A/N: Thanks for the great reviews!

A Little Fun Never Hurt... Right?

"Derek?" Casey asked quietly. Sometime amongst all the wandering around we'd been doing, I had pulled her into a storage closet.

"Yes, milady?" I'd hoped she would just kiss me already.

"Why are we here?"

I smirked, "'Cause my dad brought us."

She shoved me playfully in the arm. "Why are we in here?"

"I think you know why," I drawled out, my voice husky. Casey looked down at the ground. Through the darkness I could see her nod. I put two fingers under her chin, causing her to look at me.

"Derek, I-" she started.

"Shh..." I said slowly. There was a slight pause. My hand had not moved.

"Kiss me," Casey ordered. I nodded my head, bending down, and my lips met hers in a sweet kiss. My hands traveled down to her waist and she ran her fingers through my hair. I put my tongue to her lips, silently asking for entry. She almost instantly permitted, and my tongue began to massage hers, and she mine. She broke apart from me, causing a little sting on my lips.

"Derek," Casey spoke. "You told me not too long ago that you loved me. Is that true?"

I looked her square in the eyes, "Do you even have to ask?"

Casey gave a nervous laugh and looked everywhere but at me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was avoiding me.

"Casey?"

Then, utter silence. You could hear a spec of dust fall on the deserted shelves of the stuffy, secluded room. Next thing I know, she's bolted out the door and left me alone, in my sweet misery.

0o

After I'd regained enough of my dignity to walk out of the closet, I rejoined the others. Casey was walking alone in the group, and Dad and Nora seemed to have not even noticed our absence. Typical of them. If it hadn't been for me, they wouldn't even have noticed that Casey had been assaulted.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, guess what Sam's 'punishment' was. Three hundred hours of community service and a mark on his not-so-spotless record. But his record is irrelevant. The fact of what his punishment was doesn't even compare to what he did irks me. Man, I want to punch someone - no, not thing; although a wall might do - so bad. Casey doesn't need to know about this whole thing. She's gone through enough without having to hear about Sam's lack of punishment. I wish I could just make her forget about him.

"Derek! Watch where you're going!" Casey yelled. Amongst all of my thinking I had stepped on the back of her shoe; which wasn't really a shoe as she was wearing sandals, and I scraped her heel.

"Geez, lighten up, Klutzilla!" I exclaimed. Casey narrowed her eyes, a sign of war.

"I'm Klutzilla? I'm not the one going around stepping on peoples' feet!" she screamed at me.

A crowd had begun to gather, as well as security.

"At least I didn't fall and land on someone's butt," I said loudly. She let out a scream of frustration and shoved me against the wall. I fell, as did the 'precious work of art' above me. Ow.

I groaned and rose , cringing at the pain in my 'happy place' where the picture had landed. Let me just say: my 'happy place' was not very happy anymore.

"God, Casey! What is your problem?" I exclaimed.

"My problem? My problem?" she advanced towards me. I couldn't back up - she had me cornered. "You wanna know what my problem is?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact - I do," I said, crossing my arms defensively.

She got right in my face; I could feel her hot breath. "You."

My arms dropped, and I stalked off, shoving my way harshly through the crowd. I'm tired of this shit. If we can't communicate without fighting, then we won't communicate at all.

I entered the code into the car and climbed in the back. I fell into a restless, pissed off sleep, and I didn't wake up until Dad told me that we were home.