High school is supposed to be the greatest time of your life, they said. You'll love it, they said. It will be your best experience, they said. Castiel Novak didn't agree one damn bit. He is a senior now and dreaded every day in this hell hole. He has only had one friend growing up, Anna Milton, everyone else either ignores him, or picks on him. But not her. She's stuck with him since first grade ever since she moved in next door to him. Thank god. She always found a way to fix things or make them better than what they were.

Like that fact that he's been in love with Dean Winchester. The Dean Winchester, Arlington High schools very own football quarter back. He has been ever since Raphael, the linebacker on the team, knocked all his books down the stairs freshman year and Dean was the only one who stopped and helped him. Castiel doesn't even think they've said more than two words to each other since, but for some reason he could never get over it. He could never get over him.

Finally, the bell rang and it was the end of the period. For some reason, Pre Calc always seemed to drag on the longest out of all the other classes. Castiel stuffed his books into his book bag and slung it over his shoulder as he headed out the door to meet up with Anna. After this class, they always walked over to Castiel's locker and then go to lunch. Just as he was about to turn, he heard a snarky laugh. One that he knew all too well. Before Castiel could maneuver out the way, Raphael grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and had him pinned against the lockers.

"Hey there, Cassie. Been a while since I talked to you, huh?"

Castiel kept his eyes fixated on the ground as he grumbled "Castiel. My name is Castiel."

"Yeah, I know. But Cassie suits you much nicer."

"Hey, asshole" Anna yelled out as she ran down the hallway as soon as she saw what was going on "let him go! He hasn't done anything to you, jerk!"

Raphael never broke his glare from Castiel. He didn't make any attempt to look back at him, but he could still feel the heat of his stare pouring into him. "Got your girlfriend fighting your battles, Cassie? That's pretty pathetic, even for you."

"She's not my girlfriend. C'mon, let go of me Raphael. I haven't done anything to you, just like I didn't any of the other times. Don't you ever get tired of fighting someone who never fights back?"

Surprisingly, he let go of his grip on his shirt. Castiel was expecting more of a tussle on his part, when suddenly he looked up and saw dean shove Raphael.

"Raph, quit being a dick! Leave the guy alone, he ain't hurtin' no one."

Castiel stared blankly at what was going on between Raphael and Dean. Every so often he would sneak a peek over to Anna and saw she had the same look on her face. Okay, good. He wasn't the only one who thought this whole thing was fucking weird. "Watch it, Winchester."

"You got a problem, then take it out of the field tonight. As for now, you can fucking leave, Raph." Raphael muttered a few curse words under his breath as he walked off into the other direction and caught up with a few of his friends down the hall. Dean shifted his attention back to Castiel and gave him a friendly smile "sorry about that. The guy can be a real ass sometimes."

Castiel rubbed the back of his neck to try and distract himself from blushing. He was standing really close to Dean and he couldn't help but smell the faint cinnamon that lingered on his skin "thanks for that, but you didn't have to jump in."

Dean chuckled and gave him a quick pat on the back "don't worry about it, man. Someone's gotta put him in his place sometime. He just better use the built up aggression of his for tonight."

Castiel tilted his head to the side while he slightly scrunched up his eyebrows, he had no idea what Dean was talking about and wasn't sure why he assumed he did. Dean chuckled again; his confusion must have been pretty obvious. "Tonight? For the game. You are going to the game, right?"

Heat flushed to Castiel's cheeks as embarrassment set in. The game, the damn game that everyone always talks about around here. Great. This is the impression of himself that he is gonna leave with Dean. Pathetic and an idiot. Let's see if he can add any more to the list "oh yeah, right. I'm not sure; I normally don't go to any school games."

"C'mon. It's a home game and it's a Friday night. You should really come if you don't have anything to do. Show some school spirit!"

Castiel focused back on the ground, he really couldn't handle being this close to Dean and talking to him without his stomach feeling like a roller coaster. He needs to leave before be manages to make this worst "sure then, I'll think about it."

"Great! See ya then, later!" Dean jogged down the hallway to catch up with his friend, Benny. Castiel looked over to Anna when he lost his face in the crowd.

"What. Was. That."

"I wish I fucking knew. " they walked over to Castiel's locker as he swapped his books for different ones and his lunch bag and headed over to the cafeteria "I'm still not even sure what just happened. Did any of that really just happen?!"

