Chapter one- This is the road to ruin and I'm starting at the end

Castiel Novak was a peculiar boy. Probably the most peculiar boy at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was a very bright, intelligent junior at the High School and Sioux Falls being a fairly rugged place, his intelligence was revered as odd. He was also one of 7 siblings, making his whole family a point of speculation around the small town. He was not the only one at his school of superior intelligence, his sisters Anna and Lucy were quite intelligent as well, but this did not help him much since all of his brothers were either sports legends or "bad boys" at the school. Castiel was stuck with the brains like the girls. Aside from Anna who was a year older than Castiel (18) and Lucy who was 2 years younger (15), he has 5 brothers, 4 of whom had already graduated. His only brother still left at the school was Gabriel, Anna's twin brother. He was one of the "bad boys", sort of. He pulled A LOT of pranks and got in minor trouble quite frequently. Anna loved her brother but detested his lack of taking anything seriously. Castiel didn't have many friends. Joanna Harvelle, or Jo as her friends called her, was probably Castiel's best friend and he and her boyfriend got a long rather well too. Castiel had no romantic feelings for Jo at all, he wasn't sure why because she was a beautiful, petite blonde with wits and a tongue as sharp as a knife. But, she was just never his type. Her boyfriend Ash got the memo pretty quick and just befriended Castiel rather than causing unnecessary trouble. Castiel spent his days, studying, reading, writing poetry, drawing or hanging out with Ash and Jo. His life was fairly ordinary aside from a few bullies here and there but considering he was the nerd, with the weird name, from the weird family, he kind of expected it. Until one day at school everything changed. It was the day Dean and Sam Winchester had their first day at Lincoln High. Castiel was sitting in home room doodling absentmindedly when someone walked in late. Castiel didn't bother to look up until he heard the unfamiliar voice.

"Uhh, hi, sorry I'm late, got lost." The voice sounded like someone pouring honey over gravel. Castiel wasn't sure why it was intriguing to him.

"You must be Mr. Winchester?" The unknown boy nodded at Ms. Mills.

"Class, we have a new student!" Ms. Mills stood up from her desk, smiling brightly.

"This is Dean Winchester- where are you from Dean?" She beamed at the stoic boy who seemed to melt a bit under her friendly chocolate eyes. Castiel had always liked Ms. Mills, she was a very nice lady. The mysterious boy was wearing a black cotton t-shirt paired with a worn brown leather jacket dark, wash jeans and scuffed up brown work boots. He was going to fit in perfectly in Sioux Falls.

"Uh, Kansas." Dean huffed out eventually. He shifted uncomfortably and then proceeded to take a seat, unfortunately right next to Castiel. Castiel was having trouble not staring. This boy was beautiful. Castiel wasn't sure he'd ever thought that about a boy before but he didn't think much of it for long because the perfect human being sitting next to him was a bit distracting. Dean Winchester had an extremely defined jaw line with emerald green eyes that set perfectly on his face. His hair was medium brown and tousled up with what appeared to be a small amount of product. Castiel could not stop staring and analyzing. He pulled his gaze away just before Dean glanced at him. Just half a second but Castiel felt like Dean stared at him forever. "What is happening to me?" Castiel thought to himself.

Soon, the mysterious boy had faded to the back of Castiel's mind as he got to his 2rd period English class. He loved English and he was quite good at it, also Jo and Ash were in this class. At the same time Castiel was pulling out his weathered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, which he had read many times before assigned it in class; Dean Winchester was scrambling to make it to the same class. "Why is this damn school so big!?" Dean thought angrily to himself as he pulled open the door to his 3rd period English class. He walked in and spotted the same boy that was in his homeroom. The boy looked up as Dean walked in and their eyes met. Dean found himself stuck for a second; staring into the bluest eyes he had ever seen, ever. Castiel at the same moment felt his stomach drop to the floor but he quickly returned his eyes to the book ending the never ending second.

"Uh sorry Mr. Edlund I got a little turned around on my way.." Deans eyes skirted around the room avoiding Castiel not that he would have noticed, as he had his nose buried in the book. Jo shot Castiel an inquisitive look but he buried his nose further into the book.

"Its already Mr. uh Winchester?" Dean nodded. Mr. Edlund smiled and motioned for him to take a seat. He took the only open seat. Next to Ash. At Castiels table.

"Hey I'm Dean."

"Ash." Ash held out his hands and shook Deans with a smile.

"Hey I'm Jo." Jo flashed her blinding smile and shook his hand as well. Everyone was staring at Castiel now.

