Sam loves high school. It's not even a freshman thing like most of the people that say it; he's a senior. He just loves his friends. He's fortunate enough to at least know everyone in his first block class, even if he doesn't talk to all of them on a regular basis. Kevin, for example. He doesn't really chat much, too focused on getting perfect grades to spend his time with the lesser people. Other than Charlie, who's on his level of genius, he doesn't really talk to anyone. Occasionally, Kevin and Sam exchange a few words, but that's about the extent of their social reaction. From what he's heard from the kid, though, Kevin is pretty cool. The other person he doesn't talk to much is Sully, who's way too nice to everybody. It's nice for the loners in the school who need a friend, but for people like Sam with his own friends, it's not necessary.
Sam's so busy reflecting on his first class that he doesn't notice the kid sit next to him in his next one just as the late bell rings. It's only there today to show the freshmen how long they have between classes.
"Heya there!" the boy greets him.
"Hi!" Sam replies, glad someone will talk to him. "I'm Sam."
"I'm Gabriel, aka that weirdo with the huge candy stash."
Sam laughs. "I don't recognize you. Are you new here?"
Gabriel shakes his head. "No, I've lived in the city all my life. This is my third year here."
"Oh, you're a junior?" Sam says, piecing it together. "I'm a senior, so that would explain why we haven't had any classes together."
Gabriel nods. "Yes, it would. You better be cool, because I'm trusting you to be my friend throughout this entire semester. Got it?"
Sam nods. Well, this kid seems to know what he wants. Sam's never met anyone so straight to the point before. "Yep! So far, I don't recognize anybody here, so I'm hoping you won't be a complete disappointment," he says with a playful grin.
"Can't make any promises about that," Gabriel replies jokingly.
"So, tell me about yourself," Sam prompts.
"Well, I have seven brothers and three sisters-"
"Oh, so you're Gabriel Novak!" Sam interrupts.
"Oh, you've heard of me?" Gabriel says with a suggestive wink, which Sam ignores. He's used to this type of talk from Dean.
"Everyone's heard of your family. Lucifer, Michael, you, Balthazar, Anna, um... Metatron, um..."
Gabriel laughs. "Assuming you're going by age, it's Hannah and Samandriel next."
The eight of them each have a twin, which is how everyone refers to them. Instead of "Gabriel Novak," he's been referred to as "Balthazar's Gabriel," because they're usually thought of in pairs. It sometimes annoys Michael, because everybody knows Lucifer, so they all assume Michael will be as rowdy as his twin, even though he's a fairly average kid.
"And then, older than that is Naomi, and older than her is Raphael, and then it's Castiel," Gabriel finishes.
"Oh, duh," Sam laughs at himself. "Castiel's my teacher!"
"Oh, you have Castiel?" Gabriel repeats. "Lucky. I wanted to be in his class, but the school wouldn't let me."
"Why wouldn't the school let you take his class?"
"I think they want to make are its fair for everyone," Gabriel tells him. "Like, no favoritism because I'm his best brother. Or maybe they want to make sure I don't just get him to do everything for me at home, or something. I don't know. But no family members as your teacher, basically."
Sam is glad he already has his gym credit from previous years, because he doesn't know what the school would do if he was required to take a class that they were required to not let him take.
"Want a Kit Kat?" Gabriel offers him, reaching into his backpack.
"Sure!"
Gabriel hands him a king sized candy bar and takes one for himself. He breaks it apart and takes a bite from one stick, looking satisfied.
"I thought you meant one of the little ones you get on Halloween!" Sam says.
"Do you not want it?" Gabriel asks.
"Oh, hell no. I'm eating this thing."

The youngest eight Novaks have to take the bus home, because they can't all fit in a car together. Castiel, fortunately, has his own car, so he can drive home in peace. It's been a good day. It's his first ever first day of school as a teacher, and he can't say he's disappointed. His classes have all been okay-not too loud and obnoxious. Although he wants them to talk to him, the screaming thing isn't really his game.
