Aha, I'm having fun, because I'm hanging out with my friend! Whoo. But she's listening to music, and being weird –like saying random things about High School Musical, weird- so I thought that I would write. So here I am. Writing. Yay!

Enjoy!

x—x

"Casey, honey, why don't you just go back to bed?" Nora fussed as Casey grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter.

"Casey, Nora's right. You too, Derek. You shouldn't be going back to school yet. Take some time off." George nodded, standing beside his wife. Both watched as Casey and Derek ate breakfast, somewhat concerned.

"I'm fine." Derek said, spooning cereal into his mouth.

"So am I." Casey said nodding, and taking a bite out of the apple. After chewing she said, "And I can't get behind on school work."

Nora crossed her arms across her chest. "I don't know, I still think a little more time off would be best."

Derek got up and patted Nora on the shoulder.

"We're fine. Promise." He said.

Casey got up as well. "And we'll look after each other." Casey joked, chuckling lightly.

"I don't think we're going to win on this one." George said, looking at Nora.

"Do we ever win?" She asked.

Casey and Derek looked at each other.

"No." They said in unison.

"We'll be fine, mom." Casey said, kissing her mother on the cheek before scooping up some books from the table.

Nora nodded. "Have a good day."

Derek and Casey headed out the front door, and to Derek's car. They got in and silently, Derek drove them to school. Once they reached the school parking lot, Derek noted that Casey kept her eyes glued to the cup holder.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked.

"You sound like mom and George." Casey said lightly, but still didn't look up. Instead she kept her eyes focused on her seatbelt where her fingers fiddled with the material.

"What's up, Case?" Derek persisted.

Casey sighed. "I'm just worried." She admitted.

"It'll be okay," Derek nudged her shoulder, "Now come on, Hero. Let's go to school."

Casey sighed again, but obliged, unbuckling her seatbelt, and exiting the car.

"Don't think about it." Derek said, as he watched Casey stare at the parking lot, and entrance of the school cautiously.

Casey nodded, and made her way up the steps.

When she and Derek entered, everything got kind of hushed, and people watched them. But the silence was quickly broken by a squeal, attached to a body that raced toward Casey.

"Ohmygod! Casey! I've been trying to get a hold of you ever since I heard. I mean, I knew you were in the hospital, but I tried to call when I thought you'd be back, and my parents didn't think I should go over and bother you, and..." Emily continued to speed talk in vain as she and Casey walked to their locker.

Casey couldn't make out half of what Emily was blabbering about, but she was glad that Emily had interrupted her growing paranoia of the staring student body. Once interrupted by Emily's chattering, the students of the hall began to talk, themselves.

She noted that Derek was still walking with them.

"You don't have to walk with us." Casey said to Derek.

Emily didn't seem to notice that Casey wasn't really paying attention.

"It's okay, I don't mind." Derek shrugged.

Casey nodded and they all continued to walk.

Once they reached Casey and Emily's locker, Emily still hadn't stopped talking, and Derek still didn't leave. Trying to ignore both, Casey opened the locker and pulled out what she needed, and putting away what she didn't.

A bell rang, and Emily finally stopped talking.

"We should probably head to class." Emily said.

Casey nodded and looked at Derek.

"Everything will be okay," he said to her, "I'll see you at lunch."

Casey nodded until they both walked into opposite directions.

Maybe she should have listened to her mother.

x—x

Walking out of her Geometry class, Casey sighed. She had made it through half the day without freaking out. A lot of people that never talked to her before were talking to her; she didn't mind, but she mostly just didn't care. A lot of people said hi to her, and several tried to strike up conversation about what had happened. She had managed to avoid the conversations with minimal words.

And Lizzie hadn't been lying about guys calling an asking for dates; those who didn't call, or just didn't give up after their call wasn't replied were all talking to her, a large percentage flirting, and some asking her out. All of which were gently let down.

She even found it somewhat amusing.

Oh, you want to go on a date? Sure, I'll get back to you tomorrow. Maybe I'll have had a dream that'll tell me whether I should go out with you.

Might as well make the most out of a really bad situation.

