Chapter Seven

Dean was once again sitting anxiously on the bus the next morning, chewing his fingernails, his mouth dry. Cas watched him closely, but didn't say much. To his relief, they arrived before Rhonda, so Dean could at least get to his seat safely. As expected, though, Rhonda made a beeline straight for them as soon as she walked in and sat on Dean's desk.

'Morning, Dean,' she smiled.

Dean gave a weak smile back, but didn't say anything.

'What's the matter?' she asked.

Dean's heart raced, but before he could say anything, Cas's voice piped up behind Rhonda.

'Excuse me, Rhonda, is it?'

Rhonda, surprised, turned to face him. 'Yeah?'

'Do you mind if I ask where you had your hair done? It's a nice colour.'

Rhonda's face lit up. 'I have a regular stylist. Why, do you want yours done too?'

Cas nodded. 'I've been thinking about it.'

'It might be harder with your hair since it's so dark, but she's a genius with hair so she might be able to do it. Hold on, let me get you her number.' Rhonda jumped down from Dean's desk again and leaned on Cas's instead.

Cas caught Dean's eye while she wasn't looking and winked at him.

Dean chest loosened, but he could still smell her perfume and it churned his stomach.

Cas kept her distracted, and at last, the bell rang and homeroom was over. Dean let Rhonda leave first, flinching as she blew him a kiss, then slowly walked out of the room.

'Dean?'

'Hmm?' Dean said vaguely.

'Are you all right?' Cas asked.

Dean nodded, standing in the middle of the hallway.

'Are you coming to English?'

Dean blinked. 'What?'

'English. Are you coming?'

Dean shook himself out of it and smiled at Cas. 'Yeah, I'm coming.' He let out a breath and walked alongside Cas. 'Thanks,' he muttered.

'You're welcome.'

'You're not actually going to change your hair, are you?'

'No,' Cas smiled.

'Good. It's nice that way it is.' It slipped out before Dean could stop himself, but he found that he didn't care all that much.

Rhonda again approached them at lunch, catching Dean by surprise.

'Don't you go home for lunch?' Jo asked icily.

'My kitchen's being renovated,' Rhonda said smoothly, 'so I thought I'd hang out with you guys.'

Dean barely contained a shudder, and Cas once again took it upon himself to distract her, until they were chatting amiably, a distance away from Dean.

All in all, Dean was proud of himself for making it through the day, despite having to be in Rhonda's presence.

Cas continued to run interference over the week, until he himself started to get nervous and withdrawn as the races grew closer.

'I've seen you run, you're gonna do great,' Dean said reassuringly, sitting on his bed the night before.

Cas had been picking at his dinner before disappearing up to their room.

'But what if I don't?' he said anxiously. 'I don't want anyone to be disappointed.'

'Don't worry about it. No one's gonna be disappointed as long as you give it your best shot and have fun,' Dean smiled.

Cas raised an eyebrow.

'That was really cheesy, I'm sorry,' Dean laughed, 'but you know what, we could all use a little cheese sometimes.'

Cas nodded.

'Try and get some sleep, it'll do you good.'

Dean got up and saw Cas grabbing the beige coat just as he pulled the curtain across the room.

Cas was slow to eat breakfast that morning, and he was quiet at school. He was the last to climb on the minibus with the rest of the team, looking uneasily over his shoulder at Dean.

'Any of you guys coming?' Dean said to Jo, Crowley and Kevin, who had all come out to walk Cas to the minibus.

Crowley just snorted and walked away.

'Can't,' Jo said, shouldering her bag. 'It's family night. Mom's making meatloaf.'

'Yikes,' Dean sniggered. 'All right, I'll see you tomorrow if the meatloaf doesn't kill you.'

Jo grinned and walked away.

'What about you, Kev?' Dean asked, slapping Kevin's shoulder.

'What?' he mumbled.

'Are you coming to watch Cas?'

'Oh. No, I gotta go take a nap. I've got practice papers tonight.'

Dean rolled his eyes. 'See you tomorrow then.'

