AUTHORS NOTE: This first chapter may seem slightly out of character, but take into account the events that take place. Each chapter is going to be significant events that happen to one or both through their first year in college with the normal Derek and Casey feel. It shows the growth they both have as time goes on. Let me know what you think! Also, in the chapter there is talk about Sports Hazing, which I DO NOT condone or agree with, however it does actually happen in most colleges (happened to me when I was there).

I do not own anything that has to do with Life With Derek or Queen's University or Kingston, Ontario (all locations and things mentioned are actually Queen's college traditions or places nearby)

Chapter 1: Tumblings Toward Normalcy

:How those on top of the totem pole drastically tumble down:

He was always used to being the big man on campus, on his turf. Those that hated him, wanted to be him. Those that disliked him were jealous of him. Those that were associated with him were adored. And those that didn't want to be with him were just delusional of the order of things. He was used to having it all at the drop of a hat, girls eating out of the palm of his hand. He was the guy you wanted to loathe. To hate. And he knew that and was proud of it. He made a name for himself in high school.

So why was it that un-voluntarily his fingers were disobeying him as he scrolled to the familiar (or unfamiliar?) programmed number into his phone. He was already tense waiting for the indefinite pick up that was sure to come.

"DER-EK!" a croaked shriek came through the receiver that was conveniently as far away from his ear. "You better be dying in a ditch for calling this late…..early…… whatever. The point IS it's past three in the morning, why are you calling me?" Her sleepy haze confusion easily coming through the speaker.

Mustering up from deep within, he was able to croak out the little bit he needed. "Space Case, will you just come pick me up?"

He heard a soft thud and a groan. "It's Wednesday Derek….." she said muffled through the phone. He could picture her lying face down on her pillow as she talked softly.

"Yes princess, I know, 'It's a school night' and 'I need my beauty sleep because I need as much as I can get to turn my looks around' blah blah blah…."

"Will you just SHUT UP for one minute? I have class at 8:30 this morning, I might have a pop quiz within the second week, WEEK, of classes, there is so much more work than there had been in classes, and, and, and where the HECK are you that you are calling me and why aren't you calling one of your hockey buddies to pick you up?" Casey whispered furiously, trying desperately to not wake her roommate up.

He sighed and stopped pacing back and forth, reminding him just how cold he really was. He sat down on the ground, his head leaning against one of his hands, the other resting his cell phone gently against his face.

"Case, push the crazies to the side and just come pick me up. I'm outside the Memorial Centre in downtown Kingston."

She gasped, "You had practice this late at night?!"

Derek paused "Not….. exactly. Ugh! Will you just come already Spacey?" He then snickered into the phone at his comment and pictured Casey rolling her eyes.

Casey started muttering fast under her breath. He caught the words 'dog', 'jerk', 'idiot', and his favorite, 'thorn in her side'. "Derek, you need to grow up, this is college now! And what happened to 'I don't want to see or hear from you during the first week of college?"

Derek was getting ready to respond and to say (beg, grovel) for her to pick him up when she spoke (the devil sure knows how to have hell freeze over).

"Five minutes." There was a pause, "And I get the car for the next two weeks." He grinned thinking he got off easy, "And no pranks until after midterms." Derek's grin slid right off of his face. "I'm hanging up so I can change, I'm not driving there in pajama shorts, white tank top, and slippers."

*~*~*

Fifteen minutes later (a girl keeps a man….creature…..thing….. whatever…. waiting) she pulled up to the curb, the shock evident on her face at the scene that was in front of her. She rolled down the window and pulled up to the curb. "What the hell happened to you?"

Derek looked up from where he was uncomfortably lying and saw the Prince in front of him. He jumped and scrambled to the passenger door, hastily pulling the door open and jumping in. "Can we JUST get out of here?"

