December 12, 1998

Again and again and again this would happen. It wouldn't stop until she left. It wouldn't stop until she went to college.

First day at a new school. Again. She would have been worried, like she usually was, but this time she just couldn't care. She couldn't care if she got bullied this time. If the older kids pushed her and teased her here. She couldn't care whether they liked her, not here, not this time.

She always hated first days. The same thing always happened. Some bubbly blonde girl would come ask for Sam's number, she'd give it to her and then the girl would go back to her friends and laugh about how strange she was. Then some older boy would trip her and later in the day the same group of kids would push her and some other unfortunate nerd around. That was her day. Every time. No one ever stood up for them. No one ever cared.

"You ready?" Sam asked, as was customary.

"Nope," she said breathlessly as she walked up the steps.

They'd arrived before the bell, leaving them to mingle with the crowd. The crowds, rather. It was the same here. There was one group, the largest, and then little faction-like teams of rejects. She didn't even want to be a part of it here.

"Hey, so that kid, is he your brother?" a girl asked.

"I'm guessing you want his number?" Grace assumed, looking around for her locker.

"Yeah, that must happen a lot," she smiled.

Grace nodded as she wrote down the number. Again. This probably wouldn't be the last time, either.

January 30, 1999

A new year, a new you. Isn't that what they say? A new Grace, that seemed right. She would definitely be okay with being a new person. The new year hadn't really been a big deal. She, as usual, was dragged to a party by Sam. And, as usual, she didn't enjoy herself.

It would've been useless to complain about living in Millstone now. It wasn't really that she didn't like this town, she was just too stubborn to admit that it was even better than Canaan. She had even more friends here, at least four, and thought maybe her lab partner might have a crush on her. And she even thought that maybe she liked him, too.

So things weren't all bad here. She liked it pretty well. She was just too stubborn to admit it.

"Hey, a bunch of us are gonna go out later, you want in?" one of her new found friends asked, closing her locker.

Grace bit her lip hesitantly, "Yeah, I'm in."

February 14, 2000

She watched tiredly as her friends huddled close together next to the fire. February wasn't exactly the perfect time for a fire, but hey, it was Valentine's day, so who cared?

"Hey there," one of her more drunk friends yelled. "You're not special! You don't get to just not join in on the cuddles!"

She laughed breathlessly, but stuffed her hands farther in her pockets. This wasn't really her typical group. They were a bit more, well, more than her normal group.

These people were popular kids, meaning in public, they didn't want to be seen with her. But when it was just their group, they were more than happy to have her around.

"No man, I'm serious. Get over here," the girl demanded.

"Actually," Grace countered. "It's like, way late and I still have homework to do, so," she trailed off, motioning that she should leave. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Her brother would kill her. Both of them would. Sam, for sneaking out and drinking; Dean, for sneaking out, drinking, and taking the Impala. As she started the car, kids behind her cheered at the sudden burst if loud music. She turned it down and drove away slowly.

She liked driving. It was calming, even if she didn't have a license. At least, Dean would say, she had good taste in music.

She turned the doorknob slowly, quietly. It had to have been at least one in the morning and her family wasn't even supposed to know she'd gone out.

"Where have you been?" Dean demanded as soon as she stepped through the door.

She let out the breath she'd been holding and bit her lip in thought. "Out?"

"Are you drunk?" Sam asked, making her sit down on the couch so he could look at her.

"No, why would you think," she stopped. "I'm not drunk."

March 26, 2001

"Hey, where are you?" the voice on the phone asked.

She sighed. "I'm at home, where are you?"

"You have your license, right?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Earl's, I'm at Earl's."

Earl's. Perfect. Just perfect. Earl's didn't mean he was at a friend named Earl's house. In fact, she was pretty sure they didn't know anybody named Earl. Earl's was a local bar and since she'd gotten her license, she'd driven there countless times to pick up one very drunk Dean Winchester.

"I'm on my way."

She wouldn't do this forever. She wouldn't watch him do this for much longer. It wasn't just that she wouldn't, she couldn't. She couldn't bear to see her family fall apart.

Sam was eighteen now, off to college. She would be, too, in two years. Dean was hunting with John, and getting drunk when he wasn't. This wasn't what she wanted the Winchesters to be. They had raised her and asked nothing in return. They didn't ask for anything at all. But this would be her payment. She would fix them. She would make things right.

Until then, she was stuck helping her brother walk out to the car and yelling at him on the way home.

April 1, 2002

April fools. What a fun day. There was nothing notable about this specific April fools day, just her thoughts the same way she'd thought them on many days before this.

There was nothing special about this day, the day of fools, just like there was nothing special about May second or January twenty third. It was the anniversary of the birth of one of the little people. The remembrance of the creation of a foot soldier.

Dean of course insisted they celebrate his little sister's birthday. It wasn't, to him, the same as his own birthday. Mainly because she was the youngest. And partly because she was a girl.

Girls were supposed to have big parties with glitter and all that jazz. That wasn't what she wanted. She'd be happier with diner pie and a hamburger.

Honestly, she thought the glitter would've been more for the boys.