handle myself" "I think its broken, oh god it's broken isn't it" the team turned to look at Blondie and started laughing, crystal just smirked at him. "Nice shot Streak" crystal jumped and turned around to see her brother smiling at her "thanks" Nate turned to Castiel "thanks for trying to stick up for my sister by the way, if you hadn't of tried to do something I would of done some serious damage so I appreciate it" Nate held out his hand "no problem" Castiel took his hand and shook it. Crystal tapped her brother on the shoulder The whistle blew for the start of the game, "you best go take your seat and cheer as loud as you can" Nate laughed "trust me I will" he gave crystal a hug before taking his seat in the bleachers.

"OH COME ON THAT'S A FOUL REF" crystal, Kate and lea were stood up shouting at the ref, One of there team mates Caleb had been bumped purposely by the other team, "WE DESERVE A FREE SHOT FOR THAT" Lea shouted, but the ref ignored the girls, they continued to warm up in a huff "if we lose this game because of that I'm gonna…." Kate was interrupted, the ref blew his whistle but didn't call anything "I'm gonna shove that bloody whistle so far down his throat he'll whistle every time he talks" Kate finished, Lea and Crystal turned to her before laughing at her expression as the ref blew his whistle again, however this time it was for half time. "Showtime girls" Dajan came up behind them "awesome, and we can pick any one from the audience right" crystal asked "yep" Dajan smiled and glanced quickly up at the bleachers "awesome" crystal looked at the one guy she knew who had a semi-professional career in basketball and had a basketball scholarship at his college, she smiled at Nate and beckoned for him to come down "hey how do you fancy playing on our team in a half time friendly" crystal asked him "sure thing streak sounds like fun" "yeah emphasis on the fun" she smiled at him knowing how competitive he could get "fine" he playfully scowled at her. The three girls and Nate walked onto the court with a young woman from the audience; they were to play five a side with three other girls from the cougars and two volunteers from the audience.

Crystal high fived her brother as he scored his 3rd basket during the half time game. She ran off down the court and gained possession of the ball, she passed it to lea as they moved down the court, the ball went to Kate before the young Woman, who they learned was called Lisa had possession, "take the shot Lisa" Nate encouraged, she shyly smiled at him before setting up the shot, the final whistle went as she flicked her wrist and sent the ball into the air, however it bounced off the rim of the hoop, but it didn't matter they had won the mini match anyway 3:2 crystal ran over and gave Nate a big hug "ask Lisa to the fate tonight" she whispered to him, she nodded to Lisa then winked at her brother before running over and joining the girls in jumping up and down in celebration. They walked back over to the team who high fived everyone "Nice job guys, congrats" Dajan congratulated them and shook Nate's hand "thanks man, now if you don't mind I have something to do" Nate winked at his sister before kissing the top of her head, she shoved him off "get off me you idiot" she laughed as she watched him go after Lisa. "You never told me Nate Lena was your brother" Dajan said to crystal "wouldn't my last name give it away and anyway how do you know who my brother is" crystal asked raising an eyebrow "I never really made the connection and I met him when I went supporting my brother at the tryouts for the scholarship your brother now has" "oh right, small world" Dajan chuckled, the whistle blew for the second half of the game "good luck guys" the girls cried as the guys ran past.

Celebration

The minibus pulled up in the parking lot, they were greeted by a huge crowd with a banner saying 'congrats on making the final'. "Wow" Kate exclaimed as they jumped off the minibus, the large crowd of students, teachers and parents rushed forward and began picking up various members of the team. Crystal got lost in the crowd of smiling and laughing people, she felt someone grab her arm and she was dragged out of the crowd by Lea, Kate was stood beside her "come on let's leave them and go get ready" the three girls walked off towards the locker rooms with there gym bags.

"Oh My God" Kate cried out frustrated, crystal turned around from curling the last strand of her hair in the mirror and looked at Kate "what's up" "these strands of hair won't curl" she slammed the curlers down on the bench annoyed, "hold on let me have a look" crystal put her curlers down and picked up Kate's, she looked at Lea who was sat sliding her leggings on and raised her eyebrows at her, before turning to Kate "Kate did you turn these off to let them cool earlier?" "Yeah why" "because you idiot, you didn't switch them back on" Crystal laughed "what" Kate stood up and took the curlers off Crystal, she started laughing "why does this always happen to me" the three girls started laughing.

Crystal was putting mascara on when Kate let out a scream, making her jump, 'oh great' she frowned in the mirror she had black dots on her eyelids, she looked at Kate in the mirror as she reapplied her gold eye shadow "was there a reason why you caused me to put mascara on my eyelid" "or caused me to apply my lipstick on half of my face" crystal looked at Lea in the mirror and started laughing, she had a line of pink lip stick half way up her face "I'm sorry but Jacob just texted, saying he's here ahhh" she screamed again "alright I'm gonna go find him how do I look" crystal turned around and looked at her "ok wow, you look amazing" she was wearing the outfit that Leigh had picked out for her yesterday, and she had curled her hair and tied it to the side, the beret placed on the side of her head, she had opted for pale nude colours for her make up "yeah you look fantastic and hopefully I will once I get this bloody lipstick of my face" she scowled at Kate as she scrubbed the lipstick of with a wet paper towel, Kate only smiled at her before giving the two of them a hug "I'll see you guys later at the booth" "see you later" the two girls called after her as she darted out of the Locker room. "have I got it all off" crystal turned to Lea "yeah its all gone" "thank god" lea quickly went and replaced the foundation she had rubbed off and reapplied her lipstick "ok I am ready to go" she walked over to crystal, her short blonde bob had been back combed and her thick fringe had been straightened across her brow in a side fringe, she linked her arm through crystals and dragged her out the Locker room.

Meeting the parents

Crystal spotted Iris "hey I need to speak to iris for minute" she pulled away from lea "ok well I can see Dajan anyway" Lea said looking in his direction, crystal laughed "go get him" "ditto" Lea winked at crystal before taking off towards Dajan who was stood at the club's booth, crystal frowned after her friend before walking over to iris, who was stood with Nathanial near the food stand "hey you two", iris and Nathanial looked up from there conversation "hey cryst" iris smiled at her "Nat you mind if I borrow this one for a minute" "no go ahead" "thank you" crystal grabbed iris and pulled her behind the booth, "what's up" iris asked "listen if my Brother or aunt ask, I was at yours last night ok" iris's eyes widen in shock, before she reverted to suspicion "where were you then cause you certainly weren't at mine trust me I would of noticed" she smiled at crystal "don't judge me ok" iris's right eyebrow shot up "I was at Castiel's but it's not what you think ok, I fell asleep on his couch so he left me there, that's all" "alright I half believe you" "how can you half believe me" "I believe it's not what you think I think it is, but I also don't believe you just fell asleep on his couch I reckon, you stayed over on your own terms" crystal just rolled her eyes "aha I'm right aren't I" "sort of" "what do you mean sort of" "the two of us found out something yesterday, and we just wanted the company, so castiel suggested I stayed in his parents room which I said yes to" crystal replied twisting the truth, "oh right ok" "so you promise to back me up with the story" "yeah I promise" "you're the best" crystal gave iris a big hug.

"So did you come here with Nathanial or did he just happen to catch you here" crystal asked as the two girls walked back around the booth, iris blushed but then smiled "he actually asked me here" "no way oh my god" crystal squealed, "what are you two squealing at" they had walked back round and had come face to face with Nathanial "oh nothing" crystal replied before winking at iris "I'm gonna try and see if they need any help at my booth, see you two later" crystal said as she walked off in the direction of the booth.

She could see lots of familiar faces, she spotted Leigh and Rosa stood away from the crowd, with there arms around each other, she waved at Lea who was stood with Dajan and melody and Kim gave a wave from the other side of the Fate, she also spotted a certain red head, who was glancing around the field a slight worried look on his handsome face, she put her fingers to her lips and whistled before shoving a hand in the air and waving, castiel spotted her his face relaxed, the two them began to make there way across the field towards each other.

"Hey Castiel" "hey hick" "give her a complement then son", the two of them jumped and spun around to face a very tanned black haired couple "mom, Dad?" castiel remarked "what are you doing here" "we got back about 2 hours ago, we ran into Maddie in town and she told us about this fate" his mom answered, "so son you going to introduce us to your girlfriend" his dad asked, Crystal blushed heavily "she's not my girlfriend" "oh I'm sorry I assumed" "you assumed wrong, anyway this is crystal she's actually Maddies niece" "oh right, it's nice to meet you Crystal, I'm David" David stuck his hand out "hi" crystal smiled at him and took his hand, "and I'm Linda" "its nice to meet you both" crystal shook her hand.

"Oh castiel you want to see the fabulous fossil your dad uncovered it's beautiful, unfortunately though we couldn't bring it home" "oh what a shame we can't put it on the walls" castiel replied sarcastically before raising his eyebrow at crystal, who chuckled "aww don't be to sad about it son" his dad retorted with the same amount of sarcasm, crystal laughed "I now Know were you get it from" she laughed turning to castiel "try living with them" Linda frowned at her husband and son, crystal laughed at her expression, "we brought back a very rare Inca Medallion though, that I was thinking of putting in your room son" "you are not putting any of that junk in my room" "fine" His dad laughed, "Inca as in the civilisation?" crystal asked "oh please don't get them started cryst" "what I'm curious as to what they uncovered" she laughed winking at him "I like this one" David smiled at crystal, who smiled back "and to answer your question Yes, we recently got back from the ruins of Macho Picchu in pe…" "Is this thing working" Linda was interrupted by the principal's voice echoing over the school grounds, "yes hi everyone, welcome everyone to the sweet Amoris, bonfire night celebration, before the Fate officially starts, I would like to first welcome onto the stage the entire basket ball team", "Quick before they start talking again" castiel had grabbed crystals arm and was dragging her to the stage.

"I would like to offer my congratulations to the entire basketball team for making the final of there tournament, where they will face the so far undefeated Tribeca timber wolves, but I think these guys can change that what do you think" the crowd let out a huge cheer.