"Uhh, yeah hi I'm Castiel.." He stuck his hand out weakly. Deans grasp was firm and warm and just plain manly. Castiel had never felt more like a wimp in his life. Well, that wasn't true but it sure felt like it at the moment.

"Cool name, what's it mean?" Dean asked. Castiel felt like he was gonna puke. Jo stepped in to save the day as usual-

"It comes from some Hebrew archangel named Cassiel. His parents were a little religious obsessed back in the day so all his siblings have biblical names too". Dean nodded looked at Castiel inquisitively.

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Uh, 2 sisters and 4 brothers." Castiel said quietly. Dean was about to start talking again but (thankfully!) Mr. Edlund began talking. Castiel couldn't have told you what he was talking about if his life depended on it; he was too busy getting his heart rate back to normal.

"Do you wanna have lunch with us?" Jo asked Dean right as 3rd period was ending, as they all had lunch next.

"Yeah totally. Is it cool if my nerd brother Sammy sits with us too?" Jo laughed but nodded a quick yes to Dean. Castiel wanted to dive into his book and never come out. He didn't know why he felt so nervous but he wasn't sure he could handle a whole half an hour of awkward small talk with Dean. The 4 of them walked to the lunch room painfully slowly as far as Castiel was concerned. "What is this dude's deal?" Dean couldn't help but think about the boyish junior he was attempting to befriend. Jo and Ash seemed normal and well-adjusted but man was this kid socially awkward. Dean caught himself studying the boys face more than once. He had a young, soft face but very old looking blue eyes. His brown hair fell into his eyes on more than one occasion and he did not brush it away, which bothered dean for some reason. This kid was gorgeous. "Am I really thinking what I think I'm thinking right now!?" Dean kept asking himself, but yes, yes he was. He could tell Castiel had very little to no self esteem and it was really bothering him.

"Dean, DEAN!" The familiar sound his brothers voice pulled him back to reality.

"Oh hey Sammy! Come sit with us!" Dean motioned for Sam to come over to where he was with Jo, Ash, and Castiel. Sam headed over with his weird loping gait. Sam Winchester had just recently grown 5 inches and was quickly approaching Dean's solid 6'1 height. Sam would over take him soon. But not yet. Dean smiled a little to himself at this fact.

"Hey I'm Sam!" Sam introduced himself as sat down. He had a goofy grin on his face and his shaggy brown, curly hair was all over the place. Dean rolled his eyes at his dork brother.

"Hey I'm Jo, this is Ash, and this is Castiel." Jo introduced them all to Sam. Castiel nodded and smiled and then returned to staring at his lunch, a little too intently.

"JOOOOANNNNAAAAA!" Castiel heard the familiar shrieks of Jo's girlfriends Ruby Cassidy (Blonde Ruby), Ruby Padalecki (Brunette Ruby or more commonly Ru) and Meg masters. He seriously contemplated smashing his head into the lunch table. He didn't dislike the girls they were just very….. loud. And Meg would not stop coming onto to Castiel even thought he politely rejected her every time. Brunette Ruby sat down between Sam and Jo and Meg positioned herself next to Castiel, with her legs open, straddling the bench seat.

"Hey Cassy." She leaned into closer to him and he flushed a bright red.

"Hello Meg." He said defiantly as he stood up to throw his lunch away.

"He is no fun." She pouted as she swung her other leg over the seat.

"And who might this be?" Ruby eyes Sam like a piece of meat and Castiel thought he might actual be sick.

"Ru." Jo scolded gently.

"This is Sam and that's his brother Dean Winchester, there new here."

"Well hello Sam Winchester."Brunette Ruby shook his hand and somehow still managed to make it suggestive. How the hell did she do that? It was a hand shake! Castiel just shook his head in amusement as he began talking back toward the table. Sam had flushed a bright pink and Dean had barked out a laugh so contagious Castiel found himself smiling at it.

"Faggot!" Castiel knew what was coming before he actually hit the floor. Zel, Alistair and Crowley had been walking by right as Castiel was walking back and one of them had stuck out their foot and tripped Castiel. He felt like he fell in slow motion. And he hit the ground hard. Very hard. He saw the blood on the ground around his face before he felt any pain.

"OH MY GOD CASTIEL!" Jo was by his side in a second but the boys were gone before she was up or she would have punched one of them square in the mouth.

"Jo I'm fine really, I'm fine jo-" She wasn't listening. She was raging on and on about how she was like "gonna fucking kill those fuckers".

