Chapter One
Another town and another lame school, Sam sat in the library her head in her hands waiting for Dean to finish up his tutoring with Natalie. Typical Dean had two things planned while at this school, blowing off school work, and finding as many special someone's as it required.
Dad had bailed on the two, heading out on a hunt with Pastor Jim. Sam hadn't been allowed to go, not that she wanted to. Vampire coven couple towns over, causing chaos in the sleepy little town. Snack of choice, teenage girls. Automatically all the men had told Sam she wasn't going to join. She had been fine with the idea.
Before Dad had gone he reconnected with Mrs. Marshall, a sweet older woman who had a house for rent. Three years ago, Dean and her father had saved Mrs. Marshall and the now late Mr. Marshall from a doll possessed with the spirit of the girl who owned her. Dad still had insisted on paying in full, but Mrs. Marshall requested only a small fee for the house. She had even promised to pop in now and again with a few home cooked meals. Dean hadn't complained, although he never complained about a home cooked meal and a few freshly baked pies.
The only thing wrong was the school.
Nothing was happening. Nobody was trying to be friendly, or rude. They just stuck close in their little tightly knit groups and stared. Sam felt like she was on display. She wanted anything; she would have even appreciated the challenge of a bully.
Bully she could handle easily. Male bully, all she would have to do is fight him. Sure she would get a slap on the hand, but being a girl the principal couldn't blame her too much for defending herself. And the typical female bully all she had to do was out maneuver them. Make nice with the teachers, then antagonize them in class and get them to rear their ugly heads right in front of teacher. Then if she had to she would fight them off campus. Typically they never came back for more than one beating.
No the one thing she hated in school was the loneliness. She was no stranger to what kind of life she led. One week here, the next month there; she lived in motels, the Impala, and doufle bags. So why make friends? Why make nice? The second she would make a friend, they would be done with the hunt and out of there. So it was probably best that she was by herself.
A high pitched whistle broke her out of her thoughts and she looked up and at the glass doors to the library. Miss Bloom was busy telling her brother Dean to be quiet while in the building, and Dean was playing the part of apologetic, the best he could anyways. Sam sighed and gathered up her bag.
"Sorry Miss Bloom." Sam apologized as she passed by the older woman's desk. "We're working on house training him."
The woman gave Sam a warm smile and waved off her anger. "It's ok. Just tell him to keep an indoor voice."
"Will do, Miss Bloom." Sam said giving a little skip out the door.
Dean smirked and once the door was closed he trailed after his little sister to the Impala hands in his pockets, and no books, or pencils on him. "Damn, old ladies love you Sam. You suck up to them worse than I do."
Sam smiled sweetly and spun around for a second pointing a finger to her lips. "At least I'm not wearing red lipstick." She twirled back around and smiled at hearing Dean's sputters as he used his sleeve to wipe off the offending color. "How was tutoring?"
"Oh shut it Sam." Dean groused. "At least I've made a friend."
"What for?" Sam asked matter of fact. "We're just going to leave anyways. What's the point?"
Dean could sense though that there was more to the comment, but before he could say anything Sam had cut him off.
"Anyways, all of your friends are girls, and I would label them differently." She walked to her side of the Impala resting on the door, waiting patiently for her brother to get in and unlock it.
"Hey a connection is a connection." Dean got in the car and let his sister in.
Sam rolled her eyes and dumped her bag at her feet before strapping on her seatbelt. "Please, your connections last no longer than a week."
"Some of them last longer." Dean griped starting up the engine.
"You met one set of parents. Tina Cabot, she was in your sophomore class and you dated her the entire month. After your quite public break up however, you didn't talk for a week. It was a series of grunts and mumbles. I didn't hear your voice until the end of the week when we finally drove out of that town. It was heaven." Sam smirked poking and prodding at her brother.
Dean frowned when she went quiet, as he looked in the rear view mirror and back the car up. "I thought you were going off about my longer relationships."
"I had. There isn't anymore." Sam leaned back in the chair and ignored her brother's glare.
xxxOOOxxx
That evening had been uneventful. Mrs. Marshall had stopped by with baked mac n' cheese, and as requested pie. She had stayed with the siblings for a while regaling them with stories of her now diseased husband, and her children. If she hadn't brought food, Dean probably would have made up an illness and slipped away. As it was though, he had torn apart that apple crumble pie like it was the last of its kind, nodded with a full mouth every once in a while. It was only after she had left that he confessed how much he truly loved the woman.
The following morning had been just as dull. Dean had gotten up early and made a quick (and nearly lethal) breakfast of blackened toast, and questionable eggs. Sam scarfed them down though her mind trailing back to school. Dean had asked what was wrong but only gotten a shrug, and a curt nothing. He didn't press the issue though. If there had been something really wrong she would certainly tell her big brother. Right?
