(Dean's POV)

"Shit," I mutter, the panic in my voice reflecting in Jason's eyes. "Under the bed." He nods and scrambles off of my bed, falling to the floor. I hear footsteps pound up the stairs in an irregular pattern and I can tell John's drunk. I glance down, making sure Jason's under the bed before jumping up and pulling on my pants. I get them on right as John opens the door and stumbles in.

"Dad! What are you doing home?" I ask nervously. He squints at me, like he's trying to get my face to focus. He stumbles toward me and I go to keep him from falling. He jerks back resulting in him falling flat on his ass. I look down the hall and see Sam's head peeping out from his door. I shoot him a stern glance and he disappears back into his room. I really don't want him getting hurt if John decides to be violent.

"Where's th' little slut?" he asks, his words all slurring together. "I heard ya' moaning and shit when I walked in. I know th' bitch's in here somewhere." My heart pounds as he looks around the room. I try to get his attention back by blocking his view of my room but that only angers him. I hear my jaw crack as his fist collides with my face and I'm sent to the floor. My vision blinks in and out and I'm kind of surprised by the force behind his punch. After all, he is drunk. He shouldn't be able to knock me to the floor. Then again, I'm slightly buzzed myself. My vision clears and I jump to my feet, nearly falling back over, as Sam darts into the room. He's fairly small for a fifteen year old and if John's in a violent mood, it won't end well.

"Leave him alone, John! He didn't do anything! You can't just barge in here all drunk and start hitting Dean!" Sam cries. John gets a pissed look on his face and raises his hand. Still disoriented from being hit, I don't have enough time to block the blow from my little brother. His hand moves closer to Sam and just as he's about to hit him, Jason comes flying out from under the bed in just his boxers.

He tackles John and they both tumble to the ground. Jason pins him to the ground, his fists slamming into John's face. Jason isn't very strong and John's line of work requires him to be fit so when John slams his head into Jason's I'm not very surprised that Jason gets knocked off of him. Sam runs over to me, trying to make sure I'm okay but I shake him off and run over to John and Jason. John is now on top of Jason and I try to pull him off.

My dad swings at me again and I fall to the ground. Sam runs over to me again and pulls away from the fight. My vision is blurry and I'm pretty sure that if I try to stand up I'll fall over. Suddenly, I hear two loud screams. I force myself to focus back on the fight only to see John covered in blood and stumbling away from Jason. I pull myself over to him and gasp out of horror. He smiles at me, a sad smile. I look at the knife that's sticking out of his chest and yell at Sam to call 911.

"Maybe I should have stayed under the bed," Jason whispers and tries to chuckle but ends up coughing up blood.

"You're going to be okay. Don't worry, an ambulance will be here soon," I say, slight panic creeping into my voice. One of his hands slowly moves to my face and he smiles. He pulls my head down so my ear is right be his mouth and I can feel his faint breath creeping across my face.

"I'm so sorry, Dean," he says and a tear runs down my face. His hand slowly drops and I look at him desperately.

"Faggots," John slurs from somewhere but I ignore him. That homophobic bastard just stabbed my boyfriend. Jason's eyes start to get a glassy non-seeing look and panic consumes me.