"Jo stop." Ash grabbed her arm gently as Castiel pushed himself off the ground. Dean and Sam's eyes were wide with shock and Ruby and Meg just looked really sad. Jo resented to fuming quietly with her arms crossed squarely across her chest.

"Let's get you to the nurse." She said sadly. Castiel was holding his hand to his mouth, which was still seeping blood. His eyes met Dean Winchesters again and he wasn't sure what he saw in them- it looked a bit like disgust. Castiel wasn't sure if the disgust was at his tormentors of the accusation of him being a "faggot". He wasn't sure he wanted to know. Jo, Ash and Castiel started walking out of the cafeteria and Ruby, Meg, Dean AND Sam all followed. Castiel was a bit surprised but his head was spinning to fast to care.

"What happened this time?" The nurse asked Castiel.

"This time?" Dean mouthed at Jo. Jo nodded sadly, her eyes welling with tears.

"I tripped in the cafeteria." Castiel said quietly and the nurse rolled her eyes, knowing that wasn't true. She handed Castiel some ice for his swollen and quickly bruising face. Jo sat down next to Castiel and put her arm around his shoulder.

"You shouldn't let them get away-"

"Not now Jo, I'm really not in the mood." Castiel shrugged off her arm and turned away.

"Ok all of you, back to class!" The nurse had reentered the room and motioned at the group flanking around Castiel. Jo patted his shoulder affectionately then grasped Ash's hand as he gave Castiel a weak smile and they departed. The Rubies and Meg gave him a 6 armed hug accompanied with soft kisses on his cheeks. As annoying as they were, he loved those annoying girls and he knew they cared about him. He flashed them the bright smile he could muster at the moment. Brunette Ruby gently grabbed Sam's arm, leading him out of the nurses off. The poor sophomore looked bewildered and angry and sad all at the same time. Only Dean was left, looking at Castiel with an interesting look on his face.

"Does this happen a lot?" He asked and Castiel just shrugged. He felt immensely less awkward since Dean had seen him full on face plant and bash up his own face. Deans brow furrowed.

"Why don't you tell anyone?"

"I did once. And it just got worse. So now I just handle it on my own."

"But your parents must-"Dean stopped short, seeing the flash of warning in Castiels eyes.

"Sorry, never mind. Well feel better, man. I'll see you around." Dean flashed Castiel a 1000 watt smile as he left. Strangely, Castiel felt mildly better. He stayed in the nurse's office for a while longer, letting the swelling in face go down and the bruises blossom. His school had 4 classes a day, with a different 4 classes the next day. It was called an A/B 4x8 schedule and everyone hated it. Today, Castiels 4th period was AP art so he mustered up what was left of his dignity and got to that class about 15 minutes late. His teacher began to scold him as he entered late but quickly stopped, seeing the fresh bruises on Castiels face. Castiel sat in his seat quickly and began to draw in his sketchbook and didn't stop until the bell rang. When he looked at what he had been drawing all he saw was a face splashed with freckles and green eyes staring back from the page. He shut his notebook quickly and hurried out of class. In the parking lot his older sister Anna and brother Gabriel were arguing over something by their car, a black dodge avenger. They stopped mid conversation when they saw Castiel.

"Castiel, wha-what happened to you!?" Anna asked him quietly. Gabriel's eyes glazed over with rage and he rubbed his face with his hand.

"I-I fell in the cafeteria."

"Yeah, bullshit, who did this to you?" Gabriel asked firmly. No way in hell Castiel was telling Gabriel. Gabriel was a fairly buff guy but he was short, very short. And while Gabe ran every other day and weight trained a few times a month, he stood no chance again Azazel, Alistair or Crowley. These guys were on the football team and they worked out, hard every single day. They pummeled guys for fun.

"I'm telling the truth." Castiel said angrily and slunk into the car. It's not like the boys had never done this to him before but a punch in the gut or a shove into a locker bruised him where he could hide. His face was a little different. His youngest sister Lucy approached the car, her blonde hair flowing wildly in the wind contrasted greatly with Anna's reserved, perfect styled red hair. Anna looked at Lucy impatiently.

