A.N. Thank you all for the reviews and follows, I'm thrilled you are enjoying the story so far. I apologize for the wait for the update, I'm not a consistent updater (I also don't hold my updates hostage for reviews, if you're worried about that), and I was also having some trouble with a couple of the scenes, they just did not want to work. I may, at some time in the future, rewrite these scenes, if I do that I'll put a note to that effect in both the updated chapter and the next update. For a list of the songs and their artists featured in this chapter, see the end of the chapter. One more thing, this is a pretty long chapter and not exactly typical of my writing, I just couldn't find a good way to cut this and keep the flow going. As always, input is welcome!
Chapter Two
Casey's mouth hung open in utter shock as she stared at her guests. "Uh, hey, Case. How ya been?"
Casey's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who the hell are you? What the hell are you doing here? And why the hell would you show up wearing my friends' skins?" she demanded while simultaneously running though a mental picture in her head of where all the silver and iron in the house were located and where the closest vial of holy water was stashed.
"Casey, it's really us." Said the thing masquerading as Sam, he produced a silver knife—one that Casey recognized as the knife she'd given Sam for his birthday just before she left for Canada—and drew it across his forearm; blood welled from the wound. The normal, healthy dark red. Then he handed the knife to "Dean" and he did the same—identical result.
Casey raised a skeptical brow, her arms crossed across her chest. "You want to use your own holy water, or do you trust enough that we can dispense with that?"
"Hang on a sec. I want the holy water." She disappeared to the side for a fraction of a second, always keeping them in sight in reflections and periphery. She reappeared with a silver flask and splashed some of the contents on both men—they got wet, but otherwise were unharmed.
"Well, now you've proved that we are who we say we are, can we please come in?"
"There's still the iron and the salt to go through." This got groans from both men.
Once Casey had determined that they were, at the very least human, she allowed them inside the house. "Dean" went straight to Derek's chair and Casey didn't bother to say anything, "Sam" took a seat on the couch, and Casey perched herself on the arm of the couch opposite him.
"What? No hug?" asked "Dean."
"Hey, I haven't determined you are Sam and Dean."
"So why did you let us in the house, then?" asked "Sam."
Casey shrugged, "I got cold."
They both looked at her sternly, with exasperation, and a hint of pride and also about to say something. Casey smiled and bounded over and gave them both a tight hug, "That's all the proof I need. Nobody but the two of you could pull off that look! How long?"
The looked at each other anxiously. "Me, about 2 years. Sam, about a year."
Casey's expression turned stormy. "Why the fuck am I just now hearing about this?!"
Again, they exchanged a look. "We thought you'd be safer if we just stayed dead."
Casey pursed her lips, every inch the raging temper that she used to be known for and gave them each a full-on Gibbs' slap. "OW!" the yelled in unison. "What was that for?" Dean asked petulantly.
"For thinking that letting me think that my two best friends in the world were dead for two years was the best way to protect me. I'll decide what's best for me, and I'll thank you to remember that, otherwise, next time I won't be so nice."
Dean rubbed the back of his head, "All right, geez! Since when did you get so uppity?"
The look on Casey's face after that comment was almost entirely unreadable—Sam identified rage and sadness. She didn't answer his question though. "If you guys thought it was so important for me to think you were dead, then why are you here now?" Again the boys shared a look. "Ok, what's with all the anxious looks? It's getting annoying!"
"Case…" Dean began gently, Casey paled, Dean Winchester didn't do gentle. Unless it was bad.
"Dad's dead, isn't he?"
"Well, we don't know. We can't find him. He's not answering his phones or his door, when we took a look around, we didn't find anything."
"It looks like he just disappeared."
"Did you call around? He's probably just off doing research or helping some other hunters with a case."
They both shook their heads, "We called around. Not even a nibble."
"We need your help to find him." Said Sam.
"How can I help? I haven't talked to him in more than three months. Christmas, I think—so five months."
"You're his daughter…And the more time we lose, the colder the trail goes."