They sat in the first open seats they could find as they pulled out their food. Castiel isn't even in the mood to eat right now, he's so confused.

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"No" Castiel said as he placed his elbow on the table and leaned against his hand "I don't."

"You can be so dumb sometimes."

"Please tell me how you really feel, Anna" he shot back as he rolled his eyes.

"It means you're going to the game tonight. Correction, we are."

"Can't, I'm busy."

"Busy my ass. I'm sure it won't kill you if you pass up this one opportunity to start working on next month's homework, Castiel."

"Shut up."

"Seriously, let's go! I know you hate football, but think of it this way. What better way to spend a Friday night than staring at hot football players asses. Or better yet, a hot football player's ass who just so happens to belong to Dean Winchester. You have been in love with the guy for years; I'm surprised you haven't thought about checking him out at his games sooner to be quiet honest."

"Fine, I'll go. But only because you want to so bad."

"You sure it has nothing to do with you wanting an excuse to check Dean's ass out now?"

Anna smirked as Castiel squirmed in his seat a bit and began to blush. He took a bite of his sandwich as he mumbled out "shut up."

~~~~
"Really, Castiel? Really."

"What" Castiel asked as he looked around confused as they took a seat on the bleachers. There were a decent amount of people, but Castiel always assumed more would show up to these games. They sure do talk about them enough.

"You're dressed in that plaid shirt? I told you, it just makes you look more like a nerd. You are not going to catch Dean's attention looking like that."

"Shhhhh, can you be any louder, Anna? I'm not sure the whole school heard you yet" he looked around to make sure no one happened to ease drop. Luckily there was no one in ear shot to hear. He glared back over to Anna, "And I happen to like this shirt, thank you very much. It's comfy." She muffled something under her breath, and then paid attention on the game.

Castiel screamed when the crowd screamed, and cheered when the crowd cheered. He didn't know much of the technical aspect of the game, but he didn't have to, to know Arlington Knight's played a damn good game. They won 21 to 7. He wanted to congratulate Dean on his good play on tonight, so he and Anna made their way over to the player's bench on the corner of the field.

Dean was the only one on the field. He was sitting on the bench, slouched over, head in his hands. Castiel cautiously stepped closer until he was less than a foot away, Anna not too far behind him. He's no expert in this sport, but shouldn't you be excited after a big win? "Dean? Hey, I ahhh- I just wanted to say good game. You did great."

Dean pulled his head up and gave him a strained, halfhearted smile "Thanks, Cas. It is Cas, right?" Casitel smiled and nodded in agreement. Dean cocked his head just enough to see Anna, then gave Castiel back his attention, "your girl enjoy the game to?"

"Wh-what?! No, she's not- we're not together."

"I'm not his type", Anna chimed. Castiel shot her a nasty while she shrugged her shoulders and gave him a cheap smile. "I'll wait in the car. Meet you there, Castiel." He watched her walk off until he saw her get in the car before looking back over at Dean.

"I could be wrong" he started as he sat down next to him on the bench, "but I would assume the football quarter back would be happier than this after a big win. Is something wrong? If you don't mind me asking that is."

Dean stared straight at the ground while he tapped his foot. He took a few deep breaths before speaking up again. "I'm about to fail Chemistry. My coach just told me if I fail my test next week, I fail the class. If fail that class then I lose my only scholarship. I can't lose that scholarship, Cas. I need to go to school. I need to."

Without skipping a beat, Castiel spit out "I'll tutor you. It's my favorite class and I'm doing pretty well in it anyway."

"I didn't mean to make you feel bad and offer help by telling you, Cas. You don't have to, I appreciate the offer though."

"No seriously, I mean it. I'm offering as a friend, not out of pity or anything."

"You'd really do this for me?" Castiel nodded and gave him a soft smile "you're awesome! You really are. Hey, gimmie your phone" Castiel dug into his front pocket and handed it over and Dean quickly punched in a few numbers and handed it back to him. "There, now you have my number. And I texted me off it so I could have your number. Thanks, I owe you one. Can you maybe swing by my place tomorrow? I want to get started as soon as I can."

"Yeah sure thing. And you don't owe me anything."

"Tomorrow at two sound okay?"

"Yep. Tomorrow at two."