After having absolutely no time to work on this, I must say that I am proud with the outcome. It's pretty nice in length, I think. Actually, while I was writing it, I kept thinking, "Geez, is this chapter ever going to end?" Hehe. Well, I had fun writing this one, so I hope you all enjoy! And don't forget to drop a review on your way out, folks!

.I own nothing.

x—x

"God, I actually forgot how much I hated this." Derek growled as people bustled around him, setting up the final touches before the opening of the show.

"It's a one night, and there's no scally-wagging or rapping." Casey rolled her eyes as she looked into a mirror clasped a small string of pearls around her neck. "And you don't look dirty. Well, you don't look dirtier than usual. That's a plus."

"Not the actual musical, Space Case. That didn't turn out to be so bad. I meant the stage makeup." He continued to observe himself in the mirror. "I feel like a chick."

"Embrace it, Dereka." Casey mocked. "At least you don't have to wear guyliner like last time."

"Bite me." Derek murmured.

Casey rolled her eyes before grabbing her script and looking it over.

"Oh my, God." Derek said. "You know it by heart, already. Jackie meets David, David swoons, Jackie swoons, there's some big misunderstanding in the middle, cue dramatic music and sadness, blah, blah, blah. David gets all mushy, saves Jackie from getting hit by a car -which I still don't get. I mean, the car is a cardboard box. People are going to know that it's a cardboard box. It's pretty stupid.- Jackie professes her love for David. David lives. All is well, kiss kiss, goodnight."

Casey narrowed her eyes at him and sneered. "Sans the 'kiss kiss' and I guess you've got it."

"Exactly." Derek nodded. "So put down the script and please explain to me again why I needed this God forsaken goo caked on my skin?"

--

"Jackie!" Derek called walking onto the stage. "Jackie, wait!"

"No, David. Leave me alone." Casey said. She was walking across the opposite side of the stage, which looked like a street.

Suddenly a bright light flashed, like a head light and a cardboard "car" appeared on stage, heading toward Casey.

"Jackie!" Derek cried before running and jumping, pushing Casey out of the way so that the 'car' collided with him causing him to fall over.

"Oh my, God." Casey cried, getting up and running over to Derek. "No, no, no!" Casey's eyes welled up with tears as she knelt next to a motionless Derek.

"You can't do this, David." Casey said. "That was supposed to be me. Supposed to be me. Don't do this, David." Casey laid her head on his chest and began to sob. Casey lifted her head and began to sing.

"I wandered through each day/Surrounded by each day's light/Wondering why I couldn't see/Empty and lost without any sight/Until the day that you found me/I started living/Now I can't stop/I need you here with me/To guide me through, tonight." She cut off with a small sob, a tear running down her cheek.

"Oh, David." She said, once more placing her head on his chest. "I love you." She said, finally.

While she sobbed a spotlight appeared over them causing Casey too look up. "What the..." She murmured, but then Derek stirred under her arms.

Casey gasped as she watched Derek open his eyes. "David!"

Derek blinked up at her. "Casey." He breathed lightly.

Casey's eyes widened slightly, and then Derek's did, too, but his voice had been too soft for the crowd to hear it anyway.

"Jackie." Derek corrected himself, speaking louder.

"Oh, David." Casey said, shifting and moving up so that she could help Derek up into a standing position as he pretended to limp. She quickly let herself become embraced in his arms and he tensed up, hating that he had to hug, and then she pulled back and looked at him.

"I thought you were dead." She whispered, letting the back of her hand graze his cheek lightly.

"Did you mean what you said?" Derek asked, looking deep into her eyes. Casey felt slightly unnerved under his gaze and the strange beating inside of her chest as he took her hand into his own.

"Did I mean what?" Casey breathed.

"That you love me?" Derek asked.

Casey turned her eyes away from him, looking down. Slowly, she looked up at him. "Of course." She said.

Derek continued to stare into her eyes. "I love you, too."

This was where they were supposed to kiss; what they had been avoiding.

