A/N: Im back with outsiders povs and weechesters. They are my weakness. This one is my attempt to do brotherly bond and awesome wee Sam. Hope you like it
Disclaimer: I sadly do not own supernatural. I do know way too much about school politics, but that is infinitely less entertaining
I have been a teacher for decades and have seen almost every type of student imaginable, from the stereotypical to those few who refuse to be categorized. Even the few rebels I had seen in my years had nothing on one particular student. I had this remarkable student when I was still relatively new to teaching and failed to truly appreciate how very rare he was; rare in a way that wasn't manufactured by a teenage angst or a desire to be different. To this day I have yet to encounter his like and part of me is thankful.
At first he seemed rather ordinary, almost a stereotype, with his head in a book and few friends or seeming social sense. He was bright, probably one of the brightest I ever had, but his shine took uncovering. He didn't raise his hand or draw attention to himself, but was never surprised by a question and wrote at a level well beyond his years. He was an enigma and I was full of youthful vigor and wanted to unwrap him. I just assumed he was shy and downplayed his intelligence to fit in. The glimpse I saw into his home life reinforced my assumptions. His brother's appearance screamed rebel or bully, depending on how generous my mood was, with his beaten leather jacket and constant smirk. My few interactions with his dad had me labeling him bitter ex-jock; the unkind part of me added alcoholic in my more judgmental moments as I had smelled whiskey on his breath more than once. Needless to say I was sure his academic side was being stifled and devalued by his family and thus eroding his self-confidence and depriving the world of his greatness. Well those assumptions put me at odds with a force of nature in the form of a hazel-eyed twelve year old.
I asked Sam to stay after class, set and determined to make him see the light of his potential. His reaction to my request should have tipped me off that not all is what it seemed; he was neither excited nor nervous, but rather resigned and even a touch exasperated as if such requests were a familiar nuisance. He responded "Of course, sir, but I will need to tell my brother first."To which I nodded dumbly. His response was on the surface was everything that was polite, if you ignored the underlying humoring tone and I really tried.
So I sat at my desk impatiently waiting for Sam to return after walking off to tell his brother he would be late. Imagine my surprise when both boys came in; the older intentionally towering above the other. Bully I mentally renounced at such an obvious intimidation tactic regardless of the fact both boys were smiling and Sam was far from cowering. Sam entered first, his grin falling away as he stepped into my classroom. He aged right before my eyes; at the time I dismissed the change as anything a weird reflection of light. In my mind I was his best ally, I couldn't understand why he saw me as an enemy. The Nile is not just a river in Egypt. The older stayed by the doorway, fidgeting with his jacket and shooting glances around the room, but always returning to look at his brother. I dismissed the older brother, Dan something or another, from my mind once I saw he wouldn't be a hindrance to my master plan as he stood to far away to eavesdrop.
Once Sam finally reached my desk I went into my spiel about how being smart isn't a bad thing and he shouldn't feel the need to hide. It was all so much rubbish looking back at it now, but I actually meant it then. Sam just let me talk; a fact I took as agreement and enthrallment at the time, and am now pretty sure was just him humoring me at best. At the end of my impressively long speech, I must have gone on for close to ten minutes, I looked at Sam expectantly. I swear I actually believed I would see the light bulb go off and have solved everything. Instead Sam just looked and me and said calmly, "That's very good to hear, will that be all?" as polite as could be. I just stared at him dumbly until I saw a quickly suppressed twinge of irritation cross his face alerting me to the fact Sam was waiting for my dismissal. Thrown of my game I nodded mechanically and said, "Yes that's all". Before I could blink Sam had rejoined his brother and they were leaving the older sending me a cocky smirk as he departed.
That was that... Or rather it should have been, but I could not let it go pumped full of grand ideals as I was. Realizing that fixing Sam would not be as simple as a motivational pep talk, I retreated for the moment. Yet I kept my eye on Sam and my stalker like vigilance revealed more than I ever wanted to know.
