The Changing Lights of the Rainbow

Chapter 7

Morning came, once again, and Dean fell into his normal routine. He prepared his brother's breakfast and made sure they were both dressed and ready for school. They followed the same routine as the last school they had attended. Dad went in, filled out the necessary paperwork. Sam was excited. He felt at home as soon as he walked through the doors. He couldn't wait to see what new things he could learn.

Dean just wanted to be four years old again. He wanted to hug his dad's leg and not let go. He wanted to run and hide in the floor of the backseat of the impala. Like he had before. He wanted cry and beg his dad not to leave him. But, he just grabbed his bag and followed the office worker to his new class.

Sam was too excited to tell the class about himself, leaving out the parts he had learned over Christmas break, of course. He made instant friends with everyone who surrounded him.

Dean stayed quiet, he didn't want to tell the class about himself. He didn't want to make friends. It wasn't much different from the last school, and he knew he would be picked on. He didn't have the newest clothes, he didn't wear the shoes that were in style. He wasn't 'cool' like the other kids. His soul was too old for the childish behaviors. He was more concerned about making sure his surroundings were safe, he didn't care about the latest gossip, even when the latest gossip involved him.

Every day after school he was waiting in front of Sammy's classroom door. The boys would walk home. It was a 2 mile walk, but they couldn't exactly take a bus to a motel room. Dean had to remind Sammy, every day, that the weather would soon warm up and the walk wouldn't be so cold. With Dad gone, they had to walk to school too, which meant they had to wake up extra early.

Dean hated that he had to start his day so early when it was for something he didn't even want to do. But, he put on his fake smile and walked side by side with his brother, making sure he stayed warm and safe. Dean tried to look cool. He wore his old leather jacket and he best jeans he could find. It still wasn't good enough, but it helped.

Sam, he made sure Sam stayed bundled up. Dean didn't care if he was cold, but he wouldn't let Sam be cold. Sam had a thick winter coat, a pair of gloves, and a winter cap with a little fuzzy ball on the top. It didn't really matter what he wore, he was young enough they didn't care about things like that yet.

They had only been in school for 4 days when Dean got into his first fight. He hadn't even started it. He was sitting on the playground, alone, watching his surroundings, when a girl from his class approached him.

"Hey!" she said, "I'm Sally"

Dean gave her a quick glance, "Dean"

"Wanna see something?"

Dean shrugged his shoulders, looking up at her, "Okay"

She reached out, took Dean's hand and helped him into a standing position. There was a little spot, between the school buildings that made an L shape. It ended at some air conditioner units.

"You ever kiss a girl before?"

Dean was shocked by her question and shook his head no. Honestly, with his life, he had never had the time to think about it, or even care.

"It's not hard. There's nothing to it" Sally said, "here let me show you"

She reached up, placed her hands on each side of Dean's face, and pressed her lips to his.

"That wasn't so bad was it?"

Dean shook his head again

"Let's try it again" she said as she pressed her lips against Dean's, this time creating some movement, and Dean followed her lead.

"Here," she said, "let me show you something else."

Sally was a thin, blonde headed girl, she was wearing a short skirt and a sweater that matched perfectly. She grabbed Dean's hand and put it under her skirt, brushing his fingers against her tender area. Dean's eyes got wide, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. She pulled his hand away,

"That's all you'll ever get, because you're such a looser" Sally said in a hateful tone.

To say Dean was shocked, and confused, would be an understatement. He wasn't really sure what had just happened or why. Sally seemed so nice at first, but had suddenly turned. It wasn't until he felt the hands of some boys in his class, grab his shoulders, that he became aware of his surroundings.

She had taken his concentration away. There was no way anyone would get the jump on him if he was paying attention. Dad had taught him how to fight, so he wasn't scared of a little one on one, but there were four boys surrounding him. Dean figured they didn't really know how to fight, didn't have the training he did, so he could take them, no problem.

The first blow came to his right cheek, just below his eye. Another fist met his stomach, forcing him to fight back the bile that rose in the back of his throat. When the second blow hit his stomach, he was gasping for air. Before he was able to catch his breath, a fist smashed into his nose. The boys were laughing. They thought they were winning. The two who were holding onto him let go, allowing Dean to slump to his knees as he caught his breath.

That was their first mistake, as soon as Dean was able to breathe, he kicked out, letting his foot come into contact with as many legs as he could with one simple swing. The boys fell to the ground. One of them started crying when his head smacked into the wall. He was on top of another boy before they even knew what hit them. He was pounding his fist into his face, over and over. The boy was crying out, begging for Dean to stop.

When Dean thought he'd had enough, he moved on to the next kid. He had been tugging at Dean's shoulder, trying to pull him off his friend. He slammed is elbow into his nose. The cartilage cracking and blood that started to flow was a sure sign he caused a break. When he looked around for the fourth boy, he was no where to be found. He had gotten scared and ran away.

Dean stood back up, whipping the blood from his hands, onto his pants, walked over to Sally, grabbed her face in his hands, and planted an extra forceful kiss on her lips.

"Thanks for the good time" he said in the most smug voice he could muster up, then he walked away.

The three boys laid there crying, like babies. Sally stood in complete shock, and disgust that Dean was able to take on all three of the boys, and win.

