Chapter 17. Sneaking Out
Dean lay on his bunk with his arms folded behind his head staring at the bunk above him. The rest of the day had been one major pain in the ass. The only consolation had been that he hadn't been the only person to cop punishment, thanks to Miss Northam Dane had been in just as much trouble.
Mr. Graham had been more than happy to blame him for the whole incident with Dane but Miss Northam had insisted that Dane get the same punishment since he had attacked Sam first. She hadn't actually seen the boy hit Sam but enough students had been willing to stand up and admit that they had seen what had happened.
The downside of the whole thing was that he had to spend the rest of the whole afternoon with the jerk cleaning out the old canoes and fishing equipment in the boat shed for the next day's activities.
Neither teen spoke to each other but Dane had made it a point to glare at Dean as often as he could and Dean couldn't help but smile every time he looked up and saw the bruise that was slowly forming on his adversary's eye.
He thought it was a shame that he had only gotten in two good punches but he was glad that he had at least given the guy a black eye. Dean thought of it as a reminder to never touch his little brother again. He just hoped for Dane's sake that he took the reminder seriously because he wouldn't get off as easy if it happened again.
When he had gotten back for dinner an excited Sam and Daniel had ran up to him and informed him that despite Dane cheating the red team had indeed kicked ass. Dean had laughed at their enthusiasm, glad that the incident with Dane on the basketball court hadn't ruined the day.
The remainder of his night had consisted of eating dinner with his friends. Even Stacey had sat with them for a change. She had tried to apologize again for causing trouble for him but he had brushed the apology off saying that it wasn't her fault that the guy was a major asshole and that he'd had it coming for a while now.
Stacey wasn't the only one apologizing to him. Lynda had apologized profusely for her cousin being such a jerk. Once again he told her as well that she had nothing to apologize for.
He happened to notice that Jay spent a lot of time talking to and looking at Lynda. Catching Stacey's eyes across the table he saw that she had also noticed that her brother had taking a liking to her friend. Only problem was that Lynda didn't seem to notice that Jay was paying her extra attention. Dean thought that he would have to give his a friend a few pointers in the world of women.
After dinner had ended everyone was told to spend the remainder of the evening in the recreation room and amuse themselves with the board games, books or the pool table. Dean and Dane on the other hand still had to ride out their punishment and had been sent to bed early.
He felt like a little kid being sent to bed early but he didn't argue the matter, just hoping that the day would end. He really hoped tomorrow would be a better day. Dean sighed and turned over to lie on his stomach.
"You're gonna pay for what happened today Winchester." Dean rolled his eyes when he heard the softly spoken words from the other side of the room.
"I really can't tell you how scared I am," Dean answered in an exaggerated, sarcastic sigh.
"You will be."
"Oh please … you sound like a bad line out of a movie," Dean snorted, turning back around to lie on his back.
"Laugh now Winchester."
"Oh believe me when I say today was no laughing matter," Dean told the boy, all joking put aside, "You touch my brother again and a black eye is the least of your worries."
He raised his eyebrows when he heard the other boy scoff at his warning. He laughed internally. The moron really had no idea who he was dealing with but to be honest Dean couldn't care less if the guy targeted him again as long as he stayed clear of Sam.
He heard Dane turn over in order to try and get more comfortable. Dean was having the same problem. The mattresses were hard, which was a good thing and a bad thing. Good because when he had gone to check the salt under Sam's mattress he hadn't had to top it up much because the mattress fit tightly into its spot, causing no movement and bad because he had to sleep on it for a whole month. He would rather sleep in his beloved Impala.
He rolled over onto his back again and put his hand underneath his pillow and felt the familiar feeling of his small hunting knife. Closing his eyes, he thought he may as well try to get some sleep unless he wanted to die of boredom.
xxx
Dean opened his eyes when he felt the bunk shift. It was dark and he could tell that everyone had gone to bed for the night. He brought his wrist up to his face and squinted at the watch that he still wore on his wrist but couldn't make out what time it was. He sat up and looked out the window and saw that it was pitch black outside save for the half moon and the stars.