Kevin grunted in response and turned back towards the school, while Dean made his way to the parking lot.

The Impala was already there, with John, Mary and Sam waiting for him.

Sam and Mary had painted the school colours on their faces.

'Don't you think that's a little much?' Dean said as he climbed into the back seat.

'Not at all,' Mary beamed.

Sam grinned and passed Dean a tiny flag on a stick. 'Come on, Dean, don't be lame.'

'You think this is not lame?' Dean said, but he took the flag anyway.

The drive was only twenty minutes, but Cas and the team were all dressed and warming up by the time they arrived.

'Go Cas!' Mary called as they climbed into the stands.

Cas gave a small wave, then turned his attention back to his warm up. Though he was wearing the same uniform as everyone else, he hovered uncertainly away from the team, glancing at them every so often as though steeling himself to get closer and join their conversation. He never worked up the courage, and ended up standing at the edge of the field waiting for his races, hopping around and stretching to keep himself warm.

'When's Cas up?' Dean asked, his heart wrenching at Cas standing all alone.

Mary pulled the schedule up on her phone. 'Not for a little bit,' she said, squinting at it. 'The sixteen-hundred is fifth, then the two hundred is tenth.'

Dean sucked in a breath. 'He's gotta do the long one first? That's not good.'

'I'm sure the coaches wouldn't have put him in for it if they didn't think he could handle it,' Mary said reassuringly.

'So what's first?' Sam asked eagerly.

Mary squinted at her phone again. 'Eight-hundred meter relay.'

'Why isn't Cas in the relay?' John said indignantly. 'He could run circles around the other team.'

Dean snorted. 'How do you know? You haven't seen him run.'

'I don't need to see, I can just tell.'

Sam rolled his eyes. 'Well think about it, Dad. Relay teams have to know and trust each other really well, so they know exactly when to hand off the baton. Cas has only been on the team a week. They'll probably put him in when they know each other better.'

John just grunted.

'Who's competing?' said Sam, trying to spot all the different uniforms on the field.

'Eight schools in the area,' Mary told him. 'Lawrence, Free State, Eudora… all of them. The top three teams qualify for the county heats.'

'Awesome,' said Dean.

'First call, eight-hundred relay,' came the announcement over the crackly old sound system, and the teams began to make their way to their positions.

Cas watched intently, jumping as the whistle blew. He drifted back and forth as the racers rounded the track and clapped politely when they came second, just behind the team for Eudora High.

Dean grew bored watching every other race. Lawrence came either second or third each time, more consistent than the other schools as a different one took first place on each race. A shock of adrenaline ran through him at the 'First call sixteen-hundred run' announcement. He sat up straight, and the four of them began to whistle and cheer as Cas hopped from one foot to the other at his position on the start line.

'Second call sixteen-hundred run.'

There was no need to make the third call, as all the racers were at their mark, but it was called anyway, and Dean stood, chewing on his fingernails.

The racers took off at the whistle, leaving Cas at the back of the pack.

'Oh no,' Mary gasped.

'No, he's got it,' Dean said, watching the confident way Cas ran.

The other racers started to lose steam after their initial burst of speed, and Cas began to pass them around the second lap of the track. He kept a steady pace through the third lap and came up on the boy in first place at the start of the final lap. As they approached the finish, Cas picked up his pace, speeding past the boy who attempted to put on his own surge of speed but couldn't quite manage it, and took first place just before he crossed the line.

The four of them jumped up and screamed and whooped, followed by the rest of the track team, who all converged on Cas for their first win so far.

'Aw look, that's so cute,' Mary gushed, watching them clap Cas on the back, shake his hand, and pass him a bottle of water.

Cas jogged to the side of the track, out of the way of the next race, and turned to smile and wave at them again.

'Good job, Cas!' Mary shouted.

Cas's win boosted morale for the rest of the team, and for the next few races, their speed increased and they moved up towards the first or second place mark.

Then came Cas's second race. He seemed more nervous about this than the first one, and he stood at his mark taking a deep breath before readying himself. In the end, he had no need to be nervous.