Now sitting back at the library thumbing through a thick tome about rituals around the world Sam waited for the school bell to ring. As usual the group in the corner laughed quietly sitting on the bean bag chairs offered by the school, a handful of students sat at computers typing furiously a last second essay, and a single boy was in the shelves digging around the reference books flipping through the pages. Nothing was really happening.
Sam had just given up trying to read through the book and closed it, when the chair next to her dragged out and the freshman boy who had been among the shelves plopped down onto it. He gave a tired sigh, but offered Sam a smile.
"What are you reading?" He asked casually putting down his bag and making himself comfortable.
Sam ticked up an eyebrow. Who the hell was this kid, and why did he just sit next to her? "Hello?"
The kid never wiped the smile off his face. "Hey, names Michael. You can call me Mike though." He offered a hand and waited patiently for Sam to shake.
Not sure what he was up to Sam stared at the hand like it was about to jump out and bite her. Finally though she extended hers slowly and shook it. "Nice to meet you Mike, my names Sam."
"I know." Mike reached over and grabbed the book Sam had been going through. "I have you in seventh period. Mr. Batot's class. Two seats away." He looked through the book his face quirking in interest. "This thing is pretty thick."
"Oh well, yeah I suppose it is." Sam said not sure what to do in this instance. Two schools back she had long since given up on trying to make friends. She sat in silence willing the boy away with her mind.
Mike slammed the book shut and pushed it back to her. He leaned back in the chair and gave her another smile. "So what's your deal?"
Any amusement at the situation disappeared. "What's my deal?"
"Yeah, I mean you show up with your scary looking brother- Bill?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Dean."
"Dean, whatever. You show up with Dean mid school year and pretty much just keep to yourself. I mean you have been Ice Queen for the last three days."
Now she was really ticked off. Who the hell was this kid? "Ice Queen?!"
"Yeah, I mean, like every second your just glaring at nothing." He pulled out a package of Wrigly gum, pulled one out and extended the 25 cent package towards her. "Gum?"
"No thank you."
Mike shrugged and slipped the package back in his pocket. He took the time to unwrap it, ignoring the girl's glare. "So what's your deal?"
"Well Mike. I don't have a deal." Sam blurted out pushing the thick book into her bag. "And I don't know where you get the balls to talk like that but I'm not an Ice Queen."
Calm blue eyes looked up and locked on with her hazel. "Hey, hey! Calm down. I didn't mean to offend you."
"Well you did Mike."
She stood up but before she could walk away Mike reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Hey, I'm sorry." Mike apologized. His manor had changed entirely.
She jerked out her arm and spun around slipping her bag onto her back. Before she left though she gave him one last look and frowned. "I can't make friends Mike. My dad's job takes us everywhere in the damn country and I'm not one place long. Why make friends if I just have to go again. So I'm sorry if I'm being an Ice Queen."
She left the library to mad to give Miss Bloom her usual goodbye.
xxxOOOxxx
The day flew by. All there was to do was take notes, and dread the seventh period class she shared with Mike. What the hell did he think he was doing in the library, because it certainly hadn't been friendly.
Finally after third though she had lunch. She got into the line serving bad enchiladas and showed her student badge. Apparently Dad had applied for free lunches and they had been poor enough to get them. YAY.
She left the line and searched the cafeteria for an empty table. Of course the groups had already stolen a lot of them leaving a few little spaces in-between. She was searching the room and didn't notice the person coming up behind her.
"Hey! Need a place to sit."
She spun around and found Mike standing behind her giving an awkward wave. She just rolled her eyes and started to walk off anywhere else.
Once again though Mike caught her arm. "Hey look. I'm sorry. In the library I was kind of rude."
Sam snorted. "Kind of?"
"Ok fair enough. I was rude but I was just trying to break the ice."
"Because I'm an Ice Queen?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"No because you didn't seem too interested in striking up a conversation with anyone." Mike said shrugging. "I thought I'd give it a go. You just looked so damn lonely."
Sam spun around and balanced the tray with one hand. "Well I'm not."
"Pretty sure you are." Mike told her. "See your eyes get all misty and it looks like your ten miles away. Plus I've seen you stare at the library group as they talk amongst themselves. You've been thinking about joining with them, huh."
"Have you been watching me?" Sam asked sharply.
"Maybe. Possibly I was in the library before Nick came in and whistled." Mike released her arm and gave her another smile. "There was this paper."
Sam sighed and rubbed at her temple. "His name is Dean."
"Bill, Nick, Dean, whatever your scary brother's name is."
Sam laughed involuntarily this time as Mike shrugged and made a face. "Really? Is he that scary?"
"When he's flirting with the senior girls, no. But just walking down the hallway he gives off more ice than you." He pointed towards the table tucked away in the corner. "So you want to sit with me and my friends? We've got a space."
