For the first time in his life, Ricky West walked with confidence towards Casey MacDonald. He knew what he had to do to set things right. It was the only way to get rid of his headache, or to give it a more appropriate name: Derek Venturi. The words were on the tip of his tongue. Though Ricky's letter was nestled in Derek's coat pocket, Ricky knew the words of his manifesto by heart. He could recite them with no difficulty. That is, with no difficulty barring the presence of Casey MacDonald.

But there she was. Only a mere ten feet in front of Ricky. Had she noticed him yet? Not likely. Ricky could be two feet in front of her, and strangely enough, he still seemed invisible to her. Casey closed her locker door, and then looked up and saw the shy teen boy walking towards her. She smiled at him. He looked familiar, but Casey couldn't place the face.

Ricky's heart beat faster as he closed in upon Casey. She had smiled at him. His breath caught in his throat. He had to remind himself to breathe. With all the nerve he could muster he shot a smile back at Casey, and his hand betrayed him as it shot up and gave a weak wave instinctively. Now her attention had been caught.

Casey's curiosity was piqued, and she struggled to arouse any memory that might give her a clue to the mysterious boy's identity. There was a semi-flashback and she recalled someone falling in her English class, then laughter. There was a pang of familiarity to Casey's own fall only a few months earlier, which had earned her the embarrassing nickname "Klutzilla." Then another memory followed. She remembered the boy rushing down the stairs in her home last night when she came home from choir practice. Was the one who fell in her English class and the boy from last night one and the same? How could that be though? Didn't Derek say the boy last night was Ken Jamros? And wasn't the boy's name in her English class...

"Hi, I'm..." began Ricky, interrupting Casey's train of thought. Before he could finish, Casey seemed to connect the dots.

"Ricky? Right?" questioned Casey.

Ricky was flabbergasted. She did know his name. Before Ricky could respond, however, the bell rang, signaling the start of classes. Casey jumped at the sound.

"Oh, sorry. I have to run" Casey said, moving past Ricky quickly. As she was running to her next class, she called back to Ricky. "I'll see you in English, Ricky!"

Ricky stood in Casey's wake, helpless and alone. Afraid to move. Afraid to talk. But somehow he managed to call after her, weak as it was.

"Yeah," Ricky said, with a sense of defeat. "I'll see you in..."

"Detention, Mr. West," said the ominous voice that spoke behind Ricky.

Ricky didn't need to turn around to recognize it was Principal Lassiter, but he did anyway. Ricky looked up at the lanky man, who was shaking his head.

"This is unlike you Mr. West," lectured Lassiter. "Of all people, you're usually first to class."

"I know sir, but..." began Ricky.

"No buts about it, Ricky," Lassiter said, cutting in abruptly. "You know my policy on tardiness."

"Yes, sir," Ricky said with a sigh.

"You may serve it this afternoon," Principal Lassiter finished. "Don't let it happen again Mr. West."

"Yes, sir," Ricky echoed.

Ricky put his head down and walked sadly to his next class, thinking all the while whether fate was always so cruel. When would be a good time to talk to Casey, and tell her everything? More importantly, could he work up the nerve to do it a second time?

Sheldon may have been right. The worst Casey could tell him was "she wasn't interested." But to have her uninterested was a penalty worse than death for Ricky. With Casey in the dark about his true feelings, Ricky would always have his daydreams of what "could" be. And something was up with Derek. Something Ricky couldn't put his finger on, but made him at once both uneasy and curious...

Ricky decided to keep to himself the rest of the day, delaying in his own thoughts, questioning himself again and again. When the final bell ring, and the rest of the kids rushed to their lockers to pick up their things to take home. Ricky took his books and walked to detention hall, or as Ricky referred to it: "Detention Hell." He had only been there once before, but it was for a less serious reason than now. Ricky had thought it was absurd to assign a detention for an overdue library book, but he could see where the librarian was coming from. He had kept the book three months past its due date. Ricky couldn't even remember the name of the book as he took a seat in detention hall. His thoughts were so clouded. He thought endlessly about Casey. He began to float into a cloud of his thoughts, and he pictured Casey in his mind's eye, smiling at him from this afternoon, and how sweetly his own name was uttered by her lips. It wasn't too late thereafter, however, that a storm cloud approached and shattered his daydream.

"Hey West," called Derek from outside the room. He sauntered into detention hall and dropped a list of homework assignments in front of Ricky.

