"Hey Mom, where's your old guitar?" Victoria asked.

"It's in the attic, why?" I asked back, curiously.

"Oh, well I was wondering if Haley and I could use it. Haley wants me to teach her and it'd be helpful if we could have two," Haley replied.

"Sure, go ahead and look," I replied.

I returned to the papers I was grading as the two teenage girls scurried upstairs. I heard a loud clang and knew that they were well into the attic now. Oh goodness…

Haley and Victoria easily found the guitar but Victoria was fascinated with all the stuff that was locked away in the attic. There were things ranging from her parents' high and college days to her own baby days. Even some of her older brother's stuff had already made it up to the attic. Victoria and Haley were searching through the boxes, just looking for something interesting. They wanted something to entertain themselves with. Haley and Victoria were cousins.

"Hey what's this?" Haley asked, finding another box and opening it carefully.

"Oh my God, are you serious? You found my mom and dad's old hunting equipment," Victoria exclaimed.

"This is so cool. Man, I wish I parents would let us hunt, not that there's much to hunt anymore," Haley said.

"Then again that's a good thing," Victoria chuckled.

"I second that. Dad and Mom had like, no lives," Haley replied.

"You know, our dads barely even had to a real junior year. Like, there wasn't that whole pressure for college and stuff. They were usually on the road with Grandpa," Victoria said.

"Yeah, Dad told me about that. That's kind of crazy. Then again, junior year would probably be a lot less hectic," Haley said.

"Agreed," Victoria chuckled.

"Look at this," Haley said, kneeling next to another hunting box. She pulled out black composition book. The box had quite a couple of composition books in it, actually.

"What is it?" Victoria asked, rushing over to see what her cousin had found. This attic was getting even more interesting by the second.

"There are these composition notebooks. I think… I think they're diaries," Haley replied, aimlessly flipping through them.

"For who?" Victoria asked.

"I think they were your mom's," Haley replied. There was a silence where the two girls were trying to decide what exactly they wanted to do with the diaries. At that moment, the two girls turned to each other and said, "Let's read them!"

"Here, I think this one is the first," Haley said.

"Oh wait, maybe you should read them aloud. You'll be proof reader because I really don't want to know any… details about… stuff," Victoria said.

"You think there's sex in it?" Haley asked, curiously.

"Well, they made me and my brothers, didn't they?" Victoria teased.

"Okay fine," Haley said chuckling, taking the composition notebook and turning it to the first page. The two girls sat down on top of a couple of boxes lined up next to each other and began to read.

"May 30, 1995. Dear Diary…" Haley began to read.

It was around ten thirty at night and I only had an hour and half until my birthday was over. I was upstairs in my room reading. The window was open and I was just enjoying the breeze. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that my dad hadn't showed up. He had said that he would but he'd left me a brief message on the home phone's answering machine. I had listened to it a couple of times now but Bobby was right. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. I finished reading my book and then put it down by my bedside. I had finals all this week and then I was out of school. I pulled my shoulder length, dark black hair up into a sloppy bun and sighed.

I went downstairs to get a glass of water and as I went down the stairs, I heard the sound of voices and footsteps. Could it be my Dad? But there was more than one voice and none of them sounded like my dad. I filled my glass up from the tap water and started to go back upstairs when Bobby called to me.

"Meredith, I don't know why you'd want this on your birthday but they showed up anyways," Bobby said. I peered around the corner only to see Dean, Sam, and John Winchester standing in the door way of our house. A wide grin spread across my face.

"What're you guys doing here?" I exclaimed, happily. I moved quickly toward the three men giving John a hug first.

"Well we decided to stay for the summer and go on cases when we needed to. The boys are going to start school this year. I'll of course have to pull them out of it every now and then but they insisted," John replied, hugging me back.

I then moved to Sam.

"Well, Sammy insisted," Dean grumbled. Sam rolled his eyes at the pet nickname.

"Hey, Sam," I smiled, giving him a hug. He was cute and twelve. He was so adorable.

"Oh please Dean, I know you love school," I teased, hugging him.

"Ha-ha, you're so funny," he replied, sarcastically. I stuck my tongue out at him and he stuck his tongue back out at me. Bobby rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"So come in. Make yourself at home. Meredith needs to go to bed soon but she can talk to you for a while," Bobby said.

"What you've got a bed time now, smalls?" Dean asked.

I rolled my eyes, "NO. I have sophomore year exams tomorrow. I just need to get some sleep so that I can pass."

"Gotcha," Dean replied.

"Oh exams in what?" Sam asked, curiously.

"Nerd," Dean coughed. I shot Dean a glare and he just shrugged. Ugh, why did even the most annoying things about him have to make me fall for him? Why was he so irresistible?

"Well I have my Chemistry exam and English exam tomorrow. You can help me study for English if you want to," I suggested.

