Summary: After moving around all over the country with their father, Dean and Sam Winchester finally settle in a small town in Illinois with their Uncle Bobby for some stability. After starting high school, Dean finds himself breaking the most important rule of all, after only ten minutes - Do no talk to the Novak family.
Warnings: Slash pairings, swearing, mature content in later chapters.
Author's note: This story is un-beta'd, and all mistakes are my own. And there are a lot of mistakes, trust me. I fixed this chapter because I was re-uploading, but it's too much hassle to go back and re-upload every chapter, but the edited and fixed version can be found on my AO3 account - link on my profile. Also, the story starts off pretty slowly for the first couple of chapters to outline key facts but takes off properly around chapter 4.
Finally, please, if you're inclined to leave feedback on my writing, make it constructive for the love of God. I can handle constructive criticism, I promise, but "this sucks" doesn't help me evolve as a writer, and is extremely disheartening for any aspiring author to hear. So please, if you don't like my writing or this story, go away quietly?

Dean sighed and looked down at the wide busy corridor, at all the students bustling about.

"Where's your locker?" Sam asked, eyeing his paper with locker number and combination on - along with some other essential bits of information for his first day.

"Two-two-five. Down there."

Sam sighed; "crap, mine's on the other side. I'll meet you at yours at the end of the day?"

"Sure Sammy. Well, good luck!"

The young Winchester smiled meekly and stalked off; Dean took a deep breath and braved his way through the mass of students. A couple of people noticed he was new and stopped their conversation to speculate in hushed voices. Keeping his eyes on the locker numbers, Dean hurried to find his, eventually locating it at the end of the corridor. He entered his combination and wasn't impressed to find things already in it.

"Hey!"

Dean spun round, two boys were walking up to him. The smallest had brown floppy hair, reminding Dean a little of his younger brother, and even though he didn't look too happy, had an unmistakeable grin on his face. The other slightly taller boy had messy brown hair, which looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, a slight hint of stubble and the most piercing blue eyes. The weirdest thing about the boy was his outfit, he looked like he was at work, not school, wearing a shirt, tie, and waistcoat, whilst his friend was just wearing a Tasmanian Devil t-shirt and dark-green jacket.

"What are you doing in my locker?" the shorter boy demanded. Dean frowned.

"Your locker?"

"Well, my spare locker."

The taller boy rolled his eyes; "Gabriel, you might have to find a new locker for your things. This one belongs to..."

"D-Dean, Winchester," Dean stuttered, not able to concentrate with the piercing blue eyes boring in to him.

"This is Dean's locker now."

The smaller boy groaned; "where am I going to put it now?"

"Your locker, perhaps?" Dean suggested.

"If my locker had the space, do you think I'd be using this?"

"Just ask Crowley!" the blue-eyed boy sighed.

"Fine!"

'Gabriel' began pulling things out of Dean's locker, grumbling as he did so, leaving Dean and the other boy to watch.

"Nice to meet you, Dean. I'm Castiel, by the way."

He held his hand out, Dean looked at it, and glanced back up to his face before taking it in his own.

"The angel of Thursday," he said quietly, but loud enough for Castiel to hear. A smile spread across his face.

"You're the first person I've met who's known that!"

Dean smiled meekly, taking his hand back, feeling the handshake had gone on for long enough; "well, my mom loved Theology. Especially angels."

Castiel nodded and motioned to the boy emptying the locker; "this is my cousin, Gabriel. And before you ask, we've all been named after angels. Well; most of us."

Dean nodded sceptically; "we?"

Gabriel stopped what he was doing to join the conversation; "my brothers: Lucifer and Michael. My father: Raphael. Cas' family; Balthazar, Zacharia and Anna - short for Anael. Other cousins include Joshua, Rachel, Alastair and Crowley - who are technically demons - and well... Big religious family."

Dean's eyes were wide, nodding slowly; "oh... kay... then..."

"And nearly all of us go to this high-school, except Balthazar who's currently lording it up in College. Welcome to Kripke High! Home of the Novak family! And here is your locker, I'll empty the rest of it later, or else I'll be late. You'd better hurry too Where's your home-room?"

Dean tried to take it all in - Gabriel was quite the talker. Gabriel snatched his information paper from his hand.

"You're with Cas! Have fun; nice to meet you Dean-O, thanks for stealing my locker. See-ya later Cassie!"

The smaller boy grinned and hurried off. Dean was still rooted to the spot by how bizarre the last few moments had been.

"Are you coming? It won't make a very good impression to be late on your first day," Castiel said, looking at Dean expectantly.

