Hello everyone, and welcome back to a new chapter! I hope you all enjoy!
Ages:
Carter: 17, during her junior year of high school
Dean: 30
Sam: 26
Takes place during season 5
Warnings: cursing, brief mention of bullet wound (not descriptive)
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or its characters
The roar of the Impala mixed with Dean's bad singing as they cruised through residential streets. Carter absentmindedly tugged on the sling around her left arm, and adjusted the coat that hung around it. The bullet wound in her shoulder ached like hell and she longed to pop another painkiller, but she had to space out the pills more than usual. It wasn't often they sought actual medical attention, and it wasn't often that they were given legit pills, so they tried to make them last as long as possible. The pills they got for Carter's shoulder would last them a dozen hunts if they were lucky.
"Mister Saturday Night Special, you got a barrel that's blue and cold! You ain't good for nothin', but puttin' men six fe-!" Dean sang as he pulled into the busy parking lot of Millersville High School. Carter immediately reached over and turned the radio down, cutting him off mid-word and scowling in his direction.
"Woah, hey! Keep your grubby hands off my tunes!"
Dean reached over to turn the music back up, but Carter reached the knob first, not moving her fingers an inch.
"Your tunes?"
Dean did a double take as he moved forward into the drop off lane. "Yeah?" He asked, not sure whether she was actually questioning him or if she was just being difficult. "What? What's wrong with that?"
Slowly, she shook her head. "God, you are so old." A small smile crept onto her face as she nearly missed Dean's arm reaching across the seat towards her. "Hey, I'm down an arm, I'm at a severe disadvantage here!" She laughed and blocked another fist aimed in her direction.
With Carter distracted ducking under his half baked punches, he was able to turn the dial back up, way up, so "Saturday Night Special" was rocking the car again.
"It's the Saturday Night Special, and I'd like to-"
Just as quickly, Carter's fingers reached the dial and wrenched it back down so there was silence in the car, save for their chuckles and labored breathing.
"Are you trying to embarrass me on my first day?"
"Oh sweetheart, I don't have to try. You do that all on your own." Dean chucked a shit-eating grin her way and laughed.
Dean pulled the Impala to the front of the line and stopped. "You're a jerk, you know that?" Carter shook her head, grabbing her bag and stepping out of the car.
"Hell yeah, I am!" He called, and before she could complete her eye roll and slam the door, he had to do his responsible big brother duties, all jokes aside. "Hey, be careful with your arm today! You rip those stitches out, I'll beat your ass."
"Yeah yeah, whatever," she retorted before slamming the door and joining the swarm of high schoolers. As the Impala pulled away, the music was turned back up and the next song started blasting from the speakers. Carter quickly ducked away and joined the crowd of moving students.
Any good mood Dean put her in moments before disintegrated at the sight of the school ahead of her. It was a small school, with just under two hundred students in total and just enough teachers to cover them. It was the type of school that noticed a new student right away, and word about them spread incredibly fast. Carter knew that by the start of second period, the whole junior class would know about her.
She hated schools like this.
She wanted nothing more than to blend in and not be noticed, not be ridiculed and dissected like the frogs in biology class. But it was fruitless. Every new school, the students either immediately hated her or were hungry for gossip. Only once in her whole school career had she had a school where the students all wanted to be friends with her, who fawned over her to get close to the new meat. It had been an incredibly small school, with only one small class encompassing the whole grade, and the kids just wanted someone new to talk to besides the same kids they were stuck with for years. That school was the worst. Carter was pulled in so many directions, and every small action she made was shared with everyone. It was stressful. She knew that by the time she left that school, everyone had connected the sudden FBI appearance, the dead bodies, and the returned victims, to her and her family.
A searing pain ripped through Carter's bad shoulder as a kid was pushed into her.
"Hey, watch it!" Carter cried as she bit back the wave of pain echoing from her shoulder to her chest and down her arm.
The body slammer turned to face her, not even recognizing that she had been behind him. "Oh shit, my bad," he replied, though with hardly any remorse.
Carter merely rolled her eyes and went to step around them to head inside the building, but his voice called after her.
"Hey wait, are you the new girl?"
