"Ah, Mr. Venturi. I've been looking for you." The Principal said, giving them a look revealing that he was not too happy, and Josh stood there smirking. "I have some questions I need to ask you concerning Mr. Marshall here." He motioned to Josh, who suddenly dropped the smirk and started playing up his injury. "Please follow me to my office where we'll discuss this issue. Ms. MacDonald, you're going to be late for your class."

"Sir--" Derek started, but the Principal cut him off.

"Mr. Venturi, I have been informed that you punched Mr. Marshall during the lunch period for no reason. I need to further investigate the issue, and if you refuse to come with me I'll be forced to give punishment here and now." Derek nodded slightly in response. He had a bad feeling about this; how much trouble would he get into? There was no doubt Josh had milked the story for all it was worth and made it sound worse than it was. Suddenly, he felt his hand being squeezed; Casey was still by him.

"I'll meet you at the office, okay? Just tell him the truth and you'll be alright." She whispered, giving him a comforting smile. She had a determined look on her face and a sparkle in her eye, which meant she was up to something. But before Derek could ask her what she was doing, Casey gave his hand another squeeze and was off, speed walking down the hallway.

The walk to the office was completely silent, and some students who hadn't gone to their classes yet were staring and whispering to each other. Derek figured they were trying to figure out what had happened, and to be honest he didn't really care if they knew. Derek had punched Josh; he didn't want to, but he had to protect himself, and more importantly there was no way he was going to let anyone lay a hand on Casey. He'd willingly admit that; he just wasn't sure if the Principal would believe him. When they reached the office, the Principal told Josh to take a seat and wait while he talked to Derek.

Derek had never liked the Principal's office. Sure, he'd been there a good few times, but that didn't mean he enjoyed making the trip. He took a seat in front of the large desk, and the Principal sat in his own big cushioned chair, fingers tapping together as he studied Derek.

How was he going to explain this?

"So, Mr. Venturi, would you like to tell me what happened?" The Principal began. "Did Mr. Marshall make a comment about your team? Were you in the mood to 'mess' with a football player again?" He thought this was a sports issue. Okay, yeah, Derek had caused some trouble in the past, especially with the football team; he knew that. But this time was different.

"No." Derek replied. "It wasn't like that at all."

"Then what was it like?"

"Well…it had nothing to do with the football team."

"Alright, Mr. Venturi, what did it have to do with?" The unpleasant knot in Derek's stomach got bigger.

"I guess is you really wanted to know…" He cleared his throat. Casey had told him to tell the truth. He might as well give it a shot. "The truth is…it was about Casey." The Principal sat up.

"Ms. McDonald? Your step-sister?" He inquired, his eyebrows raising slightly.

"That's right, Casey." Derek replied. Okay, here goes. "See, she was dating Josh. That is, until they broke up over the weekend because they got in a fight and he and his friends…." He sat up. "They made her cry, Sir. I hate it when she cries. When she cries, there is no peace." Realizing he was probably talking about her crying a little too long, Derek moved on. "Anyway, this morning, I heard Josh talking about the party and the whole thing with Case so I asked him to stop and stay away from her. He--"

"You and Mr. Marshall had another altercation this morning?" The Principal asked. Josh had obviously not mentioned it to him.

"I wouldn't call it an altercation exactly. He didn't like that I was telling him to stay away from Casey, and things became a little heated when he started going on about me and Casey like--"

"What about you and Ms. MacDonald?" Derek paused. Now this was not something he wanted to get into, especially not with his Principal.

"Nothing. Well, no. I mean…me and Casey…" Derek was never really one with words. "About how close me and Case are." 'Tell the truth Derek.' was all he could hear ringing in his head. "Recent events have caused me to discover that I tend to get very…protective…of Casey." He shrugged. "Josh just didn't like that I was telling him what to do, and maybe I did go a little overboard by momentarily pushing him up against a locker, but I didn't do anything to him. He had no business going near her again anyway, and by what he was saying he didn't seem to have any plans to stay away from her. If he went near her again, I can assure you there would be crying! And I hate it--"

"When she cries. Yes, I understand that." The Principal paused; he looked as though he wasn't quite sure how to handle this. "So, you were trying to keep Mr. Marshall away from Ms. MacDonald? That's how this fight started?" And people said chivalry was dead.

