Chapter Twelve
Monday morning had come around a lot sooner than Castiel would have liked. This weekend had been a good one, regardless of what happened on Friday. In fact this weekend had been the first time in a long time, that Cas had some actual fun.
Cas took a final look in the mirror and took a deep breath.
*You can do this* he thought to himself, inspecting the still obvious bruises on his arms and the nasty black eye, which was still present but slowly fading by the day.
He picked up his school bag, promptly made his way out of the house and headed for the Winchester's.
Cas was nervous; he stood on the front porch of Dean's house and took another deep breath before knocking on the door. He was greeted by a smiling Sam Winchester.
"Morning Cas, this is so awesome that you are riding with us to school! It's gonna be a great day, I can feel it." Sam beamed and Cas of course couldn't help but smile back, loving the young Winchester's enthusiasm.
"Morning Sam, I hope you're right. Are you both ready to go?" Cas asked, glancing past Sam and taking a good look into the Winchester house…It had been a good while since he had been inside.
"DEAN! CAS IS HERE, HURRY UP" Sam yelled backwards into the house and Cas scrunched up his face slightly at the volume of Sam's voice.
"ALRIGHT SAMMY, I'M COMING! JEEZ!" Dean yelled back, sounding cranky. Cas remembered how much Dean always did hate Monday mornings.
Cas was hoping to go inside the house, even for just a couple of minutes, but it was not meant to be as Sam excitedly pushed Cas towards the impala so they could wait for Dean outside.
"You seem happy?" Cas asked suspiciously, eyeing Sam up.
"You and Dean are friends again, why would I not be happy! Plus it's a school day and you know me, love to learn" Sam smiled, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet by the impala.
Cas just chuckled at Sam and his hyper Monday morning mood.
Dean was soon out of the front door and scowling at Sam, as he headed for the car.
"Don't know why you're so happy, Cas gets shotgun!" Dean said seriously, pointing a finger at Sam, whose face immediately dropped into a pout and he stopped bouncing.
Dean turned his attention to Cas and the first smile of the morning appeared.
"Morning Cas" he said simply, before getting into the car.
Cas smiled back and nodded in acknowledgment shyly, before letting Sam jump in the back of the car and he got in the passenger side.
Once they were all inside and doors were shut, Dean looked straight ahead before starting the engine and took a deep breath. Cas noticed how tense he looked and glanced over to note the concern on his face.
"Dean?" he asked cautiously, reaching out and placing a hand on Dean's arm.
Dean jumped slightly and looked down at Cas' hand and back up to meet his blue eyes, which were now looking at him, tinted with worry.
"I'm ok, I just needed a minute. How are you doing? You ready for this?" he asked, now concerned about his friend's feelings.
Sam kicked his legs impatiently in the back seat, rolling his eyes at the two older boys. *They were always so sappy, pft couple of girls!* he thought to himself.
Dean glared at his brother in the rear mirror, for kicking the back of his seat and turned his attention back to Cas, who looked paler than usual.
"Yes…I'm alright. It's not going to be easy today but I've faced worse."
Dean forced a tight lipped smile and patted Cas on the shoulder, before starting the engine and driving them all to school.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
The first half of the school day was frustrating for Dean, some of the popular crowd had seen him drive Cas to school and heckled something along the lines of;
"What? You joined the loser crowd now Winchester?"
Which Dean simply ignored, after flipping them his middle finger of course.
Dean walked the school hallway proudly by Cas' side and shooting a death glare to anybody who dare challenge the situation.
This made Cas smile to himself, he thought Dean would realise the position he had put himself in and shy away from Cas, but he was glad of the surprise turn out.
The morning classes earned them both the most abuse, whenever Dean could, he moved seats to sit next to Cas and away from the popular crowd he surrounded himself with before.
Although in some classes it wasn't possible and they had to remain away from each other, which is when Dean was prodded by the jocks and cheerleaders, asking him 'what the hell are you thinking', to which Dean decided to ignore.
Dean was pleased with himself for sticking with Cas, he knew the amount of abuse he would face and yet he didn't care in the slightest. All he knew at this current time was, he and Cas were friends and he wasn't letting that slip away again, he cared for the guy too much.
The morning had been tough and they were both sure, it was only the start. But they were determined to get through this first day unscathed and sticking by each others side.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Lunch time soon rolled around and this was going to be the test of the day for Dean and Cas.
Dean had ventured off to put books in his locker after class and headed to the cafeteria soon after, finding Castiel sitting alone as usual in the corner eating his food.
Grabbing his food as quickly as he could, Dean strolled over to join Cas, taking a seat beside him and smiled.
Castiel stopped mid chew and stared at Dean with wide eyes.
"Umm, Dean? What are you doing?"
Dean looked suddenly concerned that Cas had changed his mind and returned the wide eyed gaze.
"I'm…ummm…eating lunch?" He said hesitantly.
"Dean, I'm glad you are sticking to your word, but this is social suicide. You have already gotten abuse because of me today and this is the worst possible position you could put yourself in." Cas whispered, leaning towards his friend, making him very aware that this could end Dean's social status all together.
"Look I don't care about social status, that's what, got us in a tough spot to begin with! I'm done with all that, I just want to have lunch with my friend and if someone has a problem, they can bring it the fuck on." Dean ranted, raising his voice near the end of his little speech, enough to draw attention from some nearby students.
Cas stared at Dean with adoration; he couldn't believe how far Dean had come after just one weekend. He smiled warmly at his friend, who smiled back and gripped Cas' shoulder with one hand as a sign of affection.