Carter continued forward, feeling the two boys following behind her. "Nope, been here for years." Reaching the door, she swung it open with her one good arm and nearly smiled when her bag slipped off her shoulder and almost knocked the body slammer in the groin. He deserved the hit, but alas fate was on his side.
Pretending to not notice, the body slammer continued to follow. "Nah, I don't think so. I would've noticed you before. You're a junior, right?"
Carter followed the swarm of students through the building, vaguely remembering the way to the front office. She had been there with Dean just the day before to sign up for classes. "Guilty," she finally relented and answered.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm Jake, I'm a junior, too. We heard we were getting a new girl yesterday, everyone's been talking about it."
"Great," she muttered. With only one arm through the sleeves of her coat, the left side began slipping off her shoulder. Adjusting it back in place, she used that chance to take a good look at Jake. Both Jake and his friend were lanky, she could tell that from the moment they bumped into her. A mop of brown hair circled Jake's head, and a thick winter coat wrapped around his chest. He carried himself with a slight hunch of the shoulders, like he was too used to ducking under doorways that he forgot to stand back up.
"I'm sorry again about your arm, Nate is a dick," Jake said as he watched her motions.
Nate, on Carter's right, threw his arms up in protest. "I'm right here, man. Literally standing right here."
"Fuck off."
"It's fine." Carter cut through their argument. If anything, she was tired of breaking up petty man-boy fights. She dealt with enough of that at home. She took another turn towards the office, the throng of students getting thicker as she got closer.
"What'd you do to it, anyway?" Jake asked, peering down at her sling but not seeing any cast.
Finally the door to the office appeared, relief at last. "Dislocated my shoulder," she said. She stopped in front of the door and turned to face Jake, seeing if he accepted her lie.
"Damn," Nate spit out from behind her.
Jake's eyes flicked to Nate's quickly before settling back on Carter's. "That sucks."
When he didn't elaborate, Carter couldn't hold back another eye roll. "As much as I would love to continue this stimulating conversation, I have to go."
"Guess I'll see you later, then," he said, and as Carter opened the office door and started disappearing inside, he called out, "Good luck with Rebecca!"
The heavy wooden door shut behind her and engulfed the office in sudden silence. The room was in sharp contrast to the busy and boisterous hallway, as only a few people decorated the room. Carter sidled up to the main front desk, where a woman with thick glasses and coiffed hair stood arranging papers.
"Excuse me?"
The woman's head snapped up, and after a quick moment, recognition swallowed her and she smiled. "Ah, Ms. Winchester, right? I'm just working on gathering the rest of your paperwork, it'll be just a moment."
Carter nodded and smiled. She took that moment to glance around the room while she waited. It was an old school, she could easily see that. Antique wooden chairs lined one of the office walls, and thick, unpainted trim circled the door frames. Behind the front desk, a small hallway extended to contain five doors, one of which she knew belonged to the principal, whom she was required to meet yesterday in order to attend the school. After that meeting, Dean made Carter promise that that was the only time she'd ever sit in those chairs, and it was a promise Carter made with fingers crossed.
It wasn't that she liked getting in trouble, it was more so that trouble had a keen habit of always finding her. She had a short temper and no patience for bullshit, and fists that were always ready to fly. She might have been down one fist, but that didn't mean she was willing to lose a fight.
"Have a great day, Mr. Daniels!" A chipper blonde walked out of the principal's office just as Carter was starting to zone out. Her attention immediately snapped to the girl, and she watched as she walked up to the secretary. "Good morning, Mrs. Decker."
"Good morning, Rebecca! How was the game last night?" The secretary, Mrs. Decker apparently, printed off another sheet of paper and added it to her pile.
"It was great! We won by a landslide, 20-7." Rebecca looked up towards Carter and explained, "I play trombone for the marching band; our football team played against Mellow Lake last night, one of our biggest rivals."
Carter nodded her head and smiled politely, looking like she couldn't care less. Because, well, she couldn't. "Cool."
"That's great, another one for the books, huh?" Mrs. Decker responded, and grabbed the last paper off the printer. She paperclipped them together and walked over to where Carter stood at the counter. "Here's your schedule, school map, and lunch calendar for the month." She handed over the three pages, and then the small clipped stack. "And here are a couple pages for your dad to fill out, whenever he gets the chance. Just bring them back to the office when he's finished."
