Drake and Josh characters belong to their proper owners. I did create some characters for this fanfiction. "Measure of a Man" is sung by Clay Aiken. It was written by Steve Morales, Cathy Dennis, and David Seige. Any other songs mentioned also belong to their proper owners. Because you all know how much I love sticking lyrics in these things.

Well, Drake's still taking this really hard. Let's see if Cassandra can make any sense of this.

Drake and Josh's alarm clock went off in their bedroom early one morning.

"First day of school!" shouted Josh.

"Don't remind me," said Drake, pulling the pillow over his head.

"Come on, you gotta get up," said Josh. He left the room to shower.

Drake lay in bed thinking about senior year. That year there was so much to do. There would be Homecoming, even better this year because seniors were on court, and prom was this year. His face faded thinking about it. Homecoming...prom...no Cassandra. The year before he told himself if they were still together, and he had hoped so much they would be, he was going to make prom perfect for her. Now, he couldn't do that. He slowly climbed out of bed.

"You're just now getting up?" asked Josh, returning from his shower.

"Yes," said Drake. He grabbed his clothes and headed for the bathroom.

Josh stood there wondering whether or not it would be good for Drake to have Cassandra in any of his classes. Josh knew her electives were cooking and health. He knew Drake wasn't going to take cooking, but he had signed up for health. He was also on the same level as Cassandra in english, science, and social studies. Same level as in same class really. Cassandra pulled off all A's in each of her courses, something Drake had yet to see. Josh headed downstairs for some breakfast and thought about the year. He hoped it would be a good one.

At school, Cassandra and Alexa stood near the sports and activities office, waiting for the dance team roster to be posted. Cassandra shuffled her feet impatiently.

"Don't worry," said Alexa. "I'm sure you did well."

The secretary came out and posted several forms and headed back inside. The girls looked at the one for the dance team.

"I made varsity dance!" yelled Cassandra.

"Awesome!" said Alexa. "See? I knew you'd do well."

Cassandra turned and came face-to-face with Sam.

"Tell me," said Cassandra.

"Fine, a deal is a deal," said Sam. "It was Christopher." She pushed Alexa aside and looked at the dance roster.

"Christopher?" said Cassandra. "Why that no good..."

"Cassandra," said Alexa. "Do you think he did it because he was jealous?"

"I don't know. Why else would he have done it? Why did my parents believe him?"

"He was pretty nice to them," said Alexa. "He kind of won them over in the beginning."

"I know," said Cassandra. She sat down on a bench. For more than two months she hadn't been allowed to see Drake. She hated it so much that she hadn't left the house except for dance try-outs.

Mindy approached the two girls.

"Hey," said Mindy. "How do your schedules look for the semester?"

Cassandra showed her.

"Oh, you've got english and lunch with me. I haven't seen Josh yet, but he might be in your cooking class." Mindy didn't want to mention health, or the fact that she still hadn't seen Drake's schedule.

"That's nice," said Cassandra.

"Is something wrong?" asked Mindy.

"She just found out that the moron who talked to her parents was none other than Christopher," replied Alexa.

"Where does he have room to talk?" asked Mindy. "He dumped you without any good reason last year. Oh wow, I'm defending Drake Parker. Never thought I'd do that."

"Well," said Cassandra. "Chris is never getting me back ever. No matter what he does. If he thinks he can just break up with me for no good reason and then tell my parents that my current boyfriend is a player, he's dead wrong." She walked away, heading to her locker.

Josh came up to Mindy with Drake behind him.

"Hi Josh," said Mindy.

"Cassandra just went to her locker Drake," said Alexa.

"Oh," he said. He traced the outline of a poster on the wall.

"She made the varsity dance team," said Alexa.

"I'm glad," Drake replied, smiling slightly. "Tell her I'm happy for her, would you?"

"Of course Drake," replied Alexa. She saw that he still really liked her. In fact, she knew he hadn't dated anyone at all that summer. She realized she had been wrong about him last year. Now, her best friend couldn't see him anymore. Life just wasn't fair.

"Oh," said Mindy to Josh. "You have english, math, and lunch with me."

"Yeah," said Josh. "Drake has them with us too."

"He does?" asked Mindy.

"Is there a problem with that?" asked Drake.

"No, well, I don't know," Mindy responded.

"Why?" asked Josh.

