AN: ) I know Casey is pathetic for still acting like that towards Max and wanting him back, but don't worry! Everything will be explained in due time. ;)

Chapter 6: Foundations and Flirtations

"I don't want to go in. Ugh, I hate Chemistry. And Miss Xavier also hates me," Casey whined as Sally and Kendra literally tried to push her into the room.

"Yeah, yeah. We know. Your grade grubbing skills does not work at her… but," Kendra said, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pushing her into the class. "…Just imagine Max-hole's reaction when he sees you working with Derek instead of him."

Casey smiled a bit at the mention of it, "Do you think he'll be jealous?"

"Max-hole's the type, especially if you choose Derek, of all people, over him."

"Hey, babe," Max suddenly grabbed her from behind and turned her to face him, giving her a quick kiss. "What table do you want to sit at today?"

"Uh… well… umm… I kind of-"

"She promised to be my partner today, Miller. Sorry." Derek suddenly interrupted, seemingly out of nowhere, before taking her by the arm and leading her to a table in the back of the room.

"Casey," Max called out, following the pair. He quickly pulling her away from Derek with a scathing look sent this way. "What's going on? We always work together."

Casey paused for a second; thinking of a plausible excuse and cursing the fact that Kendra and Sally weren't around to help her with it. "I know, I know, but Derek really needs help in Chemistry and Miss Xavier figured that I could help him with it. After all, I have the highest grade in class." Casey told him before walking away to sit by Derek.

Max was in a state of shock, grumbling as he searched for another partner. Seeing Emily, who was passing by them, he quickly grabbed her and pulled her to the table next to Casey and Derek's.

"He's sitting with her?" Casey whispered as she jealously watched the two sitting at their desk and listening to the professor's instructions.

"He's an idiot, Space Case. Just ignore it. Besides, the whole point of this was to make him jealous, not the other way around."

"Yeah, but still… he's my idiot, Venturi. I love him. All of this… it's all for him," she told him, her eyes never leaving the two.

Derek gently pulled at her so that she was facing him instead of the other couple, "I don't get it. And I'm not going to pretend to, because, hell, this is your life. But if it helps, I can tell you that he's definitely jealous." Derek told her, looking straight to her eyes. Damn. Her eyes are really really blue.

"Really? You think so?" She asked him, her face immediately lightening up at the prospect. Yep. Blue like the ocean. They're even more beautiful when she smiles. Wait. What the fuck am I saying?

"Huh? Oh, yeah! He's even sending me a death glare as we speak."

"Well… good. He deserves it." Casey adamantly said.

Derek scoffed. "Don't pretend like you actually mean that. It makes you look even more pathetic considering the fact that you are the girl who still wants the guy that cheated on her," Derek told her before going off to the supply cabinet to collect their ingredients.

Casey waited for him, internally fuming over his comment, his audacity. While she was mentally composing a list of "101Painful Deaths to Inflict On Derek Venturi", she suddenly heard someone whisper her name. "Emily? What do you want?"

"What's with you and Venturi lately?

"What do you mean?"

"You sit with him at meals, talk to him, and now you work with him during class. Wait a minute! Oh God! You're not, like, rethinking your relationship with Max or something, right? Because if you, like, are totally are, you know you can talk to me about it."

When Casey looked at Emily's face, she was shocked by the girl's facial expression. It was like one of those maniacal, conniving looking villains that she only ever saw on her Saturday morning cartoons, only that this time, she realized that she's interacting with it. It was at that moment that Casey realized that Emily really had the whole evil bitch thing down pat. She was flawless. And for the first time, Casey was really scared knowing that she could fail. After all, she was going up against the master of manipulation.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies, but Space Case and I really have to start working on this experiment if we want to finish on time," Derek interrupted when he arrived with the materials.

Emily smiled coquettishly at him. After all, there was an undeniable je ne sais quoi about Derek that was irresistible, regardless of whom the girl was. "Sure! I wouldn't want to come in between the two of you," she told him before winking at Casey.

Casey just sat there frozen with a confused expression on her face, watching Emily and Max get to work, "God, I hate her."

"You know, the whole brooding thing you have going on isn't very attractive. You look rather constipated. Like Edward Cullen. Crap! Help me with the Hydrochloric Acid," Derek told her as he passed it to her.

"You really are a jack ass! And for the record, I'm not pathetic!" She told him as she began pouring the said acid in a beaker.

"Totally! Because, you know, acting like a five year-old isn't pathetic at all."

"De-rek! I am not acting like a five year-old!"

"Stop pouting then, Klutz."

"Can't you ever just be nice?—And add 10 mL of NaOH slowly".

"Nice? I am practically Saint Derek considering the fact that I agreed to help you piss off Miller and not to let you live in your delusional world where he does no wrong. Because guess what? He's a cheating asshole. Face facts and wake up, Space Case."

"De-rek!" Casey told him louder then she had intended, managing to get the entire class's attention.

Derek turned to her, eyebrow cocked, and signature smirk in place, "You know, I never noticed it before, but you're pretty sexy when you get all hot and angry like that."

She laughed, "You're always a flirt above all, aren't you?"

