Oh goodness gracious. It's been a little more than a month since I last updated. I'm really sorry! I've been completely wrapped up in schoolwork. Thankfully, the week of the 10th is spring break so look forward to more updates then. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Life with Derek characters.

The next morning, Derek walked into Casey's room while she was sleeping hoping that she'd be awake. She was asleep. That was a good thing because he had forgotten to knock. Yet, it was bad because he couldn't tell her what he was supposed to tell her. He looked at her for a couple seconds before realizing that he had a slight smile on his face. Disgusted at himself, he shook his head and sat on the foot of her bed.

"Case, wake up!" he hissed at her and nudged her ankle.

Casey groaned, but woke up after realizing that it was Derek touching her. It was actually an awkward scenario after she woke up because they stared at each other for about three seconds in silence with his hand still on her ankle.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, moving up so that there was no physical contact between them at all.

He looked at her in confusion and then remembered why he was there, "Remember how I'm helping you make Sam wish he never cheated on you?"

Casey rubbed her eyes sleepily and nodded her head, "Yeah, why?"

"Do you know how to flirt?" he asked her bluntly.

She stared at him, "For the last time, I'm not going to be a slut!"

He looked at her for a couple seconds, trying to determine whether or not she could flirt.

"Did you hear me?" Casey asked him.

"Yes, I did. And no, you're not going to be a slut."

"Then why'd you ask me if I could flirt?"

He responded, "Just flirt in front of him casually today."

Casey stared at him with an "as if" expression.

Derek rolled his eyes and continued, "I'm not asking you to throw yourself at other guys. Just make Sam a little jealous. Plus, flirting does not make you a slut."

She eyed him carefully and agreed unwillingly, "Fine, whatever. Get out now. I'm going to change."

He continued sitting at the foot of her bed, waiting to see how long he could test her patience. It didn't last very long, seeing that she threw her pillow at his head after about five seconds.

After Casey was done getting ready, she headed downstairs only to find Lizzie and Edwin alone in the kitchen eating breakfast. They were in some obviously light conversation before she broke into it.

"Where's Derek?" she asked, causing them both to look at her.

"He's waiting in the car already," Edwin answered.

Lizzie threw her a granola bar, "You can have the last one for breakfast."

Casey nodded a thank you and ran outside. It was always weird when Derek was in the car before she was. He usually took a longer time than she did, considering he wanted to look good for the ladies at school. He knew what they liked and he made sure he was exactly what they wanted.

When she sat in the passenger's seat, the music was already playing and the engine was already started. He began driving right after she fastened her seatbelt, causing her to be suspicious.

"Why are you so anxious to go to school?" she asked suspiciously.

He glanced at her, "The sooner school starts, the sooner it ends."

"Nice philosophy, you've got there," Casey replied sarcastically.

"Nice philosophy, you've got there," he mimicked her in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

"I do not sound like that!"

He smirked, "Lets hope you don't sound like that when you flirt."

She rolled her eyes, "Of course, I don't."

"Fine, do a practice round and record yourself with your cell phone."

Casey looked at him, "Practice on what? You?"

Derek looked around the car, "Who else? Times like these make me question your intelligence."

"I always question your intelligence," she stated, looking out the window.

For some reason, that one comeback silenced him the rest of the car ride. He wasn't mad or anything, but his mind was wrapped around his genius plan of making Sam jealous until he realized that it wouldn't be the best time for Casey to start flirting. One reason was because she would see Sam's bruise. The second was that Derek himself might get a little jealous.

"Don't flirt today," he told her before she got out of the car.

She gave him a questioning look and rolled her eyes, "Sure, whatever."

---

At school, Derek walked around campus with his usual strut. However, with each step, he tried anxiously not to come across Emily, Sam and definitely not Casey in case she happened to run into the other two. He didn't want Casey to see Sam's bruise because he knew that it would stir up some chaos. He couldn't even remember a time where he was so cautious about where he stepped foot. His attempts were actually quite great considering he made it through the first four periods of school without making eye contact or having to strike up a conversation with any of them. He managed his usual "Hey"s and "What's up"s all until lunch arrived.

Derek sat down at his usual table, concentrating on the food on the tray in front of him. It didn't really look like food, to be honest. But he figured it couldn't be any worse from the lunch last Thursday.

"Derek Venturi, you are in big, big, big trouble!" shrieked a very familiar voice behind him.

He turned around to see Casey with her hands on her hips, completely out of breath. Being the hormonal teenager that he was, Derek's eyes couldn't help but wander to her chest and he swore she was teasing him with her continual deep breaths. Of course, his thoughts were interrupted as she grabbed his arm and dragged him to the staircase.

"What'd I do this time?" he asked with a roll of his eyes, sitting himself down on the stairs.

She stood in front of him, huffing loudly, "Derek! How could you?"

He figured that she saw Sam and all his black and blue glory.

"How could I what?" he asked, figuring he could play dumb for at least a minute or so.

"Punch Sam!"

His plan for playing dumb failed as he jumped up, covering his mouth with his hand. He looked around at the people walking by and gave them a pathetic smile to signal them to keep walking.

Casey pushed his hand away and continued to press her question, "Why'd you do it?"

He rolled his eyes again, "I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

Derek shrugged his shoulders, "Why do you care anyway? You should be happy."

Casey crossed her arms in front of her chest and didn't respond, breaking eye contact with him.

He stared at her in disbelief, "You still like him."

Casey looked at him and opened her mouth to answer, but he cut her off.

"You're unbelievable, Case. He broke your heart in the worst possible way and you still care for him."

He stared at her again for a couple seconds, shook his head and got up. He walked up the stairs, leaving Casey staring at the floor.

She didn't know why he punched Sam. Derek Venturi didn't go punching people for any random reason. He was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid. But then again, Casey wasn't there. She didn't know what made him throw the punch. She didn't know that Derek confronted Sam before her own talk with Emily. She didn't know what Sam explained in full detail what happened the night Emily came over to his house. She didn't know that Sam acted like it was no big deal and she didn't know that she was the reason for Derek even thinking of throwing the punch.

Casey huffed and went back to her lunch, trying to figure out why Derek got so moody all of the time. It made her angry that his emotions were always such a roller coaster. One moment he's nice to her, another he's evil. One second he's happy and the next he's mad. Frustrated, she continued eating, thinking about Derek the whole time.

Siiiigh, another short chapter but I hope you liked it. Please review, though. I'm still sorry about my lack of updates, but I'm really trying. Remember, more updates during the week of the tenth. Yay for Spring Break:)

- Lina.