The little girl that sat in front of Dean in most of his classes, Trisha Dawson, was constantly staring at him and Dean did not like it. Every single day this girl forgot to bring a pencil to school and had to borrow Dean's. She also had this horrible habit of flipping her long dark hair onto his desk so that Dean had to either use only the bottom quarter of this desk or push it out of the way, he had fantasies about chopping it all off so it didn't keep touching him. He spent a good portion of each day glaring at the back of her head, just hoping that Mr. Brown would reassign the seats so Trisha Dawson could annoy someone else. As Halloween approached, posters started to appear around the school about an upcoming dance, which only added to Dean's annoyance with Trisha, because now she giggled all the time when she looked at him. He would sit with his back to her in the cafeteria but he could still hear Trisha and her friends giggling as he shoveled whatever they had for hot lunch into his mouth. He had never wanted to punch someone so much in his entire life.
His friends had started to notice, especially since Trisha's friend Erin started to do the same thing to Ryan.
"How much trouble do you think we'll get in if you just," Ryan took his spoon and mocked flicking pineapple chucks across the room.
"Probably a lot," Chris shrugged.
"Might shut them up," Eric sighed. "It's just the giggling. It never stops."
"My cousin, Rebecca, told me that girls are like that forever," Charlie sighed. "She said that it gets worse in high school."
"Yay," Dean rolled his eyes. "Something to look forward too."
"Trisha said that her mom's chaperoning the dance," Billy said. "I heard her say that she's inviting a bunch of people to the pizza place afterward. You guys gonna go?"
"Maybe," Ryan said, leaning so that he could look between Dean and Eric to the table of giggling girls. The rest of the boys nodded slowly.
"No," Dean laughed. "No way. Not in this lifetime. Not if I was dying and the only thing that would save my life was hanging out with Trisha."
"It won't be that bad," Chris shrugged.
"Maybe if we taped their mouths shut," Dean protested. "You can think it's all great, but wait til one starts giggling at you, Chris. I've never wanted to punch a girl but, seriously."
The rest of the boys nodded in agreement.
"I don't know," Chris shrugged. "Mandi's kinda cute."
"Did you get hit in the head?" Dean asked.
"No," Chris half smiled. "It's… you know… just… she's cute."
"If you start giggling, I can't be friends with you anymore," Eric said seriously.
Dean and Eric exchanged a quick glance than turned back to Chris, who was now staring down at his lunch tray.
"You're not gonna tell her are you?" Chris whispered.
"You think I'd willingly walk over to that?" Dean said seriously. "I'd rather be eaten by a Black Dog."
"Or put through a wood chipper alive," Charlie added.
Chris shrugged and leaned to look between Eric and Dean again. Dean hoped that he never got the look on his face that Chris had now, love struck. It was probably the worst thing ever.
Dean leaned against chain link fence behind the middle school next to his dad watching Sam's soccer practice after school. John kept trying to make it to the games, but he always ended up staying late at work on the wrong nights. The look on Sam's face when he saw that his dad actually showed up for something, though was worth getting the dates messed up, the smile must have been hurting the kid's face.
"Who's the kid giving Sammy a hard time?" John asked elbowing Dean in the shoulder.
"Number eight," Dean answered. "The spiky haired douche-y looking kid, Derek."
Off to the right Dean heard the giggle that haunted his dreams, he rolled his eyes.
"Hey Dean," Trisha smiled.
"Trisha," Dean nodded, turning back to the practice and started to talk to his dad again. "But fifteen and nineteen are, like, his henchmen. They're always with him."
"Dean," Trisha said softly tapping Dean on the shoulder.
"What?" Dean said, rolling his eyes and turning around.
"Are you going to the Halloween Dance next week?" Trisha asked biting her lip.
"No," Dean stated and turned back around. "My dad says I can't, and he's the boss so, you know, I'm not going."
"You didn't tell me about a dance," John said, looking between Dean and petite brunette behind him. "Could be fun. You should go."
Dean glared at his dad, begging with his eyes for him to shut up.
"I told you about it," Dean lied. "I said 'Dad there's a dance at school.' And you said 'No, Dean, you can't go to the dance.' Remember?" He did the best he could to plead with his dad to play along with his eyes.
"No," John shook his head. "When's this dance, Sweetheart?"
"Next Friday," Trisha said chewing on her bottom lip. "At seven until ten. There's gonna be a costume contest."
"You should go," John nodded.
"Yeah, fine," Dean sighed. "I guess I'm going."
"Cool," Trisha smiled, blushing a deep shade of red. "Umm… so… um after the dance my mom's taking a bunch of us over to the pizza place across the street. A whole bunch of people are going, Chris and Ryan and stuff, not just girls. You should come."
"I'll think about it," Dean nodded plastering a broad fake smile on this face. "See you tomorrow Trisha."
"Yeah," Trisha giggled. "See you tomorrow!" She waved and run off to her friends who were all standing fifty yards away giggling.
"Are you trying to ruin my life?" Dean whispered harshly. "That girl's a freak."