His mind is drifts back to after first block. That gym teacher is so hot. He's glad he got the classroom he did, because he can look over at Dean whenever he wants to, assuming he's in the view of the windows Castiel has to look through. He had to tell himself to stop many times during the day, wanting to appear professional, at least a little. If Castiel had been better at social interactions, maybe they would have been friends. Looking back on it, there are so many more things he could have said to keep the conversation flowing. He should have tried harder to befriend the boy. Unfortunately, the more he tries, the worse it usually works out. Today was way better than most days he tries to talk. He's actually proud of himself for how much he didn't fail.
Castiel pulls into the driveway and heads inside.
"Hey, Castiel, how was your first day?" his dad asks, looking up from the computer Castiel has no doubt he's been staring at the entire time the kids were gone. Chuck spends a lot of time writing, and it's a good thing, too. His books get great reviews, though generally more for the story than the telling of it.
"Fine," he replies, grabbing a brownie Chuck made before sitting down on the couch near his father. Chuck makes the kids brownies for the first day of school every year, and it's the first year in since he was in high school that Castiel gets one. "My students seem nice, at least, so there's that."
"Make any new friends?" Chuck asks. "You know, any cool teachers?
"I, uh, didn't really get the chance to talk to anyone," he lies. "I was pretty busy making sure my room was ready."
Of course, he got to speak to Dean. He also had his free block that will be used for planning once he has something to plan for, and he had his lunch to go meet other teachers. He decided to stay in his little corner of the world, though. Isolation is no stranger to him. He was fine like that.
"Alright, but you better go meet some of the teachers soon," Chuck says. "I don't want you stuck at a school with no friends to talk to for years, okay?"
Castiel nods. "Yeah, I know, Dad," he says. "I will."
He has no intention of making good with that promise. He doesn't like people. Maybe he'll try to talk to Dean again eventually, but even that sounds like a bad idea. He doesn't want to destroy any chance he has at being friends with Dean. More than that seems especially unlikely. Hot guys like that are always the straight ones.
"How's your book going?" Castiel asks, changing the subject.
"Oh, it's going great!" Chuck replies. "I'm almost done with it. I might send it to hopefully be published by the end of the week. I just have to find someone that will publish it."
"I'm sure that won't be that hard," Castiel assures him. "Your books are great. They'd have to be a fool not to want to publish them."
Chuck smiles gratefully. "Thanks, Castiel. Hey, wanna read the new chapters?"
He nods enthusiastically. He's always loved reading his dad's books. They were the reason he started writing in the first place, which lead him to majoring in English and becoming a writing teacher. He hopes to be someone's inspiration to write one day.
Chuck hands him a stack of printed paper, stapled together in the corner. Castiel grabs it and begins reading. It's his book series called Revolution. Titles aren't really his thing, clearly.
"Pen?" Castiel says after a minute of reading, holding his hand out to his father. Chuck hands him a pen immediately, and Castiel begins to edit it for him. It used to be that he would just fix typos, but as Castiel got better at writing, he'd add suggestions for new phrasing as well. Most of Chuck's best lines come from Castiel, actually, not that he's bragging.
The front door opens as Castiel is reading the last chapter that he's catching up on, and the quiet disappears immediately. The eight high schoolers are talking and laughing as they each grab a brownie and then join the eldest Novaks in the living room.
"How was school?" Chuck asks them. Everyone begins talking at once, and Chuck just laughs, leaning back in his chair and hoping to catch at least some of what people are saying. All he manages to hear is something about a mistake in dodgeball, a new gym teacher, and a kid named Samoose. Who names their kid Samoose?
"That sounds great!" Chuck says when things settle down. "Do I have a bunch of papers to sign now?"
Everyone but Castiel and him leave the room to go grab the boatloads of papers Chuck will need to go through, and it's much quieter. Castiel hands him the newest part of his book back.
"How long do I have to wait for the ending?" Castiel asks.
"I'm hoping to have it done by the time you guys get home on Thursday."
Castiel frowns. "I've got to wait two more days?"
Chuck nods sympathetically. "Welcome to the life of a Wattpad user."
The rest of the family comes flooding in, and they all line up to give Chuck their papers. As Gabriel passes Castiel, he whispers, "Did you ask Mr. Winchester out yet?"
Castiel rolls his eyes as if he's not interested, which is far from the truth. He likes Dean. He just wishes he knew how to talk to him.