"Is she coming home or not?" Derek's pleading, firm voice boomed over the phone. He hadn't meant to be so harsh, he just felt he was going crazy. He had only gotten 3 emails from Casey in the past 8 months since they left home. His parents had already had to convince him not to be so rash as to go visit her in California several times, almost every week. And it didn't help that almost every night he looked at the photo album she gave him.

"Derek, we really aren't sure. Nora talked to her last night but she wasn't very talkative." His father uneasily replied. Derek knew there was something else, something he wasn't telling him.

"Dad. I need to know if I should be coming home or not in a couple months. She won't even call me. She won't tell me anything about her life in her emails. Please, tell me something. Anything?" Derek paced the floor of his bedroom, running his hand through his hair. He wasn't sure he could ever have been prepared with what his dad told him though.

There was a short silence before he heard a sigh escape from his dad's body.

"We think maybe she's met someone knew, Derek. I'm so sorry." Derek stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up at the ceiling, before bringing his head back down, and his eyes automatically meeting the reflection of himself in the mirror. He sighed once and swallowed back his pain.

"I'll talk to you later, Dad. Tell everyone hi for me." Derek hoarsely spoke out before hanging up the phone, not even waiting for a reply. He sat down on the foot of his bed and looked around his room. His eyes locked on the photo album he laid so delicately on the nightstand next to his bed. The same spot it's lived in for the past 8 month since he arrived here in Florida.

Angrily, dejectedly, he stood up and grabbed the leather jacket that had been a measly substitute for his old one. His father bought it for him as soon as they'd landed here but he knew it would never mean as much to him as his old one had. As he headed to the door of his apartment, he slammed the door at a memory, heading to the beach.

Casey stood under the street lights, looking at the park. Her eyes were filled with warmth even though she had been visibly cold. He had given her the jacket and she looked amazing in it. And he knew he would never be able to wear that jacket again without imagining her small frame wrapped in it. He knew it would now be hers.

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"Casey. George just got off the phone with Derek. Honey, you need to talk to him. You need to let us know if you're going to come home or not. We can't keep being the messengers. George is so broken up after talking to Derek. Just, do what's right, Case. I know you will. I love you, call me back please."

Casey had her back turned to the answering machine in her room. She knew by the caller ID it would be her mother, and she knew she couldn't handle talking to her mom right now.

She pushed back the thought of Derek from her mind, like she'd done so many times before, and continued doing her homework. She couldn't let any distractions pull her away from school. And technically, Kevin wasn't a distraction. He was her study buddy.

Casey leaned across her bed, to her desk chair and felt the cool leather underneath her finger. She'd hung the jacket there as soon as she had arrived and never managed to move it from that spot. Because she knew if she did, it would only bring her more pain of the past.

She knew she needed to decide whether or not she was going to go home this year, but she couldn't imagine being back at her house, back in her room, back near Derek.