He hadn't intended on starting another band.

It starts like this. Derek's first year at Queen's, he wants the full experience, so he goes to a lot of different parties. At one of these parties, he gets in deep with some douchebag fraternity in a game of poker (how was he supposed to know how much they were betting; it wasn't until after Derek had lost a lot of hands that he realized that these people had been talking higher numbers than he'd had thought).

The fraternity also happens to have some rather bulky members. That is, they aren't large, but they have enough muscle mass to rival The Fridge.

He tries to explain that he didn't know. They lack sympathy, and he has to wonder if this is something that they often do to unsuspecting first-year students. He gives them a twenty, because that's all he has on him, and asks if he can't work out some payment plan.

The next day he's in the dining hall trying to figure out to make some quick cash, what he can borrow from his dad, and if he can get a job on campus to help pay off his debt. On his way out, a flyer on the notice board catches his eye.

ANNUAL KINGSTON BATTLE OF THE BANDS

MARCH 12th

Auditions

When: Oct 1

Where: Isabel Bader Performing Arts Center - Theatre - Queen's University

Contact Dr. T for your audition time slot by September 20

It was all well and good, and not incredibly noteworthy for Derek. But, at the bottom of the flyer in large, bold letters:

Grand Prize: $10,000

That was worth paying attention to. That kind of money would pay off his debt, and Derek figures, still have some money left over to tuck away. It was an easy way to make some money without a whole lot of scheming.

So, Derek started a band.

…

Derek is a reasonably smart guy. He might not always try, which is why his grades might make you think differently about his intelligence, but he's smart. Smart enough to realize that part of the reason he did so well in Clash of the Bands was that D-Rock had looked cool, and were decent enough with their instruments.

He was also smart enough to realize that lyrics like "Nah nah nah nah nah" weren't exactly going to win him a Grand Prize at a place like Queen's. Which meant some effort would have to go into picking his bandmates.

It also meant, he'd later find, that he'd have to be willing to negotiate on the band name.

Turns out that his roommate, Jackson, plays the guitar. He has a YouTube video, too, that he can show Derek. He's talented, and he's got halfway decent taste in music, so he's in without much fuss. They still need to find a drummer and a lead singer. Derek fills the spot of bassist.

They decide to hold auditions. Getting the word out was easy enough, finding a place for tryouts was less stressful than Derek had expected. All in all, he had a good feeling about this plan. It was going surprisingly well.

That is, until the actual auditions.

The first two hours were filled with people who had been told that they had talent but lacked any real skill. Derek was starting to see his dream of earning that prize money crumble.

Then, of course, there was Casey.

At some point during the auditions, she had sneaked into the small auditorium, sitting in the back. It was distracting, knowing that she was sitting back there without knowing why, but Derek forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He could get into a verbal spar with Casey later, something that he finds he is looking forward to.

He's seen Casey around campus since the day they both moved to Queen's, but they have no class together, their dorms aren't near one another, and he hasn't been able to come up with a decent excuse to go and see her. He's not even sure what her dorm room number is and, of course, he can't just call her up and ask her because that's not what they do.

She never reached out, either. So, Derek put it off; next thing you know they had their separate lives, and it was getting even harder to find a reason to go and see her.

At some point, while a tuba player-how that happened he's not sure, their add had been pretty specific about what they were looking for-murders Black Honey by Thrice, Derek wonders if Casey knows that he knows she's back there. He glances back to try and catch her eye, but she's gone. Somehow Derek had missed her slipping out of the room. Disappointment fills him, and he tries not to think about it while shooing the tuba player off the stage, with much irritation.

They order a pizza, and it's while they're eating that they find their drummer. They were able to borrow a set to have on stage for anyone interested, since potential drummers would have a harder time lugging up their kit on and off the stage, taking up too much time. Jackson and Derek were in the middle of debating the merits of working with a two-man band when a shy looking girl pulled herself on stage. She was short, probably around five feet; she had bright green eyes and curly red hair. Neither teen noticed her, but she scurried over to the drum set and practically fell onto the stool. "Hi," she started shyly. She didn't speak up loud enough to be heard, so the boys kept on with their conversation. She huffed, blowing some hair out of her face as she did.

The redhead adjusted a few things, picked up the drumsticks and after careful consideration, started playing the drum portion of Hot For Teacher by Van Halen. Now she has their attention, but she hardly notices.

After a brief, whispered conversation with Jackson, Derek interrupts her drum solo, "Stop." She stutters on the beat for pulling back from the instrument. She looks at him expectantly. "What's your name?"

"Margo," she says in a small voice, Derek has to strain to hear her. All he hears is 'Go.' Figuring it's a nickname, he goes with it.

He grins, "Welcome to the band, Go."

Margo grins, too, and quickly scurries off stage. She provides Derek and Jackson with her number and e-mail address (Derek also learns her actual name), and they invite her to hang out and help them find their lead singer.

They have quite a few people show up to fill the spot of drummer, but the trio turns them away. They're in the middle of a debate about closing the auditions for the day when Casey makes her way on stage. She's wearing an outfit reminiscent of her Babe Raider outfit-all black and leather-that Derek has to force himself to roll her eyes at her appearance. Thankfully, the reaction is muscle memory to All Things Casey, so he's able to manage despite his mouth going suddenly dry.

