The day after Hester told everyone she was lying, Deanna's dad called to let her back home, and despite Cas' protests, she complied.
And a week after that, prom talk started at Trumple High.
Deanna was driving Cas home when he asked, "What are your thoughts on prom?"
"I don't really wanna go. I'm not a good dancer."
"Oh. Well do you care if I go? I think Mike would skin me if I didn't."
"Nah, go ahead. Just don't dance with any paper shakers, alright?"
"No way."
Deanna smiled and kissed him on the cheek as they pulled up to the Novak household.
"See you tomorrow," Cas said, shutting the car door.
"See ya tomorrow, Clyde," Deanna responded, pulling away.
Oh, what a day tomorrow would be.
Deanna walked up to Castiel's locker with creased brows just as Meg Masters was walking away.
"Meg Masters?" The mechanic asked. "I thought I advised you *not* to talk to any of the queens, ya bundie."
Castiel rolled his eyes. "She isn't that popular, Deanna."
"They're all the same to me. If she was talking to you, she probably wanted more than a conversation. Meg Masters is almost as bad as Hester in my book."
Cas' eyes grew wide as plates and he bit his lower lip, running a hand through his already unruly hair.
Deanna narrowed her green eyes into slits. "What did you do?"
"Uh-well...she asked me!"
The Winchester's mouth fell open. "Are you taking Meg Masters to PROM?"
Cas swallowed. "Yes."
Dee pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes again. "Two can play at that game. Asshole."
And then she pushed past him to make her way to homeroom.
Castiel didn't see her for the rest of the day. She didn't sit with him at lunch like usual. She didn't show up to History (well, that much was normal). She wasn't in the halls. Which left Cas nervous all day.
Until he saw her outside after school next to Nick Munroe's car, batting her eyelashes and laughing at something he had just said.
No, Cas wasn't nervous. He was fuming. He stormed over to the car, crossing his book bag over his chest in a rage.
"Deanna? What the hell are you doing?" He asked once he got over to Nick's '55 Bel Air.
They both looked at him, the pair chewing on gum. Castiel hated gum.
"Discussing this cool bent eight eight my prom date. Why? Is there a problem?" Deanna answered with an innocent look on her face.
Cas exhaled sharply. "Not at all."
And then he walked back to the office, another one of her giggles chasing him away. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings, after all. He did it accidentally, but she was messing with him on purpose. How that was fair beat him.
Three hours later, when Michael's football practice was over, even he noticed something was up.
"You okay, Castiel?" The jock asked his little brother.
"My girlfriend is overreacting to something that isn't my fault."
"Oh, you mean how Nick is taking her to prom?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Luke helped Nick ask. It was all Luke's idea, actually."
Cas' heart stopped momentarily. "You mean our brother did this?"
"Yeah. He's been screwing with people a lot lately, Castiel. I wouldn't let it get to you."
When Cas and Michael got home, Castiel raced down the hall,tossed his book bag into his room and went into Mike's, Gabe's, and Luke's room. The blonde was sitting on his bed, reading a book. He didn't even look up when Cas came in.
"Hello Castiel."
"You assbutt."
That made Luke look up, confused. "Was that supposed to be an insult, little brother?"
"What did you do?"
"I'm going to suppose you're talking about Nick and your little girlfriend, since that's the only thing that should concern you. Well you see, ya little nosebleed, your Sophie came to me asking about how to get back at a girl she thinks has demonic tendencies. I heard that girl is affiliated with you now, and I decided to just get you instead. It seemed more...malicious."
Castiel simply shook his head and slammed the door.
The next day, as Michael and Castiel walked up the steps to Trumple High, things really got ugly.
Michael's girlfriend, Rachel, walked up to them.
"I need to speak to Mike. Alone," she demanded, pulling him off to the side.
So Castiel waited, reading a book, until his brother came back over to him, a look up pure rage plastered on his face.
"Luke is about to get a knuckle sandwich."
As Cas later found out (from Victor Henriksen, of all people), Luke told Rachel that Mike was fooling around so Rachel would break up with Mike. Making Michael mad was never good news.
And if that wasn't enough, Anna was rushing around their house talking about prom dresses, and Gabriel, being the messenger of the family, told everyone over Thursday's dinner that Dad was coming for a visit, to celebrate Gabe, Luke, and Michael graduating.
Castiel Novak was hopelessly, terribly, unnaturally stressed.