One Day At A Time

Day One

Day one.

Lord, give me strength.

Castiel sighed and straightened out the things on his desk as students began pouring into the classroom. It was 7:30 a.m. on a Monday morning. The two week break had gone by way too fast and all Castiel wanted was to be back in bed with his husband.

Dean gets to sleep in for as long as he likes, the lucky bastard.

Castiel internally grumbled, trying not to show his irritation on his face for his students to see. Don't get him wrong, he enjoys his job and he really does care about each of his students, but they could be a bit much sometimes and he was just really tired.

The bell rang that marked the beginning of class and the students began to settle down. Finishing up with his preparations with writing the date on the board, he turned to face the students and began.

"Alright, as you all should know, your essays are due today. They should be in MLA format and double spaced. Pass them to your left, and if you're at the end of the row, pass them to the person in front of you when you have your entire row's papers." The students did as they were instructed, some of them grumbling and making excuses, while a few pairs of eyes widened in realization as they had forgotten to do the assignment. "If you have a legitimate reason for not completing your work - and I'll be the judge of that - just let me know after class and we can arrange something."

First period went over smoothly; everyone was still half asleep, both students and teachers alike. Classes were 90 minutes each, 3:05 p.m. marking the end of the school day. Second period was Castiel's prep period and he spent most of the 90 minutes taking a nap. Finally, third period rolled around. This class consisted of mostly juniors, a couple seniors, and a few sophomores. It was an interesting group to say the least.

As Castiel began the next lesson, two students entered the classroom with one of the school's vice principals trailing behind them.

"Hello, Mr. Novak. Forgive me for interrupting." The woman apologized sincerely. "I'm just here to escort these two young ladies to their classes." She explained with an edge to her tone, obviously trying to get a point across to the students.

"It's no problem. Thank you." Castiel smiled kindly. He then sighed and gestured for the two girls, Claire and Meg, to sit in their seats.

"You know," He began. "you two are now on the L.O.P. list. You also have homework to turn in and classwork to make up." They nodded and looked down somewhat guiltily.

Then, Castiel added with a mumble, "Don't think you can just shove breadsticks in your purse and leave my class just because you'd rather be doing something else."

This elicited many looks of surprise from the students.

"Did Mr. Novak just reference a meme?" One student whispered. Castiel took a breath.

Goddamn it, Dean and your memes.

* * *

The rest of the day went smoothly...well, except for when Jimmy got yet another nosebleed. That kid really needed to get that checked out.

Jody Mills, a mother of two of his students, dropped by his classroom after school to apologize for Claire's recent act of ditching. He told her that she didn't need to apologize and asked if there's anything going on that could be troubling Claire and if there was anything he could do to help. Claire has a history with misbehaving, often triggered by the grief of her past. Jody assured him that things were okay and that she appreciated his concern.

"You know, I'd bet she'd stay in line if I worked a job here as a part of the school's police." She noted with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I bet that would do it." Castiel replied and genuinely smiled. "Well, Sheriff Mills, if there's anything else you need, you know where to find me. You're welcome here any time."

"Thank you, Mr. Novak." She smiled. "And call me Jody." Castiel nodded.

"Jody." he parroted. "And you can call me Castiel if you'd prefer that."

"Alright, Castiel. Have a good evening."

"You, as well."