"We've been waiting for 15 minutes Lucy." Lucy glowered at Anna as she did not give two fucks how long her douche-nozzle siblings had to wait for her. She flung herself into the back seat and Anna and Gabe got into the front seats. Lucy's hard expression softened when she saw Castiel. She gave him a small smile. He really wanted all the pitiful looks to stop. He observed the parking lot as they departed. He saw Jo and Ash getting into Ash's old red and white, ford pickup. They looked absolutely perfect seated in the old beater. He saw Ruby 1, Ruby 2 and Meg pulling out in Blonde Ruby's green Cabrio, with the top down singing some obnoxious song he did not know, smiling and laughing. Lastly, he saw Sam and Dean in a car he had never seen before, it was long and black and shiny and said Chevrolet on the front. Castiel caught his breath in his throat as he saw Dean throw his head back, laughing at something Sam had said. He was absolutely beautiful. Lucy looked at Castiel inquisitively but he just coughed it off. Looking at all his friends and maybe new friends in here cars made Castiel realize how different they all were. The Novaks had the nicest and newest car because their parents had bought it for all 4 of them to share and Deans car was obviously old but well taken care of, Ash's was bought with his own money and not well taken care of, but had a lot of personality, especially with the pretty blonde laughing in the passenger seat, and blonde Rubys Cabrio was a Christmas present from her parents, as she was an only child she got a car. Not a super nice one but a cute girl one perfectly suited for her. Castiel drifted off into his thoughts of his friends on the ride home.

Chapter 2- I cry tears you'll never see

Castiel barely made it into school the next day; he had more bruises covering him that no one could see. The car ride to school with his siblings was painfully awkward as they all knew what had taken place the night prior and done nothing, said nothing. He was furious but he understood why they stood by, silent. He was glad to see his friends in homeroom.

"Hey Cassy!" Jo waved at him enthusiastically. He rolled his eyes at her picking up Meg's nickname for him.

"Hey man!" Ash greeted him warmly and Dean smiled a greeting.

"Hey guys!" Castiel squeaked out. Jo knew immediately what had occurred last night so she made hast with a very interesting conversation about the different types of coffee they had at the local coffee shop. Dean shot him a look and he tried to keep his eyes as bright as he could despite the bruising on his face. Today's classes were Pre-Calculus, Biology, Creative writing and lastly….. Shop. Which he had with Zel, Al and Crowley. He despised B days. The only good part was he had Biology with the girls, all 4 of them. He was going to think that as a positive thing today. Pre-calc passed quickly as Castiel was good at math and had that class alone. Biology rolled around and Castiel was excited to see his friends, despite his aching ribs.

"Class we have a new-" Mr. Turner started but was cut off by the squeals of his female friends.

"SAAAAMMMMM!" They all shrieked and pulled same over to their table.

"I see you've already made some friends Mr. Winchester." Mr. Turner said pointedly and Sam flushed a bright red. Castiel couldn't help but smile and let out a breathy laugh, trying not to hurt himself.

"Uh, hi guys." Sam smilied.

"Why are you all in a sophomore class?" He asked, confused because Meg and Blonde ruby were seniors and Castiel, Jo and Brunette ruby were Juniors.

"Well, us-'" Meg motioned at herself and blonde Ruby.

"We're stupid and failed it the first time! While these geniuses-"she motioned at the rest of the group

"Took Chemistry and AP Chem before coming to lowly biology." She purred with a wink at Castiel. He wanted to throw up, on her. He liked Meg, but only as a friend and for some reason he found the thought of sleeping with her repulsive. This didn't make any sense because she was beautiful. All full- full lips, full breasts, full hair and big full chocolate eyes set into perfect alabaster skin. "Maybe I am a faggot?" he thought to himself. Biology was easy as well and passed quickly with the idle chatter of the girls and Brunette Ruby and Sam hitting it quite nicely, actually. Castiel found them strangely adorable; awkwardly tip toeing around each other. Lunch went much more smoothly today, but Castiel also made no attempts to get up and walk around. Feeling more in control of his emotion he allowed himself to actually engage in conversation and even look at Dean a few times. Dean never would have noticed Castiel looking at him though; his eyes were always scanning, looking, searching for the boys who had hurt Castiel yesterday. His body was tense and ready to jump into a fight if needed. Sam and Ru were drowning in each other eyes and pouring over something they had in common; Castiel wasn't sure what it was though as he was barely even listening to his own conversation about the new Star Trek. Lunch was approaching its end and Castiel was dreading shop.

"Any of you have shop next?" Dean asked the table.

"Castiel and I do." Ash answered. Ash was a good friend but he was no fighter, he would never be any help if things got out of hand with the other boys. He would try though and get decimated and Castiel hoped he would never have to put Ash in that position. He shuttered at the thought.

"Cool so do Sam and I." Dean smiled his brilliant smile again and Castiel felt his spirits rise immediately.

"Azazel, Al and Crowley all have the same class." Ash warned Dean.

"Fuck those guys, man." Dean said light heartedly, with a darker undertone in his voice that Castiel quickly realized, no one noticed but him.