Casey snorted slightly, "Yeah, I'm his daughter—who he shipped off to Canada when he didn't know how to deal with her anymore, who he hasn't spoken to for five months—and even then it was only for fifteen minutes, just long enough to tell me to be good and keep my nose clean! Hell! He talks to you two more than me, I wouldn't even know he was missing or that either of you were alive if were up to him!" Her hurt and anger came out with her worry.
"So, what? You're not gonna help us find your own father?" Dean hollered.
"Of course I'm gonna help! Nobody's gonna be field-dressing him but me!" Casey matched him in octave. "But, can it wait for a couple of hours?" she was quieter with this last question.
"What the hell is more important than finding your dad?! He's your blood, damnit!"
Casey opened her mouth to answer and was interrupted by the phone ringing; she cast her eyes downward for a fraction of a second and then defiantly looked Dean in the eye before moving to the answer the ringing handset. "Venturi-McDonald residence." She said politely into the phone. "Oh, hey, Em." She turned around. "Um…No, I'm not ready yet." Pause. "Yeah, I got a bit distracted with something—No, don't worry about it, listen, I'm sorry, but you go on ahead, I'll catch a ride with somebody else, it's no big deal." Pause again. "I'm not gonna be late, don't worry, I will be there—there's no way I'd miss it! Yeah, don't worry, I'll be there. Yeah, bye, Em, see ya in a bit, 'kay?" and with that she hung up, but it was a minute or so before she turned around to face the Winchesters.
"Is that what this is about?" Dean bellowed, now standing and facing her, "You're going to blow off going to find your missing father for some party with your girlfriends? Man, you have changed, Casey!"
Again, Casey lowered her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath, Dean was just winding up. "Dean." Sam said, putting a hand on his arm—Sam was looking at the banister, his eyes resting on the cap, gown, and tassels that were hanging from it. Dean followed his brother's line of sight and stopped dead in his rant.
"You're graduating today."
"Yeah. Valedictorian."
"And that's why you asked for a couple of hours."
Casey flashed a quick, tight smile.
The wind had been kicked out of Dean's sails and he sat down again.
"Bobby didn't say anything." Sam said.
"I sent him a plane ticket and an invite about two weeks ago; I would assume he's been gone about that long or longer for y'all to have come all the way up here to get me."
"About six weeks."
Casey nodded, taking it in and calculating.
Dean looked at her, "What time is the graduation?"
Casey looked at the wall clock, "In about forty-five minutes."
"How long does it take to get to the school?"
"About fifteen, walking, maybe five driving, Two if Dean drives."
"Well, then you need to go get dressed, there is no way you are missing your graduation!"
Casey smiled and bounded up the stairs, grabbing her cap and gown along the way. Once there she went back to the bathroom to retrieve a towel and her hair dryer and curling iron, she then proceeded to her room to get dressed. She already knew what she wanted to wear to the graduation and was picturing the outfit in her mind as she moved to the closet to retrieve it. When she opened the closet door she was greeted with the sight of empty hangers. All of her clothes were gone and so were all her shoes. A quick recon of her dresser confirmed that all of the clothes there were gone too. Her gaze rose to the top of her closet, where she habitually left her jewelry box—the one with her mother's wedding set in it and the garnet necklace that had been handed down to each first-born daughter in her mother's family for generations.
"Derek." She growled, venom dripping from the single syllable. Her clothes were one thing, but those few pieces of jewelry were off-limits. If she didn't get them back in pristine condition she was going to murder Derek—no ifs, ands, or buts.
She took a deep breath and then pulled her dresser away from the wall, there was a recessed wall safe behind it that she kept all of her hunter's gear in, her duffle was safely resting there after the night's/morning's jaunt. She had clothes in there that she could wear, though nothing that she would really deem appropriate for a graduation. The closest thing that she had was a red, satin, halter sheath dress, with a sweetheart neckline and zippers in the sides, the back, and the neckline as well. There were charms dangling from the ends of each of the zippers, and the skirt ended just below her knees—nevertheless it was pretty slutty. She had a pair of black Christian Louboutin's with rhinestone Playboy bunny skulls on the back of the heels that looked killer with the dress, most of the time she wore a leather jacket with it. She decided to wear a pair of black flats instead, they weren't really appropriate for the dress, but she planned to keep her gown on for as long as possible and they would look fine with that.
