Chapter 3: Tea for One

How come twenty four hours, baby sometimes slip into days?
A minute seems like a lifetime, baby when I feel this way.
There was a time that I stood tall in the eyes of other men

Led Zeppelin – Tea For One

The next day went pretty much like the first. Dean drove him and Sam to school and their father went to the library to dig through old papers that could have something to do with the murder case they were on. Even though they thought this was the work of a jealous ex-boyfriend, it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone else had died at Lincoln High.

Unlike their first day, when Dean got out of the Impala, someone walked up to him.

"Hi Dean," Amy greeted. Alexis made a face at Sam and ignored him. Dean quickly waved his brother goodbye and followed the two girls.

"You don't hang out with that monkey, do you?" Alexis asked. Dean laughed.

"Monkey?" he asked, "You mean Sammy?"

"All kids are stinky little monkeys," Alexis explained herself, "Can't they make their own friends instead of hanging around older siblings?"

"You have any younger sisters or brothers?" Dean asked. Alexis shrugged.

"She's got 2 younger sisters," Amy whispered, "And 3 older brothers. She doesn't like them very much."

"Who doesn't like whom very much?" Daniel asked, and he laid his arms around Alexis' and Amy's necks. Possessive much?

"Dean hangs out with his kid brother," Alexis told him. Daniel looked over his shoulder to give Dean a long, slightly amused look.

"Cute," Daniel said, "You braid each other's hair as well? Make cute little cupcakes together?"

Dean flushed and quickly shook his head. Really, he'd just brought Sam to school, what was the big deal? Okay, Sam and he had a good bond, but was that so bad? If you looked at the lives they led… Sam was the only friend he'd ever had.

However, now that he actually was making real friends, maybe it was time to see his brother for what he really was: his brother. Now he wouldn't have to use Sam anymore. His brother would finally be able to grow up and make his own friends, instead of always having to be there for when Dean needed a friend. The kid would be so happy if he heard Dean had made friends. Now he wouldn't be able to tell Dean to 'make some friends and leave him to do his homework in peace' anymore.

"Nah man," Daniel said with a lopsided grin, "It's cool. It's not because Alexis could strangle her siblings that we all have to be monsters, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Dean replied, "Whatever. You have any siblings, Dan?"

It was like he'd switched a button: Daniel's smile disappeared and his face just closed. Dean saw a trace of rage in his eyes, before his poker face mask was in place. He let go of the girls and seemed to be biting down hard; the only trace of emotion left on his face was his fixed jaw.

"Nah," he said in a seemingly carefree tone. Then he turned around and left to greet Paco. Dean frowned and stared after his new friend. What the hell?

"Did I say something?" Dean asked, confused.

"Don't mention his siblings," Amy whispered. Yeah well, it was a little late for that, wasn't it?

"Really," Alexis wore a serious face, "Don't."

"Okay…" Dean still didn't understand, "Why not?"

Alexis heaved a deep sigh and shook her head, slowly. Amy bit her lip and rubbed her arm.

"His sister died a couple of years ago," she mumbled, flushing at her own tattling.

"Oh…" Dean said, "That sucks."

"Yeah…" Amy rubbed harder and Dean noticed a bruised, "She had cancer."

"Oh…" Dean didn't really know what else to say, so he just shut up.

"Are you going to trigonometry?" Alexis changed the subject, "I'm not going and neither is Paco. You can come with us. Amy and Dan have chemistry, they can't skip that."

Alexis must have seen Dean's eyes wander to the more silent girl. Should he go with Paco and Alexis? Well, it wasn't like trigonometry was interesting and it wasn't like he would need it in the real world, so… what would it hurt to skip it? It was not like anyone would miss him, was it? And who was going to call on him? The Outcasts wouldn't say anything, and the others didn't care about him. Hell, the others probably didn't even know he existed.

"Nah," Dean said, trying to sound as cool as he could, "I'm coming with you guys."

"Al right, baby!" Alexis cheered, before she ran to Paco, "Hey Paco, why do seagulls fly over the sea?"

Dean didn't hear the answer to that joke and Amy must have seen him looking confused.

"Because if they flew over the bay they would be bagels," she explained. Dean blinked and stared at her for a second, before he burst out laughing.

