A/N: Two things:

1) Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive as I've been posting, I love getting reviews and notifications when people add Repaid to their follows or favorites.

2) There is some serious upheaval happening in my life right now, so I haven't really been in the mood to write. On Tuesday I got a huge bombshell that basically equates to my school closing in a week. As you might expect, I'm pretty shaken up and have a lot of planning to do. I'm really not in the right headspace. Hopefully I'll be finding a new place to go and getting all that squared up, saying goodbye to all my friends and teachers, and all of that, and will be more in the writing headspace sometime later this week or next. Luckily, I still have another eight chapters written and ready to post, so I should be able to post semi-regularly even if I haven't written much more. (Also: I am still in need of a beta.)

I'd like to thank sheteego, rainbowsherbert927, and DC2012 for the reviews (and the guest reviewer), vraiparadis for the favorite, and sheteego, Helena Light, and megmariemac for the follows.


Chapter Eight: Darling, You Don't Know

"Start coaching, huh?" Derek shot her a challenging glare. "Sorry, Princess, but I'm still evaluating." He sat back down on the couch, leaning back and looking up at her. How he managed to keep his arrogant 'I'm the boss' attitude while she was the one standing annoyed the hell out of her. As did his words. "You agreed, Case. You agreed to follow my instructions to the letter," he reminded her, and she sensed an edge of warning to his voice.

Casey shifted, uncomfortably, but covered her discomfort with sass and a scowl. "Sounds like someone's been reading too much housewife smut," she sneered, "-Should there be a contract? What, should I be picking out a safe word next?" Her words were quick, sharp, biting – and obviously a defense mechanism. Or, at least, obvious to her. Hopefully he would be completely clueless, not having her oh-so-in-depth one month of psychology courses to work with.

The challenge was still there as he smirked, eyes alight with – something. Something that made her stomach flip nauseatingly. His voice was lower than she'd expected – one that, had he been talking to anyone else, she would've labeled 'suggestive' – as he responded: "If you'd like." He just looked so goddamn smug, it was… it was maddening! But he cracked a grin, voice lightening, as he added, in a mockery of seriousness; "Might I suggest 'rutabaga'?"

She glared. "Very funny." She did not sound amused.

He became slightly more serious. "But really, Princess," there was an odd touch of patience in his voice that she wasn't used to hearing, "I've got to figure out what you know before I can teach you what you don't."

Teach her? …Well, yeah, he'd said 'coach' but the way he was talking now… Ideas began to trickle, unbidden, into her imagination, and they all seemed far too tactile for comfort. What was it with that verb, 'teach,' when applied to interpersonal relationships that conjured such vivid imagery? Why was some part of her telling her to run? The part of her refusing to run, that was more familiar. It was a part that was usually activated by Derek, every time he set a bet that she couldn't say no to. And this was one, in a way. He didn't think she could handle it.

She'd show him.

Her voice was syrupy sweet as she raised her chin defiantly. "Evaluate away." She'd just have to view this as a challenge. She knew Derek. She knew his game: he'd be waiting to make a complete fool of her in some very public way. Some way that would ruin her social life at Queen's for at least the rest of the semester. But they weren't in public now. So as long as she stayed cautious when it came to things outside the apartment, she should be fine. (Feeling suspicious, she swept her gaze around the apartment, checking for hidden cameras – nothing popped out as a potential hiding place.)

Derek had been fixing her with a level gaze, as though checking her commitment. After a moment he nodded, seeming assured, and checked his watch. She was a little offended. "I've got an invite to a thing tonight," (his specificity was astounding, she thought wryly,) "so we'll have to meet again at a later date." He suddenly seemed to think of something, "Actually, that would be good. Maybe I can get Novak or Getty to do a practice date-"

Casey's eyes widened: more people knowing that she needed a dating coach? No thank you. "-I'd really prefer if we kept this between us." She'd spoken so quickly that he'd raised an intrigued eyebrow at the outburst, making her blush slightly but not back down. "I figured you'd be a bit more… discrete with the whole set-up thing." She added with a pointed gaze, then averted her eyes, voice dropping. "The fewer people know about this, the better." Casey knew she was giving him leverage, supplying him with a secret he could hold over her, but there was a true vulnerability in her words, the way she bit her lip, knowing the admission could be a huge mistake, and he hadn't ever truly betrayed her trust when she'd allowed him to see her real anxieties. Then again, there was a first time for everything.

