I'm from england, so sorry about my mix of english and American words. Warning: Mentions of physical and sexual abuse in this chapter, nothing explicit though because I wouldn't be able to stomach it. All grammar and spelling mistakes are my own, hopefully i've fixed most of them.
Cas has Maths almost everyday of the week, Thursday being the exception.
Dean is just as brilliant of a teacher as he was on his first day. He teaches at the front of the class for the first half an hour, explaining the topic in a way that is easy to understand. He uses plenty of pictures and everyday items that a class of teenagers can relate to'instead of 14 oranges, 'cause that's just stupid, let's have 14 cans of soda...'
For the rest of the lesson Dean usually sets a task and spends his time going over everything individually with each student.
Cas has never found Maths so easy before. More importantly he's never enjoyed Maths the way he does now. Dean's helped Cas so much and it hasn't even been a week.
By Friday's Math lesson, the girls have surpassed the giggling and ogling, and moved on to probing into Dean's personal life.
"What's your favourite colour?" A girl called Courtney asks.
"Blue" Dean answers immediately.
"Do you have any siblings?" Another girls asks.
"Yeah, I have a younger brother, Sam." Dean's face lights up as he mentions his little brother.
"Does he go here?" Courtney pipes up again.
"Maybe" Dean teases.
The questions continue for another 15 minutes until Dean puts a stop to them, telling the girls to focus on their work.
When class finishes, April stops by Dean's desk. Cas can't hear what she's saying as he collects his bag from his spot at the back of the classroom, but judging by her body language he thinks she may be flirting.
Dean let's out a chuckle then sends her on her way. He looks up as Cas passes his desk.
"I'll see ya later, Cas" Dean winks at him. Cas feels blood rush to his cheeks and ducks his head in embarrassment as he exits the classroom.
For the rest of the day Cas works on autopilot. He can't quite put his finger on what it is about Dean that makes Cas like him so much. Except that he's the first teacher to take an interest in him, actually he's one of the few people in Cas' life to treat Cas with nothing less than kindeness.
Cas has very few friends. In fact he only has one actual friend, a shy boy called Samandriel; the other is his brother, Gabriel. His brother is 23 and moved out as soon as he turned 18. However, his father wouldn't let Gabriel take Cas with him and Gabriel hardly had enough money to care for himself let alone Cas, so Gabriel wouldn't of stood a chance in court. But Gabriel still wanted to try, it was only because Cas wouldn't let him, is why he didn't. Cas would rather put up with his father and be able to see Gabriel on the weekends than to be put in a foster home and never see Gabriel again. He didn't like it by all means but it was better than the alternative, he's well aware that he could get fostered by a family much worse than his father. The justice system was far from perfect. So Cas gets by with the few good things he has, Gabriel, Samandriel and the chance to do well in school, get a good job and rid his father from his life forever.
Cas sits in the cafeteria with only an apple for his lunch. Cas' father spends most of his money on booze and meals out for himself, usually leaving Cas at home with two slices of bread and a mouldy banana. Recently though Cas has been having dinner at Samandriel's or Gabriel's almost every night and Gabriel buys him a box of cereal every week, so he's not underweight like he use to be, although he only just hits the average weight marker.
Samandriel places his tray down on the table and hands Cas a slice of bread and the extra pudding cup he bought. It's been a routine for them since Samandriel found out about Cas' living situation. Samandriel's family doesn't know and Cas doesn't want them to, hence why he only eats at Samandriel's 2 or 3 times a week to avoid suspicion. Samandriel used the excuse that Cas likes Samandriel's mom's cooking better than his father's. Which is true, but mostly because Cas' father never cooks for him; although he use to until Gabriel moved out. Now his father spends most of his time out of the house, neglecting Cas instead of ...the other stuff. Cas prefers it's that way.
Cas accepts the food graciously. He ran out of cereal yesterday, because he'd been peckish and had more than one small bowl of cereal on Tuesday and Wednesday. Something he won't do again because now he'll have to wait until Sunday evening when Gabriel gives him another box.
Cas watches as Dean walks past their table and towards the dinner line.
"Is that the teacher you've been talking about?" Samandriel asks also watching Dean.
"Yes" Cas turns back to his piece of bread.
"He looks young" Samandriel comments.
"I believe he just turned 23 last month." Cas says nonchalantly and pulls the lid off his pudding cup.
Samandriel stares at him with wide eyes "Seriously?"
"Yes" Cas helps himself to the extra spoon on Samandriel's tray.
"And he already has a degree to be a teacher?" Samandriel asks in awe.
Cas nods "Evidently yes". He puts a spoonful of pudding in his mouth and fights the urge to close his eyes in pleasure.
"Wow" Samandriel continues to stare at Dean. Castiel doesn't blame him, Dean truly is amazing and also rather nice to look at.
"How was your Math class today?" Cas asks between spoonfuls of pudding.
Samandriel turns his attention back to Cas "Well you got lucky, because our new Maths teacher is an asshole"
Cas holds back a smile. Samandriel rarely swears so it's quite amusing when he does. Although the same could be said for Cas. "Why's that?"
"He hasn't taught us anything all week, just made us complete problems from the text book and today he gave us a test. We haven't learnt anything that was on that test!" Samandriel seeths.