He was first off the block at the whistle, and flew well ahead of his competitors.

Dean whistled and stamped his feet, encouraging Cas on, until he crossed the finish line a full meter ahead of everyone else.

Cas doubled over off to the side of the track to catch his breath, but soon straightened with a huge smile on his face. He again waved at them, this time more enthusiastically, before hurrying off to the area of the field where others on the team were stretching, so he could finally do his cool down stretches.

There were two more races after that, which Cas watched from the sidelines, cheering on his teammates until they were all finished. They gathered together to wait for the announcement, and the four of them in the stands sat on the edges of their seats.

Soon enough, one of the judges came out with a microphone hooked up to the sound system.

'In third place,' he said, 'Perry Lecompton.'

The team in blue uniforms jumped up and down and a few cheers came from the stands.

'In second place, Eudora High.'

The cheers this time were significantly louder, as they were the host school and the stands were mostly filled with its students. It took them a while to calm down, and they all waited with bated breath for the next announcement.

'In first place… Lawrence High.'

Sam and Dean hollered and yelled, determined to outdo the Eudora supporters.

At last, the event was over, and they climbed down onto the field to find Cas. He was still surrounded by the celebrating team.

'Hey, you did it!' Dean called, pushing through the crowd. 'I knew you would!'

'Thanks,' Cas said, flushing.

'Are you coming back with us, or…?'

'Oh, um…' Cas glanced over his shoulder at the team who were beckoning him over towards the minibus.

Dean grinned. 'You go, we'll meet you there.'

Cas smiled, then hurried off to join the team.

They followed the minibus back and waited outside for Cas to take a shower and change, and say goodbye to the team, then Dean shuffled over until he was squeezed between Cas and Sam in the back.

Uh oh, Dean thought as, once again, Cas's scent drifted over him, only now there was no possible escape. He began to sweat, pressed so closely against Cas he could feel the taught muscles in his arms. He held his breath, grateful that Sam was too busy chattering to Mary and that Cas was busy staring out the window to notice his discomfort.

'Let's get something to eat,' John said as he pulled out of the school parking lot. 'Cas's pick.'

'Oh,' Cas said in surprise. 'Um… I don't know what there is.'

'Well, what do you feel like eating?' Mary said kindly. 'We know the best places for all the different kinds of food.'

'You do?'

'Oh yeah, Dean's a pig, he eats everything,' Sam said.

'Hey!' Dean protested, but wished he didn't when he breathed in again.

Cas shifted nervously, sending shivers down Dean's arm. 'I - I suppose I could eat a burger.'

'Burgers it is,' John nodded. 'There's a great diner in town, you know the one, Dean?'

Dean just nodded, not daring to breathe in again, afraid that if he did he would no longer be able to conceal himself.

Ten agonising minutes later, they arrived at the diner, but Dean didn't move as everyone else climbed out of the car.

'Can you guys just give me a sec?,' he mumbled.

'What's the matter?' John frowned, bending down to poke his head back in the car.

'You know how he gets travel sick in the back seat,' Mary said. 'Aw, look at him, he's all sweaty.'

'Right, right,' John nodded, then tossed the keys to Dean. 'Get some fresh air, lock the doors on your way in.'

'You got it.'

Dean finally relaxed once they were all gone, and the breeze that wafted through the open doors cleansed the air of Cas's scent. It only took a few minutes for him to feel normal again, so he locked the car and made his way inside. To his relief, the empty seat they'd saved for him was next to John and across from Cas.

'Feeling better, sweetie?' Mary asked.

'Yeah,' Dean smiled. 'I know, it's only a few minutes home from her, but…'

'You want me to sit in the back?' Mary offered. 'Sure thing.' She set about handing out menus, and while she, John and Sam excitedly scanned their menus, Dean caught Cas's eye and smiled warmly.

'Good job, Cas,' he murmured, briefly touching Cas's leg under the table with his foot.

Cas too smiled and grazed Dean's leg in return.


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