There's more to a simple situation.

"Aw, ain't that cute?"

"Like two assholes on their first date."

Lia did not know if it was possible or legal to come to school so late, and she did not want to find out. And even if it was not legal, she had an excuse. It may not sound excuse-worthy, but at least it was an excuse. Positivity comes first.

Apparently, her clock finally took the advantage and broke. Lia knew it was going to happen sometime, but did it really have to happen now? No, it did not, but shit happens. When she woke up, it took her a while to realize that:

One: it was eleven o'clock.

Two: she was late for school.

Okay, okay, she knew she should have just checked the time on her phone, but Lia's brain doesn't work that way when it feels like it has just shoved in a container. And Lia would've stayed home, but again, her brain was so fucked up sometimes.

Coming to a stop once she saw an unclear view of the school, Lia exhaled. Oh, god. What class was she having now? She was sweating even though the weather was far from hot. Cold, you could say. Shoving her freezing fingers into her pocket, another long breath emitted out of her lips.

Sweet Amoris was kind of weird. It was only autumn, yet her toes felt like they were about to fall off. The breeze were a little less than friendly, slapping cheeks. Although the weather was messed up, it still looked beautiful; trees swaying, sky a hazy shade of sapphire. Possibly one thing Lia respected about her town.

Dragging her sore legs behind her, she heaved a sigh, now in complete sight of the school. Her probably frozen lips quirked cheerfully and she waddled her way into the courtyard.

Her eyes fell upon a bright red and her nose twitched at the scent of nicotine. Nope, Lia was not going to ask how or why Castiel was standing outside in the cold smoking. No, she was not, and she did not want become a part of the problem.

Toddling, her breath hitching, she began to cross the courtyard. Praying under her breath that he wouldn't see her, she went at a faster speed. Her life took the wrong turn when she fell, successfully rolling over on to her back. Moaning softly, she sat up. Shit.

"Clumsy, why do you keep falling? If you want my attention, just do something else," came a deep, fumbling-from-laughter voice. Lia furrowed her eyebrows, standing up. Unfortunately, her legs gave in because they were useless noodles and she fell on her (sorry) ass. Another bark of laughter stripped out of clean air.

Soon, he was standing next to her, not truly offering a hand. Lia winced when she attempted to sit back up, biting her tongue harshly. "Shut up, Castiel. I'm already beyond late and I don't need you to get me in trouble."

"If you're late, then why'd you come?" Castiel replied darkly, now holding out his hand. Staring at it before grabbing it, she took the proposal. Castiel narrowed his eyes. "It seems stupid that you'd come when you missed half a day of school."

Lia shrugged. "I don't even know why I came, either."

"Then, want to come with me?" The redhead asked, sucking on his cigar once more before he threw it on the ground, stepping on it.

Throwing her backpack over her shoulder, Lia contemplated this for a while. Should she go with him? There was a fifty-fifty chance he would take her to the nearest cliff and throw her off, and there was a fifty-fifty chance he wouldn't. Giving him an additional look, Lia decided to take the risk.

"Sure. But where are we going?" she questioned, following behind him.

"You'll see. Hey, are you hungry?"


And hungry she was.

They stepped into a vacant restaurant that smelled of grease and meat. Lia was not complaining; she really did like the smell. And she was so, so famished. She skipped breakfast once she realized she was, and she regretted it. Food comes first, school comes second.

"This place looks nice," Lia whispered, her stomach growling. Castiel nodded, sitting himself comfortably into a booth under the numbers '23'. Sitting in the other side across from him, the girl looked around. "Do you come here often?"

Shaking his head nonchalantly, Castiel summoned a waiter. "Nah. My first time here was just yesterday. What do you want to order?"

"No, no; I'll order my food myself. You don't have to pay for me," Lia said. Her respect toward this guy was growing. He was becoming less of an asshole, which was very good progress. Lia's smile flattened when a smirk appeared on his lips.

"Who said I was gonna pay for you? I was just asking what you wanted to buy," he responded coolly, giving a chuckle. He began reciting exactly what he wanted to the waiter.

