Castiel is greeted the next morning by Charlie once again. As always, she's all smiles and rainbows — and not just because she's gay. She's a genuinely cheerful person, and Castiel can't help but envy her for it. It's nice to have this one cheerful part of his life.

"Are you eating lunch in the cafe today?" Charlie asks him as they're waiting outside their first block classes.

"No," Castiel replies. "Not today, and probably not ever."

"Then wanna hang out somewhere else?" Charlie asks. "You, me, and Kevin?"

"Sure," Castiel agrees. "Can we stay by my third block so I don't have to move afterwards?"

"Of course!" Charlie says with a grin.

"And I might be inviting another friend, too," Castiel adds, thinking of Garth. It depends on whether Castiel sees him before lunch. He hopes so; he never got the chance to warn the boy about the horrors that await him in the cafeteria.

"Yes!" Charlie says excitedly. "I wanna meet your other friends!"

"If I see him, I'll let him know," Castiel says.

"And how's your amnesia going?" Charlie asks, to keep the conversation going after it fizzles out.

"I think I remember everything now," Castiel replies. "Well, everything important. Then again, how would I know that I didn't remember something?"

"Touché," Charlie replies. "But at least it doesn't feel like there are holes in your mind, right?"

Castiel nods. "That's always a plus."

"Are you getting out of those casts and stuff soon?" Charlie asks.

"Five more weeks now," Castiel replies. "We hope. Depends on what's healed by then."

"Here's hoping," Charlie replies. "How 'bout your concussion?"

"I feel like I'm at the doctor's," Castiel jokes. "It's still there. I'm still doing stupid stuff. I'm still almost blacking out at random. My head is still throbbing. But I'll live, so it's all okay."

"Any awesome stories with stupid stuff?" Charlie asks hopefully.

"No really awesome ones, but I tried to pour milk into my food once. A-plus for me, right?"

Charlie laughs. "Seriously? That's awesome!"

Castiel shrugs. "Well, I'm glad my failures please someone."

"I'm glad you allow your failures to please me," Charlie replies.

"I'm glad you allow me to allow my failures to please you," Castiel counters with a grin.

They repeat in this fashion for at least five minutes until they're a laughing, giggling mess. It's not that what they're doing is funny. It's actually pretty childish. It's just doing it together that makes it that much more enjoyable.

~~

Castiel waits by his third block during lunch for his friends to show up. He managed to find Garth and tell the boy about his lunchtime plans, and Garth confirmed that he would come, so it will be the four of them.

It's strange for Castiel to think of that. He never had friends, excluding his family when he was younger. Now he has three of them. Granted, they just met very recently, but he likes to consider them close friends. They never had the awkward small talk stage of friendship. They skipped that part and became sort of close like they are now.

"Charlie not here yet?" Kevin asks, looking around as he joins Castiel.

"Nope," Castiel replies, then adds as an afterthought, "unless she's hiding behind a corner to scare us. I wouldn't put it past her."

Kevin shakes his head. "No way. She'd be giggling so loud, we would have known she was there before she even got there."

Castiel chuckles. "Yeah, that's probably true.

"'Sup, bitches?" Charlie greets them, hurrying to meet up with them.

"Hey, Charlie," Castiel replies.

"What took ya so long?" Kevin teases as if he didn't just get here a couple seconds ago.

"Well, I'm sorry I have a longer walk," Charlie replies, not sorry at all. "And that I have short legs."

"You should be," Kevin replies jokingly. "So, are we out here to do anything, or...?"

"I'm just out here because I don't want to have to deal with the cafeteria," Castiel replies. "You're welcome to go eat if you want to."

"No way," Charlie replies immediately. "We wanna stay with you! Right, Kev?"

Kevin nods. "Yep. What she said."

Castiel can't help but smile. He actually finds himself glad that they're staying here with him.

"Where's your other friend?" Charlie asks. "Is he coming?"

"He said he would," Castiel replies. "He probably just has longer to go."

"Well, he needs to hurry up," Charlie says. "I wanna meet him."

But when Castiel hears a voice yelling, "Stop! Stop!" he knows Garth isn't coming anytime soon; not on his own.

Castiel wheels himself over to the sound, his arm aching from working it so hard. This would be much easier with two arms, he thinks glumly. He manages to find Garth, but unlike yesterday when they met, there are four people here with him. Castiel doesn't spend the time trying to figure out who's new here. Instead, he attempts to break up the fight.

"Hey!" Castiel yells as soon as they're in sight, still rolling his way over to them. When the bigger boys turn to look at him, Castiel says a quick, "Go," to Garth, who ducks under the distracted boys and runs off, standing behind Castiel, but at a distance.

"Aw, little Cassie here to save his new boyfriend?" Crowley teases.

"He's not my boyfriend," Castiel snaps.

"Oh, no, of course not. Still hung up over me, angel?"

In a strange burst of confidence that he will likely never feel again, Castiel decides to give them a much longer answer than any of them expected, Castiel included. "Well, technically, I guess you could say that. See, I don't have time for a boyfriend, because I'm too busy dealing with being in a wheelchair because you guys are too much of a wimp to deal with the consequences of your actions.

