Cas unloaded his bags from the trunk of his brother's car.

"You know Anna, you guys didn't have to come."

"Hey, college is scary. We just want to make sure you get settled in."

"And she wanted to visit a professor of hers who moved here, but she won't tell you that." Gabe interrupted.

Anna smacked their brother Gabriel on the back of his head with the magazine that she had been reading on the way there. "That wasn't the reason!" She shook her head at him, smiling.

Gabe grabbed one of the bags, and Cas grabbed the other.

"No room mate?" Anna asked him, bringing the box he had packed into the sparsely furnished room.

Cas looked at her,

"Do I really need to answer that?"

"Hey, it's an easy way to make friends."

Cas shrugged, not replying.

"Well Anna and I have to head off, but you call us if you need anything. Right?" Gabe said, a look of concern on his

"We're only a few hours away Castiel." Anna piped in.

"I'll be fine guys. Really. Don't worry about me. You two need to get set up anyway."

Anna gave Cas a hug and kissed him on the cheek. "Stay out of trouble!"

"Good luck! I'm sure you'll make some friends. The first week is always the hardest," Gabe told him, giving him a brief,

but tight, hug.

Cas watched his siblings leave, breathing a sigh of relief after his sister shut the door. It's not like he didn't love his

siblings, but he didn't like seeing them worry about him so much.

A blonde guy, drunk by the looks of it, had barged in.

"Oh," he slurred a little, "This isn't Mike's room, is it? 207?"

"One floor up," Cas said, stiffly.

"Thanks!" the guy stumbled away, nice enough to shut the door behind him.

His phone vibrated in his pocket

'No moping!' Anna texted him

'I'm not!' Cas messaged back

'Liar'

'Please stop worrying'

'Only if you go meet someone'

'Maybe'

Cas shut off his phone and swallowed. Ruffling his hair, he walked to the door.

Breathe. It's okay. You can do it.

He left the room and went to the cafeteria, looking for something to eat.

His stomach dropped at the sight of all the people in there. He looked down, avoiding eye contact, and grabbed a salad, no longer hungry. $3? For some lettuce?

Cas sat down on the grass, sitting against an oak tree and took a bite.

I'm going to have to start grocery shopping. I can't even afford a salad.

He looked down at his watch. 1:52.

His first class was in 8 minutes and he was on the other side of the campus. He threw the rest of the salad in the trash and started walking rapidly, looking at the map of the campus on his phone. He made it to the room, stomach growling, just before his professor came in. There were about 20 other students.

"Welcome to Statistics. I'm Ms. Willis, but you may call me... Ms. Willis." His teacher, a younger female, in her 30s perhaps, stated. A few guys in the back whistled, but were quickly silenced by her glare.

"For those of you who don't know, Freshmen Orientation is tonight. West Hall at 7:45. I suggest you all go. Since only freshmen are here today, I'm not going to bother teaching anything. You're free to go."

Cas stood up quickly and walked out of the hall. He needed to get back to his room before someone else got there. Checking to make sure that no one had stolen anything, he grabbed the two suitcases, and headed down to the gym. Once there, he went back upstairs and grabbed his medium sized box. Luckily for him, the gym had lockers. He placed his suitcases and the box of his belongings in the locker. He didn't have a roommate, that was true, but what he hadn't told Anna and Gabe was that he didn't have a room.

They didn't know it, but their father had disowned him.

It was about half way through junior year. Father had come back from one of his business trips. Cas knew that he wasn't his father's favourite. When his father was home, he tended to avoid Cas, only talking to him when necessary. So, when the first thing he did upon returning from his trip was to ask Castiel to meet him in his office, Cas knew something was up.

"You asked to see me, sir?" he said, nervously.

"Shut the door," his father commanded. "and sit down. How have you been doing in school?"

He sat down, "Good, sir."

"I don't mean your grades, boy. Michael tells me that you haven't made any friends yet."

"I find it easier not to seek out the company of others at school." That was true, but it wasn't the whole story.

They moved every few years. His father didn't like settling down. At the last school, right before moving, he had gotten a little too close to another student, and some of the students had decided that he was gay. If his father heard of this, it would only give him yet another reason to dislike Cas. So at the new school, he kept his distance, lest his father were to find out.

"That's not good enough. I didn't sign up to have an unnatural creature contaminating my children." He smacked his hand on the desk and breathed deeply. "Michael and I are concerned about your... Habits" his nose crinkled in disgust. "I would send you to some Christian school to straighten you out, but I don't care enough."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Michael called me last week. He's under the impression that you have an... unsavoury appetite for men."

"But, sir!"

"No buts, you cannot deny it. Samandriel slipped up about the rumors from your most recent school. And I'm inclined

to believe them." He paused, "Since you are not yet 18, and since I wish to have a favourable relationship with your siblings, I won't kick you out of this house. But you are not to talk to any male outside of this household, unless absolutely necessary, and you are not to speak of this to anyone, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Cas said, quietly.

"If you wish to attend college, I will not help you. You are not to receive any funds from this household. Do not contact me for help or money in the future. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," He said, defeated.

"Now go. It would be wise to avoid me while you are here."

Cas left the room, his eyes stinging.

In his free time, Castiel worked at a restaurant in town as a waiter. He worked after school and on the weekends as much as he could. Most of his siblings had gone off to college, so it was just him, Zachariah and Samandriel. Zachariah spent most afternoons at the church, training to be a priest. So Cas tried to look after his younger brother the best he could, cooking for him on the weekends and helping with his homework. When Cas went to college, he had 10 thousand dollars saved up. The college he applied to would be just over 11 grand a year with his small academic scholarship. Cas planned to save up even more so he could finish without a ton of debt. Since his father wouldn't support him, he had to take out a loan of 35 thousand dollars.

The problem was that he couldn't afford both food and a room.