"Um, yeah..."

Dean quickly put some things in his locker and followed Castiel to their home-room. As soon as he entered the room he was collared by the teacher - a short plump woman with greying hair and red cheeks; he stood awkwardly at the front of the class, watching Castiel walk over to a large group of students calling his name.

"Quieten down people, I have to take attendance and make a few announcements. Firstly though, we have a new student!"

Everyone in the class slid in to their seats and gawped up at Dean.

"Introduce yourself," the teacher smiled, slipping down in to her seat behind the desk. Dean had moved around the country enough to know how to introduce himself to a new class, and knew how to keep it short and sweet. He cleared his throat and hoisted his bag further up his shoulder.

"I'm Dean Winchester; I moved here from Kansas with my younger brother who's a freshman here."

The class stared up at him blankly.

"Lovely, where are you living?"

"Um, with my Uncle Bobby; he's a teacher here I think."

"Mr Singer? Really?"

Dean nodded awkwardly, looking over at the sea of blank faces.

"Well, take a seat."

He looked around and saw only one empty seat, next to a boy who looked extremely dishevelled, scribbling furiously in to a notebook. Dean quietly sat down next to him, placing his bag on the desk in front of him. The boy glanced over, paused for a moment before going back to his book. Sighing, Dean glanced around the room, the only person he knew - Castiel - was sitting at a desk in the middle of the room, surrounded by people muttering and passing notes. He'd occasionally engage in conversation with one or two, but generally kept his eyes on the front of the class, his hands folded neatly on the desk in front.

"I'm Chuck," the boy next to him suddenly said. He wiped his hand on his flannel shirt before holding it out. Dean smiled meekly and shook it quickly, not wanting to know what was possibly on it for Chuck to wipe away.

"Dean."

"I saw you came in with Castiel, do you know him?"

Dean shook his head; "I apparently now own his cousin's locker."

"Gabriel? He has loads of lockers around school, one less wouldn't hurt. Did you talk to them?"

"Um, Gabriel pretty much named everyone in the family, but-"

"-You'll meet most during the day, they're a big family; 'rulers of the school', y'know? The family's rich! Super rich! So, they're all pretty popular."

Dean nodded sceptically; "ok?"

"Yeah, Anna, Castiel's sister is captain of the cheer-leading squad; Gabriel is the school clown, all right guy but don't turn your back to him; Crowley's like... Have you read Shawshank Redemption?"

"Um, I've seen the film?"

"Well, Crowley is basically Red."

Dean nodded, his day getting weirder. For some reason every new student had to know everything about the Novak family.

"And Meg is basically the school bitch. That's just our year. Joshua's a junior, and a very good football player. Zacharia has just started as a freshman, he's already on the football team too, Lucifer and Michael - the twins - are very overly dramatic, and so are in drama club, along with Gabriel. Alastair is dead set on following in Crowley's footsteps, and Ruby is taking a leaf out of Meg and Anna's books..."

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"And Castiel is the school nerd, he knows... Everything! Doesn't have to try at anything, A's in every class. But, he's the most popular of the lot! And you should make no attempt - ever - to talk to any of them!"

Dean glanced around the room before looking back at Chuck; "why?"

"Social hierarchy. Right now as a new kid, you're down at the bottom with me. No engaging in conversation with the Novak's, unless you want shit for the rest of your high-school year."

"Seems a bit... unfair?"

"Yeah, the Novak's are nice enough, it's just their little entourage - their fan-club. Everyone wants to be in with the Novak's. A lot of the people sat around Castiel there; they've been working at being his friend for years!"

"...They're not his friends?"

"Eh, not really. Sycophants mainly. But, if you try to talk to him, they'll make your life a misery."

"...What if he spoke to me first?"

Chuck shrugged and went back to scribbling in his books; "doesn't matter. No talking to the Novaks."

"All right then... This is by far the weirdest school I've ever been to."

Chuck snorted and continued writing. Dean sighed and looked around the class, wondering how much trouble he'd be in for talking to Gabriel and Castiel on his first day.

Eventually, the bell for first period rang. Dean pulled his time-table from his bag and hurried around looking for English Literature, and amazingly made it on time. The teacher at the front of the class smiled and pointed to an empty desk for Dean to sit at, before handing him a copy of George Orwell's 1984.

"You've not missed that much, just sit and read today. I'll give you help sheets at the end of class."