"I think she likes you," John chuckled.
"I think she's a freak," Dean answered. "You couldn't just play along and say I couldn't go? Now I have to talk to her. All she does is giggle and play with her hair and be annoying."
"Where the fun in that?" John smiled ruffling Dean's hair. "You're always talking about how you don't get to do kid things."
"You're embarrassing me," Dean said, stepping sideways. "And I don't want to this kid thing I just want her to go away. She never brings a pencil to school. She always has to borrow mine and her stupid hair is always all over my desk so I can't even use it cuz she's in the way and I move it, and she moves it back and I hate her. All I wanna do is play basketball and go to Charlie's house because he has a Nintendo, not hang out with girls."
John suppressed a laughed and turned back to Sam's practice.
"It's not funny Dad," Dean hissed. "She's annoying and she never stops laughing."
"She likes you," John said, shaking his head.
"Don't be gross," Dean sighed, shifting back and forth on his feet. "I don't think Sam should try to fight that kid. He should just ignore him. You see how big his henchmen are."
"You're probably right," John nodded. "Still want him to learn hand to hand combat though. He's gonna need it."
"I know," Dean answered. "Just tell him that he shouldn't go around beating up people. He just kinda rolls eyes when I tell him not to."
John looked over to Dean, smiling and shaking his head, he tried to ruffle his hair again but Dean pulled away too quickly.
Dean decided he would pretend to be sick instead of flat out telling Trisha he hated her and didn't want to go to the stupid dance with her, so he laid out on the living room couch fake coughing dressed as Batman.
"I think I'm dying!" Dean whined throwing in some fake coughs. "I have the Spanish Flu. It killed like, all of America one time."
"You don't have the Spanish Flu, Dean," John rolled his eyes. "Stop it."
"I think the school dance sounds fun," Sam said.
"Because you're eight and think everything's fun," Dean spat. "This will not be fun, it will be torture. You're torturing me, Dad. I have… I have African Sleeping Sickness."
"Yeah," John nodded. "I'll show you torture. Let's go."
"You're just making stuff up," Sam said.
"No crap Sherlock." Dean rolled his eyes, as slide off the couch onto the floor then pleaded. "I have the plague. The same plague that killed all of Europe that time. If I go to the dance I'll get the whole school sick and then the whole town will get sick and you'll have to live your whole life knowing that if you didn't make me go the Halloween Dance the whole town wouldn't have died of the Plague."
"Knock it off, Dean," John sighed. "You're not dying. If this was just a little party with your friends would you be throwing a fit about it?"
"No," Dean sighed, bouncing his forehead off the area rug. "But it's not just my friends, it's stupid Trisha and her stupid giggly friends. And Chris likes one of them and I'm gonna have to talk to them, and Trisha's gonna sit next to me at the pizza place and this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life."
"I'm sure," John nodded. "Let's go pick up your friends."
Dean slumped in the front seat of the Impala in Chris's driveway as he waited for his friends to come out. Chris said he was going to be Superman the second Dean said he was going to be Batman, but the rest of the boys decided it was a little too weird if they were all superheroes so Billy was Frankenstein, Eric was a generic basketball player, Ryan was a cowboy and Charlie was Dracula.
"Excited?" John asked as he looked at the four boys packed tightly into the backseat.
"Yeah," Chris nodded. "Mom said that the first school dance is a big deal."
"See," John said to Dean who was now pressed into his side.
"Chris likes one of them," Dean whispered. "He doesn't count."
"I don't know," Billy sighed. "I guess it could be fun. I mean, maybe. There's a costume contest, and free soda, and music."
"See, bright side," John smiled.
"This isn't funny," Dean said. "I don't know why you find this so funny."
"Because one day you'll be fifteen and if you're anything like I remember being, I'll be pulling out of girls' locker room by the ear," John stated.
"Gross," Dean said slumping further down in the seat as they pulled into the school parking lot.
"Thank you Mr. Winchester!" The other boys called as they slid out of the car and made their way toward the gym.
"Chris's mom is picking you up?" John asked.
"Chris's mom, or Charlie's mom," Dean answered. "We don't all fit in one car expect this one."
"Alright," John nodded. "I want you home by midnight."
"I'll be home by 7:30 if I have anything to do with it," Dean mumbled.
"Have fun kiddo," John smiled. Dean rolled his eyes and slammed the door.
He scanned the Cray paper streamer covered gym for his friends, eyes falling on Trisha Dawson dressed as Wednesday Addams against the far wall. He crossed his fingers in hopes that she didn't see him, or couldn't tell who he was because of his mask, but no such luck.
"Hi," Trisha appeared at his side.
"Trisha," Dean sighed.
"I'm really glad you decided to come," Trisha smiled. "Are you gonna come out with us?"
"Yeah," Dean nodded. "My dad said I should."
"Cool," Trisha beamed. "Well, umm, I guess I'll talk to you later?"
"Okay," Dean nodded, walking away as he spotted his friends by the refreshment table.