Inappropriate help

"hey Cryst" "hey Lys" crystal turned around (recognising his voice) after switching the booths lights on, Lysander was walking towards the booth his hand intertwined with Violette's, crystal raised an eyebrow at there hands and smiled at them, the two of them blushed. "I see you two are enjoying the fate" she laughed gently, "yeah, nice set up by the way" "thanks" crystal laughed at Lysander's attempt at changing the subject but complied anyway, "I can't temp the two of you to have a go, 3 balls for $3, if you make one of them, you can choose one of the big teddies" crystal gestured behind her "alright go on then" Lysander handed over $3, crystal handed him a ball, the first two shots didn't make it, however the third one did "Oh my god well done Lys" vi jumped and clapped, "nice shot Lysander, alright which one do you one, you can have the purple bunny, the blue teddy or the pink unicorn" Lysander turned to Vi "which one do you want" Vi blushed "erm the purple Bunny please cryst" crystal turned around and looked up at the bunny "really Vi you had to choose the highest one" Violette smiled at her "I gave my choice" crystal rolled her eyes and began to reach up for it, "oh come on, I can't believe she roped you into it Lys" Castiel had walked up to the booth with two hot chocolates "hey she's very persuasive" castiel rolled his eyes "don't I know it", "will you two stop yapping, castiel give me a hand here will you" crystal had turned around and was facing the trio, castiel smiled and held up the two mugs, "put them on the table" she replied annoyed "fine fine, don't get your knickers in a twist" crystal rolled her eyes and waited for him to come over, she felt his hands on her hips "whoa what are you doing" she felt her face flush red "I'm giving you a hand, now shut up, on the count of three I want you to jump, 1….2….3" crystal kicked up off the floor and castiel hoisted her up by the hips, she cut the bunny free "alright you can put …. Ahhh" she felt castiel's hands disappear from her hips and she was suddenly falling, all of a sudden his hands reappeared but underneath her legs and around her back, "what the hell" she struck him with the bunny as he set her on her feet, before walking over to a laughing Vi and Lys "sorry to use it as weapon Vi, but here you go" she handed the bunny over to her "thanks cryst" "alright were going to check out the rest of the fate, try not to kill each other in the meantime" Lysander laughed "can't make any promises on that" crystal scowled" "see you later" she watched as the pair walked off, "here before it goes cold" she turned around and saw castiel holding one of the mugs out to her in an attempt to apologise "thanks" she replied trying and failing to look annoyed, the booth wasn't that busy so the two of them grabbed the 'emergency blanket' (it was a quilt Lea's parents had brought) and wrapped it around them and sat down with there mugs "your parents seem really nice" "yeah they are when there not talking about there job, which is most of the time" "oh come on surely it can't all be bad, I mean they dig up the past, that has to be fascinating" castiel raised an eyebrow "didn't think you were a history buff" "I'm not I just find certain things interesting" castiel just nodded. The two of them stayed wrapped up like that for a while, only getting up every so often for customers. 'Alright folks the fireworks display will start in five minutes' Nathanial's voice echoed round the grounds, castiel looked at crystal "you wanna stay here or go find a better spot" crystal looked at him "may as well stay here, I'm pretty comfy plus the rockets go off in the sky it's not like were not gonna see them" castiel shrugged his shoulders at her point.

The two of them were quietly talking "so how have you been feeling after last night" crystal asked "not great, I'm alright if I know were you are, it's when I don't that I start imagining things" "aww your concerned for me" she smiled playfully "but is she really that bad" crystal asked seriously castiel nodded *BANG* the two of them jumped as the first rocket went off, its pink sparks falling out of the sky, the two of them didn't talk after that, crystal just lay her head on castiel's shoulder and watched the many colours light up the night sky.

Crystal waved good bye as Kate left the booth with her curly haired boyfriend Jacob "CRYSTAL" she looked up and saw her brother and aunt and Lisa running over panic written across there faces, crystal looked at castiel with confusion before turning back to the 3 of them "CRYST we've got to go NOW" Nate shouted at her "whoa whoa whoa, what's happened" "the stables are on fire they thing a stray…" but crystal didn't hear anything else she had vaulted over the table and was running towards her brothers car, she could here there footsteps behind her.

The fire

The house came into view as they came round the corner, the house was lit up by the diminishing blaze behind it and the red lights of the fire engines, Nate stopped the car, crystal threw herself out of it and ran round back, the entire stable block was still alight "NO", she ran forwards, "Miss please stay back" a fire officer had grabbed her arm " MY HORSES, WERE ARE MY HORSES" she was shouting above the commotion, her vision blurred with tears "miss calm down, there fine, there over there" the officer pointed to the far paddock, she could see silhouettes, she ran over relief flooding through her, but it soon changed to panic and pain, as she got closer she could only see two silhouettes, one belonging to her thoroughbred , the other to her Clydesdale 'where's teddy' she thought scanning the entire paddock, the panic bubbling up in her, she turned and ran back to the now small embers and smoke that was all that was left of her stables "WHERE'S TEDDY, WHERE'S MY SHETLAND PONY" the tears had started again, she grabbed hold of the officer who had held her back before "WERE IS HE, WERE'S MY PONY" she screeched hysterically, the officer dropped his gaze before moving it to the lightly burning stables "no, no, no, no" crystal sunk to the floor, she felt like someone had stabbed her in the chest, "Oh my god" "cryst" "crystal are you alright" "crystal" "crystal" she heard the various voices of her friends behind her, but she wasn't listening to them, instead she was searching for the one person she wanted the most right now, "crystal you have to get up off the floor" there it was the voice she'd been searching for, she felt Castiel's strong arms pull her up off the floor, she grabbed his shirt and cried into his chest "what happened" he asked addressing the officer "we think a rogue rocket had hit the feed room and with the amount of hay and straw in there, it went straight up in flames" "and what about the pony" she heard her brother ask (she began to cry a little bit harder at the reference to her pony) "he had been trapped by part of the stable, we managed to rescue the horses, but the pony was already gone when we got to him" crystal's tears were still flowing but not as heavily she was shaking uncontrollably against castiel's chest.

"Maddie what's hap… Oh My God" Crystal heard Linda run round to were they were all stood, she heard another set of footprints which she assumed were David's. "Maddie Oh my god I'm so sorry" "is everyone alright" David called out "castiel?" she felt castiel nod, she pressed her head further into his body, his hand moved to the back of her head the other one round her waist, she didn't want to let him go she wanted to stay like that forever, "maddie, how about you and your niece and nephew come stay at ours for tonight" Linda suggested, crystal lifted her head from castiel's chest "what about star and maybelle" she managed to choke, "they'll be safe here sweetheart" maddie walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder, crystal glanced over castiel's shoulder at the horses, the two of them weren't grazing but instead were looking at the charred rubble of there home which had buried there friend, she was apprehensive, she had a feeling that this was no accident but she didn't relish on the thought she felt to drained both physically and emotionally so she just nodded.

Team talk

The weeks that followed weren't the best for crystal, she, Nate and Maddie only stayed at Castiel's that one night, but she had to move into her brothers room at the front when they went back, she couldn't bare to look at the burnt rubble. Finances were also pretty tight, although, the stables were insured and so was the tack, the excess was still high, and also they still had to pay to replace everything especially the rugs seen as star and maybelle were to sleep outside during the winter nights. But they some how managed to scrape the money together and as winter vacation loomed the stables were almost rebuilt and things started to look up for crystal.

Crystal walked out of the exam hall after taking her final exam, the school was buzzing as the basketball final was this evening, not to mention the Christmas dance was tomorrow evening 'and' she thought 'I finally turn 18', she smiled truthfully for the first time in weeks, "hey you're smiling" crystal looked up at iris who was walking towards her "I've missed that smile" "I'm sorry if I've been pretty miserable this past month" "hey don't worry about it ok, we know things are tough at home" the two girls walked out of the exit and headed for iris's car "HEY CRYSTAL WERE ARE YOU GOING" crystal turned around and saw Caleb running towards her, his fluffy blonde hair bobbing up and down with each stride "hey Caleb, I'm going home to check on the star and maybelle before the game" "oh no your not" he gently grabbed her arm "Dajan's called a team meeting", "what, why am I only hearing about this now" "cause he only called it about 10 minutes ago" crystal rolled her eyes "guess I'll see you later, hey are you coming to the game?" iris pulled her keys out of pocket and unlocked her car "yeah I wouldn't miss you guys destroying the timber wolves" crystal laughed "see you later iris" crystal let Caleb drag her towards the outside court.

They sat listening to Dajan's team talk for 5 minutes, "alright you guys it's only gonna be short but I want you to do your best and bring back that trophy so we can wipe that smile off of…" "Dajan, I see you're already setting them up for failure" the team turned around crystal gasped quietly as she recognised the coach of the timber wolves. He had once broke Nate's shoulder, when the two of them had a fight on the court over the inappropriate comment he had made about Crystal. She suddenly found herself smirking, 'if he tried anything like that he'll not only have Nate but castiel and the other guys on the team as well to deal with now' she thought, "well, well, well Crystal Lena long time no see, how's Nate" she felt the eyes of her entire team fall on her "Nate's fine". "Michael it's always a pleasure to see you" Dajan replied sarcastically Michael looked as though he hadn't fully acknowledged Dajan "listen were are the changing rooms so my team can change" Dajan didn't say anything just nodded in the direction of the female changing rooms "err I meant the male changing rooms" "for my team only" Dajan replied coldly "fine guys go get changed" there were various groans and whines from his team but they did as they were told.

Surprise guest

The girls were sat in there team tracksuits as they weren't doing anything this match, Crystal was talking to Kate and Lea and iris, vi, melody and Kim who were sat on the bleachers behind the three girls. A very familiar voice came from behind her "crystal?" she turned around to face a pretty ginger haired girl who was beaming at her "Arianna?" crystals face was shocked one minute then ecstatic the next "oh my god it is you" Arianna ran up to crystal and the two girls hugged, "what are you doing here" crystal beamed, "my boyfriends on the team" "boyfriend?" "yeah his names mark, number 15" "ooh right well I have to give you my rating of him" the two girls laughed, "I can't believe you're here I've missed you so much, oh you have to meet my friends" crystal walked the short distance to the group of girls "Ri I would like you to meet Lea, Kate, melody, Violette, Kim and Iris" she said gesturing to each individual "Guys this is Arianna she's from my hometown in Arizona and one of closet friends" the group of girls exchanged there hello's, "so how's Star" Arianna asked turning back to crystal "he's fine" she could tell Arianna knew there was more but she didn't press the point "how's conker" "oh he's great, we recently won our very first Show jumping CIC* competition" "no way Oh my god I wish I could of seen it" "oh cryst you should have, he was fantastic, he was like a whole other horse, he was obedient and careful so careful in fact that we did clock up a few time penalties, but I didn't care I had never been so proud of him" crystal laughed gently "do you realise how much I've missed these horsey conversations" the two girls laughed.

The band started playing moments later and the crowd began to cheer, "you best go take your seat, you don't want your boyfriend to think your supporting the other team now do you?" crystal chuckled "your right, catch you after the game?" "Yeah definitely".