After packing the Louboutin's, some extra makeup, and the leather jacket in a black leather purse (never hurts to be prepared for anything), Casey was ready to go, and moved down the stairs to greet the Winchesters.
"Whoa, look at you." Dean said when he'd caught sight of her in her gown and tassels, her hair in tousled ringlets.
"Yeah, Case, you look great." Sam agreed. She beamed at them both.
"Um, I hate to ask, but can you guys give me a lift?"
"Sure thing, Princess."
"We'll even stay, if you like."
Again Casey beamed, "I'd love that!"
Dean was the first one out the door, followed by Casey, as Sam held the door for her. She stopped long enough to lock up and then followed the boys to Dean's 1967 Impala. "Hi, Lola!" she said, quietly.
"Hey, hey. Her name is Baby." Dean reminded her sternly.
"Miss me? I sure missed you." She ran her hand lightly over the hood as she moved to the passenger's side door.
"Uh, Case, what're you doing?" asked Sam, confused.
"I'm riding shotgun, Sammy, what does it look like I'm doin'?"
Sam opened his mouth to protest, "Hey, who's been dead for a year?"
Dean chuckled. "He's been dead for 2 years! Why are you taking my seat?" Sam protested.
"Because you're the responsible one, when I'm not there it's your job to talk some sense into Dean and keep him from doing stupid stuff like lying to me for 2 years—"
"Hey!" Dean exclaimed indignantly.
"Plus, you let him talk you into doing the same thing…"
"Alright, alright. I see your point. You can have shotgun."
Casey and Sam clambered into their respective seats while Dean shrugged and climbed into the driver's seat. AC/DC's Back In Black album began blaring from the sound system as Dean started the car and skillfully piloted it down the driveway and out onto the street toward Thomson High School.
Dean got them there in record time—1 minute, 30. As he helped her out of the car Dean noticed the ring he'd given her for her sixteenth on her hand. "I see you got my gift."
Casey smiled a sad smile. "I did." She didn't feel like explaining what went down, if he'd known already he wouldn't have said anything.
By this time Sam had made his way to their side of the car. "I would've thought you'd be wearing your mother's wedding set, Case. And that garnet necklace that you love so much."
"Nora's step-son, Derek, ran off with my entire wardrobe this morning, including my jewelry box with Mom's wedding set and our garnet necklace in it." She said darkly, the look on her face was enough to make both Winchesters worry about what she would do to Derek when she got a hold of him.
"Wait a sec…" Sam said slowly. "If he ran off with your clothes…?"
"He didn't get everything, he missed my hunter stash. Keep your undies on; I'm fully clothed under here."
"Hunter's stash?" the boys said together.
"Oh, c'mon! You didn't really think I would stop hunting just 'cause I came up here did you?"
Dean opened his mouth to say something—"CASEY!" They all swiveled around to see a petite brunette with cappuccino skin and curly hair come bounding toward them.
Casey quickly forced a smile. "Hey Em! Whoa, slow down! There're no Chippendale's dancers around."
Both Winchesters gave her a funny look, but by this time an out-of-breath Emily had reached them and Casey wasn't paying much attention to them. "Ok, whoa, calm down, Em. What is it?"
"(gasp) didn't, (gasp), think, (gasp), going, (gasp), make (gasp) it."
"Well, I'm here. What's the problem?"
"The band that the school had scheduled for the ceremony didn't show up…"
"And this is my problem how…?"
Emily looked slightly taken aback by this interruption. She shook her head, ignored the question and went on with what she was saying. "They want D-Rock to fill in."
"Um, no. They can do that without me. I wasn't a part of the original lineup anyway."
"But it's not D-Rock without you!" Emily wailed.
