It's 1 am, and I'm on a roll. I just knocked out two updates, one for Once Upon A Diary, and one for the previous chapter of this story, and I was also able to get a good start on the next chapter of No Way, Jose. And I'm going to try and be Super-Tarryn and write another chapter for this story. Let's get this part started!

Enjoy!

-I'm also addicted to the song Everything by Lifehouse, and have played it 25 times in a row, even though it's like, six minutes long.-

x—x

Still trying to breath, Casey looked over the note once more, to make sure she had read it correctly, but the words remained exactly the same.

'Watch your back'.

Clear as day, the words scared the hell out of her.

She quickly turned to move, to go somewhere, but she knocked into something solid, and ended up screaming out loud.

"Whoa, whoa. Case, it's okay. It's just me." A familiar voice said.

Casey found herself face-to-face with Derek. Well, more like face-to-chest. But Casey still gladly let herself rest her head against that chest as she tried to breath.

"Casey, are you okay? What happened?" Derek asked, looking down at her, concerned.

Casey shook her head, not wanting to speak, but Derek grasped her shoulder, "What happened?" He asked firmly.

Casey was silent for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I saw you rush off outside. I asked Emily what was wrong, and she said you freaked out about something and just left. I was kind of worried. So I came inside so I could try to find you, and see what had happened." Derek said.

"I saw him, Derek," Casey said, looking up at him, "He's watching me."

"Wait, what? Who's watching you?" Derek asked, looking slightly confused.

"Him," Casey stressed, "I saw him across the street from here, during lunch. He was watching me, and then he was just gone!"

Derek look doubtful, "Casey, are you sure-"

"Derek, I saw him!" Casey cried, shoving the note into Derek's hands.

He looked down at it, unfolding the crumpled paper to read it, and Casey watched his face visibly and immediately became stony, his eyes hard.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, when he finally looked up from it.

"It fell out of my locker." Casey told him.

He looked down at the note again, and then shoved it roughly into his pocket.

"We're leaving." He said, resolutely.

"What?" Casey asked, looking at him.

"Get your stuff, we're going home." Derek said.

"Derek, we can't just leave-"

"Of course we can," Derek said, "This is serious. And you know that my dad and Nora are not going to get mad at us. They didn't want us here in the first place. They'd want us to come home."

Seeing Casey still looked somewhat unsure, he said, "You'll feel better at home. You shouldn't be here right now."

Casey thought about it. After a moment she nodded.

"Get what you need." Derek said.

Casey quickly did so, and she grabbed a few things from her locker, and then closed it shut. Then she followed Derek as they stopped at his locker, where he pulled out a few things, and then they headed for the school exit.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Casey asked, staring at the exit doors.

Derek said nothing, and instead just gave Casey a small nudge, and they continued to move, exiting the school, and starting down the steps to the parking lot.

As they were walking, Casey stopped and looked around.

"What is it?" Derek asked, looking at her.

"I- I don't know," Casey said, glancing around the parking lot, "I just..."

"You just what?" Derek asked.

"I feel like we're being watched." Casey said, nervously.

Derek looked down at her, obviously worried.

"That's it," Derek said, grabbing a hold of one of Casey's hands, "We're definitely out of here, no doubt about it."

Casey let Derek pull her toward the car at a fast pace, still looking around her, feeling uneasy.

Once they reached the car, Derek released her hand, and they both quickly got into the car, throwing their books and bags into the backseat, and buckling up.

Once Derek started the car, and pulled out of the school parking lot, Casey began to feel a little better.

"You okay?" Derek asked.

"I really don't know." Casey answered honestly.

Derek nodded.

"I'm sorry about lunch," he said, "I wanted to go and sit with you, but I really couldn't shake them, and I figured a posse of Derek lovers would just annoy you."

Casey looked over at Derek and saw that he looked like he was being sincere.

"It's okay," Casey said, "You're probably right, anyway."

Derek chuckled.

"So how many ask outs did you get today?" He asked.

Casey scoffed, "How many did you get?"

"Some," Derek said, "Apparently being the victim is quite a turn on." Derek joked.

"Apparently so is being the hero." Casey laughed again.

They continued to laugh as Derek drove up a hill. And then, his laughter stopped when they reached the beginning of going down the hill.

"Uh-oh." Derek said.

"Uh-oh what?" Casey asked, looking at Derek.

"Casey," Derek said.

"Yeah?" Casey asked.

"The breaks not working." He pushed his foot up and down repeatedly, but it didn't work.

"What do you mean the breaks not working?" Casey cried out frantically.

"It's not working!" Derek yelled.

They were going down the hill, with no way of stopping, and heading straight into oncoming traffic.

"Derek!" Casey yelled.

"Casey, get out of the car!" Derek yelled.

"What?" Casey cried, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Just do it!" Derek yelled, unbuckling his seatbelt quickly. Casey did the same.

"You need to jump, Casey!" Derek said.

Derek and Casey opened their doors and saw the speeding asphalt below them.

"Now!" Derek yelled.

And they jumped.

x—x

I know that this was fairly short, but this was really all I needed to say in this chapter, and found no way to expand it. I know that chapter nine should be okay in length, since I have a plan ready, but I think that chapter ten will be fairly short as well.

Review, loves.

-Tarryn