But strangely, the way Derek was looking at her made Casey's knees feel weak. Derek began to move his head toward her, and for a moment, she actually thought about leaning in so that her lips would meet his. But she didn't, and Derek turned his head so that he kissed near the corner of the left side of her right side of her mouth so that it was close to a kiss, but really wasn't.

The light began to dim and the curtains drew to a close as the audience on the other side roared with applause. Casey detatched herself from Derek while the other cast members filed onto the dark stage and lined up next to each other. Casey nervously looked over at Derek who was looking at her. The curtain opened again and Noel, who had moved to stand next to her, grabbed hold of her hand. Remembering the curtain call, Casey quickly grabbed a hold of Derek's hand. When they were facing the crowd, who were still screaming and applauding, they all bowed, once then twice before everyone but Casey and Derek backed up leaving the two to bow themselves before finally releasing each other's hands and exiting from the stage with everyone else.

Casey hurried away, past the dressing rooms, rubbing her hands on her pants because they were all clammy.

"Casey!" She heard her name called. She looked up to see Kendra and Emily hurrying toward her. She took a deep breath and immediately began to smile as she made her way to her friends.

"Oh my, God!" Kendra squealed. "That was great."

"Derek did nicely on dodging the kiss." Emily acknowledged.

"Thank God for that. He actually managed to do something right." Casey smiled. "I don't even think Ms. Harold will care."

"Great!" Kendra said, clapping her hands together giddily.

"And I was totally bawling at the end." Emily said, to which Kendra nodded.

"It was a little cheesy and cliché." Casey shrugged, but not trying to hide her grin.

"But heart wrenching!" Emily cried.

"Yeah. You and Derek have like, a lot of chemistry." Kendra nodded.

"You guys bring the dresses so we don't have to stop anywhere?" Casey asked, completely ignoring what Kendra had just said, thinking back to the feeling she had when on stage.

"Yeah, they're in the car, I'll go get them." Kendra said, giving her another quick hug before shuffling away.

"How are you, Case?" Emily asked.

"I'm fine. Just glad everything worked out." Casey smiled.

A burst of giggles came from somewhere near them, and they saw a group of girl surrounding Derek.

"Wow, Derek, you're such a good actor." One of the girls said.

"Such a great voice."

"So strong." Another one said, stroking his arm.

"You were so sensitive up there."

Emily shook her head at them while Casey found herself glaring at the girls.

"And that's why Derek's ego is so big." Emily said.

Emily's voice shook her from what she was doing and she quickly stopped looking at the girls surrounding Derek.

"Hey, a year or two back and you would have been bimbo number one over their." Casey laughed.

Emily gasped in mock resent and gave Casey a light elbow in the side.

"There's Kendra." Casey said, pointing to the petite blond coming toward them with the three dresses draped over her arms. "Let's all go change in the dressing rooms behind the stage. Lots of mirrors, makeup and hair supplies."

Twenty minutes later they emerged in the dresses they had bought, ready to go.

"Are you sure I look okay?" Casey asked as they walked toward Kendra's car. "I mean, the dress seemed nice at the mall, but now..." She pressed her hands down against the skirt.

"Case, you look stunning, so stop worrying about it." Emily said.

"Yeah, Casey. You look amazing." Kendra said, running her hand over one of her wispy curls.

Feeling reassured she got into the car with her friends, and they drove away from the school parking lot and headed toward Sally's house.

When they got there the party had already been going on for an hour, and there were cars parked up all along the street, and people overflowing on the lawn, and through the house.

They found a place to park and got out of the car and headed toward the party. When they entered the house, Sally was near the door in a sleek black dress.

"Casey! Emily, Kendra, I'm so glad you guys made it!" She said said, giving them each quick hugs and bright smiles.

"Oh, and Casey, you did so great in the musical! It was amazing!" Sally said, taking hold of Casey's hands. "Who knew you and Derek would have so much chemistry! It's almost funny, really."

Casey bit back a grimace and forced a giggle. "Well, I guess we're both just good actors."

