Surprise! Because I will be out of town Saturday and Sunday with no access to a laptop...this week you're getting a Friday update!

Little note...there's some definitely TV-14 intensity coming up in this chapter. Just a heads up.

Chapter 36: The Bash

Sophie could hear the Bash before she could see it.

The volume of cars had been so ridiculous that they'd had to park nearly half a mile away from the abandoned ranch, and on the walk to the location they could hear the music thumping loudly and the sound of hundreds of people talking and screaming and laughing and partying. Jamie and Sophie kept nearly twisting their ankles walking over the rocky path in heels, constantly falling on each other or one of the guys in an effort to stay upright. They were already laughing and in a fairly light mood by the time they made it to the ranch.

Sophie had to admit they'd been right. This was clearly the event of the year. It looked like every person from Lebanon High was there, and possibly some students from surrounding schools as well. There were bright lights and thudding music and a stream of people still entering the building.

Sophie looked up at Jack. "You Kansans sure know how to throw a party."

He grinned. "That we do. Just follow your basic party rules—keep an eye on your drink, stick with me, don't trust strange guys asking you to follow them to dark rooms—and you'll be fine."

Sophie laughed. "I know the drill, Jack. Just because I don't go to parties doesn't mean I've never paid attention any of the hundred times people come to school to talk to us about safety and alcohol and stuff."

"You're probably one of the few that actually does," he laughed back.

They made it to the entryway, where two boys that Sophie recognized as graduated seniors were taking count of how many people were entering the house and drawing black X's on the hands of everyone who came and paid the mandatory five dollars that went into the alcohol slush fund. Sophie found it comical that here, X's meant you could drink, whereas generally speaking X's on the back of your hand meant you weren't granted access to the bar.

"Welcome to the Bash, all! I'm Tyler, the slick son of a bitch who orchestrated this fine evening," the first guy said, and Sophie could have rolled her eyes. Clearly, he and his buddies were already wasted. "Twenty bucks for the four of you!"

Jack pulled a twenty out of his pocket and handed it to him. "That's for the three of them. But I'm not drinking tonight."

Tyler grinned. "Good man, good man," he practically sung. "Ryan, if you would be so kind as to mark these three lovely heathens, and give the good man five dollars in change!"

Sophie turned to look at Ryan and realized that she recognized him. He had been the student body president, and he'd presided over all of the meetings Sophie had attended as sophomore class president and organized and ran a lot of school activities. He was smart and a crazy good baseball player, headed off to Duke in the fall on both academic and athletic scholarships, and he was known as being a bit of a dick. He too had the look in his eye that said that maybe he might have had one too many, but he didn't look quite as jovial as Tyler.

He marked the hand of Harry that wasn't slung protectively across Jamie's shoulders, the right hand of Jamie, and he pressed a five dollar bill into Jack's X-less hand. When he got to Sophie, he offered her a grin that Sophie could only describe as sloppy. "I know you," Ryan said, running his hand through his dark hair in an obvious attempt to be seductive. "You're Sophie, on student government. And I think you're also the one my man Mason is always bitching about."

Sophie nodded warily. "That's me."

"I've gotta say," Ryan continued, "you are a hell of a lot sexier up close and wearing that skirt than you are with your nose in a book. You sophomores have me thinking all kinds of dirty thoughts."

Jack was bristling beside her. She just glared at Ryan. "I'll tell you what. You mark my hand, and I'll let you watch me walk away."

Ryan smirked, roughly grabbing her wrist and slowly drawing the X on her hand. When he was done, he didn't let go of her wrist. "Save a dance for me?"

"We'll see," Sophie said, annoyed and willing to say whatever it took to get him off her.

He seemed satisfied enough and dropped her wrist. "Later, Sophie."

She didn't reply, just walked off with Jack. Harry and Jamie, seeing that Jack seemed to be willing to make sure Sophie was okay, had already melted into the party, and so he was waiting for her. "Of course after things were finally glossing themselves over with Mason you'd go catching the attention of Ryan Scott." His voice was raised, not in anger, but because it was necessary to do so for her to hear him over the noise of the party.

"He's going to Duke next year, right?" Sophie asked, practically yelling back.

"Yeah," Jack said, looking over Sophie's shoulder and glaring in Ryan's direction. "He's also a first class douchebag who can get away with whatever because his dad owns a company that sells videogames."

"Sounds like a first rate guy," Sophie said. "But he's too drunk to even remember he talked to me. So c'mon, let's enjoy this Bash."

Jack nodded. "You're right." Suddenly, he turned to give Sophie a playful grin. "How does goody-two-shoes Sophie Winchester feel about a drink?"