The almost fight

The game started nicely, with both teams scoring a basket each within 7 minutes, the game was pretty tense and energetic, so much so that by the time the guys came off for first half, they were soaked from head to toe in sweat, but despite there efforts though they were still a basket down. "Bloody hell you lot stink" Kate said gingerly handing Ben a towel, "don't hug me this time, I've don't want to stink of your sweat whilst I'm watching the rest of the game" crystal said handing castiel his towel, "oh don't worry I'm gonna wait till the end when I'll be a lot sweatier" crystal playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "Alright you lot huddle up" Dajan called "oh do I have to, they wreak" Lea complained "come on Le Le" the rest of the team groaned, ever since the two of them had started dating, there pet names made everyone else feel sick. "Fine" Lea marched over and gingerly got into the huddle, "alright were only one basket down, castiel I want you …." Crystal let Dajan's voice fade out, she had spotted her brother in the audience and he wasn't happy about something, he looked down and caught her eye, before nodding behind her, she turned her head and saw Michael actually staring at her arse, she pulled a face and straightened up out of the talk, she saw Nate half rise out of the bleachers but she quickly shot him a warning look and Lisa quickly pulled him back down, "alright did everyone except crystal get that?" "Huh" crystal turned her attention back to the team, the guys just laughed before putting the hands in "BREAK" the guys ran back onto the court for the second half.

From were crystal was sat she could see, Number 15 from the timber wolves, Arianna's boyfriend mark, he was quite good looking, he was skinnier than the rest of the team and yet he was more agile and faster, his brown hair was cropped short, highlighting his green eyes. They were 30 seconds away from the final buzzer; the adders needed one more basket to win. Crystal noticed Mark was stood waiting for the ball, crystal caught Michael winking at him, mark nodded and smiled slightly before running up the court, he was looking around as he went, but he wasn't waiting for one of his teammates, crystal caught him smile evilly as his eyes focused on castiel, who was heading straight for him with the ball, crystal stood up about to warn him but the two boys had collided, the ref blew his whistle, crystal sprinted across the court towards them, Arianna arrived at the same time, both boys stood up, there was blood poring from castiel's nose "what the hell" he shoved Marks shoulders, "hey that was your fault" mark shoved him back "like hell it was you ran into me" "hey hey hey" Crystal ran in front of castiel as he pulled his fist back "don't you dare, you don't want a bust lip to go with your nose do you" "ha like he could" castiel challenged, smearing the blood on his face as he attempted to wipe it off "you wanna see me try" mark took a step forward, castiel try to but couldn't due to crystal. "Mark come on, leave it" she heard Arianna say, "no I want an apology" mark said, crystal who had been looking at castiel's nose looked at castiel shocked, she turned around "I'm sorry you want an apology off him" crystal pointed behind her at castiel, "ha fat chance and anyway you should be apologising to him, I saw you exchange a look with Michael, I saw you looking for castiel on the court, that collision was on purpose and you know it" "Cryst he says it wasn't his fault and I believe him" "Ri I saw it with my own two eyes, that and castiel's not stupid enough to get disqualified from a game as big as this" "alright, alright, I'm calling a time out, Red go get yourself cleaned up and be back in 3, your taking the penalty shot" the ref declared "WHAT" the timber wolves began an uproar "MY DECISION IS FINAL" the ref blew his whistle to silence everyone.

The almost kiss.

"Thanks Hick" Castiel looked at crystal as she finished bandaging his nose "no problem, now go win us that game" she flashed him a smile as he ran back onto the court, he stood and faced the net and waited for the whistle, the whistle went off, he waited a couple of seconds before confidently flicking his wrist, crystal felt herself moving with the ball, the final buzzer went off, the ball bounced on the rim before circling round it, the crowd was silent, after what felt like minutes the ball began to tip towards the ring before it finally fell in, the crowd erupted into cheers, crystal ran onto the court as had most of the crowd and ran straight for castiel, he picked her up by the waist and spun her around, the two of them laughing, he put her down and looked at her, there eyes met and he slowly moved his head towards hers "castiel nice job mate" Nate had come up behind and slapped castiel on the shoulder, the two of them pulled away from each other, crystal blushed before scowling at her brother for interrupting. She felt castiel's hands pull away from her waist as he was pulled away and hoisted into the air, she laughed as he shrugged at her from someone's shoulders, she caught iris's eye from somewhere in the crowd, she smiled and raised an eyebrow at crystal, crystal mimed 'What' with an innocent look on her face, across the court before the two of them laughed. Crystal watched as the crowd dragged the team outside, she turned to pick up the guys things from the bench, but instead she saw Arianna stood by the bench, she walked over "hey" she smiled at Arianna, "hi", crystal began to pick up the guys things "listen about earlier" she straightened up and faced Arianna "I know what I saw ok, I believe Castiel, I just didn't mean to snap at you, you know how competitive I am, I just wanted us to get that shot fairly, so we could win" "I understand" Arianna smiled at her "plus I believe castiel now, I over heard Michael blaming Mark for it all going wrong" "ugh he has some nerve him honestly" the two girls were walking out the exit now "so you and Castiel What's going on there", crystal felt her face flush red "I erm, he's one of my closest friends" "he looked to be closer than a friend" "you saw that huh" "yep and I saw how lightning intervened with his perfect timing as usual" crystal laughed "oh I could of killed him then" "aha so you did want castiel to kiss you" "well yeah of course I did, but" "but what" "I don't want our friendship to change, I got caught up in the moment, if he tried to do it again I would have to set him straight" "oh but cryst, you looked so good together, you looked like a proper movie star couple earlier when he picked you and spun you around" crystal laughed "like I said I got caught in the moment", Arianna rolled her eyes, the girls walked over to the parking lot, "so are you heading back tonight" crystal asked "no were staying in a motel for tonight and going home tomorrow" crystal looked disappointed "but tomorrows my birthday I at least wanted you to stay all day" "hey don't worry I was gonna call in with you present anyway" "yeah but still its nearly Christmas, I wanted to spend it with my best friend" "I know I'm sorry" "well what if I ask Maddie if you can stay at ours for the next week, do you think Karen and Luke will let you" "are you kidding me, they say yes to anything that involves you, you know at one point I was convinced they were gonna swap me for you" Arianna laughed, "well give them a ring now, and I'll get maddie on the phone as well" the two girls smiled at each other before pulling out there phones.

The girls were sat in crystals room; she had switched back to her original room at the back. The two girls were sat on crystal bed watching Star and Maybelle and catching up on the past 4 months, "cryst I'm sorry about what happened, poor teddy", crystal just grimaced. "Ok on to another subject what have you got planned for us to do while I'm here" Arianna asked "well not much seen as it was a last minute thing, but tomorrow is the Christmas dance at school and you can be my plus one if you like, tomorrow I will take you to the best clothes shop in town and get you a lovely new dress and we can be the best looking couple at the dance" crystal laughed "Oh yes we will, and what about the rest of the week" "well the weather is supposed to be Snow so we could go riding in the snow, we do have tack for Maybelle if you want to ride her" "yeah I've never ridden a cart horse before" "and we could probably visit the park or call up my friends and see what there doing" "excellent now that is a plan".

18th Birthday

The girls woke up early the next day, "ugh what time is cryst", crystal groaned and looked at her clock it was only 8:55am "8:55, why?" "why is it so bright" Arianna complained, crystal sat up and pulled her curtains back, she shielded her eyes and gasped, "it snowed" "what no way let me see" Arianna came charging across the room and jumped on crystals bed and knelt looking out the window, the two girls looked at each other and beamed, the two of them coming from Arizona had never seen snow, "we have to go riding, star and maybelle won't no what hit them" "it looks that way now" crystal looked out the window beside Arianna, the girls started laughing, the two horses were thundering round the paddock throwing snow up as they put playful bucks in, Maybelle spotted the two girls and slammed on the breaks, the big horse skidded on the snow, before prancing around, star had done the same, he was looking at the girls, before getting down on his knees and started rolling, he came out of the roll and bucked before cantering round the paddock, white powdery snow trailing behind him off his rug. "There gonna be a nightmare to ride" crystal laughed as she shut the curtains. "I know, however first things first I have something for you" Arianna cried she leaned over the side of the bed and rummaged in her bag, she pulled out a little square present with a blue bow on it "happy 18th birthday Cryst" she handed the present to crystal "Arianna thank you so much" she hugged her best friend, she began to slide the bow off "ah ah ah wait until we go downstairs, I'm sure your aunt and brother will want to see it" "fine, come on lets go now" she wanted to see what was in the box.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY STREAK" Nate cried as she and Arianna came into the kitchen, he walked over and picked her up in a bone crushing hug, "thanks Nate" she beamed at her brother as he put her down, "your presents are on the dining table" he pointed over his shoulder at the 4 presents sat on the table, "thanks Nate" she gave him a hug, "where's maddie" she asked as she released him, "she'll be down in a minute". Arianna and crystal sat at the table, why Maddie and Nate cooked breakfast "Oh sweetie by the way, I've invited your friends round later so they can have some tea and you can have a party whilst you get ready for the Dance" maddie said as she placed a plate of food in front of her, crystal looked at her aunt " you're the best you know that right", "hey what about me, streak" Nate butt in as he sat down next to Arianna and handed her, her plate, "nah still maddie" she smiled playfully at her brother, he rolled his eyes and tucked into his breakfast.

"Alright streak you wanna open your presents?" the four of them had finished eating and had cleared up, "is that a trick question", crystal retorted laughing, Nate chuckled as he handed one of the presents to her, "this is from Maddie" she took the large square box off Nate, "ah wait" maddie rushed out the room and returned with a similar box "Arianna this ones for you" maddie handed the box to a stunned Arianna "buts it not my birthday" "oh I know love but I figured… well open it or I'll give the surprise away", the two teenage girls looked at each other and opened the boxes together, the two of them simultaneously gasped, crystal pulled a gorgeous Light blue, strapless dress out of the box, she stood up and held it out, it had pink and white sequins sown into the chest area and white and silver thread intertwined throughout the dress and it was shorter at the front and longer in the back. Crystal folded the dress up and placed it in the box and leaned down to hug her aunt "its beautiful maddie thank you so much" "no problem sweetie but you should thank your friends Leigh and Rosayla, they helped me to pick it" "well I thank them later" crystal turned to Arianna "what does yours look like Ri" Arianna stood up and held her dress out, her smile was huge "oh my god Ri" Arianna was holding a strapless dress, that flowed out at the bottom, the top half was an emerald green, with silver rhinestones lining the top, the bottom half was made of green and blue netting making it look like the ocean as Arianna moved the dress, crystal watched as Arianna flung the dress over the back of her chair and ran over to maddie giving her a hug "maddie thank you so much it so pretty".