"Sure," Sam replied, his eyes lighting up.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Damn, I'm going to have to start that whole school thing when junior starts up, huh?"

"Yeah, but you'll be with me," I replied, fake-sweetly.

"Jesus Christ," Dean groaned, teasingly.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, hitting him playfully. Bobby and John had gone into the kitchen and now it was just Sam, Dean, and I.

"You know, I'm going to go up to one of the spare rooms and just get some sleep," Sam started.

"Oh okay," I replied.

"Night, Sammy," Dean said back.

"Why do you still call him that?" I asked, curiously.

"Same reason I still call you smalls," he replied, shrugging.

I raised an eyebrow, "And that reason is?"

"I'm used to it and the nickname is representational. You're short and he's…. well he's Sammy. He's still my little kid brother," Dean replied.

"Ah," I replied. "You know, one day he's going to grow up, Dean Winchester."

"Yeah and I'll still call him Sammy," Dean answered.

I chuckled. Typical Dean.

"So I hear today's your birthday," Dean said.

"Oh yeah," I said back. I had completely forgotten my disappointment in my father.

"Happy birthday, Mer," Dean said.

"Thanks," I smiled, blushing a little. It was embarrassing to admit but Dean's boyish charm had always worked on me. We had been good friends ever since I had met him when we were seven and I had come to Bobby's but I'd also had a crush on him since then. I never said anything though because… well it was stupid.

"So are you going to show me the ropes on this whole school thing or what?" Dean asked.

"Don't worry, I've got your back," I replied, chuckling. "Hey, I never got to give you a good hug. Come here."

Dean pulled me into his arms and I hugged him back. We sat in that tight embrace for a good while. I then pulled away and looked him straight in the eyes which was an intimidating thing for me.

"I know this is kind of weird for me to say but, I've missed you, Winchester. Is that weird?" I asked, giggling a little.

"No, I've missed you too, Summers," he replied.

"So tell me about hunting. Bobby won't let me go out on any until my final exams are over," I sighed.

"You're so deprived babe," he teased.

"Shut up, don't rub it in. And don't call me babe!" I exclaimed.

LINE BREAK

The summer passed by and Dean was only here for the second half. I worked at The Falcon, a café nearby and Dean and I got back to being our normal, usual, flirtatious friends. It had been a hot summer and quick one. After the 4th of July, the Winchesters had taken off but now they were back for the first day of school.

I got into the Impala sleepily and sat there waiting for Dean to turn on the car.

"Morning," I mumbled, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"You tired?" he asked.

"Mhm," I replied, nestling closer to him. We were friends so I had an excuse but I still wanted nothing more for this to be real.

Dean chuckled, "Mer, as much as I'd love to have a touchy-feely moment with you, we've got to get going."

"Right," I mumbled, returning to my seat.

I glanced back at Sam, "You excited?"

"Kind of yeah," he said.

Dean and I dropped Sam at the middle school right next to the high school and then headed into our school. I always loved the first day of school. It was just exciting and everyone was refreshed and happy.

"You ready for this?" I asked Dean.

"Not at all. I just want back on the road," Dean replied.

"Hey, it'll be fun," I chimed in.

"You're too cute, smalls," Dean said, putting his arm around my shoulders as we walked into school together.

"Hey, man. How was the road trip?" Stephen's buddy asked, coming over to us. I felt as Dean's arm slipped from my shoulders and back to his side. Stephen was a guy I'd gone to school with for a while, and who Dean had just met this past summer.

"Awesome. How was your summer?" Dean asked back.

"It was alright," Dean shrugged.

"Dude, we are getting so much tail this year. I swear to you. I'll hook us up, don't worry. Oh hey, Meredith," Stephen said, nodding at me.

"Hey," I mumbled. Honestly, I couldn't stand Stephen. He was obnoxious but he was the school's golden boy and I knew that for Dean to be in with him meant he'd be in all the social events and I knew that's what Dean craved. It was weird. For a guy who claimed to be independent and different, I knew that sometimes all he wanted to do was fit in and I wasn't even quite sure he knew that yet.

Stephen looked me up and down, "Looks like summer did you well. Looks like every summer's been doing you well." He smirked and I rolled my eyes.

Dean tensed up, "Yeah, I'll catch up with you later. Meredith, we should get our schedules."

"Okay," I said. As soon as we were alone I called Dean out on it. "What was that all about?"

"What?" Dean asked.

"When Stephen was… well… you know, you got all weird and tense. I thought he was your friend," I replied.

"Nothing, I just don't like him talking you like that," Dean said, protectively.

"Alright, Dad," I teased.

"Watch it, smalls," he teased back.

The both of us chuckled and then walked towards the office to find our schedules. Dean's arm slipped around my shoulders once again and I felt happy.