It was maybe a week or so after my failure that I noticed that Sam's anonymity in my class was compromised by Reed. Reed had had his growth spurt early and was nearly as tall as me; add to that a disdain for all things nerdy and a surprising ability to create minions of the more impressionable and violent of his classmates and you had a fairly stereotypical bully. He was smart though, he never did anything blatant in eyesight of our staff, but the rapid increase in clumsiness in my class and others was fairly impressive circumstantial evidence to what was happening when our backs were turned. Since Reed's family has a reputation for deep denial, everyone was hesitant to do anything against him without solid proof; that schools live in fear of being sued was a true then as it still is today. Reed's eye turned to Sam later than I expected to be honest, considering that Sam was a prime target with his secondhand clothes, scrawny frame and tendency to have his head in a book. Looking back I can pinpoint the exact moment Sam's invisibility shattered.
As the students were entering my class that morning, I heard a crash and turned around just in time to see Colton sprawled on the floor. Colton was my class's resident nerd in both appearance and action, thus had accordingly been having many 'accidents'. I wanted to do something but Colton like the rest of Reed's victims refused to implicate Reed. I leveled a glare, at Reed suspicious of his involvement but one look at Colton's frightened eyes told me that this was just another 'accident'. An unexpected movement from the edge of the room caught my eye. It was Sam heading to help Colton while the rest of the class studiously avoided him. Sam didn't even spare Reed a look. I don't know why but even then I knew he did so not out of fear of Reed but rather disdain, by the red flush that spread on Reed's face I knew he shared my insight into Sam. Reed took a half step forward before catching himself and continuing on to his seat. Sam and Colton followed suit and that was that. Except for how I kept seeing Reed eyeing Sam like a lion eyes a weak member of the herd. I mentally promised myself I would keep a close eye on Reed and Sam to stop the next 'accident.' I truly did try but I could not do my job and stalk two of my students without arousing suspicion and potentially a lawsuit.
So when Sam came in from lunch with no signs of an 'accident' and Reed had gone home early for the day, I breathed a sigh of relief. I saw it as only a temporary reprieve, so after class I made a point of seeking out Sam. He had been called by the office at the end of day so I knew about where I could find him. I heard his voice before I rounded the corner to the hall that housed the school's administration. A strident "I'm not a kid, Dean" arrested my movement. For some reason I am still not sure of I made the subconscious decision to hang back out of sight to hear the rest of the conversation. It was both one of the most heartwarming and frightening I have ever heard.
"I know, but it's still my job to protect you." Dean, who I had identified as the older brother replied. The words were spoken without a trace of sarcasm and raw honesty that made me start to question my condemnation of the boy.
"I can protect myself. I handled Reed all by myself and I could handle a second rate principal in a two-bit town." That took me aback, but I convinced myself I had heard it wrong as the obvious interpretation went against everything I knew of shy self-conscious Sam.
" Oh yea Reed. Why didn't you tell me someone was messing with you?"
"Because no one was messing with me, Reed has been harassing kids from my class for weeks, but never did anything to me before today. And I left him alone because Dad told us to keep a low profile"
"Sammy, if someone messes with you or might possibly mess with you, you tell me immediately so I can rip his lungs out. You do not let him corner you with two of his meathead friends to prove that you can handle yourself." The exasperation in Dean's voice came through loud and clear, his voice had risen on the last part with rising passion.
"And you should not have covered for me. They could have had you arrested Dean! The worst they could have done to me was expulsion." Sam almost yelled that last part making it harder and harder to pretend that I had misheard and misunderstood.
"But they didn't. One more expulsion on my record won't do much. I mean hunting doesn't really require the honor roll. Couldn't risk a nasty expulsion on the geekboy's perfect record, now could we? Especially when apparently it's that time of the month and you're extra sensitive, right Samantha?" While the last was said sarcastically even I could sense the truth in the sentiment as much as I wanted to keep it as face value. At Sam's sigh I could picture his eyes rolling at his brother's teasing.
"Don't deflect Dean. It's a big deal. You don't deserve it Dean. This was my mess and for once I didn't want you to be caught in crossfire. I'm sorry." Sam all but shouted the first part, but the last was whispered in a reverent way that made me feel like a base intruder for listening.
