Castiel was waiting in the hallway to apologize to Meg, he had heard what his friends did yesterday and was rather angry at them. He had only spoken to her for a few moments and she really didn't seem that bad to him. He watched as she walked into the school, and by the look on her face something was wrong. As she went to brush past him he caught her by the arm.
"Hey are you okay?" He said, she turned and blinked up at him in surprise and a short laugh escaped her of shock.
"Why are you talking to me? Or did Dean not rip you a new one either, did he just blame me?" She shot back, Castiel winced and broke her stare and stared at the ground for a moment.
"I'm sorry for what they did, I really am." He said, but her phone went off and she glanced down. He couldn't help but notice she went a little pale at the sight of whatever the text said.
"Hey is everything okay?" He said, titling his head to the side out of concern. Her gaze snapped back to him and she frowned, a slightly puzzled but mostly irritated look on her face.
"Listen Castiel, we don't know each other, like at all. So I really don't think I should be giving you insight into my personal life and what is happening. Forgive me but I don't trust you or your little group you hang out with." She replied curtly, yanking out of his grasp and strolling to her group of friends and her locker. Castiel could only watch her leave with regret shining in his eyes, he didn't even notice when The Doctor walked up to him.
"Ya okay?" He said, frowning and following Castiel gaze. Sympathy flashed across the boy's face as he caught sight of who Castiel was staring at, he patted him on the shoulder.
"Forget what they say, nothing is ever fair in love and war." The boy murmured before turning back and walking to his locker. Castiel let out a rather depressed sigh and gathered his things and headed to first period, which today was English. He tried to focus in class but his thoughts kept flickering back to Meg, how unfair things were right now. He let out another sigh and continued to scribble down the notes as Ms. Talbot droned on and on. By the time the bell had wrung the only thing Castiel had learned that Tuesday mornings might actually be worse than Monday today.
When he finally made it to lunch everyone in his group was laughing about something someone had said, he sat down quietly and hoped they wouldn't notice him. But unfortunately for Castiel, Gabriel glanced over and looked surprised to see him sitting there. And after he glanced over everyone was looking at the boy now, which rather irritated him. After all he wouldn't have minded a little bit of peace and quiet to himself.
"Hey Cass, you okay?" Asked Adam, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared at Castiel who shifted slightly awkward now.
"Perfectly fine." He muttered a bit moodily, making it clear he wasn't fine. Dean frowned as he stared at his adopted brother, Castiel refused to meet his gaze. He was afraid his eyes would give away everything that was going through his mind, everything about her.
"Cass?" Dean said, Castiel glanced up but still refused to meet his brother's gaze. He could read him easily when it came to his eyes, he didn't want him to see.
"Did someone say something to you?" Dean growled, and Castiel couldn't help but bristle slightly at the question. Castiel knew who Dean was implying when he said 'something'. He shook his head though and quickly cleared his mind and put up a mask to face his adopted brother with.
"No I just didn't sleep great, I'm tired and school is rather putting me to sleep again." He replied, forcing a tired smile on his face. He watched as everyone seemed to visibly relax, he couldn't help but sigh to himself. At least he had managed to convince them, though he didn't enjoying lying to them he didn't want to see her hurt again. Everyone began to joke and talk with each other but Castiel stayed stubbornly quiet, daydreaming and zoning in and out and catching snatches of conversation. Finally lunch ended and Castiel quickly went to his locker and got his things for his next class, which was Biology. As he sat down in the class, one of the last to get there his eyes flickered to the familiar girl that sat next him. He wanted to say something, anything to her. Luckily for him none of his friends seemed to be in this class, they wouldn't know if he talked to her. But class started immediately and he had room to say nothing, he sighed as he continued to write but the teacher came to an abrupt stop. He began to explain that they would be doing a project with partners that would make up twenty-five perfect of their grade.
"Mr. Novak, you and Ms. Masters can work together." Mr. Rufus said, his eyes flickering over the rest of the class. But Castiel felt a wave of giddiness wash over him, this would be a great chance to talk to her and he would get to everyday. He glanced over at Meg to see she was already looking at him, he offered her a smile but she just nodded and turned back to the teacher. They were working on a bird project and had to observe adaptions of the beak and feet for what the bird ate. As they worked through class she actually talked to him, and as class went on they got friendlier and friendlier to each other. The class ended and they were walking together in the halls, talking and walking to their next class that they shared. At first Castiel didn't see Dean sitting in the classroom, he was sitting in the back. Him and Meg chatted through class because the teacher didn't really do anything with them.
"Well Castiel, I'll see ya tomorrow." Meg said with a smile at him at the end of the class. He left the class and walked to his locker, feeling lighter and happier than he usually felt. That was until someone put a hand on his shoulder and he whirled around to see an irritated Dean Winchester staring at him, Castiel couldn't help but frown. "What's wrong?" He asked Dean, concerned for what was bothering his adopted brother so much right now.
"I just left my last class." He replied coldly, and as Dean told him what class Castiel paled because he now knew why Dean was so furious. He was angry with him.
"Dean-" He started but his brother cut him with an angry glare, Castiel bit his lip and sighed softly.