In this situation, the most was very small, and very bad humor.

She walked through the hallway, actually surprised to find she was able to ignore the continuous looks, as she went toward the lunch room.

Emily was immediately able to find her, and ended up by her side as soon as she stepped into the cafeteria.

"Hey!" Emily chirped.

"Hey, Em."

"How's the day so far?" Emily asked as they both slid into the lunch line and began to get their lunch.

Casey shrugged, "It could definitely be worse."

Emily nodded, "Guess what! I heard that Pete Matthews was going to ask you out.

Casey laughed as she picked up a cup of Jello and placed it on her tray.

"What's so funny?" Emily asked.

"You're getting a little rusty, Em." Casey shook her head.

"What? What do you mean?" Emily faltered.

"I mean, your dating guru powers must be a little off if you've only heard that Pete Matthews was going to ask me out."

"I'm still not making a connection." Emily stated.

"Rowland Patterson, Jim Bates, Horacio Jennings, Kevin Strong, Ryan Phillips, Duff Kensington, Joseph Manohaun, Nick Cash-"

"Okay, okay, what's the point?" Emily interrupted.

"They, and a bunch of other guys, asked me out today." Casey said.

Emily eyes widened, "What?"

Casey shrugged.

"Wow," Emily said, "My skills must be useless when so much is happening. Even my mind doesn't have enough time to process all of that information into statistics."

"Don't worry, you still do well." Casey assured his friend.

"Thanks." Emily nodded.

"Hmm, where's Derek?" Casey wondered aloud.

"Why?" Emily asked.

"He said he'd see me at lunch." Casey said.

Emily laughed.

"What?" Casey asked.

"I don't think you're going to be able to hang out." Emily said.

"How come?" Casey asked.

"Do you think he'll be able to get away from that?" Emily asked, pointing across the cafeteria. Derek was surrounded by people, mostly girls. "I really don't think he'll even try." Emily said.

Casey watched Derek talk to all the people around him as she and Emily stepped out of the lunch line.

"You want to eat outside?" Casey asked Emily when she stopped looking at Derek.

"Sure." Emily nodded.

It didn't take long before Derek and his posse were outside as well. Casey found herself continually glancing at Derek while she ate.

She was peeved that she couldn't seem to not do it, and glad that Emily didn't seem to notice.

"You okay?" Emily asked.

Or maybe she did notice.

Casey snapped from looking at Derek, "Yeah, Em. I'm fine."

Emily looked unconvinced, "You sure?"

"Yeah, Em, I'm..." Casey trailed off.

"Casey?" Emily asked, "Casey?"

But Casey wasn't paying attention. Because while she had been talking, she looked across from her, and not too far away was a fence around the school. And across the street from the school, he was watching her. And when she saw him, he smiled.

Casey jumped up from her seat, feeling as if her heart was going to explode from beating so hard.

"Whoa, Case. And you wonder why I ask if some thing's wrong." Emily quipped.

But Casey wasn't listening. She watched a bus pass in front of him, and once it was gone, so was he.

But he was there.

"I've gotta go." Casey said.

"Hey, Case-"

But Casey was already moving. She hurried through groups of kids, for once not even having to think about looking at Derek; she just didn't, and she made her way into the hallways of the school.

She went into the girls bathroom, thankful to find it empty. She dropped her bag to the floor, and splashed water from the sink over her face, trying to breath steadily.

She gripped the sink and looked into the mirror.

"He was there," She said to herself, "He was there. You're not crazy, he was there."

She sighed, placing her head in her palm, and shaking her head before she picked up her bag and left the bathroom.

All she had to do was get some stuff from her locker, and make it through two more classes. She got to her locker, feeling as though she was starting to be able to breath correctly again.

She opened the locker, and and envelope fell out and onto the floor. She picked it up. Her name was on it. Warily, Casey opened it.

And she couldn't breath, again.

'Watch your back.'

x—x

I've got the next chapter planned out. Drama? Oh, yes. ::Smiles:: I hope you guys liked it, but why don't you just go ahead and tell me what you thought?

Review, loves.

-Tarryn