The girls were stuck in the non-violence assembly listening to the principal drone on about what is and is not okay. She kept talking about counselling and better ways to let out their anger. The whole time the girls looked at Dean pleading him with their eyes to get them out of this. He just stood against a wall a look of amusement on his face before winking at the girls and walking out of the room.
Sam was wandering the corridors of the school looking for any possible signs of EMF. He had already looked over the school but hadn't found anything; but with the ectoplasm that leaked out of that kid's ear, there had to be a ghost in the building. He was walking along a set of lockers when he heard the door open behind him. He quickly hid the EMF meter by holding it to his leg and turned around to see Dean walking through the double doors and relaxed.
"How's the non-violence assembly going?" Sam asked in a quiet voice.
"Apparently shoving a kids arm into a Cuisinart is not a 'healthy display of anger'." Dean said in a sarcastic voice mocking the principal. "Girls are stuck in there" Dean said quickly before asking "So the kid had ectoplasm leaking out his ear?"
"Which only comes from a seriously pissed off spirit." Sam said almost angrily "It's got to be ghost possession" he added calmer
"Yeah but that's pretty rare" Dean told Sam trying to convince himself as well as Sam that this wasn't a case so that they could move on to trying to find the seals and stopping Lucifer from rising.
"Yeah, but it happens." Sam argued "I mean, they get angry enough, they can take control of a person's body" he explained even though he knew Dean understood how ghost possession worked.
"Alright, so, what, we got a ghost in the building?" Dean asked
"Yeah, but where? I mean, there's no emf." Sam said gesturing to the EMF meter still in his hand "Maybe we could find out who it is at least. You know, check and see if somebody died bloody around here or something" he suggested
"Way ahead of you." Dean said pointing to Sam and rummaging in his pockets for some paper "I had to break into the principal's office to get this." he said proudly unfolding the paper "Oh, and uh FYI, three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones" Dean said smiling while Sam rolled his eyes.
"No" Sam said abruptly causing Deans smile to falter and him to look away awkwardly clearing his throat.
"So, there was only one death on campus. It was a suicide back in '98. Some kid named Barry Cook." Dean said changing the topic as Sam's eyes widened and he grabbed the piece of paper off Dean. "What?" Dean asked confused at Sam's sudden behaviour. Sam looked at the paper before taking in a deep breath and sighing, a look of recognition crossing his face
"I knew him." Sam said which caused Dean to be even more confused. "How'd he die?" Sam asked quickly.
"Uh he slit his wrists in the first floor girl's bathroom" Dean said quietly trying not to upset Sam. Sam looked up at Dean before a thought crossed his mind.
"That's where…" Sam started before being cut off by Dean.
"Right where the chick got swirleyed to death. Exactly." Dean said seriously. "So, what? This ghost is possessing nerds?" He asked looking away and back at Sam. The idea sounded a little ridiculous to Dean. A nerd ghost killing people wasn't something you heard of often.
"And using them to go after bullies, yeah." Sam said not looking up. His eyes were sad knowing Barry, who had been a friend of his, had committed suicide and was now killing people.
"Well, does that sound like Barry's M.O?" Dean asked looking questioningly at Sam.
"Barry had a hard time" Sam said as he looked up at Dean sadly. Suddenly the doors of the corridor burst open and loud teenagers started flooding the corridors. The assembly was over and due to the events of the day students were being sent home. The girls burst through the doors looking around the corridors for the boys and upon seeing the boys tall forms stormed over to them and glared at Dean.
"Did you really have to make us sit through that shit?" Beth asked angrily glaring at Dean. Dean just smirked ignoring the girls question and looking up at Sam's still sad face.
"Time to go dig a grave" he said quietly to them. The girls turned to see what Dean was staring at and saw Sam looking sadly down at some paper he was holding. This made the girls look at Dean confused before he lead them out of the building and to the Impala ignoring the whispers coming from the other students about the new girls being with the hot substitute gym teacher and the janitor.
….