Casey looked down at her watch (luckily she'd fallen asleep with it on last night, so it had escaped Derek's thievery) they had five minutes before they had to be lined up for graduation to begin. "We've got five minutes, we better get going." She turned to Sam and Dean, "I'll see you guys after?"
"Absolutely." said Sam.
"You betcha, Princess." Dean gave her his patented smirk.
Casey smiled at them and led Emily away towards the gym, Emily all the while trying to convince Casey that she needed to re-join D-Rock for this one last performance.
"She was in a band?" Sam asked, shaking his head as he watched the two girls walk away.
"Apparently."
"We've missed a lot."
"If we don't want to miss her graduating you better move you're sissy ass."
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
~~~
"I see you made it, Space Case. Couldn't decide what to wear?" Derek asked snidely.
Casey shrugged, "I just figured I streak." Derek's mouth fell open, she turned to leave but turned back a second later, "And Derek, my jewelry box better be immaculate and back in its spot by the end of the day or you're going to regret it. I don't care what you do with my clothes; it was time for new ones anyway." And with that she went to speak briefly to Principal Lassiter about her speech.
After her speech—which she kept brief and to the point—it was time for the graduates to receive their diplomas. One by one, and in alphabetical order, the teens filed across the stage and posed for pictures shaking hands with Lassiter.
"Casey MacDonald." She took a deep breath, and strode across the stage, supremely happy that she had convinced the secretary that her full name—well, the one that was on record for her at the school, anyway—was totally unnecessary. As she received her diploma, flashes went off and a loud round of cheering rose from somewhere in the middle of the front row. She looked down and smiled at her family and then looked to the back of the auditorium—she spotted Sam and Dean and also smiled at them. Then she moved on, off the stage and joined the rest of her class. She opened her leather holder and looked at her diploma—Casey Raye Singer. That was another thing she had convinced the office secretary of—that she had legally changed her name and it should be on her official diploma. Of course it was the name her parents had given her at birth—but Mrs. Hudgins didn't need to know that.
"I can't believe we did it!" Emily squealed once she was seated.
"I know! It seems like it took forever!" Casey replied, only slightly less enthusiastically.
"So, listen, I know you don't want to get back together with D-Rock, but—"
Casey groaned, "Emily, look I know that you think that I should just be caught up in the moment and go sing with Derek and the guys, but I don't want to—and I shouldn't have to just to save Derek's ass, again."
Emily blinked at her friend—Casey swearing, even slightly, did not compute—and how did she know that Derek needed saving? What was this, "again" thing? "How did you…?"
"Know that the reason the band canceled is because when they got here Derek got into it with the lead singer and the manager?" Casey finished for her.
Dumbly, Emily just nodded. "Principal Lassiter told me." That and she'd gotten a phone call from the lead singer, he was an old friend—but Emily didn't need to know that.
"Oh." She said. "But if Lassiter asked you to do it, why aren't you?"
"Because, I think that Derek needs to learn that there won't always be someone there to bail him out."
"So you're just going to let him fail? Embarrass himself?"
"He won't necessarily fail or embarrass himself, Em. He'll just have to help himself."
Emily cocked her head at her friend, she was acting very strange. Before she could further pursue this line of thinking the lights on the stage dimmed, a spotlight swept the crowd on the way to the stage, and Edwin's voice came in over the loud speakers. "Now the moment you've all been waiting fo-o-o-r-r-r…" a rock rhythm began playing, and a huge tapestry of Derek's senior picture unfurled on the stage, "Der…ek… Ven…turi!"
Emily's mouth dropped open in shock, but she soon began to smile as the man himself strutted across the stage to accept his diploma from a very peeved looking Principal Lassiter; out of the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of Casey rolling her eyes and smirking?
Instead of moving to the end of the stage after receiving his diploma, as he was supposed to, Derek took the microphone from Principal Lassiter. "Well, we're done with the rat hole! Let's celebrate!" The curtain on the stage behind him went up, revealing Ralph, Sam, and their instruments.
