#someone in my comments suggested I make a fic based around the milkshake scene from Heartstopper!

[chaoscradle]

New Byler WIP yay!!

[salmonthestoryteller]

Amanda Heckerling was a Bitch

A Supernatural One-Shot

Amanda Heckerling was a bitch. Marie Clayman already knew this, had decided it in fifth grade when she’d tormented her for her black dress and braids by calling her “Wednesday Adams”.  Her mother had died three months prior, her father had taken off for parts unknown a month later. Her aunt, who had once swore never to return to the tiny town she’d escaped from, put her sister’s daughter first and came back to raise her in her parents house.  That made Marie the talk of the town and her aunt told her Amanda was probably jealous. It didn’t help Marie feel better about the bullying.  It made her hate her more. Amanda with her perfect clothes, and her perfect family and her perfect circle of friends. Who never went a week without putting down something about those who didn’t fit into her perfect world.

Then she grew thicker skin (and boobs), lost her virginity and discovered that guys liked bad girls. It was one hell of a summer. When she got back she sneered at Amanda’s superior attitude, called her “that dumb bitch” without a care, and seduced Amanda’s ex who the blonde was so sure was going to come crawling back to her. By the time she was done, he never even looked at the other girl again.  Amanda was pissed, but quickly latched onto one of the football players as proof she didn’t care. One whispered promise of a blow job, and he dumped the blonde faster than he came down her throat.   Marie laughed herself sick, and responded to Amanda’s taunts of “slut” with her middle finger and “frigid stiff”.

When the counselor called her aunt, she gave Marie a look of exasperated fondness, assured her that college would prove a different world from High School, and that everyone would grow up. Meaning not just Amanda but Marie as well.  Marie thought herself very grown up, thank you, it was Amanda that needed to get over herself.  She wasn’t that important, no matter what her bffs tittered about.

As she watched Truman High’s Queen Bee tear Dean Winchester a new one, however, it reconfirmed to her that not only was Amanda a bitch, she was a dumb bitch. She’d never even seen Dean take the bimbo out for ice cream, and she’d wanted to take him home to meet her parents. The guy who made you cream your panties in the broom closet wasn’t who you asked to dinner in your house, unless your parents weren’t home. She had barely known Dean a few weeks, it was no wonder the guy had panicked. What sucked was how upset he looked at Amanda’s words.  Most guys would have blown her off, but Dean looked honestly hurt by what she had said. Another victim of Ms Perfect.  Clearly this couldn’t be her fault.  She couldn’t possibly have asked for too much too fast and chased Dean away. Dean had to be at fault cuz Amanda was perfect.  It made Marie sick.

From the moment he’d climbed out of the hottest car Marie had ever seen in person (and she blamed her car fetish on Dean Winchester even later in life despite the fact it had apparently been his father’s.  Dean climbed out of the car, therefore it was all on him.), she knew she had to hook up with him. Him tongue tangling with Amanda didn’t matter. She was sure she’d get her chance.

When he’d finally asked her into the closet, she’d pretty much known the answer to her question  -“Do you wanna get caught?”  His “maybe” made her grin, and the look on Amanda’s face made her year.

Then Amanda had degraded Dean in front of the whole school - which was unnecessary, because, hello, private matter much? Dean looked stricken and Amanda was back on her hate list. She’d planned to offer him some private consolation, but the next day the Winchesters were gone.

Which sucked, because when she thought about the facts, she knew why Dean had broken off with Amanda. The car that they had been dropped off in wasn’t seen in town til the day they left. Not at the school, or the grocery store, not even the Gas'n'Sip.  If the car was Dean’s father’s, then where had he been all those weeks his sons were in school?   Dean, however, she had seen around town. At the grocery store, at the Gas'n'Sip, and at the local diner - with his brother, not Amanda Heckerling.  Dean didn’t join any after school clubs or sports team.  Even though she’d heard the wrestling coach had asked twice if he’d be interested.  Dean was always seen meeting up with his brother after school, and hadn’t attended a single one of the parties she knew he’d have gotten invited to as the new hot guy on campus.

She’d been in the support group three years after her mother’s death and father’s abandonment.  Knew the alert signals for neglect and abuse better than the teacher’s probably did. Looking back, Dean was a walking case. Amanda’s words were the last someone in that situation needed.

Dean and Amanda weren’t even really dating.  Older her would look back and use the term “fuck buddies”, younger her just knew that making out in the supply closet didn’t equal ‘going out.’  She’d asked Dean a few questions about how far Amanda and he had gone.  Mostly so she could prove she was better at it.  If she used that info to get a little revenge for both of them, she figured he wouldn’t mind.

She’d forgotten, she supposed, how cruel kids could be. She’d been an outsider before she became the school slut.  Neither up or down on the scale. She had nowhere to fall. Amanda did.