"Alright streak this ones from me" Nate handed crystal a little square box which looked similar to the one Arianna had given her, she pulled the silver bow off the box, she opened the top half and gasped, inside was a gold charm of the Lena Family crest, she looked up at her brother "Nate thank you" she got up and hugged him from behind, he looked up "am I the best now?" "your getting there" she laughed and kissed his cheek, she decided to stay there with her arms wrapped round her brother, "well here considering Lightning just gave you that" Arianna handed over her little box, crystal opened it and pulled out a little gold charm of Arizona "oh Ri its fantastic thank you" she gave her best friend a hug "come here I'll put them on" Nate yanked her arm and nearly pulled her over his shoulder, she hit him over the head with her other hand, he chuckled as he put the two charms on her wrist. "Alright crystal, this is the last one from me" maddie handed her a large rectangular present covered in brown paper, crystal pulled the paper off and her breath caught in her throat, she was holding up a painting. The painting was off a picture that Nate had taken, it was of the paddock, with star grazing, maybelle panned out on the floor her tree trunk legs were spread out in front of her and trotting towards them was a little bay Shetland, his ears pricked. Crystal felt her eyes well up "thank you maddie, its amazing" she ran her finger down the front of the Shetlands face, "well seen as your already on the verge of crying, I'll may as well give you my last gift" "oh no its gonna make me cry" "sorry streak" Nate handed a chunky box over his shoulder to her, she opened it, it was a digital photo frame, "put it on the table and press play". Crystal sat on her brothers knee and pressed play, the screen flickered to life and a video began playing, crystal gasped, her parents were stood holding a birthday cake, she recognised it as her 16th birthday, Nate was stood next to her holding the camera as he filmed them, her parents looked straight at the camera (and straight at crystal as she watched the screen) "Happy Birthday Crystal" they held the birthday cake out "Make a wish sweetie" her mom said smiling at her, crystal came into view of the camera and blew out the candles "what did you wish for cryst" Nates voice came out of nowhere, "if I told you it wouldn't come true now would it" she stuck her tongue out at her brother. Crystal lent back into her brother, she felt a tear fall from her eye, she continued to watch, her parents had walked behind her and wrapped there arms round there daughter, "our little girl is 16 can you believe it Dan" her mom kissed crystal's cheek. Crystal moved her hand to her cheek which was now wet with tears, the camera went black and various pictures began to show, the first one was of Maddie and Nate holding a 'happy 18th birthday' banner. Crystal turned and wrapped her arms round her brothers neck, his eyes were watering too "thank you Nate" she whispered to him, "no problem Streak" he kissed the side of her head.

Gallop in the snow

The girls arrived at some fields on the outskirts of the town; everything in front of them was white, and untouched, the two girls beamed at each other all that untouched snow to gallop through. "I don't know if I want to gallop on her she feels so big I don't know whether I'll be able to stop her", Arianna looked at crystal a little sceptical "don't worry we'll stick to a canter if you want", Arianna nodded "great what are we waiting for" crystal let star have a little rein and pushed him into canter, she heard the thunder of Maybelle's huge feet behind her and then she and Arianna were just a little bit behind her and star. The two girls cantered and messed about in the field for half an hour.

They were at the top half of one of the fields, next to it was a road, crystal could hear a motorcycle approaching she didn't know how but she immediately recognised the sound, her suspicions were confirmed as a red Ducati came round the bend a little further up the riders face was hidden but crystal knew who it was immediately, a large box was tied to the seat that she usually occupied, crystal pushed star into a gallop just as the bike came level with her, she looked to the side and immediately saw the red hair sticking out from under the helmet she smiled at the rider before kicking star on, she raced the bike all the way to the end until she eventually had to pull the thoroughbred up, she waved at Castiel as he carried on, she saw him lift his hand up to wave as well . Crystal and star were both panting there breaths joining to form one in the cold late morning air, as was Arianna's as she came thundering towards them on the Clydesdale. "Who… was… that" Arianna panted as she finally pulled up the cart horse, "oh that was Castiel, I wonder what he was doing this far out of town", "are you jealous that he might have been visiting another girl" Arianna teased, crystal stuck her tongue out at the ginger haired girl before walking star out of the field and onto the road "he can visit other girls I'm not his mother" crystal said although she wasn't exactly sure whether she liked that idea.

Surprised guest

The girls were in crystals bedroom, the two of them sat with towels on there heads and wearing crystal's dressing gowns over there underwear, they were going through crystal's shoes, trying to decide which ones to wear, Shasta started frantically barking downstairs scaring ellie off the bed, the tabby cat shot out of the room. Maddie shouted up the stairs, "CRYSTAL YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE" "OK THANKS MADDIE JUST SEND THEM UP PLEASE" she shouted back "ME AND NATE ARE JUST HEADING OUT DOING SOME GROCERY SHOPPING WE'LL BE BACK IN AN HOUR OR SO" "OK" . Crystal went over and put some music on, there was a knock on the door, "come in", the door swung open and Vi, Iris, Kim, Kate, Lea, Melody and Rosayla ran across the room and jumped on the two girls sat on the bed, the 9 of them were laughing as Shasta decided to join in, the big dope jumped in the middle of the group and licked anyone who was unfortunate to come within distance of his tongue. The Girls all wished crystal a happy birthday and handed there presents over.

"Come on crystal open them I want to see your face" iris giggled. The girls were sat in a circle on the floor in crystals room; Shasta spanned the entire length of the bed so there was no room for the girls. "alright alright" crystal laughed "who's am I opening first" "well it depends has your aunt given you your present yet" Rosa asked "yes she has and thank you by the way and I'll thank Leigh later as well" "your welcome and here these go with your dress" Rosa handed over a bag, crystal opened it and pulled out a pair of silver high heels, the ankle strap had blue beads hanging off it, "ok wow, Rosa these are gorgeous, thank you" crystal turned to Arianna "looks like you can have my gold shoes after all" Arianna smiled and grabbed the shoes of the bed. Crystal opened the rest of her presents; she received a paint set off Violette, a white and gold flower hair accessory and ring to match off Iris, 'the silver brumby' book off melody, the new big time rush CD off Kate, a new hat off Kim and a necklace and pair of earrings off Lea.

"Thanks guys these are awesome" she hugged all her friends in turn, "oh I forgot I've got something else as well" Rosa said as crystal released her, Rosa reached into her purse and pulled out a framed picture, she handed it over with a cheeky smile, crystal went to turn it over, when there was a knock on the door "oh I wonder who that is, I'll be back in minute" she said over Shasta's excited barking.

She got up and went downstairs following the Alaskan husky as he barrelled down the stairs, there was another knock followed by three more "alright alright keep your bloody hair on jeez" she yelled over Shasta, she heard a familiar throaty laugh as she reached for the door handle, she opened the door to see castiel standing on the white porch holding a large box, a couple of white flakes were melting in his hair, "why does it not surprise me that you're the one trying to destroy my door" she looked at him and gestured for him to come inside "i was cold" he replied bending down and acknowledging the dog who was nosing at the box. She shook her head and then grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the living room "what did you do that for, nice get up by the way" he chuckled looking at her, she flushed red, she had given the bigger dressing gown to Arianna, she was wearing her old pink one that was only just long enough to hide her Knicker line and exposed her chest more than she would of liked, she also hadn't combed through her hair since taking off her towel so it was twisted and sticking in all directions "oh shut up and I dragged you in here cause the girls are upstairs" she replied "are they all dressed like that cause if so I am staying" she gave him a sarcastic smile, he smiled at her "anyway Happy birthday hick" he handed her the box "you really didn't have to do that you know" she said but took the box anyway, she had to put the picture down first she opened the lid on the box and laughed, she pulled out the helmet she usually wore when she rode his bike, it was still all black but it had the word Hick painted on it and a picture of a crystal painted next to it, "I figured seen as you're the only one who uses it, it may as well be yours" she put the box down and wrapped her hands around the boys waist "thanks castiel it's great" she felt him reach round to hug her, she waited for his arms to touch her back but instead she felt him reach over "were did you get this?" crystal let go of him and looked at what he was holding, he had hold of the frame, she still didn't know what picture was in it, "Rosa gave it me, why what picture did she put in it" "you haven't looked at it?" "no I was about to when you knocked, what picture is it" he turned the picture around and crystal gasped, the picture was of the very boy who had hold of it, only he didn't have his red locks instead it was the rich black that his parents have, he was sat back against a wall smiling up at something. "hey you look good with your black hair" crystal said taking the frame off him and looking at the picture and then at the boy stood in front of her, even though they were the same person, there was a slight difference between her castiel and the castiel in the picture. Her castiel even though he was relaxed right now still seemed strained than in the picture; crystal realised his brother's death had affected him more than he let on. She handed the frame back but he didn't take it "here" "it's your present" he replied a slight smile showing on his face "I have a picture of you do you not feel weird about that" "give me a picture of you then were even" he smiled playfully, crystal couldn't tell if he was serious or not. They walked back into the hall "I'll see you tonight then?" crystal asked "oh yeah" he smiled slyly, "ok every time I've asked…." She was interrupted by Rosa shouting down stairs from her room "CRYSTAL WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG" "JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE" crystal shouted back "IF WE DON'T CURL YOUR HAIR NOW YOUR GONNA LOOK LIKE A FRIZZ BALL FOR CASTIEL" crystal felt her face go bright red, Castiel chuckled behind her and gently tugged on the blue strand in crystals hair "TOO LATE THERE ROSA" he shouted up the stairs, she heard many feet rush across her room, crystal turned and hit him across the arm "what did you do that for, the whole point of hauling you into the living room was so they didn't find out" "castiel?" the two looked up and saw all 8 girls stood along the landing looking over the banister "what are you doing here" Rosa asked, "he was just leaving weren't you castiel" Crystal threw him a look that she knew no one could answer back to, but she didn't give him time to answer anyway, she turned and started shoving his chest so he walked backwards towards the door.

As they reached the door castiel stopped, he looked at crystal, something about his gaze made her go all wobbly inside, he moved his head forward, crystal froze waiting, she felt his breath whisper against her ear "look inside the helmet" she felt slight warmth and wetness against her jaw, then he straightened up and looked to the girls "bye girls" he winked at cryst "bye Hick" he shoved his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders as he walked across the porch and down the white path to his bike.

Crystal shut the door and went into the living room picking up the helmet she put her hand inside and felt a piece of paper she pulled it out and unfolded it, a flash of gold caught her eye as she opened the paper, she bent down (being careful not to flash her friends in the dressing gown) and picked up a gold plastic triangle, "That's his lucky guitar pick" Rosa pointed out "I know he never performs without it, why has he given it me" "well maybe it's in the note" Arianna pointed out, crystal looked down at the piece of paper and read 'hick happy birthday, this might give you a clue as to why I'm being secretive about the dance, oh and bring it tonight, castiel P.S nice riding earlier, that horse is pretty fast' she chuckled at this mornings memory. She sighed then turned and looked at her friends she started laughing at them, some of them only had half there hair done or half there make up done "come on lets go get ready".

