A/N: Flashbacks are in italics, and during flashbacks thoughts and stressed words are in a normal font. When the font is normal, thoughts and stressed words are in italics.

This chapter came out a little weird. But it's okay. I think. Maybe.

Disclaimer: I don't own LWD.

OOOOOOOO

"So," Emily said, suddenly breaking the silence that had engulfed them for the past five minutes, "before you start waxing about just how big of a backstabber you were—are—I have to know one thing…"

Casey let the "backstabber" remark roll off her shoulders, and looked at Emily expectantly.

"… The fighting wasn't all part of the lie, right? I mean, you and Derek didn't like each other at first," she elaborated, looking at Casey for confirmation.

When Casey just stared back, Emily sighed and continued.

"Derek and I didn't speak much back then." That was an understatement. They didn't speak at all unless he needed something from her. "But there was one night I found him swimming in my pool, and he looked so, for lack of a better word, angry, that I asked him what was wrong. He didn't really answer me, he just mumbled something about having met his future stepsisters and how uncomfortable it was going to be living with them, especially the older one."

Emily had been looking at Casey the entire time she spoke, and with every word she had said Casey's eyes became a little more glazed. It was like she was drifting off into her own little world.

"Hello?" Emily snapped, annoyed. After all, this had been Casey's idea. "I guess what I'm asking is," she began, once she knew she had Casey's attention again, "when you two first met after your parent's got engaged, were…"

Emily kept talking, but Casey had tuned her out. Since she had sworn to be completely candid with Emily while recounting her past with Derek, Casey supposed that she had better stop her right here. But she was worried. If Casey told her the truth about what happened the first time she met Derek, it could make things worse. Way worse.

Noticing the torn look upon Casey's face, Emily stopped speaking and scowled. It was easy to see that Casey was weighing her options about something, trying to think of how best to handle her.

"If you lie," she said, breaking into Casey's thoughts, "I will know. I may not have been able to tell in the past," she admitted, sounding almost ashamed at how trusting she once was, "but I will know now. So I suggest that you choose your next words carefully."

Casey couldn't help but wonder when Emily had gotten to be so scary. If her former friend had been trying to intimidate her, it worked.

"I'll tell you the truth," she responded, squaring her shoulders, "but you're not going to like it."

Emily brows rose faintly, but she hadn't changed her mind. Really, when was the last time she had liked anything that Casey had done?

Casey blew out an irritated breath. "Fine! You want the truth? Well, the truth is, I didn't meet Derek for the first time the night our parents decided to finally introduce us."

Emily's jaw dropped open a bit. This, she had not been expecting.

"I had met him like three weeks prior to that."

Emily's mind was reeling, but she managed to ask, "Where?"

"At the mall."

"And what, it was love at first sight?"

"Not exactly…"

Casey tapped her foot against the white and black speckled tile impatiently. Maybe Kiera needed to see a doctor or something- Casey had never met anyone who had to go to the bathroom as much as her best friend did. Weren't three trips in two hours a little excessive? It wasn't like the girl had been drinking tea or anything, but here Casey was, parked outside of a hallway that led to a mall restroom, again. Honestly, Casey could've used a trip to the little girl's room herself, but she couldn't bring herself to employ a public toilet. She was aware that they were cleaned regularly, but the only way she was going to willingly use a public toilet was if it was an absolute emergency. Her bladder was made of stern stuff; she knew she could make it until she was in the comfort of her own bathroom.

Glancing at her watch, she didn't notice the boy who was lazily making his way towards her, at first. When she did become aware of him, she swept the surrounding area with her eyes. He seemed to be heading for her, but she hoped to God he wasn't. The guy was hot, and she, well, she was in her school uniform. How dorky was that?

If she had any luck at all he would go talk to anyone but her.

"'Sup?" he asked, smirking.

Apparently she needed a new rabbit's foot.

"H-h-hi," she replied, nervously, wondering why his presence was making her so uneasy. She was fairly popular at her all girls school and she was used to the guys from her brother school, The Lighthouse Academy, flirting with her, but there was something different about this guy. Maybe it was the 'I don't give a damn' aura around him. Well, whatever it was, he set her on edge. He made her a little nervous.

"I'm Derek." He said his name cockily, like she should recognize it or something.

"It's nice to meet you." Her tone was cordial, formal.

He stared at her expectantly, and she met his gaze unflinchingly, wondering just what he wanted her to say.

He seemed to be trying his best not to smile. "Umm… aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

Casey turned five shades of red. Duh! She wanted to smack herself; he probably thought she was totally rude … or slow.

"I'm Casey."

"Well, Casey, are you here with someone?"

