Reflections

Three

I know the teacher is going to pick me next. She always does.

“Ben? How about you solve this one for us?” she asks me in a too high-pitched voice, holding a green whiteboard marker out to me.

I suppress an eye roll. Of course I will solve this problem for you, trigonometry teacher. It’s what I live for. “Sure, Ms. Enerva,” I say instead, walking up to her and taking the marker.

It squeaks as I drag it across the whiteboard. I draw a triangle and label the sides and the angles. Then, I use one of the formulas we learned in class that day and begin to work out the problem. Every stroke I make with the marker annoys me. Why am I the only hunter who has to go to school? Claire and Elise got their high school educations from Cas and the Winchester brothers, and they turned out fine. A little rough around the edges, but still fine.

I write my answer on the board and circle it with a flourish. I make sure to use the biggest part of the marker. I could be out hunting, but no. Dean says I have to be here, solving triangles and getting green all over my hand.

 

“Ben? Ben!”

“What?” I ask, jerking my gaze over to the source of the voice. My hunter reflexes are showing now, and it can see that it’s beginning to worry the other people at my lunch table.

“I said,” Colin repeats, “You up for the game on Friday? Tomorrow?”

I shrug. “Not really sure right now,” I reply. “My schedule is a little, uh, unpredictable.”

“But we’re seniors! It’s our duty to go to every game!” Colin pleads. “Plus, Jensen’s the quarterback, Mark is a soloist in the band, and, um, I really want to go.”

I grin. “I’ll go if I can, guys, okay? Like I said, I’m not really sure if I’ll have free time.”

When I unlock the door to my house that day, I still don’t know if I’ll be going to that game. Claire and Elise call at the worst times, plus I have to research for the Winchesters too if Garth is on a case. I’m lucky I have Charlie with me to help.

“Hey there,” she says as I walk in, dumping my backpack by the stairs. After the demons got my mom, Charlie was the person Sam and Dean sent to look after me. I was only thirteen when it happened, and all I really remember is Charlie comforting me and telling me that everything was going to be all right. She told me that she was living proof that someone like me could live without his parents. After that, I felt a lot better.

“Hey, Charlie,” I reply. “Did you get that job done for Sheriff Mills? She was texting me about it this morning.”

Charlie nods. “It was done a while ago. I’ll let her know.”

I nod as I turn to the kitchen. This still technically is my house, but Charlie and I have made a couple of modifications.

The huge panic room in the basement being a major one.

Pulling open a couple of cabinets and the refrigerator, I assemble myself a sandwich and park myself at the dinner table across from Charlie. A plate of taco crumbs and an empty container of yogurt tell me she’s already eaten. Her Surface tablet is open, and she’s tapping away at the keyboard, probably hacking into the neighbor’s WiFi.

I take a bite of the sandwich.

Just as I begin to chew, my phone buzzes and rings on the table. With a sigh, I pick it up, a couple of crumbs falling out of my mouth. “Hello?” I say around the sandwich.

“Ben, really.”

“Hey, Claire,” I continue.

“That’s just disgusting.”