Her lips dipped into a frown. It wasn't like she wanted him to buy for her. Lia wasn't those chicks that screamed if you didn't offer them something first, but that was just cold. "Wow, thanks, Castiel. But I think I can do that myself." Motioning for the waiter to come to her, Lia told him what she wanted. Just a drink and a burger. No more or no less.

Fingers tapping the cracked table, Lia couldn't help but search for a topic of conversation. Castiel didn't seem to be affected by the tense silence, just looking out the window with mild interest. Lia sighed.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself. I find it weird how we're sitting at a table while you don't even know my name," Lia rushed out, an embarrassed pink tint on her cheeks. Castiel looked at her before answering, an eyebrow raised. "What do you want to know about me, then? And why don't you tell me your name? You could've done that all along."

Lia slipped off her parka, setting it beside her neatly. "I just want to know basic facts. Plus, you told me not to say my name. A pretty stupid move, really."

"Okay. Fact one: I don't give out facts to people. You'll just have to find out more about me by yourself," came the reply. Castiel gave a light smirk.

Lia frowned, shifting in her spot. Castiel was playing games. "So how do you want me to find out by myself'? Do you want me to stalk you or something?" Again? Lia bit back the urge to add the last word into her sentence. She continued. "Anyway, my name is Lia McDonald and I think you're a bad influence." She wiggled her finger around knowingly, a smile pressed on to her face.

Castiel smirked. "I don't think I asked you to introduce yourself, 'Lia'," he said, drawling her name sharply. Leaning back into the cushions of the booth, his devious grin widened. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself."

"You know, a lot of people say you're a big pain in the ass. Literally. Aren't you gonna beat me up if I insult you?" Lia asked, actual concern highlighting her tone. She played with the paper towel dispenser momentarily until she received a look from the waiter that was waiting for another table. Yawning, she let her head lean against the cool window. "I fear you only a bit."

A bell rang and their table number was called. Castiel shot her a look clearly saying, 'go get the food, Clumsy' as he slapped his ten dollar bill on to her hand and Lia quickly got out of her seat. Pushing past a blonde haired girl, Lia made her way to the front table, reaching into her pocket to get her own money as well. Taking out her own ten dollars, she waited for the chefs (or something) to set the food on the table.

(Wasn't it funny how when really needed the money she was broke? It was. It truly was.)

Inhaling the scent of oil and future health risks, Lia casually – no, seriously, casually – draped her arm over the table, staring at the bell. Should she press it? Was it legal? Her fingers eager and itching to press it, she caught herself. No, Lia, this was not good manners. Lia knows she's better than this, but look how open it looked…

And then, two plates clattered on to the counter and a woman wearing an apron gave her a blank look. "Here's your food. Give me the money."

(Alright, wasn't she supposed to pay when she finished all her food or something? Oh, wait, shit. This was a fast food restaurant. Okay. Um.)

Giving a sheepish smile, Lia placed the cash on to the desk. The woman stared at her with a dangerous expression, ready to attack. Lia placed the two plates in one hand and the drinks in the other. Now, all she had to do was successfully get back to her table without slipping and fracturing her skull. This was the hard part.

OPERATION: GET BACK TO THE TABLE IN ONE PIECE.

Remember, kids: safety comes first.

Lia needed a hardhat in order to complete this task.

Turning around and squinting toward the direction of her table, Lia was not surprised to see the girl she bumped into sitting on the same side as Castiel. Shaking her head, the girl waddled slowly to it, her fingers shaking. She was going to fall and die. She was going to die. And she was only seventeen, damn it. Lia had a long way to go.

Examining the female as she tried her best not to fall, Lia noticed how familiar she looked. Once the green-eyed girl reached her spot, she placed the food on the table before sitting in her respective area. Castiel looked bothered by how close the blonde girl was sitting next to him, and Lia couldn't help but laugh when curly-haired girl slid in closer. The redhead glared at the brown-haired girl, causing her to shut up.

