Dean is a popular guy, but he is afraid that his new friends will find out that he's not what he pretends to be. He is curious about Glee, but he's worried that his popularity will drop if he joins.

Dean Winchester - uncomfortably self conscious.

More than three weeks into the semester, the locker room had gotten those familiar scents of male pheromones; sweat, and mix of different body-sprays and deodorants, almost masking the faint hint of urine smell from the restrooms. For some people it would be a little disgusting, but for the boys on the team it was just as it should be.

Somebody had done quite a thorough cleaning job in there over the summer, but the distinct and somewhat repulsing odor of chlorine was almost gone now.

Dean inhaled sharply as he grabbed his clothes from the locker. He'd never really spent much time in a locker room before; he'd hardly ever even played football on a team, but quite surprisingly he seemed to have that knack for it.

The camaraderie and the, so far, friendly bantering had got to him, and he quite enjoyed it. He even liked the somewhat rancid smell of boys that hung onto the air in there.

When he signed up to join, Dean didn't have a clue about what was expected of him. He'd seen more than a few football matches and he knew the rules of the game, but being on the field was technically new to him.

Mr Beiste had soon discovered that Dean was a fast runner. He could easily outrun most of the boys, and he got kudos for not showing any fear when the big guys chased him. Dean had been in too many fights in his life to be intimidated by the opponents' size alone, so he could see no reason to be afraid.

They've played a couple of games already. Dean and the other newbies got their chance to be on the field for a few minutes during the matches, and it had gone rather well. Dean followed the instructions he got and he'd had some good runs.

That he was able to catch that ball no matter how dodgy the throw was, had been noted as a plus, but Dean didn't know what that meant position-wise. He knew that the quarterback was the star of the show, and he'd set his mind on at least getting considered for that spot. He knew that a certain skill in strategics was crucial, and he was pretty sure he had that. So far, only two of his teammates had had a go at it, but Beiste was not completely satisfied with them.

Dean tried to show as much confidence as possible when they were on the field. If any of the guys knew how unskilled he really was, they would mock him indefinitely. He could easily take the friendly jokes they made when he stumbled in the football terms, but being outed as a fraud would be devastating.

It was almost a little embarrassing to realize how much it meant for Dean to be liked by the guys on the team. He'd been more or less a loner until now, but if everything went according to plan, he'd finally graduate. After many years on the road without making many friends, he was almost desperate to collect some now. He wanted to be able to look back at this school year with fondness and pride.

After discovering the choir-room, he'd almost joined Glee-club as well. Another venue where he could find friends wouldn't hurt. He soon realized that it was too nerdy for a member of the football team, so he skipped that.

When he after workout one day brought the team there to show off his skills, Dean wasn't sure if it was the right move. He just wanted to be liked, but the performance had exceeded all his expectations.

At the moment, he was one of the most popular guys on the team and they all wanted to hang with him. If that would sway Beiste into letting him try out for the quarterback position he didn't know, but it could help.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It didn't help, and that became apparent after morning practice the next day. If the other guys didn't see through his charade, Mr Beiste easily did. "Have you ever played football before?" The coach asked him directly, and Dean felt instantly very uncomfortable and tried to get away by pointing at the clock. "Eh, I have class… um... "

The man shook his head as he blocked the exit. "You're really good, but you do not know how to play for real. I'll ask again. Have you played on a team before?"

With a heavy heart, Dean decided to come clean. "No. I have barely ever played football in my life. My Kindergarten teacher showed us how, and we played a little during recess back then, but other than that… No. I'm clueless. I know the rules and all, but…" He slumped his head down and sighed heavily. "Thank you for waiting until we were alone."

The coach didn't say anything at first, but then he came over and sat down next to him. "You ARE good, but you don't understand this game fully. I considered you as a quarterback, but I can't give you that position. You are too unskilled."

After a few minutes of silence, Beiste patted Dean's shoulder. "You almost had me fooled." He chuckled a little. "You're fast and you catch anything we throw at you. Wide receiver. It's the best I can do. Score me a touchdown, and you will be a hero."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

After almost a month into the school year, Dean had yet to meet the principal. It was the first time in his life that he'd managed to stay out of trouble for so long, and he was kind of proud of himself. He was pretty sure that his father would have been proud as well, but he and Sammy hadn't seen the man since he left them in that dingy apartment in the outskirts of town. Mr Winchester was too busy panhandling and hunting for imaginary riches to drop by. A few phone calls, and an occasional check in the mail was all they'd got so far.

