Sarah walked slowly towards the school and yawned. She had stayed up late in the morning thought she had slept too long and hurried up without even looking at the clock properly. Only after dressing up Tim and herself in outdoor clothes she had realised she was almost an hour early. But since she was ready to go, she had decided to just head towards school. Walking slowly would hopefully pass the time. All the roads were covered in ice so she couldn’t even walk very quickly because she was worried, she would slip. Having ice skates would’ve been more useful than shoes.

She tried her absolute best to walk slowly but still arrived at the school forty minutes early. She parked the baby carriage and headed inside with Tim. Coats in the hangers revealed that other people had been even earlier than Sarah but when she walked down the hallways, she didn’t see anyone. She heard some noises from upstairs, so someone was clearly there, but she guessed that most people were in the library, maybe doing last minute homework.

Sarah sat down on a bench and adjusted Tim to sit nicely on her lap. Slowly more students arrived and made their way inside, trying to avoid slipping on the icy school yard. Sarah peeked out of the window many times to see if Castiel had arrived. She didn’t need him for anything since he’d take Tim in the afternoon, but Sarah found herself looking out repeatedly, trying to spot the reddish-brown hair. After the fifth time she realised what she was doing and focused on staring at the wall. Some of the paint on it had damaged after someone had probably slammed the door against the wall too hard. She tried to think why she looked forward to seeing Castiel so much but couldn’t figure out the reason. She didn’t feel as nervous as the day before, but some sort of anticipation welled inside her and made her restless. She wanted to look out again but forced herself to keep her eyes on the wall. It would be dumb to be constantly looking out. Castiel wouldn’t be as excited about seeing her so there was no point.

Sarah focused on staring at the wall and didn’t hear the approaching clacking of high heels. She shifted her attention to her surroundings when three pairs of legs appeared in her line of sight and blocked her view at the wall. Sarah raised her eyes to Mercedes who looked at her with her hands on her hips.

“Oh, would you look at that. The little mouse is all alone. Did your bodyguard abandon you?”

“Bodyguard?” Sarah was already lost.

“Tsch. First she runs after Castiel like some lost puppy and then pretends she doesn’t know anything about it.”

“Maybe she doesn’t pretend? Maybe she’s just actually dumb?” Victoria suggested. Mercedes laughed.

“That would make sense. Maybe she is just dumb.”

Sarah remained silent. Mercedes was clearly trying to pick a fight and she didn’t want to participate in it. She also didn’t know what Mercedes was talking about. Castiel wasn’t her bodyguard and she hadn’t been running after him.

“Well? Did a cat get your tongue? Or can’t you even speak anymore? You’ve been a wallflower for so long you’re actually turning into a plant.” Mercedes and her friends snickered. She was proud of her last remark. Sarah rolled her eyes.

“I just don’t want to waste my voice on people like you,” she said.

“Do you think you’re smart or something? Do you think you’re somehow special because Castiel pays a little bit of attention to you? Because you aren’t. Castiel just pities you. You’re such a boring person. You don’t deserve his attention.”

Sarah lowered her eyes. Mercedes was vicious today. Usually she paid little attention to Sarah but working with Castiel had made her a prime target of bullying. It wasn’t a secret that Mercedes had a crush on Castiel. But Castiel stopped her advances time and time again, and it annoyed Mercedes enormously. She was used to getting what she wanted.

“Hey, leave Sarah alone.”

Sarah turned her head quickly. Arthur was standing next to her. She hadn’t realised at all that he had arrived. Mercedes took a step back so she could look at him properly, without having to look up too much. Arthur was over a head taller than her.

“Oh, who’s this? Are you trying to have a boy on every finger now? A bit ambitious. But I guess he isn’t bad looking. He just has terrible taste,” she grinned.

“Arthur what are you doing?” Sarah ignored Mercedes completely. She was worried about Arthur. She didn’t want him to get mixed up on this.

“I’m trying to help. Is it alright? You looked upset.”

“I… Thanks. I’m alright. Just waiting for them to stop running their mouths.”

