All Castiel could think was, thank god for that. He feared he would never speak to Dean ever again. Wow, all that drama in the space of two hours. Nevertheless, Castiel was absolutely exhausted from having to mop up the auditorium.

He had plugged the earphones back in when Dean had left, pretending he didn't care whether or not him and Dean were 'friends' or 'talking' or 'in biology', but in reality he was over the moon. He had also admitted he hadn't just slipped but it was still an accident, making Castiel feel like he could achieve his ultimate goal: Dean Winchester.

So maybe he was crushing on the boy, so what? He was allowed; it's a free country…ish. The problem Cas had though was that A) Lisa… and B) Dean was popular, Castiel wasn't exactly at the top of everyone's party list and it was these facts precisely that kept Castiel glued to the seat of the bus. Back then he had so wanted to tell Dean that it was his fault for pushing him, for taking it too far, but he knew it wasn't… and apparently so did Dean. He was just so glad that they could be friends, sort of. Eager, he hopped off at the next stop and ran to his house so he could catch Samandriel and Anna before they did Homework and locked their windows.

It was a little thing each of them did for the others; all their bedrooms were on the bottom floor and all on the same street. They would leave their windows unlocked so that the others could climb in and out whenever they had an issue or just wanted to chat, if the window was locked it meant it was too late; they were doing something and couldn't be disturbed or they weren't in and there wasn't any point in trying. Usually they'd lock up their own window before climbing to see another one because the other person left may end up trying and ending up in an empty room with no friends.

Castiel pounded on his door, yelling at Gabe to let him in… Then ending up yelling for Balthazar instead.

He would never admit to having a favourite, but if he did it would be Balthazar. Nick was just evil to the rest of them, never giving them a moment of peace. He would always try to wind them up, and if they didn't pay attention then he'd do something drastically terrible just to be noticed. He hated Nick for that, but he couldn't also help but love how scheming and tricky his brother could be. Gabe, well let's just say he was a bit of a trickster. He loved to prank his siblings, Castiel especially as he was the baby. Him and Nick got on the best, Nick would teach him everything he knew and then together they'd cause havoc. Michael was… sensible. In fact, he was a bit of a daddy's boy, never stepping out of line, the oldest brother, the soldier of his father. Yeh sure Michael could save you from mania, but when it came to any other time he was stuck up and goody-two-shoes. Naomi, she was a perfectionist. Everything had to be done her way, the right way. She obeyed Michael and Chuck, but the rest of the time if there were an issue, she would fix it her way. Nothing else could suit her but what she wanted, this was possibly the reason Castiel and her didn't get on so well, they had completely different opinions and views and didn't like other people doing stuff that they could do themselves, which meant their personalities just clashed. Balthazar however was carefree, casual and completely laid back. The polar opposite to Castiel, but yet Castiel loved this. He would wonder how his brother could be so arrogant and lazy and yet still be so amazing. Balthazar wouldn't side with anyone, he would sit back with Castiel and enjoy the show, which was mainly their siblings fighting. He was also the reason Castiel like the music he did, if it wasn't for Balthazar he would probably be listening to Celine Dion. He would shudder at the thought of her now, Bon Jovi, ACDC and Kansas all the way as Balthazar would say.

Finally Chuck answered the door and dragged Castiel out of the street.

Dean jumped into his bed with pizza and a beer he had nicked from his dad. He was tired from the day's dramatics, and really just wanted to sleep. But of course, Benny was never going to let that happen… He knocked on the window to be let in, and at first Dean just left him out there but he was so persistent that Dean decided it would be less annoying if he were inside.

"Took you long enough." Benny laughed, trying to lug himself through the open window.

"Yeh well, I'm tired… I needed a rest."

"You and me both brother, Missouri made me clean off the desks."

"Oh you too then?"

"Yep, so I'm guessing that was yours and nerds punishment as well?"

"Don't knock him!" Dean protested, realising how weird it was to defend him, not to mention the little jump that he did at the mention of Cas. Benny was giving him a strange look, so to clear it up Dean said: "What? He likes Metallica!"

"You and your bands Winchester." Benny said, elbowing him in the stomach. Dean wasn't sure whether he was trying to change the subject because he believed him, or because he really didn't want to bother arguing about why Dean had protested to his innocent gag. He decided it was probably best not to look too far into it; Benny was a regular Jo after all. "So, besides that… What did you do?"