Emily cheered with the rest of the crowd and then turned to Casey, expecting her to go up to the stage and save Derek's butt (she'd been there for the early rehearsals for D-Rock, before Casey joined the band, they were not pretty). Casey sat there, looking up expectantly at the stage, ready to see how the performance was going to go.
"Hey Angel." A voice said behind and to the right of her.
Casey turned, "Blade!" she squealed. "What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't be able to make it?" At this point Casey had jumped up from her seat and wrapped herself around a muscular guy in ripped jeans and a black AC/DC T-shirt.
"You didn't really think that we'd miss this, did you?" he chuckled, enjoying the attention.
"We? The rest of the guys are here too?" she asked, craning her neck to spot the rest of the crew.
"Well of course. We were supposed to be playing up there right now, but Blake got into a fight with this Derek guy—"
"Of course he did, because Derek is a complete ass at times." Casey cut him off.
"Miss McDonald?"
"Principal Lassiter?"
"Do you know this person?"
Casey very nearly rolled her eyes and replied, No, I hug random strangers like this all the time. Instead, she said, "Yes, sir, he and I are old friends." Casey thought she saw where he was going with this…He wasn't too thrilled about D-Rock playing at the moment, mainly, she suspected, because Derek had weaseled his way into being paid for the gig.
Blade quirked an eyebrow at her, he suspected where this was going too.
"Do you also know Blake Malloy?"
"Yes."
At this point Principal Lassiter looked slightly pained, as if he really didn't want to ask the next question, but Blade put him out of his misery. "Whaddya say, Angel, you wanna get the band back together?"
Casey glared at him playfully for a moment, then rolled her eyes and giggled. "I wasn't aware we had broken up. But what the hell?"
She heard Principal Lassiter breathe a sigh of relief. "We will of course be happy to pay you the original fee."
An idea sparked in Casey's head and out through her eyes. "Uh, oh, I know that look. What are you thinking?" Blade asked a little warily.
"How about we make this a battle of the bands, so to speak, Principal Lassiter?" Both men cocked their heads at her, so she continued. "Whoever gets the most applause gets the money."
"Um…"
Blade shook his head in bemusement, "Awful cocky aren't we?"
Casey quirked an eyebrow at him, "Which way did you leave the guys?"
"Uh, that way, I think…"
"Ok. Hey, Em, I'll see you a little later, I've got to go do something."
"O-kay…?" Emily said distractedly, she was mesmerized by the show going on onstage. It didn't matter anyway; Casey and Blade were already winding their way through the aisles of seats to a back corner. Casey couldn't help the grin that spread across her face when she spotted her old crew. They were standing not too far away from Sam and Dean—these were almost all the people that she cared about in the world, all right there, and safe (if maybe, only for the moment).
There came a chorus of happy "Angel!"s when Casey was within earshot of the group. This got Sam and Dean's attention and they turned to see Casey enveloped in the middle of a group hug with a bunch of guys. Dean cocked an eyebrow at his brother and they sidled over to the group. To eavesdrop.
"Put me down!" Casey was giggling and a broad shouldered blonde guy with a crew cut spun her around once more before settling her gently on her feet.
"So, listen guys, Casey had an idea…" Blade began.
"I dunno if listening to Casey's ideas is such a good one itself…" another guy said, this one also broad shouldered and blonde, but this time his hair was shaggy and had black streaks in it.
Casey assumed a wounded look on her features. "Aw, c'mon Dev, that hurts." But he caught the twinkle in her eyes, just as she had caught the twinkle in his.
"So, what is this idea of Miss Casey's, then?" another guy, this one with light brown hair and green eyes asked.
Casey opened her mouth to answer, but a curious movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and Blade took over explaining things to the group as she moved to go investigate.
"Eavesdropping, boys?" she asked, startling Sam and Dean, who were intently listening to Blade's explanation.
Dean gave her a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his neck. "Would you believe, no?"
Casey shook her head. "So, what? You came over here to this dark corner to scope out the chicks in that other dark corner over there?"