Dean knew that Sam had a hard time dealing with the abandonment, but Dean himself didn't care. He was the one who had begged their dad to let them stay here.

Traveling around the country, not staying in the same spot for more than a few months, had resulted in very poor grades for Dean, and he had to be held back a year in school. After almost two years as a junior, attending four different schools, he was finally ready for his senior year.

He didn't want that to happen to Sam, and when they arrived in Lima, Ohio, Dean had begged his father to stay put at least for a year. The man managed for two weeks, but as soon as the boys were settled at McKinley, he took off again.

Calling the place they lived in an apartment was really an exaggeration. It was a single room with a small kitchenette, and the tiniest bathroom ever. The hot water barely lasted for one shower a day, and that was the initial reason for Dean even trying out for the football team. He needed to be able to use the showers at school.

Behind a curtain they had an alcove with bunkbeds, and even if Dean occasionally crashed on the couch, he really didn't have any privacy. The general state of the place was horrible to put it mildly, and the rest of the tenants in the building were mostly hookers and drug addicts. Bringing a date there would be out of the question, even if he could get Sam out of there for a couple of hours.

The only positive thing in all of this was that their dad had let them keep the Impala.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Dean entered the cafeteria and looked for his brother. The guys on the football team were sitting close to the lunch-line and they all cheered and waved him over. He waved back, but headed to the other end of the room where the less popular kids were sitting.

He really wished that Sammy wouldn't hang with the nerds; it was kind of embarrassing to have to mingle with that crowd whenever he had to have a quick chat with his brother, and he was very aware of the stares he got from his teammates every time.

Sam was in the middle of a conversation with an Asian looking guy, and wasn't aware that Dean was approaching. A young girl sitting opposite joined in and both guys stared at her. Dean couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he could see that his brother shook his head and laughed a little.

Dean stopped and watched them for a little while. The girl cocked her head and smiled adoringly at the boys before she lifted her hand and combed her fingers through her natural, long blond hair. Dean's heart skipped a beat. She was beautiful, and he couldn't understand why a girl like that would sit there. When he looked more closely at her, he soon discovered that she wasn't dressed to impress. She obviously had a fine body under the loose fitting army-style jacket, but it seemed like she did her best to cover it up.

As Dean finally managed to rip his eyes off her, another girl walked up to them with a tray in her hands. Dean recognized her instantly. It was that foreign exchange student from his English class.

Gwen - Dean remembered her name - didn't try to cover up anything. Her skinny jeans and that short leather jacket showed off her curves perfectly. Her odd accent and her feisty demeanor had intrigued Dean early on, and he had at one time tried to strike up a conversation with her after class, but she had clearly not been interested.

They'd been to this school for almost a month, during which time Dean hadn't had any luck with the ladies. Watching his brother sitting there with those girls, made him a little jealous, and he wondered how this could have happened.

He threw a peek over his shoulder and discovered that the football boys were about to get up and leave. They didn't look in his direction anymore as they were busy clearing the table. Dean drew his breath heavily before he took the last few steps over to his brother and his friends.

"We have practice after school, so you can take the car and get some food. Pick me up around seven, okay?" He threw the car keys on the table before he gave Gwen a nod. She nodded back and sent him a quick smile before she turned to the other girl again. "It's really exciting. I can hardly wait. I heard that he's really good looking."

Sam grabbed the keys, but didn't pocket them. He held them up for a moment before he handed them back to Dean. "Keep them. Kevin and I are going to the library after school. You can pick me up there."

As Dean was about to take the keys back, both girls looked up. "Kevin, you can't. Mr Evans is coming today. We have that little performance to do." The blonde threw her hands out and rolled her eyes.

The Asian guy leaned back in his seat and smiled. "No worries. We won't leave until later. I invited Sam to sit in, maybe we can convince him to join." Kevin patted Sam's back. "How bad can he be?" Gwen twirled a lock of her dark hair around her finger as she looked Sam in the eyes. "Can you sing?"

Dean felt totally ignored, and he was not used to that. He watched his brother shake his head vigorously. "I told them. I don't sing, but…" He fell silent for a moment before he turned his head and looked up at Dean. "You should try. You should join the Glee-club."

Four sets of eyes stared at him, making him very uncomfortable. Being ignored had been better. "Uh… sorry, too busy. I'm, er…" Did Gwen just give him a little wink, or was that just something in her eye? Dean wasn't sure, but in an instant Glee-club sounded very interesting. "I, ehm, I'll think about it."

