Chapter 42.1
Timeline: Adam is 16 years old and has started a new school in northern Kentucky...
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"Kid, you know the number one family rule: we do what we do and we shut up about it,"
"Yeah I know Dean, but I think... I think she's different," Adam stuttered awkwardly, embarrassed at how emotional the situation was making him.
"She's not different kid, she's just not," Dean said seriously.
-/-/-/-/-/
First day at a new school: never very high on Adam's list of fun. He'd gotten used to it over the years of course, but it still didn't make being the new kid any better.
Northeast High School in the small town of Dry Ridge, Kentucky was just like every other high school he'd been at since he'd started his sophomore year. Large, beige and boasting an expansive parking lot filled with junky cars that the high school juniors and seniors drove since the school was smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
Adam stood in the office waiting for his newest class schedule and the student ambassador he'd been told was going to show him around the school for the day. That was something nice at least. It was rare that he ever got anything more than a list of classes and an old map pushed at him when he started a new school. At least a real live person could show him around and maybe point out the teachers and kids to avoid. Might have helped him avoid that bastard Kevin at his last school, who taunted him every day about his worn-out clothes and Dean dropping him off….
"There you are!"
The cheerful call shook Adam from the gloomy memories of his last school and he looked up to see a girl bursting through the glass door of the school office, a wide grin across her face.
"Adam, right?" she asked, coming up to him.
"Uh yeah," he said hesitating, "Was I supposed to meet you somewhere else?" he asked in confusion.
"Oh no!" She replied, waving a hand through the air dismissively, "You're good!"
Adam nodded in reply and looked down at the schedule crumbled in his hands, "Umm… I've got Homeroom with Reynolds? Room 223?"
"Yup. No problem," she replied, "Follow me,"
Adam followed her long blonde ponytail, swishing across the back of her light blue sweater and tried to not look down to check out her butt as he thought about how much this girl looked like a walking GAP ad.
"I'm Amanda by the way," she said, once they were in the hallway, slowing down so that Adam could walk beside her.
"Where'd you move from?" she asked.
"Delaware," Adam answered, trying to stay as vague as possible.
"Oh. Never been there. Never been anywhere actually," she said brightly with a light shrug, "My family has been in this town forever, like since the town was started."
"Oh cool," Adam replied, unsure of the appropriate response to her statement.
"Yeah, pillars of the community," she laughed; hinting at some inside joke Adam was unaware of.
"So how do you like Dry Ridge so far?" She asked, as they rounded the corner of the hallway and approached a set of lockers.
"Fine, I guess," Adam replied with a shrug, "We've only been here like a day,"
"Your dad doesn't waste a lot of time, huh? Already making you go to school?" she asked.
"Yeah."
They were quiet for a moment before the girl seemed to get nervous in the silence and blustered on, starting to ramble about the school and teachers.
"…and you've got Mrs. Stark, she's great. She's like 80 but she's super sweet, calls everyone 'Sugar' and never marks down tardies,"
Adam nodded as she gave him the full rundown of all his teachers and classes and showed him his locker.
"So did your brother drop you off?" She asked, leaning against the lockers as Adam fiddled with the combination lock on his, trying to get the code the office secretary had scribbled on his schedule to work.
"Yeah," he said distractedly, spinning the dial on the lock all the way back again to zero. Ugh, he could pick this lock in about three seconds if this girl weren't standing beside him.
"Hope he gets some rest today..." she murmured to herself.
"Wait, what?" Adam said, uncertain of what he'd heard her say. It sounded like something about Dean. About Dean getting some sleep.
"Oh, never mind. Sorry, my mom says my mouth runs away from me most days,"
Adam studied the girl carefully wondering if she'd seen his brother leaving the office after dropping him off. Maybe she'd seen Dean in the hallway and correctly assumed that he was Adam's tired looking older brother. Adam thought she'd mumbled something about Dean getting some sleep, which his brother did need since he'd been out until about 3 am checking out the local bars. But it was strange that she'd noticed that in passing…
His hunter instincts were beginning to hum in the back of his mind and he paused for a moment to take stock of the girl next to him. She seemed normal enough. He didn't get a supernatural or dangerous vibe from her. She was nice, if a little ditzy, and pretty damn cute. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her and try to listen a little more closely to her ramblings, just to make sure there was nothing weird going on with this girl.