Dean scanned the general area in the direction they'd been staring—he didn't see anyone he'd have ever remotely be interested in. There were some scruffy-looking people—probably deadbeat loved ones of graduates who showed up late, or drunk, or stoned, or some sort of combination thereof.
"Ok, we were spying." Dean admitted.
Casey quirked an eyebrow. "We just wondered what was up, that's an unusual group of people you're associating with, there Case." Sam defended.
She smiled, "C'mon, you might as well meet them." She strode off, leaving the brothers to share another look and follow in her wake.
"—totally show that asshole who he's really dealing with!" Dev was saying when Casey arrived back to the group.
"Yo, Angel, where'd you go just now? You totally ditched us!"
"Oh, you know," Casey said casually, "here and there, hither and yon…"
The guy looked momentarily confused and then just shook his head. Sam and Dean arrived, "Guys, this is Sam and Dean Winchester," she said indicating the corresponding brother. "Sam and Dean, these are some of my closest friends from Toronto. That's Blade Malloy, his brother Blake," she pointed to two guys who, despite their different fashion sense were obviously twins. "Caden Reaves and his younger brother," this got a slight glare from the brown haired, green-eyed guy, "Kale. And those three knuckleheads over there are Devlin, Declan, and Desmond Jamison." The last three were all broad-shouldered, each with varying degrees of blonde hair. One of them wore his hair in a buzz cut, another shaggy with black streaks, and the last spiked with the tips Day-Glo orange. All of the guys, except the buzz-cut Desmond were wearing jeans (he was decked out in camo cargos) and T-shirts of varying colors, designs, and tightness.
After the introductions, Blade turned a questioning look on Casey. "Didn't you tell me something about them being dead? Or was that a different Sam and Dean Winchester I'm remembering?"
Even though they were standing behind her Casey could feel the brothers' shared look. "Enough with the significant looks, Winchesters! It's getting annoying!"
"How did-?" Dean began.
"I'm that good. And I know you both really well." Then, looking Blade directly in the eye she said, "It's a long story and I promise to tell you all about it, later."
Casey heard D-Rock start to play the song that Derek and she had fought about so much while preparing for the Battle of the Bands during sophomore year. She knew this would be their finale, which meant that she needed to get Blake and the boys and head toward the backstage area to prepare for their performance. "Guys," she said into the uncomfortable silence that had grown between the Winchesters and her Toronto friends. They all looked at her, and she was momentarily more uncomfortable that she had been before she'd spoken. "This will be D-Rock's finale, we need to get going."
Her Toronto friends nodded and started to head toward the stage. "You comin'?" Desmond asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec." she turned to Sam and Dean. "Look, we've got this performance…" she didn't really know where to go from there—Sam and Dean had been, well, dead, at least to her, for about two years and part of her was afraid that if she left them now that all this would turn out to be just a dream; and she would wake up at home in her bed, the night before graduation and none of it would have happened at all.
"I thought that girl—" Sam began.
"Emily." Casey supplied.
"Emily. Said that you were part of D-Rock, why are you performing with those guys and not up there now?"
"That is a bit of a long story, but the short version is, that I am in a band with Blade and them, and have been since before D-Rock was formed, so my loyalty lies with them. Look, I gotta go, I'll meet ya after the show, 'kay?"
"Yeah, ok."
"Break a leg, Princess."
With a last smile she made her way to the stage area.
~~~
"Ok, so we're going to do something a little different…" Blake was out on stage, explaining to the crowd what was going on, while at the same time D-Rock was also just finding out.
"What is all this about, Case?" Sam, Derek's best friend and Casey's former boyfriend, asked.
Casey quirked an eyebrow and smirked at him. " Why, Sam, whatever do you mean?" she said with a hint of feigned innocence.
Blade came up behind her. "Hey, you're the guy Derek argued with…" Sam was sometimes a bit dense.
"Um, no..." Blade said slowly "that was my brother," he indicated Blake onstage then touched Casey's shoulder. "You're not gonna wear that cap and gown out there, Angel."
Casey could see Sam visibly tense at his words, she knew that he knew she didn't take too well to being given orders. She rolled her eyes and turned to Blade, "Um, duh. I would die of heat exhaustion. Just gimme five, and I'll be ready. Usue set list?"
