Chapter Text
Castiel slowly opens his eyes as he wakes up. The sunlight is streaming through his blinds and he can hear birds chirping outside. He rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling as he tries to remember what he has going on today. He turns his head to his alarm clock and bolts out of bed after seeing he was running late. Way late.
He stumbles across his room until he reaches his closet. He pulls on jeans and jerks a grey t-shirt over his head. As he wrenches the bedroom door open, he pulls on a dark blue hoodie and crosses the hall to the bathroom. He quickly brushes his teeth and takes a moment to look in the mirror. His dark hair is shooting in different directions and he groans as he realizes that no amount of water and flattening will fix this mess. Castiel sighs in defeat and heads back out of the bathroom, accepting that he will just have to deal with it for the day.
Castiel doesn't really care that he's late. If he had it his way, he would just accept that he was late and then take his time leaving, but he doesn't usually get his way. The only reason he hurries is because he doesn't want to give Zachariah more of an excuse to lecture him. Castiel thinks about this as he runs down the stairs, backpack slung on his shoulder, and strides to his car.
Today is the first day of his senior year in high school. So far, today really sucks, Castiel thinks as he drives down the road.
***
Castiel had just moved to Lawrence a week before school started. It didn't leave much room to adjust and he blames his tardiness on that fact. His family, the Novaks, is made up of his Uncle Zachariah, his sister Anna, who is three years his senior, and his older brother Gabriel, who is one year older than Castiel. Anna ran away when she was sixteen and Gabriel headed off to explore every corner of the world as soon as he had graduated high school. That left Castiel and Zachariah together for a whole year, at least. Castiel was definitely not looking forward to his upcoming senior year because of this fact. Also because he just wasn't good at making friends and with Gabriel gone, Castiel is expecting some lonely nights ahead.
He's thinking about Gabriel and his screwed up family as he walks down the empty school hallway. The first bell has already rung and Castiel is late enough that it will be noticed and marked down. Great, exactly what he needs - Zachariah is not going to be happy when he finds out. He reaches his first class, English, and stops, sucking in a breath as he braces for the terrible day he knows is lurking in his immediate future.
Castiel steps into the classroom quietly and turns around after shutting the door. All eyes swing towards him and he looks down then looks at the teacher. He mumbles an apology as he walks past and finds a seat - the last row, right by the window - and slumps back into his chair. The teacher doesn't say anything, just continues his boring, rehearsed introduction speak that he's probably given hundreds of times.
Castiel is looking out the window, hoping this day would move faster. It had only been ten minutes and it felt like it had been an entire day already. The teacher is up front, talking about the books they are going to read this year.
"That is the agenda for this year. Any of you read these yet?" He asks, after reading off the list. He smirks and continues as silence stretches out, "I didn't think you woul-"
He's interrupted by Castiel raising his hand at the last moment.
"Oh, uh," the teacher looks at his list of students, "Castiel...Novak. Which ones have you read?"
Castiel had still been looking out his window and finally turns his gaze towards the teacher up front.
"All of them," he says flatly.
"Wow, I guess we have ourselves quite the overachiever," the teacher says, not in an unfriendly manner. He smiles at Castiel and continues his lesson.
Castiel drops his eyes to his desk and waits out the rest of the class. By the time the bell rings, he's pretty sure that sitting through these classes could be classified as torture. He stops at his locker, spinning the dial when someone pushes him. It wasn't a hard push, but it caught him by surprise and he smacks his forehead into the locker door.
"What the hell, man?" He says as he spins around, rubbing his head.
"Hey, you the new kid? Casey or something?" The guy, the one who must have pushed him, is standing in front of Castiel with a rather menacing look about him. Castiel is pretty sure he hasn't even looked at this person before, so he isn't sure why he's being pushed around by him.
"Castiel, actually," he says through his teeth. He's still perplexed by the whole situation, but he does know that he is liking this guys less and less by the second.
"Well, I'm Alistair. I'm in your English class and I'm looking to do some...business with you." He flashes a quick smile as he leans his hand against the locker next to Castiel, trapping him between his arm and the wall.
Castiel narrows his eyes suspiciously. "That's great, but I'm not interested in anything, so thanks. But no thanks." He moves to duck under Alistair's arm, but finds a hand pushing him back.
"Look Cassie-"
"Castiel."
"- I need to pass English this year. And you have already done the reading, so why not just help me out. I'll be your first friend here at school. Friends help friends, right?" He smiles again and it sends chills down Castiel's spine. There is something wrong with this guy, but he can't put a finger on it.
"Well that sounds like quite the problem you have there," Castiel says with mock sympathy, "but I'm pretty booked for, well, ever. I don't want your friendship. And I'm not going to do your work for you."
Suddenly the smile slides off Alistair's face and he's stepping close to Castiel. He stares down at Castiel and it's all Castiel can do not to look away. "You're going to regret this decision, Novak." He looks over his shoulder at people passing by, shooting glances at them. "I'll give you some time to think about it. You may not want me as a friend, but you definitely don't want me as an enemy." With that, Alistair turns and joins some friends walking past, laughing with them as if nothing happened.
Castiel relaxed his posture after realizing he was tensed up and sighed as he turned back to his locker. He shook his head at Alistair's little speech. Castiel knew that they were nothing more than empty threats to make Alistair feel more like a man. He wasn't worried. It was still an inconvenience to his life, though. He let out another pained sigh at the thought of having to deal with this on top of everything else as he shut his locker and turned to head to his next class.
He looked up and started walking down the hallway when he caught a glimpse of some one looking in his direction. He glanced at the person again. Their eyes locked and Castiel felt like everything around him slowed down. The only thought circulating his mind was green, green, green. The man who had caught his attention had the deepest green eyes that looked right at him. He was staring so intently, Castiel felt like the man could see right through him and into his soul. The guy was walking towards the intersection of hallways that Castiel was approaching from an adjacent hallway, eyes still focused on Castiel. Castiel wasn't sure, but he thought he could see something, a flash of some emotion in the man's eyes, but he couldn't identify it.
He didn't have much time to really dwell on it, because right at that moment, Castiel walked straight into an open locker door. The impact shook him out of his trance and he hissed in pain as his hand reached up to rub his forehead and nose. He searched the faces of the students until he saw the one he was looking for. The man now had his back turned to him and was retreating down a different hall. Castiel was now in control of his mind and thoughts, so he was especially aware of how attractive the man was. He was tall, probably taller than Castiel, and was built with hard muscle that showed on his arms from the short sleeve t-shirt he was wearing. The shirt was tight and Castiel could see the plane of his back, moving with every step the man took.
Castiel didn't have much time to admire the view though because the bell had rung and he was now rushing off to class.
He did know three things though. One, he was late again. Two, he was going to have a monster headache if he kept up the trend of smashing his head into lockers. And three, he was definitely not going to think about piercing green eyes looking straight into him.