The word dad stuck in Carter's throat like a dozen saltine crackers. She struggled to swallow and take a breath and actually answer the woman. It wasn't worth her energy to correct her, and the pitying looks that came with my dad is dead hurt worse than actually saying it. The reality was, her dad was dead. Very dead. Never-coming-back dead. That was a fate only a Winchester could manage to change, but they couldn't. They wouldn't. John was in Heaven and that was it, case closed.
Didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell to acknowledge that, though.
"And Carter, this is Rebecca, your student guide," Mrs. Decker went on like she hadn't just made a huge mistake. "You're both in most of the same classes, so she'll show you around and get you settled. Sound good?"
Carter recovered enough to toss an annoyed look in Rebecca's direction. "Thanks, but I don't need a babysitter."
Her look did nothing to dampen Rebecca's spirits. "Oh, don't think of me like a babysitter, think of me more like a … a tour guide, someone who knows the best cafeteria food, the best seats in class, and the quickest routes through the halls." She came out from around the counter. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
Carter must've sighed and looked resigned because Rebecca took that as acceptance. "Yes, okay! This'll be great, I promise. Let's go before the bell rings; we'll see you tomorrow Mrs. Decker!" Rebecca nearly skipped out of the office, with Carter trailing slowly behind.
Rebecca took a left out of the room, and looked back only once to make sure she was still being followed.
"So how'd you get stuck on babysitter duty?" Carter asked once she caught up.
"Oh, I signed up for this. We have a club here called the Spirit Club, and we help with different things around the school. One of my jobs is helping new students find their way around and helping them settle in."
"And what's in it for you?"
Rebecca looked over at Carter, searching her face to see if she really couldn't figure it out. "The satisfaction of helping people? Knowing that I made their first few days not terrible? I was a new kid once, it wasn't fun. If I can help other new kids not feel how I felt, then it's all worth it to me."
Carter couldn't answer, too surprised by her response. She almost felt bad for treating Rebecca badly, but she swallowed that. Rebecca was a new kid once, Carter was a new kid every couple of months. She had a right to not want special attention, and not be treated like a kindergartener.
"Plus," Rebecca smiled and leaned in close, "I get let out of classes early and can show up late if I need to."
Ah, there it was. A small chuckle escaped Carter's lips before she realized it even happened. "Now you're speaking my language."
"Oh yeah? Well maybe you should join Spirit Club too, then you can skip class without the repercussions."
"But where's the fun in that? And, uh, I definitely won't be here long enough to join, as fun as that sounds." At a confused look, Carter explained, "My family moves around a lot, this is already my third school this year."
"No way, seriously? That sucks, I'm sorry. I can't imagine moving around so much; I did it once and I never want to do it again."
Finally, the school bell rang to get students to class, and Rebecca turned one more corner before stopping in front of a door.
"Here we are, Juniors English. Mr. Johnson is a great teacher, but he's a stickler for proper citations, so watch out for that. After this, we have history, you have public speaking, then we have algebra, lunch, you have an arts class, we have gym, then Spanish, and biology, and that's it!" Rebecca ticked the classes off on her fingers. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Mr. Johnson."
Carter didn't question the fact that she knew her whole schedule, but went along with it anyway. If it meant she didn't have to wander around the school lost, then what did it really matter at this point?
"Good morning, Mr. Johnson!" Rebecca called as she walked into class. The young teacher was standing at his desk, piling up the books he pulled from his bag. "This is Carter, our new student."
"Ah, nice to meet you Carter! Welcome to Millersville High School, and welcome to my English class!" Mr. Johnson brightened at the sight of his new student. "We're right in the middle of reading O'Brien's The Things They Carried, have you read it?"
Carter didn't even have to think before answering. If it didn't cover monsters, demons, or angels, she didn't have the time to read it. That's what Cliffs Notes were for, after all. And even when she tried to read the books her classes assigned, she usually moved before she could finish the book, and she was perpetually left on a cliffhanger.
"Uh no, can't say that I have."