Dean had filled the girls in on the conversation him and Sam had while they were in the assembly. Meanwhile Sam had sat there quietly staring out the window of the Impala. They had to wait till dark to head to the cemetery and so they spent the afternoon at the motel before going to the diner for dinner. They had already grabbed all their stuff from the motel and checked out. They were planning to head off after they had salted and burnt Barry's bones. They were now pulled up at the cemetery; the boys had opened the trunk and were pulling out their shovels while the girls looked around shivering and jumping every time they heard a noise. Cemeteries were bad enough during the day, let alone at night. Dean handed one of the girls a flashlight and instructed them to follow. They made their way through the graveyard shining their torches on the headstones looking for Barry's grave. Dean and Sam were a head of the girls while the girls walked slowly through the graveyard moving in a formation much like the one they had used after they left that diner on their first night with the boys. They were absolutely terrified of what might be lurking in the graveyard.
"Over here" Dean called out making the girls jump before they ran to catch up with the boys. Once they caught up he handed Samantha a shovel and was about to hand one to Jess when Samantha started yelling.
"Are you kidding me?" she yelled holding the shovel out to Dean raising an eyebrow. There was no way she was going to be able to dig a grave. She did not have the muscle power or a very strong wrist; and digging up a body was just a little too weird.
"Keep it down." Dean yelled in a whisper. "Now start digging princess." he said to Samantha while handing the other shovel to Jess. Samantha glared at Dean and then Beth when she started laughing but started digging anyway along with Jess, both girls complaining the whole time, muttering things like "lazy shits" and "I'll dig you a fuckin' grave". They would make Beth occasionally swap in with them when they needed a little break; the boys just watched the whole time laughing. Although the girls had gotten fit from running, it hadn't done anything for their arm muscles; especially since they weren't that strong before they had been on the run. They weren't even halfway when they plopped on the ground too exhausted to dig anymore and the boys had to take over. When the boys had finished digging and pulled open the casket, the girls just stared, this was a weird experience but something they figured they would have to get used to, unless the demons got them, which was not something they wanted to think about.
The girls let Sam and Dean salt and burn Barry's bones, not quite ready to do it themselves. They watched miserably as the flames went up before helping fill the grave back up.
"Sorry about your friend Sam" Jess said, once they had finished, the other two girls nodding in agreement. They couldn't imagine having to burn a friend's bone, but they knew what it was like to lose someone and so they let him be for a moment as they walked back to the Impala and hoped in. They heard Dean say something to Sam as he put the shovels in the trunk, but were too consumed in their own thoughts to bother listening in. This case had been tiring; it was assaulting the girls with memories of school and their friends. The happier times before the demons attacked and then after, when their own friends had ignored them. In that way they felt like they had lost their friends too, but they still had each other. Samantha and Jess having been friends since primary school, then meeting Beth when she moved over from England when they were in year eight. The girls stayed silent in the back as the boys got in and they drove away. It wasn't until Dean spoke up that anyone in the car had said anything, they were all lost in their heads.
"You alright?" Dean asked Sam worried. Sam had been staring out the windscreen, deep in thought, not saying a word, or really moving. He was worried Sam would put it away and let it boil like everything else.
"Barry was my friend. I just burned his bones" Sam answered. His voice sounded dry and he looked as if he wanted to cry, or maybe he had been.
"Well, he's at peace now Sam" Dean replied trying to reassure Sam. The girls could tell he obviously wasn't very good with these things.
"I mean, if dad had let us stay just a little while longer, maybe i could have helped the kid, you know?" Sam said changing the topic slightly. He was blaming himself for not helping Barry, Dean and the girls could tell that. It was a very Sam Winchester thing to do.
"You read the coroner's report same as me. Barry was on every anxiety drug and antidepressant known to man. School was hell for that kid. His parents had split up. He just wanted out. It was tragic but it's not your fault." Dean replied hoping Sam would listen "To tell you the truth, I'm glad we got out of that town. I hated that school" He added trying to change the subject.
"It wasn't all bad" Sam said.
"How can you say that after what happened to you?" Dean asked confused, he waited for Sam's reply, but Sam just stared out the window, lost in thought. Another five minutes of driving had passed and the girl's eyes were beginning to droop. They felt like they hadn't slept in days. One by one they fell asleep, Samantha first followed by Beth and Jess.
….
