Let's Take the Road Before Us

Chapter 2

My dark, noxious mood immediately vanished.

"Oh, um, sorry," I grumbled as I became suddenly aware of the door slamming against the wall and everyone staring at me. Including the person at the front of the room. He shyly bit his lip, like he knew that I was going to show up at his school, in his class, the whole time we had been talking this morning. I smirked back, probably giving everyone in the class the wrong idea.

"Dean," The teacher said with a heavy sigh. She obviously didn't fancy me that much. "May I ask why you're late?"

"Got into some car troubles," I shrugged it off, finally recovering to my old, snarky self again.

"Well, how about you find your seat. Hope you'll be able to do that without being late."

"Sure thing, sugar." I winked to no one in particular and marched down to the back of the class, where my empty seat sat in waiting.

"As I was saying, this is Castiel. He's a transfer student. How about you go sit in the back, next to... Dean." She said my name with such a bitter tone, as if she was tasting battery acid. Cas looked relieved to finally sit down, as he seemed to be very uncomfortable being at the center of attention.

Meanwhile, half of the class was staring at me. The girls were in amazement and admiration, while the guys wanted to be me. I don't know why I was so popular, it must have been my attitude of not giving a fuck. High school digs that.

Cas was quietly making his way to the only empty chair, which was next to me. Of all the odds for us to meet at the coffee shop and be forced to sit across from each other, they were even slimmer that we would have the same first period and have to sit next to each other again. Now, I didn't really believe in fate or destiny, but I didn't believe in coincidences either. The universe was rarely so lazy. Anyways, who could argue with this sort of thing, whether it was predetermination or not.

"Hey Cas," I whispered at him after he had sat down.

"Dean. Interesting seeing you here," he responded while barely looking at me, trying to appear as if he was listening to the teacher.

"Yeah, what're the chances?"

Cas just shrugged while the hint of a smile played on his lips. "By the way, why do you call me Cas? Only my family calls me that."

"I'm not considered to be family?" I gasped, mocking being offended.

"Dean, we met half an hour ago," Cas deadpanned.

"Ok, fine then. I don't know, I guess 'Castiel' is just too much to use often," I admitted.

"Dean, do you have something to say to the class?" The teacher's voice resonated from the front of the room. I had almost forgotten she was there; when I talked with Cas it seemed to be just him and me. Chick flick moment. I know. Shut up.

"Nah, just catching Cas here up on the routine of things."

"You'll have plenty of time for that later, right now we're focusing on Jane Austen," She scolded. I shrugged it off nonchalantly and reclined back in my seat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cas attempting not to snicker.

The rest of the hour was spent in silence, at least between us. The teacher rambled on about... what was it again? That's right, Jane Austen. Like she's on top of my get-to-know list.

The bell finally rang, signaling the end of our torture, at least for the next ten minutes. Students stampeded into the tightly-packed halls, pushing and shoving to talk to their friends or reach their next class in time. I lingered in the aisle of our classroom, sort of waiting for Cas and sort of not.