Sophie frowned. "I am not a goody-two-shoes."

"You wrote the librarian an apology note for turning in your library book a day late," Jack pointed out.

She sighed. "Okay, maybe a little. But not enough to say no to a drink."

Jack grinned. "Excellent. I've always wondered what you'd be like drunk."

"I'm not getting drunk," Sophie asserted.

Jack put his hands up defensively. "Hey, I support that. I'm designated driver, so I could use someone to enjoy sobriety with. But tonight's your night to have some fun, so you be as crazy or as grandma-like as you want to be."

Sophie grinned and hit his shoulder. "Let's just go get a drink already."

"Your wish is my command."

They pushed through the throng of kids drinking, dancing, and making out until they hit a bar setup, where more seniors were checking for the X's on hands and serving out drinks.

A senior named Ron that Sophie recognized from her calc class offered her a friendly grin. "Hey, Sophie, Jack!" he greeted amicably. "Good to see you two!"

"You too, Ron," she said with a grin.

"What'll it be?" he asked, gesturing to the ridiculous stockpile of alcohol behind him. This wasn't your average red solo cup affair. There was every type of alcohol Sophie knew the name of, and then some. It wasn't like Sophie had never had alcohol—after all, she'd practically downed a good portion of Dean's whiskey the night they'd first met and she'd needed something to dull the pain of her injuries—but she still wasn't very familiar with different drinks and what was acceptable to drink at a party and what wasn't.

Ron, sensing she needed a nudge in some direction, continued, "If you're not sure, there's always the famous Bash Blend.

"Bash blend?" Sophie asked, baffled.

"Basically, it's the most epic jungle juice you could ever have."

She was still looking a little overwhelmed when Jack said, "Let's play it safe and go for a rum and Coke. I'm not sure you're ready for the Bash Blend."

Sophie gave a little laugh. "You're probably right. Rum and Coke it is."

Ron happily made her the drink and handed it over to her. "Thanks," she said, taking it in her hand.

Ron turned to Jack. "And for you?"

"Rum and Coke, hold the rum," Jack said. Ron gave him a look. "I'm designated driver," he explained.

Ron grinned and poured some Coke into a cup for Jack before handing it over. "Me too, my friend. Here's to actually being able to remember a Bash!"

"Amen," Jack replied with a grin, looking down at Sophie with one of his signature grins, the ones that lately had been making her heart palpitate at an irregular rhythm.

In an effort to calm herself, she took a sip of her drink as they walked further into the party. She swallowed it and looked up in surprise. "Wow," she said. "Definitely more rum than Coke in this."

Jack grinned. "We could go back and ask Ron to add some more Coke if you want."

"No, no it's fine," she said, taking another sip. She felt emboldened all of a sudden, wearing sky high heels and holding a drink in her hand. "You dance, Williams?"

Jack looked at her in surprise. "Um…no not really."

"Perfect. Neither do I," she said with a grin, grabbing his hand. "C'mon."

She dragged him out towards the barn, where the music was loudest and people were dancing. Jack was laughing, his eyes alit with amusement at Sophie's momentary spontaneity. He followed her to the middle of the dance floor, where it was hot and dark and vibrating with music, and they danced.

One refill and an hour later they were still dancing. Sophie was a terrible dancer, and she was worse with every drink that she took, but she was having a blast and Jack was completely entertained and somewhat entranced by her. She was straddling the line between buzzed and tipsy, not even close to drunk but definitely not sober. She was carefree and in control, looser than usual and yet still herself. And Jack was mesmerized.

They were bobbing along to a remixed version of a popular country song when Sophie felt someone brush up behind her. "I told you to save me a dance. I'm here to collect."

Her first reaction was to just ignore him, thinking that if he got the idea that she wasn't interested, he'd go away. But then his hands snuck low on her waist and she felt his body press against hers, and then there were lips on her ear. "I think your tattoo is really sexy."

She rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to turn around and snap his neck, which, thanks to Dean's training, she actually knew how to do. Instead, she quickly turned to see Ryan, the douchebag that had put the X on her hand, and she held herself back from rolling her eyes again. "Sorry, buddy, I don't want to dance with you."

Jack immediately stepped up next to her, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "She's with me," he said, eyes narrowed.

Ryan grinned. His eyes were red and slightly out of focus. If he'd been drunk before, he was beyond wasted now. "She's only with you if she says she is."

"I am," Sophie responded without missing a beat, leaning into Jack. "And we're leaving now."

She turned, Jack guiding her with a hand at the small of her back, but before she could get far she felt a hand curl around the wrist holding her drink and yank her backwards, and she lost her balanced and stumbled into Ryan's chest, her drink hand trapped between his body and hers, spilling a bit of the contents onto his shirt. He was so drunk he didn't even seem to notice. "You sure about that?" he asked her in a slurred, low voice. "I'm pretty confident I can show you a good time."