"So Amanda," he asked, forcing himself to relax and channel Dean, "Where's the grub around this place?"
"Oh yeah! I should show you the cafeteria!" she said, pushing off the lockers and standing up, "Although its fish tacos today, so you aren't gonna like that,"
There it was again. Another weird little thing. Just in the way she said it, somehow very specific to Adam, like she just knew he didn't like fish. Which was totally true. The smell alone was disgusting and Adam had no interest in eating anything with a smell that lingered like that.
"What'd you mean?" he asked casually quizzing her.
"Oh, well," she replied, suddenly nervous, "I just mean... I mean who likes fish right? That smell? Yuck."
Adam added another tally to this girl's weird card but smiled back at her trying to ease her anxiety, "Yeah man. Gross."
Adam's words seemed to instantly relax her and Amanda nodded.
"I know right? Lucky seniors get to leave for lunch, but the rest of us have to suffer. The whole school is gonna reek by the end of the day," she replied, "Come on, I should show you the gym."
-/-/-/-
Adam was surprised to find that he really enjoyed the morning spent in Amanda's company. She'd said that since she was on the student council she could take as long as she wanted showing him around the school and that she had no interest in getting to Chemistry on time, so they had lingered as they walked from class to class, exploring Adam's schedule.
Amanda was an endless source of information. She seemed to know everything about everyone and happily filled Adam in on all the details as if they'd been friends for years.
It wasn't long until Adam found himself laughing at her silly puns and looking conspiratorially at teachers who had Amanda had told him had wild pasts.
"So you wanna sit with me at lunch?" she offered as they followed the stream of students into the large cafeteria.
"Yeah," Adam agreed quickly, not wanting his time with her to end, "I mean if you don't have other people you wanna sit with,"
"I do, but I'm tired of them," she said, "I like you. You're new."
Adam smiled, a little taken aback by her bluntness. He'd only known this girl for like four hours, but he kept being surprised by her straightforwardness and the way she seemed to be able to read him like an open book.
"I brought two sandwiches," she said, sitting down at a table and pulling out a paper sack from her backpack, "Fish day? Right?" she said with a grimace.
"Right." Adam said, gratefully accepting the sandwich she held out for him, "Thanks."
"Sure," she said sitting down and pulling out her own sandwich.
Adam unwrapped the sandwich, ogling the stack of meat, cheese, pickles, and lettuce between the thick slices of bread.
"Holy crap, this is a sandwich!" He exclaimed in surprise, hearing his stomach growl loudly in appreciation of the massive roll.
"Yeah, well I figured…" Amanda started, the stopped herself, glancing up at Adam to see if he'd noticed her hesitation, "I mean... glad you like it."
Adam dove into the delicious sandwich with abandon. He'd had two cold Poptarts for breakfast after their run this morning, the last Dean had in his stash until he could get to the store today, and Adam's stomach had been protesting the lack of food since he walked into the school at 8 am.
Amanda chattered continually during their lunch, pausing only briefly to take bites of her own sandwich. Adam would have thought the inane babble would have driven him nuts, but he found he didn't mind it. He didn't listen to everything she said, sometimes only watching her as she talked, taking in her brown eyes and happy smile. It was really nice to have a girl paying so much attention to him, something he realized he'd never really had before. Something he decided he really liked.
Lunch ended all too quickly and Adam had to head off on his own to his afternoon classes. The day was uneventful and seemed too quiet and boring after his morning with Amanda.
Dean picked him up from school at 3, idling in the parking lot and itching to get off school grounds so he could rev the engine and burn rubber. Adam knew his brother was restless after the long stretches of highway they'd travel to get to Dry Ridge and Dean and his baby needed some time to blow of steam and flex her V-8 muscles.
"Well…don't you look happy," Dean teased as they drove back to the motel of the week, "Good day?"
"Shut up." Adam replied, "And yeah. It's a pretty good school."