He nodded, evenly, not a trace of a joke on his face. "Point taken." And despite her better judgment, Casey thought she might actually trust him.

Once his point was made, however, the smirk was back. "But you've always been quite the keener: how do feel about homework?"

She also reverted to her previous attitude. "Usually, or coming from you?"

Derek ignored her. "I'd invite you to my thing tonight, but I don't think it's really your style." He was smirking – again. She wondered if he ever went more than an hour without smirking. He probably smirked in his sleep. "Can you get to some sort of social gathering this weekend? A party, a bar, anything?"

Casey hesitated. She didn't usually seek out parties. "It's only the second month of term…"

He looked amused. "Jesus, Case, when do you start being normal, the last month of classes?"

She glared. Again. "I'll have you know that next month will include at least one party that I will be attending." That was true. The first play of the year was currently being workshopped, and they'd be having the cast party following closing mid-November. Plus there was strike night, though she was more likely to pass out than party.

"Wow, one whole party?" He glanced up at her briefly as he started scrolling through his phone. "Do you stay for the whole thing, or leave after the first hour?" Before she could argue, he was speaking again. "Looks like there's a party on Greek row at Deek house tonight, and a – oh god, nevermind, Pumpkinfest won't attract the crowd you need," he muttered, "Oh, okay-" he nodded, looking at something on his phone. Where he was finding this information, Casey had no idea. "You ever been to the Varsity?" He named a pub just off campus that was a frequent haunt of QU students.

She hesitated. "Once…"

"Great. Go there. Tonight."

She raised her brows in affront. "Excuse me?"

Derek grinned. "You have to be able to flirt, Case. I know you don't want me there, but if you bring me back… eh… five phone numbers? Complete with pics for your address book. There's your first assignment."

She'd gone pink at his mention of flirting, but was ignoring it, hoping it would go away. She wasn't a flirt. To take her mind off the discomfort of this so-called 'homework assignment' she did what she did best: complained about Derek. "I've only been here ten minutes, Oh Dating Coach Extraordinaire, is this all you dragged me out here for? Won't your stalkers get suspicious? –Or do you usually only last ten minutes?"

She hadn't meant her final comment to sound as blatantly sexual as it did. She hadn't realized how sexual it sounded until it was out of her mouth. But she wouldn't apologize or correct herself. She kept her head up, looking down her nose at him, an inaudible 'hmph' in her posture.

Derek cracked a smile. "And here I thought you were eager to get out of my company. Missed seeing me all the time, huh?" She refused to respond, so he just shrugged. "Fine. If you really want to… show me what you've got."

She just stood, the confusion leaking through onto her face.

"Flirt with me, Case."


A/N: This chapter it was hard to pick a title from the wealth of options within Alex Winston's 'Host.' Would I go with "I hate what you say and I hate what you do"? Or "everybody knows all the honest ones lie"? "It's yours against mine"? In the end I went for "and you think you know me, darling, you don't know." I think it works.

Please be a responsible reader and review. :P

Fun fact: I am very insecure about posting this due to the utter lack of research done on Kingston and QU. I am ashamed of myself. But at the same time, super excited to make fun of Derek for reading/watching Fifty Shades. Because we all know he thinks he's (a more sane, less abusive) Christian Grey.

Also, I've never actually ready Fifty Shades, I've just seen the movie once and seen a LOT of criticism. Not like I sound defensive or anything.