"She's really not all that bad Dean." He murmured softly, Dean let out a scoff and brushed past his brother on his way to his locker. Castiel sighed to himself and put his books away in his own locker before trudging out of the school and on his way back to Dean's house where he lived. He had made sure that he left before Dean, Sam or Adam because he didn't care to talk with them right now. As he walked he couldn't help but smile though, he had made a friend of her today and he hoped she would see them as friends because he wanted to be. He barely noticed when he finally reached the right house in the neighborhood and unlocked the door with his spare key. He was rather surprised to find John Winchester sitting at the kitchen table, he glanced up and smiled kindly at Castiel.
"Hello Castiel, where are the others?" He inquired, Castiel just shrugged a bit nervously. He didn't want to tell him of the fight between him and Dean because he knew John would side with Dean. John and Meg's father and older brother weren't exactly 'friends' with the Winchester family so Castiel quickly made up something.
"I left early, so I could get home sooner. I have quite a bit of homework." He lied, shifting the pack on his shoulder like it was heavy but John bought it. He nodded to him and smiled like he was proud of Castiel.
"Mature thing to do, why don't you get something to eat and then start on it?" John said, not really putting it out as a suggestion but a little more of a command. Castiel nodded hastily and after eating something he went up to his bedroom and shut the door, turned the music up and began to do his homework. Castiel really didn't have that much but he stayed up in his room for a while just to give the impression that he did. Finally at roughly six-thirty he shut off his music and went downstairs to see Adam and Sam sitting at the table playing a card game. Both the boys were freshman and the same age, they were in deep concentration and jumped slightly when Castiel entered the room.
"Hey Cass, do you know Dean's so angry?" Sam asked, glancing up at Castiel from the cards he had hidden in his hands. Castiel frowned to himself, Dean was still worked up over today? He sighed and nodded to the freshman boy, wincing as he straightened up for he was obviously interested to hear why.
"It's because I was talking and becoming friend with someone he doesn't like." Castiel replied a bit coolly. Sam flinched at his tone slightly, Adam frowned as well. Castiel didn't mean to sound angry at the boys he was just a bit frustrated right now. He turned and left out the front door, eager to get out of the house and away from the prying and curious eyes of his brothers. He walked down the side of the road through his neighborhood, every now and then peering through into the woods at other houses. Until he was going up a hill and came upon a rather shocking sight, Meg was sitting on the front porch of one of the house. Castiel shivered slightly, but it wasn't because of the cool dusk air because he had his trench-coat on. He wondered what Dean would think if he knew Meg lived in their neighborhood, but he decided not to tell him.
"Meg!" He called out, the girl's head snapped to the side and she stared at him rather surprised to see him standing there. He walked up to the house, across the lawn, and up to the front porch where she sat staring up at him.
"Hey." She said in a still rather surprised voice, she offered him a slight smile as he sat down beside her.
"I think I'm going to skip the part where I say 'I didn't know you lived here' because it would be a stupid comment and just ask you how your evening is going." He said with a smile in return to her. She chuckled and shook her head, the smile becoming less forced and much more real.
"Well thanks for that, would spare me the stupid explanation that 'you haven't known me that long'. My evening has been going okay, came out here to get away from Ruby and my older brother Inias for a while. You?" She inquired and Castiel bit his lip for a moment before responding to her.
"Could have gone better. Dean is irritated and Sam and Adam aren't exactly helping the situation so I went for a walk." He replied, her eyes softened in sympathy to him and she gave him a nod.
"Well I guess we are both suffering from siblings, want to go for a walk together?" She asked, standing up and Castiel rather eagerly stood up after her.
"That would be nice." He said and she did the most surprising thing, she took his hand and walked back toward the side of the road that ran through their neighborhood.
"Well come on then, oh and please don't tell Dean or any of your siblings that I live here. I'm not in the mood to put up with them." She muttered, he nodded to her with an understanding smile. He hadn't been planning on telling them anyway, he wasn't in the mood for answering their questions of how he had found out and what he had did. As they walked along the road and talked, Castiel felt lighter inside. As if having someone to talk to about things he just didn't tell his brothers made him feel worlds better like it was doing. She talked as well, of things going on and of family.
"My father is never around, but I guess I am fine with it. Me and him were never close anyway." She said at one point, shrugging and giving the impression she really didn't care. But something in her eyes told Castiel that perhaps she did care, even the slightest bit. But all the while as they walked and continued to talk they continued to hold hands. Neither of them noticed that they still had been until they came back to Meg's house when it was nearly dark. He walked her up to her porch and smiled, gently letting her hand go if hesitantly. She seemed to hesitate a moment before actually wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into an embrace. Castiel was rather quick to react in hugging her back, he gently murmured into her ear.
"Goodnight Meg." He said before letting her go and walking back down to his house. He slipped inside and went back up to his room, happy he had not run into anyone on the way. He didn't want his good mood to be turned around, he smiled as he laid down on his bed. He had a feeling they would be good friends and something inside him hoped they would be more than just friends. The thought occurred to him as he flipped off his lights and drifted off into sleep.