Cas eventually came out of the bathroom and got his things. However, he didn't know where his next class was and sighed. He noticed Nick with the group of boys and tensed up a bit. He shook his head and eventually found a teacher to guide him to his next class.
Finally, it was time for lunch. There were two lunch shifts, and Nick remembered Cas having the same one as him, so he scanned the crowd for the short boy. His friends continued to talk amongst themselves, though their topic was now Mrs.Ranger's mysteriously vanished husband. Nick trailed behind, still looking for Cas.
Cas was in the lunchroom at the moment, sitting alone and hardly picking at his food. He'd tried to explain to his foster parents that he couldn't eat large meals yet since he'd been starving and eating a lot of food made him sick, but they still kept trying to get him to eat a ton.
Nick spotted Cas and walked over to him, much to the chagrin of his friends. They kept walking, glancing back every now and then with narrowed eyes. “Hi! How’s your first day been so far?” Nick asked, trying to be friendly.
Cas eyed Nick warily, watching his group of friends walk off. "Uh… fine, I guess. Kinda hard to get around, but that's to be expected…"
“Mind if I sit with you?” he asked, glancing back at his friends. One of them looked back at Nick with a scowl, turning around as if he might walk over there.
"Um… I guess. If you want to." Cas looked up at the boy who was scowling. "Are they your friends? They seem upset."
Nick turned around and saw his friend, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s just Brandon being Brandon.” He laughed, not taking the other boy’s look seriously. “He’s always in a bad mood.”
"Oh…" Cas went quiet and kept picking at his food. He was so hungry, but he couldn't eat all of this or he'd throw up.
“Is everything okay?” Nick asked, noticing how upset the kid looked. He glanced back at his friends before looking back uncertainly.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Cas sighed and glanced around the cafeteria. Maybe I should just go…
Nick frowned, not buying it. “Are you sure? You don’t seem fine,” he responded, concerned.
"I'm… uh… just not used to public school, I guess. I was homeschooled." He stared down at the table, not wanting to see Nick's friends.
“Oh,” Nick said simply. He sat there awkwardly, unsure what to say next. He was a nice kid, but by no means on student council or popular.
"I should… probably go…" Cas said awkwardly after a bit, gathering his things and standing up to leave.
“Okay, see you around,” Nick responded, blinking as he looked at Cas again. He gave the kid a small smile.
"Bye." Cas waved and walked out alone into the halls, sighing softly. He looked down at his schedule and tried to figure out where his next class was.
Nick went back to his friends, feeling like he could have been more helpful. He hadn’t known what to say to the kid though. Maybe this was why he should leave that kind of stuff to more social people.
Cas looked around hopelessly, basically just wandering the halls while he tried to find his next class.
After a bit more of sitting with his friends, they were ready to head to class. Nick went off to get something from his locker when his friend Brandon spotted Cas with a sneer.
Cas noticed him and cowered a bit, hurrying along and trying to ignore him entirely. He really didn't want to deal with this right now.
“Where are you going?” Brandon asked, calling after him. The boy definitely looked like he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed.
Cas kept walking, trying to block out Brandon's voice. If I can just get to a classroom, or stay in the crowd, he can't do anything to me… right?
Brandon followed Cas, getting angry that he had been ignored. “What’s your deal, man? Why don’t you want to talk to me?” he demanded.
"Because you're a dick and I have no interest in dealing with you again. Now please leave me alone." Cas kept walking, growing increasingly annoyed.
“Excuse me?” Brandon scoffed. “I’m not a dick, you’re being a dick. If this is about earlier, we weren’t talking to you.”
"You were definitely talking about me, and I would prefer for you to leave me alone." Cas hated how Brandon towered over him. It made him feel weak. "I'm just trying to go to class."
Brandon rolled his eyes. “Fine, be that way then you dick,” he responded, storming off.
Cas sighed and shook his head, eventually finding his class with the help of some random teacher he stumbled across. He sat down at the desk he was told to and put his things down.
For the rest of day, Nick was just waiting until the final bell rang. When it did, he practically jumped from his seat and hurried out the door of the classroom, heading to his locker to get the rest of his stuff and leave.