Chapter 11

Sam Goes to School

The first day of school finally arrived. At Kate's suggestion John drove the boys to school. He pulled up in the drop-off lane next to the school and put the car in park.

"There you go, boys! Have fun!" John said.

Dean grabbed his back pack and hopped out of the car. Sam remained sitting in the backseat looking at the school fearfully.

"I don't feel good, Daddy," Sam said meekly.

John turned to Sam and frowned. "Come on, Sammy, it's going to be fine! You'll like it! You're going to learn all sorts of new stuff!"

"Yeah, Sammy. You get to do more reading like you do with Kate. You like all that!" Dean said. "Come on!"

Sam looked at Dean with big eyes. "Will I be near you, Dean?"

Dean sighed impatiently. "I'll be in the same building! My classroom is down the hallway!"

"But I wanna go to school with you!"

"Sam, Dean is in a different grade. He's going to learn different things than you!" John said patiently.

Sam shrunk back in the seat and stuck his lower lip out. "But I'm scared! I don't wanna go!"

John sighed and shut off the ignition. "OK, Sammy. Tell you what. How about I walk you to your class? Would that make you feel better? I'll make sure it's OK."

Sam hesitantly thought about John's suggestion. He finally nodded.

"Alright then."

John got out of the car and Sam followed him. Dean went on ahead and Sam ran over and grasped John's hand. He allowed John to lead him into the school. After entering the school John stopped in the main office and was given directions to Sam's classroom. John then led Sam down the hall to the classroom.

When they reached the classroom they found 15 other first-graders in the room. The teacher was directing the students where to put away their things and where to sit. Sam backed up and hid behind John. The teacher saw them in the doorway and smiled.

"Hello! Come on in! My name is Miss Seymour. And who do we have here?" she said smiling.

John led Sam over to Miss Seymour. He shook her hand politely.

"My name is John Winchester and this here is my son, Sam."

She looked around John and smiled at Sam who was peeking out at her. "Well, hi, Sam! Welcome to first grade! Are you new to this school?"

Sam nodded shyly.

"That's wonderful! We're so happy to have you here!" She held her hand out to him. "How about we go put your things away and I'll show you where you're going to sit. Would you like that?"

Sam looked at John who smiled and him and gave him a nod. Sam looked back at her and took her hand. She smiled warmly.

"Well, let's say good-bye to Dad and that we'll see him as soon as school is all done! And then we can go look at your cubby!"

Sam smiled at John and took Miss Seymour's hand. He waved to John as she began leading him to where the cubbies were.

John let out a sigh of relief. Sam had always been the shy one, but it never seemed to take him long to warm up to others. That was something that John always loved about Sam, but always made him the most fearful. He was always afraid Sam would trust the wrong person.

Seeing that Sam was comfortable now he let himself slip out of the classroom unnoticed.

***

Sam decided that he really liked school. Miss Seymour started the class by having everyone introduce themselves and talk about something they did over the summer.

"I'm Sam," Sam announced somewhat shyly.

"Hi, Sam. And what did you do over the summer?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, I made a new friend. Her name is Kate! And me and Dad and my brother moved into her house!"

"Wow! That must have been quite a change!"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I like it better than living in the motels though. We don't have to move anymore!"

Miss Seymour got a startled look on her face, but quickly replaced it with a smile.

"That's wonderful, Sam! Thank you for sharing!"

Sam grinned and settled back in his seat as the next student started talking. He glanced across the aisle and noticed a little girl with blond curly hair and hazel eyes watching him. When she saw him looking at her she giggled and gave him a small wave. Sam grinned back and gave her a small wave.

When it was finally lunch time Miss Seymour had the children grab their lunch boxes, for those who brought them, and line up in the front of the class to walk to the lunch room. The little girl was carrying a My Little Pony lunch box and she stood next to Sam.

"Hi," she said to him.

"Hi," Sam replied.

"I'm Jess."

"I'm Sam."

"Ya wanna sit with me and my cousin? His name is Mike," Jess said pointing to the little boy behind her.