"Amber, I don't want to deal with you right now. How did you know I was here, anyway?" Castiel growled, inching away from her. The distance disappeared quickly and Castiel groaned.

The female shrugged, twirling a lock of blonde in between her fingers flirtatiously. "This place is my favorite restaurant to go to, and I was so surprised when I saw you here!" A giggle emitted out of her mouth and Lia gagged. She actually felt bad for her. This 'Amber' was trying a bit too hard.

"Don't tell me shit, Amber. Just go back to your president-brother and your slutty friends. I'm leaving," Castiel grunted, standing up and shoving his wrapped burger into his pocket. Holding his drink in one hand, he motioned for Lia to get up too. Castiel looked more intimidating than he usually did, and Lia did not want two black eyes. They did not compliment green very well.

Standing up and throwing her parka over her shoulders, Lia snuck a bite of her burger before wrapping it up and putting it safely in her pocket. Her fingers felt numb due to how cold her drink was and she bit her lip. Shit. What time was it now? And how did Amber get here without getting blown up by Principal Shermansky? Questions that will never be answered. (Lia could check her phone for the time, but it was just so deep in her pocket and that was apparently too far.)

Amber clearly did not notice her; more on to staring at the back of Castiel's head as he moved toward the front door. Lia, not too far behind him, turned around once more to see the blonde have a min-tantrum. A smile appeared on Lia's face. That was proof she was bothered.

Outside, it was chillier than earlier. The sun's shine was being blocked by a group of clouds, all dark. Zipping up her jacket quickly as she tried to keep up with Castiel's speed, she sipped her drink. "Hey, Castiel?"

"What?"

"Where do we go now? I mean, that Amber girl made 'us' leave and it's über cold. Are we going back to school?" Lia asked, truly wishing he would come to his senses and lead them toward the school (which was about a block or two away). Again, she was wrong.

Castiel scoffed. "No, we're not going back to that crappy place. Just follow me and shut the hell up, okay?" he answered. He was clearly back to being an asshole, but Lia wasn't surprised. It was his trait. It was never going to go away. Lia frowned deeply before following his orders.

They crossed a street that lead to the parking space of the school. There were a bunch of automobiles surrounding the area – blue cars, green cars, bright pink cars filled with stickers and Mickey Mouse stuffed animals in the inside, and many other normal cars.

The redhead stopped by a silver sedan, and he rummaged through his pockets to get his keys. Once the doors were unlocked, he gave her a look. "Get inside."

Immediately obeying, Lia sat in the passenger seat as Castiel sat in the driver's. For a moment, Lia excitedly wondered if he was going to make them drive around town like those teenage rebels and come back at, like, twelve or something. (Oh, she really did want to be one. According to some movies – and forgive her for not knowing the names – they were so casual and awesome and everyone was scared by them but they secretly wanted to be their friends. A life Lia wouldn't have anytime soon. Or ever.)

Her mouth was dry. Sipping her drink (and wondering why her hands felt so numb), Lia reached into her pocket to find a sweating burger. Eh. Food was still food, even though her burger looked like shit. Biting it, she came to the conclusion that she should 'never judge food by its appearance'. She's heard something like that before, but from where? Shrugging to herself, she took another bite.

Swallowing, she turned to the redhead beside her, who was finding the school's back door very interesting. "So, why did you make us leave the restaurant? Was it because of that girl?"

(No, Lia, she thought with dry sarcasm. It was because he wanted to go. Proceed the mental kicking fest, would you?)

"It wasn't just any fucking girl, smartass," Castiel retorted, tone dark. "It was Amber Thomas. You know, Nathaniel's sister? She's a bitch." Turning to Lia fully, he gave her an unimpressed look. "Mind if I smoke?"

Knowing that he wouldn't listen even if she said no, she nodded. "Smoke if you want to. Just open the window a bit, please and thank you. Also, isn't Amber apart of that little crew where they mess up people's lives?"

