Learning to Love

By, awesometastic9

Standard Disclaimer

Chapter Four

An Insulting, Bickering Keener

They were quiet for a few moments, and then there was a knock on the dorm door.

Derek sighed, and got up. He walked to the door, and turned the handle, wondering who the heck it was.

"Casey?" he asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

She scowled. "I came here to give you your class schedule and your precious hockey practice roster."

"Oh," Derek said. "I left them?"

"Well, duh!" Casey exclaimed. "You totally freaked out and stormed off, remember?" She scoffed, annoyed all over again. "Did you completely forget about Truman? Does Casey MacDonald cheat?"

Derek opened his mouth to respond, but Casey answered for him.

"No," and she glared at him, just daring him to say otherwise, which of course he couldn't.

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Alec spoke from inside the dorm room.

"Hey, are you Derek's sister?"

"Step sister," Derek said instantly with an emphasis on 'step'. Casey looked at him strangely, seeing the same expression on his face as when he said that all those months ago. She still didn't know what it meant.

Sighing, Casey nodded and said,

"Yes, I am – unfortunately - Derek's stepsister. You must be Alec, Derek's roommate."

Alec looked stunned that she knew his name. So, he voiced his confusion.

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh," Casey said. "I may have looked at Derek's dorm assignments. Maybe," Casey blushed. Alec is kind of cute… she thought suddenly without warning. Ugh! Casey! You have a boyfriend! Snap out of it!

After mentally slapping herself, Casey smiled at Alec's nod.

"Oh, okay. So, you're the famous Casey MacDonald." He said.

"Famous?" Casey spluttered, taken aback. Derek couldn't have told Alec that much about me! In what? Three hours? Uh, well… in that time frame, it's not totally impossible. I think. Huh… Casey trailed off momentarily in her mind as Alec started talking.

"Yeah, he told me a lot about you. Keener, grade-grubbing, Klutzilla… Casey." He smirked and Casey got irked by his attitude. He's too much like Derek. Ack.

But, Casey spun on Derek, smacking him hard on his arm. "Der-ek!" Casey shrieked, "How could you verbally mangle me to someone you just met? It's rude and inconsiderate…" Casey trailed off, suddenly thoughtful. "Hmmm, that's actually more like how you usually are. I don't like it, but… it's comforting."

"Comforting?" Derek and Alec asked at the same time.

"Yeah. Like, I'm so used to Derek being an arrogant, pig-headed jerk that anything else would just creep me out."

Alec nodded, as if he totally understood in the whole three hours he had been with Derek.

Actually, like I said before… that's not that hard to believe. Derek is rather small minded. Casey laughed at herself.

"Why are you laughing?" Derek suddenly demanded, all angry.

This only got Casey to burst into a total unrelenting giggle fit. She only stopped when Derek cried,

"Ca-sey!" in a crude imitation of how she said his name. It's weird, he thought, she's only said my name that way like… what? Twice? The whole time we've been at Queens. A total of three – wait… four freaking hours. That must be a record.

Casey stared at him. "You're horrible at imitating me, Derek. Horrible."

At this, Alec laughed.

"Okay! Enough!" Derek then exploded, "Space Case – out. Derek – sleep. Now." And he began pushing her out of the dorm door.

"Der-ek!" then came Casey's voice – a voice he had come to love, especially that way… wait. What? What did I just think? L-lo-l… no. Not love. I do not love keener Casey MacDonald. No freaking way.

Casey struggled against Derek, who was purposely pushing back without much effort on his part. What – he's a damn good hockey player. Casey? A ballerina. He laughed at the thought.

"Out, Case," and Derek shut the door in her face.

"What an insulting, bickering keener!" Derek said, loud enough for Casey to hear outside. But, she chose to ignore his jab. But, that didn't stop her from being angry. Fine! She thought angrily. Be that way, Derek!

And she stalked back to her dorm where Lauren and Chelsea were – without a doubt – waiting for her.

And Casey was comforted, knowing she had new friends to go back to, despite how… what's the word? Uh… overly-girly they were.

And so Casey headed back in the twilight sky.