I would just like to say that I own nothing. I don't own Life with Derek, or 'Hero' by Superchick. This isn't a Dasey, but a friendship of sorts, and it just got stuck in my head, and wouldn't go until I did this. Enjoy, and please review.

Casey locked the door behind her and shut the world out, just as she'd wanted to do all day. Although things weren't easy at school, some days they were easier than others. Today wasn't one of those days – not only had she had to put up with the usual round of teasing and mild bullying, Derek had been on her case as well. Whenever their paths had crossed, he'd gone out of his way to put her down, show her up and generally make her life a living hell. First he'd embarrassed her in front of Sam, trapping her into saying something about how she felt about him. At least Sam had been kind and told Derek to lay off her. Then, he'd tripped her as she was walking through the hall, causing her to take a tumble. She hadn't been hurt, but the "klutzilla" teasing started again. Other than that, it had just been petty little things, but lots of little things add up to make one very bad day. She'd caught the bus home with Emily, but as all Emily had wanted to do was talk endlessly about Derek, and how cute he was, Casey had gotten off two stops early, just to get away from her friend. Of course, it was just starting to rain when she got off the bus, and she hadn't taken her jacket to school, so in seconds she was soaked through to the skin and freezing.

At least the house had been empty when she got home – if she'd had to take any of Derek's snide remarks, she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from hurting him, or at least trying to.

Before starting the process of drying herself off, she switched her CD player on and put in the CD she'd made for times like these – angry, meaningful and full of teenage angst. It always made her smile; the thought of her friend's shocked face if she knew what kind of music the squeaky clean Casey listened to when she was unhappy. As she started to peel off her sodden clothes, Hero by Superchick started playing. This was one of Casey's favourites, because the words spoke to her.

No one talks to her, she feels so alone. She's in too much pain to survive on her own. The hurt she can't handle overflows to a knife, she writes on her arm, wants to give up her life.

At least she'd never done, and never would do, anything like that. She wasn't stupid, just miserable. Wrapping her robe around her, she cautiously unlocked her door, poked her head out the door, looked around, then slowly and quietly crept to the bathroom.

Derek Venturi let himself into the house, hoping that he could make it to his room unseen. He hated the kids at school for how they made him feel, he hated the teachers for not noticing, he hated Casey for making things worse for him, but mostly he hated himself, for taking out his own anger on her. She didn't deserve what he gave her, and yet every day he gave her worse. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be out. His dad and Nora were probably still at work, or on their way to pick up Liz and Edwin, Marti was probably on a play-date, and Casey was likely at Emily's, bitching about how much she hated him. The funny thing was, he hated himself far more than Casey hated him.

As he traipsed upstairs, he could hear the shower running – great, someone was home. Still, as long as he could get to his room before whoever it was emerged from the bathroom, he'd be safe.

Slamming the door shut, Derek logged on to his computer, put his headphones on and selected his favourite track – this week anyway. It wasn't the type of thing he normally listened to, but he'd heard it somewhere – he didn't know where – and he'd loved it ever since.

No one talks to him about how he lives, he thinks that the choices he makes are just his. Doesn't know he's a leader with the way he behaves, and others will follow the choices he makes

These words, they both mesmerised him and haunted him. He knew that he could help Casey – after all, he was one of the most popular kids at school – if he wanted to, he could stop all the teasing Casey got. And it wasn't that he didn't want to – he wanted to desperately. Seeing Casey so miserable, day after day, made him so upset. He couldn't show it, of course.

The trouble was, every time that Derek decided to stick up for Casey recently, a tiny voice inside him had made him stop. Did he really want everyone's attention deflected back to himself. After all, he'd come a long way since the years when he was bullied – to look or talk to him now, you wouldn't know. But the scared little boy inside still had to force himself not to walk along staring at the floor, so that he didn't catch anyone's eye. He still had to stop himself hiding out in the locker rooms during gym, to avoid the humiliation of being picked last. These days, he was the one doing the picking. But just because he knew the depths of Casey's pain, didn't mean he wanted to go back down there himself.

During all this time, while Derek had been revisiting old, painful memories, he hadn't known that he was mumbling aloud to himself. When Casey came out of her room after he shower to see who was home, she heard the mutterings coming from Derek's room, went to enter, but stopped herself. After all, if he was so obnoxious to her at school, who knew what he'd be like at home. The decision was made, however, when she heard Derek mumbling something about not going back to when he was bullied. Not caring whether her step-brother would give her the rollicking of a lifetime for going into his room unasked, and interfering in what wasn't her business, she pushed the door open.

"Derek, are you ok? What's going on?" she noticed that his eyes were red...surely the great, emotionless Derek couldn't have been...crying. Surely not...he must have been chopping onions.

"I'm fine Casey, just a bit of hay fever"

"Its midwinter Derek, what hay are you getting a fever from?"

"I...just...look, just get out, Space Case, and leave me alone." Derek fired one of his standard insults at Casey, but his heart wasn't in it, and his voice broke on the last word.

"Derek, seriously, what's going on?"

"Casey, just...I'm sorry, ok". Derek could have kicked himself – what did he have to go and apologise for...now she'd really think he was nuts, and a creep. Ugh, would he always be such a pathetic loser? Now, Casey might pity him...he didn't need, or seek, her pity. If there were anything that would make him feel more wretched, it would be her pity.

"Sorry...for what? For teasing me? Embarrassing me in front of Sam for, like, the thirtieth time this week? For making my life so damn miserable that every day I come home from school feeling as though I've discovered another part of my personality that is so laughable, that soon I'm going to be changing myself so much to fit in, I won't even recognise myself anymore? Is that what you're sorry for?" Casey was yelling now, and tears were in her eyes, threatening to overflow.