"It's her favorite joke," Amy explained, "I don't know why she loves it so much. Last year, all she said was 'What's a fish with no eyes'?"

"So…" Dean held up his hand to greet Paco, "What is it?"

"A fsh," Amy made an annoyed look at the old joke. Dean lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"I don't get it," he mumbled.

"Doesn't matter," Amy said and she tucked a string of hair behind her ears, before she briefly hugged Paco. They barely touched, as if it was required for her to hug him, but she didn't really want to. Daniel's rules most likely.

"Are we going out tonight?" Paco asked.

"Can't," Amy immediately said, tensing up. Paco nodded understanding and Alexis patter her shoulder.

"Dan?" Paco turned his attention to their leader. He shook his head and just like that they'd all agreed that they wouldn't go out that night. For a second, Dean wondered if these people were crazy. Then he thought of a friendship full of trust.

He snorted.

Sam was standing in the corridor, waiting for the door to their class to open. Maybe today would be a better day. Maybe the kids had already forgotten they didn't quite like him. Maybe they'd leave him alone. He was used to being the new kid. He was used to being alone. What he wasn't used to yet, were the other children 'teasing' him like they did. That didn't usually happen. Sure, every now and then there'd be an ass amongst the kids in his classes who'd call him names and who'd try to make everyone hate him. But that didn't usually work out for them. Not only was Dean always there to protect him – even though that was sometimes very annoying – it just hadn't ever happened that no one spoke to him, and that everyone disliked him. That was new.

But, since he wouldn't get his hopes down: this was a new day, with new opportunities. He might make a friend today, and the stupid kids might have forgotten about him already.

"Hey Lose-Chester!" someone yelled. Or not.

Sam turned away from the kid who'd yelled at him, hoping the door would just open and the teacher would come to collect them. They wouldn't dare do anything if the teacher was there.

"Hey Lose-Chester," the same kid repeated and he pushed Sam against the wall, "I was talking to you, loser," he heard several people snigger, "Are you scared? You want your mommy to come and save you?"

Sam wanted to yell: 'I don't have a mother, fat ugly bastard.' But he didn't. It wouldn't make any difference, it would just give them some more material to use against them. His eyes darted around, going over the faces off the other people in the corridor. Some were looking at him, openly gazing and pointing, whispering behind their hands. Others just looked away and pretended it wasn't happening.

This was a disaster.

"What's wrong whiny baby boo?" the fat teenager asked. He was about Sam's age, but he looked older. And really, he was fat. Fat and blond with grey eyes that were way to close to Sam's face. Sam didn't like this at all.

He tried to shove the kid away, but even though he was a better fighter – or at least, he assumed he was – the fatty was heavier and therefore stronger. He pushed one of his meaty pink arms against Sam's chest and shoved him back against the wall, keeping him there.

"Let me go," Sam yelled, doing his very best to kick his opponent.

"Gary," someone said urgently, and the fat guy looked away to see his friend pointing to something Sam couldn't see.

"Shit," Gary mumbled. He pinched Sam's cheek and brought his mouth very close to Sam's ear. He could feel Gary's breath tickle his neck and ear, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"I'm going to make you wish you were never born, fag," he mumbled. Sam's heartbeat sped up and he pushed against Gary's chest to get him off of him. To his surprise, the bully let go and went to stand somewhere else, talking to the girl who'd given him the false directions the other day.

A second later, the teacher brushed past him and opened the door. Sam almost snorted. Of course Gary had let go of him.

"Winchester," she snapped, "Don't lean against the walls."

Don't lean against… What? He'd just been threatened and all she could say was 'don't lean against the walls'? How was this in any way fair? How come she hadn't noticed Gary's picking on him? Was she blind?

Sam decided that she must have been indeed blind. And deaf, for that matter. And stupid, because when Gary entered, he gave her a bright smile and she smiled right back at him. He lingered around her desk and told her something in a low voice. She nodded and gave him another smile.

Yeah, definitely stupid. It didn't surprise him that she was a blonde.

She started a long lecture about the currencies and Bretton Woods. When she asked a question, Sam was the only one to raise his hand. It was not like he was so extremely interested in economy, but he'd seen this part of the material already at his last school. Well, not the one in Las Vegas of course. He hadn't gone to school there.

"What a nerd," someone whispered too loud. Sam knew it had been meant for him to hear and he blushed slightly, ducking his eyes.

