Part 1

"Face it, McDonald," Derek says between angered breaths, "You need me! Why else would you interfere so goddamn much in my life!"

Casey's snarly quickly morphed into one of coolness. "You deserve to be grounded for what you did. I don't need you, Venturi. I've never needed you. Without me in your life you'd have no one to belittle, no one to prank, no one to hate."

There was a silence as carbon dioxide was expelled, and oxygen taken in.

"I'm done with you, Derek."

With that final word uttered, she whipped around and slammed her bedroom door in his face.

"Fine with me, Princess!" Derek called, storming off into his own space and slamming the door hard enough to make the walls quake.

Alone in his room, Derek plopped down on his bed and wondered why his stomach felt queasy. He could ignore Casey. It's not like they had heart-to-hearts anyway.

Stupid Casey. It was not his fault her precious Max tripped and fell. Anyone could have tripped over his shoe like that.

Okay, so the guy broke his nose. So what? He was gonna live…and not be on the team for a few weeks.

And maybe Derek had kinda stuck his foot out on purpose because he saw the guy talking to Casey and she looked too close for comfort. They were supposed to be broken up.

Whatever, the fact was, he hated him and it was almost instinct at this point to mess with him.

But Derek's done this shit before, and Casey's always gotten over it.

She'd forget all about her recent pact in a week and beg him to babysit or cover her night for the dishes. Typical caught-up Casey.

It was just terms. Words.

Nothing was gonna change.

Really.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Morning, mom," Casey said cheerfully, as she flipped over the bacon in the pan, "I made breakfast."

"Well, this is nice." Her mother replied, taking a seat at the table and sipping from the coffee mug.

When Derek smelled the bacon, he ran down the stairs. And sure enough, in all its glory, it laid piled high on a plate.

"Thanks Nora," Derek said, shoving his mouth full of pork.

"Don't thank me. Thank Casey."

Derek puts a pause on his gluttony for a moment, and looked at her. She didn't bother meeting his gaze.

"Thanks, Spacey."

"You're welcome, Derek." She said this calmly as she cut her pancakes into small pieces. Casey was one of those odd people that ate pancakes plain. He'd never understood that about her. Well, he didn't understand a lot of things about her.

She made small talk with Nora. Chats about the weather, about school, about Emily.

But no matter how many disparaging remarks he shoots back, she doesn't even look at him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

At first Derek kind of enjoyed Casey's non-role in his life. He got the TV all to himself, turned on the music loud without getting one word from his usual pain in the ass.

He made remarks about girls, about life in general, really, without having to listen to her incessant lecturing.

It's sort of like living the bachelor life all over again, except better because he still gets the good food.

He even got to drive himself to school. He leaves whenever he wants, gets home whenever he wants.

Skipping school has never been so easy.

And Casey just took the bus without complaining about the four block walk in the rain, or mud, or whatever unfortunate weather she had to encounter that day.

Casey is still annoying brainiac Casey in class, but she stopped commenting on his arriving fashionably late or failing two big tests.

Life without Casey McDonald is sweet.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He saw Casey flirting with one of the poetry nerds at her locker (she's so predictable, really—how many women do the hair flip?).

"Hey," Derek said, clamping a hand on the skinny guy's shoulder, "Date someone who'll make you a little bit more popular. 'Cause she's just gonna drag you down, man."

"Uh." Nerd Guy mumbles eloquently.

Casey just flashed the guy a too-white smile and says, "Feel free to email me for help, okay?"

And then she just walked away as though he hadn't been there at all.

Derek ran up to her. "Case, come on, you can't just ignore me your whole life. We live together!"

"I'm not ignoring you, Derek," She said, staring straight in his eyes, "I already told you."

"Told me what?"

"I'm done."

He doesn't follow her when she left him behind.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Now, Derek by all means was not a desperate man. He's never had to be. Most things come easily to him. Except this weird rash on his back that he absolutely cannot reach without the aid of a broom handle.

Anyway, there's a way out of this mess.

Wait, life without Casey is a dream. Not a mess.

Shut up brain, Derek thought, I've done quite well without you.

I just need…food! Yeah, food, and sleep.

A good protein-rich sandwich and a nap is all I need.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He had to drag himself to school.

"You look terrible, dude." Sam said, slapping him on the back.

Derek winced. "I got hit by a bike."

"A bike? How did you—"

"I don't know!" Derek snaps, and storms away.

He was an absolute mess. Tuesday the Prince stopped working and he had to walk to school because he was already late. Wednesday he realized his laundry hadn't been brought down for the wash and he was effectively out of clean clothes. And then today, Thursday, he happened to be walking within a pedestrian zone and some jackass literally runs him over.

Casey, on the other hand, is doing just fine. She's been making friends. And got asked out seven times in one day! Who gets asked out that much?

Except him, of course.

Somewhere between first and second period, after sustaining injury from a wayward soccerball in the hall, two detentions, and numerous comments on his appearance, Derek realized Casey's swapped places with him.

He hasn't been able to sleep without dreaming of her.

It's a little sick, really, how obsessed he is with her, watching her from afar at lunch while Sam and Ralph make fun of the odd bruise on his forehead.

Casey needs to talk to him. He needs to argue with her, piss her off, push and pull with her on a daily basis.

He didn't know what to do with this excess energy.

What did he do without Casey?

He couldn't remember.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As she left her fifth period class, he grabbed her arm, taking her outside, holding her in place with hands on either side of her arms while he tried to get his thoughts together.

Oddly, Casey has nothing to say to this. She simply glanced down at his hands, feeling the warmth beneath her sleeves, and watched him mimic a fish.

"Casey…"

Cue raised eyebrow.

"Talk to me! Tell me I'm an idiot, or…or…a pig, or insult my intelligence, tell me I'm a jackass that needs to grow up, just say something!"

Casey just looked at him.

"This last week," he says, in a tilted whisper, "has been hell. And…and…I need you to fix it, Casey."

"First of all, calling you an idiot and then insulting your intelligence is redundant." Casey said, looking out at the parking lot. It was getting difficult, feeling him so close. She didn't know why.

Quickly coming to her senses, she continued. "Second of all, I don't need to fix anything, because I didn't break anything."

Derek pointed a finger in her face. "Yes…! Yes, you did!"

Casey crossed her arms, shaking away his other hand. His gesture was attracting attention to his eyes and the way they lit up the way she wished Max's had when he looked at her.

"You…" he began, drawing out the final syllable of the word, "You stopped being Casey and you broke our push-and-pull thing. And…and…it's just not right, Casey. We're supposed to argue and..and…tell each other we hate the other."

"I never told you I hated you. I don't hate you, Derek." She responded simply. It was true, she didn't. The stirring in her stomach when she looked at him didn't seem like hate. Or disgust, like she used to tell herself.

He cleared his throat. "Well, I don't hate you. I was wrong, Casey. I need you more than you need me. I need you to yell at me when I miss class, I need you to do all of your annoying Casey things because it's not the same without you."

The words made her feel cold. She didn't expect that. He watched her as she regarded him silently, fighting a smile, seemingly basking in the ego boost. "Yeah?"

He let out a breathy chuckle. "Yeah, Case."

"I guess I kinda missed you too," she said, the smile growing on her face.

They headed back into the school side-by-side, entering their classroom. His hand brushed hers.

She sat in front of him. Halfway through the lesson, he poked her with his pencil.

"De-rek!"

Music to his ears.