Chaptet 16
Earlier...
Sam takes the bus with the rest of the Novak kids. He sits with Gabriel, which doesn't make Balthazar too happy. Gabriel doesn't seem to mind, though, so Sam doesn't, either. He just wants to hang out with his friend.
Gabriel and Sam part ways at their first block classrooms, Gabriel walking into the gym, Sam by the door to Cas' class. He pauses just before entering the view of the class. He doesn't want to go in there. He can't go in there. He isn't going in there. He turns around and goes into the gym instead. Dean notices him immediately, and rushes over to the door to greet him.
"Hey, Sammy, what's up?" Dean asks worriedly. Sam knows why. They haven't really acknowledged each other at school. Dean must be wondering what changed Sam's mind.
"I don't want to go to class today," Sam replies.
"Why not? You love Cas' class, don't you?"
"It's not Cas that's the problem."
"Then what is it?"
Sam looks at the floor. He hasn't told Dean this yet. He hasn't said anything about it since it happened. He has to, now, though. He doesn't have a choice.
"Jess was cheating on me," he mutters, so quietly, he's surprised Dean hears him.
"What? I thought you two were happy together!"
"So did I," Sam says. "But I guess she didn't. I found her making out with Azazel after school yesterday in the bathroom."
"Oh, Sammy," Dean says sympathetically. He pulls Sam into a hug, which he returns. Dean can feel Sam's uneven breaths. "I'm so sorry."
Sam buries his face in his brother's neck, and Dean can feel his tears on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. He holds his little brother tight, wishing he could do more to make him feel better. He feels so guilty right now. Here he is, having a great day with a new unofficial boyfriend, and Sam just lost his girlfriend. Dean wishes he could just give Sam his happiness, though it's fading with every second that Sam cries.
"Hey, Cas is here," Dean says quietly, noticing the boy enter the gym. He holds removes an arm that's wrapped around Sam to hold up a finger, gesturing for Castiel to wait a minute. "Just go to class. Don't talk to Jess if you don't want to, but go to class anyway. Talk to Charlie or something. I hear she's pretty funny. Okay?"
"I don't want to go to class," Sam mutters. "I want to go home."
"You can't do that, Sammy, I'm sorry," Dean replies. "How about this? Go to class, make it through the day, and I'll take you to the diner and get you an ice cream sundae."
"Gabriel and I did that yesterday," Sam says.
"Of course you did," Dean mutters under his breath. "We can go visit Bobby, okay? He haven't been to his junkyard in a while. How about that?"
Sam sniffles once. "Okay," he says quietly. "But I don't want to see Jess any more than I have to. Can I come here for lunch?"
"To the gym?" Dean asks, not sure he understands that right.
"Yeah. No one else comes to the gym."
Dean purses his lips, thinking about that. "How about, I ask Cas to tell everyone they can't go to his room for lunch today, so it's just us three? That way you can have a chair and everything. Does that work?"
"Can Gabriel come?"
"Of course," Dean replies. "You can have as many of your friends come as you want, but we'll just have to ask Cas to say no one can come, so people don't think it's an open invitation. That way, Jess doesn't come."
"Okay," Sam agrees quietly.
The two step apart, and Dean notices the whole class watching them curiously, but from a distance. He doesn't care, though. He doesn't care what people think right now. He had to help his brother, and that comes first. That always come first.
Dean waves Castiel towards them, and he walks up to them hesitantly. Dean smiles at him welcomingly, hoping it will make him feel more relaxed with them. It's clear to everyone that something just happened, but Dean wants to make sure Castiel knows it's okay if he joins them.
"Hey, Cas," Dean greets him. "I've got a favor to ask. Can Sam and I join you for lunch? And Gabriel? Just the four of us?"
"Um... Sure?" Castiel replies, confused. "Why? Did something happen?"
"Yeah, we'll explain later," Dean assures him. "Thanks."
"Sure?" Castiel says, still confused.
Dean looks up at Sam. "You go back to class. I've got to talk to Cas for a minute."
Sam nods, then looks at his teacher. "Um, can I actually go to the bathroom? To go clean this up?" He gestures to his face, blotchy and tear stained from crying.
"Go ahead," Castiel agrees. Sam walks out, leaving Dean alone with Castiel, just as he wanted. "What's up, Dean?"
Dean glances at his brother as he disappears from sight. "It's Sam," he says. "I don't want to explain now, because I don't know if he wants me to or not, but he's not having the best day, obviously. I wish I could help him, but I've got my own class to get to. Can you just... Watch him? Make sure he's okay, and he doesn't do anything stupid?"
"You mean, like that kind of stupid?" Castiel looks pointedly at Dean's arms, which are covered by his sweatshirt, as they have been all year so far.
Dean crosses his arms behind his back. "Just make sure he's okay," Dean replies finally. "And odds are, if he takes too long in the bathroom, he not coming out on his own, so send Sully in. I hear he can talk some sense into everybody."
Castiel nods. "Of course, Dean."
"Thanks." Dean gives Castiel a small smile.
"See you at lunch?" Castiel says, returning the smile.
"See you at lunch," Dean confirms. Dean watches Castiel walk away, wishing he could stay. This whole situation is a mess, but the one plus side of it all is that he has Castiel by his side.
Gabriel walks up to Dean, smirking. "Hey, Mr. Winch-"
"Don't," Dean interrupts.
"What? I'm just saying 'hi!'"
"No, you're not," Dean says.
