A SLEEPOVER

The teacher enters. Mr. Grossberg. He's German. He doesn't resemble Mr. Furlong at all. He's small, fat, wears big black glasses and walks like his left leg is paralyzed, but it isn't, he just walks that way. Casey and Desi work together, and that pisses Delilah off.

"All right class, you must all take your book on Zeite 12. I want you all to do the test as it is written down there. Then you schreiben everything down in your reports for nächste week."

Casey has a little trouble understanding what he says, with his heavy accent. When Desi looks at his face, she smiles. The confusion is so clear.

"Casey, page 12. We've got to do the test and hand in a report about it next week."

Casey looks surprised.

"You mean you actually understand that guy?"

"Better yet. I can talk German myself."

"I don't believe you. Prove it!"

"All right. Herr Grossberg!" (Mr. Grossberg)

"Yes, what is it?"

"Casey und ich verstehen nicht ganz was Sie uns erzählt haben über diesen Zeite. Was ist einen Bacterie genau?" (Casey and I don't completely understand what you told us about this page. What is a bacteria exactly?)

"A bacteria is a micro-organism that lives everywhere. They replicate every 20 minutes. The rest is in your book."

He smiles.

"Und danke für es versuchen auf Deutsch zu sprechen. Wo kommst du her?" (Thanks for trying to speak German. Where are you from?)

"Die Niederlande." (The Netherlands)

"Es ist schön da. And now to work!" (It's nice there)

Desi smiles at Casey, who was staring at them with his mouth open.

"Wow. All right, I believe you."

She smiles.

"Well, you heard Mr. Grossberg. Werken mussen wir!" (We've got to work!)

Casey smiles. He knows what that means. Mostly because Mr. Grossberg said it before. And to work they go. At the end of class, they finished the test, successfully. Casey smiles at Desi when they get out of the class.

"You know, you're the first one who ever wanted to work with me. Usually I had to work with Mr. Grossberg, and he talked German half the time. I didn't understand a word!"

Desi smiles. She didn't know Casey was bad in languages. He guesses her mind.

"I am kind of bad in languages. I don't have the feeling that belongs with being good in languages. I hate them and all about them. I guess that's the biggest part of the problem."

Desi smiles, and she guesses she is worse in hiding what she thinks then that she thought. Or Casey is better in guessing her mind then she thought. Casey smiles. When he looks in Desi's eyes for some reason he feels some kind of sensation he never felt before. Or never wanted to feel before.

'I think I love her.'

It falls to him like a bomb. He loves her. Or doesn't he? Is this what love feels like? This feeling like he can't stand when he's near her? The feeling of butterflies in his stomach? Is this love? Then what does he feel for Delilah? When he's near her he wants to kiss her. Is that because she's almost perfect? He doesn't understand it anymore. Stokely. She has to know. She's in love with Stan. But won't she suspect something then? Fuck this is hard! He decides to let it rest for a while. But then he sees the jocks again. They're heading right for him. He looks around if he sees Desi. She's not around, or so it appears. He sighs, he knows what's coming. He closes his eyes and wants to be as brave as Desi was. But he can't. He starts screaming.

"No! No! Stop it! AW!"

"Come on, go on!"

"AW!"

Desi hears the scream coming inside as she is on her way out. She only needs a microsecond to realize what's happening. She runs past a bunch of student and runs outside. She sees Casey being hit against the flagpole.

"Hey!"

"You again. Fuck off you bitch!"

"No way. Leave Casey alone! Right now!"

"No."

Gabe nods at the others and they crash Casey into the flagpole again. Hard. She hears his scream of pain. Her blood starts boiling at the sight of Casey in pain. Without thinking she runs towards them.

"I am not going to repeat this again. Leave Casey alone."

Gabe looks at her. He can see she's angry. The fury in her eyes scares even him a little.

"All right guys, let's get the fuck out of here."

They throw Casey on the ground and walk off. She sits down next to him.

"Casey, you okay?"

"Yeah. I think so."

His voice sounds unusually high. She remembers the moment they met. His voice was as high then. Suddenly her eye falls on a spot of blood on his stomach. It's quite big.

"What's this?"

Casey's eye falls on that spot two. An image shoots through his head, but he doesn't want to think about it.

"I don't know."

"Let me look at that Casey."

She sees the fear in his eyes. She knows something is up with that spot. What exactly she sees when he lifts his shirt. In big, bloody letters the word 'LOSER' on his stomach. She looks at him, terrified about what she sees. The letters are quite small actually, but they look painful. Casey looks down.

"Casey. When did this happen?"

"Uhm. The moment before you came along. Before they hit me against the flagpole."

He still looks down. He is scared of what will appear in her eyes right now.

"Casey this is bad."

He nods. Tears stand in his eyes. He doesn't want her to see. He hides his face in his hands. Then he feels her hand on his. She takes his hands away and lifts his face. She sees the tears. The fear in his eyes scares her. She didn't know it was so bad.

"It's going to be okay. Come on, I'll clean it. What did they use?"

"They used a pocketknife."

She nods and takes out the alcohol and tissues again. The pain is bad. The tears start running down his face. He hides his face in his hands again. The twitches in his shoulders tell her Casey's crying. She goes on cleaning the wounds. When she's done, she looks at him. He still sits as when she started cleaning the wounds. He's still crying. She puts his shirt down and hugs him. He hugs her back and cries on her shoulder. She makes calming noises.

