Sam Winchester and the Last Year of High School (Ch. 1)
Title: Sam Winchester and the Last Year of High School
Author: drstupidface
Rating: PG
Genre: High School AU
Characters/Pairing: Sam/Cas, Dean/Cas, Dean/Ruby, mentions of Dean/Bela, John/Mary, Bobby/Karen, Becky/Chuck, mentions of Gabriel, Anna, Rachel, Lucifer (Nick), Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Balthazar.
Warnings (and enticements): Sam in glasses (is that a warning or enticement? who knows!), Mary being an awesome mom, just a hint of violence and teenage infidelity.
Summary: Sam Winchester is in his senior year of high school with his big brother Dean and he's dreading every second of it. He gets to his third class of the day and is faced with the dreaded name game by his torturous English teacher. He's sat next to Castiel Novak, the school's star quarterback and is forced to talk to him for a full five minutes. Soon after school he finds out he's big brother is now going on a date with the football star. Days pass and through various ways, Sam starts to discover that he's developed feelings for this popular kid who sits next to him in English. Things happen and people change but what matters most is what's best for Castiel.
Chapter 1
Sam Winchester has this tiny belief that maybe just maybe, his senior year of high school would be more enlightening than the other three years he’s had to endure. He was wrong, again. He lost his contacts the weekend before school started and his parents couldn’t order them for another two weeks leaving him to wear his thick rimmed glasses. He knew this wouldn’t help school for him at all, his brother even laughing at his misfortune. Dean, Sam’s older and much more socially competent big brother was gifted with dashing good looks and a wicked tongue that always got him in trouble. He owned that school, every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him. Nothing could damper his reputation, not even the fact that he was, as he would put it “batting for both teams” now. John and Mary, their parents, were completely okay with Dean’s decision but were more on him about making sure he kept himself safe. Sam can remember the discussion at the dinner table as if it was last night, wishing he couldn’t because his dad was horrible at trying to explain that sort of thing.
Anyway, the first day of school started with the worst alarm Sam had ever heard to which he hit a little too hard and groaned a little too loud at. He hated first days; they were uncomfortable and made him nervous. He grabbed his glasses and the room became clear again, soon sliding out of bed to get dressed. He tugged on his jeans and decided to wear his Indiana Jones shirt for good luck; he didn’t care if he was seventeen. He needed as much luck as he could get. After the rest of his morning routine, Dean and Sam climbed into his car headed to school. Dean was blabbing about how he’d get the best looking girl AND guy at their school with just a look, the same thing he always started a year with. They roamed the hallways, the clumps of people reminding him of how much of an unorganized madness school was and secretly wishing he could have been home schooled.
Sam had made it through his first two classes without the dreaded “name game” and thought of it as a gift from above. In his third class, his teacher was new and determined to make everyone’s semester a gift from Satan himself and assign them seats with people they’d never met before. This was easy for Sam since he knew next to nobody in his class, the teacher pairing him with a messy haired kid already sporting his letterman jacket from football. Finally after he’d sat everyone down he introduced himself and all Sam was imagining was seeing horns on his head and a pitchfork in his hand as the linoleum floor under him erupted into uncontrollable flames. Then it was the worst thing possible, he told everyone to spend five minutes talking to only the person next to them and for them to become friends because they were going to be paired all semester. Sam turned to his half asleep partner and cleared his throat, hoping he wouldn’t wake up so they didn’t have to speak. Unfortunately the boy awoke and looked at the overgrown teenager with thick rimmed glasses at his side and raised a judgmental brow. Sam felt like he was suddenly under a spotlight and his palms got sweaty, “I’m Sam Winchester.” He managed to cough out, the boy still staring at him with his piercing blue eyes. “I’m Castiel Novak, quarterback of the football team. Although you probably knew that,” He chuckled at his boast, looking back at Sam. “So what exactly does a giant like you do?” He asked, not even remotely interested in anything really beside how wide his chest was. “I’m not on any teams or anything. I mean I work in the library but that’s really it.” He said quietly, his palms getting sweatier as he was examined. The next two minutes were what Sam believed to be torture inflicted by his Satan teacher, no more questions coming from either of the teenagers anymore.
Before that class the phrase, saved by the bell had never meant much to the younger Winchester but as soon as the bell rang it was if the weight of hell was lifted off his shoulders and he headed straight for the library. At least there he couldn’t be subjected to questioning and the new torturous practices of his teachers; he would only be surrounded by books.
