Dean had every intention of keeping his head down and staying out of trouble when he returned to school the next day, unfortunately, trouble always had a way of finding Dean. He headed to his next class with Benny in the basement of the building where all the home ec, shop, and art classes were kept, it was usually a fairly empty hallway. But not today.
Dean stopped when he saw Al in front of him, he turned to go back but saw a couple of Al's menacing goons behind him blocking his way.
"Hey man, I'm just trying to get to class," Dean tried to talk his way out of whatever was happening. It didn't work and in a moment he saw Benny being pulled away from him and shoved into a utility room nearby. Al grabbed Dean and swung him into the wall pinning his arm behind him.
"Couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, Winchester?" Al hissed in his ear, his voice was like nails on a chalkboard, while putting a little more leverage on Dean's arm. Dean was already on his toes and the extra twist caused him to cry out.
"I didn't do anything to you. I don't even know you."
"Alfie owes me, and I sent Walker in to collect, then you had to go in and interfere. Now I'm still waiting on my money and we can't have that can we?" Al wrenched Dean's arm as he asked this until Dean was screaming, "Shhh now, not so loud, don't want Principal Alder to think you were fighting again, do you?" Al let go of Dean, who crumbled to the ground, and he and his goons left as quickly as they came.
Dean stumbled to the nearby closet to let Benny out, "You ok?" he asked.
Benny nodded, "Yeah. Are you?"
Dean rotated his shoulder, then shook his arm to get some feeling back into it, "I guess so. Come on, we're supposed to make cookies today in home ec."
"It's called culinary science," Benny corrected as he followed his friend to class.
/
Al and his gang didn't leave Dean alone after that, it wasn't every day, but it was often enough for Dean to be on edge between classes and distracted during them. To avoid a confrontation he'd take the long way to class and risk being late and sometimes skip altogether. Sometimes he'd skip a class simply because he had been locked in a closet until a janitor happened upon him. Dean hated who he was becoming, a scared little kid, but not strong enough to take on Al and his cronies.
Benny encouraged him to tell someone, but with no success; he might have pushed more if he knew everything that happened, only being aware of some of the issues.
He was too embarrassed to tell Sam, and so doing what Dean does best, soldered on trying to handle everything on his own.
/
Mrs. Butters set down a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of milk in front of Dean. He smiled up at the woman, er wood nymph, and thanked her. She smiled affectionately back before leaving. She was starting to grow on Dean even if she did throw out his collection of 'Busty Asian Beauties' last week - that had resulted in a tantrum of epic proportions by Dean, followed by a long time out in the kitchen corner. Dean munched on the grilled cheese happily, glad that it was a Saturday.
Sam came in with his laptop and set it in front of Dean.
Dean looked up, confused.
"Mind explaining those grades," Sam said, his voice was stern. Dean glanced between his brother and the screen nervously before setting down his sandwich, wiping his hands, and pulling the laptop closer to look. The list of miss assignments was twice as long as the ones turned in and the tardies and skipped class numbers were all listed on the screen. Dean shrugged, there wasn't much to say, he wasn't about to explain that his tardies and absences were because of a bunch of school bullies. Or that missing homework was because he either missed the lesson or didn't pay attention to it because he was too worried about getting to the next class unscathed.
Sam crossed his arms waiting for some sort of answer.
"I've already gone through high school. It's stupid and I didn't feel like wasting my time with it," Dean said with his typical cocky attitude before bringing his attention back to his lunch. Sam looked at his brother with disbelief, it took him several moments to get his blood pressure back down to a healthy level.
The younger brother placed his hands on the table and leaned threateningly over Dean, "Well you're going to have nothing but free time to work on all the late assignments cause you've lost all privileges until they're all turned in,"
"Come on, Sam," Dean tried to retort,
"And," Sam said over Dean, "you're really not going to like it if you're late for more classes."
"That's not fair, Sam, I didn't ground you when you were younger. And I've finished school already, it's so stupid that I'm being forced to go back!"
"That's because I did my homework and went to class, but if you want to talk to Dad about it, I'm sure he'd be happy to have a 'conversation' about it."
Dean scowled knowing that any conversation with Dad would not be an improvement. Sam smirked before picking up his laptop and leaving.
/
It had been a long few days for Dean. Sam had been unwavering in his decree and Dean was chafing under the restrictions. Privately Mrs. Butters had even told Sam he was being a little hard on Dean but it hadn't changed anything.
When Dean joined Benny and Kevin for lunch near the end of the week he looked thoroughly miserable, he listlessly picked at the fiesta pizza. Benny and Kevin exchanged worried glances, fiesta pizza was Dean's favorite.
A short blonde boy named Gabe energetically joined the trio, "Guys, did you hear about the old Lindel place?"
Benny and Kevin shook their heads, Dean picked at a piece of sausage.