"Well cleaned the bloody auditorium, took us ages and rock music to get half of the room done. We didn't actually finish, she just told us to leave…"

"And…"

"And what?"

"Come on brother, you and I both know something else happened. I can tell, you know."

"Huh?"

"Yeh… something happened. Something you want to avoid talking about."

"How do you know that then?" Dean said, giving him a nervous look before laying back on his bed relaxing, but inside he was still freaking.

Benny stared at him for a while and then cracked up. Wiping a tear from his eye he said: "I was only messing with you Winchester, by that look on your face I'd've thought something did happen."

"Well, it didn't. So would you quit it?" Dean snapped.

"Chill. Brother Chill."

"Sorry, I'm a little tense."

"Well I know what would help with that… party at Lisa's"

Freezing Swiftly, Dean stared at Benny motionless. He really couldn't deal with the name Lisa at this moment, let alone seeing her. However if he didn't turn up people would get suspicious, so either way he was going to painfully suffer. Benny was laughing even more, he had remembered their earlier conversation about how he hadn't wanted to see her and was chuckling away at the thought of her consistent clinginess. He loved watching Dean squirm.

Having said that, beer or even more beer… It was a no brainer, Dean was going to the party.

"Castiel? Cas? Are you in?" Anna asked, knocking on the windowpane before climbing in to the boy's bedroom.

"Yeh…" He answered, lying on his bed staring hazily up at his ceiling.

"Oh damn Castiel, why did you go to the detention? You could've explained it wasn't your fault. You could've asked miss for a different day. Anything not to be with that Dean Winchester boy."

"What's wrong with him then?" Castiel questioned, sitting up and glaring at his best friend.

"He's trouble Castiel, and I mean major trouble. You saw what he did to Missouri's chair, what if she hadn't installed cameras? What if she didn't figure out that they had unscrewed it? She may have broken her neck and had to go to hospital and I just couldn't let that happen to you…"

"Shush!" Castiel hushed Anna patting her on the back as she calmed down again. "You'll make yourself hyperventilate if you're not careful."

"Oh, you've got to stop watching out for my problems Cas. I know I work myself up, but today I want to talk about you and how you should move in biology."

"You haven't even asked me how it went yet…"

"How what went?"

"The detention…"

Castiel stared at Anna in wonder, how could she seriously be so clever yet so stupid? Well, he wasn't going to judge. He loved her little quirks, that was why she was like a little sister to him.

"Oh, how was it?"

"Cool." He said, trying not to giggle like a young schoolgirl.

"What…" She gasped poking him to try to get him to talk.

"I think…"

"What…"

"I may…"

"WHAT…"

"Well, you know."

"WHAT CAS!"

He pulled away, hid his face under a pillow, and glanced over the top of it. Anna, staring bewilderingly at him, pondered at what it could be.

"Come on Cas, tell me!"

"Well, Dean."

"Oh don't tell me…" She settled back into her glare, no not again… After Adam she wondered how Castiel could keep crushing on the popular boys, but Dean Winchester? No way was she going to let him go through this. "No Cas, no no no no no no no no no no."

"What? I can't help it."

"HE'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!"

"Oh well."

"OH WELL, OH BLOODY WELL? CASTIEL IT IS LISA BRAEDEN…"

"And."

"CAS!" She calmed down, noticing that yelling wasn't getting her anywhere and could possibly catch the attention of all of Castiel's other siblings. "Lisa would destroy you, Dean would crush you and you'd die. I'd never see you again and I can't deal with that I just can't."

"It's okay Anna, I wasn't gonna do anything stupid." Mentally, Cas had said stupider however after her freak-out he didn't want to go into full detail. He would just have to avoid talking to Dean in front of Anna, and that wouldn't be easy.

Dean's stomach churned as Benny's VW campervan rolled up to Lisa's house. The music was blaring as high schoolers walked in and out of the building. Her house was in the middle of nowhere; no one could hear anything from them in the nearest civilisation. And this was what made it the perfect location for all night parties.

Benny was flashing a big grin at Dean as he opened a can of beer before swinging his legs out of the sticker-covered campervan. The car wasn't his, it was his brothers but he was allowed to borrow it.

Dean grabbed his own can and chugged it back before lunging for the handle and hauling himself out… Tonight was going to be a long one.