By the time school had ended, Dean had already been sent out of class at least once and had the numbers of three potential girls and one guy that he knew was the best looking in school, besides him of course. Sam listened absent mindedly, just wanting to go home until he heard the name of his partner from English class. “Wait, Castiel Novak?” He asked his face contorted in confusion. Dean raised an eyebrow and chuckled, “Yep, we’re going out on Thursday. You know him?” He asked curiously. Sam groaned quietly and let his head hit the window, “He’s my partner in English class. He kept staring at me like he was trying to size me up for the football team or something. It was weird.” He mumbled, looking at the familiar scenery passing by them as they rode home. Dean only provided more support with a laugh as they pulled up to their house and for the first of many times to come Sam was more than happy to see their house.
Dean continued his boast at dinner where his parents listened and nodded, finally looking at Sam. They asked him how his first day was and he only shrugged, “Uneventful.”
Sam spent the night half asleep, kept awake by the wonder of why Castiel kept looking at him like that. It was three am when he finally forgot and fell asleep.
Every other day that week went by like the first, uneventful and full of Castiel’s blue eyed stares haunting Sam when he went to bed. By the beginning of the next week, the school was buzzing that Dean and Castiel were dating. The thought gave Sam undetermined mixed feelings that he tried his best to shrug off. Finally it was Thursday, the second week and he was sitting in English doodling his teacher as the devil when Castiel nudged him. “I know you’re Dean’s brother and I figured we should at least be acquaintances.” He said, almost like he was forced to do this by Dean. Sam stared at him for a minute and sighed, “I guess, do you want to talk after class or something?” He didn’t let his undetermined feelings take over as he talked to him. Castiel shrugged, “Lunch after class, your brother’s probably going to be off campus anyway.” Sam couldn’t say no and risk his brother getting mad at him so he nodded, getting back to his doodle.
Class seemed to end almost suddenly and Sam was suddenly realizing how stupid of an idea it was to agree to spend more time with Castiel. The two of them walked to the lunchroom, everyone saying hi to the teen and giving him pats on the back or high fives like Sam was invisible next to him even though he towered an extra five inches above him. They grabbed their food from the lunchroom and sat outside in the empty courtyard, the weather only slightly hot. Sam opened up his sandwich and sighed, “So I assume Dean put you up to this.” He said quietly, breaking the silence as he stared down. Castiel only laughed and shook his head, “No, I thought it was a good idea. He doesn’t really have much input of that sort.” The way Castiel laughed almost made Sam’s stomach tighten in that fluttery feeling, trying to swallow it away. Sam raised his brow, looking over at the little athlete next to him and feeling for the first time like he was clueless in the situation with him. “So what do you want to know? I’m not really like Dean, I don’t have tales from the deep or enough referrals to get me kicked out of school.” He mumbled, Castiel looking like he was genuinely interested in what he had to say.
They spent the whole half an hour of lunch talking, mostly about Dean and stories from when they were younger even though Castiel told him more than once he wanted to hear about him and not Dean. Eventually the next bell rang meaning the next lunch was starting along with fourth period. Sam started to wonder why the quarterback had sat with him this long just to hear stupid stories about the things Dean used to do or how many times he tortured him as a kid before he hit puberty. Sam had almost excelled at puberty, he was hitting 6”4 and for some reason was built like he should have been on the football team instead of Castiel. Finally they’d decided it was enough, Castiel waving before heading to his class and Sam going to the library.
The end of that day was different because Dean decided he wanted to take Castiel home now, forcing Sam to sit in the backseat like an oversized child. They were being distant for a pair of people who were supposed to be dating; they didn’t make much conversation or even sit close to each other making Sam wonder. When they dropped the football star off there wasn’t more than a goodbye before Dean told his brother to move back up to the front. Once Sam was sitting back in his usual spot he heard his brother give a defeated sigh, making him start to wonder more. “Dean are you okay?” He tried to read his brother’s face while he waited for a response. Dean shrugged, “I don’t know, Cas is great and he’s hot but I just don’t think we’re into each other. We don’t know that much about each other besides what we talk about on our dates.” He sighed, starting his car and the drive back to their house. They didn’t say anything after, Sam wondering about what his brother said and what Castiel had mentioned at lunch.
That night instead of getting into bed Sam got on his computer, going on to his brother’s Facebook which he was always logged into even though he had his own computer. He started looking around his friends, finding Castiel and reading through his likes to see what they had in common. Two hours had passed before Sam realized how different Dean and Castiel really were.