Blade smiled, his eyes crinkling at the edges. "You know it, babe." She could feel the confusion radiating from Sam as she moved toward one of the dressing rooms.
With the clothes she'd been forced to wear that morning—Derek was really gonna regret stealing her clothes—she really only needed to change her shoes and touch up her makeup and hair.
She poked her head out of one of the room, "Oy! Dev!"
Devlin stopped and turned back to her, eyebrows raised in question.
"Jacket or no jacket?" she asked stepping out and revealing her outfit.
"Um…Wow."
"Yes, thank you. Now, jacket or no jacket?" This time she held up the leather jacket.
Devlin shook his head a bit to clear it. "Uh, start off with the jacket then lose it during What the Hell."
Casey nodded. "Brilliant, I'm ready to rock this joint, then." And he followed her out.
~~~
"…and without further ado…Please give it up for Nightstalker!" Principal Lassiter introduced as the curtain went up.
With Casey a little left of center stage and the guys a bit behind and flanking her they began an upbeat rock tune.
"Click clack shimmer 'n shine…" it took the crowd a couple of stunned moments to realize that they were seeing their class keener/valedictorian up onstage, dressed to kill and belting it out in perfect pitch.
"Silver, shiny, sexy, it's love and/The music's playing so loud/Disco balls and big crowds baby…Everybody's in a line now/ Dressed up to the nines now, baby…" Casey was now moving across the stage, putting her dancer's background to good use.
"His eyes, they tell me what I need to know/Your touch tells me where I need to go…My lead will make you wanna get so close…" Casey was dancing very suggestively, leaning in closely to Blade who was playing bass guitar. The watching crowd was still slightly stunned at what their keener valedictorian was up on stage doing, but at this point they were getting caught up in the music and beginning not to care.
"Well I like to dance/So if you do just get on the floor/Forget the romance/This is what music was created for/So find someone hot/And if you're not it doesn't matter/ Baby take what you got and/ Just go dancing you'll feel better…!" Casey danced her way back to center stage and took the opportunity, while there was a lull in the lyrics, to address the crowd. "C'mon, now, this isn't a song for sitting still to, I want you to get up and jump along with me!" At this she began to rhythmically jump in place to the music (many in the crowd wondered how she did this without turning an ankle and falling off the stage).
"I like to dance [jump]/I like to dance [jump] dance [jump] dance [jump] dance [jump]/Lovesick electric sex thoughts/ are flying all around me/He said, she said "let's leave" baby…" By now most of the crowd was on their feet jumping and dancing with the band.
~~~
At the back of the auditorium, Sam and Dean took all this in, gobsmacked by Casey's performance. This was not the girl they had known all her life—but then again, they had been absent from it for awhile now.
"She's got a great voice." Commented Sam.
Dean nodded, "She sure does. It's just too bad that she's wasting it on this kind of crap."
Sam looked at his brother, shook his head and laughed. There was no point in trying to change Dean's mind about this, in his mind good music ended in the very early '90s, and that was stretching it.
For Sam's part, it wasn't the kind of music he usually went in for, but he had to admit that there was an infectious vibe to it; and by the end of the song he was tapping his foot in time with the music.
"Alright, alright…Y'all did great!" Casey was saying onstage. "I know for a fact that there are a few of you out there that aren't into this kind of music, so for those of you that feel that way, you're only going to have to suffer through one more before we switch gears." The music to another upbeat pop song began—"You say I'm messin' with your head…"
Dean shook his head. "What the hell…?"
A.N. 2: As promised here is a list of music and artists featured in this chapter.
AC/DC's Back in Black album,
"I Like to Dance" by Hot Chelle Rae off of their Lovesick Electric album,
and
"What the Hell" by Avril Lavigne from her Goodbye Lullaby album.
From the previous chapter:
There were lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Love Story" from her Fearless album,
References to Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot" (Short Bus), "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, and to the entire body of work by Shinedown.