The clock tower chimed as the digital clock within the car turned to four o'clock in the morning. Casey turned towards him. His hair was gelled in every direction, which she tried not to laugh at. But it was the rest of his appearance. He had his dark blue hockey shorts on (more like hanging, low, on) but that was about the extent of clothing that was there. In place of any type of shirt was paint, lots of paint. The distinct Queen's University colors of red, blue, and prominently gold, were everywhere. A number painted in blue on the front, number 0, was trimmed with red. Casey could only imagine what his back said. But it was his face. There was red marker everywhere, with drawings and words.

Derek waited for the inevitable 'Freak Out' that was about to come in 3, 2, 1…… however it never actually came.

"Did the hockey team do this to you?" she asked in an eerily calm voice, her piercing blue eyes were unnerving to him, and it threw Derek slightly.

Derek turned to look away and out the window. "Can we just PLEASE leave the hockey arena and go back to your dorm so I can take a long, hot, shower?" His voice was full of defeat and a hint of disappointment.

Because hell froze over not once but twice in one night for two very different reasons.

"Derek….." Casey said softly

"GEEZ Casey, just take me somewhere, ANYWHERE with a shower, some clothes, and anything to sleep on so that I can wake up in the morning and forget that this night ever happened."

Derek turned to look out the window again, his shoulders slumped, and an unreadable look on his face that Casey has never seen before. Without saying a word, she turned on the car and pulled away from the arena to head back to campus. Thankfully Queen's wasn't too far from downtown Kingston, so it was a quick enough ride. Take into account that in the middle of the night no one is on the road it adds to a quick trip back.

Wordlessly they walked from the parking lot to the dorm and into the building. Thankfully no one was around as they climbed the stairs. He waited in the hallway as Casey stumbled through her dorm room. He heard him whisper quietly through the door, "The biggest shirt you have for me to wear." She got an evil smile on her face, "With none of those dance things or girly colors!" Derek said in a whispered panic! Casey sighed and grabbed the one shirt she had fitting his description, a towel and washcloth before walking into the hall.

An unspoken agreement passed between them the second she handed everything over to Derek.

'Brother…..Step-brother…….Same Difference' was their biggest pretend.

Half hour later Derek returned, his cheeks red from all the violent scrubbing, but the remnants of paint, marker, and humiliation were washed (partly, mostly) away. Casey took one look at him before turning towards the clock, the number five hauntingly staring back.

"Case, stop being the freakazoid that you are and how it's already five in the morning," Derek whispered into her ear as he leaned over her.

His eyes bored deeply into hers. Brown met blue with a steady gaze. How could one not believe that brown and blue were not complimentary colors? Casey hesitated and saw the infamous smirk creep across his face as he snatched the keys to the prince. She opened her mouth to go off on him, however Derek knew she wouldn't, all in the honor of keeping quiet for her roommate. He snickered as he leaned towards her once more. "Live a little dangerously, isn't college all about trying new things?"

Derek turned and walked out of her dorm room knowing that curiosity would get the best of her. He paused and leaned against the hallway wall. It wasn't his normal first choice to be seen with such a keener, but realistically, no one here knew that she was a keener. Or Klutzilla. Or a grade-grubber. She was just Casey McDonald, first year college student, who was just like everyone else. And after his horrific experience hours before, he needed to just be with someone who knew him, who understood him. Because no one at Queen's would understand the utter humiliation he went through. Here in Kingston, he was just Derek-lowly first year hockey player-not best-looking guy there-girls that look past-Venturi. He was just a normal guy. And the hockey team made sure to knock him down a few pegs. The whole "Knock you down to build you up" and unify as a unit.

He looked up to see her door room open, as he expected, decked in a Queen's sweatshirt (nerd hitting the bookstore already? Or excited about new beginnings?), sweatpants, and flip-flops. "Breakfast?" was all she said before a smile broke across her face, a new sense of freedom on her. "There's the 24 hour diner downtown that we could go to. "

Derek pushed himself off the wall and threw the keys back at her as she led them to his one haven, food. Of course the diner was practically empty, the wait staff looking at them as if they were crazy, wondering why two 18 year olds would even dare be awake this early in the morning. They (and by they meaning Derek) stuffing themselves with breakfast food as they talked about their orientation week and start of classes. After Derek paid for the bill (he did have a heart after all), they left. It was still dark and peaceful outside, seemed as if the night was never going to end.

