A/N: I'm such a slow updater, sorry about that! Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter.

During the entire car ride to the school dance, neither Derek nor Casey spoke one word to each other. They even avoided looking at each other. That definitely surprised Nora.

When they arrived at the dance, they saw Josh there. Casey looked at Derek with a scared look on her face. Derek didn't say anything, but looked at her with an 'everything will be alright' expression on his face. This made Casey feel better, and more relaxed.

Casey couldn't find Emily anywhere, and since she wasn't a very popular girl, she didn't know anyone else too well. She stayed with Derek for a while. Usually, for her, the thought of spending so much time with Derek would be a total nightmare but for some reason she enjoyed his company. Although, what surprised Casey the most was that Derek wasn't spending very much time with his friends, nor did he ask a girl to dance. He probably thinks I'll give him more money if he spends more time with me while Josh is here. Casey thought.

Derek and Casey were standing around the fruit punch bowl. They hardly said a word to each other the whole time, maybe the music was too loud, maybe they just didn't have anything to say, or maybe they did, but didn't know quite how to say it. Finally, Derek stepped up.

"Hey Case, since I've been pretty good, could you give me $100 dollars for all my trouble?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "Fine, but not one penny more."

Derek grinned.

As Josh walked towards them, Casey moved closer to Derek.

"You two aren't dancing?" Josh asked.

"We are now," Derek replied as he put on hand on Casey's waist held her hand with his other hand.

To Casey's relief, Josh left. Casey was left dancing with Derek. She hated to admit it, but she enjoyed dancing with Derek. Both of them were having fun, actually, swaying slowly together with the music. While being totally caught in the moment, Derek leaned towards Casey as if he was going to kiss her, until…

"Max!" Casey said as she moved away from Derek.

"What are you doing here?" Casey said as she ran towards him. She left Derek all alone, sitting on a chair close to the table with the fruit punch. Talk about déjà vu. Derek thought as his heart broke while watching Casey and Max kiss.

Derek walked over to them. "Bye Case and it's nice to see you Max," he said, avoided her eyes as he walked out the door.

"Derek, where are you going?" Casey asked.

"Home"

"But, you'd have to walk and it's-"

"It's okay, I'll be fine,"

"Alright, then could I have a word with you before you go, Derek?" Casey asked.

"Sure, I guess,"

"I'll be right back, Max" Casey said as she walked with Derek outside. It looked beautiful outside, the sun was just setting and there were hardly any clouds in the sky.

"What's up?" Derek asked as he avoided Casey's eyes.

"Well, I guess I'd like to thank you, Derek. For, you know, helping me out. Since Max is back, I can pay you now," Casey said right before she pulled out a check for Derek. She wrote down $100, just like Derek wanted.

"Here you go," Casey said as she handed him the check.

"Thanks," Derek said as he went on his way. He turned back, and saw Casey begin to dance with Max; he quickly turned back and sighed.

"So, you never answered my question. What are you doing back so early?" Casey asked with a big grin on her face.

"It's a long story, my dad… blah blah blah…" Casey couldn't really pay much attention to what Max was saying, because for some odd reason she couldn't stop thinking about Derek. She just nodded, smiled, and added in the occasional 'yeah'. Casey was too busy wondering why Derek left early.

Casey enjoyed herself dancing with Max, but she had this feeling of disappointment too, that she could not describe. She kept wondering what might have happened with Derek and her if Max hadn't came. She tried her best to not think of Derek and enjoy her time with Max. So, then eventually, she stopped thinking of Derek. She was having way too much fun dancing with Max. Plus she noticed that Emily finally came with her boyfriend Sheldon. She was having a really great time, and she noticed that Josh had left early… just like Derek. She tried to avoid thinking of Derek, because it made her feel… weird, something she couldn't describe.

After the dance was over, Casey came home very happy and she danced and hummed her favourite song that had played at the dance. She was in a very good mood, she was so pleased that her boyfriend Max had come back a week early. With a huge grin on her face, Casey finally made her way to her room only to see a bouquet of beautiful flowers on her desk.

Aww, Max shouldn't have. She thought as she smelled the flowers, they were her favourite flowers too: red roses. She loved them because she thought they were so romantic.

I wonder how Max knew that they are my favourite Casey thought as she looked for the card.

Ah ha, here's the card. What a second, there's no writing in it. Strange.Casey thought. She then realized something had fallen out of the card. She bent down to pick it up, only to find that it was the check she had given to Derek.