"Well, it was really great." Sally said again. "Well, I should go back and play the good hostess." Sally said. "Have fun you guys!"

Once Sally disappeared Kendra drug Emily and Casey deeper into the party. But before any of them could really even do anything, Noel appeared.

"Hey, you guys!" He smiled.

"Hey, Noel." Casey smiled back.

"You guys having fun?" He asked.

"Well, we just got here." Emily shrugged.

"Oh, yeah, cool. Look, Case, can I talk to you for a minute?" Noel asked.

Casey quickly glanced at her friends, who had widened their eyes, all knowing what was about to happen.

"Um, yeah." Casey said, dreading what she was about to have to do. "Sure."

Noel gave a parting smile to Emily and Kendra before he and Casey walked toward a less crowded part of the party.

"Well, um." Noel said, awkwardly. "You, um, did really great in the musical." Noel praised.

"Thank you." Casey said, glancing around, trying to figure out the easiest way to get out once she let him down.

"Look, Casey, there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while now." Noel said, obviously nervous.

Casey gave him a weak smile before he went on.

"I kind of, well, like you. A lot. Have for a while now." Noel said rather quickly, as if pushing himself to say it all before he lost the nerve.

Casey took a deep breath, having known the words were coming. She stood in front of him silently for a moment before speaking.

"Noel, you're a really sweet guy, but..." Casey trailed off. She really didn't want to hurt him.

Noel looked at his feet and shuffled them awkwardly.

"But you don't like me in that way." He finished for her.

"I'm really sorry, Noel." Casey said honestly. "I don't want this to make stuff weird between us."

"I know, Case. It won't." Noel assured her.

Casey leaned in to give him a hug. When she released, Noel began to walk away, so she turned.

"Casey?" She heard Noel call her name. She turned around.

"Yeah?" She asked.

Noel looked her square in the eyes. "You look beautiful tonight, Case."

Casey gave him a sad smile before turning and walking away, into the crowd.

Not too far away she found Kendra and Emily waiting with apologetic looks plastered on their faces.

"We're sorry we couldn't save you." Emily said.

Casey shrugged. "It had to happen at some point. I mean, him setting up the kiss the other day-"

"Pretty desperate." Emily said and Casey nodded.

"Poor boy." Kendra shook her head.

"I let him down as easy as I could." Casey said.

"How'd he take it?" Emily asked.

"He didn't like, burst into tears or something, did he?" Kendra asked, placing a hand on her chest.

"No." Casey shook her head. "He said things wouldn't be weird between us and then said I looked beautiful.

Her friends eyebrows shot up. "Well, at least that's not bad." Emily shrugged.

"Yeah, but still pretty stressful." Casey said. "I'm going to go look for the bathroom. I'll be back." Casey parted from her friends and started wandering through the crowd. After a few minutes she stopped and asked someone if they knew where the bathroom is. They pointed in a direction and she thanked them and wandered in that direction.

She walked through a doorway that led to a hall and began to walk down it. But then she stopped when she heard something in one of the rooms that lined the hall. The door was slightly ajar, so Casey leaned forward and peeked through the small gap.

Then Casey gasped and ducked, flattening herself against the wall so the couple inside wouldn't see her.

"Max." She heard Sally's voice coo. "This has been going on for three months! You and Casey are finally broken up. Can't we stop sneaking around?"

"But I kind of like it." Max said.

Casey's stomach dropped and she felt repulsed when she heard Sally give an extremely girly giggle. She took a deep breath and slowly peeked around the corner. She caught sight of Max holding Sally, kissing her. The same way, she now realized, she had seen them at the mall. She didn't even notice someone was behind her until they spoke.

"Shit." She heard someone murmur and she quickly spun around to see Derek.

He was looking at her with wide eyes. It was obvious he had seen what was going on in the next room.

"Casey, come on." Derek whispered, leaning forward to grab her arm.

Casey stood with her feet fixed to the floor while Derek pulled at her arm.

"Come on!" Derek said loudly.

