Casey was alone at her locker watching Max and Emily sit together at the stairs. The "Cool Stairs" is how Emily once referred to them. Casey had recently been reflecting on her past friendship with Emily. It wasn't until now that Casey began to realize that Emily wasn't ever a true friend she just wanted to be popular. Casey established to herself that "popular" was such a vague term. At one time she felt the need for popularity but that may have just been Emily's influence. But as she thought of her relationships and popularity she started thinking about her break up with Max.
"How did I not see it coming?" She pondered. All of a sudden she heard intense laughter and realized it was Max, Emily and all their "cool" friends. They had spotted Casey staring. She heard one voice say: "Man, I feel sorry for her" and another "Looks like you've got a stalker, Max"
At one point this may have made Casey run away crying but not anymore. She survived her boyfriend dumping her, finding out he cheated with her best friend, losing her best friend and being left alone in a place she was lonely enough. The one thing about the past couple of months that boggled her the most was Derek. He had been so kind during this whole ordeal. Normally he would have laughed at her, made fun of her or just plain ignored her until the crying stopped. He was actually boarding on sweet. He gave Max a black eye and stopped talking to Emily. That could have made him go down in cool points, and cool is always top priority for Derek, but he did it anyways.
"Hey, are they bugging you again?" Derek said angrily standing behind Casey with one hand against the locker leaning on it.
"Not really... I mean... It's fine." She put her head down and shut her locker. "I've gotta get to class." She started trailing off. She was no more than five feet away when Derek called out.
"Wait!" He rushed over to her. "I'll walk you." He looked down a bit nervous and reached out. "Let me carry your books." Casey was entirely oblivious to how Derek felt and despite the things Derek has done lately she still thought it was odd. Why would he want to help her?
"You know. You really don't have to do this." She looked at with no expression.
"I know... But I want to." He took her books and started to walk but Casey stood back a moment. "C'mon, Klutzilla! You're going to be late for class." Casey looked down and smiled she didn't think he could notice but he noticed everything she did and remembered it by heart. They walked to class together both avoiding eye contact and both smiling when ever they thought the other was looking away.