"School? Doubt that," Dean replied knowingly, "No one ever looks that happy about school. You met someone. Girl?" he teased.
Adam rolled his eyes.
"Guy?" Dean questioned, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
"Shut up!" Adam snapped.
"Just asking dude," Dean said with a shrug, turning back to the road, "Either way, glad you found something good about that prison you gotta go to,"
"Yeah well, I don't think it's gonna be too bad here," Adam agreed, making Dean grin.
Adam spent the next two days surreptitiously seeking Amanda out. Not that it was that hard. She knew his class schedule and often appeared as he coming out of one class or going into another. They didn't have any classes together, but somehow she seemed to be around when Adam was looking for her.
She was kind enough to introduce Adam to her friends; a gaggle of girls who fussed over him like a lost baby duck, especially once they found out that his mom had died. Adam never intended on using his mother's death as a sympathy card with girls, but he discovered it wasn't so bad. If there was any silver lining to losing her, this was probably it.
On Friday, Amanda invited him out with her and her girlfriends to the 'popular kids' bonfire party they'd been invited to. Adam hadn't yet hung out with any of the school's 'popular kids', but he knew them and hoped that having Amanda as a go-between would keep him from getting into any trouble for showing up where he wasn't wanted. And really, he loved all the attention from Amanda and her friends, so he didn't care where in the hell they went.
It took about four hours of negotiation, pleading and all-out begging to get Dean to let Adam go to the party. Dean was a stickler for Dad's rules and said he just didn't feel comfortable letting Adam go out in the woods with people he didn't even know.
Adam had countered, using every trick he'd learned from Sam, offering to carry every weapon and protection Dean demanded as well as texting Dean the location of the party and turning a blind eye to the drive-bys his brother would no doubt do to check up on him.
When Dean finally caved, Adam was thrilled. He was getting the sense from Amanda that she was hanging around him less out of her self-imposed school ambassador duty and more because she actually liked him. Like 'liked' him. The thought made Adam giddy.
And horny.
Dean dropped him off at the Kmart parking lot in town, the designated meeting place, and Adam immediately rushed out of the car, ignoring Dean's yelled warnings about being careful. He spotted Amanda and two of her friends, leaning casually against her friend's worn out Jeep.
"I knew he'd let you come!" she said squealed happily as he approached them, "Megan got us some drinks, you up to pre-game?"
"Sure," he said, watching as she bent over in the back floorboard of the jeep and pulled out two cans, passing them to her friends, then getting two more and handing one to Adam.
"Cheers!" her friend Megan said, raising her drink as they all opened their cans, the pop-hiss round of carbonation making Adam smile.
They hung out in the parking lot, just talking and drinking, each finishing off their original drink and starting a second before they left for the party.
Adam had been a little nervous when Amanda has asked him to drink with them. Not that he was afraid of getting drunk, he'd drank before with his brothers after hunts and stuff. But he'd never drank around girls, especially not a girl he was trying to impress. Thankfully by the time he'd opened the second can, the alcohol had driven away his nerves and replaced them with a cheery sense of self-confidence.
Adam had a little buzz going by the time the reached the official 'party', if you could call it that. It was just a big bonfire in the backfield of someone's grandfather's land, a semi-circle of pickup trucks backed up around it, people and camp chairs filling in the gaps.
It kinda looked like a movie: all the kids in the dark, lit only by the roaring fire and a few flashlights, some standing around in small groups, others dancing to music Adam couldn't hear. Adam couldn't remember exactly which movie this scene was from, but he was sure he'd seen this teen rom-com before.
Adam followed the girls around the party for a while, listening to them talk to their other friends, trying not to be creepy while hanging around conversations that he wasn't part of. Halfway through the girl's trip around the fire, he struck up a conversation with a kid he'd seen in Geometry class and sat and talked to him for a while, happy to let the girls continue to do their lap around the party.
A few beers later Amanda wandered back over to where he was leaning against the tailgate of some guy's truck, trying to talk to some other guys about football. She sauntered up to him, tucking herself right between his legs and putting her hands inside his open jacket, reaching around to rub his back.
"Missed you," she mumbled, hugging him.