"Just the world's smallest bladder," she said, without thinking. When she saw the half-disgusted/half-amused expression on his face, she hastened to explain, "That is so not her name. Her name's Kiera, not bladder. And I'm positive that her bladder's a normal size." He laughed outright, and suddenly the tile became very interesting to her. "I haven't seen her bladder," she added quickly. "I've never even seen my own bladder. Is that even possible?" She knew she was rambling now, but it was like she couldn't seem to stop herself. "What I mean is…

But when she glanced up at his face to see how much damage her incessant talking was doing, she stopped speaking just as suddenly as she had started. He wasn't listening anymore. In fact, he seemed to be glancing back at—she followed his gaze—two other boys who looked to be about his age, who were standing at the other end of the hallway. One of the boys held up five fingers and then pointed at his watch, next he pointed at … Derek? No. Her- yeah, they were definitely signaling at her.

Derek turned around suddenly, and for the life of her, Casey couldn't call the look on his face. He looked guilty, like she had caught him doing something bad red-handed. But what?

"So, Casey, is there any chance—

"Yo, Derek, time's up," the shorter of the two other boys yelled, cutting him off.

"'Time's up' for what?" she asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter; I want your number anyway." As soon as he said it, Derek looked like he wanted to bang his head against the wall.

Why does he look like that? Wait- oh. "Oh," she exclaimed, as it finally hit her, "What did you guys have some kind of bet to see if you could get my number?"

"Yeah, something like that," he said, honestly.

"So you and your friends come to the mall to see how many girls you can sucker into dating you? How lame is that?" she scoffed. Honestly, Casey knew that about ninety percent of kids her age came to the mall for reasons very similar to that, but she wanted Derek to feel as stupid as he'd inadvertently made her feel.

"Correction: I don't have to sucker anyone. Girls come to me, willingly, eagerly," he said, voice ringing with arrogance. "This"—he gestured between himself and her—"was just us having some fun trying to see if I could break my record of how long it takes me to get a number."

"I wasn't going to give you my number when I didn't know." She was lying, and she had a feeling that they both knew it. "And I wouldn't give you my number now, even if you were the last guy on earth." When he sent her an openly disbelieving look, she scowled and added, "Please, you're not even my type."

He made a sweeping gesture with his hands; apparently, he thought her words were ridiculous. "Humph, I'm every girl's type."

"Not mine," she said simply. "I mean, really, have you even seen yourself?" Her question sounded completely bitchy to her own ears, but she just didn't care. If he was going to be an ass, then she could certainly be a bitch. "You're walking around in a leather jacket on one of the hottest days of the year, and probably just because you think it makes you look like you stepped off the set of The Wild One. Who am I kidding?" She rolled her eyes. "You probably don't even know what I'm talking about." His eyes narrowed at the obvious insult to his intelligence, but she didn't stop there. "And, I don't know what idiot told you that smirking like that was cute, but it makes you look like a stroke victim."

"Are you done?" he asked, jaws clenched

"Not quite. Don't you want to know what the worst thing about yourself is?"

She took his lack of response as a sign to continue.

"The worst thing is that you must really think the entire world is comprised of idiots. Cause if you expect people to buy into that whole "bad boy" image you're trying so desperately to sell, you must think everyone is retarded."

"I'm not trying to sell anything," he spat, indignantly.

"Come on, I had you pegged from the moment I saw you sauntering over here. You want me to believe that you're some kind of rebel or something, but it is more than obvious that you're just a poseur." She wasn't really lying: she did have him pegged from the moment she saw him; it was obvious that he wanted people to think he was some modern day James Dean. But, what she didn't tell him was that she had thought the leather jacket and half scowl/half smile he had worn as he approached her had been beyond hot.

"Aww, what's wrong, tough guy?" she asked, in a sing-song voice. "Are you upset that you finally met a girl who was smart enough to put two and two together and realize that your mommy probably buys those tuff guy clothes?" She gave a very unladylike snort. "You've probably never even done an actual cool thing in your life!"

She smiled triumphantly. Maybe next time he would think twice about making a game out of some unsuspecting girl.

Casey turned to go—Kiera could find her later—her work there was done.

Derek had other ideas. Grabbing her arm, he spun her around and held her in place.

"Let me go." There was the slightest note of worry in her tone. Maybe I went too far?

"Not until I have my turn, princess," he said, smirking.

Casey's brow cocked angrily. 'Princess' was her father's nickname for her; she didn't like hearing the word used in such an obviously insulting manner.

"You can make all the snide comments you want, I never claimed that I was a genius, but I'm not an idiot either." He wasn't in denial; Derek knew that he would never be a straight 'A' student. "And as for my 'mommy' buying my clothes, you're so far off the mark it's laughable." He gave a short bark of laughter, but it was mirthless, and Casey couldn't help but wonder why. "And if people view me as some type of rebel, well, that's their problem, not mine- I never said I was one."

She snorted again. Who was he kidding? That's obviously what he wanted people to think of him.

"But even if everything you said about me was entirely true, it still wouldn't make me worse than you."

Casey drew in her breath sharply, clearly affronted. "Excuse me? You don't know anything about me."

He frowned in mock confusion. "But the five minutes we've known each other apparently made you an authority on me, so it must be an adequate amount of time to qualify me as an expert on you."