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed angrily, about to jump to her defense. But Sophie was quicker.

Her reflex was immediate. With the hand not wrapped around her drink she grabbed his shoulder, and then she pulled him towards her and jerked her knee up to hit him where it hurts, and he immediately let go of her as a whoosh of breath left his body. "And I'm pretty confident I can make sure you never reproduce," she snapped coolly. "Bye, Ryan."

Jack quickly led her off the dance floor and back inside the ranch house. "You okay?" he asked.

"Peachy," she said. "I've never actually gotten to knee a guy like that before. It was sort of invigorating."

Jack laughed. "Yeah, well, I'm just sort of sad he ruined your time dancing. You looked like you were having fun."

Sophie sighed, taking another drink. "Well, all good things must end."

They found their way to a section of wall no one was leaning up against and stood there for a while, just talking. Sophie had come to realize that talking with Jack was one of her favorite things to do. Whether it was about something as mundane as washing their cars or as deep and thrilling as one of their favorite novels, their conversations were always so connected.

Leaning up against the wall, they talked about college and what they wanted to do with their lives. Jack, of course, wanted to study literature and then go on to get his PhD in the hopes of being a world renowned professor, and he talked about all of the different programs he'd been researching. Sophie was drawn to the light that emerged in his eye when he talked about his future. It was so obvious that he knew that high school wasn't it for him. She was jealous of that, if she was honest with herself. She wasn't sure what her future held.

But still, amidst the clamor of drunk high schoolers and loud music, she shared with him her desire to be an attorney, the kind that helped change the world. She told him about a law firm she'd heard about that helped non-profit humanitarian organizations serving people in Africa, and that she was interested in working somewhere like that after she graduated from law school and passed the Bar. He had this grin on his face as she talked, the kind that seemed to radiate light everywhere, and she stopped-mid sentence. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "It's just…you've got to be the only girl who wants to stand here and talk about futures and hopes and dreams while we're at the biggest party of the year."

Sophie grinned. "And you've got to be the only boy who wants to do that, too."

"Maybe so."

Maybe it was the alcohol, but Sophie couldn't help but let her mind wander a bit to the thought of her and Jack being more than friends, of him somehow being a part of her future. He just looked so good with his strong jaw and blue eyes and effortless smile and constant focus on her. As they had been talking, she found she was starting to become a little overwhelmed with how good he looked. She felt a little lightheaded, almost dizzy—

But then her world slowly began to take on a blurry sheen, and she suddenly realized it wasn't just her attraction towards Jack. She looked at her drink suspiciously. There was no way two small cups of rum and Coke were making her feel this way. Especially since she hadn't taken a sip of her second drink in twenty or thirty minutes, since she and Jack had gotten deep into their conversation. There was no way.

She was about to say something to Jack about it when he glanced at his phone and groaned. He looked up at Sophie, his eyes annoyed and apologetic. "Harry just texted saying that Jamie's throwing up out back and keeps asking for me. I need to go make sure she's okay. You good to hang out here for a moment?"

Sophie nodded, trying to push back the spinning in her head. She was fine; she was overreacting. "Yeah, of course. Go."

Jack slipped away and Sophie leaned against the wall, staring into her cup. Two drinks. Was that enough to make her feel this way? No, there was no way. And her drink had been in her hand the whole time, there had never been an opportunity for anyone to slip anything in it—

She froze in realization. There had been a moment when she hadn't been paying attention to her drink; when Ryan had pulled her to him on the dance floor, bringing her drink hand within spiking distance.

She cursed under her breath, her heartbeat steadily increasing in nervousness. The room was turning around her, and she suddenly knew if she didn't find somewhere to lay down she was going to collapse in front of everyone.

She needed to find Jack.

She stumbled in the direction Jack had gone to search for Harry and Jamie, suddenly feeling like the party was much bigger and louder than it had been before. The people and lights around her swirled into one bright, pulsating blur, and she could barely tell up from down. She felt a cold terror creep into her veins, and a certainty that she needed to remove herself from the party.

It felt like she'd been walking for miles when she found herself in an empty hallway, save for a couple passionately making out against the wall, and she leaned against the opposite wall, closing her eyes in an effort to stop the spinning. She was terrified, and she didn't know what to do.

Her hands shaking, she pulled out her phone from where she'd tucked it into the waistband of her skirt. She flipped through clumsily until she found Jack's number and dialed it.

Nothing happened.