At this point, Adam was edging on drunk but clear-headed enough to be surprised by her words.
"Missed you." he replied tentatively, looking down at her, rubbing his hands against the sleeves of her jean jacket, feeling her shiver, "You cold?"
She didn't release him from her hold but nodded into his chest.
Adam looked around a moment, debating about what his next move should be.
Fuck it, he thought, Dean would go for it.
"Mind if we sit in the cab dude?" he asked the guy behind him, who was leaning against the wheel well of the truck.
"Sure man."
"Come on," Adam whispered into the top of Amanda's hair, breathing in the sweet floral scent of her shampoo.
He pushed her away a little, only to get her standing, then wrapped an arm around her and led her to the cab of the truck, opening the door and helping her inside.
As he slammed the door and turned back to see her smiling at him from across the cab the nerves he'd drank away earlier returned.
Was this it? Really it? His chance not to die a virgin?
She smiled again, scooting over to him and he automatically lifted up an arm to wrap around her as she snuggled in next to him.
"I know we just met," she said quietly, gazing out the front window, "But I feel like I've known you forever."
"Yeah," he said, honestly having no clue what she was talking about but not wanting to risk the moment, "Me too."
"I'm gonna miss you when you go," she mumbled, burying her face in Adam's flannel shirt.
"I'm not going anywhere," he comforted, rubbing her shoulder and tentatively putting his other hand on her knee.
"You are," she replied, looking up at him, her eyes bleary and unfocused.
Shit. She was drunk. Definitely drunker than Adam right now. Damn it, what did Dean say about doing it with drunk girls? Adam was pretty sure the answer wasn't 'don't' but he couldn't remember exactly what his brother had said. Something about a contest? No wait, Sam said that. Contest? Consent? Shit, his stupid drunk brain couldn't remember.
"Adam?" she said, putting her hand on his cheek and bringing him back from his racing thoughts.
"Huh?"
"It's ok. You're gonna be ok," she said, stroking his face.
I'm fucking not if you keep touching me like that, he thought to himself, his jeans starting to get uncomfortable.
"Really," she said again, gazing up at him, "You don't have to worry right now,"
She moved her hand from the side of his face up to his hair, running her fingers gently through it.
"Amanda…." He whispered, wanting her both to stop and never stop what she was doing.
"It's ok Adam. Things are good now. Good for a while. Everyone is safe. Your brother is happy at school. Dean's ok hunting and you're Dad is gonna be back soon. He's gonna be gone longer than he wanted, but that's good for us. More time with you…but he'll be back safe," she mumbled, rambling.
Adam froze as he listened to the words tumble from her mouth. Adam had never told her about hunting, about Sam, about any of it. He would never. Dad had made that rule exceptionally clear. They were never, ever, to tell people about their job, about the dark and dangerous part of the world that innocent people had no knowledge of.
So how the fuck did she know all this stuff?
Suddenly sober, Adam stared down at her in confusion. Who was this girl? What was this girl?
" 'manda?" he whispered, feeling his heart thudding in his chest, "You're drunk. I…"
"I know… I know," she said, cutting him off and pushing against his chest so that she could sit up next to him.
"But listen, Adam…" she said, keeping one hand gently in his hair and reaching down with the other to grab his hand and clasp it to her chest, "Listen… I wanted to tell you for so long..." she whispered secretively, "And I know its gonna scare you but don't be scared ok?"
"Amanda…." Adam said shakily, his nerves standing on end and the hunter instincts that Dad and his brothers had driven into him screaming at him to 'RUN'.
"Shh!" she said, pulling her hand from his hair and putting it gently over his mouth, silencing him.
Running her thumb along his bottom lip, Adam couldn't have moved if he wanted to. He was pathetically frozen with fear and, he realized distantly, with lust.
"You don't know me. Not really. But I know you. I know you, Adam Milligan."
Adam's eyes went wide and he pushed her away violently.
"The fuck?" he yelled, staring at her.
"Adam," she replied calmly, blinking away her drunkenness, "It's ok."
"The fuck its ok!" he snarled back at her, putting a hand in his pocket to grab for his silver knife, "No one knows that name. No one! What are you?"