He gave Sam a quick pat on the shoulder. "So, library. Sevenish. Okay?" As soon as his brother nodded to confirm, Dean practically ran out of the cafeteria.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A couple of hours later, Dean was pretending to look for something in his bag, while secretly keeping an eye on the door to the choir room. Sam and Kevin was already in there; Dean had barely managed to avoid being spotted by his brother, and he was still holding his breath after clenching to the wall of the adjoining corridor for a few moments.

A few other students went by; the heavy set girl looked somewhat familiar, while he couldn't remember having seen the blue-eyed boy she was walking arm-in-arm with, before. Dean wasn't even aware that he followed the boy with his eyes, but the moment he realized what he was doing he got a little startled and hurried to turn away.

A crowd of people came towards him from the end of the hall. Gwen was leading the procession, and she turned frequently to talk to the guys behind her. The blonde from the cafeteria was there, and also a well-dressed young man with a distinct British accent.

Dean did his best to look busy searching through his bag, but looked up briefly as they came up to him. Gwen gave him a crooked smile. "Hiya Dean. Are you coming?" She didn't wait for him to answer, but kept moving towards the choir room.

Dean watched them enter. A tall dark girl with a 'fro, looked at him before she turned to the last two in the group. "Cute?" Dean couldn't actually hear her, but he was pretty sure that that's what she said. The boy and the girl behind her threw a peek at him before they both just shrugged.

Those three were all seniors; Dean knew that for sure. He'd seen them before, and he knew that the boy and the girl were twins. He didn't share any classes with the afro-girl, but he'd seen her on the bleachers during football practice, and he believed that she was together with one of his teammates.

He watched as the door closed behind them, and cursed a little for being such a wimp. Dean was not used to being so self conscious, but the threshold of that doorway was a little bit too high at the moment.

He looked at his phone and realized that he only had about twenty minutes before he had to be on the field. Knowing that he was cutting it a little close he snuck up to the door and tried to listen to what was going on in there.

"Don't tell me not to live,

Just sit and putter,

Life's candy and the sun's

A ball of butter…"

Just as he thought. The Glee-club was only into show tunes and musicals. It wasn't even close to what he would have wanted to be a part of. He could easily hear that the girl singing the song was very good, but it didn't matter.

"... to rain on my parade."

Dean was about to walk away when something strange happened. He wasn't too familiar with that song, but he was pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to be a drum solo after those first lines.

After the solo ended with a short drum roll. Dean could hear the sticks hit the cymbals softly to a whole new beat.

"I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand

Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man…"

"Bruce?" Dean whispered it to himself, as he leaned closer to the door. The slightly raspy male voice fit perfectly to the song.

"...I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town

He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around this is your hometown."

Surprised by this change, Dean could help humming along as the choir in there did the chorus.

"This is your hometown

This is your hometown

This is your hometown..."

A new change occurred and Dean was pretty sure he recognized the sound of the voice that trickled through the door only moments later. It was definitely that blonde girl, and what she sang made Dean change his view on Glee-club. With only a brush swiping over the snare drum, she sang the first lines of the new song practically acapella.

"Carry on my wayward son

There'll be peace when you are done…"

As soon as she was done with the first lines of the song, the whole band started playing. They cut the intro a little short, and soon Dean could hear another voice.

"Once I rose above the noise and confusion…"

He loved that song, but he'd never heard it sung like that. The whole choir was humming softly in the background and ever so often a couple of voices joined the lead singer making beautiful harmonies.

On the chorus they all participated, and Dean couldn't help sneaking a peek through the little window in the door. It was fascinating to watch and it took a few moments before he realized that one of the guys in there stared right at him.

Dean ducked down and grabbed his bag before he hurried down the hall. He'd lost track of time, and would probably get scolded by Mr Beiste for being late, but that wasn't the worse. He'd been spotted eavesdropping. That he'd never seen that guy before didn't matter, Dean still feared that he'd be recognized at some point in the future.

Ten minutes later, he'd changed and was on his way to the field. He still had the song in his head and he was singing quietly as he ran over to join his teammates.

"...Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry,

Don't you cry no more…"

Songs in this chapter

A few lines of 'Don't rain on my parade', from Funny Girl. M: Jule Styne, L: Bob Merrill

A little bit of 'My Hometown', Bruce Springsteen

'Carry on Wayward son', Kansas