When the girls woke up their arms were aching from the digging and their necks sore from sleeping in the car. They were stopped but the Impala was still running, they looked out the window and were confused to see they were parked out in front of Truman High.
"Well, whatever. Go have your Robin Williams 'Oh captain! My captain!' moment. Just make it quick" Dean replied turning off the engine of the Impala. Sam got out of the car while Dean and the girls watched as he walked up to the school and went inside. They had missed the rest of the conversation and were rather confused. There was a moment of silence before one of the girls spoke.
"Dean what did you mean by a Robin Williams 'Oh captain! My captain!' moment?" Samantha asked sitting forward in her seat, her arms resting on the front leather seats.
"It's from a... nevermind" Dean replied causing the girls to look at him confused before shrugging it off and leaning back in their seats.
"Why are we back here?" Beth asked bored playing with the bracelets on her wrist.
"Sam wanted to talk to a teacher." Dean answered turning to look at the girls in the backseat who were wiggling around trying to get comfy and fully wake up.
"How long do you think he will be?" Jess asked yawning and trying to curl up and go back to sleep.
"I dunno" Dean answered turning back around to look at the school.
"I wanna get out of here." Jess continued not opening her eyes.
"I'm so tired; sleeping in the Impala is not comfy." Samantha said letting out a big yawn and trying to stretch.
"Nothings comfy for you, Samantha" Beth stated "Are we going back to Bobby's? Or another motel?" Beth asked leaning forward on the front seat.
"We're gonna call Bobby see if he's found a case." Dean replied playing with the radio.
"So motel?" Samantha asked confused. Dean turned to look at the girls when his phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket to see Sam calling.
"Sam?" Dean asked putting his phone to his ear. The girls turned to look at each other confused, why would Sam be calling if he was just inside. The look on Dean's face told them it couldn't be good. "Okay" Dean said before closing his phone. He sighed as he turned to look at the girls who were sitting expectantly waiting for Dean to tell them what happened. "Turns out it wasn't Barry. Another student got possessed" he told them. The girls sighed loudly, they didn't want to have to go to school for another day. The one day was bad enough.
"Does that mean we have to go back to school?" Beth whined loudly.
"I don't wanna go back to school" Jess also whined covering her head with her arms.
"So what are we doing now?" Samantha asked ignoring the whining girls either side of her.
"We're gonna find out who it is and burn their bones." Dean said simply also ignoring Beth and Jess, as Sam appeared in the front of the school walking towards the Impala, pain clear on his face. As Sam got in he winced and took in a quick breath through his teeth. The girls looked at him worriedly wondering why he was in pain but too awkward to ask.
"You alright?" Dean asked Sam as he turned the key in the ignition and the engine turned over.
"Yeah" Sam said as Dean pulled out from the kerb and drove off.
…
Sam filled Dean and the girls in on what happened as they drove, the girls having no idea where Dean was planning to go. They had pulled onto a dirt road by a lake and parked up. The girls piled out of the Impala and went to stand by the lake looking out over the lake in silence while Sam took the bench and Dean pulled the chilly bin out of the boot.
"Trust me this will help." Dean said as he passed Sam a cold bottle of whiskey. "That ghost is dead. I'm gonna rip its lungs out!" he yelled angrily causing the girls to jump slightly as it broke the peaceful surroundings.
"Can't rip lungs out of something that's dead, Dean" Beth said sarcastically turning around to look at the boys.
"Yeah well you know what I mean" he said as he paced up and down glancing at the folder in his hand.
"It knew my name, Dean. My real name. We burned Barry's bones. What the hell?" Sam said confused.
"Well maybe it wasn't Barry. Maybe we missed something. We just got to go back" Dean said as he flipped through the papers. All three girls had turned around by now and were staring at Dean as he looked up in thought. "No way. How did we not see this before?" He said as he walked towards Sam.
"What?" all three girls said at once.
"Check it out." Dean said handing the folder to Dean and pointing to the page. "Look, Martha dump truck, Revenge of the nerds, and hello kitty, they all rode the same bus."