Dean scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly as he realized that he was still quite tired despite the fact that he had slept through the evening. He was about to lay back down again when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He sat up straighter and looked out the window again and down to the yard and saw three figures walking towards the beginning of the forest.
/Okay this place is getting stranger and stranger/ Dean thought to himself as he took another quick glance at the retreating forms before turning around and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. This was the second time that he had actually seen people heading into the off limits forest. And then there was also the time that Mr. Taylor had taken those two students away from lunch, after he went all weird.
There was no way he was going to be able to go to sleep now that he had seen that and he was already in enough trouble as it was for fighting so a little more trouble if he got caught wasn't going to hurt. He hadn't really felt right about this place since he had arrived and his reservations had gotten worse over the past couple of days
Dean groaned /God has it really only been a couple of days?/
He stood up from the bed and quickly but quietly chucked on his jeans and sneakers, sliding his small knife into his shoe so that it was hidden beneath the bottom of his jeans. He picked up his jacket that was lying on top of his back pack and shrugged into it, freezing when he thought Jay was stirring. He didn't want anyone to know that he was leaving the room and although he would like to share his reservations with someone he wasn't willing to let Jay know he was a freak just yet.
Once he realized that Jay wasn't waking up he leaned down to his back pack and as quietly as possible unzipped it. He found his EMF straight away and then made his way to the bedroom door and slipped out into the hallway.
As he passed Sam's room he thought for a second about waking Sam up and telling him what he saw but he knew that Sam would probably just ignore him and call him paranoid so he walked passed the room and went straight for the stairs feeling in his pockets for the small flashlight he knew was in there.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs Dean found his flash light and made his way through the classroom to the back door and was relieved to see that it wasn't locked. Not that a locked door usually stopped him but he hadn't exactly brought anything to pick it with.
Dean looked across the big yard and out towards where the forest began and couldn't see or hear anything so he flicked on his flashlight and shone it at his watch and saw that it was 2.30 am. He was a little shocked that he had managed to get that much uninterrupted sleep.
Dean became automatically alert when he heard footsteps coming straight for the door. He made a quick dash for the porch railing and jumped over, landing skillfully quiet so the person couldn't hear or see him.
Dean didn't have to wait long for the door to slowly creak open and was a little surprised at what he saw. He watched as Stacey walked further out on the porch seeming to be looking around. She flicked on her own flash light and then started off the porch. Dean crept up behind her when she was a few feet from the porch and grabbed her arm while also putting a hand over her mouth to prevent the inevitable scream. All he needed now was the teachers to hear and come down and kill both of them for being outside at 2.30 in the morning.
She struggled in his arms and he heard a muffled scream, "Hey it's me," he whispered in her ear.
It took a couple of seconds for the shock to wear off before his whispered words penetrated and she stopped struggling giving a relieved sigh behind his hand that was still covering her mouth.
He took his hand away and released her once he realized that she had calmed down.
"God damn it Dean!" Stacey spun around to face Dean, punching him in the shoulder.
Dean grabbed his shoulder and winced, "What the hell was that for?"
"You scared me half to death."
"Sorry," He apologized, "What are you doing out here anyway?"
"What are you doing out here?" she countered, hands on her hips.
Dean rolled his eyes, "I asked you first."
"If you must know, I woke up because Mrs. Collins came in and woke up Lynda and that Jennifer girl and asked them to come with her. When they were gone I got up and looked out the window and saw them heading towards the forest," she explained, "I thought that was strange since Mr. Graham was so adamant about that being off limits and the fact that its like 2.30 in the morning. Now what are you doing out here?"
"Pretty much the same … well except for the being in your room part."
Stacey smiled at his pathetic attempt at a joke.
Dean looked towards the forest again and realized that they ran the risk of either missing what the hell was going on or getting caught so he grabbed hold of her arm again and headed to where he had seen the group of people, he now knew to be Mrs. Collins, Lynda and Jennifer, go.
"What's going on Dean?" Stacey whispered loud enough for him to hear her.
