It has been 6 years since Derek and Casey's graduation. Nora and George have divorced, and Nora has custody of the baby boy, Aidan. Casey is back at Queens to get her Masters' Degree in teaching.
"Hey, Casey," Lindsay says. "Thanks so much for the help."
"Yeah. I can help you again on Sunday if you need it."
"I think I'm good. The study guide website you showed be will really help," Lindsay says happily. "I hope I didn't infringe on your time with your boyfriend."
"Nah, he didn't mind," Casey says, slightly annoyed that it didn't bother him.
"He is so perfect. I wish my boyfriend spent that much time with me," Lindsay sighs. "But, it has to have its downside, right?"
"Sometimes," the taller girl nods.
"I bet. Well, I have to go. I'll talk to you later," Lindsay closes the door.
"Finally, time to think," Casey mutters.
"You realized that I'm right, didn't you?" Bianca asks.
"Maybe he's overly perfect," Casey takes off her jewelry, getting ready for bed.
"Maybe?" Bianca raises her eyebrows.
"Okay, he is perfect. It's driving me nuts," Casey admits.
"You know it now. Why not break up with him?"
"But, I love him!" Casey exclaims.
"Do you? Or did you love the perfection?" Bianca questions.
"I'm not going to break up with him. You want to have a family, but you are still dating your boyfriend," Casey decides.
"I think this is a mistake."
"Good night, Bianca," Casey flicks off the light.
"Whatever Casey," Bianca gets up and leaves, slamming the door behind her.
Casey crawls into bed, falling into a fretful sleep.
*BEEP—BEEP*
Casey groans, shielding her eyes from the sunlight shining through the window. She turns off the alarm and looks over to Bianca's bed. It was empty, but the sheets were still tangled. Bianca must have returned, but left before her roommate woke up.
"She must be really mad this time," Casey thinks out loud, getting ready for another day. She slips on a pair of shoes and walks toward the University.
"Casey," Christopher comes up to her side. "Last night was fun. I enjoyed meeting your friend. It's a great thing you're doing with helping her."
"Christopher," Casey stops. "I have to go talk to Professor Nichols. I have a couple of questions about the text. I'll talk to you later."
"Alright. Casey, sweetheart, are you okay?" he pushes her bangs away from her face.
"I'm fine," his girlfriend stubbornly moves her bangs back in their original spot.
"Okay," he presses his lips against her forehead. "See you in Human Development."
"Yeah. Bye," Casey puts her hand against his cheek. Really, she knew that she should be out of college by now, but she went abroad for a semester. That put her slightly behind in her credits. She was also trying to balance a job, and school. Besides, the school she wanted to teach at would 'prefer her to have a Master's Degree.' She would rather her mother worry about Lizzie, instead of her, anyways.
Christopher smiles and hugs her. He then crosses the lawn of the University.
Casey walks quickly towards her class, avoiding most of the people who were greeting her by nodding and not stopping.
"Casey," Lindsay touches her arm lightly. "Do you know where Bianca is? She came to our room after I got back from the library, but she was gone when I woke up this morning. She seemed pretty upset."
"I haven't seen her since we got back," Casey says. "Um, Lindsay, I have to go."
"Right. I'll see you tonight," Lindsay grins.
"I'm going to dinner. I'll be late," Casey tells her friend.
"Hot date?"
"No. Christopher has work. And this is with an old high school friend. Bye," Casey walks away.
"Bye!" Lindsay calls, wondering why Casey was so distant this morning and if it had something to do with Bianca being upset.
Casey slides into her seat, not raising her hand or participating in the discussion in Professor Nichols' class.
"Casey. Ms. MacDonald," he says. "Ms. MacDonald!"
"Casey," a friend pokes her arm. "CASEY!"
"Hmm? What? Sorry, Professor," Casey looks up at him.
"Stay after class, Ms. MacDonald."
"Yes, Professor," Casey nods.
"Ooh," a guy says behind her.
"Quiet please!" Professor Nichols narrows his eyes. "Now, copy these notes. You will be tested on everything from Monday, as well as these notes."