Jackson sits up, and Derek feels mild irritation for his roommate. "You're still looking for a lead singer?" She confirms. Jackson shrugs, looking slightly disappointed; Casey sounds as perky and preppy as she always has. She doesn't exactly fit the kind of music they were looking to play.

"Nope," Derek says. Jackson and Margo give him a look. Casey narrows her eyes at Derek, and he sighs. "One sec," he murmurs to his bandmates. He climbs onto the stage, pulling Casey to the side.

"What are you doing here?"

"I would think even you could figure that out, Derek. I'm auditioning."

It was sick how much he had missed this. "Sorry, Case, but we're looking for people with talent," he plows on before she can interrupt, "and while I admit you saved the Clash of the Bands; this is another league, and you don't quite fit in with our vibe."

She glances down at her outfit. "I think I got an idea on what you're looking to play," she counters. Derek recognizes the defiant stance. "Besides, you can't win with lyrics like 'nah, nah, nah she said it was over nah, nah, nah."

He scoffs, even though he'd had the same thought. "Yeah, Case. I figured that out."

Casey looks smug. "So, I wrote some songs."

"You can't win on that sappy, chick shit you write," Derek counters, ignoring the way his stomach flips when she glares at him.

"Well, from what I can tell, you're not the only one making decisions."

"Casey," and he hates how it almost sounds like a wine. "Why do you want to try out for my band, anyway?"

She shrugs, but he knows her well enough that there's something she's not going to cop to. "Let me audition, and then when you're not happy with what I've got, you can take great joy in denying me. Okay?"

Derek let out a frustrated sigh, then tossed his hands up in the air. "Alright, alright. If you want to embarrass yourself, be my guest." He made his way back over to Jackson and Margo who were looking at him, curiously. "She's auditioning," he informed them in a voice that made clear he wasn't pleased about it.

"I've written some original songs," Casey said, beaming again. Jackson sighed. He and Derek had the same expectation for what she would be performing with them. She gripped some sheets in her hands, "I thought maybe you could get a better idea if you played the music, too but I can do it acapella."

"You wrote out music, too?" Margo sounds marginally impressed. Casey nods and the girls exchange a smile. "Can I see?"

Derek gives the newcomer a look that says this is not approved, but she ignores him. Casey hands over the sheet music and even from where he's sitting, Derek can see that she's impressed. She shrugs at Derek and Jackson, the latter shrugging as well. "Might as well," Jackson said. "Watching other people play has made me want to play. Cleanse the ears," he jokes.

Derek grumbles, but he gets up, too. They'd prepared for this, having instruments on hand, but Casey had been the first to ask to play with them. He suspects Jackson appreciates this. He's reluctant to take his sheet music, but figures the sooner they get this over with, the sooner they'll be able to work on finding their actual lead singer.

There aren't any words on the music, so Derek has no idea what's coming. Casey explains, as they get situated, "I wrote this with a guy's voice in mind, but it can work with either; or if you like it we can play with it..." She trails off, realizing she might be getting ahead of herself.

When they're ready, Casey starts.

"I don't know what you had in mind,

but here we stand on opposing sides."

Derek is ready to roll her eyes and sigh. Typical Casey. There was a soft beat from Margo before Casey continued.

"Let's go to war."

And then she blew his mind. He'd known when they did Battle of the Bands that Casey could sing in a more rock tone, but this was something else.

"Let's go to war!

We arm ourselves with the wrongs we've done

name them off one by one"

Derek already knew that she had a great voice, but he never knew she could sing like this. It would be the first of many shocks to come.

"Everything you say,

and everything you do

you push it in, and you cut me down

and you cut me down

screaming at the ones we love

like we forgot who we can trust

screaming at the top of our lungs

on the grounds where we feel safe

Do we feel safe? Do we feel safe?"

Derek glanced over at the other two; Jackson looked cautiously optimistic whereas Margo was grinning back at Derek, ecstatic. It looked like Casey would be in the band.

"Hush, my baby, make no sound

maybe we can wait for each other out

it's a cold war

let's go to war

with every settled score

I thought that fighting meant fighting for

but you turned it around

but you turned it around."

The song continued, and Derek couldn't believe that he wanted Casey in the band. "You got any more songs?" Jackson asked when they'd finished. Casey turned to see their reactions. At his question, she nodded, face lit up. "Enough for a set, if you wanted. Not that we'd get to play enough at the Talent Show, but..." Casey trailed off, shrugging.

"Right," Jackson nodded, and Derek could see the faraway look in his eyes. Derek couldn't blame him; a few college gigs could make them all some easy money.

"Alright," Derek said, grudgingly, "you're in the band, McDonald." She bounced, squealing a little. Derek felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Don't make me regret this," he sighed, but he was once more hopeful about their chances of winning.

a/n: The song that Casey sings is actually Go to War by Nothing More. Would have written my own song, but I don't have that much talent. As usual, I don't own the LWD characters, or the rights to the song.