"My brothers told me a kid went missing there in the 40s and no one's been able to live there since," Gabe whispered in a hushed earnest voice.
That peaked Dean's interest, "Why not?"
"Everyone that tried to move in ended up with freak accidents or mysterious illnesses."
Kevin rolled his eyes, "Michael and Luke told you this? And you honestly believe them?"
"It's true!" Gabe insisted, "look." He pulled out some newspapers and spread them out on the table, Benny scowled as one landed in his homemade gumbo. Dean leaned over the papers and started to read, as he did so he got more and more excited.
"This sounds like an actual case!"
"A case?" Benny raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah like a ghost or something, we should go check it out."
"That sounds dangerous," Kevin said looking entirely uninterested.
"Aren't you locked down more than Fort Knox right now?" Benny reminded Dean. Dean rolled his eyes.
Gabe looked excited, "Not even Mike and Luke will go there, and they're not scared of anything. Let's do it!" Gabe was excited about the prospect of doing something his big brothers were too scared to do.
Dean looked at Benny and Kevin, "come on, it's not a big deal."
Benny shrugged and agreed to go and Kevin reluctantly agreed after a little friendly teasing from the others.
Dean pulled out his cell phone and texted Sam:
There's a study group for history tonight, I really could use the help, can I go?
Sam: Where is it?
School
I can get a ride home with Mrs. Tran
Sam: I guess it's ok
Thx
"Alright, let's go after home ec,"
"Culinary science," Benny corrected.
"Whatever, after next period let's meet at the lower level doors, there's never security there," Dean announced and the other boys readily agreed to the adventure.
Benny was surprised Dean wanted to wait a whole class period before skipping out of school but got even more worried when Dean swiped several canisters of salt. His new friend was a little odd.
It took the boys over an hour to walk to the old Lindel homestead. They had picked a good day for it, even though winters in Kansas could be brutally cold the day was unseasonably warm. It had been a long time since Dean had felt this happy, the weather was warm and he was with his friends. Adventure ahead! Dean grinned to himself as the boys excitedly talked about what might be the cause of the mystery surrounding the property.
The boys finally came up to a house that looked like it was ready to fall over in a medium wind. Benny gave a low whistle at the state of the building. Dean didn't hesitate to walk right up to the front door, the other boys shrugged and followed behind.
Trying the door, Dean found it to be locked. He pulled out his lock kit and began to work on the simple lock.
"Do I want to know why you have a lock picking kit on you?" Benny asked.
Dean paused and looked up, "Probably not."
Click.
The door popped open easily. Dean carefully opened the door and walked in, Gabe, Benny, and Kevin followed. The door had opened into a hallway, Dean headed to the living room on the left with Gabe while Benny and Kevin went to the kitchen on the right.
The living room was dark and musty as if the windows hadn't been opened in years. Benny and Kevin looked around the kitchen, there were dishes in the sink that didn't look that old. Benny and Kevin exchanged a nervous look as they realized that the house wasn't quite as abandoned as Gabe had said. The two boys silently agreed they should get the others and get out.
Returning to the living room they found Dean fiddling with a model of a tall ship while Gabe flipped through a book.
"Guys, I don't think this house is abandoned," Kevin said.
Benny nodded, "yeah we should get out of here."
"That is an excellent idea, boys," an unfamiliar deep voice said. All four boys spun around to find that they weren't alone, and they weren't looking at a ghost. The older man was tall and slender but he looked strong and pissed.
The boys didn't say anything.
"What are you doing in my house?"
"Your house?" squeaked Gabe.
"Yes, MY house."
"We heard there was a ghost," Kevin said, feeling foolish for believing the story now.
The old man looked at the shortest of the boys, "You one of them Shirley boys?"
Gabe nodded.
"That story's been going around for at least two decades. But honestly, how stupid are you, hear about a ghost and chase after it? Between the four of you don't you have two brain cells to rub together?"
There was a loud banging on the door, the boys jumped. The old man slowly turned towards the sound.
"Dean?!"
Dean groaned at the sound of Sam's voice. How the hell did he find him already? Sam entered the living room to find one very angry man and four sheepish boys.
"Don't tell me you believe in ghost stories too," the man said to Sam when Sam hadn't said anything, although he was giving Dean bitch face #41. Dean felt about 2 feet tall under Sam's glare.
"What?" Sam asked, confused, "I'm sorry they bothered you, that one's my brother, I'll get them out of your home now," Sam apologized.
The man grunted and Dean found himself propelled out of the house with a firm hand on his neck.
"Get in the car. All of you," Sam ordered. The boys scrambled to follow the order.
Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestions on what happens next. The haunted house idea was so helpful. Let me know what you think. The school pictures haven't come back yet.
As always, thanks for reading and your comments, they keep me motivated.