Strings Attached

Chapter 76

No one asks about the call Gabriel gets the next day. It's just sort of become the norm to assume it's from Sam, and, once again, everyone is correct.

"Hey, Sam!... Yeah!... Is Dean going? Should I invite Castiel?... Oh. Sounds fun. Not... Alright, see you in a few. Bye." Gabriel hangs up and puts the phone in his pocket before looking over at Castiel. "I'm gonna bail. Dean, quote, 'has been fighting over colleges with Bobby for the last hour,' so you can't go hang out with him. Good luck with Lucifer." Gabriel smirks before walking away, leaving a helpless Castiel behind.

Okay, now for the hard part. Finding Michael, Anna or Samandriel without running into Lucifer. The number of times Lucifer has quoted The Bee Movie today just because he can is unreal. A good place to start would probably be Samandriel's room.

Unfortunately, it's empty. Maybe Anna's room? Castiel walks through the halls as quietly as he can, the only noise he makes coming from when he knocks on the door. There's some frantic whispering and shuffling for a moment.

"Yeah?" Anna calls finally.

"I'm bored," Castiel tells her. "Can you unbored me?"

"'Kay!" There's some more shuffling, and Anna finally opens the door. "Hey!" She steps back to let him in. "Welcome to the magestical land of my room! Come on in!"

Castiel takes a step inside uncertainly. Immediately, the door closes behind him, and Samandriel steps out from behind it.

"Ha! You're stuck here now!" Samandriel brags.

"Well, I came here looking for you two, so I don't see why this is a bad thing," Castiel replies.

"Because..." Anna says, then points to the closer door. Suddenly, it opens, and Lucifer jumps out, a smile on his face that reminds Castiel of a killer clown.

"Hi, Castiel," Lucifer says in a voice that can only be described as stereotypically evil.

"Um... Hi?"

"Hey, Castiel, did you know that according to all known laws of aviation..."

Castiel groans. He turns to leave, but Anna and Samandriel are standing in front of the door, blocking his path and laughing. Castiel sink down onto the floor and covers his ears, which only prompts Lucifer to be louder.

"Help me," Castiel squeaks.
But no one does, and he has to listen to the entire Bee Movie script once again.

~~

"So," Castiel says as he and Dean wait for first block to start. "I heard you were looking at colleges. Which ones do you have in mind?"

Dean lets out a long breath. "I don't know. Bobby's been pushing USC on me, but I don't know if I want to go all the way to California. He says that a lot of the best NFL players come from there, but I don't know. I was thinking somewhere more local, save some money on dorms. Plus, I'll get to hang out with you more."

Castiel grins. He likes the idea of Dean staying around. Although, if USC is a good college, maybe it's better that he go there. "Have you been accepted there?" Castiel asks curiously. "USC, I mean?"

Dean nods. "Accepted, and a scholarship. It's not a great one —?not a full ride or anything, but it's something."

"Well, that helps," Castiel replies. "How many other colleges have you gotten into?"

Dean shrugs. "So far? Eight? Nine? I don't know exactly."

"And you're still thinking state?" Castiel says in surprise. There have got to be some better colleges out of all of those.

"Yeah. I mean, it's only, like, an hour's drive from here. It's better than buying a dorm for four years. We probably can't afford that if Sam's going to Stanford."

"Isn't Stanford in California, too?" Castiel recalls. "Could be nice, visiting Sam. Just sayin'."

"It's six and a half hours away," Dean tells him. "I already looked into that. Why? Are you trying to get me to leave?" he asks teasingly.

"No, but it might be nice for you," Castiel replies. "I mean, if you're serious about going pro, maybe you shouldn't cross USC off just yet."

Dean groans. "Great, now I've got you and Bobby telling me to go to USC?"

"No, I'm just saying..."

"What are you saying?" Dean asks.

"Just... I don't know. If you go the USC, will that make it more likely for them to notice you? You'd be able to pay it back if you went pro. Maybe it'd be worth it."

"But then I can't see you," Dean protests. "I mean, California is half way across the country. I'd be lucky to come home and see you every vacation."

"That's okay," Castiel insists. "We'll figure something out. We can FaceTime or something. But come on, Dean. You only go to college once, and it could effect the rest of your life. If USC is the best choice, you should take it."

"But I can't just leave you," Dean protests. "And long distance relationship never work."

"I'm sure we can make it work," Castiel replies.

Dean looks like he's about to say something, but cuts himself off before he can start. "We'll see. I have until May first to decide, so that gives me, what, a month and a half? We'll see how things are going then, okay? Now, in other news. Quarter classes change later this week. Any chance you have one?"

Castiel nods, frowning. "Yeah. Fourth block is gym. God help me."

Dean grins. "Ay, looks like we're gonna have two classes together!" He holds up a hand for a high five, and Castiel obliges in a less enthusiastic way. "I've been waiting for this all year. Gym, let's go!"

Castiel chuckles. "Yeah, says the sporty one. I've got no athletic ability whatsoever, so this is gonna be rough."

"Don't worry," Dean assures him. "I'll try to make sure you don't have any head shots in dodgeball, and it'll all be good."

"We have to play dodgeball?" Castiel repeats.

Dean nods. "Every Friday."

Castiel groans. Great. This is sounding worse and worse every day.