Dreamer

Chapter Nine: River of Deciet

The River of Deceit pulls down, oh oh

The only direction we flow is down

As soon as we left the infirmary room, Castiel and I were met with none other than Amber and her cronies. She smiled at me, smugness in her expression. So, she knew what happened. But… what was she planning to do about it?

“Hey, Dessy!” She grinned. “And hello, Castiel…” She winked at him, to which he rolled his eyes.

I frowned. I wasn’t too fond of her nicknames, or her lack of subtlety around Castiel. “What is it, Amber?” Castiel glanced between me and Amber. I noted with a silent triumph that he stayed close to my side.

“Oh nothing, it’s just that… my girls here told me that you had a bit of an embarrassing moment a little while ago. You poor thing!” She shook her head with fake sympathy. “If I were you, I’d, like, totally die!”

“It’s a shame it wasn’t you then.” I muttered. Castiel snorted beside me. I heard a quiet giggle from Charlotte. Amber glared daggers at her, and Charlotte quickly straightened up and stopped.

“You know what?” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I’m through being nice to you. I tried so hard, but I guess some people just can’t appreciate kindness—”

I had to laugh at that. “’Kindness’? Is that what you call it? You’re about as kind and pleasant as a flesh-eating disease.”

Amber gaped at me with indignation. She flushed red with anger and grabbed Charlotte’s cellphone from her. “Oh yeah? Well, since you think I’m so mean, I may as well live up to it.” She snarled at me. “Charlotte here got a little picture of you. It’s pretty unflattering…” She giggled. She dangled the phone in front of my face. I saw a picture of me… well, rather, my… undergarments.

I gasped. “That’s disgusting! Why would you do that?!” I was livid at this point, and raised my voice. “Delete that, right NOW!”

“Uh-uh. With a click of a button, that picture could be sent to, like, everybody! I could make it look like you did it on purpose… imagine what everybody would think then!”

“Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?” I hadn’t intended to sound so pathetic, but I was really afraid that she would actually send it.

Amber’s gaze slowly traveled to Castiel before snapping back to me. Oh, so that’s what it was. Castiel didn’t like her and spent time with me… she didn’t appreciate that. Hmm… maybe I could’ve used that to my advantage somehow later on?

“Why? Hmph… you come here looking like you think you’re all that, trying to get with all the boys, including my brother, and now you’re trying to lure in poor Castiel. The world needs to know how big of a tramp you really are.”

“I’m not—” I couldn’t bring myself to deny what she called me. It hurt when she said that… because it was true, wasn’t it? All the things that I did… All the men that I…

I turned away. I was almost at the brink of tears. But I wouldn’t cry. Not for her, nor the choices I made.

“Come with me, Castiel. Get away from that nasty girl. She’s no good. You’re better off with someone more like me.” She beckoned him to her side.

I turned and looked up at Castiel. He raised an eyebrow. “Uh… no thanks, sweetheart. You seem to be the one with the issues, not Des.” I silently thanked him for sticking up for me.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth agape. She glared at me. “Whatever, prepare for humiliation, Dessy.” She fumbled with the phone, rage in her eyes.

Castiel let out a loud sigh. He grabbed the phone from Amber. “What are you—”

He dropped it. “Oops,” He shrugged. The phone crashed to the floor, its parts flew about.

Castiel lifted one foot, and brought it down, crushing the bits of metal. I started at him with wide eyes. Did he really…?

“My phone!” Charlotte cried.

Castiel leaned in close to Amber. “You think I’m better off with you? A manipulative, psycho chick?” He scoffed. “Get real, Amber, and get over yourself.” He brushed past her and continued down the hall. I glanced at the fuming Amber with a smirk before following him.

“Urrrrrrgh!” I heard her growl. “Ugh! Why her?!” She called out. Castiel paused, I felt my heart beat quicken. She thought that Castiel liked me, didn’t she? How was he going to respond?

I slowly met his eyes, and he grinned down at me with a wink. He’d caught on. Castiel draped an arm across my shoulders and pulled me closer. My cheeks grew warm. “What’re you—”

“Maybe if you spent less time trying to mess with other people, you’d figure it out. Des isn’t fake like you and your little friends. She’s genuine, something that you’ll never be.” He began walking again, and I, in my flustered stupor, followed in suit.

Did he really think those things about me? He couldn’t… but even if he was… how would he have felt if he knew what a liar and a fake I really was? But, it was obvious that he was only trying to get under Amber’s skin… which was successful. Afterwards, she stormed off, mumbling to herself.

XxXxX

“Haha!” I laughed. “That was real good, Castiel! Amber looked so mad.” I felt oddly dizzy and giddy, but decided to ignore it. I’d been missing quite a bit of sleep lately, and I supposed it had started to catch up with me.   

“Well,” He smirked at me. “I meant what I said.” At that point, I noticed that he still kept a strong grip on me.

“Hmm,” I looked away. “I’m sure.” I was beyond confused. What did that mean? Did he actually like me? It kind of seemed like it. Butterflies and excitement bubbled in my stomach, because, I really liked him, too. But on the other hand, wasn’t it a bad idea to think about a relationship given the state that I was in? Hadn’t I sworn off dating? Ugh, my head was killing me, undoubtedly aching because of all those mixed thoughts.

Castiel grunted and returned his arm to his side. “What, you think I’m kidding? Hey, I can be serious,” He half-teased. “You know, Des, you’re really something.”

I shrugged. At that point, my stomach was feeling kind of funky. Actually, I hadn’t really eaten since the previous day… Boy, I was really feeling something awful… Never mind that, what did Castiel mean?

“C-Castiel…?” I slowly turned back towards him. I squinted, but all I saw was a blur of red and black. I put a hand on my head.

“Desirée?” An arm was outstretched towards me in slow motion. I heard Castiel say my name, but I just could not register it. What was happening? I felt so numb and blank. I wanted to speak, but I couldn’t find the voice to do so.

I watched the world slide out of view and fade to black. My knees gave out, and buckled.

I was falling. Fast. I guessed all my troubles were finally catching up to me. After all, there’s only so much a person can take… This was it, wasn’t it? Was I at my breaking point? Would everything come out in the open?

Suddenly, I felt lighter than air. I regained consciousness for a split second to find my knight in shining black leather; Castiel. “C-cas…”

“It’s gonna be okay.”

“…okay…” I let my heavy eyelids droop, and drifted back into the darkness.