I was gaping stunned when I realized the brothers had started moving my direction. With my good intentions derailed by Sam himself, I retreated once again rather than explain my eavesdropping.
It didn't make sense to me. How could I be so wrong about Sam? My thoughts kept turning over and over in my mind the whole night. By the next morning, I had convinced myself I had misunderstood the whole situation. Except the Principal called me into her office before school to tell me that three of my students had been involved in a fight; an older boy had done it supposedly to protect his younger brother. The charges against the boys were all hearsay but the principal was investigating and wanted my opinion. I told her about the 'accidents' and my suspicions, but her weary sigh told me that wouldn't be enough. The savage part of me was happy that someone had stopped Reed and his friends when my own hands were tied. I came out of my meeting with a new appreciation for Dean, firmly believing I had misconstrued the brothers' conversation.
That is until Reed came into my classroom sporting a black eye with a definite limp, while Sam's only sign of injury was bandaged knuckles. All my classes and ideas told me that invisible students are insecure, they are bullied, and they do not show all the signs of taking on someone almost twice their size without significant damage. Yet the scared looks Reed and his usual cronies kept shooting Sam defied all that. I spent the day in shock, going through the motions, while my brain tried to align reality with my perceptions.
By the end of the day my idealism won though once again and I had convinced myself contrary to all evidence that Sam was the victim here. His apparent violent outburst was merely the imitation of the abuse he suffers. This of course entailed me forgetting and purposefully ignoring everything I had observed in the interaction between the brothers and my own early softening towards Dean. There is something to be said for the power of selective memory.
I once again asked Sam to stay after class but this time when he asked to tell his brother I deterred him by promising a quick chat. I took a deep breath to prepare myself before launching into my rehearsed tirade
" I know what happened with Reed. And I understand Sam. Sometimes when people hurt us we lash out, especially when we are surrounded by violence in our own lives. But you dont have to live like that Sam. You can get away and embrace your true potential." I took a breath preparing to extol the possibilities when I glanced at Sam's face, the usually open attentive expression was closed and hard.
"What exactly are you implying" Sam asked with each word so clipped I expected them to draw blood.
"I am just telling you that you have options. You can leave. You can get help" I looked at him pleading
"Who else have you talked about me too?" This time the anger in Sam's voice was clear and a little terrifying.
" No one of course. I dont discuss my students."
" But apparently you eavesdrop on them. I knew someone was in that hall yesterday. Dean told me I was paranoid, but I knew. I don't even understand your concerns if you heard us yesterday" He paused as if to look for confirmation in my eyes before continuing " Since you did; you would know that I took care of Reed after he attacked me and that Dean took the fall to protect me. Why does everyone think I am so helpless?" he said the last to himself.
"I just want to help you Sam."
Sam took a deep breath and aged before my eyes into something a little terrifying, his hazel hardening as the warmth leached out. " I don't need your help. I need you to listen. My brother would rather die than hurt me and I would do the same. My family and I will be disappearing soon, when we do you can help us by forgetting us." He looked at me demanding my consent and I found myself nodding
He turned to leave. Before he got to the door he turned around. " Reed's about your height isn't he? and he had two friends with him, interesting" With that chillling comment he walked out my classroom door and my life
Sam haunted me for years after, making me shudder when I remember the hardness in such a young boy; it was the hardness of hard life but not a wasted life. He knew what mattered even then; protecting his family. As I grew older I realized that my ideas and assumptions blinded me in so many ways. Sam was never the victim, he was the protector: of Colton, his classmates and of his brother most of all, but also protected by the one he so longed to protect. He was a contradiction rather than a stereotype or category. Even at twelve he knew more about loyalty than most ever will. He possessed a love and loyalty that was so great it would destroy anything that threatened it. I knew Sam was meant for great things when I first met him, I just failed to realize his greatness wasn't in spite of his family but because of it.
In years to come, I heard many things about the Winchesters and none surprised me because a bond such as theirs is bound for great things: it could save the world or damn it. People like Sam and Dean exist maybe once in a lifetime and I am thankful for that as the world could not handle more.
Hope you liked it. I love reviews!