Castiel agrees with Samandriel, his Math teacher does sound like an asshole.
"If he's not actually teaching you, perhaps you can report him"
Samandriel huffs "Yeah. I'll give it another week though, to see if he takes a hint"
"That sounds reasonable" Cas agrees.
They continue to talk idly until the bell rings. Then the two of them head to English.
Cas strolls through the corridors towards Dean's classroom. Students are pushing by eager to get home while others stand idly chatting.
Cas finds Dean hunched over his desk, writing on what looks to be a students piece of work. His head leans on one arm and his lips are tilted down. He looks generally fed up.
Cas knocks on the door to make his presence know.
Dean glances up and his lips curl into a smile "Hey Cas"
Cas blushes at the use of his nickname "Hello Dean"
Dean packs the pile of papers he was writing on back into his bag and clears his desk the best he can. "I got the work sheet right here, you did great on the problems we went through by the way"
Cas smiles shyly as he comes to stand near the desk.
When Dean's finished sorting his desk he turns to look at Cas then glances around the desk. "You'll need a chair" He nods towards the student desks.
Cas takes a chair from one of the desks and pulls it around beside Dean's chair.
"Right" Dean says once Cas has sat down "Let's go over algorithms..."
They go through various problems together for an hour. Cas would occasionally lose track of thought as Dean leaned over his shoulder. A few times Dean would whisper encouraging things in Cas' ear 'you're doing great, Cas'. Sometimes they would take a break for a few minutes and just talk, Cas informs Dean of Mr Gerald, Samandriel's Math teacher. Dean explains all the reasons he doesn't like him and tells Cas he'll have a word with him.
Dean leaves Cas to solve a couple of problems on his own, to go outside and answer a call from his brother.
When Dean re-enters the classroom, Cas looks up. "Is everything Okay?"
"Yeah, Sammy's just going out with some friends tonight, so won't be there when I get back" Dean returns to his seat.
"Do you two live with your parents?" Cas isn't sure if that's too personal a question or not. Dean's been very open with him so far, going in to explicit detail about past girlfriends and such.
There's a beat of silence before Dean speaks "No, my dad died and my uncle Bobby took us in but he couldn't really afford us so I worked as a mechanic at Bobby's shop for a bit 'til I saved up enough for a place of our own." Dean had a slightly distant look on his face, Cas places a hand down beside Dean's, fingers brushing, Dean snaps out of his trance.
"You do the problems?" Dean changes the subject.
"Yes" Cas slides the paper towards Dean, for him to look over.
Dean looks over the work, ticking each correct step."These are great, Cas. You're a quick learner" Dean then checks the clock and looks back at Cas.
"You should probably get going, don't want you missing your dinner" Dean says.
Cas' mood sours slightly at that. There's no dinner to miss. Cas picks up his bag and moves to put his chair back from where it came.
"Do you need a ride?" He hears Dean ask.
"No, I only live a few blocks from here" Cas replies. 'The longer it takes me to get home the better'.
"Alright, see ya Monday Cas" Dean starts packing his things into his own bag.
"Goodbye Dean" Cas leaves the classroom and mentally prepares himself for returning home.
Despite Cas' slow pace, he arrives home too soon for his liking. He's tempted to do another lap around the block but decides against it his father or a nosy neighbor has probably seen him already. So he walks up his drive and takes a deep breath before unlocking the door and pushing it open.
Cas' father comes to stand in the living room doorway.
"Where've you been?" He says gruffly.
Castiel fights the urge to cower under his father's gaze "After school tutoring, I wrote you a note" he gestures towards the kitchen where he left a note on the fridge.
"I don't read notes, you should of told me in person" His father speaks in a clipped tone.
You weren't here to tell "My apologies, father" Cas ducks his head in a submissive manner.
Castiel's father steps forward and grabs Cas' arm "Don't say it if you don't mean, Castiel"
Cas flinches he knows where this is going, he was hoping he could avoid it. He never can though.
"I'll make you sorry." His father hauls him against the wall. "You'll respect me one day, Castiel" a fist connects with Cas' stomach.
That night Cas lays in bed wincing everytime he moves. He hears his father stumbling up the stairs obviously drunk as there's a thump every few steps.
Cas turns over, ignoring the pain shooting up his side, and squeezes his eyes shut. He hears movement outside his bedroom door and attempts to even out his breathing. Please go away. Please.
Cas' prayers go unheard as his bedroom door squeaks open."Casss" his father slurs "Casss-tielll, I know you're awake"
His father slumps onto the bed ,jarring Cas' bruises, and turns Cas over on to his back. Cas attempts to still feign sleep. "Open your eyes" his father commands, the words sounding more sober. Cas does as he's told.
"Tha's betterr" his father strokes a hand down Cas' cheek.
Cas avoids looking at his father's face and concentrates on a spot over his father's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I had to punish you. I only do it because I love you" his father presses a sloppy kiss to Cas' forehead "let me show you just how much"
The next hour is full of his father's sadistic declarations of love and cries of pleasure. While Cas lays quietly, hating himself for letting his father use him like this and fights the tears burning in his eyes.