"Yeah, total loser," someone else whispered back. They both turned around to stare at him and Sam tried his very best to ignore this. He didn't raise his hand again during the rest of the course, even though he knew all the answers.

His next class, Latin, was even worse.

He was good at Latin. Really good. But what did you expect, really? All the incantations and exorcisms were in Latin. He was way ahead on the other students, and they didn't seem to like that.

"Geek," someone coughed, as if that would be less obvious.

"Dork!" someone else yelled, when the teacher had his back to the class to write something on the blackboard. His neighbor – a girl with her hair in a long braid on her back – distinctively turned away from him to gossip loudly with her friend a few seats over.

"God, he reeks!" she told her, and waved her hand in front of her face, "Someone needs some deodorant."

Her friend, a tall, skinny girl with braces laughed loudly. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard and Sam shuddered.

Music, the last class before lunch, was hell.

He couldn't sing even if his life depended on it, and the other children made fun of him all the way through the hour. The teacher, a young pretty woman named Miss Canterbury, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown herself, and she didn't need anyone else's misery on top of that, so she just ignored the name calling and pretended she was standing in front of an amazing group of really sweet kids.

Not.

Someone pulled his hair and when Sam turned around to scold at that person, no one seemed to be sitting in the chair behind him. Someone giggled on his left and he glared at the girl. She stared right back at him.

Sam sighed. He could do this. The day was almost over. He only had lunch, Geography and ICT left. And he liked ICT. He was good with computers and programming. His father and brother never understood that part of him, but it came in real handy for research. Geography was a bummer. He didn't like it, even though he was good at reading coordinates. But that wasn't what they did in geography. No, they studied the rivers of Africa. I mean, who cared about the rivers in Africa? Not he, so much was for sure.

When the bell rang, he was able to locate the cafeteria on his own. Thank God, really, because if he'd have to ask another student again, he'd die. Well, not literally, but it would mean more embarrassing scenes. He waited in line and filled his tray with puree and pudding. He liked pudding. He knew Dean liked it as well, and he could already imagine the excited grin on his brother's face when he would find out what the dessert was. He smiled softly.

He saw a table with only a few occupants and approached it slowly, taking in the people that were sitting there. They seemed like normal, maybe a little geeky persons like himself. They wouldn't mind if he sat at the end of their table, surely.

"Hey, eh…" he nervously smiled at them, "Is this seat taken?"

"No, go ahead, take it," the only boy said. Sam sighed in relief and started a more genuine, thankful smile, "Take it way over there."

The girls at his table laughed out loud as the boy pointed to the furthest corner of the room. Sam recognized chalkboard-laugh from the skinny girl from his Latin class. He sighed. He should have known they wouldn't let him sit with him. Even the unpopular kids wouldn't have him.

Dejectedly, he walked away from the laughing kids. He looked around to see if he maybe saw Dean somewhere, but he didn't see him. His brother probably had another lunch-hour.

He should have seen it coming.

Of course he should have, but he was so lost in thought, thinking about Dean, that he didn't. And when he noticed what was going on, it was already too late.

Gary walked towards him and slammed his fist up, against the bottom of Sam's tray. The hard wood collided with his teeth and his pudding and puree went all over his shirt. The plate fell to the ground with the sharp jingling noise of breaking china. Everyone fell silent and he could feel hundreds of eyes staring at him. Heat crept up his face and he could feel his eyes burning in humiliation and from shock.

"Watch it, yokel," Gary sneered loudly. Sam drew in a shaking breath at the same time all the conversations started again. Everywhere he listened in, he could hear them talking about him and about what a total loser he was. He kneeled and placed the shards of plate on his tray, disposing all of it in the garbage can as he walked out of the too hot, hostile place.

A thank you to all you lovely people who've added this story to their story alert or favorite stories, and of course to the reviewers :) You all make my day :)

I hope you liked this chapter. More will follow soon :)

Oh, and I have to credit The Simpsons (yes, the tv-series). The 'Is this seat taken' conversation comes directly from Season 20, episode 18: Father knows worst. I was watching the Phoebe Prince story on TV the other day, while my brother was watching that episode from the Simpsons next to me on his laptop. When I heard those words, I just knew I had to use them.

- Lune x