"I guess."

"Alright, alright. So what happened this afternoon?"

"Well, I was walking down the hall when Casey found me. She started interrogating me, that thing she does when she knows something's up but--"

"Mr. Venturi." Derek stopped.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Uh, Sir."

"You can just skip ahead from you and Ms. MacDonald to the point when Mr. Marshall came into the picture." Derek, without meaning to, gave a small laugh. Damn, Sally was right.

"Yeah…sorry." He bit his lip. "So, me and Casey were talking. Suddenly Josh shows up and before I know it he's trying to get back together with Casey like he didn't do anything to her. But you should have seen her; she shot him down like--" The look on the Principal's face made him stop. "She politely declined his offer, but he wasn't taking no for an answer, so I stepped in, trying to get him to back off. He pushed me up against a locker and I pushed him to get him off of me. While he's coming back for round two, I tell Casey to leave but she can be ridiculously stubborn sometimes so I got distracted. Josh grabbed me, and I was pretty sure he was going to rearrange my face, so I did what I, at the time, figured was the only way to get him off of me and away from her. I hit him. I didn't want to fight, but it's what I thought I had to do to keep him from hitting me or, more importantly, Casey." Whew. Derek took in a deep breathe. That had taken a lot out of him. He just hoped it would be enough.

"Well, that was quite the story you've come up with."

"No, not at all. It's not a story--"

"Then what is it?"

"The truth!"

"The truth?" The Principal scoffed. "That's never been your strong suite, Mr. Venturi." Derek straightened up.

"I decided to try it out." His mind flickered to Casey. "So far it's worked out really well for me. I was thinking of sticking with it, actually." The Principal just looked at him and sighed.

"This is an extremely difficult situation for me, Mr. Venturi. I would like to believe your story but it is extremely different from Mr. Marshall's, and by the record his story is more trustworthy." Derek couldn't believe this. This was how he was going to handle the situation? By records? And even if Derek was the honest one in the case, which he was, he was still going to be treated like he punched Josh for no reason? "However," the Principal continued, which caught Derek's attention. "I did have some suspicions concerning what Mr. Marshall told me, and you brought up the previous altercation from this morning, whereas Mr. Marshall did not mention it at all. That put questions into my mind."

"What exactly did, uh, Mr. Marshall mention?" Derek couldn't resist asking. He wanted to know what lies Josh was spreading around. "Sir." After taking a moment to consider whether or not it was proper to say, the Principal replied.

"All I will say is that, compared to your…detailed account of the events leading up to your hitting Mr. Marshall, his was short and direct. All in all, from his point of view, he was trying to talk to you and Ms. MacDonald and out of nowhere you lashed out at him, pushing him and punching him."

"You're not seriously going to believe that, are you?" Derek blurted out before he could stop himself. The Principal eyes narrowed, and Derek drew himself back. "I mean…I guess I understand the whole more trustworthy aspect, but, I mean, looking at both stories…you're going to believe his account over mine? I mean, first of all, what would he be talking to me and Casey about? Not to mention--"

"I'm going to ask that you kindly remember you are in the Principal's Office talking to your Principal, Mr. Venturi, and not hanging out at a friends house talking to one of your friends. You could get into a large amount of trouble for this and I would like you to take this seriously. Now--"

Just as he was about to continue, there was some loud speaking heard from in front of the Office, where the secretary was.

"Like I said, miss, you can't see him right now. He's with a student."

"Yes, I know he's with a student, which is why I'm here." Derek smiled as he recognized the voice: Casey.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go in. You can take a seat and wait--"

"No, I can't wait! I need to go in now! Please." Derek felt bad for the secretary; Casey wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"It's alright, Casey. You can come sit next to me." Came Josh's voice in a mildly suggestive tone.