"That was really rude, Dean" Beth stated
"Its people like you who made me hate high school" Jess added nodding
"You are such a bully Dean, I can't believe you just said that" Samantha said shocked agreeing with the other two girls
"Okay, so maybe the bus is haunted." Sam suggested not hearing the girls over by the lake, looking down at the page and back up at Dean.
"Well that would explain why there's no emf at the school. But not the attacks. I mean, the ghosts are tied to the places they haunt. They can't just bail. "Dean said turning and walking slightly away from Sam and turning back around. The girls had crowded around Sam looking over his shoulder at the page open in the folder. Sam looked back down at the paper confused, Dean was right.
"Unless this one can." Sam considered causing Dean to scrunch his face in confusion. "Dean there's lore about spirits possessing people and riding them for miles. Then whenever they leave the body, their bungeed back to their usual haunt. But until then the ghosts can go wherever they want" Sam explained to Dean.
"So a spook just grabs a kid on the bus and walks right into Truman?" Dean asked raising his eyebrow.
"It's possible" Sam replied.
"Ghosts getting creative, well that's super." Dean said as he reached into the chilly bin and grabbed a beer. This just made their job that much harder if other spirits started doing the same thing. The girls had moved to sit down on the bench beside Sam not knowing what to say just taking in what Sam had said until Dean finished his beer and they decided it was time to go check the bus.
…
Sam was at the back of the bus checking the bus for EMF, while Dean was up the front searching for any signs of a ghost. The girls were told by the boys to sit down in the front and not touch anything, instead just watch and learn.
"Definitely ain't clean." Sam said waving the meter around the bus.
"I knew that the source of all evil would be found on a bus" Jess said remembering her days on the school bus. Beth smiled understanding her pain about school buses and Samantha shook her head smiling. The girls quietly chatted at the front of the bus about something that happened on one of their buses at school.
"Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty! Come out; come out, wherever you are!" Dean called tapping the barrel of his shotgun on the roof of the bus as he searched the seats for anything he could find.
"Dean its ghost, not a cat" Beth said seriously causing the other girls to laugh slightly and Dean to glare at her.
"Man, I don't get it. No one ever died on this bus, and it's not like there's a body hidden in here." Sam said frowning. This job was getting on his nerves as if it wasn't personal enough burning Barry's bones, now it's targeting him.
"There could be a body in here I mean who knows really" Beth said without looking up, but when she felt Sam's glare, she looked up and smiled.
"Yeah, but a flap of skin, a hair, I mean, hell, a hangnail - something's got to be tying the ghost to this place. We just got to find it." Dean said also getting frustrated by this stupid ghost.
"Oh well that narrows it down" Samantha said sarcastically getting a glare from Dean.
"Yeah." Sam said ignoring the girls instead focusing on finding any clues. Dean walked up to the front of the bus and noticed some papers in a compartment by the driver seat. Dean handed his gun to Jess, who was sitting in the seat behind the driver's, to hold and then seated himself in the driver's seat and began rummaging through the papers.
"Got a new driving permit. Issued two weeks ago." Dean said reading over the permit. Sam joined him at the front of the bus and the girls leant forward listening in.
"Just before the first attack." Sam stated.
"Well that suspicious isn't it?" Samantha said
"Yeah. Name of the bus driver is Dirk McGregor Sr." Dean stated "39 North Central Avenue." Dean continued.
"What if he's the ghost" Jess said standing up suddenly, Sam and Dean looked at each questioning why they brought the girls with them.
"He's alive" Sam said slowly as if talking to idiots
"How do you know!?" Jess yelled
"He is obviously alive he is a bus driver" Dean said frustrated
"That's what the government wants you to think" Beth said dramatically
"Wait did you say McGregor?" Sam asked ignoring the girls and trying to stop Dean from retaliating.
"Yeah" Dean answered turning back to the girls to continue arguing, but turned around again suddenly "Why?" He asked confused. Sam frowned remembering why he knows that name
"I knew his son." Sam said frowning.
"Did you know everybody at this school?" Dean asked shocked, how could he know so many people, they were only at that school for a few weeks, and Sam was never the social type. Sam glanced up at Dean to reply, but choose not to. Dean quickly wrote down the address and shoved the papers back where he found it. He followed Sam out of the bus to the impala and so did the girls.
