Being the new kid was always terrible, and nobody knew this better than Dean Winchester. His dad's job dragged his younger brother Sam and him all around the country, so they had been to over ten schools in half as many years. They'd had far more than their fair share of first days. However, Sam had a talent for making everyone fall in love with him on sight, so he was never without friends. Dean, on the other hand, just counted himself lucky if he found a couple hot cheerleaders to hook up with, never mind friends. He wasn't interested in getting close to anyone, especially not when he knew they would eventually be leaving everything and everyone behind.
This time was different though. It was already October, so they had missed the beginning of the school year. But their dad had promised them that since this was Dean's senior year, they would be staying here in Pontiac, Illinois, at least until he graduated. Naturally, Sam was thrilled. Dean, not so much. Up until this point, he'd been able to get away with doing pretty much whatever he wanted, knowing they'd be long gone in a matter of months anyway. Now that they were sticking around, he'd have to be on his best behavior. Of course, that could only last so long.
They only lived a couple blocks from the school, so Dean decided to leave his Impala, the only longterm girlfriend he'd ever had, in their garage. He walked Sam up the street to their new school, Pontiac Township High, Sam chatting away about how excited he was and how great this year was going to be. Dean just listened in silence, not necessarily agreeing, but secretly thrilled to see Sammy so happy. They picked up their schedules from the office and parted ways, Sam heading off into a sea of other freshmen while Dean made his way towards the seniors' end of the school. As usual, he was the invisible new kid. Only one girl paid him any notice, and that was just to give him a small sneer when she saw his leather jacket. Still nothing new.
The day passed by normally, full of tired teachers and too much homework which he probably wouldn't do anyway. His last period was English, and he claimed the desk in the back corner immediately. He sat down and gave the classroom a once-over from this ideal view. Classic English room, complete with a dusty bookshelf along one wall and cheesy motivational posters featuring Snoopy and Garfield.
The bell rang and everyone got settled into their seats as the teacher walked in. He was a tall guy, probably in his forties, wearing a gray suit with a blue tie. Glancing down at his schedule, Dean saw that his name was Mr. Elkins. "Good morning, class!" he said in a booming voice. "We've got a new student here today. Dean, why don't you come up here and introduce yourself?"
Groaning inwardly, Dean stood up and made his way to the front of the room. He hated when teachers made him do this, but at least he was used to it by now.
"My name's Dean Winchester, just moved here from Michigan."
As expected, everyone either looked at him with blank expressions or stared at whatever they had on their desks as he talked, completely uninterested. That is, except one boy who was sitting in the front row. He had dark hair, pale skin, and freakishly bright blue eyes. And for some reason, he was staring directly over Dean's shoulder. At first Dean just thought he was zoning out, but the kid actually seemed intent on what he was saying. Before he could consider this anymore, Mr. Elkins was saying, "Thank you, Dean. Now, if you'd go grab your things from your desk, I've got a seating chart that I'd like to use."
Everyone in the room started groaning and complaining at these words. Dean went back to his desk and grabbed his bag as Mr. Elkins read off the names and who was sitting where. The only name that caught Dean's attention was "Castiel Novak," because seriously, who names their kid Castiel? He was only slightly surprised to see the blue-eyed kid sit in that spot. And he wasn't exactly disappointed when his name was called right after. He sat down in the seat behind Castiel, unfortunately in the front left corner of the room. He also happened to notice the girl who was placed next to Castiel, Jo Harvelle, pat him excitedly on the arm. Cas didn't even look at her, but she seemed totally unfazed. This kid was getting weirder by the second.
Of course, the whole situation made a lot more sense about ten minutes later. Mr. Elkins had told them all to copy the notes on the board, and as Dean pulled out a beat up notebook, he noticed their teacher bring over a typewriter for Cas. At first, this was just another strange thing to add to his ever-growing list of strange things. That was until he looked over Cas's shoulder to see him typing in Braille.
Dean was suddenly twice as interested in the dark haired boy as he had already been. He'd met a couple of blind adults before, but never someone his own age. Dean was so distracted by watching the patterns of dots moving across the page, that he jumped when some girl in the back of the class called out "Elevator up!" after the typewriter dinged. The rest of the class started laughing, and Dean looked back to see that it was the same girl who had sneered at his jacket that morning. Cas kept staring ahead, no break in his typing. It was just a joke, and normally Dean would have laughed along with everyone else. But for some reason, he felt a surge of protection for Cas, and he was close to turning around and telling off the whole class, especially that one bitch. He might have actually gone through with it, but Jo beat him to it.
"Seriously? That joke has never been funny. How many times are you gonna repeat it?"
The girl didn't seem bothered by Jo's scolding, and neither did the other kids, but Dean was happy she'd spoken up anyway. Cas must have had enough to worry about without some dumbasses making things worse for him.
The rest of the class passed by uneventfully. When the bell rang, everyone bolted for the door except for Dean, Jo, and Cas. Dean slowly put his notebook away as he watched Cas stand up and take Jo's arm before she led him towards the door. Just before they walked out, she turned around and asked Dean with a smile on her face, "Did you drive or walk this morning?"
"Walk," Dean replied, a confused expression on his face.
"Yeah, most of us do, actually. You wanna walk home with us?"
Now, normally Dean would have turned her down flat. He wasn't sure if he was ready for any permanent relationships, and an invitation to walk home from school was definitely an offer of friendship. But maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to give it a shot. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Not to mention he was pretty eager to learn more about Cas, although he still wasn't sure why.
He put on a small smile and said, "Sure," and he was surprised to see a smile from Cas. Before, he'd had practically no expression at all, but now his face lit up with a wide grin. Dean's smile grew to match Cas's before he stood up and followed the pair out into the hall.