"Don't cry Case, sweetie, please. I can't keep this up if I see you cry" Derek sounded as though he was close to tears himself – something remarkably out of character for him.

"Sweetie...Derek have you lost your mind? Since when do you call me – or anyone, for that matter – sweetie?"

"I used to be bullied." Casey looked at Derek, wondering if this was a trick. He was acting very unlike himself, his hands were in his pockets and he was hunched over. He couldn't look her in the eye, and one hand was gripping the other arm with such force that Casey could see the whites of his knuckles, and knew that when he let go, his arm would be bright red from the pressure.

"When?"

"It started when I was in Grade 1 – some of the kids found out that I'd failed and had to have a few extra lessons to move up to Grade 2. I tried to act like it didn't bother me, and I managed to hide it from Mum and Dad, but it did bother me, and I told myself that no matter how far they took it, I would never do it to anyone else. I would never make anyone else feel as worthless as I had been made to feel." Derek was sat on his bed, his knees drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them. Casey was no expert on body language but even she could tell Derek was being entirely genuine – there was nothing fake about what he was saying. He truly had been made to feel entirely worthless, and that feeling had stayed with him.

"When did it stop?" Casey knew she sounded cold and clinical, but she couldn't help it – she needed to know everything before she could tell Derek about her secret pain.

"When I joined the hockey team – originally I used to go to the rink to get away from the football guys who used to bully me – the ironic thing is that I used to tell Mum and Dad that the reason I always had bruises and black eyes was because of football – in a way, it was. But after maybe two weeks of me hanging around the rink watching, the coach just threw me a stick and told me to literally get my skates on. I think he knew what was going on – after all, he's one of the toughest coaches around, yet for a month or so, until I started to gain some confidence, he left me alone and just let me get on with it. And then I toughened up a bit, and the next time I ran into the bullies, I just squared up to them, looked them in the eye, and they walked off." Derek was staring straight into Casey's eyes, willing her to believe him, but hoping she wouldn't use it against him – although who would blame her if she did?

"Was that why you were so touchy when Edwin was being bullied by Ryan's little brother?"

Derek didn't say anything, just nodded.

"I was always smart, and good at dancing, gymnastics, and some of the other girls used to get jealous. It wasn't like I actively tried to put myself forward – far from it – but still, every time I answered a question correctly, I could hear the whispers behind me. Whenever the teacher picked me to demonstrate how to do a somersault over a box using a springboard, then the same manoeuvre but with a trampette, or with one hand, something like that, I could see the stares and I'd know that as soon as we left the gym and went to the locker room, I'd have to watch my back"

Casey was looking at the floor, the ceiling, her nails, anywhere but at Derek. She could feel his gaze on her, but she just couldn't look at him. To get away from the pressure of his stare, she started pacing round his room, doing laps from the door, round this bed, back to the window, back to the door, repeat 15 times.

"Casey! Sit down, you're wearing me out."

Casey, numb with feeling and thoughts, did as she was told. She plonked herself down next to Derek and started wringing and kneading her hands, clearly awkward.

"The worst part of all was that the girl who bullied me the worst, who was most responsible for making my life a living hell, was one of the ones who should have been on my side, sticking up for me – cousin Vicky."

"I always said she was unpleasant. I suppose me bullying you kinda feels like déjà vu? Someone vaguely like family betraying you in front of your peers. Someone who should be sticking up for you being the one who makes you feel wretched."

"Do you bully me to deflect attention away from yourself? Is that the reason?" Casey murmured quietly. Derek nodded. He knew he deserved all the anger Casey was about to unleash on him. Just as long as she didn't cry. He couldn't bear female tears.

"I'm glad" Derek was confused – did Casey just say she was glad.

"I'm glad because at least there's method to your madness, Derek."

Derek half smiled, still not sure whether to trust that the damaged teen sitting next to him wouldn't pound on him, or tell George and Nora, or something else that he justly deserved.

"I'm scared Casey. Inside I'm just this young lad who is always being told that he's not good enough and doesn't fit in. I walk down the halls constantly worrying about what people are thinking about me, and how long it will take for the laughter, catcalls and insults to break out. Didn't you guess, that's why I always make the joke first – so that everyone's laughing with me, not at me? You and me, we're flip sides of the same coin – I've just learnt to "work the crowd", is all."

Casey turned to look at him, her tear-washed eyes starting to regain a little of their light.

"So what do I do? While you've pulled yourself out of the pit, I'm still down there. Hell, I haven't even hit the bottom yet, let alone started to pull myself out"

"I'll teach you. I'll teach you what to say, how to act, and how to wear a mask. And together we can finally lay our pasts to rest. You can stop hearing Icky Vicky's sugary insults every time you do something well, and I can stop looking over my shoulder for Ryan or one of his cronies. What do you say, Case?" Derek was standing now, pacing around the room, bouncing a ball against the wall, clearly ready for action.

"Ok, then. But I don't want to lose myself in the process" Casey smiled, standing up as well. As she opened the door to leave Derek's room, he grabbed her arm. Slowly, she turned to speak to him. Was he going to tell her she was a fool, gullible and pathetic, did she really believe that the Great Derek Venturi actually was scared of being bullied?

"One last thing Casey...this doesn't mean I'm gonna stop calling you Space Case, and teasing you at home, and most likely at school as well. You'll still be, will always be, my teasing buddy. I just won't bully you or put you down anymore. And I'm sorry I ever did, and I hate myself for every tear you shed because of me. And if you repeat one word of this to anybody, MacDonald, I'll get you for it!" The trademark smirk was firmly back in place, and Derek winked at her, before pulling her into a quick hug.

"Don't worry, 'D', your secret's safe with me. To the grave, you big wimp" Casey said this and immediately started running, cackling in an evil manner as she made her escape.

Heroes are made when you make a choice