There's a knock on the door which I ignore, trying to stop Jason from bleeding anymore than he already is. I hear footsteps pounding up the stairs and everything starts blurring together. I feel myself being pulled away from Jason and I'm aware of the screaming leaving my throat. Sam is next to me, tugging on my arm, tears in his eyes too. He's trying to get me to look at him but all I can do is stare at the stretcher being carried down the stairs with Jason's body on it, unaware of the screams coming out of my throat. Then I see my father in handcuffs being forced down the stairs and I fall onto my knees. Sam's there, trying to comfort me but I ignore him. Me vision is starting to blur and I black out before I hit the ground.

~~~

(Castiel's POV)

"Castiel! Get your ass down here!" I hear being called from somewhere downstairs. I groan and get out of bed. I look around for some clothes and pull on what I had laid out for today. I have to dress up because its stupid school picture day so I pull on a white dress shirt, some black dress pants, and a blue tie. I don't really know how to do a tie so it ends up all messy looking. I grab my cellphone from its charging place and run down the stairs. I make it to the kitchen only to be stopped by my older sister Anna.

"Slow down, Cassie. Your hairs a mess," she says and I roll my eyes. She runs her hands through it a bit before I pull away. I grab my thermos filled with tea from the table and run out the door. I turn back around and grab my trench coat from a hook by the door. Not wanting to be late again, I run to school. By the time I reach the front doors, I know I look like a mess. I'm slightly out of breath and my clothes are everywhere. There's a boy who seems to be in my grade staring at me as I check the clock. Five minutes late. I run to the desk and Mrs. Webber, the secretary, smiles at me. The old woman looks me up and down and her smile fades.

"Oh, Castiel Novak, what did you do?" she asks and I give her a small smile.

"I ran to school. If I'm late again, I'll get a detention but it looks like I'm going to get one anyway," I say. The older lady smiles at me again, a motherly look.

"Oh Cassie," she says and I flinch at the nickname. "I like you. You're a good kid and you don't deserve a detention. How about you show the new kid around and get a free pass this once?" she asks and I nod vigorously. I really hate detention especially when it's with Naomi, the principal.

"I'll write you both passes dismissing you both from your morning classes so Castiel can help you get a feel for the building. Castiel this is Dean, Dean this is Castiel," she says as the boy who was watching me before steps forward. He glances at me with a uninterested look and my smile slowly fades. Great, now I have to spend a few hours with some jock who doesn't give a damn about anything. I grab my pass from Mrs. Webber and start walking down the hallway, not checking to make sure that he was behind me.

"Hey, slow down," he calls, running to catch up with me. I ignore him again and turn down the hallway that leads to my first period class.

"Where are we going?" he asks and I finally reply to him.

"To the English room, I have to show my pass to Mr. Kelly. Wait here," I say as we reach the door. When I walk in I feel every pair of eyes in the room turn to me.

I ignore them and walk to the desk which Mr. Kelly is asleep at. I tap him on the shoulder lightly and he jerks awake in his chair, nearly falling over. He blinks a few times before looking at me. I hand him my pass and he takes it from me, a frown appearing on his face. He looks up at me disapprovingly only to me interrupted by a hand reaching out and handing him something.

I feel someone's body brush up against mine a tense up, pulling away a little. I look and see Dean glancing at the other students.

"This is my first class too. Thought I'd give him my pass as well," he says nonchalantly as he searches the classroom. He looks back down at me, a small sad smile on his lips. I freeze as I look at his eyes, a perfect pair of striking green orbs. I look away suddenly as Mr. Kelly clears his throat and hands us back our passes.

"Fine. You better have your essay in by tomorrow though, Novak," the old balding man barks. I nod and scurry out of the room, Dean trailing behind me. We reach the hall and I shove my pass in the pocket of my dirty coat. I turn to Dean who is leaning against the wall and my breath catches again. His eyes are half lidded and his arms are behind his head, making his arm muscles bulge. I swallow hard and make myself breath normally. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm not gay but I keep finding myself checking out this mysterious stranger.

"So, where to next?" I manage to say after a minute. He looks at me with a small smile playing at his lips.

"You're supposed to be the guide, aren't you?" he teases and a slight blush creeps onto my face. "Well, take me to your favorite part of the school." I nod and mentally debate whether or not I should bring this guy to my secret spot. I mean, I don't really know the guy but part of me wants him to see it and think its cool. The second part of me wins and I lead him to the library. He looks around questioningly as if asking if this was really it.

I suck in a nervous breath as I lead him to the children's section. Why the high school has a children's book collection I have no idea. He follows me, still looking around. I take the shelf in the farthest corner and pull it out just enough that we can slide behind it, into the small room that lies behind it, pulling it closed behind him. He looks around and I watch him nervously. What if he thinks it's lame or something? I slowly sink into one of the purple bean bag chairs I snuck into here and watch him as he wanders around the room, looking at everything. He soon makes it all the way around the small room and smiles approvingly. I feel relief surge through and a smile plays at my lips too. He grabs the other bean bag, the blue one, and pulls it closer to me, plopping down on it.