The boys mostly stayed against the back wall watching as some of the eighth graders danced together and teachers and other chaperones told them separate. Dean wasn't sure how this was supposed to be fun and from the looks on his friends' faces they didn't either. Until Trisha and the rest of the giggle gang came over.
"Wanna dance with us?" Mandi asked Chris.
"Come on," Erin smiled grabbing Ryan's hand.
"No I'm good," Dean nodded folding his hands behind him.
"Don't be lame," Trisha sighed as her other friends dragged the rest of the boys out to the center of the gym. "It'll be fun."
"I really don't think it will be," Dean stated, yelling to hear himself over the music.
Trisha grabbed his arm and dragged him out with the rest of the group. Dean tried to dig his heals in stop himself, but in the end he decided to just stop fighting it.
It was kind of fun, actually, once he got past the fact that Trisha was girl. He was just laughing and enjoying himself with this friends, it was just a bigger group that it usually was. Even afterward at the pizza joint it was okay.
Trisha's mom sat with someone else's mom at the little two seat-er table nearby while the twelve of them sat at the big table in the corner munching on appetizers.
"Thanks for coming," Trisha whispered into Dean's ear. He'd somehow managed to end up in the middle of the bench stuck between Chris and Trisha. "I hope you had fun."
"I am," Dean nodded trying to pull away from her, because her face was way too close. "I'm glad you invited me, beats spending the whole night with my brother. He's cool, but he's eight so, you know, he passes out pretty early."
Trisha giggled and Dean did his best not to roll her eyes at her. Now that he'd actually talked to her, Trisha wasn't all that bad. She wasn't dressed like her friends were, like Princesses or fairies. He kinda liked that, originality. He just didn't like the she felt the need to touch him all the time.
"Maybe we could hang out after school, some time," Trisha smiled. "Like when you're brother's playing soccer or something. Maybe we could do our homework together."
"Umm, yeah," Dean answered. "I guess we could do that. We have the same homework."
"Cool," Trisha's eyes lit up and leaned in, kissing Dean on the cheek.
Dean wasn't sure what had just happened, he looked to each of his friends quickly to see if they had saw, but each were enthralled in their own conversations. He let out a slow breath he didn't know he'd been hold and locked eyes with her. She was blushing all the way down her neck.
"Why did you do that?" Dean whispered.
Trisha shrugged. "I don't know, I thought you liked me. That's what you do when you like someone."
"Oh," Dean swallowed.
"You like me right?" Trisha said to the table. "I mean, you said we could hang out and stuff so I thought that meant, you know. I'm such an idiot. Erin told me that you didn't like me and now you think I'm a freak."
"No," Dean shook his head quickly. "I… I… I don't think you're a freak, just a little weird."
Trisha looked up and smiled. "Really?"
Dean nodded.
"So you'll be my boyfriend?" Trisha whispered. "Only if you want to, if you really like me."
Dean shrugged. "I guess," he said. "Sure."
"Cool," Trisha's whole face light up.
Dean knew that he would regret this decision, but Trisha was going to cry and he couldn't feel responsible for that. Hopefully this wouldn't come back to bite him, Trisha wasn't a total freak once he got to know her, and maybe she was even less of a freak by herself.
Trisha curled her hand around his for the rest of the night while they passed around cheese sticks and loaded cheese fries. Honestly he kind of started to like it by the time Charlie and Chris's moms showed up. She kept her hand wrapped around his all the way out to the parking lot while everyone said goodbye, and kissed him on the cheek again.
Dean felt himself turn red while his friends looked on. Trisha ran off to her mom's car while he got in with Chris and Eric to head home.
"You boys enjoy yourselves?" Chris's mom chuckled.
"Yeah," Chris shrugged. "I guess it was okay."
"It was pretty fun," Eric answered.
"What about you, Dean?" Chris's mom smiled. "Enjoy yourself?"
Dean shrugged. "Kinda."
"Trisha, like, really, really likes you," Eric said.
"I was unaware," Dean rolled his eyes. "She's not that bad when she stop being annoying. She's like a regular person I guess."
"She kissed you," Chris observed.
"Twice," Dean smile. "No one was paying attention the first time."
"Whoa," Eric said turning toward him. Chris tried to turn around from the front seat but his mom smacked him in the back of the head so he turned back around.
"So I guess she's, like, my girlfriend now," Dean shrugged.
"You hated her four hours ago," Eric said.
"Yeah," Dean shrugged. "But I didn't really talk to her before. And she's not too bad. I mean, like, I could hang out with her sometimes."
"Weird," Chris sighed as they pulled into Dean's driveway. "I guess I'll see you Monday?"
"Yeah," Dean nodded opening the car door. "Just call me if y'all go over the Charlie's. I could go for some Super Mario."
"I will," Eric promised before Dean closed the door and ran into his house.
His dad was asleep on the couch when came home, so he closed the door quietly and tiptoed into the bedroom he shared with Sammy. He put on his pajamas and climbed into bed, pressing his hand to his cheek trying to figure out how he would tell his dad about the dance without telling him that he was right about the whole thing.