I Know You (Destiel)

Second First Impressions

Castiel

Near Incline Village, Nevada

It turned out that the we weren't moving to Kansas. Instead, our new house was  a small cabin a few miles away from Incline Village, a wealthy town with a low population during the summer months. It was mostly a skiing town where affluent Californians came on the weekends during the winter. It was also, luckily, very mountainous. We didn't have much trouble finding some nice places to stretch our wings.

Michael and Lucifer had already found jobs in the area, and they had registered Gabe and me in the public school system. Incline High School... Fun. Based on my past experiences with public school, I was going to have a hard time here, too.

It was the last day before school started, so I was enjoying my final hours of freedom in the best way possible: exploring the mountains. I alternately walked and flew depending on the openness of the area. I ran into a few tourists along the way who gave me strange looks because of my large coat that I wore over my wings whenever I wasn't flying. It was okay; I would probably never see them again.

I loved looking for hidden areas I could come back to later if I ever needed to be alone for a while. It was nice to have a place to escape to if I needed to clear my head. So far I had only found one such place. It was small pond shaded by a grove of trees. It was impossible to get to without flying, so I knew I wouldn't be disturbed. It was also quiet, which was the most important part.

I found my way to the spot and sat down, folding my wings against my back. I stared out across the calm water, wondering at what might happen at Incline High School. Would I have a friend, maybe more than one? I really hoped so. Killingworth was miserable without a companion.

From somewhere else in the forest I heard a loud gunshot. I jumped up, my coat sliding off of my lap. There wasn't supposed to be hunting in the woods here. It was against the law. I realized I was trapped. I couldn't get out of my area without flying and if I tried that, the hunters would surely see me and mistake me for a bird. I did not want to be shot.

I picked up my jacket and waited for a while, pacing back and forth. I heard a few more gunshots. I waited some more, and when I hadn't heard anything for a while, I spread my wings and flew up out of the grove. I stayed low to the trees until I saw a path. I landed and folded my wings, quickly covering them with the jacket. Luckily no one was around.

I walked on the path until I found a tree that I had marked. If I flew from here, it would be a short flight back to my house. I looked around once before dashing into the trees and flying off.

***

School came too early. Before I knew it, I was in my car driving Gabe and myself to Incline High School. My stomach was twisted up in knots, and I could feel myself beginning to sweat. My wings felt even more constrained than usual under my large jacket.

Gabe, on the other hand, was practically bouncing up and down in his seat with a huge smile on his face. He was going into ninth grade, so it made sense. He had never experienced the joys of high school before. He also had no trouble making friends. He was loud, extroverted, and generally liked by most people. I was none of those things.

Over the few weeks we had lived in Incline Village, I liked to take drives around the town. On multiple occasions I had driven past the vacant high school, dreading the months I would have to spend there. Now it was finally happening, and I was in no way prepared to deal with a large amount of people my age for nine months.