Dean kept walking a head, his hand still grasping her wrist, "I don't know yet but this isn't the first time I have seen a teacher take students in the forest in the middle of the night."
Stacey raised her eyes at that, "You've seen this happen before?" she asked as they came to a stop in front of the forest.
Dean let go of her wrist and reached into his jacket for the EMF meter, "Yeah the night Taylor went all weird on me."
"You're playing music … right now?" Stacey asked in disbelief as she watched him put his ear phones in his ear.
"Not exactly," he murmured.
He turned on the EMF meter and wasn't at all surprised to get a slight reading. He looked up at Stacey and even in the dark he could see a confused expression on her face.
"Look maybe you should go back upstairs," he suggested, not wanting her to get hurt if something supernatural was at play.
Stacey shook her head, "Why should you get all the fun? No way Dude, I'm coming with you."
"If you're sure,"
"What's gonna happen? … Come on chicken," she replied already starting to walk on the old worn path.
"Wait up," Dean called quietly as he jogged to her side.
Five minutes later Stacey walked beside Dean throwing him curious glances as he concentrated on his walkman. She had no idea what that was about but he hadn't exactly given her a straight answer about what he was doing.
She had felt terribly bad about what had happened between Dean and Dane because she knew that it mostly had to do with Dane's jealousy. If she was honest with herself she didn't really know what she was doing with the big jock in the first place. He normally wasn't her type. But she was so sick and tired of being the new kid in school that when one of the most popular boys in school had asked her out she said yes. Going out with him had given her a better social standing even though she hadn't been with him that long. She had expected her brother to think she was nuts going out with a guy she would normally steer clear of but she had not expected the blow up reaction she had gotten when she had first told him. She understood where Jay was coming from now. Dane was an asshole.
Now Dean Winchester was a whole other story. He was totally gorgeous with a great personality to match. Any girl would be crazy not to like him. She knew for a fact that Lynda defiantly had a crush on him, although he didn't seem to notice. She had told herself when she had first met him at the camp that she wasn't going to like him but the more time she spent with him the more and more she liked him. He was a decent guy and Dane was not.
"I'm breaking up with Dane," she blurted out all of a sudden causing Dean to stop and look at her.
"What?"
"I said I'm breaking up with Dane … you and Jay were right about him."
"Good … he doesn't deserve someone like you," Dean answered, matter of factly.
Any further conversation was cut short when the EMF meter started going crazy. Dean cursed. He was hoping that he wasn't going to find anything. At the moment he really wanted Sam to be right. His EMF was telling him another story.
"Why the hell is your walkman giving us a light show?" Stacey asked looking at the little red lights on the EMF meter going crazy.
Before Dean could answer they heard voices in the distance. Both teenagers looked up and towards where the sound had come from, "Come with me," Dean said grabbing her hand and taking her off the path.
"Dean?" she asked nervously.
"Shh."
Stacey let Dean drag her through the forest. The further they moved the louder the voices became before they sounded really close. Coming to a stop and following Dean's lead by crouching down she could see a small clearing through the trees and bushes.
"That must be Mrs. Chipshaw's cabin," Dean commented as he turned off the EMF and shoved it inside his jacket.
"Look there's Lynda and Jennifer … why the hell are they tied up?" Stacey asked and began to stand up and go and help her friend and the other young girl when Dean pulled her back down using the hand still clasped in his own, "Dean what the hell?" she hissed.
Dean ignored her protest as they heard Mrs. Chipshaw reading from a book in her hands. Lynda and Jennifer looked scared. He was about to march in there himself but stopped himself when he saw Mr. Taylor, Mr. Graham and Mrs. Collins walk in to stand next to Mrs. Chipshaw. /what the hell?/ he thought.
"What the hell?" Stacey whispered mirroring his thoughts.
Dean glanced beside him and saw that Stacey had a horrified expression on her face, "What the hell is that?"
Dean tore his gaze away from the girl beside him and back to the crazy teachers in the clearing. His eyes widened at what he saw, "Damn it!"
TBC ...
There it is ... let me know what you think :-) I'll try and get another chapter written tonight, ready to post tomorrow morning. See you soon :-)