She tried again, and a little bubble popped up onto her screen, and after a moment of trying to focus her eyes on it, she realized it was informing her that she was in a no service zone. She groaned, trying to hold back her tears, looking up and watching just as the entwined couple across the hall disappeared into one of the spare rooms. She made her way deeper down the hallway, hoping that if there wasn't better service, there would at least be an exit. When she got to the end, however, there was no door leading outside, just a few leading to more spare rooms.

Sophie pulled out her phone again, dialing Jack's number. To her relief, her phone had a single bar of service, and she held the phone to her ear as it rang.

"Hi, this is Jack, sorry I missed your call. I'm probably reading a book, so leave a message and I'll get back with you when I'm done or when it gets boring!"

Sophie choked back her sob and leaned against the wall, her chest heaving as she gasped in and out in despair. She thought about making her way back to the party, but she could barely stay on her feet at this point, much less navigate her way back to the party.

She wanted Dean.

The thought was a flash of raw emotion in her mind. She wanted Dean to come and make sure she was okay and take her home and tell her she had been an idiot and make her never do something like this again. She wanted him to put the fear of God into Ryan so that he'd never do this to any other girl.

She just wanted her dad.

She was on her way to attempting to dial his number when she heard a voice that sent a bolt of panic through her spine. "Where're you headed, beautiful?"

Sophie lifted her head to look at Ryan. Was he really that close to her face, or was it just an effect of whatever he'd given her? "Bastard," she spat at him, but even she could tell her voice was weak, coming out more as a hoarse whisper.

She felt an arm curl around her waist, and she had little control of her body as he pulled her close to him. His mouth neared her ear, and her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff of all the alcohol on his breath. "I know you don't mean that, sweetheart. All I did was give you a little powdered courage. Now we can do what I know you've been thinking about all night."

All she could do was groan as he pulled her aside, holding onto her tightly as he opened the door to one of the spare rooms, banging her hip carelessly against the doorframe of the entryway as he pushed her through the door.

She knew she was in trouble, but she felt trapped inside of her own failing body. Instinctually, she did the only thing she could in her physically incapacitated state.

Cas, she prayed desperately. Cas, please help me.

There was no immediate answer, and Sophie felt tears begin to spill out of her eyes as Ryan casually dumped her onto one of two twin beds inside of the room. She couldn't see properly, and everything was dark and shadowy.

Cas, she thought weakly as Ryan hastily took the heels off of her feet, tossing them into the corner of the room.

Cas, I need you, I need you to hear me, she prayed, her world spinning out of control as the mattress squeaked with Ryan's added weight. He straddled Sophie's legs, trapping them under his weight as he ran his hands down her body, sliding the straps of her tank top off of her shoulders. "You're so hot for a sophomore," he told her in a low voice, slipping his hands an inch under her top and touching her bare skin, leaning down and pressing his lips to her neck.

Even though her body was weighed down by Ryan's body and the drug he'd given her, her mind was still operating on a functioning level, and she knew that there was no way she could go down without a fight. Dean would hate it if she just gave in. With her last remaining strength, she lifted her arm, reaching for something, anything to defend herself with. Her hand fell onto the base of a lamp on the bedside table. She mustered up everything she had and yanked the lamp off of the desk and smashed it into Ryan's head.

He reared up off of her, holding his head with both of his hands, cursing drunkenly and angrily. Sophie tried to roll away from him, but he quickly grabbed her and shoved her back down in front of him, and she saw in desperation that the only damage she'd managed to inflict had been a small cut above his eyebrow. Sophie felt the fight leave her like someone had flipped a switch inside of her. The dizziness had reached a level where she could barely even turn her head without feeling like she was going to fall off the face of the earth.

Ryan readjusted himself on top of her, tracing his fingers down her neck and to her chest. "C'mon, sweetheat, why you gotta be like this? We're gonna have a great time, you and I."

With that he started to push up her skirt, and tears rolled down Sophie's face. Cas, please, please help me. Please.

Ryan was in the process of unbuttoning his pants when the door to the room squeaked open, so softly that Sophie didn't hear. Tears blurred what remained of her vision, and she was trying to push her mind to somewhere else when suddenly Ryan was no longer on top of her.

She turned her head weakly, feeling exhausted and woozy as she slowly sat up and tried to make out the scene in front of her. She looked for Ryan, expecting to see him in the stern clutches of Castiel. When she was finally able to make out what was in front of her eyes, she gasped in horror.

Ryan was lying on the ground by the bed, his neck twisted at a sickening angle. There was no doubt in Sophie's drug-addled mind that he was dead.

And standing over him was Jack.

And when he smiled at her, his eyes flashed black.

Stay tuned. ~ Lacey