Castiel looked up at the looming building. Above the double doors in gold lettering read: Lawrence High School. Cas sighed and pulled his books closer to his chest. He moved around a lot, that was for sure, but this school was the one he dreaded most in the world.
He had lived briefly in Lawrence, Kansas when he was fourteen approximately three years ago. It wasn't exactly a happy time. He had been bullied in other schools, sure, but this one was the worst.
They stole his trench coat.
It might have been a bit stupid of him to wear it to school when it was one of his most valued possessions, but wearing it comforted him and he didn't think anything bad would happen to it. They had called him a freak and ripped it right off his back. He never saw it again.
Hopefully now that he was taller and wore only white button-ups and a loose blue tie they'd leave him alone. But you can never be too sure.
Cas stepped inside the building for the first time in three years. First days were always the worst. He recognized a few faces, but they all stared back at him without a trace of familiarity. He wandered down the halls clutching his schedule looking for the right room. Every door he passed didn't match up. He paced back down the hallway again and still didn't see the room. He took several turns and went up to the second floor, but could still see no halls were empty now and the late bell had just rung. Cas ran down the hallways, heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't be late on his first day. It had never happened to him before.
Finally, with a sigh of relief, Cas spotted room 2Y5, tucking into the corner on the second floor. He burst in without a second thought and was suddenly being stared at by twenty or so students. He froze.
"Are you Castiel Novak?" the teacher asked him. She had short brown hair and warm eyes. "Y-yes, Mam" he stuttered "I'm so sorry I'm late" she smiled and him and said "It's alright, take a seat. I'm Ms. Mills, by the way" she gestured to the only empty spot near the back. Cas hated sitting in the back where he could barely see the board, but he took his seat none the less. He plopped his bag down beside his chair and dug into to it and withdrew his notebook and pencil then faced the front obediently. Ms. Mills begun her lesson and started writing complicated equations on the board which Castiel hurriedly started to jot down.
Okay, so things weren't going too bad. Sure, he was late, but this teacher was nice and nobody was turning in their seat to hiss rude names at him.
At least he thought so until he felt someone looking at him. He glanced to his left to see the boy beside him staring right at him. He made no indication of being embarrassed for being caught staring, but instead actually grinned at him. The other boy was taller than he was, had light short hair, dazzling green eyes, and was wearing a well fit AC/DC t-shirt with some sort of amulet on a leather string around his neck. He looked vaguely familiar. Castiel blinked and went back to his notes, trying to ignore the other boy who he could still feel looking at him.
Castiel's mind was completely focused on algebra, the numbers and equations swirling in front of his eyes. Numbers upon numbers upon numbers and-
A crumpled up ball of paper landed right in front of him. He jumped a little, but Ms. Mills didn't notice. He looked at the boy who shrugged innocently.
Sighing, he smoothed out the paper expecting to find a crude drawing of himself or profanity of some sort. What he didn't expect to find was: Heads up-your tie is on backwards.
Frowning, Castiel wrote underneath: I like it that way. He tossed the paper back to the boy who read it and smirked. Then the boy wrote something down and passed it back to him.
Interesting. I'm Dean. You look familiar?
Cas's heart started to beat faster as he suddenly realized who he was sitting next to. Dean Winchester, aka the guy he had a major crush on during his time at this school. There was no way that Dean would remember him, they'd barely held a conversation while he was here. Even if he did remember him, Castiel wouldn't want him to. He wrote back:
I wouldn't know why. I'm trying to focus, so could you stop passing me notes?
He passed it back to Dean who then said rather loudly "Okay, I'll stop passing you notes" Ms. Mills turned around and said "Winchester, you got something to say?" "Nope" he grinned at her and then looked back at Cas who was glaring. He winked.
"Very well then" Ms. Mills turned back to the board.
"So I should stop passing you notes when I want to talk, correct?" Dean said quietly to Cas who glanced at the oblivious Ms. Mills. Cas kept glaring at him then reluctantly jabbed his pencil at the paper in front of Dean. He smiled and wrote something down and passed it back to Cas.
Much better. I swear I've seen you somewhere before; even your name sounds familiar and your name isn't a forgettable one.
Cas closed his eyes for a moment while he thought. Then he wrote back: I lived here for a few months when I was fourteen. Please don't tell anyone.
Dean stared down at the note and Cas saw him slowly processing this. Then he wrote so hard and speedily that the tip of his pencil snapped. He passed the note back to Castiel.
I remember you. You were the kid in the trench coat, right? I won't tell anyone, don't worry.
Just then the bell rang. Castiel quickly stuffed the note into his pocket and left the room hastily before Dean could talk to him.