They heard a noise come from inside the room, and seconds later Casey was standing face to face with Max who released a colorful four letter word before Sally appeared at his side. She immediately paled when she saw Casey and Derek.

When Derek pulled at her arm again, Casey willingly let him drag her from the spot, tearing her eyes from Sally and Max. She was in too much shock to say or do anything. So she let Derek drag her through the crowded rooms. He even managed to get her past Kendra and Emily who tried to stop them on their way out.

She let him drag her all the way to where Derek has parked The Prince where he finally let go of her arm to unlock the car. They both climbed in silently, and Derek turned the ignition and pulled away from Sally's house.

Neither of them said a word while they drove on for five minutes. Not liking the silence Derek tried to turn on the radio, but Casey's hand immediately came out to turn it off again.

"You knew, didn't you? That's why you were so weird whenever the subject of him came up." Casey spoke for the first time, minutes later. "He had been talking about it, right?"

Casey looked at him, but Derek kept his eyes focused on the road and said absolutely nothing.

Casey chuckled bitterly as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Yeah." She mumbled before turning her gaze back to the window.

Derek glanced at her while she was staring out the window and then turned back to the road, sadly.

--

When Casey and Derek entered the house and passed the living room to up the stairs they saw Nora and George standing by a new, unadorned Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

"What do you guys think?" George smiled.

Derek grunted and Casey just stared.

"Well, how was the party?" Nora asked.

"Super." Derek drawled as Casey turned and began to walk up the stairs. Derek followed as Nora and George exchanged worried looks.

Derek watched as Casey walked straight into her bedroom, closing it noiselessly. He sighed before opening the door to his bedroom. He just wanted to collapse on his bed.

Too bad someone was already on it.

"Edwin, get out of my room." Derek said.

"Geez, bro." Edwin said, startled. "What are you doing back so early?" He nervously looked at the clock. "It's only eleven."

"Just because I'm out doesn't mean you get to hang out in my room, you freak." Derek said, mentally reminding himself to get a lock put on his door, but then realizing that his dad would never let that happen.

"Sorry, D." Edwin said, but didn't make any move to leave. "What's up? You seem down."

"Nothing, now get out." Derek said.

Edwin rolled his eyes but got up.

"Sheesh. You really should learn how to get in touch with your emotions." Edwin said, and received a swift smack to the head as he passed Derek before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Derek let out a groan before going beginning to pull off his clothes, haphazardly throwing them in random places on the ground. Once he had pulled on some pajamas he left the room and headed toward the bathroom.

Casey was there, hair already pulled up, make-up wiped away. Instead of the red dress she had on her long pajama pants and t-shirt. She didn't even glance at him as she was brushing her teeth when he entered.

Grabbing his toothbrush, Derek bit his lip. There was a small part of him that wanted to say something to her. What, he didn't know. Was there anything to say? It was quite possible that any words that he could voice would just make the situation worse. At least right now she was quiet. There was no whining, no crying, no venting, no yelling. She was completely silent. She didn't even look sad. Just...blank.

So Derek remained quiet, brushing his teeth as Casey spit into the sink, rinsed her tooth brush and left. He heard her bedroom door close, and that was that.

He finished brushing his teeth and put everything away as well before making his way back to his room, closing the door.

Derek heaved a great sigh and let himself fall onto his bed. Way too much had happened in one night for his mind to process, yet it had all become clogged up in his head like mental traffic causing a pounding.

After several minutes of him staring blankly at his ceiling, his door opened. He barely lifted his head enough to see Casey walk into his room looking as disheveled as ever. Silently she threw an envelope at him, turned on her heel and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Derek sighed but propped himself up and picked the envelope from his chest. He opened it and pulled out one of Casey's Christmas cards.

He observed the cover of the card before opening it.

I hate it when you're right, Derek.

Merry Christmas.

-Casey

x—x

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update this. Most of my updates lately have been pre-written, and I don't have any more of those, so I have to buckle down and really try to work on my stories. I really love this story, and want to know what you guys think of it!

Review, loves.

-Tarryn