"Then what do you suspect I was going to say?" Gabriel asks.
Dean sighs. "Gabriel, I'm not in the mood for this. You crack one joke about what you saw, I will kick your ass so hard, you will be in the hospital for a month. Got it?"
Gabriel nods, but he doesn't look nervous. "Ah, fine, Winchester. I'll leave you alone for now."
Gabriel walks away, and Dean watches with a frown on his face. This kid will be the death of him.
Today, they play soccer. There are actually pretty good teams. They don't completely suck like he had expected, even there are no subs. Dean doesn't take the time to admire his perfect team divisions, though. His mind is still on his brother.
Lucifer plays goalie. He grabs the ball with his hands, so he can throw it back in. He glances at Dean, his plan clear.
"Lucifer, you throw that ball at me, I will whip it back so hard, you will have a ball-shaped hole in your chest for the rest of your life. Got it?"
Lucifer raises an eyebrow. "Wow, someone's in a bad mood."
"Just throw the damn ball!"
Lucifer rolls his eyes. "Fine."
He does, and Dean watched the game with no interest. He knows he was a bit hard on the kid, but he doesn't really care. He's still upset about what happened to Sam. He hopes his brother will be okay. Sam's strong. He'll gets over it soon, but until then, Dean's going to be as pissed as Sam is sad.
Sam looks in the bathroom mirror, appearing somewhat composed. The only evidence of his tears are his red eyes, but he can't do anything about that. He takes a deep breath and walks out of bathroom to head for class. He hesitates outside the door, but goes in anyway. He made a promise to Dean, and he intends on keeping it.
"Sam! Where have you been?" Charlie asks. "We missed you!"
Sam gives her a small smile as a sign of acknowledgement that he heard her.
"Hey, Sam," Jess says softly.
Sam ignores her, heading to the far end of the row of desks, not sitting next to anyone Castiel watches him, and Sam can see the sadness in his eyes. Judging by the look he gave the ex couple, though, he doesn't know what's going on. Sam stares at his desk, trying to think of happy thoughts. He's going to see Bobby today. That's a happy thought. He can make Dean buy him ice cream. That's a happy thought, too. So why does he not feel happy at all?
"Alright, you guys are finishing the assignment you started yesterday," Castiel says. "And I won't be letting people have lunch in here today. Sorry about that, guys."
"Why not?" Charlie whines. "I like having lunch with you!"
"Sorry, Charlie. Maybe tomorrow."
Charlie frowns, then pulls out her work from yesterday. The rest of the class does the same, though all of them are much more enthusiastic about it than Sam. Sam pulls out his binder slowly and places it on his desk, flipping through his nearly organized tabs until he gets to the poems they had to write yesterday. Castiel wheels his chair over to Sam.
"Hey, Sam," Castiel greets him quietly, so only Sam can hear.
"Hi," Sam mutters, staring at the papers in front of him.
"Are you okay?"
Sam nods silently.
"Did you and Jess have a fight?"
Sam nods again.
"Do you want to talk?"
Sam shakes his head.
Castiel is quiet for a moment. "Alright. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." He wheels back to his desk, but when Sam glances up, he sees Castiel is still watching him sadly. Sam's eyes instantly jump back to his papers, but he can't concentrate. He just wants this day to be over.
Dean stands in the doorway of the gym, watching everyone as they walk away. He wants to talk to Castiel again before their next class. Not about anything specific, but just because they're friends now. Are they friends? Or are they something more? Dean isn't sure.
To his surprise, when a shape comes up to him, it's Jess who tries to talk to him. Castiel stands in the doorway of his class, watching them curiously.
"Hey, Dean, I-"
"Don't," Dean interrupts.
"But-"
"I said don't," he repeats. "Sam told me what you did. Any other teacher would want to hear what you have to say, but I don't. Sam's my brother, Jess, and you hurt him. You know I don't take that lightly. For your sake, I suggest you stay out of my way."
Jess nods once, looking at the floor, and hurries away. Dean leans against the doorway, letting his anger slip away. If he didn't have to worry about getting fired, he would have done a lot worse than a speech.
Sam gets out of first block as fast as possible so he can meet up with Gabriel. He expects to get to class before his friend, but they both leave first block at the same time, so they walk up together.
"Hey, Samwich!" Gabriel greets him with a huge smile on his face.
"Hi," Sam replies, his mood getting slightly better at the sight of his friend.
"How was class?"
"Horrible."
Gabriel frowns. Clearly that wasn't the answer he was looking for. "Well, we'll just have to change that for next class, huh?" He reaches into his pocket with a smile and pulls out two large bags of Skittles. He hands one to Sam. "See? Better already, right?"
Sam gives him a small smile as he takes the bag. "Thanks." He eats a Skittle. "Wow, these really do make everything better."
Gabriel grins. "I told you!"
They get to class and sit in the back of the room together, just like they always do. The two of them chat throughout class, getting yelled at by the teacher a few times. Sam doesn't care, though. He's glad he gets to hang out with his friend. Gabriel can always cheer him up.
Class ends and everyone begins packing up before the bell rings. Gabriel shoves his stuff in his bag at random while Sam takes the time to put it away nearly and not ruin his papers.
"Hey, Gabriel. Cas and Dean said I could hang out with them at lunch so I didn't have to deal with Jess. Can you come?" Sam asks hopefully.
"Of course, Samoose!" Gabriel replies.
Sam gives him a grateful smile. What would he do without Gabriel here to cheer him up?
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