Mr. Johnson fumbled, obviously not expecting her to not have read one of the more common junior reads. "Okay, we can get you caught up, we're about halfway through it now. Where did you move from? I'm just surprised your previous school didn't cover it, it's a pretty standard read."
"South Dakota." Did she just move from there? No. But had she been there in the past year? Yes, and she was more acquainted with that school compared to any other she had been to. "Sioux Falls," she specified.
More and more students filed into the room, and Carter wanted this conversation over as quick as possible.
"Okay, well it's no problem, I'll make sure to get you all caught up in our curriculum. For today, you can just listen along and see what you can pick up. Why don't you sit in that seat over there for today?" He pointed to a chair only three seats from the front, smack in the middle of the room. Carter nodded her head and prepared for a full period of unfriendly stares, before Mr. Johnson cut back in. He lowered his voice, "Oh, one more thing." He pointed to her sling. "Do you need someone to write for you? Student accommodations sometimes take awhile to get to us."
Carter glanced down at her arm in the sling. She had almost forgotten it was there except for the dull pain echoing across her. "It's fine, I'm a righty actually."
"That looks like it hurts, what did you do to it?" He had no way of knowing she was actually in pain, but it was a clever way of needling himself into her business without seeming impolite.
"Shattered my elbow ice skating. Landed just right, and it just exploded," she said, spewing the first lie that came to her head. And before he could answer, she smiled and turned to take her seat.
The rest of class went as annoyingly as possible. Being in the center of the room allowed nearly everyone a good look at the new kid, and there was nowhere to hide. And despite what Mr. Johnson was proposing, Carter couldn't pick up much about the book they were reading. The author droned on, and the lesson around his ideas was boring. Mind numbingly so. Carter would rather be shot again than have to sit through another lesson on the topic.
Luckily, it wasn't long before class was over and she was onto the next one. History followed similarly to English. Rebecca gave an introduction to the teacher, Carter sat through a boring topic (this one being one she had actually learned already at her previous school, one which she didn't care about the first time), and the kids around her ruminated on her whole life as if she were a museum exhibit.
The class after was a public speaking class, and Rebecca made her usual introduction before dipping out to go to a different class. This class, at least, was a combination of students from different grades, so the pressure to perform was much lower. But unfortunately, the break was over and she was back in a juniors-only algebra class with Rebecca at her side. Instead of teaching a lesson, the teacher split the kids up into pairs (or a group of three in Carter's case, since she was lost on the topic and couldn't help Rebecca) to work on a packet.
The other girl in her group, Alyssa, seemed like a nice person and was focused solely on the assignment ahead. Rebecca and Alyssa nearly disappeared into the packet, and Carter was left to daydream as she wrote their answers down.
"Five bucks says she only sprained her wrist and is just milking it," a girl across from their group whispered. Carter's ears perked up as she became positive they were talking about her.
"What? No way, five bucks says it's something with her shoulder. My cousin had shoulder surgery and had to wear a sling like that," the girl next to her whispered.
This was exactly the kind of shit spreading Carter loved to mess with. Just by passively listening to the two girls talk through the first half of the period told Carter all she needed to know about her marks. Carefully, she leaned towards them and said, "Five bucks says neither of you are right."
The two girls whipped their heads towards her, not even the least bit ashamed for being caught gossiping. If anything, they were more offended that she inserted herself into their conversation.
The girl with a blonde braided updo spoke up first. "We weren't talking to you, if that wasn't obvious." She shot daggers at Carter as she narrowed her eyes.
"No, but you were talking about me while I'm sitting not even three feet away. There's no way in hell I was just going to ignore you."
The other girl brushed a curl off her shoulder and pursed her lips. "So what did you do then? Is it your wrist or your shoulder?"
A smile twitched on Carter's lips as her response rolled off her tongue. "I was swimming on vacation in Kansas when I was attacked by a shark. Little fucker took a good chunk out of my shoulder. Luckily I was able to punch it square in the nose and I got away."
The girl with the curls looked like her eyes would bulge out of their sockets, she was so surprised. "Oh my god!"
"Oh come on, there's no sharks in Kansas! Kansas doesn't even have an ocean," Braided-hair replied with a defiant tilt of her head.