Dean nodded and went to his allocated desk, dropping his bag at his feet and opening the book. Dean had never been a big reader, but he'd heard nothing but praise from Sam of George Orwell, so decided to give it a go, also having to - it being a listed title. He'd just finished scanning the blurb when he noticed someone drop their bag on the table next to him, pulling their chair out. Dean looked up, Castiel was sitting next to him. Now Dean was definitely in trouble.

"Hello."

Dean smiled meekly and went back to the book, not wanting to make anything worse. He glanced up from his book and noticed a few students glaring at him. Day one and he was already at the top of everyone's hit-list. Out of the corner of his eye, Dean watched Castiel make notes on what the teacher was saying. His handwriting was perfect, italic script, but a little difficult to read. If it wasn't in block capitals, Dean had a hard time reading it, even his own handwriting was hard to read. Every note Castiel made was colour-coded, spaced neatly on the page; Dean's notes were always in whatever pen he could find, with lots of scribbling out, arrows and asterixes pointing to things he'd forgotten to include; boxes around certain bits of information so he knew it was separate.

Noticing he was staring, Dean went back to the book, trying hard to get in to it, but it was dragging a little in his opinion.

At the end of the lesson, as Dean was packing his things away, Castiel held out his notebook. Dean looked at it sceptically.

"Here. You can copy some of my notes to give you a head-start. You're only slightly behind, but this book is complex enough for one chapter to be a big deal. I do ask though you give it me back tomorrow morning."

"Um, thanks, but, sir said-"

"-My notes are better. Take it."

Castiel forced the book in to Dean's hand and pulled his bag on to his shoulder. Dean stared at the book as if he'd been handed a dead baby; this was sure earn him some more points in the deserving of an ass-kicking department. He looked up in time to see Castiel marching out of the classroom. Sighing, he put the book in his bag and went to collect some sheets from the teacher, before making his way to his next lesson.

At dinner, Dean found Sam in the cafeteria and sat with him at an empty table, discussing their first morning at Kripke High.

"I met this girl in home-room, Jess. She's pretty nice, she's been showing me around so I don't get lost," Sam grinned before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Lucky you."

Sam frowned; "something up?"

"Apparently, there's one rule here. Do not talk to the Novaks. So, what happens? They talk to me! I 'steal' Gabriel's locker, I walked in to home-room with Castiel, then Castiel gave me his notebook to copy up some notes from; my ass is going to be kicked so much!"

"...Why? I mean, if they-"

"-Doesn't matter! No interacting with them! Social hierarchy or something! Day one and I've broken the most important rule."

Sam took another bite of his sandwich, mulling over what Dean had said; "... What's so special about them?"

Dean shrugged and began pulling the crusts off his own sandwich; "no idea. They're rich; mega-rich. Also, all but one of their family are at this school, all of them are like, king-slash-queen of their department. Head cheerleader, best football player in the school, school bitch... You name it, they're the best of their field."

"Wow... Yeah, your ass is going to be kicked daily... Is this one of them?"

Dean looked up to see Gabriel strolling over, a grin plastered on his face; "hey... Dean! Dean. Um, I finished emptying your locker, so, it's all yours, however... I may have tampered with something. Sorry can't help it, it's who I am, school trickster. Anyway, just a heads up, you being the new kid; didn't want you to feel bad or anything, anyway; who's this strapping young boy?"

Dean looked at Sam to see he was just as confused as Dean was the first time he'd met Gabriel; "this is my brother, Sam. Freshman."

Gabriel's grin got bigger; "freshman eh? Sorry kid, but, I'm going to be messing with you... A lot. Nothing personal, just business. Don't worry though, I'll start off slow; kick me signs and things, we'll work our way up to the big stuff later; sound good? Nice doing business, anyway, I've got to be getting back to the family; they'll miss me if I'm gone for too long - family favourite, you know. Nice seeing you again Dean, sorry in advance. Nice to meet you Sammy-boy, again, sorry in advance for all the fucked up shit I'll be doing to you this year, and I bid you both, good bye!"

With that, Gabriel hurried off. Sam and Dean shared a look of complete bewilderment.

"What the Hell was that?" Sam hissed, picking up his drink.

"That was Gabriel, and your ticket to a good ass-kicking!"

Sam groaned; "great, thanks Dean."

Before Dean could reply, someone dropped their food tray in front of them and sat down.

"Winchester, what did I say about talking to the Novaks?"

Dean sighed; "Sam, this is Chuck, Chuck this is my brother, Sam. And, I didn't start it! I was minding my own business!"

"It doesn't matter, talking to Gabriel, taking Castiel's notebook! Yeah, I heard! It's going round!"

"God, fucking, damn!"

Dean slammed his head down on the table, Sam frowned.