"Calm down Adam," she said.
Adam pulled the knife out of his pocket, his heart pounding and adrenaline racing through his veins. What the hell had he gotten himself into? He was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by civilians. If he had to kill this thing, this whatever it was across the cab, how was he gonna make it out of here? These people had been fooled by this monster. They'd think that he, random drifter kid, stabbed and killed the student council president. They'd lynch him before he even made it back to the K-mart.
"Adam. It's ok. I'm just psychic. Not a monster. Nothing your Dad would make you hunt," she said, softly putting her hands up slowly.
Adam kept the knife low on the truck bench, pointing at her, "Put your hands down," he growled.
The last thing he needed was for the mob of angry high school dudes to think he was trying to force himself on her and kick his ass before he even got a chance to gank the beast.
"Adam. I'm serious. You know I am," Amanda continued, all traces of her earlier lusty drunkenness gone.
"It's how I know things about you. How I keep finding you at school, keep accidentally telling you things," she started, her trademark rambling beginning, "I'm so bad at it. I talk too much, I know that. My parents, they didn't want me to talk you, they told me not to, tried to convince me to leave you alone. They always say how dangerous hunters are, how scary and demented they are. But you're not like that. I know you aren't. I've seen you. Seen you for years, I know you're different. I've been waiting to finally meet you,"
Adam's knife shook in his hand as he listened to her babble.
"I couldn't help myself. I had to meet you. I wanted to talk to you for real. I know you believe me. I know you know that I'm not crazy," she continued, pleading.
Adam's tightened his grip on his knife, simultaneously trying to get a grip on his emotions.
"I… I uh…I've seen a lot of crazy crap," he replied slowly, watching as Amanda took in his words, "So no, you're probably not crazy…"
"Look," she said softly, "I'm sorry. I didn't wanna spring this on you. I didn't mean to. Let's just go and get some more drinks and have fun tonight ok? We can talk about this later,"
"We're gonna talk about this now," Adam growled, sounding more like Dean than he even realized was possible.
"Ok. Ok," she said carefully, eyeing the knife still in his hand, "But please… I'm not dangerous. I promise. And I swear… I didn't mean to freak you out."
"You didn't see this coming?" Adam sneered.
Amanda choked out a laugh, "No, actually. It doesn't really work that way, at least not for me, although everyone is different I guess. I knew you'd come tonight, yeah, but I didn't know that I'd blab all this to you and freak you out so bad. I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to,"
Adam watched her skeptically. She was being honest, that much he could tell. And she desperately wanted him to believe her. It would explain how she kept showing up when he was looking for her at school and all the random offhanded comments she kept dropping about him. And yeah, he'd seen a lot weirder things than a 16-year-old psychic girl so...
"Ok..." he conceded, "But why me?"
Amanda looked taken aback by his question, "I don't know."
Adam glared at her.
"I mean I don't know why you. I see stuff about other people, other events and stuff but the things I see about you are the clearest. Have been since they started. I don't…"
"When did it start? You seeing things about me?" Adam asked, flicking his silver knife closed now that he had decided to trust her.
"Years ago," she said, relaxing noticeably when Adam put the knife back in his pocket, "I was about 12,"
"12?" Adam asked cautiously, suddenly remembering that they were the same age, "What did you see?" he asked, feeling his stomach twisting and renewed adrenaline beginning to course through his body making his legs shake.
"Oh, Adam…" She said, her eyes filling with tears as she slid across the truck seat toward him.
"What did you see!" he nearly yelled, hating that he already knew. He knew she'd seen it: the most horrible moment of his life.
"I saw… the crypt…" she whispered, her voice shaking and thick with tears, "I saw them. I saw you. Your mom. I saw… Oh, Adam. It was..."
Bile rose in Adam's throat and he swallowed hard to stop himself from throwing up, black beginning to cloud the edges of his sight.
"It was my first vision. Ever. I didn't get them before that. Late bloomer I guess. And that was… it was..." she trailed off. "It was indescribable."
"Fuck," Adam said, hiding his face in his hands.
