Authors Note: Hey I hope everyone had a good weekend ... thanks for all the reviews ... I love knowing what you all think. Here we go ...

Chapter 15. The straw that broke the camels back.

Sam should have realized something was wrong before the basketball tournament had begun again. When their team had met back at the basketball court Stacey had seemed pissed off. He was sure he had heard both Dean and her brother ask her what was wrong and she had snapped at them that nothing was wrong.

Then once the game had begun the worse thing could have happened Dean and Dane had been placed on each other. Sam knew for a fact that Dean didn't like the guy and that Dane didn't like Dean. He had heard that often enough from Mike.

He had to admit though that he admired his brother's restraint. Dane had been doing everything in his power to screw Dean up on the court without getting caught and Dean hadn't tried to kill him yet. Sam had a feeling that Stacey looking pissed off and Dane giving Dean an extra hard time on the court was because Dane didn't appreciate his girlfriend talking to Dean. In Sam's opinion the guy was a serious Jerk.

The game was getting more and more intense and once again, despite Dane's concealed attacks on Dean, it was turning out to be a pretty close game.

Sam brought his thoughts back to the present as he saw Lynda dribbling the ball towards him.

"Lynda," he called out, holding his hands up asking to be thrown the ball.

He had known before he had called out to Lynda that Dean was behind him not far from the hoop. As soon as the ball was in his hands he turned around quickly and before anyone could register he had thrown the ball to his brother's waiting arms.

Dean caught the ball and immediately began moving to get close enough for a shot. He had moved three steps before he felt something connect with his ankle and he went flying. He threw the ball out of reflex before landing heavily on the ground.

He managed to save his head from meeting the asphalt by splaying his hands out in front of him. He heard a snicker from behind him and started getting angrier. Dean wasn't known for having a tight reign on his temper so he had been quite proud of himself today for not grabbing Dane by the throat and knocking the guys head off.

He knew that his little trip hadn't been an accident, just like all the other taunts and jabs that were sent his way since the start of the game. The guy really didn't know who he was messing with. Pastor Jim had told him that if you ignore bullies they eventually get bored and go away. Dean knew, from experience, that most of the time that was a load of crap but still probably more for Sam's sake than anyone else's, he had kept himself under control.

Dean pushed himself up as he heard the blue team cheer as the got the ball in the hoop putting them one point ahead. Dane was standing right next to where Dean had fallen wearing a shit eating grin on his face that Dean really wanted to wipe off. He stalked the couple of steps towards Dane with a menacing look on his face.

"What the hell is your problem Baker?" he hissed getting right in the kids face.

Dane was at least three inches taller than Dean but that didn't intimidate him in the least.

"Just a little reminder Winchester, stay away from my girl."

Dean's eyes widened, he should have known what this was all about especially when Stacey had come back from lunch all pissed off, "I haven't touched her moron and you can't stop us from talking. She's her own person and if she happens to like talking to me more than you then that's not my problem."

"I mean it … I don't want her around trailer trash like you," Dane replied bringing himself up to his full height in order to tower over the hunter.

A smirk played across Dean's face. Like he had never been called that before and did this guy really think that the little bit of height difference was going to scare him away?

"Dean! Dane! That's enough!" Miss Northam shouted across the court walking towards the two boys who were currently in a face off.

Despite the fact that their teacher had addressed them and the game had stopped Dean and Dane didn't loose eye contact with each other.

Sam watched as the boys were both giving each other challenging looks. He knew that if Dane ever actually tried to take his brother on he would end up flat on his ass. Dean might have been smaller but he was trained in hand to hand combat by one of the best.

"Boys, what is going here?" Jacqueline asked coming to stand in front of the two teenagers, Mr. Graham not far behind her.

"Dane tripped him Ma'am," Daniel spoke up before anyone had the chance. The young boy had been sitting on the sidelines awaiting his turn and had witnessed every shot Dane had taken at the oldest Winchester, "On purpose," he added.

"Is that true Dane?"

"No Ma'am it's not my fault that Winchester is clumsy," Dane replied, his eyes still on Dean's.

"He's not clumsy, you're cheating!" Sam said coming to stand next to his brother, who put a hand on his shoulder, not letting him get to close to the other boy.

Dane finally broke the trance him and Dean seemed to be in and looked down at the youngest Winchester, "Stay out of this you little shrimp."

Dean's eyes darkened at the sound of Dane addressing his little brother, "Don't talk to him."

He felt someone grab his arm and slightly pull him back from Dane, "Dean come on man," he heard Jay say quietly and he realized that it was Jay's hand on his arm.

Sam looked up at his brother and saw that Dean was at the edge of a cliff with this guy and it wasn't going to take much to send him over. He needed to calm down.

"Honestly I wouldn't cheat. It was an accident," Dane emphasized putting his hands up in a surrendering motion.