He had told his dad that they were going to be staying at Lisa's over night so no one had to do any driving, but of course John couldn't care less. Sam was spending the night at his friends; trying to avoid the house at all means necessary and Dean understood that, after all… So was he, really.

Suddenly, a high-pitched squeal rung through Dean's ears as a black-haired bombshell ran up to Dean and squeezed him tightly.

"Oh my baby, you poor thing being stuck in a detention with a low-life like that Castiel. I'll kill him for getting you into trouble, he'll be socially destroyed." Lisa whined, clinging onto dean like he was covered in superglue.

"That won't be a problem… dear. He didn't do anything."

Benny almost spat out his beer when Dean had called her dear, he knew the Winchester had hated going out with Lisa, but the sheer awkwardness was enough to make the grumpiest man on earth chuckle, and also the pet names really didn't work for him.

"I'll still destroy him, oh honey look at you, you look like a nervous-wreck." She pouted, pushing her fingers through his pre-washed hair.

"Don't bother Lisa," Benny laughed, pulling Dean from the vipers grasp, "He's not the one you should kill."

Dean had told Benny everything on the car ride, and all Benny could do was keep his mouth shut. Benny had known for a while Dean was bi, but it wasn't a big deal for him. It wasn't exactly like it mattered who Dean liked, or if Benny cared, what mattered to Benny was that Dean had been stuck with a hyper-active psycho puppy who was oblivious to the fact that Dean really didn't like her that much. They had got on better before, when Dean and her were just friends. The Winchester and Lisa could have actual conversations without her going into crazy over-protective girlfriend on him, but now it was as if he was being constantly judged by her making sure he'd always be with her, and this made Benny worried for Dean, but all the same gave him something to take the rip out of Dean for.

"What does that mean?" She asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Well, can't you see that Kevin dude puking up on your carpet?"

Saved by Benny once again, Lisa ran off to scold the poor boy who was only there because Lisa was sucking up to him to get him to do her chemistry, physics and law homework for her. After all, he was in all the advanced placement classes. This, for 'some-strange' reason, wasn't working too well. The kid may have been gullible, but he wasn't stupid. He had figured it out after she had handed him her literature homework before.

"What would you do without me?" Benny said, slapping Dean on the back as he dragged him into the loud house.

Samandriel had joined Castiel and Anna not long after, good thing too. Castiel wasn't sure if he could hold on much longer after being interrogated about Dean Winchester and the bad stuff that follows him. Anna had calmed down, Samandriel sort of had that effect on her… This was why Castiel had stayed sane for so long, the obvious connection between the two was enough for Cas to meddle, keeping him occupied. They had always been like this, Samandriel calmed Anna down and Anna made Samandriel confident. They brought the best out in each other, and that was what Castiel wanted with Dean. Of course, that was never going to happen. Again, they had only just spoken that day.

"So Benny did what?"

"He just talked to me."

"That's it?"

"Anna. He and I used to be best friends, of course we were gonna talk."

"But, he's Benny."

"Yeh… He's Benny."

"But, he hangs around with the Winchester."

'Oh dear.' Castiel thought to himself. 'Not again'

If Anna pushed for even more information it may have just slipped out about detention. Clearly there was no way to hide it from them, but Castiel kept strong. Did he really want them knowing? Well, yes in a way. But he knew that telling them would just mean even more interrogation. Looking at Anna, pleading with his eyes for her not to say anything, he remained still to keep Samandriel from guessing something was up.

As luck would have it, Anna just glanced at Castiel and carried on talking about Samandriel and his now permanent spot next to Benny in Biology. She knew that dragging Samandriel into it was not a good idea too, and thank goodness she had the sense not to go on.

'What's up with Winchester?' Benny thought to himself whilst dragging Dean around the many rooms of Lisa's house. The boy had been off since he'd seen him after school. Benny knew from his own detention Missouri was harsh, yet he didn't expect her to put Dean into an almost zombie like state. He wasn't even watching who was around, just kind of bumping into them and then standing in the middle of the room and completely zoning out. He hadn't had too much to drink, Benny knew that, One beer wasn't enough to make Dean drunk, he hadn't been bad during the day, he knew that because he and Dean got a detention from their prank and clearly Dean was in good mood back then, so what was up with him at that minute? It had to have been something to do with the detention; Dean had gone in happy and came out lifeless.