Her eyes rolled automatically, but she refused to respond. That would just make him think she gave a damn about what he thought of her.

Oddly enough, she actually did.

"You, Casey, are a liar."

"I'll have you know, I never lie," she said, with conviction.

"Sure you do," he said, simply. "You probably lie to everyone on a daily basis," he said, ambiguously, and she wondered what exactly he meant by that. "But, mostly, you lie to yourself."

"Oh, really. And just what is it I'm lying about?" She tried to sound sarcastic, but part of her really wanted to hear what he had to say. Was she that transparent? Was some big secret written all over her face for every stranger to see?

Derek looked into her eyes as he answered, "Well, right now, you're lying about wanting me." There wasn't any smugness in his voice, he simply sounded like that's what he really believed.

"What?" She exclaimed, taken aback. "God, you're conceited."

"I may be," he admitted, "but that doesn't change the fact that I am right. You insulted the hell out of me, made a speech about what's wrong with me, and emphatically insisted that I'm not you're type, but it's all there in your eyes: you want me."

"You're delusional," she snapped.

He ignored her. "To everyone around you, I'm probably not your type. But you and I both know differently, don't we? And we both know why you're so pissed."

"Because you're an ass?" she guessed.

"You're mad, because when you saw 'my type' walking in your direction, you wanted me to hit on you. You like my type."

Casey just wanted this conversation to end. Where the hell was Kiera?

"Look, I told you—

"I know what you said," he cut in, "but we both know you would've given me your number if you hadn't learned of the game."

How did he know that? She wasn't even trying to struggle out of his grip anymore. Now she just really wanted to hear what he had to say.

"What makes you say that?"

"It's all in your eyes," he repeated. "When I came over here, do you know what I saw in your eyes? Lust," he said, answering his own question.

She didn't say anything, but her tongue involuntarily darted out of her mouth and licked her lips.

"The way you babbled, the way you wouldn't make eye contact, chewing on your lip—you were nervous. And you were nervous because you wanted me to like you."

Casey was shook up, but she couldn't let him see it. He had already seen too much. "That's neither here nor there." She shrugged. "Even if I did like you before, I don't now. I don't want anything to do with you anymore." Her voice was stony and cold, but her words seem to have the opposite of her desired affect on Derek. In fact, the boy seemed to light up.

"I was wrong…"

"Thank-you," she responded, though she was thoroughly confused.

"That's why you're so pissed, you're mad that you still want me. You may not like me," he conceded, "but you want me anyway, and you hate that you feel that way."

She gasped, her free hand flying to cover her mouth, and she just stared at him.

"Your eyes, Casey," he said, by way of explanation. "You should really do something about that."

The joking lilt in his voice when he delivered his latter statement was too much for Casey.

She slapped him.

"You are so off base."

"Oh, look," he said, tightening his hold on her arm, "your pants are on fire."

"Why you—

But she was interrupted by his two friends approaching. The boy who had been keeping time looked amused, but the other boy looked nervous as hell- like he thought Derek and Casey were about to start punching it out or something.

"We should go, Derek," the nervous one said.

Derek released her arm, but he couldn't help but say, "So, can I call you sometime?" he asked, laughing.

"Fuck you!" she snapped, before slamming her high heeled clad foot down on his foot, and marching away.

But she heard him mumble, "Anytime," to his friends.

Casey made it about two stores down the hallway, when she literally bumped into Kiera, who was exiting a boutique.

"Where the hell were you?" she snapped, voice practically shaking with fury.

"Chill, Case. When I came out of the restroom I saw you talking to some guy, so I decided to give you some space."

"Thanks," she said, sarcastically, wondering how in the world Kiera had left the restroom without her noticing it.

"Dude was hot!" She was gushing, but Casey remained silent. "Well, don't keep me in suspense; did you give him your number? Are you going to see him again?"

Casey shuddered. "God, I hope not. If I ever see him again, I'll probably kill him." 'Or fall in love with him,' she added, silently, without even thinking.

The thought made her ashamed, but she couldn't help it. Maybe she did have him pegged, maybe not, but he had her pegged too.

"It wasn't love at first sight…"

Casey sighed in relief; maybe telling Emily had helped her case, not hurt it.

"…But it was something," Emily finished. This made Derek's words to her that night when they were by her pool make a little more sense.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, and Emily gave a genuine laugh. "I bet that dinner where George and Nora 'introduced' you two to each other was interesting."

Casey didn't join in Emily's laughter, but she was definitely glad to hear it. Emily hadn't stalked off yet, and she seemed to want to hear more, so things were going as well as could be expected.

"'Interesting,' is one way to put it."

TBC…

Reviews Are Always Welcome!

A/N: I am aware that Casey and Derek probably both seemed OOC in this, but it went with the plot. And, besides, it's a fanfic, so the characters are gonna be OOC no matter what.

Let me know what you thought.