"I didn't see anything, stop trying to cause trouble Mr. Winchester," Mr. Graham said coming to stand in between the two.

Dean's eyes widened exasperation, "I get tripped over and yet I'm trying to cause trouble?"

"Yeah it's not my fault you can't play basketball for crap … no need to get all hostile," Dane told him with a smart arse grin behind Mr. Graham's back.

"Hostile? You want me to go hostile on your ass?"

"Dean, that's enough. Go take a break on the sidelines and calm yourself down," Jacqueline told him putting a hand on his shoulder, "and watch your language."

Dean stood there starring at the smartass look on Dane's face, not moving until he felt someone pull on his arm again, "Come on Dean, it's not worth it." Jay said finally succeeding in dragging his friend away, causing Sam to sigh in relief.

Dean gave one last hard look in Dane's direction and then let Jay drag him the rest of the way to the bench.

"You okay man?" he asked once Dean was seated obviously still fuming.

"I'm good, get out there and kick his ass," Dean told him.

"Not a problem." Dean watched as Jay made his way back to the court and Miss Northam made her way over to where he was sitting.

"You mind telling me what that was all about?" she asked sitting next to him.

"It's nothing Ma'am," Dean lied. He wasn't in the mood to discuss this with a teacher.

"Yes because nothing always gets you so riled up," she answered sarcastically, "I'm serious Dean."

Dean sighed, "Let's just say that Dane and I aren't the best of friends and leave it at that."

"I have to be honest, I didn't see it myself but did he trip you?"

Dean looked up and her and saw that she looked like she wanted to believe him, "Yeah he did … he's been going at me all game."

"Why haven't you said anything?"

"Its nothing I can't handle."

Jacqueline sighed. It was pretty much what she thought he was going to say, "Well at the moment there is nothing I can do about it but you need to calm yourself down and if you have any more problems with him Dean, please tell me, rather than the alternative."

"Okay," he replied although he knew that there was no guarantee that he would. He still appreciated the sentiment.

"Okay," she said standing up, "Jennifer you're on. Let's play some basketball."

Dean watched as Miss Northam and the young student named Jennifer made their way back onto the court. He saw Sam take his position and noticed that Jay was now on Dane. /Lucky Him/ he thought as he felt someone sit down next to him.

"Hey." Dean recognized the voice as Stacey's.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry about all that."

Dean looked up at her, "Why are you sorry?"

She grimaced and looked back out at the basketball court, "I think maybe it's my fault that Dane was targeting you."

Dean nodded, looking ahead also watching the game being played on the court, "It's not your fault Stacey. All we have done is talk to each other and you're allowed to be friends with who ever you want to. He doesn't own you. Besides like I said I can handle him."

"Friends huh?" she asked looking back at him and smiling.

"Well after you just got me into a fight the least you can do is consider me a friend," he said cheekily.

Stacey laughed, "Oh so now it is my fault when it's convenient for you."

"I'm just joking." he laughed.

Stacey smiled and looked him in the eyes, "I guess I could tolerate considering you a friend, you're not so bad."

"Well I'm glad I'm not so bad," he replied mocking her voice, making her laugh slightly again.

Dean smiled; he liked to listen to her laugh because he thought that she had a great laugh. He saw that she was a lot like her brother, just a generally nice person and one other person that he was beginning to accept as more than just a conquest but a friend also.

Dane was quite pleased with himself. He had enjoyed taunting and getting a rise out of Winchester. The guy needed to learn to stay away from his girl. Stacey had argued with him over lunch that Dean was just a nice guy but he was going to hear none of that. The guy was trash and he didn't want trash near his girlfriend.

Because of his actions he had also put his team in the lead which was an added bonus.

He heard a familiar laugh and looked over to the red team's side and saw that Dean was sitting and laughing with Stacey. He felt anger building up again. Obviously his little lesson on the court had done nothing to slow Winchester's advances towards his girlfriend.

Dane looked away from the sight. He didn't want to watch it anymore. Winchester needed to pay and a thought just occurred to him. It was no secret that the oldest Winchester was fiercely protective of the little shrimp he called a younger brother.

Dean and Stacey's concentration was back on the game, both sitting alongside their other teammates supporting the rest of the red team that was still playing the game. He watched with pride as Sam caught a pass and went for a shot. He wasn't surprised when his brother sunk the basket and cheered out to his brother on a job well done.

He saw Sam looking back at him with a huge smile. Dean laughed internally. No matter how annoyed Sam seemed to get with him lately he still couldn't hide the pleasure he got when Dean praised him. Dean would never admit it to Sam of course but it made him feel good for his brother to look up to him so much.

His happiness was short lived when he saw Dane run passed his brother. The next moment seemed to go in slow motion in Dean's vision as he watched his little brother go down fast when he copped an elbow to the face.