"Adam," she said, sliding up against him, her warmth slipping into him, "I'm so sorry."
She was crying now, but Adam couldn't move. His entire body was shaking with the unwelcome memories of that time, unwanted tears streaming down his face.
"Adam. Adam," she whispered, pulling his hands off his face and cupping his cheeks in her soft hands, "I'm so proud of you,"
"What?" he hiccupped in confusion.
She wiped the flowing tears away from his cheeks in the most maternal and gentle gesture, making more tears spill from Adam's eyes.
"I'm proud of you," she repeated, staring into his eyes, "You are amazing. After everything, you are just amazing,"
"Ugh…" he said, pulling his face from her hold, "Stop it. I can't believe you saw that,"
What else had she seen?
"I'm sorry. I can't control it. I didn't want to see it. I never wanna see the bad things. It just too awful. And I was 12 too, seeing these horrible things happening and knowing that it was real, really happening to some other kid I didn't even know," she rambled, trying to get Adam to look at her.
"I'm sorry Adam. I don't know why I'm connected with you! I really don't. My grandmother says it happens, rarely but it happens, that a psychic can be connected to a person with a strong aura."
"Aura?" Adam scoffed, "So what you know everything about me?
Amanda reached up and touched his face again, causing Adam to begrudgingly look down at her.
"No. I just see some things... scenes kinda... like if you were flipping channels and came in during the middle of a show. It's pretty confusing sometimes...and random. I mean I knew you were real and everything I was seeing was happening, but it took me a while to even get your name. Your brothers don't say it much, you ever notice that?"
Adam scoffed again.
"And well I'm still new at all this. My powers...or whatever... they're not... well, I'm still learning."
Adam sighed deeply, trying to take everything in
"It's not like I'm watching you all the time if that's what you're worried about," she said, gently rubbing her hand over his chest.
Adam gave her a sidelong glance and shifted slightly in the seat.
"I'm sorry I scared you," she said, taking the opportunity in his movement to move nearer to him, nestling closely. "Look I know you probably wanna ask me a million things…"
She was damn right about that. Adam's mind was spinning. Some random girl knew everything about him, everything that would happen to him, everything that had happened to him. It was unbelievably weird.
"…but we don't have to get into it all now. We can just enjoy tonight you know," she said, threading her fingers through his to hold his hand.
"I'm just supposed to forget what you told me?" Adam asked, the residual adrenaline rush making his knees feel weak, or maybe that was her hand on his thigh.
"No," she said looking up at him again, "I just mean that we can work out all this stuff later. We've got time. Your Dad's hunt is gonna take longer then he planned, so we can just relax tonight. Like we planned to, you know have fun…"
Adam's upstairs brain may have been reeling with the information she'd just thrown at him, but the downstairs brain was more than ready to get back to the party and starting enjoying this warm, soft, good smelling girl who was practically crawling into his lap.
"Come on Adam," she whispered, tilting her face up to his, "I promise this is all gonna be ok. I've seen it. I know it is," she said, leaning in close enough to whisper the words on his lips.
Adam stifled a gasp as she leaned in and gently kissed him, feeling himself melt into her soft lips, floating away on a cloud of pleasure. He hadn't been kissed in so long. He forgot how amazing it felt. How warm and soft and happy.
Her kiss was long but chaste and she pulled away to study him.
"You're gonna be ok. Okay?" she said.
"Ok." He whispered back, feeling lost in a million ways.
"Come on, let's get a drink ok?"
Adam let himself be pulled across the bench seat and out the passenger side door of the truck and somehow found himself following her over to the keg, still in a daze.
The night passed in a blur of keg stands and kisses until Dean was suddenly beside him shuffling Adam into the sleek black car with eye rolls and mutterings about mud on his baby.
-/-/-/-
A/N-Hey guys! I'm excited to be back and writing again! I haven't quite decided where this little one-shot story should go, so I'd love to hear your thoughts! I think Adam would be itching to tell his brothers about this girl, but what would their reactions be? What would the future of the Winchesters be like with a girl who is linked to them? Would she survive it? Love your reviews, thoughts, and ideas! And as always, thank you for taking the time to read my story!