"What is this?" Ricky asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well you didn't tell Casey," Derek said. "Which didn't surprise me, just to let you know. So I thought I'd give you some extra things to keep you busy while you serve your time in detention."

"Thanks Derek," Ricky replied. "That's very thoughtful."

"Isn't it?" Derek answered smugly. "Have it ready for Monday morning, okay?"

Ricky grumbled something in response, but it didn't matter to Derek. He was already out the door, ready to enjoy his weekend. Ricky looked over the list, let out a sigh and began to work on it. Thankfully, Derek's homework was a level behind most of Ricky's classes, so Ricky was able to finish it quickly.

The rest of Ricky's time in Detention Hell was slow and agonizing. His eye followed the second and minute hands of the clock, desperately awaiting the hour hand to strike five and signal his freedom. When 5:00 came, Ricky shot up from his seat and made a beeline to his locker to gather his things.

Ricky looked around the halls. They were empty. Well, mostly. A few of the sports teams were still practicing, and Glee Club was just letting out. Ricky almost jumped out of his skin. Glee Club! It was as if Fate had gotten over its laughter from earlier and granted Ricky a second chance.

Casey walked out of the choral room and to her locker to gather her things. She said goodbye to a few of her Glee Club friends, and then she saw Ricky. She smiled, and started to walk over to him. Ricky buried his head in his locker, and made like he was looking for something. Before too long his nostrils were filled with Casey's perfume, and he knew she was standing behind him.

"Hi Ricky," she said enthusiastically.

Ricky slowly turned, and he felt his cheeks flushing with color. He managed a half-hearted response.

"Hi Casey," he said weakly.

"I didn't know you stayed after school on Fridays too," Casey said. "Now let me guess which club you're in. Hmmm..."

Ricky waved off the idea. "Actually Casey, ummm, I'm not in any clubs. I had detention."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, and then raised one quizically. "You had detention? For what?"

"It's kind of stupid, really," Ricky answered.

"Come on," Casey prodded. "You can tell me. I won't tell anyone your dark and devious deed."

Ricky let out a little chuckle. "Believe me, it's nothing like that. Remember when we met in the halls earlier?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah?"

"Well, the long and short of it is that you made it to your next class before..."

"Lassiter caught you after the bell, huh?"

Ricky nodded. "Yep, you guessed it."

"I'm so sorry, Ricky," Casey said.

"For what?" Ricky asked.

"Well, I feel partly responsible," Casey replied. "If I hadn't held you up, you probably would have made it in time to your next class."

"That's ridiculous," Ricky said. "It was just bad timing that's all."

"How can I make it up to you?" Casey asked.

"There's nothing to make up for," Ricky said holding his hands up. "I insist."

"All right," Casey said, giving up with an exasperated sigh.

Ricky smiled. This was the longest conversation that him and Casey MacDonald had ever had. Officially, they just met today. However, the way they had been talking the past few minutes had seemed like they were friends for a while.

Casey picked up her knapsack and threw it over her shoulder. "Well, I should be heading off. It was nice talking to you, Ricky." She left and started walking down the hall. Ricky took a deep breath and followed after her.

"Hey, Casey," Ricky said, stopping her in her tracks.

Casey turned around. "Mmm-hmmm?"

"Walk you home?" Ricky asked.

"Actually, my mom was coming to get me at about 5:30," Casey said, shrugging her shoulders. "Sorry."

Ricky felt defeated again. He gave an understanding nod, though and put on a smile, even if it was faked for Casey's sake.

"That's all right," Ricky said. "Maybe some other time." He paused a minute. "Tell Nora I said hello."

Uh-oh, did Ricky just say that? He thought he internalized it, but he was afraid it may have slipped through his lips. He was right.

"How do you know my mom's name?" Casey asked curiously.

"Ummm, a guess?" Ricky lied badly.

Casey shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Wait a minute. That was you last night, wasn't it?"

"Last night?" Ricky asked, trying to lie again to cover up his slip.

"Stop kidding around Ricky," Casey said. "You were over at my house last night. You and Derek were talking, right?"

Ricky threw up his hands in the air. "You got me! I was over there."

Casey laughed. "I had a feeling it was you."

Casey pulled out her phone and began to dial a number. After a moment, there was an answer.

"Hi, mom?" Casey began. "Don't worry about coming to get me. I think I'm going to walk home. Yep, I'm sure. Okay. I love you too. Bye!"

Ricky's heart caught in his throat. Was this it? Would he have to come clean now? He knew the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, that he was over at her house last night. Either way, it was going to be a long walk home.