"So I've been and checked out the situation with the girl's floor. There are ten girls and I was thinking maybe we should go up and introduce ourselves before any of the others guys get here."

Derek didn't turn around from the window where he was peering out, but James knew that he was listening.

"That sounds good to me." Derek answered. James shrugged.

"Trouble is it seems you have to have an "invitation" from one of the girls who live there in order to be allowed up. There's a code on the door from the elevator foyer and you need one of the girls to give you the code."

"I've got it." Derek said, frowning suddenly at something out of the window.

James came and stood beside him, looking out to see what had Derek's attention. He couldn't see anything, just a row of identical windows, all currently sporting the standard orange drapes – except one window, directly opposite and above where the curtains were a deep purple colour.

He turned his attention back to the code. "I'm impressed Dude, that was quick work. How did you manage that?"

His new friend turned round then. "What can I say? If you got it, flaunt it." Derek smirked. "Ya wanna go up now?"

"Don't mind if I do."

Derek wasn't sure if he was insane for letting James know that he had the code to Casey's floor (Casey had been forced to tell him it so that he and George could help her move her things into her room). He decided that his new friend had a point. Strike while the iron was hot, and whilst there was a slight risk of running into Casey in the shared living area above, the opportunity to be one of the first males to breach the female section of the dorm was too good to miss.

He pulled his travel-weary t-shirt over his head, scrunched it into a ball and tossed it into the corner of his single room which he was hereby designating the laundry pile. A slight frown crossed his face as he contemplated the idea of having to do his own laundry from now on. The frown changed into a smile when he realised that having Casey close at hand might be good after all. He had no doubt that he could guilt/trick/prank her into doing his laundry. If nothing else, he knew that seeing the pile of dirty laundry in the corner every time she came into his room would get to her. She would feel compelled to tackle it.

It never occurred to him that Casey wouldn't be around much now. Fate, in the form of Edwin, had stepped in and ensured that little was going to change about their living arrangements. They would still bump into each other on the stairs, would still eat breakfast and the evening meal in the same room – albeit a large hall rather than the dining area at home, and he was sure that they would get involved in each other's scrapes. And whilst there were some drawbacks to that, there were also benefits: Casey's hatred of untidiness and disorder being one, and her frugalness with her allowance being another.

He grabbed a clean shirt from his bags and pulled it over his head, and then he sprayed more deodorant underneath.

"Ready?" James asked. Derek nodded, grabbed his key and followed his friend from the room.

"So how did you get the code?" James asked as they climbed the fire stairs to the floor above, the elevator full of someone's belongings.

Derek shrugged. "I know someone." He said non-committal. They passed a couple of girls who smiled and giggled.

"Ladies…" James said, turning round to watch the view as the girls carried on down the stairs.

"Nice." Derek said, grinning. "Let's hope the best didn't just leave."

"Who do you know?" James pushed returning to the earlier subject.

Derek shrugged. "A girl I went to school with. We shared a car on the way here. I helped her with her stuff." Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth despite their agreement that the term "step-siblings" was the same as "siblings".

James pushed open the stair door to the girl's foyer and Derek walked over to the key pad to type in the number.

"'You going to tell me what the code is?"

Derek laughed. "No point. They're changing it tomorrow after all the families have gone. You'll have to sweet talk someone into telling you the new one."

"Will your friend tell you when it's changed?"

Derek snorted. "I doubt it."

They moved into a large room fitted out with tatty sofas and chairs and a small, barely adequate kitchen. It was identical to their own living space downstairs – except better looked after, though not significantly.

A group of girls was gathered in the corner, drinking coffee and chatting. As Derek and James appeared, they looked up. One girl in particular curved her face into a smile.

"Oooh. Look girls, things are looking up!" She smiled at Derek. "You're not bad. To what do we owe this honour?"

She was blonde – always a good start - with grey eyes and a figure he definitely wouldn't say no to. She had a confidence about her that spoke volumes. She'd been around the block a few times and was a girl who knew the ways of the world.

"What's your name?" She asked stepping forward and placing a hand on his chest. Derek smirked but didn't answer her. She grinned.

"A man of mystery. Things are definitely looking up. Tell me. Do you know where the library is?" She asked, curling an eyebrow up.

"Why? You need to go there?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's just aside from these guys everyone I've met since I've been here has been a keener so I've taken to asking them for directions to the library. If they know, I ditch them."

Derek laughed. "Smart." He said. "I do know, but only because it was pointed out to me on the way here. I have absolutely no intention of using it."

"Oh we're going to get on just fine. Coffee?"

