Little Things

Chapter Three

Dean didn't see Castiel for the rest of the morning, but he knew they would have English literature together that afternoon. Dean was glad of the chance to get some space from the tense anxiousness that came from Castiel, as though he were a wound up coil, ready to snap at any moment, but come lunchtime, Dean grew more worried, right up until the moment he saw Castiel sitting alone in the cafeteria. Relief flooded through him, and he pointed Castiel out to the others as they joined him in the line for food.

'So what's the plan?' Jo asked. 'Are we just gonna go over there?'

'Yeah, but we gotta be cool about it,' said Dean. 'Give him some space. That means you, Crowley.'

'Excuse me, I'm very cool,' Crowley said, picking up a tray. 'Cooler than Kev over here.'

'Shut up,' Kevin grumbled.

They collected their food and walked over to Castiel's table, leaving the seats directly next to him and in front of him empty. He didn't acknowledge their presence, and they didn't talk directly to him.

Dean noticed that Castiel had already finished his food, but hadn't moved from the table. He was staring out of the window next to him, but Dean smiled as he realised that Castiel was simply listening to them talk. He nodded encouragingly at Jo, who had also noticed.

The bell rang, signalling the end of their lunch break, and they all stood and gathered their bags.

'Come on, Kevin, time for statistics,' Crowley said, throwing an arm around Kevin's shoulders.

Kevin groaned loudly and dragged his feet as Crowley led him out of the cafeteria.

'Coming to English?,' Dean said to Castiel, who started at being spoken to.

Castiel nodded, and slowly got to his feet, following Dean and Jo out of the room and to their English class. He again chose the seat nearest the door and kept his hood up while their teacher took attendance, barely answering the affirmative when his name was called.

Dean watched him from the table he was sharing with Jo.

'How long do you think it'll take for him to relax?' Jo asked.

'It's hard to say,' said Dean. 'The first few days are most important, then we'll just have to wait and see.'

'Well, he's already doing better than Benny,' Jo smirked.

Dean rolled his eyes. 'That's hardly an achievement. All he'd have to do to be better than Benny is show up.'

Castiel didn't speak for the rest of the class, opting instead to study the copy of the curriculum that the teacher handed him, and he didn't hesitate to leave when the class was finished.

The last class of the day was economics, one of the few classes that Jo, Dean, Crowley and Kevin all took. Dean remembered that Castiel had a free period and wondered what he would do to fill the time. Whatever it was, he was sure it was more interesting than listening to the monotonous drone of their econ teacher.

At last, the end of the day came, and Dean said goodbye to the other three, then wandered out the car. It wasn't until he went to open the door that he realised he hadn't asked whether or not Castiel was coming with him. He pulled out his phone. There were no messages, and he realised he hadn't asked Castiel for his number either. He sighed and leaned against the car, looking around and waiting to see if Castiel would appear. After about fifteen minutes of watching all the other students stream from the exits, Dean twirled his keys in his hands impatiently, then called his mom.

' Hey, sweetie, what's up?'

' Nothing much, just checking if you've seen Castiel? He had a free period this afternoon, I thought he might come home early.'