"So what now?" Jess asked as she handed the gun back to Dean so he could put it in the trunk.
"We go pay a visit to McGregor Sr." Dean said shutting the trunk and heading to the driver door and getting in. The three girls climbed into the back seat as Dean turned the engine over.
…
The sun was beginning to set as they pulled up outside the McGregor house. The girls were staring out at the house when Dean turned around to them.
"Okay, you girls stay here." Dean said before turning back to open his door.
"Wait what; you're leaving us by ourselves?" Samantha said terror evident in her voice and on her face.
"You'll be fine for ten minutes." Dean replied as he opened the car door.
"Dean..." Beth whined.
"We'll be right inside" Dean said as him and Sam got out of the Impala and shut the door cutting off any further comments from the girls. The girls watched as the boys walked up to the front of the house and knocked on the door. A large elderly man answered the door and after a few words were exchanged the boys walked inside and the door was shut.
"This is slightly terrifying" Beth said looking away from the house and looking up and down the street. The other two nodded in response. This was the first time the girls had been alone for quite a while now. For the past few months at least one of the boys or even Bobby had been around to keep an eye on them and even though the demons had yet to find them they knew it could happen any minute. Samantha and Jess turned away from the house and followed Beth in looking up and down the street. It was mainly deserted besides the occasional car driving pass. The girls tensed every time a car drove past but relaxed slightly when it didn't stop. It felt like forever before the boys walked out of the house and got back into the Impala. The girls had barely said a word since the boys had left and visibly relaxed when they saw them again.
"So?" Jess asked, her earlier fear forgotten, "Is he the ghost?" she asked grinning at the look of annoyance on Dean's face.
"Did ya kill him, can we go sleep now?" Beth asked
"He kept a lock of his hair; it's on the bus in his bible." Sam answered once again ignoring the girls. He was starting get the hang of ignoring them, Dean on the other hand struggled a bit.
"Who's hair?" Jess asked
"His son's hair." Sam answered
"Ew." Samantha said scrunching up her face. She found that slightly weird to keep someone's hair after they died.
"Any way we're gonna go back to the bus then get out of here." Dean said as he put the keys in the ignition and started the Impala. The girls talked in the back about random things as they drove to the bus depot while the boys were quiet in the front. It was nearing dark as they pulled up to the bus depot and all piled out of the Impala; the girls shivering at the slight breeze and hugging their jackets closer. They walked silently towards where the bus had been parked earlier to find it missing.
"Where is it?" Dean asked slightly angry.
"There's a game on tonight basketball or something they might have taken it to that" Beth suggested.
"It was football" Jess corrected.
"No basketball" Beth said turned to Jess.
"Football" Jess argued.
"Basketball" Beth argued back.
"Football" Jess said raising her voice slightly
"Basketball" Beth said raising her voice. The girls continued their voices getting louder each time.
"Football" Jess said stomping her foot.
"Basketball" Beth spat.
"Football" Jess spat back.
"Basketball" Beth yelled.
"Get'cha head in the game" Samantha interrupted causing the girls to break out into singing high school musical. By this point the boys had enough and walked off to the office to find out where the bus had gone. By the time the boys had come back the girls were in a fit of laughter and trying to calm each other down.
"It's a football game" Dean said over the girl's laughter
"Told you!" Jess yelled turning to Beth.
"Lady gave us a shortcut, we're gonna cut them off."
"Can we help?" Jess asked excited
"No." Dean said sternly as he started walking towards the Impala.
"But Dean" Beth whined following Dean back to the Impala with the other girls. Dean ignored the girls having had enough and got in the Impala and waited till everybody was in before driving off. The girls whined the whole way managing to convince Dean to let them roll out the road spikes. They waited till the bus came along. The boys were making the girls stay in the Impala but if they couldn't help then they wanted to watch and see how it's done. When the bus hit the road spikes the driver swerved and slammed the brakes coming to a jolting stop. The boys run out from their hiding position and the girls as quietly as they could sneak out of the Impala and watched from a distance. The driver opens the bus door and steps out of the bus.
"Dirk!" Sam called walking up behind Dirk cocking his gun.