"Shh, it's okay. It's okay."

When he stops crying she looks at him. She sees the pain in his eyes. Those blue eyes. She takes a deep breath and starts talking.

"Listen Casey. They have hurt you bad. I realize that. And I'm not asking you to stand up for yourself, because I know you're not that kind of person. You just need someone who cares. I know that. And I promise you, that I won't let you down. If you need me, I'm there. I want you to know that. Okay?"

Casey nods. Though he does not speak. His mind rushes, and thoughts come up.

'She stood up for me again. Against all the jocks. And they were scared of her. They ran away from her. Why did they run away from her?'

He is terribly confused. Desi realizes that, and because of that, she doesn't talk to him. They just sit there. Eventually, Casey is the one who breaks the silence.

"I can't go home like this. My parents will kill me. My dad wants me to stand up for myself."

"You could stay with me if you like, but you'll have to sleep on the couch then. I have some shirts from my dad, and he was about your size. We could get you a new one if you like that better."

Casey nods.

"All right. I've got to call my parents though."

"I have a phone, don't worry."

She smiles. She is glad she can help him, even if it's just cleaning his wounds and providing him with a place to stay when he needs it. She helps him up and supports him to her place. It's small, just big enough for two people. She sits him down on the couch. She takes the phone.

"Here, you can call your parents. I'll make you something to eat. Do you like chicken soup?"

Casey nods. As Desi goes to the little kitchen he calls his parents.

"Connor residence."

"Hey, dad, it's Casey."

"Hey Casey. What's going on?"

"I'm going to stay with a friend tonight, so. I won't be home. We've got to do a biology project."

"A friend? Where exactly are you? Then I'll get your mum to bring you some clean clothes."

"I'm at uhm. At Desi's. This is uhm. Hang on."

He holds his hand on the phone.

"Desi!"

"What's wrong?"

"Where exactly are we?"

"1578 Lincoln Street."

"Thanks."

He gets his hand off the phone and puts the phone on his ear again.

"I'm at 1578 Lincoln Street."

"All right, your mum will bring you some clothes in about 20 minutes."

"Okay, thanks dad. Bye!"

"Bye!"

He hangs up the phone. He wants to stand up, but the pounding against the flagpole and the cuts in his stomach. He is saved when Desi comes into the living room with two cups of soup. She gives him one and sits down next to him.

"So what did they say?"

"They wanted to know where I was to bring by some clothes."

"All right, Then I'd better give you one of my dad's shirts before they see yours. I'll clean your shirt right away."

"Thanks."

She smiles at him and stands up to get a shirt out of a big box in her room. It resembles Casey's shirt. She gives it to him. But the pain in his stomach makes him a bit helpless.

"Come here, I'll help you."

Desi helps him to take off his own shirt and put on the clean one. Then she takes the old one and puts that in some water with powder. Together with some of her own shirts, so the parents won't have suspicions. Then she goes back to the living room. Casey sits there, a little helpless. She smiles at him, and sits down next to him. She sees he's having a really hard time.

"Hey Casey."

He looks up, with a helpless look in his eyes.

"Don't worry. It'll be all right."

"How can you say that? You know it won't be all right. They'll keep picking on me until I'm dead an buried."

She looks at him. He isn't angry, just desperate.

"Listen Casey. They won't pick on you until you are dead and buried. As long as I am alive they won't be burying you. All right?"

He looks at her.

"But what if they take you? Huh? What if they will get you to leave me alone again?"

"They won't be able to do that. I will never leave you alone. I will not leave you to meet your doom. I promise you."

Casey looks at her with tears in his eyes.

"Someone promised me before."

Delilah. The truth is hard. She knows it's Delilah who promised him. And still he loves her. She dumped him. Left him to his fait. That bitch! She can feel a rage coming up, but she keeps it down.

"But I'm sticking to it Casey. You know how I hate it to see you suffer. Did the other person who promised you ever got him or herself punched for you?"

"No. She didn't."

"Did she stand up for you the way I did? Did she nurture you the way I did?"

"No."

He looks down. She sees pain in his eyes. Suddenly her doorbell rings.

'Saved by the bell.'

She walks to her door. She sees a woman in front of her door. Casey's mum. She opens the door.

"Hello, I am Desiree Mirkwood."

"I am Mrs. Connor. I am here to drop off some of Casey's stuff. How long will he be staying?"

"I don't know. No longer then 3 days."

"Good. Here are some clothes. I also packed his toothbrush and his schoolbooks for as far as those aren't here."

"All right, thank you. Do you want to come in?"

"No, thank you. I have to go back to my kitchen if you don't mind. Bye!"

"All right. Bye!"

She closes the door as Mrs. Connor walks away. She goes to the living room an puts Casey's stuff down.

"Nice mum. She dropped off clothes and your schoolbooks. We hadn't thought about those yet."

"She is kind of nice yeah."

He looks down. She knows he's thankful for the fact his mum didn't come in. He looks exhausted.

"Come on Casey, it's been a long day. You need some sleep."

He nods. She leads him to her bedroom. He takes off his shoes, socks and jeans with her help and lies down on the bed. She sits down next to him and strokes his hair.

"It'll be okay."

She makes comforting sounds. She finds it relaxing to herself. When Casey falls asleep she stays next to the bed for an hour or so. Then she sits down on the couch and falls asleep.