"I don't know." Sam looked over to the group and realized that she was looking at the quiet little group from the library. No wonder this kid had seen so much of her. "I really don't-"
Mike snorted and waved off her excuse before she could even finish it. "You really don't make friends. You travel around too much to grace ones presence with your own. Well we could be acquaintances. Someone to talk to until your dad packs you up and you're off to the next place. I promise not to exchange Best Friend Forever bracelets with you." Mike paused and thought a little. "At least not yet."
Sam looked over to the group and then back to Mike. It would be nice to be able to talk to someone. "Okay, only if you promise not to exchange those bracelets."
"Hey no guarantee. If we become BFF's I just might have to get us a set."
xxxOOOxxx
Dean watched as his sister stood at the stove and hummed pleasantly while she stirred a pot of noodles. He wasn't quite sure what was going on but was glad that she was out of her funk. For first three days she had been a little bit moody. He had entered the library after his tutoring session with Sandra and found her staring off into space pretending to read a book in the library.
Dean may not have been the smartest kid in his grade, but he wasn't stupid whenever it came to his little sister. A few schools back she had finally had it. Made friends with this Maria girl and was invited to her birthday party. Sam was all too excited. Nobody had invited her to a party before. Of course whatever dad had hunted had been killed the day before the party and they were packed up and gone the same day. Since then she had been aloof. Keeping to herself and putting up a wall between any other students in the school. Despite his hatred for chick-flick moments he had tried to strike up a conversation heart to heart, but she hadn't conceded.
Twice now though when he stopped by the library he had found her amongst a little group in the back of the library. They seemed to get along well with her, although book nerds being friends with book nerds wasn't a too farfetched concept. Dean was just happy that she was conversing and making friends again. What he wasn't happy about was that boy. When he had stopped by to pick up Sam that afternoon they were sharing a bean bag chair. Rather than wait by the door like he unusually did. He had come up right behind the two and cleared his throat.
Sam had looked up casually. The boy's eyes had gotten wide. The evidence was pretty damn clear. His innocent baby sister was having the moves put on her and she didn't know. He didn't make a fuss though. Sam's mood had vastly improved and he didn't want to hurt her opportunity to make friends. He did however give the kid his best glare before slipping an arm around his sister and leading her out of the library.
"Dean!" Sam called from the kitchen breaking Dean from his thoughts. He put down the homework he really wasn't working on and looked up to find his sister standing next to him. "Okay so is it ready? I think it is." She dangled a noodle that she had fished out of the bowl with the spoon. Already a piece had been bitten out of the top.
Dean grabbed up the warm noodle and bit into one half into it before looking at the center. "It looks fine to me squirt."
"Okay perfect, then I'm draining them." She put the strainer in the sink and rushed over to switch off the stove.
He stood up and checked on the bubbling sauce before turning off that burner too. Calmly he made his way toward the refrigerator and pulled out the cheese. Before heading to the table he filled two glasses with ice water. Sam met him with two steaming plates of spaghetti.
Sam wasted no time. She dug into the food and slurped up her first bite.
Dean twisted up his first bite but shifted his eyes over to his sister. "So I see you finally made some friends."
She nodded enthusiastically, clearing her mouth. Dean waited patiently for an answer.
"Yeah! Linda is so nice, but she keeps trying to braid my hair, she wants me to try and do more with it. Oh and Ricky stuffed a whole enchilada in his mouth. He nearly choked." Sam laughed at the last one.
Dean chewed on his bite thoughtfully. "So who's the boy?"
"Which one? There are three guys in that group." Sam gave her brother a questioning look, trying to figure out where this conversation was going. "Ricky has curly hair, Henry was wearing that stupid multicolored windbreaker, and Mike has blond hair."
"Mike, that's the one." Dean tried to keep the statement light but Sam shot up an eyebrow. "So what's up with Mike?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked warning in her tone.
Dean had to make sure to tread lightly on that subject. As lightly as he could. "I mean he seems like a nice guy. What do you think? Is he a nice guy? Does he do things for you?"
"Oh my gosh! I cannot believe that you are asking that." Sam huffed putting her fork down.
Dean put on his most innocent face. "Asking what?"
"Mike, is a friend. We don't go and make out in the janitors closet after school." Sam picked up her plate and pushed out of her chair. "Just because I happen to be a girl, that doesn't mean that I can't have a guy friend."
"It's not that, Sammy. I just know what guys think, and I don't think that you two have the same idea of friendship." Dean said twisting around in his chair to get a better look at his sister. "I just want you to think about it."
"Look Dean, just because you don't have healthy relationships with the opposite sex doesn't mean that I cannot." She spun around and headed for the hallway. Before she disappeared around the corner and to her room she looked back at her brother with an odd look on her face. "And maybe, this time, I don't mind if he likes me."