"Winchester." Dirk snarled turning to Sam "What are you gonna do, shoot me?" he mocked not realising that Dean was sneaking up behind him.
"Don't need to." Sam said calmly lowering his gun as Dean came up behind Dirk wrapping a rope around his middle causing Dirk to look down "That rope is soaked in salt water, Dirk. You're not going anywhere." Sam stated pointing the gun back at Dirk as Dean runs onto the bus.
"All right, everybody stay where you are. You'll be okay." Dean instructed the team of teenagers and coach.
"Aren't you the P.E. Teacher?" the coach questioned.
"Not really. I'm like '21 Jump Street." Dean explained quickly covering for himself "The bus driver sells pot. Yeah." he added looking around at the confused faces on the bus and started rooting around glove compartment for the bible with the lock of hair, he found the bible and flicked through the pages turning it upside down to find nothing.
"It's not here!" Dean yelled out to Sam.
"Where is it?" Sam demanded.
"No way you'll ever find it." Dirk answered smirking at Sam as Dean ran off the bus out to Sam. Sam forced Dirk against the bus pointing the gun against his chest.
"Where is it?" Sam asked angrily pushing the gun into Dirks chest
"Sam Winchester, Still a bully." Dirk stated "You, you jocks... you popular kids..." he spat angrily glancing at Dean "you always thought you were better than everybody else. And to you, I was just Dirk the jerk, right?" he asked feeling sorry for himself "Now you evil sons of bitches are gonna get what's coming to you." he snarled angrily.
"I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not. And neither were you." Sam said reasoning with Dirk "Trust me. I've seen real evil. We were scared and miserable, and we took it out on each other - us and everybody else. That's high school. But you suffer through that, and it gets better. I'm just sorry you didn't get a chance to see that... you or Barry." Sam continued sadly, high school was rough for both of them, but Sam knew that he got off easy compared to Dirk and Barry.
"Nothing is gonna get better for me" Dirk explained "Not ever" Dirk spat getting angry, Sam sighed. Dirk breaks free of the salt rope and charges at Sam. Sam backed away and let off a salt round at Dirk and then another. The bus driver falls to the ground, but boys and girls are unsure of whether Dirk was still possessing him or not. Inside the bus Dirk has possessed another unaware student. Dirk gets off the bus and attacks Sam from behind while knocking Dean out of the way. Dirk has Sam pinned on the ground and is punching him in the face. Dean tried to fire a salt shot but missed. The girls try not to scream and run out giving themselves away.
"Dean! Find the hair!" Sam yells wrestling with Dirk.
Dean goes to the bus driver, who is still lying down on the ground
"Hey, buddy; this isn't what it looks like." Dean says quickly rummaging through the bus drivers pockets. Dean finds the lock of hair, takes out his lighter, and sets it on fire. Ghost Dirk screams and flies out of the student causing the student to fall on Sam and the girls to cover their mouths trying not to let out a laugh.
"Little help?" Sam asked
"He's giving you the full cowgirl." Dean said amused. This caused the girls to burst into laughter and Dean to turn around and catch them watching. "I told you to stay in the car!" he yelled angrily. The girls were slightly terrified and quickly ran back to the Impala waiting for the boys to return. The girls waited for ten minutes in silence for the boys to return. When they finally did Dean said nothing.
"You girls okay?" Sam asked turning to look at them, when they nodded in response he turned back around. The girls sat there awkwardly wondering what to say.
"You know Dean we really like this car." Jess said a small smile on her face. The other two girls nodded in agreement.
"I told you to stay in the car" Dean said ignoring their compliment.
"Sorry" all three mumbled looking down.
"Dean they were fine." Sam said trying to reason with Dean but Dean said nothing.
"Sorry Dean we just wanted to watch." Samantha said looking up. The girls feeling to awkward said nothing more. For a few hours Dean's hands stayed on the wheel, his knuckles white from holding it and his back straight, you could still see the anger on his face. As the drive went on he slowly relaxed and as he did the girls did to, but they could see he was still angry at them. It was only when he decided the silence was too much that he put one of his cassettes on playing it loudly to keep himself awake. Despite the music being the so loud the girls slowly fell asleep the noise comforting to them now.