Dane had planned his attack on the young teen the moment he saw Miss Northams attention was on other students. He was quick and the young Winchester boy went down fast. He didn't have time to celebrate his small victory as he felt something collide into him at an alarming speed.

Dean saw red when he saw Dane's elbow connect with his brother's face. This time he didn't think and he didn't hold back. He jumped up and raced across the court, vaguely hearing Stacey call his name behind him.

He tackled Dane to the ground and heard a satisfied grunt as the taller boy hit the ground hard. He managed to get in two punches before he felt Mr. Graham and someone else dragging him off the other teen. He knew it was Mr. Graham because he could hear the teacher barking orders at him. He struggled in their grip.

It was bad enough that the guy had pushed and pushed him all day but hitting Sam had been the straw that broke the camel's back. Nobody touched his brother.

"Dean!" he realized that Jay was the other person holding him back.

"Dude, get off me!" he said angrily trying to shrug off the hold.

"As much as I would love to see you pummel him, you can't okay!" Jay told him forcefully, giving him a little shake for emphasis.

"Dean … I'm okay," Sam told him, grabbing hold of one of his arms, his other hand holding his nose.

Seeing Sam hold a bloody nose nearly sent him into a rage again but he realized that it wasn't getting him anywhere and he could see that Sam wanted him to settle down so he tried to calm himself once again.

Jay could feel Dean's taught muscles start to relax and felt that it was probably safe to let his friend go, "Is it safe to let you go?"

"I'm fine Dude, let me go."

Jay looked at Sam and the younger boy nodded so he released him only for Mr. Graham to swing Dean around to face him, "Just what do you think you were doing?" the old man yelled in his face.

"What does it look like?" Dean sniped in reply.

"Don't be smart with me boy."

"Fine I'll be stupid then," Dean replied sarcastically.

Sam groaned, "Dean this is not helping."

"Fine you wanna know what I was doing? That asshole," Dean said pointing to Dane, still on the ground, "Just tried to knock my brother's head off, I was returning the gesture."

"That's no excuse Mr. Winchester. You are to let the teachers handle things like that."

"Oh yeah, because you have all done such a wonderful job of handling things so far."

Sam watched as Mr. Graham seemed to get angrier and angrier with every smartass remark out of his brothers mouth.

"One more smart alec remark from you boy and you'll be in even more trouble," Mr. Graham warned.

Sam watched as his brother went to reply and thought that it would be better if he jumped in and saved Dean from getting into any more trouble on account of him.

"Dean!" he called, once again grabbing his brother's arm to get his attention.

Dean looked down at his brother again and really took in the sight of him this time. Sam clearly had a blood nose and now that his focus was back on his little brother he turned his back on the old teacher, "Sammy you okay?" he asked grabbing his brother's head in his hands.

Sam rolled his eyes, shrugging out of his brothers grip, "I'm fine Dean, just relax okay," he told him, "please," he added, using his puppy dog look.

Dean tried to ignore the look on his brothers face but he could see that Sam really wanted him to let it go for now and as much as he didn't want to he found himself giving in.

"Mr. Graham I'm going to take Dane inside, Mrs. Connors is trained in first aid, Sam I think you should come along too."

Dean put his hand on his brother's shoulder, "I'm coming. I don't want my brother anywhere near him without me around." He stipulated.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Dean!" he complained.

"I don't think you have the right to have a say in the matter Mr. Winchester," Mr. Graham argued.

"It's alright Mr. Graham I think Dean should get his hand checked out anyway," Jacqueline told him, giving Dean a small smile.

Dean nodded gratefully at her.

"Very well but I want you to go straight your room when your finished, meet me in the classroom in one hour," Mr. Graham told him sternly letting him know that there was going to be some repercussions for his actions.

Dean just glared at the old man until he felt Jay nudge him, "Yes Sir," he grated out.

"Okay people lets finish this game shall we," Mr. Graham shouted to all the students that had been standing around gigging at the scene.

Dean watched Miss Northam and Kyle help a staggering Dane towards the back of the building.

"Are you okay?" Stacey asked coming to stand next to her brother.

"Yeah just great," he murmured in reply.

"Man you can sure throw a punch," Jay said with a little awe.

"I'm sorry about all of this, Dean … really," Stacey apologized. Dean was already shaking his head.

"I told you before none of this is your fault … if you wanna blame someone blame that oaf of a boyfriend of yours."

"Come on Dean before Mr. Graham throws you off the court," Sam said pulling Dean by the arm, when he noticed that Mr. Graham was looking at them in annoyance.

"Okay guys … Kick ass," Dean said smiling at his friends.

"Of course," Jay replied, "good luck!"

"Thanks," Dean replied with a humorless chuckle as he began to follow Sam towards the building.

Dean inwardly groaned as he opened and closed his fist. Today had not turned out like he had planned.

TBC ...

Finally Dean got to punch the bastard up ... hope you liked it :-) Reviews are more than welcome :-) see ya soon