Hello lovely readers! This chapter is a little bit of a filler chapter but with some important information as well as a hint of a future character, and another character addition for some conflict. I have known this chapter was going to happen for quite some time. Warning, it is not a super happy chapter, but it is important for the story development.

Benny and Jo walked with Dean in the hall at the end of the day. They had begun doing this after Dean had forgiven Benny. It wasn't the best armor, but Dean couldn't help but be happy about how great friends he had. Benny and he hadn't talked much more about what had happened. To Dean, it was in the past, and it was forgotten. But he couldn't help but get a sense that Benny still had lingering guilt, and would perhaps need more time to adjust to being back. Jo and Benny had a little bit of a rougher reunion. Jo had apparently yelled at Benny for being so stupid and horrible friend. Benny had taken it, of course. And eventually they too were able to make up and now all three had an even stronger friendship then before. Even things at school had calmed down. Dean didn't get near as many stares or random mean words thrown at him. The pot that Crowley had been stirring seemingly had calmed down with the punishment of Lisa. Dean wasn't going to complain, but Crowley still made him look over his shoulder for the next bad thing to happen, so in that respect Crowley still had the upper hand. But Benny and Jo were his moral support. Dean thought over what his mother had said about how the addition of Cass in the mix might bring back some of the unfriendly behavior once again.

"Hey look, the Winter Dance tickets are on sale."

Dean looked up to see members of the activities committee sitting at a decked out table with a brightly colored sign "DANCE TICKETS" on it. There were snowflakes decorations everywhere. He'd have to tell Cass, he was right snowflakes were everywhere.

"I want to grab mine," Benny said.

"You have a date, Benny?"

"I might."

"Oh, okay," Jo said sarcastically.

"What? Is it such a crazy thing that someone might want to be with this guy?"

Jo hit his flat cap down so his eyes were obscured.

"Rude," Benny said.

"Two tickets, please," Jo said.

"Two?" Dean asked.

"I asked someone to come to the dance with me."

"Who?"

Jo didn't look either of them in the eye.

"Who is it, Jo?" Benny asked.

"I may have mentioned it to Gabe."

"You're taking pink shirt dude?" Benny asked.

"He's a good guy!"

"More like a crazy guy," Dean said.

"He's one of your boyfriend's best friend!"

"I just have a hard time picturing you two dating," Dean said.

"We're not dating."

"But you're bringing him as your date?" Benny asked.

"As a friend!" Jo defended.

Dean raised his eyebrow in Jo's direction.

"I didn't want to go alone. You know I don't have any close friends that are girls. I'd end up just sitting in the corner by myself."

"Oddly enough, I feel like I should have seen this coming," Benny said.

"Seen what?"

"You liking this Gabe dude."

"I never said I liked him."

"Dean snorted. "Like anyone needs to say they like someone for it to be totally apparent to the world."

"Says the guy who said he has a hard time picturing us dating," Jo countered.

"So you are dating?" Benny joked.

"No! We just talk."

"Don't you talk with us?" Dean asked.

"Yes, but it's different."

"How is it different but not because you are dating?" Benny asked.

"Ugh, you are both impossible! I need to make some girl friends!" Jo said. She tucked her tickets in her pocket and walked away from the boys.

"Gabe and Jo. Pretty crazy." He turned to the girl behind the table. "Two tickets," Benny said.

"So you do have a date," Dean said.

"I asked someone. She said yes."

"Who?"

"Donna, from my art class."

"Who?" Dean asked. He tried to recall an image of a Donna who attended their school, but he couldn't.

"She transferred in during the fall from Minnesota. Dude, she has the most adorable accent."

"I don't think I've seen her."

"I have art with her. We are next to each other. She's an even worse artist then I am. But we joke about it. We joke about a lot of stuff. She's pretty awesome. I think you'd like her."

"Cool. Sounds like she's awesome."

Benny looked at his watch. "I've got to get going. Let me know if you want to come over for that marathon tonight." Benny's family had a tradition of watching all the Lord of the Rings movies for Benny's father's birthday. With all the movies it ended up being a weeklong tradition now.

"Will do." Benny headed out with a wave. Dean went back to the table.

"Two tickets please."

The girl at the table, Naomi, a major speaker for school activities, and a senior he thought, looked at her second hand and then back at Dean.

"Who are you planning on taking to the dance?" Naomi asked.

Dean suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What does that matter?"

"The tickets are only being sold in group prices or couple prices this year so either you attend with a group of three or more or you attend with a date."

"Okay, I'm attending with a date," Dean said.

"And I need to know who it is that you'll be bringing."

"Okay, but I just was here when both my friends paid for couple tickets and they did not get asked that."

Naomi sighed like this whole conversation was an incredible inconvenience for her.

"I know who you are," she finally said. "You're the only person I have to ask this question to."

"Then you know the answer."

"Unfortunately," she put her hands on the table in a very businesswoman fashion, "I cannot sell you the couple ticket."

"Why not! I have a date. I have the money!"

Naomi closed her eyes as if to compose herself. Her helper awkwardly began to sell tickets to other students.

"Look," she sounded like his old baby sitter who always talked down to him, "dances are run by the student activities committee which is overseen by the parents guidance board. Their job is to maintain order and certain standards at all dances functions. The current dance policy allows me to sell couple tickets to couples of the opposite sex. Homosexual conduct is not allowed at school dances."

"That's bullshit! We're not planning on making a scene! I just want to bring him!"

Dean was seeing red. He and Cass would never try to make a scene. They just wanted to be together. It wasn't even that big of a deal. Why were they making this whole situation bigger then it needed to be? There was nothing wrong with him and Cass. He thought they should at least be treated equally and handle personal opinions of individual students as they came. He never saw that the whole school would be against him. Did they just change this policy? Was this policy made specifically because the parents realized they had an out student who would want to bring a date to the dance? Had this been in the works for a while? Or from the minute his secret had been revealed? What else was he barred from doing? When Cass came in January could he hold his hand, kiss him and get away with it like all the couples did at school? He remembered what his mom had said about needing to figure out a plan of action regarding the coming year and the change with Cass being at school with him. He realized that was going to need to speed up drastically. He was broken from his thought when Naomi cleared her throat.

"If you'd like to go to the dance, I'd recommend finding another person to join your party and buy the group rate," she said. "Its not that much higher."

"No way! This is stupid!"

"Look, Dean, right?" she said. "Do yourself a favor and just follow the rules."

"No," Dean said. "The rules are wrong. This is all wrong."

Naomi looked back over at her friend whose lips had tightened in response to his comment.

"Fine," Naomi finally said. She leaned back in her chair. "Feel free to argue it,"

"I will," Dean said.

He turned from the ticket table and took a few steps away before hearing Naomi tell her friend, "We wont see him at the dance."

Dean walked further away from the ticket table. His heart was racing and he felt like he could punch a hole in the wall. Instead he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Hey Mom, no, I'm fine. But somethings happened."

So this chapter isn't on the happiest of sides. Also, you may have noticed that Cass, while very important to the story, has not been featured much in the last couple of chapters. Don't worry, that will be remedied. I just think that while Dean's situation seems bleak and is not fun to experience with him, experiencing a day in the life of Cass at this moment with his mother getting sicker and sicker, would be worse. That being said, it is my plan to give you a clearer image of the Novak family when Dean is not present.

If you have any thoughts on this, or other recommendations please leave a review or PM me!

Love,

~IAmAPurpleLewie