"Oh, you didn't hear?" Carter wasn't willing to give up that easily, she was having too much fun. "Some kid let a baby shark go free in one of the lakes there. I guess it grew up, must've eaten some of the local fish, and then it moved on to terrorizing the townspeople. It's been all over the news, you haven't seen it?"
"We don't watch the news," Curly hair explained, and then very obviously began checking out her shoulder. "Can I see it?"
As if it were a secret, Carter looked around the room to make sure no one was watching. When they weren't, Carter pulled aside the collar of her t-shirt and flannel to reveal a mass of gauze and tape and wraps. Of course, her actual wound was buried deep underneath the gauze, and was several inches south of the area she was showing. But it gave off the impression either way; it was hard to refute proof.
Dean had been the one to reapply her bandages every morning since the shooting. He took special care in making sure they weren't too tight or too loose, that the cream was properly applied, and that it was all covered back up again. Carter had a hunch that he felt guilty for the whole shooting, even though it wasn't his fault at all. They had been on a routine hunt when the monster got ahold of Dean's gun and shot Carter with it. The monster was just trying to throw Dean off his game, but it only ensured its own death, swiftly and painfully.
"Sharks can't live in lakes, you're just lying," Braided-hair snapped back.
Damn, this one was smarter than Carter gave her credit for.
"They have saltwater lakes in Kansas, Allie," Curly hair said. "My cousin went swimming in one, I think."
"Maybe, but not one infested with sharks."
"Oh, it was just the one shark," Carter interrupted.
"Yeah, it was just the one shark, Allie."
At her friend turning against her, Braided-hair, or Allie as her friend called her, just scoffed and flicked her hair from her shoulder. "Whatever, I'll believe it when I see it." She turned back to her worksheet.
Curly hair turned to Carter. "Don't mind her, she's just grumpy because she lost five bucks. That sucks what happened to you though, hopefully that shark is caught soon! Anyway, I guess I'll see you around." With that, she returned to her own worksheet and waited patiently for Allie to give her the answers.
With a sly smile, Carter turned back to her own group and noticed a small smile playing on Rebecca's lips, too. All she said, however, was the answer to the next problem.
By seventh period, Carter had already told two teachers and four students all different stories. Half of them were outlandish tales much like the shark story, and the other half were real possibilities. She had to balance it out, of course.
She was starting to have some real fun with it, too. She figured everyone would be talking about her anyway, so she might as well control the narrative.
Seventh period was gym class, and Carter was looking forward to not doing anything but relaxing for 45 minutes. When her injuries were less obvious, she usually had to lie her way out of gym class, or when that didn't work, she had to play through the pain. But this time it was quite obvious she couldn't play, and it was the second best thing to come of her bullet wound (the first being her opportunities to mess with people and get them to believe shark stories).
But because the weather was nice, and because the gym teacher seemed slightly hungover, he announced that instead of playing dodgeball or kickball or some other crap, they'd just be walking the track that period. The whole class wandered down to the track and began their march around with grateful faces. Friend groups split off to talk, leaving Carter behind with Mr. Anderson.
He had just sat down on his folding chair, and Carter had started to look for a seat along the edge of the track when his voice interrupted her. "How long you in a sling for?"
Carter abandoned her mission to find a dry spot and just remained standing. "Couple weeks probably," she replied, her mind already spinning of what ailment she would come up with this time. Something outlandish? Something more boring?
"That stinks, I had to wear a sling once for a couple months, it was horrible. What'd you do to deserve such a fate?"
"Broke my collarbone." Boring, it is.
"Ah, I've done that before. I played soccer in college, my teammate pushed another guy straight into me and snapped it in half. I couldn't finish the game, of course, I was too busy howling in pain on the ground. They had to call an ambulance and everything, I thought I was going to die. And luckily the other guy got red carded, and my teammates were so mad they almost beat the guy up. We won the game though, not sure how. My teammates met me at the hospital afterwards and told me."
Carter slowly realized this guy was a chatterer, and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with on her period off. Before he could move onto his next sentence, Carter interrupted, "You know what, I think I'm gonna walk the track after all. Stretch my legs and everything." Without waiting for his response, she took off.
It took only a couple minutes before Rebecca caught up with her. She was already walking with Alyssa, the girl from their math group.
"Decided to join us after all?"