James and Derek sat down and two of the girls leapt up to make them their drinks. Introductions were made and soon the extended group were laughing and joking together. James caught Derek's eye and smirked his own smirk.

Things were progressing nicely, and Derek knew he was going to leave the room later with the blonde's cell phone number – and maybe even the blonde herself.

Then one of the other girls nudged his target and giggled.

"Do you think she's still crying?"

Blondie frowned. "Who? Oh? The freak? Yeah. Probably."

Another girl in the group seeing Derek's puzzled face explained.

"There's a girl on this floor who's a little weird. She bounced in here like we were all best friends and squealing how great everything was going to be."
Another girl chipped in. "She seemed okay at first, if a little hyper. But the more she talked, the more obvious it became that she was a complete keener and definitely a no-no."
The first girl chuckled. "I think my favourite moment was when she offered to help us with a study chart and produced her own detailing everything she needed to achieve for the next semester and a half. 'Tasha sent her packing with a great put-down and she's spent most of the afternoon in her room, door closed and crying."

Derek regarded the group carefully. He had no doubt that this was the sort of conversation that he had been party to in the past, but for some reason he didn't like it now. This was the start of college when everyone was supposed to have left the childishness of Junior High behind them years ago. He wasn't above the odd disparaging remark, but the idea of anyone letting someone cry all afternoon on their first day away from home just seemed like a step too far to him.

The girl continued. "Bad luck on her part getting room number thirteen I guess. If she'd been in a different room in a different dorm maybe she'd have found someone who gives a shit about their studies."

Derek's eyes widened.

Fuck!

"Casey. It's me. Open the door." Derek called through the heavy wooden door.

"I'm not in the mood, Derek." A voice thick with emotion called back. "Go away."
He knocked again. "I'm not in the mood either, toots, but if you don't open this door right now I'm going to make a scene."

"A scene?"

"Yeah. You know me. Something loud and showy."

"Oh god." He heard her moan. The door clicked and she pulled him inside.

Casey's room was a mess. She hadn't unpacked anything except, for some reason, her drapes: long and purple. Her eyes were red, the skin around them swollen from crying and in places her long hair was stuck to her face with tears.

"That was quick." Derek said, surprised. "You normally hold out longer than that."

"I don't need any more embarrassments today." She said quietly, resuming her place on the bed. "The administration office was bad enough, and…" her voice trailed away.

"I know about the other girls." Derek admitted. "They were just boasting about reducing you to tears."

"Come to gloat?" Casey sighed, and picked up a tissue to blow her nose as fresh tears rolled down her face. Derek shoved a pile of clothes to one side and sat beside Casey.

"No." He said. "I came to see if you wanted to go grab something to eat. One of my roommates suggested a diner he saw on the way here this morning. He's waiting for me. Come with us."

Casey stared at him and he realised she was probably trying to work out what the catch was.

"I'm serious, Casey. Nora would cut me a new one if I left you crying in your room on your first day. Come with. We can resort to our usual state of play tomorrow."
She looked up at him and for the first time he saw a trace of light in the darkness that had clouded her blue eyes.

Light, intelligence…

He took a deep breath and reminded himself for the umpteenth time that Casey was off-limits and it didn't matter how often they did that little stare thing of theirs, neither one of them was ever going to make that last tiny move closer.

"I'm a mess." Casey said eventually.

"Yup. Snot and tears…urgh!"

"Give me a second?" She asked, nodding towards the sink in the corner of the room. Derek rolled his eyes and then smiled. "Sure. Only don't take too long, my stomach won't appreciate an extended delay."

Ten minutes later, a tidy, freshly made up Casey followed Derek out of her room door into the corridor and, turning, locked the small space that would be her home for the next year.

In the corridor, James was waiting. He was tall, dark and Casey had to admit, easy on the eye.

"Jay, meet Casey McDonald. The bane of my existence, the ultimate keener – and my step-sister."

"Step-sister?" James was surprised. "Oh…the girl you travelled with."

Derek laughed. "Oh yeah. Casey and I…road trip from hell."

Casey smiled weakly at James who smiled back.

"Sorry to crash your party." She said.

"S'ok. You aren't interrupting anything. Derek, they told me to give you this. I think it's 'Tasha's phone number." James held out a piece of paper as if it had been contaminated with a deadly disease. Like his friend, James had felt uncomfortable with the way the other girls had been talking. He probably wouldn't have left of his own accord, preferring to give everyone a second chance, but when Derek had stood up without a word and left the room, James had felt compelled to follow.

Looking at the proffered piece of paper, Derek shook his head.

"Bin it." He said. "Plenty more where that came from."