The teachers went into a fit when they saw Dean's face. He didn't have a choice but to tell them what had happened. They rushed around the corner to find the other injured boys. They tried to say it was Dean's fault, that he had started it. Dean had already given them the story when they first approached him, and to his surprise, Sally had told the truth as well, she even told them they tried to set him up, to teach him a lesson because he was such a freak.

"What happened?" Sam asked as soon as he saw his brother's face after school

"Nothing"

"It's obviously not nothing, Dean"

"Don't worry about it."

"Did you get in a fight?"

"Yeah, something like that"

"Does Dad know?"

"Why you gotta ask so many questions? Of course, he knows. You wouldn't think the school would let me go without calling him, would ya?"

"Is he mad?"

"Look, he's gotta come back, be at school in the morning. So of course, he's mad"

"Are you gonna get in trouble?"

"Stop being so stupid, when we get home, I expect you to get started on your homework, then take your bath. I want you in bed before Dad gets home, you got it?"

"Yeah" Sam lowered his head, he knew Dean was probably going to get in trouble, that's why he wanted to make sure Sam was asleep as early as possible.

Dean worked hard to get their nightly routine finished before Dad got home. He helped Sam with his homework while he did his own, then he fixed supper while Sam took a bath. Once they were both done, the sat down to eat.

"Can I watch tv when we're done?"

"Yeah, for a little while, but you're going to bed early tonight, don't forget"

"I won't"

Sam finished his food, and sat himself in front of the tv. Dean worked on cleaning the kitchen and straightening the room.

"Sam, I need you to stay here, I'm going to take our clothes to the washing machines down the hall, I'll only be gone for a couple minutes, make sure you lock the door behind me."

Sam gave a huff, like it was asking too much of him to get up and lock the door. "Okay" he said, still preoccupied by the tv.

Dean gathered their clothes. They needed clean clothes for school tomorrow, so it wasn't like Dean had much of a choice. He was just thankful the motel provided a washer and dryer. It sure beat having to walk a mile or more to the nearest laundry mat. That was always a chore because he couldn't leave Sammy alone, and he always complained when he had to go with him.

Dean's heart dropped when he saw the familiar impala parked outside the door to their room. He hadn't been gone for longer than two minutes. He couldn't believe Dad had made it back while he wasn't on Sammy guard. 'great, just something else to get in trouble for' he thought to himself as he made his way into the room.

Sam was sitting on Dad's lap, telling him all about his week at school. John shot Dean a look when he walked through the door. Dean, instinctually turned and locked the door, fixing the salt line that had been shifted.

"Oh, so now you decide to lock the door?" John said with anger in his voice.

Dean was shocked, "I told Sammy to make sure he locked it behind me. He said he would. I just took some clothes to the washer, we need clean clothes for school tomorrow. I wasn't gone but a minute or two."

"Stop your damn rambling" John cut him off

"Sam it's your bedtime" Dean said, looking directly at his brother, daring him to defy him, especially after he left the door unlocked.

Sam gave his dad a hug, "Night Daddy"

"Night Buddy"

"Sorry" he whispered as he walked past Dean and crawled into their bed.

"Get your ass over here and sit down, we got some things to talk about"

"Yes sir"

"What the hell happened today?"

Dean proceeded to tell his dad everything that took place, how they had set him up, and the only reason the boys got a jump on him was because the girl had him distracted, but as soon as he had a chance he laid into them, making sure they weren't able to fight him anymore, at least not today.

A part of John was proud of his son. Proud of him for sticking up for himself, for defending himself, and not starting the fight. He had waited until he knew he could fight back before he even attempted anything. He calculated their moves and used his training to put them in their place. He couldn't be mad at him for that. If anything, it was good practice for when he started hunting.

But, he was still called back home, and in the middle of an important hunt. That kind of behavior wasn't acceptable at school, and John knew he needed to have a harsh talk about the consequences. He wasn't exactly sure what to say.

"I'm glad you were able to defend yourself, and it sounds like, with the girl's statement, there's no mistaking who started it, but you have to understand, when you fight at school there's consequences, and when I get called back from a hunt, there's even bigger consequences. And, you'll need to be punished, not because you defended yourself, but because you caused problems, problems we don't need!"

Dean just sat, staring at his dad. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He knew Dad was right, he knew it wasn't good to leave a hunt, especially for something like this, but there wasn't anything else Dean could have done, except let the boys get the best of him, but he knew if he let that happen his dad would still be furious.

"Look, I'm exhausted, so lets just get this done" John said with a sigh as he pulled his belt from his pants. "I can't believe this is the second time since we've been here that I've had to use my belt on you"

Dean wanted to cry. He wanted anything but that. He was still healing from the last time, but he did as his father ordered. His pants were slipped from his waist, leaving bare skin exposed. He laid across his dad's lap, and winced with every strike of the belt. This time, since he still had wounds from the last encounter with the belt, stung worse than before, but Dean refused to cry, refused to show his weakness.

When he was done, he ordered Dean to run to the school and back, a total of 4 miles, then take a shower and get to bed when he finished. It was already getting late, but he did as he was told, without a word of disobedience, without a simple utter of complaint.

When Dean returned, both his brother and his dad were sound asleep. Dean took a shower the way his dad told him to then made his way to bed. It didn't take him long to join the others in sleep. It had been a long day, his body ached from a mixture of the fight, the spanking, and the midnight run. He was exhausted. He didn't even seem to be able to worry about the following day before he had closed his eyes and allowed sleep to take over his mind.