Pre-dance

Crystal heard her aunt and brother get home not long after all the girls had finished getting ready, she heard foot steps up the stairs and then a knock on her door "can I come in girls" "sure maddie" all the girls stood up as Maddie entered Shasta at her heels. Crystal saw her aunts eyes widen and start to fill up, "you all look so beautiful, oh I have to get a picture" maddie walked out the room "NATE GET THE CAMERA" she shouted over the banister, "come on lets get a group photo" she walked down the stairs and the girls followed all except crystal who held back. Turning to the mirror crystal gasped, she had never been a girly girl and always preferred to wear her riding gear rather than fancy clothes, yet she couldn't help but admire her friends work in the mirror. She had her black and blue hair in loose curls her full fringe straightened over her brow, a strand of her hair had been twisted and was held up by the white and gold flower Iris gave her, she was also wearing the ring, she wore the light blue dress her aunt had given her and the shoes Rosa had picked out. In her ears were the silver criss crossed dangle earrings that lea had given her and around her neck was the necklace and a silver chain with castiel's pick on the end of it, she pulled the chain and held the gold pick in her palm, she smiled as the feeling of his lips against her jaw returned, she felt her heart beat race and her face began to heat up, "STREAK COME ON" her brother interrupted her thoughts, she silently cursed at him for interrupting her.

The girls stood together in the small hall and posed for the camera. After about 7 pictures, her aunt let them go; the 9 of them walked into the living room and helped themselves to the small spread Maddie had laid out. Crystal sat down on the window box, she nibbled on a crisp and looked at her friends, maddie was right they all looked beautiful;

Vi was sat on the 3 seated sofa she had her purple hair pulled back, a few strands were loosely curled round her face and her fringe was straightened over her eyes she wore a Dark blue satin plunge dress and blue heels to match.

Melody was sat on the couch as well, she had gone for a much safer look, her wavy hair fell down her shoulders and she was wearing a short sleeved red dress completed with a gold belt and a red rose in her light brown hair.

Rosa was stood against the wall talking to Kim, her white hair was straight and fell to her hips, she had pulled her fringe up into a quiff on her head and her dress was so beautiful, it was a modern Victorian style short black dress with lace patterns sown onto the torso and behind her was a grey ruffle train that stopped about a milometer off the floor she wore on her feet black suede heeled ankle boots accented with Lace.

Kim wore her dark blue hair up in a curled ponytail she had replaced her pink glasses with contacts which highlighted her green eyes, she wore a short black dress with a wide silver sash that ended with a large bow on her hip, silver heels were on her feet.

Lea was sat next to crystal talking to Kate, she looked so amazing, the top layer of her blond bob had been back combed on the top of her head her fringe straightened across her forehead, she wore a purple ruffle dress that hugged her slim figure, that was longer at the back than the front, it was tied round her neck by a sliver strap.

Kate had done her brown and pink hair so that it fell in loose curls over her shoulders her dress was dark blue and tied at the back with a blue thin strap that fastened round her neck, the chest area had gold, silver and pink beads lining it.

Iris had just joined Melody and Vi on the couch, the gold dress she wore brought out her blue eyes and made her hair more fiery, the bottom half looked like it wrapped around her legs, the top half had a band of silver beads going across her waist. Her fiery hair was done in loose waves and fell over her face.

Arianna was talking to Nate, the Green dress highlighted her figure and brought out the honey colour in her eyes, she had pulled her hair up and held it in place with a large silver bull dog clip, she had put various green flower slides in her auburn hair.

Crystal walked silently into the kitchen, her aunt was tiding up "hey sweetie, everything alright" crystal smiled half heartedly at her aunt "yeah I just wish mom and dad could of seen me" maddie walked over and hugged her niece "wherever they are now they would be so proud of the beautiful young woman you have become, oh don't start crying you'll ruin your make up not to mention start me off" maddie chuckled as she reached up and gently brushed away a tear off crystals face. Crystal smiled through her blurry vision she opened her mouth to speak when Nate interrupted her again "STREAK LIMO'S HERE" "go on don't want to keep everyone waiting" her aunt replied as she wiped a stray tear before giving her one last hug.

Crystal clambered into the black limo after waving good bye to her brother and aunt, she sat beside Rosa, Arianna and Violette on the seats that were right at the back of the limo, she looked round and smiled at everyone. The seats on the left of crystal were occupied by Kate, who unfortunately didn't have a date as Jacob had gone back to Florida and would only be returning in a couple of days. Lea was sat next to her with Dajan, who looked quite bizarre to crystal, she had only ever seen him with his dreadlocks tied back and wearing the team uniform, but instead his dreadlocks hung loose round his face and he was wearing a cream cotton shirt his black jacket across his knees, he wore black cotton pants as were the rest of the guys and black formal shoes. Next to Dajan was Caleb's cousin Dake who was visiting his cousin and uncle from Australia, he was very handsome with a head of luscious blonde hair that was tied back in a short ponytail, he wore a short sleeve cotton shirt that showed off his tanned, tattooed arms, sat next to him was his cousin Caleb, who had spiked his short blonde hair and was wearing something much similar to Dajan in fact all the lads were, they looked like they had shopped at the same store. Crystal smiled to herself but it quickly faded, sat next to Caleb was who she assumed was his date judging by the way she clung to his arm, her blonde curls were pinned up on her head and was accessorised with a tiara, she wore a dark pink long prom dress, she was staring straight across at her brother who was sat opposite her. Nathanial looked handsome as always, he hadn't done anything with his hair except brush it, he was wearing a black tie that looked nice with his formal outfit. Sat next to him was iris, she was deep in conversation with him, there hands intertwined, crystal smiled again 'so that's why Ambers staring at nath' Melody was sat next to iris she was talking to her date jade. Jade was on the honours program and so crystal didn't see him that often but he was nice to talk to although the guy was a little obsessed with plants but she didn't mind and neither did Melody. And sat more or less opposite her was Kim with her date Armin. Armin had moved to town about a month ago with his twin brother Alexy and Kim had taken an instant liking to him. Alexy was sat next to his twin brother, his shocking blue hair was ruffled lightly and his formal outfit was a little untidy, his button on his collar was undone and his bowtie hung from his neck undone.

"Hey Happy birthday cryst, all the guys on the team chipped in, we thought your old ones were a little worn" Caleb smiled at her and reached for a box under the seats before handing it her, Amber was not impressed, this just added to crystals smile. She took the shoebox off him and opened the lid; she chuckled and lifted out a pair of brand new white and blue trainers. "oh thanks guys and your right my old ones were pretty worn not to mention paint stained" the basketball lot started laughing, "the principal was not impressed with that" Nathanial piped in raising an eyebrow at crystal "what you looking at me for" she laughed "castiel started" Crystal had the satisfaction of seeing ambers face grimace, Nathanial just shook his head.

The dance

The conversation had dispersed into little conversations by the time the limo pulled up at the front of the school. Everyone climbed out the limo and stood staring at the gymnasium, a walkway had been set up and a path had been shovelled into the snow leading to the entrance, little tiny fairy lights of pink, purples, yellows and greens were strung from almost every surface lighting up the snow around them. There was a groan from Kate "what's up Kate" crystal had turned to her brown and pink haired friend, "they've got a photographer to take pictures of people with there dates" she moaned "that means me, you, Rosa, Arianna and vi are gonna look like loners cause our dates aren't here" she continued, crystal smiled and grabbed Arianna's arm "what are you talking about I've got my date right here" the two girls laughed, "why don't you, vi and Rosa get a friend shot instead" Arianna suggested, the three girls in question nodded and link arms before striding over to the walkway into the gym, crystal followed suit with Arianna. Crystal watched as her three friends posed and pulled funny faces for the photographer, she and Arianna were next she linked her arm through Arianna's and put there faces together and pulling a funny face. They walked over to Rosa, Vi and Kate who stood by a small Christmas tree waiting for them. The five girls linked arms and walked into the gym; all five of them stopped and stared around. It looked almost unrecognisable, there was a long buffet table, filled with lots of different festive foods and drinks along one side of the gym, there were tables and chairs set out to form a dance floor in the middle. Streamers of red, gold, silver and green hung from the ceiling, red table cloths with white fur trims covered the tables and buffet table, mini Christmas trees with fake snow were the table centrepieces and larger trees filled with many decorations were stood up in various places all over the gym and a stage had been set up at the far end of the gym, a drum set and mike stand were all ready placed.

Crystal had to do a double take as her eyes grazed over the bands name on the drum set, she gasped, the drum set read 'battered souls', she turned to Rosa with a shocked expression, Rosa was smiling at her "there playing for the dance?" "Yep you can finally see them play a gig". Crystal spotted the red head and dragged the group of girls over to the side of the stage, "so this is why you were being secretive about the dance" she said to the back of castiel's head "its nice to see you too hick" he replied turning around, crystal couldn't help but smile at the way his eyes enlarged a little at her dress, "wow you guys look amazing" Lysander had walked over and gave vi a kiss on the cheek, she giggled and blushed. "oh that reminds me where's Leigh" crystal asked "I'm right here" his voice came out of nowhere, crystal jumped, he chuckled as she turned and glared at him, "I was going to say thank you for the dress but now I'm not going to bother" she glared but turned her expression into a smile, she watched him put his arm around Rosa and wink at her, "so who's your date" he asked crystal (she saw castiel look at her) she grabbed Arianna, "Ri is" she laughed at Leigh's expression, she put a fake sad face on and pouted her lip playfully "no one asked me, so I settled for Arianna" she put her hand over her mouth to make it look as though she didn't want Arianna to listen "I did try and get her into a tux but she was having none of it" she laughed as did the rest of the small group. The girls went and join Dajan, Nath, Armin, Alexy, Kim, Lea, iris and Caleb (amber had walked off with her friends) who had grabbed a table near the front of the stage, as the guys got ready to start playing.

Crystal was talking to iris when lea interrupted "I think castiel wants you cryst", crystal turned around and saw castiel beckon for her to come over; she rolled her eyes but went over to him.

"Did you get my note or were you too distracted" he winked at her, she rolled her eyes at his big headiness, "yes I got the note, why did you give me your lucky Pick" "like the note said it was a clue as too what I was doing tonight, anyway do you have it, were about to go on stage" "yeah its here" crystal grabbed the chain and pulled it out of her dress, she unhitched it from the chain and gave it him, she smiled at him "good luck" she looked up at the two brothers taking there places on stage "and good luck to you two as well, "thanks cryst" Leigh replied.