Carter huffed out a chuckle. "Yeah, turns out that guy likes to listen to his own voice."
"Oh yeah, Mr. Anderson is really lonely. Honestly, most of us change for gym only so we don't have to sit with him on the bleachers."
"I'll have to remember that next time, I guess," she sighed. The group was able to lapse into silence for only a minute before a shout came from behind them.
"Hey, Winchester!"
Carter glanced over her shoulder and saw a familiar lanky brunette jogging his way over to her.
"You've met Jake, I take it?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh yeah," Carter responded as Jake fell in step beside her, "Jake and I go way back, all the way to this morning when he body slammed me."
"Hey, I apologized for that already!"
"Right, and as soon as you did, the pain magically went away."
He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "What can I say? I'm a miracle worker."
"If you're a miracle worker, I'd hate to see your resume."
"It's a little spotty, I'll admit, but nothing like yours, I hear."
The thought of Jake knowing Carter's resume sent icicles down her throat. How could he have possibly found out she was a hunter? How did he know she had blood on her hands, and graveyard dirt under nails? Did he see her this morning with Dean? Did he recognize them flashing their fake badges all around town?
"Oh yeah?" She asked, her voice on guard.
"Hell yeah, I didn't know someone could be bitten by a shark, dislocate their shoulder, and shatter their elbow all at the same time. Must've been one hell of an accident."
The tight grip on her throat released as she realized Jake didn't actually know anything. Sure, he knew enough to question her stories, but he was clueless otherwise. "Aw, have you been asking around about me?"
A bright pink flashed over his cheeks and the girls beside her laughed. "Hey, I can't help what the ear picks up in passing."
"I don't know, it kinda sounds like you've taken an interest in me. What do you think, Rebecca?" Carter joked.
Rebecca laughed. "Oh, someone's definitely got a crush."
Jake stuttered, blushing even harder. "No no, it's nothing like that-"
"What, you don't like me? Am I that repulsive?" Carter put her hand on her chest and turned towards Jake, feigning insult.
"No! God no, I never said-"
"So you do like me then?"
Jake became more flustered the longer he tried to recover. "I don't know! I mean you're very pretty, I'll admit that, but-"
"It's okay, Jake, you don't have to be embarrassed about having a crush on me. It's a very normal feeling." Carter couldn't stop the smile that split across her face.
"You know what, I give up; you girls are impossible." He stopped his walking and fell back into step with his group of guys twenty feet behind them.
The three girls laughed as he crawled back to safety.
"You know, I think someone else has a crush," Rebecca sang as she looked pointedly at Carter.
Carter did a double take, surprised with the new accusation. "Who, me? Definitely not, I just like messing with him."
"Sure, and flirting with him."
"I wasn't flirting with him, if I was flirting with him, I would've been successful."
Rebecca put her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay okay, whatever you say. I'm just telling you what I see."
"Well, I guess you saw wrong, then." Carter was quick to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on something she was uncertain on. "So, is there anything fun to do in this town?"
Two long periods later, the school day was finally done. Rebecca and Carter wandered out from biology class and headed towards the front of the school. The school buses and senior drivers had long gone, so the school was quite vacant. Dean had promised to pick Carter up right as school ended, but as Carter expected, he was running twenty minutes late. A witness interview gone long, he said - or something like that. Carter didn't care as much as she usually would because, she had to admit, she was actually having fun hanging out with Rebecca.
The two girls sat down on the stone front steps and waited for the purr of the Impala.
After spending the day with Rebecca, one single question had been gnawing at her. Carter cleared her throat. "So, everyone in this godforsaken school has asked what happened to my shoulder except you. What gives? You're not curious?"
Rebecca shrugged. "Oh, I'm plenty curious, but it's none of my business. I mean, you've given every person who's asked a different answer, so I figure you don't want people to really know."
Carter nodded her head but said nothing more. She had to respect the fact that Rebecca wouldn't pry. She had more self restraint than Carter did, that's for sure. The investigative side of hunting had made her a very curious person, and if she were in Rebecca's shoes she would've definitely been prying.
"I have to say," Rebecca said with a chuckle, "you told some great stories. I particularly liked the one where you said you got bit by a shark. Allie and Nadia's faces were priceless." She laughed as she remembered their looks.