His step-sister rolled her eyes and followed them towards the stairs.

James was nice, Casey decided. He wasn't Sam but she could tell that he would be a good friend to Derek. He was being nice to Casey too – in a purely platonic way.

When Casey went to the bathroom, Derek took him to one side and told him Casey was out of bounds. James nodded, but Derek needn't have worried. James wasn't stupid enough to hit on his new friend's sister.

They made it to the diner and had a nice meal, but Casey wasn't surprised when Derek held his hand out for her share of the bill. In fact, she found it reassuring. The idea of Derek paying for her meal was a step too far!

They argued their way through the meal as normal, leaving James as referee. Strangely, he didn't mind. There was something amusing about their conflict, and it was very entertaining to watch probably because they both had a decent sense of humour. Despite Casey's comments earlier, they were both capable of great wit, and the years of practice had honed it to a sharp point.

Certainly, by the time the meal had ended and it was time to go back to their rooms, Casey had forgotten about the upset caused by the other girls in her dorm and was laughing and joking with James and Derek as if she had known both of them for several years and not just Derek.

However, as they walked back to the dorm, Casey's wit dried up and her conversation too. Derek noticed, but he said nothing, bantering instead with James until they reached the ground floor lobby of their building.

"I'll see you up there, Jay." Derek said. "I need a plug adapter and I think mine got mixed in with Casey's stuff." And then without giving Casey chance to object, he pushed the button for her floor and when the elevator arrived immediately, propelled her inside.

The girls' corridor was deserted but they could hear voices coming from the living area. Casey glanced in the direction of the shared area and then pointedly turned away to her own room, quickly unlocking the door

"I don't think I have your adapter, Derek."

"You don't. It's on my desk." He said leaning back against the closed door and watching her as she sat on the bed.

"Then why…?"

"Because I needed to say something without you ruining everything by crying in front of my first college friend."
"Oh?"

"Casey, this isn't high school. These guys around us are educated adults. That should mean that the stupid snarking disappeared at graduation, but it doesn't. Some people never grow up, some people are never nice. Being adults just makes their bullying more nasty, more sophisticated.

Just be more cautious before you put yourself out there trying to make friends. Friends happen naturally, if a friendship requires too much effort to start, it isn't worth it. Stop trying to be everything and just be. The friends will come. They just aren't living under the same roof as you."

"It's easy to say stuff like that when you're automatically popular." Casey said quietly.

"Automatically, Casey. Meaning, it requires no effort. You know me, I'm lazy. If someone can't like me for who I am then I'm not interested. The funny thing is, that gets me more friends than it loses me. Those girls through there are just insecure girls like you. But they bite first and ask questions later. They aren't worth the effort."

"Why didn't you keep her phone number?"

"Coz I may be a shit step-brother, but I am your step-brother which means I get certain privileges. The main one of which is that messing with you is my job not theirs."

Casey was silent. "I wanted to go home." She said. "That's twice today you've kept me on track."

"Yeah well, sometimes you keep me on track too." He smirked. "And don't worry, those two times were favours and I will be calling them in."

She walked him back down the corridor towards the elevator. Just before the door with the keypad she stopped.

"Thanks D." She said and stretched up to kiss him on the cheek. He rolled his eyes.

"PDA, Casey…" He warned. She laughed.

"Sorry."

"I'll let you off this time, Princess." He said softly. Then he slapped her on the back.

"The orientation meeting is tomorrow at 10am. So James and I will meet you downstairs in the lobby at 9am and we'll go to breakfast."
Casey looked taken aback. Derek shrugged.

"I know you, and I know your appetite. You'll never use all your food allowance. I'm willing to help you out on that front."

"That figures." She groaned dramatically, but there was a sparkle in her eyes that hadn't been there for a while, and really she didn't mind sharing her breakfast with him and James who she guessed was probably now her first "college friend".

"See you tomorrow, Spacey." Derek said. He glanced behind her and chuckled. Then he turned and stepped through the door.

Casey watched him go down the fire stairs before turning to go back to her room. She stopped. Behind her was the same group of girls from the living room. They were standing watching her with open mouths.

It was hilarious.

"Who was that?" 'Tasha asked, still piqued that he had left without giving her his name earlier.

Casey grinned. "That? Oh…Derek Venturi."

"Derek Venturi." The blonde tried the name out. She frowned. "How do you know him?"

Casey McDonald had started to walk towards her room, but she turned her head back over her shoulder as she walked.

"We live together." She said, and without stopping she looked forwards again and raised a hand in the air. "Night everyone."

AN: Taster for chapter 8 on my facebook page under the discussions tab. It's a good 'un.