"This place is awesome. Who else knows about it?" he asks, still looking around curiously. I blush and look at the ground though I'm not sure why.

"Uh, you're kind of the only person I've shown it to," I say and he turns back to me. If possible, his smile grows even more and a weird butterfly sensation starts in my stomach. I will it to stop, not meeting his eyes.

"So, Cas, tell me about yourself," he says and I stiffen at the nickname. I always have hated any shortening of my name, but coming from him, it seemed right. I stop that train of though again and think of how to respond.

"Um, I'm Castiel Novak, I'm a sophomore, I'm 17, I live with my sister Anna and brothers Gabriel and Balthazar, I hate the nickname Cassie, I like to be alone most of the time, I enjoy nature, and I love my trench coat," I say. He nods, a smile playing at his lips and I have to physically stop myself from staring at them. "Your turn."

"I'm Dean Winchester, I'm also a sophomore, I'm 17, I have a little brother named Sam whose 13, I live with my godfather Bobby, his wife Ellen and her daughter Jo, and I love my '67 Impala," he says and I nod. I glance at the small digital clock I have sitting in the corner and sigh. 9:37, we need to go and show our pass to our next period teachers. I stand up and Dean does too.

Leading him back out to the hallway, I find it hard to speak when he's looking at me. My breath seems to be frozen in my throat and I have to actually think about it to keep breathing.

"Where to now, Cassie?" Dean asks and I shoot him and annoyed glare.

"To show our passes to out next teacher. What class do you have next?" I ask as I walk toward Math. He pulls out his phone and checks it before replying.

"Uh, Math?" he says and my heart sputters. Two classes together? That's more than I have with any of my friends.

"Let me see your schedule," I say and he hands me over his phone. I look over the picture he took of it and my jaw nearly drops. We have every class together in both semesters. It's like they just photo copied mine. Actually, I could have sworn that that is my doodle of an angel wing in the corner. I search for the name and see, to my surprise, my name crossed out and Dean Winchester written in under it.

"They literally photocopied my schedule and gave it to you. It has my name on it," I say handing him back his phone. He looks and laughs when he realizes I'm right.

"That's cool. We get to spend all day together," he jokes, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I tense up a little and chuckle awkwardly. He studies me for a moment before pulling away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to invade your personal space or anything," he says and I blush again. Thankfully we reach the math room before I have to reply. I walk toward Mrs. Harvelle's desk and she smiles at me and Dean.

"Dean! How's your first day of school going?" she asks and he smiles at her. Huh, I wonder how he knows her. We hand her our passes before he replies.

"It's cool. How's your day been, Ellen?" he says. Ellen as in the woman he's living with. She reads our notes and hands them back to us.

"Good. This is a really important lesson, boys. It's going to start the next unit. If you miss it you're going to have to make it up," she says and Dean nods.

"Cas could just come over later to study," he says and I blush yet again. Did he just invite me to hang out with him later? "Er, I mean if you want to," he says, running a hand through his hair. Is that a slight blush I see creeping across his face? Nah, it's just my imagination.

"Uh, yeah, that works for me if its okay with you, Mrs. Harvelle," I say and she shoots Dean a smug looking smile.

"Yeah as long as your parents are okay with it," she says and I nod.

"Thanks Ellen. We'll let you teach your class now," Dean says and we leave.

"Where to now?" he asks. Before I can reply, an announcement comes on over the loudspeaker.

"Attention all sophomore students, will all students whose first names start with C through E please report to the gym so your photo can be taken," it says and I sigh. I start leading Dean to the gym. We squeeze onto one of the bleachers and I force myself to ignore his leg pressed up against mine. Me looks me up and down and laughs.

"Are you really going to take your picture like that?" he asks and I blush, looking down at my clothes. I pull my coat around me self-consciously and he frowns slightly. He swats my hands away and opens my coat again, making a blush spread across my face. He doesn't seem to notice because his hands are now next to my neck, untying my tie. It's getting hard for me to breath again and I have to close my eyes.
His hands flip, turn, and pull the blue fabric in a practiced motion, fixing my tie so that it is straight.

After he's finished with that, he buttons the few top buttons I missed this morning. I can't help but stare at his concentrated face as he finishes the top button. He then moves his attention to my hair. He sighs again and messes with it, flattening and pulling until it meets his standards. He straightens out my coat a little and his eyes slowly drift up to mine. I suck in a deep breath as I stare into his striking green eyes.

"Cas," he says, his hot breath fanning across my face. In that moment it's as if the entire gym has disappeared and it's just me and him. I jump when I hear my name called through some speakers that they had set up. I thank Dean and make my way to get my picture taken, nervous that it'll look weird due to the slight blush still tinting my cheeks.