Jealousy

Crystal was talking to Arianna when she heard a high pitched voice approaching "crystal, Arianna?, oh my god can you believe were all here" Arianna looked up at crystal alarmed "is that who I think it is" she whispered to crystal who only nodded before addressing the skinny boy, "hey ken, whoa erm nice outfit" crystal replied trying her best to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she looked at the boy wearing the powder blue tuxedo and ruffled shirt "thank you I thought you would like it and you look so beautiful like a princess and so do you Arianna" "erm thanks ken" Arianna replied. The band began to play a fast upbeat song, "crystal would you like to dance" ken asked his glasses starting to steam up, crystal glanced up looking for a miracle, she smiled her miracle was walking towards the trio his long blonde hair bounced as he made his way over, "oh I'm sorry ken my Date Is here" Arianna and Dake looked at her alarmed, she shot Dake a warning look to keep his mouth shut. Crystal watched Ken's face fall "oh well Arianna do you want to dance with me then" crystal smirked at her friend but Arianna got her revenge "sure Ken and I'm sure crystal and her date wouldn't mind either" Arianna emphased the word date, crystal glared at her before looking at Dake "come on" she grabbed his arm and dragged him onto the dance floor she figured if castiel saw them it would just look like she was dancing with a friend. Crystal muttered 'sorry about that' as she began dancing to the music "it's ok, he is a strange one that boy" oh you don't know the half of…" crystal heard the guitar miss a note, she looked up just as castiel put his head down and covered his face with his red locks.

Crystal looked up and saw the band walking over to them, Castiel didn't even look crystal in the eye but she addressed him all the same "hey that was really good can I put in a request" she smiled at the red haired boy but all he did was nod. Crystal just shuck her head and walked away from him annoyed she wasn't gonna bother with an argument. Crystal walked over to the buffet table, "hey you alright" crystal turned only to see Dake stood next to her, "I'm fine thanks for asking" she didn't want to bother him with her problems so she put a smile on her face "hey by the way nice dancing earlier" Dake laughed and started doing a funny dance to the backing track that was back up for the band.

Crystal without realising it spent most of her night with Dake, the two of them talking, laughing and dancing together. As the dance drew to a close, crystal was stood talking to Dake, all of a sudden he started to lean towards her, his eyes fixated on hers, she gulped and stepped backwards away from him, he looked at her mildly confused before coming at her again, she backed up again however she hit the wall, "come on cryst give me a kiss" "Dake I'm sorry no I …" but it was too late the tanned Australian had pressed his lips to hers, she tried to shove him off but he was too strong.

His weight suddenly disappeared and she slid to the floor embarrassed, she heard a grunt from above her and suddenly Dake was knelt next to her clutching his stomach, she looked up to see castiel unclench his fist before offering his hand to crystal. Castiel pulled crystal up off the floor and looked at her face "did he hurt you" she just shook her head and gazed at his grey eyes, "there's always one isn't there castiel" the two of them drew there eyes away from each other and looked at Nathanial who was flanked by the blonde teacher who had witnessed the paint war and Mr. Clarke, Caleb was quickly walking over behind them "I'm afraid castiel were gonna have to escort you out and when term starts again you are to serve a weeks detention is that clear" Mr Clarke addressed castiel who glared at Nathanial before nodding at the science teacher, "wait" crystal grabbed Mr wolfs arm as he went to put it on castiel's shoulder, "it wasn't castiel's fault he was only sticking up for me, you can't punish him for that surely" the math's teacher looked sorrowful at crystal, "I'm sorry crystal but he punched another student, I afraid he has to be punished" crystal looked at castiel as he was escorted out, he grimaced as he walked out. "Crystal I'm sorry" Dake wheezed next to her as Nathanial and Caleb helped him up, she turned to him angry "when a girl say no she means no, not oh kiss me anyway, and now because of you castiel's been kicked out" she turned angrily on her heels and clattered off towards her friends, wishing Nate would hurry up and ring with what time he was picking her and Arianna up.

Snowballs

Crystal and Arianna were trekking through the snow towards the park to meet Rosa, Leigh, Lys and Vi a week later, it had snowed quite heavily this past week and so the two girls hadn't been able to go anywhere, Shasta was up ahead sniffing around and enjoying the snow. "why is it so cold I can't wait to return to Arizona tomorrow" crystal laughed at Arianna as she wrapped her arms around her chest "its nice too know you prefer heat over your best friend" "you know I love you cryst but I also love all 10 of my toes attached to my feet" crystal laughed and pushed on.

The girls walked into the park and started looking for the group of four *smack*, crystal felt something hit her in the back of the head, she lifted her hand to her hair and felt snow, she spun around to see Castiel holding another snow ball, Demon beside him his tail wagging, his stare fixated on the snowball, she watched Castiel draw his arm back and ducked as he launched it at her, demon shot off after it and Shasta shot off after him, the two dogs barking. Crystal picked up her own clump of snow and moulded it into a ball, she stood up and launched hers but Castiel was just as quick. The snowball soared over his head and smacked Lysander straight in the chest as he, Vi, Leigh and Rosa walked towards them, crystal hand shot up to her mouth in shock "Lys I'm sorry that was meant for castiel", she hurried over to check he wasn't mad at her, "haha nice shot hick" crystal turned around to address castiel only to open her mouth and get a face full of snow from behind, she spat out the snow and turned to Lys, who stood laughing at her "I can't believe you just did that" she laughed at him.

Another snowball came whizzing past crystals head and hit Violette, who looked up shocked "Arianna" she cried, crystal heard her friend laugh from behind her, vi ducked down quickly and within 10 seconds had moulded her snow ball, launched and hit Arianna in the face with it, with that a full blown snowball fight broke out. The group of 7 laughing as they ducked and dodged snowballs and avoided demon and Shasta as they charged after them.

"you can't outrun me crystal" Crystal heard castiel call after her as she darted off into the forest laughing, she ducked behind a tree and watched as he ran past, she quickly picked up some snow and moulded it, she stepped quietly from behind the tree and launched the snowball *smack* it hit him straight in the back of his head, she doubled over laughing at his shocked expression, Castiel took this opportunity to launch another attack but it missed her as she neatly danced out the way. Crystal took off running again as castiel picked up more snow, she ran down a small woody footpath but she wasn't paying attention to it, she hit an icy patch and went straight down on her back. "Crystal" she saw castiel rush over, she sat up laughing as he bent down in front of her, he looked at her "you have got to be the clumsiest girl I have ever met" he chuckled at her, she just smiled at him and took his hand, he hauled her up but as he did so, crystal slipped again but this time castiel caught her. Crystal flushed bright red, there faces were closer than they had ever been, so much so that she could feel castiel's warm breath against her lips, she looked up at his eyes which were staring at hers intently. Castiel moved his hand to her face and leaned in closer to her, she wanted this more than anything, crystal lent forward.

Close call

"castiel, crystal were the hell are you we've got an emergency" Leigh's concerned voice rung through the silence and wrecked the moment, crystal quickly pulled away making castiel drop his hand, she heard him swear quietly. "Leigh were over here" crystal saw the older boy running towards them, "Leigh what's wrong" crystal asked, "it better be good" she heard castiel whisper under his breath, "Demon's fallen in the pond". This got castiel's attention "WHAT" Castiel and crystal looked at each other panicked before taking off in the direction of the pond, Leigh following. They arrived at the pond to see a huge hole in the middle of the ice were Demon had clearly gone through; his head luckily was above the surface. "SHASTA, SHASTA" crystal shouted the three year old husky who was stood moving around the edge of the hole, whining for Demon. The dog looked up at it's owner "SHASTA SHAS…. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" crystal had turned her attention away from her dog and stood staring as castiel took off his thick coat and shoes and socks, "castiel you'll freeze" Rosa looked over she too was concerned, "I don't care I've got to rescue my dog" he took off running across the unstable ice, "CASTIEL, CASTIEL YOU'LL KILL YOUSELF, CASTIEL ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING, CASTIEL" crystal voice was getting higher and higher as she watched the red head now make his way gingerly across the ice. He grabbed Shasta's collar and pulled him away, crystal watched him lie down on the ice, her heart in her throat.

Crystal Put her fingers in her mouth and whistled before shouting "SHASTA GET HERE NOOOWW" the dog detecting the concern in its owners voice, slipped and slid across the ice, he bounded over to her, she bent down her eyes never left castiel as she put Shasta's lead on. Castiel grabbed Demon's collar and hauled him onto the ice, crystal breathed a little, she watched as he pushed the dog along the ice, Demon got up and ran clearly shaken to crystal who grabbed him by the collar, "easy demon it's al…" crystal's head shot up as she heard a large *crack*, she saw castiel (who was now stood up) shoot through the ice, "NO" crystal dropped the dogs leads and took off towards the pond, she ran over to were castiel had gone through, "CASTIEL, CASTIEL" she was in even more hysterics than before, she plunged her arm into the icy water trying to find him "CASTIEL WERE ARE YOU" she started hyperventilating, there was a spluttering sound from nearby, she looked up and saw castiel's head above the water but he wasn't in a good way, he had no colour in his face and his lips were bright blue. Crystal watched as he slowly made his way over to her, she grabbed his shirt and heaved him up onto the edge of the pond. Crystal was crying by this time, she flung her arms around his neck and cried into his wet cold hair, she felt him shivering against her. Crystal quickly composed herself for the sake of castiel, she took her grey parka off and wrapped it around his shoulders "come on we've got to get you and demon home now" she grabbed his arm and pulled him up off the ground, she let Leigh and Lysander drag castiel's tired and cold body to Leigh's car.

Crystal flung Castiel's wet clothes in the dryer at his house, she could hear Rosa in the living room "I can't believe he's refusing to go to hospital, he could have hypothermia". Crystal walked into the living room and grimaced at the group who were gathered around the fire with demon, trying to warm the poor shepherd up, "you know how stubborn he is Rosa, once he's made his mind up there's very little any of us can do to change it" Lys replied, crystal sat down on the edge of the couch nearest the fire, "I know but you think he would at least change his mind where his health is concerned", "I just don't know what to do with him" crystal shook her head, "maybe we should stay here tonight so we can keep an eye on him and demon overnight" Violette suggested stroking the shepherds black head.

Crystal was up early in the morning, she and Arianna had to go back early in order for Nate to give Arianna a lift to the bus station. "give me a minute, Ri then we can go" crystal walked slowly up the stairs, she patted Demon's head, he looked up and wagged his tail 'at least he's feeling better I wonder how Castiel is' crystal thought, she opened castiel's door a fraction, Leigh and Lysander had managed to force him into three layers of pyjamas. His face was bright red from being so warm, crystal snuck into his room and folded his quilt down to cool him off, she sat down gently and watched his sleeping face, she lifted her hand and gently brushed a piece of hair off his face. "Crystal" she heard Arianna hiss from the hall, crystal sighed and snuck out his room.