"But let's say I did want a boyfriend. You know, hypothetically. What makes you think I would ever even think of you? Because, way I see it, you stand for everything I hate. The whole lot of you do.

"And I may have fallen for you once, and I'm actually grateful for that. It's strange how remembering things can change your perspective of them. Because if I hadn't had the chance to hang out with you, I wouldn't have realized that you aren't worth my time. You may be popular, but you aren't cool.

"Which makes me wonder why you spend your time on me. And maybe it's because you know that I have it way better than you do. I don't have any sort of reputation to uphold, obviously. That was torn to shreds years ago, and you guys practically lit the remains on fire.

"So I can have fun, and I don't have to worry about what other people think of me. And it may have taken a few broken bones and some really annoying amnesia to help me realize it, but that's what really matters. So you guys go hang out with your popular but boring crowd, I'll go hang out with my unpopular but awesome friends, and let's call it a day, huh?"

And, for once, none of the jocks have anything to say to that. Castiel looks between each of them, enjoying every moment of seeing the stunned expressions on their faces. Azazel, Alastair, Crowley, and... Dean? What's Dean doing here? Well, it doesn't matter. Castiel just likes to see the utterly shocked expression on his face.

"Preach it, Castiel!" a voice yells from behind them.

Castiel turns around in his wheelchair to see Gabriel standing at the end of the hallway, an approving grin on his face. With him is Sam, of course, and Castiel's three friends. Every time Castiel thinks the word, he feels his mood lift.

It's Crowley that speaks finally. "That sounds like sour grapes to me."

"I honestly don't care what you think," Castiel replies. "Just leave me and my friends alone."

Surprisingly, Castiel doesn't get any objections to it. He's sure he will; it's only a matter of time until they regain their composure, and it will not end well for him. Until then, Castiel will enjoy the fact that he managed to stun them speechless, and hightail it out of there out of fear of being literally murdered — but in a casual way, so they don't know how much Castiel is panicking on the inside.

When Castiel is in the clear — which takes way to long with his wheelchair, but he refuses to accept any help — he takes a deep breath, trying to release the stress that that encounter created.

He wheels himself back to third block because he doesn't feel like having to move later, and his friends follow not far behind.

"Oh my god, Castiel, that was freaking awesome!" Charlie squeals.

Castiel doesn't think as highly about it. "How long do you think I have until they kill me?"

"You showed them up," Garth says. "They're not going after you ever again."

"I give you a day, maybe two," Sam answers.

Castiel thinks about this for a brief moment. "Well, that's not too bad. I guess. And how's things go with you yesterday at practice?"

Sam shrugs. "Fine. I've been exiled by my team, but I never really fit in, anyway."

"Dean's not ignoring you, though, right?" Gabriel asks.

"At school, yes," Sam replies. "And at practice. But not at home. Well, mostly."

"Why mostly?" Gabriel asks. "He's better than them. He knows beating people up like that is wrong. Hell, he should be glad. He and Castiel were friends."

Sam shrugs. "Well, not anymore. He's just sorta... Different."

"Different how?" Gabriel asks.

"Just more like them. He spends most of his free time with them now, and he doesn't even try to step in when his 'friends' are being little shits."

"Isn't he one of them?" Garth asks. "One of those guys was Dean, right? Wait, who's this Dean kid again?"

"My brother," Sam replies. "He was one of those guys, but he hasn't always been."

"I think you give him too much credit," Castiel says. "He's always been one of them. You just haven't always been around to see it."

"No, he's different," Sam protests. "Nicer. Like, he's the one that gets all the girls and all that."

"Uh, yeah, because he's hot," Castiel replies as if it's obvious.

"That is not where I thought you were going with this," Kevin says with a laugh.

"Okay, that is just a fact," Castiel says. "He's way hotter than those other guys. That's why he gets all the girls. Not because he's nice."

"But he's nice," Sam protests. "Or, at least, he was, 'til recently. I just wish I knew what happened."

Castiel sighs. "Look, Sam. I get that you have this undying love for your brother, but he's a dick. Always has been, always will be."

"Damn, Castiel, you're salty today," Gabriel laughs.

"Which is ironic, because I'm having a much better day than usual."

"Must be because you have friends. Gee, I wish someone could have thought to tell you to make some friends. Oh wait, I did."

"Do you have to do the I-told-you-so thing now?" Castiel asks, slightly annoyed.

"Damn right I do. Hey, Castiel, guess what? I told you so! Oh, hey, you know what else? I told you so. Oh, and I totally told you so, by the way."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "Are you done yet?"

"Almost. I totally told you so. You should have taken my advice a year ago, saved ourselves a lot of trouble, because I was totally right and I told you so. Okay, I'm done now."

"Good."

"Oh, wait, one more thing," Gabriel adds quickly. "Since I was right about this, I'm probably right about Dean, so you should go talk to him and be his friend again and stuff."

"No!"

"But I was probably right and you should!" Gabriel whines. "Besides, you said he was hot."

"I said he was a dick, and I stand by that."

Little does he know that Dean was listening to their whole conversation, and he is not thrilled with what he found.