"Yup," Castiel replied. Grabbing a lighter and a cigarette, he stuck it in to his mouth. "She seems to have it out for some people." Before he lit up his cigar, he rolled down the window, much to Lia's gratefulness. "Amber's current hatred is going all out to Candy."

'Candy'. Lia rolled her eyes, about to rush out how this 'Candy' character stole/took/what-fucking-ever Armin and Kim away from her, if not doing it in such a way that it could not even be described (because Lia had no idea how she was going to explain how Candy was a bad individual). "Candy sounds like a nice person."

Castiel eyed her for a moment with an unreadable expression. He took a long drawl of his cigar and breathed out of his nose. "I guess she kinda is. Whatever, I don't give a shit, alright?"

A smirk appeared on her face and a light bulb flashed on top of her head. "Do you like her or something?"

('Or something' was such a common phrase heard when hanging with Lia. It can get quite annoying. Or something.)

"Shut the fuck up, Clumsy. Don't make me tell the whole world you're crawling after that video game guy," Castiel responded, an icy smile on his mouth. "I mean, it's not like nobody knows that already. Oh wait, nobody knows you."

Lia pouted. "Thanks for lowering my self-esteem, Castiel. I appreciate it."

"No problem. I'd love to do it more often too."

"You're just being mean now, 'Cassy'."

Throwing his cigarette out the window, he rolled up his window. "Your mom is mean."

"My mom is blind, so you better leave her out of this," Lia said, throwing her empty wrapper out the window. The wind pushed it far away, right beside a garbage can. Lia felt a moment of sadness for how eager the wrapper wanted to go inside. So, so eager. She wiped away a small tear.

"Wow, you're hilarious."

Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned to him. "No, no; I'm serious. My mom's blind and she's currently chitchatting with doctors in some kind of hospital."

There was a long silence, going at a slow pace, and Lia turned back to the wrapper. It was now sitting behind the garbage can, away from view. Lia gave a salute.

"Shit, I'm sorry…" Castiel trailed off. When Lia looked at him, he had a genuine sadness on his face. Hm, interesting. "Fuck, I am so, so sorry."

Waving him off, Lia sighed. "Eh, it's okay. You didn't know. Common mistake," she laughed. "Everyone gets the same reaction when they figure it out." Yawning again, she gave a pleased hazy expression.

"Sleepy? Too bad for you; school's over in ten minutes. Now, get out of my car and go home." Castiel chuckled, reaching over and opening the door for her. "There's the way out if you haven't noticed."

Sticking her tongue out, she grabbed her backpack (which she was carrying around with her dimly all day) and let herself out. She could just walk home for now. Lia's house wasn't even that far from here, unlike the grocery store. And plus, she had some important things to do.


Lia's father and mother divorced a few years before they moved here. They let each other go on a high note, though. It wasn't like they hated each other. It was just that her dad decided 'it wasn't working out between them' and her mom very well agreed. The only person that was against the idea was Lia, but she soon realized it was best for the both of them. You know, before her mother got bumped into while driving. They really needed a walking dog.

(Although, her mother liked calling herself 'an only parent'. Lia never understood why.)

Anyway, Lia was less than affected by the divorce. Yeah, she was alone, but she knew it was for the better. Who gave a shit; being alone had its ups and downs. And plus, she had her neighbors as a bonus. See, she was barely alone.

(That's funny because her neighbors ignored her existence most of the time unless they needed some extra jam or crap like that. They took advantage of her groceries. Fucking bastards.)

Stepping into her apartment and narrowly missing tripping over her own feet, she inhaled the smell of loneliness. (Did you just see that? Wow, poetic shit right there, Lia McDonald. What a Shakespeare you are!) Her fingers were freezing. And she was still holding her empty drink cup. Lia threw it in the garbage to her left and toed off her boots, laying down on the comfy sofa – also lamely named 'The Thinking Spot' because she is a childish nincompoop.

Groaning when she realized she smelled like smoke and grease, she slapped her hand on to her cheek. Her face felt slightly frozen as did her toes, but her neck felt dangerously hot. Lia felt a wave of goose bumps appear on her arm, and she winced.