Decorating

Crystal waved as her best friend departed on her bus, she climbed back into Nates car, "Nate will you do me a favour and drop me off at castiel's I want to check he's alright after yesterday" Nate didn't even give her a disapproving look but instead nodded and started the car.

She waved to Nate as he drove off down the long driveway, she noticed Leigh's car was missing from out front, crystal let herself in to castiel's house, "Castiel you up" crystal called as she stroked demon, "yeah I'm in the kitchen". Crystal walked into the kitchen to see castiel making soup "were are Leigh, Lys, Rosa and Vi" crystal asked him, "oh I told them to stop fussing and to bugger off", crystal chuckled lightly "so your feeling better then". Castiel turned and smiled at her, he sat down at the dining table that crystal had had occupied, Crystal looked at him "hey I never thanked you for the Last week, you know with Dake and everything" she saw castiel's grip tighten on his spoon at the mention of Dake's name "yeah well he deserved it". Crystal let him eat in peace for a minute or so before looking round at the living room "not very festive in here is it" "huh" castiel looked up at her "its not very festive your house, Christmas is 5 days away and not a single decoration is up" castiel looked around "I hadn't noticed", "well if your feeling better maybe we can do it together, I love decorating the house for Christmas" she notice castiel raise an eyebrow and rolled his eyes and continue to eat "so is that a yes?" she grinned at him, "if I say yes can I please eat my soup in piece", "Yay" crystal squealed and darted out the room, only to appear a second later "erm were exactly do you keep them" castiel rolled his eyes and picked up his bowl before draining its contents, crystal shot him a disapproving look as he walked past her and led her to the storage room.

Crystal watched as Castiel put the tree up, "ah wait" she called as castiel opened the first box of baubles, crystal walked over and picked up the remote before flicking through the music channels to find one with a Christmas playlist, 'last Christmas' was playing so crystal left it on, she looked up and smiled at castiel who shook his head "you can't be serious cryst" "what it's a lena family tradition" the realisation that this was the first Christmas without her parents hit her like a ton of bricks she felt her heart sink and her eyes sting, she noticed castiel look at her with concern, she quickly plastered a smile on her face, she picked up some tinsel and wrapped it around castiel's neck "you look so pretty with that on" she laughed at his expression he was not impressed.

The two of them were finishing doing the tree, they would have been done 10 minutes ago but crystal kept stopping and dancing. Crystal had the job of decorating the bottom and castiel the top.

"And done" crystal declared as the two of them stepped back to admire there work, "not bad hick" castiel was stood beside her, "oh wait, that's wonky" crystal stepped forwards and straightened one of the ornaments, she stood up straight and looked at the tree, Crystal felt castiel come up behind her but she didn't expect what happened next.

The kiss

Crystal felt her hair being swept away from her neck, she felt castiel's breath and a split second later his lips on her neck, she felt his hands wrap round her waist and pull her into him. He began to kiss her neck following the line down to her collarbone, before moving to her jaw, she was too shocked to react at first but slowly she began to enjoy the sensation of his hot lips on her neck. She moaned quietly, her mind starting to go blank 'no' she thought fiercely 'this might wreck our friendship', mustering the little bit of sanity she had left she pulled away from him and turned, only to see the hurt on his face.

Her neck was tingling from were his lips had been, she looked into his grey eyes and the hurt that was in them, what was she doing, she had fallen for this guy since day 1, this is what she had wanted, crystal looked at castiel and listened to her rapidly beating heart before giving into her feelings, she made up the one stride between her and castiel.

She took hold of his face and gently pulled his head towards hers, his lips found hers with no difficulty, they were soft and gentle and yet hungry, there lips moving together in harmony as though they were only made for each other. She felt his right hand press into the small of her back and his left hand on the back of her neck pulling her closer into him, there bodies fitting together like perfectly designed puzzle pieces, crystal wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself into the kiss. Crystal felt his lips begin to descend down her jaw line, she moaned once more and closed her eyes "ow cryst", crystal opened her eyes, she saw castiel reach round the back of his head and grab her hand, which she now realised had a fistful of his red hair "that is attached to my head you know". Crystals already flushed face turned even redder "sorry" she muttered sounding like she was out of breath, castiel chuckled lightly and gave her a quick kiss, "it's alright, I'll forgive you this one time, do it again and I'll have to think of a punishment" crystals eyes widened, "oh god that wasn't meant to sound as bad as it did" crystal didn't say anything instead she just looked up at him and smiled, she quickly stole a kiss before grabbing some more boxes and moving into the hall to start decorating there.

The bet

Christmas was two days away. Crystal was sat on the couch cuddled up to a half asleep castiel watching the 'Santa Claus' movie, Demon had decided to try and fit himself on the couch with the two of them. Demon's head shot up off crystals leg, she and a now fully awake castiel immediately exchanged anxious looks last time demon had done that they had, had an unwanted visitor, castiel pulled his arm from around crystals shoulder and went to get up. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, where's my Cassy" Linda's merry voice echoed through the house, crystal chuckled as she saw castiel sink into the couch trying to avoid his mother. "where in here Linda" she called out smiling cheekily at castiel, "CRYSTAL, merry Christmas sweetie I take it you made this place festive" Linda's hands were upon her shoulders and she hugged crystal from behind, crystal could smell a hint of whiskey on her. "Cassy, oh what are you doing sat like that you'll hurt your back come here and give the woman who went through hours of screaming to bring you into this world a hug" crystal chuckled as Linda grabbed her son and yanked him off the couch and gave him a hug. "Lin put the poor boy down, oh hi crystal" crystal looked up and smiled at David; now that she had seen castiel with his black hair she realised just how much of a resemblance he was to his father, "hi David, good trip?" David opened his mouth, but his tipsy wife beat him to it "oh crystal it was fantastic" she threw herself on the couch jolting crystal, "we went to Greece and visited the temples and Aphrodite's fountain and it was so romantic and we uncovered a small doorway into the bottom of Zeus's temple and once Christmas and new year are out the way were gonna go back and see what's down there oh Cassy I wish we could of brought you along oh and crystal you would of loved it as well", "will you stop calling me Cassy" castiel sulked before turned to his father "what crap have you brought home this time" David just rolled his eyes at his son's fake enthusiasm, but he bent down and unzipped the suitcase that he had dragged into the living room, he lifted what looked like a sun dial out of his case, "this is Apollo's sun dial" "wow that's awesome" castiel replied making the sarcasm in his voice more apparent" " I don't even know why we bother sometimes honestly" "ignore him David I find it interesting" crystal replied truth is she didn't she just wanted to make a good impression "as I have said before I like this one cas" a slight smile danced on castiel's face "well here then this might interest you" David pulled out a glass bottle of water "wow dad a bottle of water that's really interesting" "shut up Cassy" crystal grinned playfully at him as he glared at her "its not a bottle of just any water" David replied "These are Aphrodite's tears and the myth states that the consumer of the tears will supposedly find there true love in the next person they look at, the tears can be both a gift and a punishm…" a small slurred voice interrupted David "crystal *hic* why don't you drink the tears and *hic* look at my son, you would make a lovely girlfriend for him, your such a sweet girl and you've *hic* managed to tame my Cassy" crystal felt her face flush red as she smiled up at a scowling castiel, "you only want to win the bet" "what bet" castiel turned to his father "your mother bet me $10 that the two of you would be dating by Christmas whereas I said you wouldn't be because crystals to good for you" "oh jeez it's nice to know my dad thinks I'm not good enough for you" he looked at crystal who smiled shyly " well dad" he smiled triumphantly at his dad before putting his arm around crystal who cheeks went even redder "I have some bad news you owe mom 10 bucks" "WHAT" Linda shot up and looked suddenly sober, "the two of you are dating, ha I told you Dave hand over my winnings now" David stood up and took $10 out of his pocket and walked over to his wife who now stood up, he went to hand it over but snatched it back causing Linda to come closer she wrapped her arms around him and seduced him into giving her the money, crystal smiled at the happily married couple, seeing them act so in love after all these years reminded her of her parents, she sighed. Crystal felt castiel gently take hold of her hand and pulled her into the hall, "you alright hick" she smiled up at her nickname, she was glad that, that element of there friendship hadn't disappeared "yeah just seeing your parents like that, it just reminded me of mine and it just made realise how much I miss these funny and embarrassing moments that at the time I hated, I just I just wish they were here, Christmas won't be the same" she was close to tears, castiel wrapped his arms around the girls body and kissed her hair "it's alright I know how you feel Christmas won't be the same without Ty either" crystal looked up she had forgotten that castiel had lost his brother on the same night as her parents, she just buried her head into his chest and the two of them stayed like this for several minutes.

Linda's confession

"crystal" she pulled her head off of castiel's chest and looked at Linda who was smiling softly at the couple (and looking more sober by the minute) "I didn't mean to pry earlier but if you like you, maddie and Nate are more than welcome to come here for Christmas dinner" crystal turned but kept one hand around castiel's waist "thanks Linda but both Nate's and Maddie's going out of town" "well your more than welcome to come round you've become a part of this family now" crystal felt her eyes well up it had been a long time since she had thought of herself belonging to a family, to her, her aunt and brother were a broken home. "Thanks Linda I would love to", crystal glimpsed the clock in the hall "oh is that the time, I've got to go star needs his ride" "alright give me a second" castiel let go of her and darted up the stairs. "Crystal I would like to thank you for coming into our lives" crystal shocked, turned her gaze from the stairs and looked at Linda she had come closer, "without you I don't know what would have happened to castiel, the death of, of" Linda took a deep breath and continued "Ty's death affected him worse than it affected anyone else in the family and he shut everyone out including me and his father, but you crystal" Linda looked proudly at her "you broke that tough exterior of his and I finally have my son back, you are more than welcome here anytime and like I said you are a member of this family now, thank you thank you so much" Linda walked over and hugged her, there was a split second of shock before crystal wrapped her arms around the grown woman, who was sobbing quietly. "Mom?" castiel's concerned voice came from above, Linda lifted her head off crystal "I'm fine honey just talking with crystal" "oh erm ok, well are you ready to go hick" he had walked down the stairs and handed her the helmet he had got her for her birthday. (she had decided to let him keep it as it was more likely she would use it then).

Shocking news

It was the day of Christmas Eve and Crystal was awoken by a text from Rosayla asking to meet up. Crystal got dressed quickly and fed and turned out the horses. Crystal spotted her white haired friend in the middle of the busy high street "hey Rosa" "hey cryst" "I have some massive extremely ridiculous big news to tell you but first I need to do some last minute Christmas shopping" crystal raised an eyebrow but didn't push the point "oh good so do I, you wouldn't happen to know what castiel would want do you" "no sorry cryst" "damm".