The class becomes silent, scribbling notes.
"Alright. Dismissed," Professor Nichols waves the students away.
"Professor? You wanted to talk to me?" Casey gets closer to the professor's desk.
"Ms. MacDonald, you have been one of my best students, both this term and last. Yet today, you did not participate. Is there something amiss?" he asks.
Casey smiles slightly. "My roommate and I had a fight. About my boyfriend."
"Ah. Then perhaps your boyfriend is not of as much importance as your roommate," Professor Nichols says wisely.
"Yeah. Thank you, Professor," Casey nods, stepping out towards the hallway.
"Ms. MacDonald, I expect that tomorrow you shall participate in my class," he says in a questioning voice.
"Yes, sir," Casey smiles. Why was everyone in her business today?
She enters Professor Nixon's class. "Hey," her classmate from her previous class greets her. "What's up? You never space out."
"Bianca and I had a fight. Nothing important," Casey dismisses it. "I'm okay."
"Yeah, okay," the girl's mouth wrinkles, unbelieving.
"Thanks though," Casey smiles, sitting down and opening her notebook.
The class went by quickly, and Casey presented the façade that she was actually paying attention.
She hurries to her next class, Human Development. She didn't want to run into an angry Bianca.
Casey purposely avoided Christopher, who was having an animated conversation with one of the sport-scholarship guys.
"Hey, Casey," Christopher waves her over. Her plan didn't work so well. "Listen to this. It's about some guy from your hometown."
"You're from London, Ontario?" the dark-skinned boy looks up at her. "Do you know Derek Venturi?"
"Yeah. We went to the same school. I'm having dinner with his brother tonight. Why?" Casey asks.
"Wait. You're having dinner with another guy?" Christopher asks. "You said you were going to see one of your high school girl friends."
"I said," Casey narrows her eyes, "that I was having dinner with a high school friend. I never specified if it was a girl or a guy."
"But Casey," Christopher eyes darken angrily. "Does he know you're my girl?"
"I'm your girlfriend, not your property," she reminds him saucily. "And besides, we were just friends. Is it so hard to believe that a guy and a girl can be normal friends in high school?"
"Hey, man," the sport player says. "She probably wants to know 'bout Derek before the two of you get in a huge fight." He turns back to me, "Anyways. Derek was on a full-blown hockey scholarship here a couple years ago. Then, Toronto put him on their team, the Maple Leafs. He was going to be their star player this season, because Van Beck quit, but in his first pre-season game, this guy rammed him hard. Derek got sent to one of the hospitals over there, and they decided he had brain damage. He was in a coma, and none of the doctors could do anything. Now, a year later, they air-lifted him to the Neurologic Hospital. He's been there—it's downtown—about a week."
"Really? Is he still in the coma?"
"His team says that he drifts in and out of consciousness. He had a family too. He was going to finish his degree in film making this year, right after hockey season. I'm Andrew, by the way," Christopher's friend introduces himself.
"Who was his family? I never met them," Casey comments.
"I don't know. The girl was some T.V. reporter down there. Last I heard, she left him and was living it up in Vegas," Andrew nods vigorously.
"Casey," Christopher butts in. "C'mon, we have to talk."
"Not now, Christopher. Class is starting," Casey goes to sit down by her dorm-mate.
"Alright everyone. This is your exam," Professor Inez hands everyone a different sheet of paper. "No cheating; you all have different versions of the test. No talking. You have 1 hour. Begin now."
The students start writing furiously, and Casey banishes all thoughts of Christopher from her mind.
"And, time is up. Class dismissed," Professor Inez clumsily straightens the paper.
"Casey," Christopher calls, but she was already leaving the room.
"Casey," he grips her arm. "We need to talk."
"Chris," Casey angrily shortens his name. "Let go of me. I'm not your property. And, I'm seriously considering not even being your girlfriend."
"Casey, honey," he moans. "I'm sorry. Let me make it up to you."
"Tomorrow. We're going out on the town. And you are not going to cancel it for the library, got it?" Casey asks.