And then thoughts exploded in her brain.

Since her father was visiting, she needed to buy a quality gift for him. Quality, not a mug with the words 'Best Dad Ever', one which she sent him over the mail every year. The thing about quality gifts, though, were how expensive they were. Either she needed another part-time job or she needed to take some money out of her college saving funds.

The job idea seemed a bit too stressful for her. She was already juggling having one job and school to pay half of her rent (the other half was paid by her mother and Aunt Meredith), so having another job wouldn't work out as successfully as she would hope it would.

…But if she took money out of her savings, she wouldn't have the close to the full amount to go to college, which is in one and a half years. Shit, the cost to go to Sweet Amoris College was thirty-three grand. She had nothing close to that yet, only about ten thousand, which she got from her mother's savings and herself working like a madman.

Yeah, sure, she could ask her dad for some money, but that wouldn't operate as well as she would want it to. Her father would have some kind of dull excuse saying that he couldn't afford this or that. Another reason why she pretended to enjoy her gifts her father gave her when she was younger (they were shit, seriously).

Lia also needed some money to pay off some of the debts she owed for the private school she used to go to when she was in middle school (before her life went bankrupt). Her mom already paid as much as she could, and her father had to pay the rest. Her dad clearly could 'not afford' it, so Lia decided to be an angel and told him she would pay the rest of his side of the deal.

Thus, Lia was a poor bitch that was hoping for some money to pop out of thin air. She just prayed that it would happen sooner.


And that is how Lia found herself applying for another job the next day.

She was going to need the money soon enough. Christmas was only four weeks away, damn it. So, as Lia stood in front of an old shack-looking building, she heaved a sigh. Here goes nothing, Lia thought glumly.

All she needed to do was sign up, have some stupid interview, then leave. Lia would just have to wait a day or two or a week or fucking forever until she received some kind of answer. Bad or good. Lia hoped it was the latter.

Once she put her foot in the building, she realized how big it was inside. The outside looked so, so small, but the inside was just 'holy shit' worthy. Looking at the sign on the left, Lia noted how this was a 'discount store'. Very notable. Lia let her fingers glide up the bricks on the wall; they were nice. This place seemed great to work in.

"Hey, stop touching the bricks!"

Frowning and shaking her head once she noticed the familiar tone of the voice, she turned around. "Castiel, why do you always show up out of nowhere these days? I'm trying to live a normal life and you're ruining it for me," she said, wiping away a nonexistent tear. The redhead simply glared.

"No, Clumsy, it's the other way around," he scowled, clearly annoyed. Lia expressed how her annoyance was greater than his annoyance by glaring at him. Castiel moved to the front desk. "Now, what the fuck do you want?"

Pressing her lips together, Lia tapped the brick wall. "I'm applying for a job."

It was weird. Yesterday (their last meeting), he wasn't a dickhead. He changed over the course of seventeen hours. That was sad because Lia was almost learning how to deal with his mean behavior. A point lost by Team Lia.

And then, he started smiling.

"Go find another place to work. As you can see, this is my territory," Castiel smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you want a job, go apply to become Nathaniel's assistant or some prissy shit like that."

Lia was beyond pissed. Castiel was being an asshole, pretty much because he didn't want to 'share' a job between them. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head. "No, I will not. I walked a long way here and I will not go back without a job. So, if you could just shut up and leave me be, I think we're going to have some peace."

"Nah, actually, you can have the job. I think it'll be fun to bother you all the time," was the devilish reply and Castiel walked away, helping out a customer far back. Lia thought of just running the hell away, but she really needed the money. To her, getting yelled at for two hours every day didn't seem as bad as being broke. Again, Lia took the risk, waiting at the table for the owner to have a talk with her.

It seemed like she was taking more risks than she usually did.


I am such a loser, I swear. This probably has so many errors. Anyway, I hope you sweet people enjoy this chapter! I was going to post this yesterday, but uh, I suck. The quote at the start of the chapter is from the game Gears of Wars. I'm sorry, I'm a nerd.