It had never even crossed Benny's mind that it could be something to do with Castiel, even after being told by Dean about the detention, not until Dean strode up and said: "Where's Cas?"

"Dude, you know no geeks allowed at Lisa's parties! And I suppose keeping Castiel away is best for you."

"Oh, I know, I just…"

"You know, what's up with you tonight? You seem all weird. And not the good weird, the something's on your mind and not leaving weird. How big a drug is that geek to you?"

Dean put his arms up, as if to protest, and went to shout. But he knew that Benny was just pulling his leg, the big grin on his face said it all.

"Just tired after Missouri drained my energy."

"What? Like a vampire?"

"You know what I mean…"

Dean scowled at Benny, who was almost laughing his ass off. He threw a punch at Benny's shoulder, and then a smile turned into his own grin and they both began to laugh.

Lisa looked at her man and his best friend, Oh how lucky she was to have Dean Winchester on her arm. However, he seemed to be a little confused that night. The party was thriving, everyone was there and that was the way she liked it. Loud, proud and reckless. All of her parents valuables were in the attic so there was no way she could break anything and her parents were away for the weekend, giving her time to clean up after.

Oh to be the queen bee, the dashing boyfriend, the followers, the parties, the absent-minded parents, life was good for her. Her dress was curling up at the ends, creeping casually up towards her stomach, making her pull it down every two seconds, but it wasn't as if she cared. She grabbed Dean and began to grind with him, trying to make him dance, but he obviously wasn't in the mood.

"Dean baby, what's wrong?"

"Nothing… baby. Just a little tired, Missouri takes the life out of you."

Benny burst out laughing again, he couldn't help it as every time Dean tried to call Lisa a pet name the words would just thumble out of his mouth and get stuck at the edge of his tongue. He was silenced by evils from Lisa, at least Dean was trying.

"Oh honey, do you want to go to the bedroom and lie down?"

She knew exactly what she was implying, even giving him the flirtatious eye signal. But Dean wasn't having any of it.

"I think I may just go home, John may not be home and I want to check if Sammy's okay."

Lisa couldn't hide her frustration, after all it was one thing after another with the Winchester. His little brother being the most common of his excuses. Still, she gave a little sigh, ruffled his hair and said, "You are so loyal, that little brother of yours will grow up great."

Benny couldn't take it anymore, Lisa clearly didn't understand the situation. Blinded by her crush on the clearly disinterested boy now leaning on the table. "Brother, you're not walking." He exclaimed, grabbing Dean by the arm and dragging him towards the campervan.

"Aren't you drunk?"

"Half a beer, not enough to get pulled over for."

"I might just walk."

"No!" Benny groaned, pushing him in the car.

"Oh come on Benny, it's not exactly like I'm pissed."

"I don't care, you are not walking."

He hoisted himself up into the drivers seat and started the engine, looking at Dean he sighed. The Winchester was bleary-eyed and looked sick, as pale as a ghost he drained in and out of consciousness while Benny pulled out of Lisa's drive way, there was no way he would've be able to make it home.

Dean was right, he wasn't drunk, just extremely stressed, and Benny could see that by the way he groaned about his head aching.

"Come on man, let me walk." Dean hissed, holding his head up.

"No. Look at yourself, you're a mess!"

Dean pulled down the mirror to check, but he still denied everything. "I look fine, healthy even!" He protested, but Benny was having none of it.

"Nope, not going to let you, we're close anyway so just enjoy the ride."

"Oh come on." Dean moaned, head-butting the dashboard.

"Nope."

After what seemed like forever, Benny pulled up in front of Dean's house and waved him goodbye. All he could think about was Cas and Lisa. It was like a war was being played out in his head, and neither side was winning. He clearly couldn't love Castiel, for god sake he was a lowlife, and he couldn't, he just couldn't, he had only just noticed him, but a voice in his head was arguing harder than anyone else, screaming for attention, whaling one name over and over again, and that one name? Cas.

Lisa's side on the other hand, was a different story. Not only was she beautiful, but she was crazy into him and was prom queen. Nothing could beat that. She was also smart, contrary to popular belief, the popular girl was sharp and witty and let nobody stand in her way, all the more reason not to back down to Cas, she would rip him in half without moving a finger.

He climbed back into his room and lay back down to rest, the weekend was going to be a long one, but nothing would prepare him for the week ahead.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So, so sorry it took so long. Too many things to do, not enough time to do them, but it's finally here!