The moment was swiftly interrupted by some of Dean's fellow swim team mates.
"Dean, what the hell do you think you're doing man?" Roy sneered and glanced at Cas, who looked away.
Looking up to face his 3 team mates, Dean smiled widely and shrugged.
"Having lunch with my friend, how bout you?"
The 3 boys looked between one another, almost with disgust on their faces and then back to Dean, who was still smiling away happily.
"Friend? Come on, we thought that maybe this morning in classes, you just felt some kind of pity on the guy, but this is beyond a joke." Roy snapped, the other two boys kept silent, but threw Dean and Cas looks of distaste and anger.
"Yes friend…"
Dean looked at Cas and smiled even wider.
"…Best friend in fact. You got a problem with that Roy?" Dean asked, looking back up at his team mates with a pout and frown now settled on his face.
"Best friend? Are you kidding me? Have you got any idea what this is gonna do to your rep? You are our captain; you can't be seen hanging out with this freak." Roy ranted and the other boys agreed with his comments.
Cas watched as Dean slowly got out of his seat and faced up to Roy. He gritted his teeth and invaded Roy's personal space, making the guy feel uncomfortable and slightly threatened, after all he was well aware that Dean had broken Gordon's nose on Friday.
"Ok Roy, I'm going to break this down simply, so that your tiny little monkey brain can absorb what I am about to say…I. DON'T. CARE…I don't give a rat's ass what people think and maybe at one time I did, but I was wrong…so very wrong!"
Roy backed up slightly and Dean moved in further, not letting him get away so easily, before he continued.
"So you are going to walk away from this and not say another word. I don't care if you don't like it; you guys are not my friends and will never be my friends. This guy sitting right here…now he is my friend and you are gonna leave us both the hell alone, you got that?"
Dean was bubbling with anger and Roy felt incredibly vulnerable at that point, all he could do was nod quickly and gulp.
"You won't last on the team, if you continue to hang out with this loser." One of the other team mates dared to speak up.
Those exact words ringing in Dean's ears, the very words that Gordon had spoken to him, right before he abandoned Cas in the first year of school.
Dean's gaze turned away from Roy to face the other guy and he laughed hysterically.
"The team would be nothing without me now. I am the freakin captain and you can't do it without me. So if you kick me out now, then we all fail. I figure this is a like it or lump it, kind of situation…So the ball is in your court."
Cas watched on silently, you could cut the tension with a knife and the whole cafeteria was now focused on Dean and his team mates.
"We will see you in practice." The guy said simply and backed away from Dean.
They all proceeded to walk away, their heads hung in shame.
"Yeah I thought so…and what are you all looking at huh? Did I grow a second head or something?" Dean yelled to the onlookers, who quickly returned to their lunch.
Dean took a seat once more next to Cas, who was staring at him with a questioning, raised eyebrow.
"See…knew we could get through lunch together. No problem." Dean said calmly, before shoving several fries in his mouth and smiling.
Cas laughed out loud and shook his head.
"Thank you" he said shyly, smirking to himself and continuing eating his lunch.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
After Dean's little outburst at lunch, the rest of the day went surprisingly smoothly.
When the final bell sounded, Dean knew detention awaited him and was happy to hear that Cas and Sam had mutually agreed to study in the school library and wait for Dean before heading home.
While the older Winchester dragged himself off to dreaded detention, his younger brother and Cas headed off to study.
They had been working at their homework assignments in silence for around 10 minutes, when Sam decided to speak up.
"So…how did today go?" he asked carefully, hoping it hadn't been too bad.
Cas looked up towards Sam, seeing the worry on the younger boys face; he smiled warmly to re-assure him.
"Honestly…it wasn't all that bad. Dean has really stood by me today."
Sam smiled immediately and started rambling.
"I so knew he would! He has really missed you, this weekend has been the happiest I have seen him in years! He loves being around you and he so wanted to make it up to you…ohhh I'm so proud of him, glad he stuck to his word! You guys are going to be friends forever, I can see it now!"
Cas wobbled his head slightly, trying to ingest Sam's ramblings and couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across his own face.
"Sam...Slow down, you're going to give me a headache."
Sam immediately stopped and looked embarrassed.
"Whoops sorry Cas…I'm just so happy for you guys. You are so good together."
"You make us sound like an old married couple…" Cas chuckled
"Sorry! Didn't mean to…you know what I mean. You guys just click and always have done; Dean has never had a better friend."
Cas looked down at the table, a smirk forming on his face and he looked at Sam from the corner of his eye.
"He called me his best friend today."
Sam looked up, an insane smile spreading across his mouth.
"Well yeah! You always have been, even when you weren't speaking to each other…he would talk about you every day or watch you from his bedroom window, seeing what you were up to. You have never left his mind Cas. Dean has always thought the world of you and still does. He was just too much of a dumb ass to see it…"
Cas was taken back by what Sam was saying, mostly because he had mirrored Dean's behaviour almost identically over the past few years. Watching him while he worked on the impala or thinking about him at the most random times and getting a mention in whenever he could to Gabriel, even if it was to tell him that Dean had acknowledged him that particular day.
"…wow Dean is going to kill me; if he finds out I told you all of that." Sam said, now looking guilty for spilling Dean's obsessive secrets.
"I won't tell, if you don't…besides, it's nice to know that he never stopped caring."
Sam smiled and simply replied with…
"Never."