"I wouldn't dream of it. Bye, love," he hugs her.
"Goodbye."
"Hey, Casey," Edwin falls into step beside her. "Who's that?"
"My boyfriend. Christopher Davenport," she tells her old friend.
"He seems… opposite the guys you dated in high school," Edwin says hesitantly.
"I dated all the jocks," Casey rolls her eyes and laughed.
"Well not all of 'em. Not my brother," he reminds her.
"Oh, I just heard about the hockey accident," she hugs her friend. "I'm so sorry. Was that the rough patch you were talking about?"
"Yeah," Edwin nods. "So, on to Cog.?"
"You're still obsessed with abbreviations?" Casey shakes her head, remembering the over-abbreviated speech in his emails he sent her first year of college.
"Totally."
"LOL," she smirks.
"Okay, not so much," he tilts his head. "Anyways, onward?"
"Sure," Casey follows him to Professor Garson's room.
Cognition and Learning was extremely uneventful, and Casey found herself daydreaming. It wasn't really about anything in particular, but it still occupied her mind.
"That is all for today, class. Your assignment over the weekend is the Chapter 7 review questions on page 124," the female professor opens the door and steps out of the way of her students. "See you on Monday."
"So, where do you want to go for dinner?" Edwin asks.
"I don't know. Let's go somewhere fun. There's this little, hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant not far from here. It's called Casa Mexicana. Meet me in the girls' dormitory lounge. Ask them for me, then just wait. Oh, and you'll probably have to tell them that we are just friends, and we are not dating," Casey rolls her eyes.
"Don't worry. I already had to tell my friends that too," he nods his head toward a couple of guys staring at him.
"I'll see you later," Casey waves, heading towards her dorm. "Five o'clock?"
"Sure. I have to finish those questions, or else I'll forget," Edwin waves.
"He hasn't changed," Casey says quietly.
"Hey," Bianca elbows her softly. "I'm sorry about blowing up last night."
"Hey yourself," Casey greets her friend with a hug. "I'm sorry for not believing you. You're right. He's going to drive me insane."
"What did he do now?"
"Did I say anything else?" Casey asks, puzzled.
"No, but I can see it in your eyes," Bianca says, sitting down on her bed.
"He was weird today."
"Weird how?"
"I told him I was going to dinner with Edwin and he started freaking out. He was acting like I belonged to him," Casey spits out.
"Well, you don't really do anything unless he's with you," Bianca points out. "He's kind of obsessive over your guys' relationship."
"I just noticed. Could you always tell?" Her relationship with Bianca reminded her of her high school friendship with Emily.
"Yeah. It's gotten worse lately. I always feel like a third wheel when I'm with you. He's good at that," she bits her lip.
"I'm sorry," Casey says.
"Hey, no biggie. Friends?"
"Friends," Casey hugs her.
The girls head upstairs together, talking and giggling.
"Well," Bianca says later. "You have every single girl in the dorm buzzing."
"Oh?" Casey looks up from the novel she was reading.
"They're wondering what happened to Chris, and who the new guy downstairs is," Bianca smirks.
"Edwin's here?" Casey closes her book and stands. She smoothes her light blue sweater over her jeans, smiling.
"Somebody seems excited," Casey's roommate teases.
"To see an old friend. And, that's all," Casey tells her.
"Uh-huh. Well, since you're going to break up with your boyfriend, maybe this Edwin will be more than a friend," Bianca winks.
"Beee," Casey rolls her eyes. "He's just a friend, and he's like four years younger than me."
"Alright. Just, don't call me Bee. I like my name," she pouts.
"Yeah, sorry, Bianca," Casey says. "Well, Edwin's waiting. If Chris… ahem, Christopher… comes asking about me, tell him I don't want to talk to him and I'll see him tomorrow."
"Right. Now, go out and have some fun for once."
"Thanks, Bianca."
"I still want to hear all about it when you get back."
"Sure, Bianca," Casey says, running down the stairs just in time to see Edwin ducking as Christopher swung a punch at him.
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