"What will happen?"

Chuck shrugged and began tucking in to his dinner; "you might get off with a warning today, you being new and all, but seriously Dean, it needs to stop!"

"They're the ones coming to me!"

"I told you, doesn't matter. Avoid them at all costs!"

"I sit next to Castiel in English!"

Chuck shrugged again; "find a new seat."

Dean sighed; "fuck this, I'm going to go join the circus. I won't get beaten up there for fucking talking to someone!"

"Chill out Dean, maybe it won't be that bad."

Dean scoffed and finished his dinner quickly, hoping to find somewhere to hide, somewhere the Novaks won't talk to him. For his first two lessons after dinner, things went fine, no sign of any of the Novaks; people generally avoided him and he was able to get on catching up with the work. However, the final lesson of the day was the worst. History, with not one, not two, but three Novaks. Dean groaned, seeing the only available seat was at the Novak table. The three of them sat around talking in hushed voices. The teacher pointed at the empty seat, and trying to ignore all the glares he was getting, Dean took his place. Gabriel grinned as he sat down.

"Dean-O! We need to stop meeting like this. Joined our group?"

Dean looked down at the table; "it was the only available seat."

"That hurts, you don't want to work with us?"

"Stop it, Gabriel. I'm Anna, by the way."

Dean looked up at the smiling red-head; "Dean."

"How's school so far?"

Dean looked over at Castiel, who was flicking through pages of a text-book; "oh, fine, I guess."

"Something the matter?"

"No..."

"Good. Because this is a group project - thirty percent of our overall grade in this class - we'll be working together a lot in and out of school."

Dean could feel his mouth go dry, even if he was a the new kid, there was no way of getting out of the beatings he'd inevitably be getting now. Gabriel looked at him suspiciously.

"You sure you're all right? You've gone really white."

Dean shook his head; "no, no, I'm fine."

Throughout the lesson, Castiel did the majority of the work, Anna occasionally chipping in with a few quotes, Gabriel sat doodling pictures he insisted were relevant, whilst Dean quietly read articles to himself. Their project was on World War II, more specifically, the Nazis themselves. As Dean tried to read some text on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, all he could think about was how he'd most likely be limping to school tomorrow, squinting at his work through a swollen black eye.

"Dean?"

Dean's head shot up, Castiel was looking at him expectantly; "sorry?"

Castiel sighed; "I asked if you were busy tomorrow night."

"Oh, um, I don't think so."

"We'll be going to library to do some more work on the project. So, if you could come that'd be... Well... Helpful."

Dean nodded; "oh. Sure..."

"Here, gimme your number," Gabriel said, snatching his phone from his jacket pocket. Dean glanced around the classroom, noticing people were still glaring at him. Sighing, Dean pulled his own phone out and read his number out.

"He'll call you tomorrow, arrange to meet somewhere... Do you drive?" Castiel asked, beginning to put his things away.

"Um, yeah."

Dean looked around, noticing the clock above the door. The lesson had passed quicker than he imagined.

"Good, the library's a little out of town, forecast rain tomorrow; so, unless you want to get wet."

Dean nodded and began putting his things away too. The bell finally went and everyone rushed out, Dean slowly making his way out behind everyone. As he got to his locker, he noticed Sam leaning against it, waiting.

"Dean, good day?"

Dean groaned and slammed his head against his locker; "I've got a fucking study-date with them. Three of them! I just had the worst lesson, ever!"

Sam frowned; "sorry."

"Hey, Winchester!"

Dean spun around, two girls and a boy were marching over to him, none of them looked pleased.

"We know you're new and all, but if you keep talking to the Novaks the way you are, you're not going to last very long here!"

Dean sighed; "look, I don't want any trouble! They keep talking to me! The only places for me to sit are with them! I don't want to talk to them!"

"So stop then!"

"I can't... We have a project together."

The boy smirked and stepped up closer to Dean, Dean noticed Sam slowly sliding away, not wanting to get involved; "well cancel, tell them you can't... You don't just waltz in here and think you can be best buds with Castiel! Otherwise, you'll have your ass kicked from one side of the school to the other. Understand!"

Dean nodded, finding it hard to swallow with his dry throat. The boy lunged towards Dean before laughing and walking away with the girls. Dean sighed and slumped against his locker.

"Seriously Sam, the one school we decided to stay at, and it's this fucking pile of shit!"

Sam frowned and grabbed Dean's shoulder; "come on, let's go..."

Dean pulled some things from his locker and began to walk out of school, when someone shouted them back.

AN: Another friendly reminder to leave constructive criticism.