The week slouched on, Saturday drawing ever nearer. By Thursday Derek had to confront her about the competition.

"Case, are we dancing?"

She sighed and looked up from her magazine. "Depends. I'm obligated to do it, but you don't have to be."

"How can you do the salsa without a partner?"

"Technically I can't. But I could always ask George to help me."

"You are not asking my dad."

"Well I could dance with Edwin. Height might be a problem."

"Casey, I'll dance with you."

"But after what happened, are you sure we can?"

"Trust me, it'll only make it sexier."

Casey raised her eyebrows, "I'll take your word for it."

"Shall we practice? You said we weren't as good as we could be and we haven't practiced since the incident."

Casey grinned at him and hopped upstairs to get the CD. Derek chuckled and moved the sofa out of the way. They were alone in the house so no one would come and disturb them. Casey came back down and started the CD. They took up their positions and went through the dance.

Derek was right… it was sexier.

Their final position was a very low dip and Casey smiled up at him.

"We should have no problem winning now."

She beamed back and then brought her up a little to kiss her.

They broke off as someone tapped on the window. Turning their heads they saw Sam and Emily both looking shocked and a little angry.

"Oh god." Casey said.

"Shit." Derek hissed as he set Casey upright again.

Derek ran to open the door and Emily and Sam came in glaring at their friends.

"Care to tell us what's going on?"

"Yeah, Casey's my girlfriend." Derek said still next to them before walking to stand beside Casey. "I hope you don't mind."

Casey had been staring at the ground guiltily but now she raised her head with a surprisingly evil smirk. "They shouldn't. Not with what I know about them."

"Casey, you promised." Emily said quickly.

"Oh I know I did. And since you've discovered my secret shall I reveal yours? Because I don't think even Derek knows this secret, which was very bad of you Sam. You should have told your best friend." Casey smiled sweetly a bit like a wolf smiling at a field of sheep when he is hungry.

"If you mean what I think you mean then you shouldn't even know about it." Sam said looking at Casey in surprise. "And if I didn't tell you, then you must have." Sam turned to Emily who blushed.

"I had to. Girl code."

"Does that even exist?" Sam turned back to Casey.

"Of course it does. She had to come to me for permission. Well not permission exactly. More a consent that it was alright for the go-ahead."

"Case, what are you talking about?" Derek asked looking very confused.

"Shall I tell him? Emily has a new boyfriend. Who just happens to be my ex."

"Sam? Why did she have to talk to you, Casey?"

"Because he is my ex. Before a friend can date your ex boyfriend she has to ask if it's alright from her friend. Emily had to come to me just in case I still had feelings for Sam. If I did still have feelings for him, she would back off, if she was decent, and would thereby leave the floor open for me to have another shot with Sam. Well I suppose you have to know now, I fell for Derek months ago and last weekend we went on a date and technically have been together since that."

"But that doesn't explain why you wore so many clothes or avoided each other at school." Emily said.

"Do you wanna do it Derek? I don't think I can."

"I already told Sam about the shower. Didn't you tell Emily?"

"No."

"Shower? What happened?"

"Sunday night," Casey paused and then pulled Emily into a corner of the room and briefly whispered what had happened to her. Emily squealed. They came back to the boys.

Whist Casey told Emily about the shower Sam told Derek that he and Emily had been dating for a while now.

"Why don't you two come to our competition tomorrow?" Casey suggested.

"Sure. But only because I wanna see Derek fall on his face."

"Like you did when you were Casey's partner?" Derek fired back making Sam go red.

"What did you two come here for anyway?" Casey asked changing the subject rapidly.

"You wanted me to help pick out your outfits for the competition." Emily said calmly.

"And what about you?" Casey turned to Sam.

"I came to laugh at the costume you pick for Derek."