Sam grinned. "OK!"

They reached the lunch room and Jess led Sam over to one of the tables and had him sit down. Mike sat down next to them.

"You like Transformers?" Mike asked, looking at Sam's lunch box.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I like Optimus Prime best!"

"Me too! He's cool!"

Jess scowled. "I like Transformers too, but Mom says since I'm a girl girls are suppose to have My Little Ponies!"

"You can come to my house and play with my Transformers," Sam said. "You and Mike."

Jess grinned. "OK! I just have to ask my mom first. What's your mom like?"

Sam looked down. "I don't have a mom. But my friend Kate is kind of like a mom! She's really nice! She reads to me and stuff."

"Do you have a dad?" Mike asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. He's usually gone a lot, but he's been home more and that's fun! Usually my big brother takes care of me."

"I have a big brother. He's mean though. Is yours nice?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. Usually. One time he broke my favorite toy, but he fixed it."

Once lunch had ended they went outside for recess. Jess grabbed Sam's hand and dragged him over to the sandbox.

"We have to play here! This is the best place to play ever! We'll build a fort with a trench!"

"OK!"

The three of them sat in one corner of the sandbox and began building their sand fort. Sam and Mike began piling up the sand for the fort while Jess dug out the trench. They were so engrossed in their work that they didn't notice the three older boys walking over to them until they were on top of them.

"Hey!" the biggest one yelled.

They looked at him. He seemed massive compared to the three of them and looked to be around 10 or 11 years old. He and the two boys behind him glared at them.

"This is my sandbox! I didn't say you could play here! Get out!" He yelled.

Jess stood up and put her hands on her hips. She glared back at him.

"We were here first! You can't make us move!" she yelled back at him.

The boy took a step towards her menacingly. "I can do whatever I want! And you're just a stupid girl! Move!"

Sam and Mike scrambled to their feet. They looked at each other nervously. Jess continued to hold her ground.

"No!" she yelled.

The boy went up to her and pushed her, sending her falling backwards into the sand fort. Her eyes filled with tears and she began to cry. Sam became furious and jumped in between her and the bully.

"You leave me and my friends alone!" Sam yelled.

The three boys started laughing. The bully took a step closer to Sam.

"And whatcha gonna do about it, Runt? Huh? I bet you're just gonna start crying like your little girlfriend!" he laughed.

Sam screwed up his courage and took a step closer to the bully. "I'll beat you up!"

The bully laughed harder. "Yeah right! You're nothing but a puny runt! Go play somewhere else you baby!"

"Hey! What's going on?" Sam heard a familiar voice say.

Dean strolled over to the group. He put his hand on Sam's arm and gently moved him aside. He got in the bully's face.

"Are you bugging my brother?" Dean asked warningly.

The bully glared at Dean. "He's in my sandbox!"

Dean smirked at him. "I don't see your name on it! So you better leave my brother alone or else!"

"Or else what?"

"Or else I'll knock your lights out!"

"Oh yeah! I'll show you!" the bully swung at Dean.

Dean quickly ducked under the bully's swing. He then grabbed the bully's arms and kneed him right between the legs. The boy let out a howl of pain and dropped to the ground after Dean let go. Dean stood over him and smirked.

"And don't ever mess with my brother again!" he said defiantly.

"What is going on over here?"

An older woman who was one of the teacher's aides was running over to the group. She had a look of fury on her face.

"Did you just hit that boy, young man?" she asked Dean furiously.

"Yes, ma'am," Dean said with a reluctant sigh.

"But that boy pushed me!" Jess yelled. Mike had helped her to her feet. "And he was going to hit Sam!"

"Both of you boys are coming with me now!" she said, grabbing both Dean and the bully by the arms. "March!"

Dean glanced back at Sam and gave him a smile and a wink before he was led away. The two others boys took off, leaving the three younger children alone again.

"Wow!" Mike said. "You're brother's tough!"

Sam grinned proudly and nodded.