"What can I say? It's a gift. "

It was at that moment that the bell to signal the end of class rang. With it came Max, immediately appearing behind Casey and pulling her away from Derek after having witnessed their little show. "Let's go, babe."

"Actually, we're not done talking yet," Derek answered for her.

"I'll meet you at lunch," Casey told him.

Max clenched his jaw, addressing Casey through gritted teeth, "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

"Sure," she said, as he pulled her out the room.

"I don't want you hanging out with him, Casey," he told her gruffly.

"Max, don't worry about me. I mean, don't you trust me?" She asked him, fully well aware of the fact that she was pulling out all the stops by asking him that seemingly innocent question.

"Of course, I do, babe. But I know what Venturi's like. I mean, you don't know him like I do-"

"That's enough, Max! He's my friend. I won't let you say that about him. Just drop it," she told him before walking away with Derek in tow.

"OH MY GOD!" Casey shrieked joyfully as soon as the pair was outside of the school. "I can't believe it! He's actually jealous."

"Well, of course he is. He just saw his girlfriend flirting with his worst enemy," Derek pointed out to her as the two walked towards the parking lot.

"You know what this means, don't you? Our plan's working."

"Well, that depends."

"On what?"

"On what your goal is," Derek shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, for someone running as the Valedictorian, you can be surprisingly stupid sometimes."

"And you're a total jackass! But we've already covered that. Now how about we skip the insults for once, and just get to the point."

"Do you just want him to be jealous or to actually stop cheating?"

"I want him to love me," Casey said quietly, embarrassed by the statement.

Derek looked at her incredulously, pausing for a second to process what she had just said, "But- but you two have been together forever."

"Your point?"

"The point is… he hasn't he ever told you that he loves you before?"

"No… never. I guess it never came up. I just… damn. I just want him to realize that he does. I know it's there. He just needs to see it."

"So you think he does, but doesn't know it? Fuck Space Case! That's got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard! And believe me, I am friends with Ralph, I had heard many stupid things."

"Well, then… seriously… what other reason could he have for staying with me for so long?"

The face that Derek gave her then made her feel so ignorant, naïve—pathetic. It was an expression of such pity that it made her feel like hell. "Casey, I may think that you're annoying and all that-"

"Wow, thanks."

"No interrupting! Just let me finish first."

"Fine."

"Even with our animosity-"

"Ooh, big word!"

"Klutzilla! Shut the fuck up!"

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Do continue."

Derek sighed. "As I was saying, even though we're fighting like crazy even I can admit, and for the record, this conversation did not happen, I can admit that there's something about you. I mean—," he said with a sigh, obviously searching for a way to explain it to her. "Okay, one: you're hot as hell-"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Derek smirked, waging a finger in front of her face, "I said, no interrupting."

"Jackass," Casey mumbled.

Derek ignored the comment, "And in spite of your evident lack of maturity-"

"That's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black."

"Goddamit. I'm trying to help you understand! I don't have to if you don't want me to."

Those words shut Casey up. He was right. She was genuinely interested in what he had to say. If there was anyone that could interpret Max, it was Derek, even someone as naïve as her could see that one. "Sorry," she mumbled, unable to say it louder due to her pride.

"You're the hottest girl in our school. You're smart. The Student Council President. Hell, you're the Future Valedictorian. You're even funny at times. Face it, Klutzilla. You're the most wanted girl here, and for that reason alone, he wouldn't ever let you go even if he already lost interest in you. You're the biggest prize around here."

Casey looked at him disbelievingly, "Now that doesn't feel degrading at all. I can't believe you're saying that he feels nothing more for me other than pride over the fact that he 'owns' me. You don't really believe that, do you?" She asked him with distaste.

"Considering that he's fucking one of your friends behind your back? Yes."

"Ugh! You're such an asshole! I can't believe you'd actually say that to me! You don't know anything about us Derek. He's not like that, I know it!" She told him before getting out of his car and walking away. Totally ignoring his long stream of inappropriate words directed towards her.

As Casey was walking towards her favorite diner, she saw Emily making her way towards her. Time to do some damage control, she thought to herself as she made her way to her former best friend. "Hey girly," she greeted Emily.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much. What about you?"

"Well, you know what a rabid football fan I am so I'm thinking of going to the football field."

"Yeah," Casey said, thinking about the double meaning behind those words. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if you had any plans for your birthday."

"None as of yet. Why?"

"I wanted to throw a party for you. Something really nice."

"You would? You are the best friend ever!" Emily told her as she pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"Well, I'm glad to know that you like the idea."

"I love it! Oh, can it be a surprise party?"

"But you already know about it."

"Yeah, but I can pretend that I don't! I'm a great actress so it shouldn't be too hard. Come on, please, I really want one."

Yep. I already know how great an actress you really are.

"Sure! Listen I should go."

"Bye," Emily called out after her as Casey left.

Casey walked inside her favorite Diner ("Curses") to see Kendra and Sally sitting at the back table, flirting with two random guys. However, as soon as they saw Casey enter, they quickly excused themselves.

"Hey what's up?" Sally greeted her.

"Any chance you two would be interested in helping me plan a party?" Casey asked them.

AN: A filler chapter. :) Sorry! Any, please review!