"Today, I would like to talk about responsibility for our actions. "
Castiel Novak sighed quietly, his bowed head turned away from the roaming eyes of Mr.Ford. His pencil stroked against the paper, the shades of grey rising and falling as he applied pressure.
Responsibility was a lecture Cass had heard more times than he could count. Though, through the course of detention was a new method for him.
He wasn't alone. There was four others among him, All placed along the front row of the classroom.All paying just as much attention as he was.
His eyes jumped up to the clock, inwardly groaning as the hands stayed firmly where they were. There was no speeding it up. No opt out button.
He had to suffer with the rest of the delinquents that attended Sioux fall high. Not that Cass had any intentions of associating with any of them.
He was already going to be in lot trouble when his father found out. He doubted his father would stop to take the time to listen to his excuse of it not being his fault.
He never had had time for excuses.
The only way to make up for it would be to keep his nose clean.
Which in a high school full of Jerks and bullies, It was a lot easier said than done.
"In fact, I think we should start by owning up and accepting the reasons why you are all here in the first place. Asa, would you care to start?"
Castiel paused, lifting his gaze from his drawing, head turning to the right.
Until then, Cass didn't know any of the names of the other boys in the detention room.
"Cuz Parkeron has a stick up his arse,"
Asa, the boy who spoke, Reminded Cass of the little Chucky boy from the rugrats show he used to watch as a child. His long strands of orange hair were wild,having strayed from the bobble used to pin the majority to the back of his head.
He looked as bored as the rest of the boys, sprawled half over his desk, chewed up pencil wedged inbetween his top and bottom teeth. The brown of his eyes only landed on Mr. Ford for a moment before they dropped back down to the penis he was carving into the top of the table top with a compass.
"That's not really accepting responsibility though, Mr.Piers, Is it?"
"It wasn't my fault," Asa shrugged, voice deprived of any emotion,as though he had already been there and done it a thousand times.
"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't your fault. "
Ford sighed under the blank look he got, shaking his head as he muttered something under his breath. He reached up, straightening the tie around his neck to the point that his double chin looked in danger of exploding, before clearing his throat. His washed out blue eyes scanned the row of boys in front of his,a wrinkly frown burrowing in the creases of his bulldog like face as he chose a victim.
""Winchester,"He barked at last , his pudgy finger pointing to the guy on Cass's far left. Mr. Ford leaned back, tiny smile coming across his face as he propped his large bottom onto the corner of the desk, folding his arms over his chest.
Cass changed the direction of his head, his eyes, like the others, Drawn to the boy who was now the centre of attention.
Cass didn't know his name, but he had saw him around.
Menacing would have been an understatement for the guy. He screamed down and out dangerous.
He wore a sneer like armour, marring the handsome edge to his still maturing face. The soft edges to it were concealed by the harsh glare, green eyes venomous as they briefly locked with Cass's.
"What?" The boy spat, his voice rough and deep, croaky note laced in it.
Cass found himself momentarily fascinated. The boy in the leather jacket made bad look good. He made it look effortlessly.
In fact, one glance at the kid and Cass was convinced that the boy wasn't pulling a bad boy gig. He was genuine trouble. It was written all over him. From the way he carried himself, to the way his eyes met the teachers head on, unflinching under the look. Challenging him,even.
"Why are you here, Dean?" Ford said. There was a tiredness to him that Cass hadn't noticed until then. But as he ran his hand through his thinning grey hair, his own eyes darting up to the clock on the far side of the room, Cass realized that he probably didn't want to be there any more than they did.
"Well, I just thought it was because you love my company," The boy, Dean, Drawled out. It earnt him a few snickers.
Cass didn't laugh. Ford didn't, either. His eye twitched before his soft smile was back. "Sadly, No. That's not the case. The reason you're here, Dean?"
"Because smoking is wrong," Dean mocked in a monotone impression. His eyes remained on Fords,cold and flat as he stared him out.
"And the lesson of that is?"Ford pressed, Not showing any sort of response to the teenagers intimidation act.
"Smoke in bathrooms that don't have smoke detectors?"
"It's bad for your health," Ford said with a surprising amount of gentleness to his tone. "It can cause cancer and all sorts of other problems. "
""That's a risk I'm willing to take," Dean said flatly, rocking back in his plastic chair until it was balancing on the back two legs.
"Honestly," Ford sighed with a shake of his head. "Teenagers. Think they know everything."
For a moment, Silence fell before he took a haggered breath, shifting his weight with a small hitch. "Novak, Why are you here?"
Cass froze as all eyes turned on him. He opened his mouth but no words came out. He swallowed nervously, his eyes lifting up to meet the gaze of the tutor.
"It's only your second week here, is it not? Not exactly the best of starts. "
"I made a mistake,"Cass said quietly at last. He knew from experience that it didn't matter how many times you pleaded that it wasn't your fault, it was only ever seen as an excuse. And adults hated excuses. "Was in the wrong place at the wrong time. "
"What happened?" Ford pressed,almost an edge of genuine curiosity crossing his face as he pulled the straining folds of his suit jacket closer around himself.
"The fire alarm was pulled," Cass muttered. "I was there when they came to see what was happening. "
It went deeper than being a wrong place at the wrong time but you didn't point that out. It only made them angry when you pointed out the obvious.
"Did you pull it?"
Cass didn't answer. His silence stretched out, causing Ford to sigh. Dropping his head,Cass turned back to the sketch on the paper.
He hadn't really been aware of what he had been drawing until then- but as he studied the detailed drawing, he couldn't help but find it fitting.
Broken wings. They were long and arced, covered in feathers.
But the wide spread wings were bent, twisted into a mangled mess and the feathers were falling.
Wings that were just not made to fly.
Like Cass, they were destined to stay where they lay, no means of escape.
Ford tried again, his tactic falling on deaf ears as not one of the boys in the class responded as he wanted. In the end,he began to preach,his words zoned out, even by Cass as he began to sketch the small,crumpled form of a body between the spread of the two wings on his page.
Detention wasn't as bad as Cass had first thought. Listening to Mr.Ford for 45 minutes was a lot better than the harsh stories he had heard from the other kids. That being said, Mr.Ford was actually a pretty nice man. Cass had him for English and he wasn't as harsh or as arrogant as some of the other teachers he was subjected to.
It was almost five by the time they were finished. The others wasted no time making a break for the door.
Cass was the only one who took his time, slowly folding his sketchpad back into shape and putting it carefully into his rucksack.
His father would be home from work by the time he got home.
It was not something he was looking forward to.
He has missed his lift home but Cass didn't mind the walk. It should have only took 15 minutes from the school to reach Bishop street where his family had recently moved to, but with the snail pace Cass had set it ended up being closer to thirty before he ended up outside the rickety little wooden gate that led to his house.
Forcing back a deep breath, wrapping his long, tan coat closer around his body, Cass unhooked the gate with trembling hands.
"Here goes nothing,"he muttered to himself.