Carter couldn't help but join in with the laughter. "That was definitely the best one, I can't believe Nadia played right along with me. Do you think she really believed me?"
Rebecca looked over at Carter with an incredulous look. "Nadia? She still thinks chocolate milk comes from brown cows, so yeah, she really believed you."
"No way, you're just exaggerating."
"Swear to God," Rebecca said with hands raised.
Carter scoffed. "Well I'll be damned."
The two lapsed into silence.
When Carter got up that morning, she hadn't expected to have a day half as good as the one she had. Usually the first day in a new school was no less than torture, and she was wishing the day over as quick as it started. But this time, dare she say it, it was actually enjoyable. She didn't have to flounder around the school looking for her classes, only to show up late and have to endure a room full of stares. She didn't have to sit alone at lunch. She didn't have to introduce herself a million times. Rebecca took control of everything, and for once Carter could just sit back and enjoy herself.
And it was an extra bonus that Rebecca wasn't a goody two shoes, stick in the mud kind of guide. She was actually fun! She was able to throw as many comebacks as Carter could, and was willing to go along with whatever she was saying.
For once, she was actually excited for school the next day.
Carter hesitated for a moment before asking, "You wanna know what really happened to my shoulder?" Rebecca looked over at her with interest. "I uh, I was shot. Hunting accident. Bullet went straight through, luckily it didn't hit anything important. It hurt like a bitch but it's healing pretty well."
Rebecca searched Carter's face for the truth, and finally burst out laughing. "I changed my mind, that was the best story you've told all day. What, did the bullet ricochet off a tree and come back at you? Oh! Or did Bambi show up with a gun instead and do a little target practice herself?"
The fact that Rebecca didn't believe her this time made Carter pause. She was surprised, considering that was the most honest she had been all day, and now she was being laughed at. Perhaps it was good she didn't believe her, though. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Carter played along. "Bambi for sure, it was a revenge shooting for killing her mom earlier in the season."
"Yes, of course!" Rebecca laughed.
Finally, Dean pulled into the parking lot, music blasting from the speakers.
"Up all night, with Freddie King - I got to tell you, poker's his thing. Booze and ladies, keep me right, as long as we can make it to the show tonight. We're an American band!"
Flipping her bag onto her shoulder, Carter stood up. "My ride's here, I'll see you tomorrow?" Dean stopped at the bottom of the stairs and drummed his fingers on the wheel as he watched the two girls.
"I'll be here," she confirmed and stood up as well. She glanced over at the car and took in the figure inside. Dean was still wearing his fed suit, no doubt having had just enough time to drop Sam off and rush over to the school after witness interviews. "Is that your dad?"
"My brother, Dean," she corrected. Then she took a quick glimpse of the parking lot and saw no one else pulling in. "Do you need a ride home? We can drop you off if you want."
"Oh, no thanks! I actually have band practice right now, I should probably get inside anyway."
"Wait, you missed band practice so you could hang out with me?"
She shrugged and lied. "It's all part of the Spirit Club package." Turning towards the school, she threw over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow!" before heading up the stairs.
Carter took her leave to the car as well. Opening the door, she flung her bag onto the floor and plopped down onto the seat. Instinctively, she turned the music down as Dean drove out through the parking lot.
"The hell did I tell you about touching my music?"
"Hmm, you said I'm free to change it whenever I want?"
Dean glanced over at her and gave her a warning look. "You're a little shit, you know that?"
She smiled. "Of course, that's my job."
Dean took another look as she kept smiling. "You switch your pain meds with happy pills this morning? What's going on, you're never this happy after school."
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Guess I just had a good day?"
"Well hell, that's something worth celebrating. Ice cream or pie?"
Of course, there was only one right answer to this question. "Ice cream," she said, and at the same time Dean said, "Pie."
A murderous look was thrown Carter's way, like she just betrayed the wisest ruler in all the land. His reaction was all she was looking for, so she threw her hands up in surrender. "My bad, pie it is." Then, she turned the music back up just as the next song was starting.
Maybe, just this once, things would turn out okay for the Winchesters.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Reviews, favorites, and follows are greatly appreciated!