"Cassandra has english and lunch with us too."

"Oh," said Drake.

"Can I see your schedule Drake?" asked Mindy.

"Sure," he said, handing it to her.

"Um, you've got psychology, physics, and health with her too," said Mindy.

"Oh great," said Drake. "The perfect boyfriend/girlfriend class arrangement and I can't even talk to her because I'm not allowed to see her anymore." He turned and headed off.

Cassandra was at her locker. She decided to do a bit of decorating the next day. Meanwhile, someone left a few papers inside she needed to get rid of. Christopher walked up to her.

"Hi," he said. "I heard what happened. I'm so sorry."

Drake turned the corner and saw Cassandra and Christopher talking together.

"Well that's sweet of you Chris..."

Drake quickly turned and walked away. He hadn't seen much, but he thought he saw that she was talking with Christopher again.

"...but I'm not an idiot. I know what you did, and I never want to waste my time talking to you ever again. You ruined a lot for me," Cassandra continued.

"Hey," said Christopher. "I did that because I care about you."

"I was happy! If you really had cared about me, you would have left me alone. Now, I'm forbidden from seeing the one person I felt I could trust more than anyone else, and it's all your fault. Listen this time, leave...me...alone!" She slammed her locker shut and went to her first class.

Cassandra's first class was calculus. The teacher handed them a syllabus.

"I know a syllabus seems really college-like, but you'll all be there next year and I thought I'd start you off with one," said the teacher, Mrs. Delaine. "I find them very helpful for managing time as well."

Cassandra was half listening. She was angry at Christopher and missed Drake a lot. She didn't know if he was in any of her classes yet. If he was, it would be hard. She wanted to tell him Christopher was the one who talked to her parents. Maybe she could. If he was in one of her classes, then she would have to speak to him sometimes. She wouldn't ignore his presence.

Josh walked into cooking, shaking his head. Drake had told him what he had seen. He and Mindy were shocked and told him it probably wasn't what really happened. In fact, Mindy was very insistent but couldn't explain because class had started. Now, Josh was worried. Suppose Cassandra did want to date Christopher again. Her parents had liked him. He sat down in a seat and looked around the room. He knew how to cook, as did Cassandra, but they both thought they'd take the class for a break since they liked to do it.

Cassandra walked into the room and sat next to Josh.

"Hi," she said. "Haven't seen much of you."

"Given the circumstances, it's okay," said Josh.

"It's not okay. Christopher is an idiot. I don't know why he went to my parents in the first..."

"Wait, Christopher went to your parents?"

"Yes," she replied flatly.

"Oh," said Josh. "I guess Drake misunderstood you two..."

"What are you talking about?"

"This morning before first period, Drake saw you talking to Christopher. He must have misheard you. He's not very happy about it."

"Oh no, I have to set the record straight," she said. "I wouldn't go off with Christopher after last year, not ever. Poor Drake. I should talk to him."

"Won't your parents be upset?"

"As far as I know, their terms were that I couldn't date him. It'd be pointless for them to tell me not to talk to him."

"You sound like you miss him," said Josh.

"I do," she said. "I haven't seen him since the trip to Michigan."

"Well, apparently you have the rest of your classes today with him, including lunch," said Josh.

"Oh," said Cassandra. "I guess that'll be okay."

"Yeah," said Josh. "You know, he hasn't dated anyone else all summer."

"I know, Mindy told me," she said.

"Okay, class," said their teacher. "Let me explain what we will cover..."

Cassandra headed to health. She knew she'd see Drake there. She had to tell him what happened. Even though she was forbidden to see him anymore, she still really cared about him. She didn't want him to be hurt.

Drake was one of the last to walk into the room. He glanced around and realized all the seats were taken. Well, the one next to Cassandra wasn't. What choice did he have? He slid into the seat next to her.

"Drake," she said. "Oh, I have to tell you, this morning..."

"I think I got it," he said.

"No, you have it completely wrong," she replied in a whisper. "Christopher is the one who talked to my parents."

"They believed him?"

"They loved him."

"Great," said Drake. "Um, is it bad for me to sit here? I may have to move."

"I don't know," Cassandra replied. "I want you to stay, but it's probably not a good idea."

Their teacher, Ms. Lane came in the door.

"I hope you all chose seats you can stick with," their teacher said. "This is where you'll be sitting for the rest of the semester."