The girls had finished there shopping and were now sat in a busy café in town, "so what is this massive extremely ridiculous big news you want to tell me" crystal asked whilst drinking her hot chocolate "alright don't judge ok I know I'm only 18 but" Rosa pulled her hand out a black lacy glove, crystal gasped there sat on her ring finger was a huge diamond ring "Leigh ask me to marry him last night" "OH MY GOD ROSA" crystal got up and hugged her friend the two of them squealing. Crystal looked at the faces of the customers, "maybe we should go somewhere else and you can tell me everything".

"oh cryst it was so romantic, he took me for a walk after he closed up, he took me to the spot were we shared our first kiss and whilst I was looking at the moon, he got down on one knee and proposed, I couldn't say yes fast enough" "oh Rosa I'm so happy for you can you believe" crystal linked Rosa's arm as they walked along the streets "our lives are going so well" crystal sighed, "what exactly do you mean by that" Rosa quizzed, "well you and Leigh getting married and me and castiel are whoa.." and as if he had been tailing them waiting for his moment castiel wrapped his arms around crystals waist from behind and spun her around, he set her down and kissed her gently, she could taste mint and a hint of orange, the kiss only lasted a couple of seconds but for crystal it was a lifetime. "holy oh my god you two are DATING" Rosa cried out, "why don't you shout it abit louder Rosa I don't think china heard you" crystal chuckled at castiel's sarcasm, "hey leave her alone oh has Leigh told you his good news" crystal looked at castiel then looked at Rosa "oh you mean he and loudmouth here are getting married yeah Lys told me this morning" "hey I am not a loudmouth the news just took me by surprise that's all".

The three of them walked along, castiel with his arm around crystal and keeping an eye on Demon and crystal and Rosa talking about the wedding "oh cryst please, please, please say you'll be my maid of honour please" "Rosa oh my god of course I would love to" "don't you think you should actually set a date for the wedding before going into all the details of maid of honour and all that crap" the two girls stopped, jerking castiel back, "did your boyfriend just seriously say that" crystal blushed at the word boyfriend (after all she had only been dating him for a 4 days) "castiel, castiel, castiel" Rosa said shaking her head "you have a lot to learn about woman and weddings I pretty much had my wedding sorted since I was 11 what about you cryst" "whoa nope I certainly have not thought that far a head" she had only just started dating castiel she didn't want to frighten him off with talk of her dream wedding.

"oh here I bought this for you earlier merry Christmas crystal" Rosa said handing a small cardboard box to her "you can open it today if you like, an early present" "thanks Rosa you didn't have to you know" "I know but I consider you my best friend" "well thank you oh and I have your present I'll call around tomorrow before I go castiel's" "hey do I not get one Rosa" castiel asked, Rosa just scoffed "yeah right you already got my best friend your not getting anything else" crystal felt her face go bright red. The trio were now stood at the bus stop to see Rosa off, Crystal gave Rosa a goodbye hug "I'll see you tomorrow then" "yep see you then bye castiel" she waved at the couple before getting on the bus.

"come on hick lets go before my mom blows my phone up with her many texts" Linda had been texting him every 2 minutes for the past 20 asking if he was bringing her over even crystal was annoyed at the tone going off. "fine race you to the end" crystal set off before castiel had any idea what was going on, Demon quickly joined her as she ran full pelt in the snow. Crystal was only a couple of hundred yards away from the end of the road when she felt the strong warm arms of castiel slow her down and pull her back into him, she laughed as her breathing kept pace with his "wow your fast on 2 legs as well as 4" "I hope your talking about my horse there" she laughed, "maybe" he kissed her cheek and kept hold of her waist. They walked all the way to castiel's like this.

"Castiel is that you, is crystal with you" Linda's voice rang through the house, "hi too you to mother and yes crystal's here". Linda came half running out of the kitchen and in one swift movement had hold of her bag and keys and yanked crystal out of castiel's grip "WERE GOING SHOPPING WON'T BE LONG" Linda yelled over her shoulder as they got to the car. Crystal climbed in and laughed at castiel's 'what just happened' expression, no doubt she had being wearing the same one just seconds ago, she leaned out the window and waved goodbye.

Christmas morning

Crystal shot up from her dream to a large bang as her bedroom door swung open before she realised what was happening her brother came crashing across her room and dived on her, ellie who was curled up on her just about moved before she got squashed. "Merry Christmas Streak come on get up lazy" and with that he grabbed her arm and swung her barely awake body up onto his back "ok who's the eldest here" cryst Laughed forcefully at her 20 year old brother acting like a 10 year old "oh shut up it's Christmas I'm allowed" crystal laughed "fine but next year no throwing yourself on me I didn't appreciate being woken up like that and you've traumatised the poor cat" Nate laughed "deal, now hang on streak" crystal wrapped her arms around his neck and hung there whilst he bounced down the stairs and into the living room.

Maddie and Lisa were sat huddled on one of the sofas and judging by the way the two women glared at him, he must have woken them up as well. Nate deposited Crystal on the same sofa, she quickly grabbed the end of the blanket that Lisa and her aunt were under, she lay back against the back of the sofa and felt her eyes drift shut as her dream began again.

"Are your eyes still shut" her dads voice asked as he led her outside even though it was December it was still warmish out "yes dad" "ok right stand there and don't open them till we say ok?" "ok" she heard his footsteps walk away "alright honey you can open them" her mothers soft voice broke the silence, crystal opened her eyes and gasped, her brother, mom and dad were stood holding a beautiful black thoroughbred "merry Christmas honey" her mother beamed at her "oh my god you got me a horse" "yeah you like him cryst" "do I ever" she walked over and stroked the horse "earth to streak, HEY CRYSTAL" crystals eyes shot open at her brothers loud voice "what" she said irritably "are you giving the horses there presents whilst I do you a hot chocolate" crystal nodded and reluctantly sung her legs off the sofa annoyed that her dream had been interrupted twice now.

Crystal wrapped her long black winter coat around her; the white silk pyjamas that Rosa had given her yesterday were beautiful but didn't keep out the cold. "Morning you two" crystal yawned as she walked past the stables, there was an eerie feeling about these new stables, crystal knew it was daft but she felt that she and the two horses weren't the only ones there, shaking her head she went round to the feed room. She stood between the stables feeding Star chopped up carrots and maybelle apple slices. "Merry Christmas you two" she stroked there long faces. She quickly exchanged there stable rugs for there field rugs and turned them out, there hoofs leaving prints in the fresh blanket of snow that had fallen overnight.

"Jeez it's cold where's my hot chocolate Nate" crystal called out as she hung up her coat, "on the table in here". Crystal smiled at him he had covered it in whipped cream and marshmallows, she sighed as she took a big gulp, she heard her aunt and Lisa laugh as she pulled the mug away from her mouth "What, what's so funny" Nate was laughing now, he reached over and swiped a large dollop of cream off her nose before swiping it across her chin "oh Nate" she frowned and slapped his hand away but she laughed anyway.

"Alright present time" Nate called out, he went and sat under the Christmas tree, she laughed as she watched Nate wrestle with the dog and cat who kept climbing under the tree and over the presents "ellie move" and for second time that morning the cat went flying. "Alright Maddie this is for you it's off both me and cryst" Nate passed maddie a rectangular present wrapped in green paper. Crystal and Nate laughed at there aunts reaction as she revealed a seed organiser, one compartment already contained an array of rare seeds that maddie had been dying to get her hands on for a long time. Maddie got up and embraced her niece and nephew.

"Oh this one is from my lovely girlfriend" Nate pulled out a squishy present, crystal heard Lisa stifle a laugh. Nate unwrapped 3 pairs of boxers, all different colours but with repetitive images of Lisa Simpson on them, Crystal got the joke immediately and started laughing. Her brother's face however remained confused as maddie clicked on and started to laugh as well, Nate raised an eyebrow at Lisa "now you'll have a some what reminder of me for 3 days of the week" "yeah providing he changes them everyday" crystal laughed and this started the 2 women off again.

Crystals laugh was cut short as her present hit in the face "hey" she glared at her brother "think yourself lucky it was soft" crystal stuck her tongue out but unwrapped it anyway, she laughed at the irony, it was a cream teddy bear with 'best sister in the world' written on its t-shirt "aw sorry I wasn't exactly being the best sister in the world was I" "nope but if you go make me a coffee you could redeem yourself" crystal laughed as she went into the kitchen.

Heartache

Crystal was hanging up the drawing she had received from vi on her bedroom wall, she didn't know how vi remembered the scene to every last detail but she had managed to draw crystal and castiel sat under the blanket at the bonfire. Beside the drawing on one side was the painting of her horses and the other side was a collage from lea containing various photos of her and her new friends. Crystal went to play 'battered souls' demo that Leigh, Lysander and castiel and given her, when there was a knock on her door "cryst its me can I come in" her brothers voice came from the other side of it. "sure" she sat down on her bed and watched as her brother joined her "be ready in about an hour ok" "ok are you gonna be alright going" Nate just nodded "well will you do me a favour" crystal reached over and plucked a small silver frame off her bed side table, the photo in it was of both her and Nate with Maddie and maybelle and star "will you put this on there grave" Nate took it and nodded "so how have you been today" he asked "thanks to you it's been fine I still miss them though but doing our traditions have helped" "yeah that's true" "Nate do you ever think the pain will stop" her brother smiled gently and put his arm around her "probably not streak it will probably just go numb over time" Nate kissed her head and stood up "hey can I ask you something streak" Nate had turned to face her in the doorway "what's up" "do you still think it was a good idea moving away from mom and dad" crystal looked at him shocked were had that come from "yes Nate my life here has been amazing, yes I miss our house and yes I miss Arianna but Nate it was the best thing we did, I have a better life here with new friends, a boyfriend" she watched her brothers face blanch but she ignored him "my night terrors have gone and I have you back" "me back? I never left" "yes you did all those nights you used to go wandering it used to frighten the living daylights out of me, the sheer thought of losing you so close after losing mom and dad terrified me" "yeah but I'm hardly here now though" "yeah but I know where you are I know your safe" "it really used to affect you that badly" crystal nodded "crystal I'm sorry I never realised" "hey that part of our life is over ok you're here now and were both happy lets just leave it at that" crystal looked at him "you are happy aren't you Nate?" she asked her brother "how could I not be, college is going great, Lisa's amazing and your happy" "good" crystal got up and hugged her brother before shoving him out the room "now if you don't mind I would like to get ready".

Christmas at castiel's