"Ew." Derek had to stop himself from laughing as Casey badmouthed this guy. "How many times do I have to tell you to, Josh? No. I don't want to sit near you, stand near you or go out with you. And , if it could be arranged, I'd prefer not talking to you either. Okay?" Her tone was condescending. Casey was starting to get aggressive, and Derek had no doubt things was going to get interesting fast.

"Miss, I'm really going to have to ask you to sit down." Interjected the secretary, and by the tone of her voice she was starting to get annoyed.

"And I'm really going to have to ask you to let me in to that office. I have to talk to the Principal. It's very important."

"I'm sorry but he is--"

"In with a student right now, yes, I am aware thank you. But I have evidence, statements, practically a case to defend that student in there from getting into trouble for something that wasn't his fault!" Without meaning to she started to rant. "He was just trying to protect me from him," It was clear she had pointed to Josh from the offended grunt. "And even I thought he was going to get hurt for a moment, which would have been horrible but I have to prove he did what he did in self-defense so I need you to kindly let me into that--" Obviously Derek wasn't the only one who realized that Casey was starting to lose her cool when the Principal got up and opened his office door.

The three of them froze and turned to looked at the person in the doorway. Casey, her arms up and about in the air, probably to signify how important this was, papers in hand, hair starting to fall apart. The Secretary, who had her hands on her hips in annoyance, still had a sour look on her face even though she wasn't looking at Casey anymore. And Josh, who'd been sitting there, watching them like a tennis match, a slightly alarmed look on his face.

The Principal stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

"What is going on out here?" He asked, and the secretary was first the speak.

"This young lady has been insisting on seeing you, sir, and I have been trying to explain you have been in a meeting with another student but--"

"Ms. MacDonald." At the sound of her name, Casey slowly dropped her arms, straightened out the papers she was holding and cleared her throat. "Can I help you?"

"Sir," Casey started, taking a couple steps forward. "I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but what I need to talk to you about concerns Derek and what happened between him and Josh. I was there, I saw what happened, and I insist you let me speak to you and show you what I have." She motioned to the papers she held.

"And what do you have to show me, Ms. MacDonald, that is relevant to this issue?"

"I have written testimonies about both incidents regarding Mr. Venturi and Mr. Marshall from eye witnesses including myself, lists of personality factors for both boys, past events to create character profiles and numerous other charts and accounts to prove that this event was not just a random burst of anger or anything of the sort, but in fact an act of defense."

Everyone went silent for a moment. Derek knew she was good, but this was almost too much. Part of him wanted to laugh; she was the only person he knew who would be able to come up with all of that so fast and make it organized. Everyone else obviously felt the same way because the color drained from Josh's face, signifying his realization that he might actually get into some trouble for this and the secretary took her seat which Derek took to mean she understood Casey meant business. The Principal just stood and stared; he'd clearly never come across a student like her before.

Casey waited expectantly, crossing her arms.

"Well." The Principal finally said. "Mr. Venturi, please wait out here with Mr. Marshall. I'd like to speak with Ms. Macdonald in private." He hadn't moved, eyes still on Casey. It was almost like they were having a staring match.

"Are you kidding me?" Josh blurted out. "You aren't seriously going to listen to--"

"Mr. Marshall, I would remain silent if I were you." Josh leaned back in his seat, scowling.

"Mr. Venturi," The Principal repeated, turning his head slightly. "Please wait out here."

Derek got up and walked out of the office; he was starting to feel better about the whole thing. Casey had straightened herself out, and when he passed by her their eyes met. A knowing looks spread across her face, as if telling him everything would be okay, and Derek responded with a similar look. It was like she was telling him she would take care of it, and him responding, saying he'd done a significant amount of damage control already but he was confident she'd finish the job. The Principal cleared his throat and their eye contact broke. Derek sat a few spots away from Josh and Casey entered the office.

"Please, no interruptions Susan." The Principal told the secretary before going into his office and closing the door.

It was up to Casey now.

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Hope you guys liked this extra long chapter! Get ready for Casey v. Principal, and I can promise that things will get interesting! As always, R&R! I love getting feedback from you guys!