At first it was just whispers, then snickers. A crude comment here or there. But as the rumors grew, things got worst. Watching the cliques she’d once run turn her back on Amanda should have made her feel giddy with excitement. Instead it made her uncomfortable.  The comments and insults grew cruder as Amanda was left more and more alone.  Like sharks smelling blood in the water, the harassment began to escalate. Crude notes on her locker and desk, taunts when she was caught crying.

Any enjoyment was long lost on Marie as graduation approached, When she saw Truman High’s new Queen Bee in the hall lording it over Amanda shortly before Prom, she’d had enough.

“Anyone taking you to Prom, Amanda? I’m sure a slut like you has lots of options, right? Provided there’s anyone left you haven’t slept with.”

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Cammy.” Marie found herself stepping in. “But then neither does anything you wear. Maybe if you didn’t dress so dumpy guys would actually want to sleep with you.”

“Guess whores stick together, huh, Marie?”

Marie shrugged.  "Better a whore than a back-stabbing ex-bff like you.“  Ignoring Cammy’s sputtering she looked at Amanda. “You should go stat to the Prom. Feminism and all that.”

Amanda and her never became friends.  In fact, she never saw her after graduation. Her aunt had been waiting for her with a moving van, and when they left the small town, Marie never looked back.

She thought back on occasion, however, and concluded that Amanda Heckerling had still been a bitch. But maybe Marie Clayman had been a bitch too. And maybe that was okay. They’d had a lot of growing up to do.

Fini

Okay, so, Dean’s plot in After School Special clearly bothered me quite a bit.  I’m not one to condone cheating, but it’s only cheating if you actually are in a relationship.  And the facts, as I attempt to have Marie (the name I gave the girl he made out with to ditch Amanda) point out is - he’s not dating Amanda.  They make out a few times.  You don’t see a single scene where Dean does anything resembling dating her.  No lunches, no dates, no parties.  Nada.  Not surprising, since, as the audience knows, Dean is clearly watching Sam after school every night since John is MIA the entire episode.

So, seriously, Amanda’s thought process is this: ‘Hey, I’ve known you a couple weeks and you’ve stuck your tongue down my throat a half dozen times, want to meet my parents?’  Because that is such a normal mind frame.  Shouldn’t you be inviting him somewhere else first?  Like a party? School dance?  The milkshakes I made Marie mention in the fic? Something that doesn’t sound like you’re trying to get the guy you just met to marry you?  And we as the audience are supposed to be on her side??

As a girl I know once put it - “Moments like these make me want to rip my vagina out with my bare hands, because I’m so damn embarrassed to be a girl.”

There is nothing normal about how Amanda acts about the whole thing.  And there is definitely nothing sympathetic about her, let alone her and Dean’s final confrontation.  Dean had every right to freak out.  A normal high school boy would freak out, let alone Dean with his family life and emotional issues.

Amanda isn’t completely wrong with what she says to Dean, about how he acts and why, but the fact is her using it to humiliate him makes her very shallow and even less sympathetic.  She’s pretty much proving he was right to push her away, and cementing in his mind that he can’t trust anyone.

Marie’s comments about Dean being a walking case for Neglect and Abuse is her basing things on the facts I let her know.  Dean is 18, yet doesn’t socialize with other teenagers outside of school, nor joins a single sport or club.  His father is never seen around town.  (It’s said several times between Sam and Dean in the episode that John isn’t there the entire time.  Which means for the boys to have food, supplies, clean clothes, Dean would have to be the one providing it all.)  Several facts in later season (Sam not knowing Dean can cook, Dean mentioning serving Mac and Cheese dozens of ways, Dean leaving Sam at Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie) suggest that he wasn’t doing a whole lot of cooking, so he and Sam would probably have been eating some of their meals at diners and fast food spots around the town - once again without their father.   So Marie, with her history, would jump to that conclusion.  A conclusion that isn’t completely wrong.  John isn’t simple in anyway, and I never can help myself from trying to get into his head, but I don’t think anyone can deny that John was guilty of Neglect. (This from from a fanfic writer who was an 80s latch key kid.)  And some of his actions in my mind definitely border on emotional/mental abuse.  Yes, John loves Sam and Dean, and yes, he tried his best, but let’s face it, John kinda sucked despite his best efforts.

I decided to keep in mind the bullying aspect of After School Special.  Amanda, as the popular girl in school, would have bullied other girls at some point.  That’s just the cold facts of school life.  Her actions toward Dean clearly point out that she has no problem insulting and humiliating another student whose displeased her.  However, Marie is no angel.  She’s a troubled kid herself, who is a bit obsessed with paying Amanda back for her previous bullying.  When she actually sees it happen, though, she realizes how little enjoyment she gets out of it.  Defending her when she’s responsible for Amanda’s predicament doesn’t make Marie a good person.  Which I have her admit to herself at the end, as proof that she’s both grown up from the experience, and is moving on with her life.