I've Come To Be the Stranger That You Keep (by blue_fjords) ~Destiel~ AU

7

"So."

Sam looked up from his tray of macaroni and cheese, a noodle plopping wetly onto the table as his mouth dropped open with surprise. It was her, Badass Girl A, looking all badass and hot. Why did Dad have to send Dean to the morgue during lunch?! How the hell was Sam supposed to talk to Badass Girl A on his own?

"Um," he said, and swallowed. How gross would it be if he showed her bits of masticated noodle and gummy cheese? "Uh, hi?"

She sighed and sat down across from him. Sam half expected for the cafeteria to go silent, or break into the Hallelujah Chorus, but no one paid them the slightest bit of attention.

"You're Sam, you've been here a week and you don't have a partner for your bio project yet. I'm Amy, I'm pretty new and I also don't have a partner for bio. Do you see where this is going, kid?"

Kid? Sam knew kung fu, and how to assemble and take apart a firearm, and the best way to deal with a poltergeist. He was not a kid. But then her lips turned up in a tiny smile and Sam completely forgot what it was he was going to say. He nodded dumbly, and felt pretty good for managing that much at least.

"Good. We'll meet after school, take my bike, and go to my house. My mom has the afternoon shift. She won't get in the way."

Sam blinked. Dad would surely want him for another search of the school or some other torture designed to ruin Sam's attempt at a social life. Amy's eyes narrowed.

"That sounds good," Sam said, floundering a bit. "But ah, my dad, he's kind of a hardass about who I hang out with..."

"It's the glamorous trailer park off of Highway 9. He have a thing against whi-poor people?" she asked aggressively.

Highway 9? That was perfect; they should really look at some of the surrounding location. Dean and Cas had the morgue, and Dad would surely want to snoop around the crime scene. If he presented it right, Sam could pass off his study date as research on the dead truckers, and go with Dad's full blessing. Maybe even a weapon!

"No, of course not! He's just a guidance counselor, you know, he sees a lot of weird shit so he's super careful with us. It'll be fine, it'll be fine." Sam abruptly realized he was babbling and closed his mouth with a snap.

"Cool," Amy said. "Meet me at my locker after school." And with that, she was gone as quickly as she'd shown up. Sam stared after her, then slowly pinched himself. Yup, that had just happened.

The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur for Sam. The only snag was getting permission from Dad, who seemed to have grown a hitherto unknown aversion to putting his son potentially in harm's way. Sam had to promise to call him or Dean every half hour, and then Dad didn't even give him a weapon. He got the camera instead. It rankled... until he saw Amy's bike.

When she had told him they'd take her bike, he'd imagined riding the handlebar - not his favorite mode of transportation, but he'd done it plenty whenever Dean had managed to get his hands on a bike. Amy's bike, however, was an honest-to-God motorcycle. Sam stopped in his tracks.

"It's cool, I have a spare helmet," Amy said, stuffing her backpack in a cavity under the seat.

His dad would've flipped. Sam couldn't hold back his grin as he got behind Amy. Even the spare helmet was cool, black with silver racing stripes. He felt like a rock star as they peeled out of the parking lot and zoomed down the road. He had to remind himself to be on high alert as they turned onto Highway 9.

It was just an ordinary highway. The Winchesters had already driven up and down it several times, and nothing had jumped out, literally or figuratively. There wasn't even good tree cover, just some low drainage ditches. All of the trees in the area were clumped around the trailer park, and that was where Amy pointed the motorcycle, coming to a stop outside a trailer with a hummingbird wind chime hanging by the door.