“Wha… Listen you little brat. I’m just trying to make you understand that you better not even imagine going after Castiel. He’s way out of your league. If you get too familiar with him I…”

“You what?”

Now it was Mercedes’s turn to nearly snap her neck by turning her head too quickly. Castiel was leaning at the wall with his arms crossed.

“Castiel… I… I…”

“Yes?”

“I… I’m just making sure she doesn’t bother you.”

“I can do that myself if I need to. You should know that I hate people who stick their nose to other people’s business.”

Mercedes’s cheeks reddened. She didn’t say anything but just waved at her friends to follow and marched away. Sarah sighed. Finally, they had decided to leave.

“About the time they left. What an annoying bunch,” Arthur said and sat next to Sarah. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Castiel narrowed his eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for sticking up for me,” Sarah smiled.

“Not a problem at all. You’re my friend.”

“She could’ve taken care of it herself though,” Castiel commented

“What is that supposed to mean?” Arthur asked. “I should’ve just let her be and listen to that crap?”

“Yes. She could’ve dealt it with herself. She has enough snap in her to do it.”

“Well, sometimes it’s just nice when someone stands up to you.”

“But when you defend someone who doesn’t need it, you just look stupid.”

The guys glared at each other. Castiel’s attitude stunned Arthur. How could he say that? Defending friends was important. Arthur wasn’t going to leave anyone in trouble if he could help, least of all Sarah who was a good friend.

Castiel was annoyed. He had seen the vultures bothering Sarah but before he was able to step in, this Arthur had appeared out of nowhere. Even seeing the guy irritated Castiel. He was too familiar with Sarah. She didn’t flinch and edge away if he touched her or sat too close, and Sarah smiled to him a lot. It pissed Castiel off for reasons he didn’t understand.

“Hey, calm down. I appreciate both of your help. I didn’t want to get invested in a fight with Mercedes, so that’s why I stayed quiet.”

“That’s smart. If you ignore the bullies, they’ll get bored eventually,” Arthur said. “Well, depends on the situation but I doubt those three would do anything else but run their mouths. They seem like the typical rich girls who think they’re better than others.”

“She’s been like that as long as I can remember,” Sarah said. She had been in the same secondary school as Mercedes and few other of their current classmates, and Mercedes had always been acting like she was better than others. Her parents were rich and apparently spoiled their daughter quite a bit. And seeing what Mercedes was like, Sarah wasn’t surprised. Some of her behaviour was most likely just pretending and trying to be tougher than she was, but Mercedes did think she was better than others and didn’t try to hide it either.

“Yeah, she has. But it just gets worse every year,” Castiel sighed. Mercedes and her friends were annoying. Their babbling and gossiping were annoying as well, and Castiel would’ve happily stayed away from them but sadly he wasn’t allowed such privilege. Mercedes kept trying to talk to him no matter how many times Castiel turned her down. Luckily after this year they’d finally part ways. Hopefully at least.

“I think I gotta go. My class is starting soon,” Arthur said. “I’ll see you in Arts later today, right?”

“Of course. I have too much work to do to skip classes,” Sarah laughed.

Arthur smiled and got up. “I’ll see you later then. Bye.”

“Bye.” Sarah waved her hand to him, and Arthur waved back. Castiel didn’t do anything.

“Is he like your best friend or something?” he asked.

“Well, I probably wouldn’t say best friend… But we’re friends. Why does it interest you anyway?”

“It doesn’t. I was just wondering. He seems so eager to talk to you all the time.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what friends do?”

“I guess. But at least Leon isn’t touching me all the time.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I would touch a friend if it made sense in the situation”

“Oh, how innocent can you be? Do you really think he does it just because you’re friends?”

“Why else then?”

“Seriously? You don’t realize? Oh lord, you really are clueless…”

“What? Stop beating around the bush and tell me!” If Castiel wanted to say something, he should just say it. But before he managed to tell what he meant, Miss Cassidy arrived.

“I guess I’ll tell you later,” Castiel grinned as they headed to class.