They ended up at the Lake Ontario Park with the sky just starting to lighten in its lower edges. The stillness in the park seemed to make time stop due to the stillness in the air. A bench overlooked the lake, which seemed like the ideal place to settle. Derek sighed as he looked out to the lake.

"Have you ever seen something more breathtaking?" Casey said breathlessly as she watched the sun slowly starting to peak above the horizon.

The start of a new day. The start of a new beginning.

Derek and Casey sat there quietly as the sun slowly rose in the sky, the magnificent colors becoming brighter with each passing moment. "What really happened tonight Derek?" Casey asked as she turned to look at him. He clearly saw the worry that was in her eyes. "Why were you by yourself at the practice rink?"

Derek closed his eyes as he put his head back against the bench, allowing the gentle breeze to calm him. "I was left there by the varsity hockey players." He didn't hear Casey say anything so he continued. "Part of the whole 'initiation' onto the team. Build team unity, or whatever other crap they said when they dragged me there."

"When?"

"They basically raided me in my dorm room at 10PM, blind folded me, and brought me there," Derek said with a shrug.

"And decide that Boo Hoo the Bear isn't a good enough mascot and that you need to be it instead?" A hint of humor was in Casey's voice, but Derek could still hear the slight seriousness that was there. "Plus they wrote all over you with marker! What did they even have there?"

"I don't want to talk about it Spacey."

"But Derek, this is serious. I had read before we came to Queen's that this type of behavior happens in college," Casey gasped and continued. "Derek they are HAZING you, you all could get in serious trouble."

"Look Casey, don't go being 'Miss Goody Two-Shoes' and telling people about this. The hockey team does NOT need to get in trouble, suspended, whatever. Just keep your mouth shut."

"Derek…."

Derek turned sharply to her. "Maybe you don't get it princess but this is what is expected. And I get it the worst since I'm the more 'promising' freshman on the team. So they dragged me out of bed, stripped me of my clothes, my dignity, painted all over me, wrote and drew things all over me, and made me sing the Oil Thigh song over and over again for every beer they chugged. Then they all left drunk to walk back, taking my clothes with them, to leave me there at Memorial Centre."

He laughed a bitter laugh. "Who would have thought months ago that I would call upon you to help me out? I was the one with it all. The hockey team made sure to put it in perspective for me. I'm fresh meat, and since I might actually get to start this year, I'm the one they are hunting."

"So yes, Space Case, it is illegal, because it's humiliation and de-moralizing, but it's what I have to do to be on the team. Team unity and all that jazz. It was one night, it's behind me, and hopefully with the exhibition season starting, it will die down."

Case looked at him for a second. "Are you okay?"

He sighed. The sun was now finally up and the streets were starting to buzz. "I will be. It's just funny you know. What is that saying, 'Oh how the mighty have fallen.' Now I'm just….. just like…."

"It's okay Derek to be just like me."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Derek said while jumping up from the bench and started pacing. "I am NOT a Klutzilla. That is still ALL you."

"It's okay to not be the most popular. We are starting out here in college and this is a huge university of close to 20,000 students. It's time to get to know who we are."

Derek laughed, "Why do you have to be such a know-it-all?"

"And why do you need to believe in the Status Quo?"

"You'll only hear this once from me, but thanks. You aren't so bad McDonald."

"This mean you'll stop pranking me?"

"HA in your dreams….. speaking of dreams, I'll need to figure out how I can raid your dorm room for your journal since I know you'll have one of those."

"DER-EK!" Casey screeched as she chased after him around the lake, him laughing every step of the way. The few people there looked on with knowing glances. After four years, a bond was formed between them. They each had an influence on one another. Despite the many bad qualities they can bring out, they bring out a few of the good ones.

Casey never made it to her class that morning.

So that's chapter one! Love it? Hate it? Let me know since I like to see how to continually improve my stories!