Dean liked fast cars, Spanish soap operas and pie while Castiel liked Hemmingway, Pushing Daisies and cookies. It was like they were exact polar opposites which made Sam curious enough to keep looking. Suddenly another half an hour later he realized he was cyber stalking his brother’s boyfriend and closed the window, climbing into bed. He shook his head, shocked by his actions and realizing he had to be up in three hours. He laid there the rest of the night trying to sleep but unable to as his mind raced with scenarios about Castiel and him. It was worse thinking about it and finally after he downed some Nyquil he was out, telling his mom he was sick and staying home from school. He heard a ping from his computer groaning and sighing, he tried to ignore it until he heard another two pings. He got out of bed, adjusting his pajamas before sitting down at his computer. He realized that he didn’t close the window last night and now people were trying to chat with Dean, two of them girls and one was Castiel. He looked at the time and wondered why they weren’t at school, reading what they were sending and looking at them in shock. Apparently Dean had been talking to a girl named Ruby who was very into him, a girl named Bela who he hooked up with every once and a while that now had a boyfriend so couldn’t do it anymore and Castiel trying to get ahold of him to tell him he wasn’t at school because his older brother had given him some stomach bug.
Sam closed the other two windows and stared at Castiel’s, wondering if he should reply and having flashbacks of his late night cyber stalking session that made him miss school today. He sat there, the blank line blinking and mocking him. He typed out the letter ‘I’ and stopped, deleting it and logging his brother out. He sighed, turning the computer screen off. He climbed back into bed, pulling the covers over his face and falling back asleep with his glasses on.
It was three when Sam finally pulled out of his partial comatose and walked downstairs to eat, rubbing his forehead as he stared at the fridge. His mom came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, spooking him. She smiled, “Hi zombie, you want something to eat before dinner?” Sam nodded, notreally laughing like he usually did at his mom making her wonder as she got him some chips. They sat on the couch together, Sam munching quietly as he stared at the TV blankly. “Sammy what’s wrong sweetheart?” His mom finally asked after staring at him.
Sam was really on the fence about telling his mom but it all spilled out on accident, blabbing about Dean and Castiel and how he spent last night practically cyber stalking him and how he couldn’t decide why they were dating. His mom listened intently and waited until Sam was done before taking a minute to think of what to say, “Well, I do think it’s a little odd that Dean would date him since they’re so different but he’s your brother and I don’t think any of us will ever understand him. But what I’m gathering is that before they were dating you really didn’t give this Castiel guy much of a thought aside from class and now you’re really interested in him. Maybe you have a crush on him.” She shrugged, giving him a kiss on the temple, “It’s okay to feel like that Sam, things will sort themselves out.” She said with a smile, walking back to the kitchen to start dinner. Sam took what she said into consideration curious if maybe he did actually like him.
Dinner was filled with work stories from his dad and some school events that Sam missed that Dean thought were necessary to tell him, none of them even pertinent to him remotely. His dad looked at Dean before looking at his younger son, “Anyway, you feeling all better Sammy?” He smiled, taking a big bite of his dinner. Sam smiled back at his dad and nodded, enjoying that his dad wasn’t encouraging Dean’s continuous stories. “Yeah, just needed to sleep I guess. Got all my work for today figured I’d get it done after dinner.” His dad chuckled, “You know it’s okay to just let it go for a day Sam, you were sick.” His parents always appreciated how dedicated their younger son was to school but wanted him to let some of it go sometimes so he could make friends. The rest of dinner was spent with Mary and John talking to both of their sons about different things and asking more questions about school.
Dean walked by the bathroom while Sam was brushing his teeth, stopping to say good night. When he stopped Sam saw something in his big brother’s face that made him suddenly wrap his arms around him. They hadn’t hugged in a while and that’s all Sam wanted right now, the two of them standing in the hallway with Sam’s purple toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. Finally they broke the hug and Dean chuckled at his little brother, “Alright, night Sammy. Love you.” He smiled and reached up to ruffle his hair before he went to his room. Sam finished his nightly brushing and walked to his bedroom, turning his computer on despite his better instinct.
He logged onto his own Facebook, the only friends he really had were kids he’d met in his other years of high school and middle school and family. He saw a bright red notification on the top of the page, making him wonder who would want to be friends with him. He clicked it and suddenly his heart fluttered quickly, Castiel’s page was sitting there with his football picture staring at him. He clicked the accept button and felt his cheeks get warm, wondering if this is what he was supposed to be like. The only information Sam really had about relationships were stuff he saw in movies or TV shows or what he read in books and of course his family. Some of it made Sam believe that if he went to some far off country he’d meet the love of his life working in some café and that they’d run away together. Of course he knew that if he went off none of that would happen and he would just be in a café pining after someone he couldn’t have.