Casey started noticing it not too long after the McDonalds moved into the Venturi house. And as many things go, it started during one her and Derek's fights.

"DER-EK!" Casey shrieked as she bombarded her way into Derek's room without permission.

"What now, Casey?" Derek dryly wondered, not even casting a glance at the enraged brunette as he continued to flip through his magazine as he sat perched up on his bed.

"You know why I'm here!" Casey exclaimed, stomping her foot. "On top of the whole school thinking I'm a grade-grubber and klutz-"

"Which you are," Derek supplied, looking over at Casey just long enough to flash her his notorious smirk, before turning his eyes back to his magazine.

Casey growled but pressed on, "Now they think I have this…crush on you!"

Derek's eyes immediately went wide. He discarded his magazine and swung his legs over his bed to stand. "What?!"

Casey scoffed. "Oh, don't try to play innocent with me! I know you orchestrated this nasty rumor for whatever sick little pleasure you get from it!"

"I didn't start any rumor!" Derek insisted.

"Then who would do this and why?!" Casey wondered aloud, crossing her arms defensively.

Derek seemed dumbfounded for a moment before he plastered a cocky grin on his face. He slowly sauntered closer to Casey's form. "Are you sure you're just not completely in love with me?" he softly spoke.

Casey hurriedly pushed Derek away, causing him to fall back onto his bed. "Like I'd ever be interested, let alone in love, with a fool like you!" she seethed.

She watched as what looked like Derek's eyes reflecting back pain. But once she blinked the emotion was gone from his brown orbs.

The shaggy-haired boy slowly stood from his bed again, but with a scowl. "Vaffanculo'," he muttered lowly, before shouldering past her and out of his room.

Casey stood still for a moment in Derek's doorway, processing what just happened. And no, she wasn't thinking about the rumor, but rather on what Derek last said. It didn't even sound like English, which Casey surmised couldn't be right considering Derek could barely speak his own native tongue.

Right?

Casey had thought so, but from then on she began to hear Derek utter similar things under his breath every once in a while. Casey tried to brush it off and shove the odd, seemingly garbled words aside, but sooner or later her curiosity got the best of her.

The teacher had just handed back a test they took a couple days prior. Derek looked forlornly down at his own, before proceeding to bang his head against the desk repeatedly.

"Cazzo," he mumbled, "I'm so dead."

Casey, who had been eavesdropping, was yet again puzzled by what he said. "What did you say?" she asked, not even realizing she did until it was too late.

Derek looked up at Casey. "I said, 'I'm so dead,'" he answered simply. He then held up his test, which had a big 'F' written on the top. "I failed another test. My dad is going to kill me."

"No, before that," Casey interjected impatiently.

Derek just looked at her, confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You said something before," Casey claimed. "It sounded like you were saying something about a cat?"

Derek's face lit up in recognition, but quickly darkened to one of mischievous. "Ohhh, yeah! That was nothing," he answered, smirking at Casey knowingly.

"It was not nothing!" Casey insisted. "You know, I've been hearing you say stuff like that under your breath for a while now! What are you saying?"

"It's nothing, honestly," Derek said, but he was grinning too much like the Cheshire cat to believe.

"DER-EK!" Casey hollered, huffing in her anger. That boy knew just how to boil her blood.

"Ms. McDonald," the teacher said sternly from behind Casey.

The brunette immediately shrunk in her seat and blushed in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Russo," Casey said, beginning to apologize, but Mr. Russo put his hand up to stop her.

"I think you should go to the office now, Casey. I can't have you disrupting my class anymore."

Casey's eyes jumped open wide. "But- but Mr. Russo!"

"Now, Casey," the teacher demanded tiredly.

Casey reluctantly rose from her seat and gathered her things, all the while glowering at Derek, who was trying mighty hard to keep his laughter to himself.

As Casey went to leave the classroom on her trek to the office, she heard Derek whisper, "Arrivederci" as she passed.

Her head immediately swiveled around to look at Derek, who was already looking right back at her with raised eyebrows and a smug grin. He then winked at her and jovially waved goodbye.

Somehow Casey knew that his torment was far from over.

…

On the night of the classroom incident, they had ended up meeting in the bathroom. Casey wanted to brush her teeth before going to bed and Derek looked like he wanted to do the same.

Keen on avoiding Derek because she was still furious that he got her in trouble, Casey tried to avoid his eyes in the mirror and complete her task without having to talk to him. Derek didn't make an attempt to talk as he brushed his teeth though, but Casey swore he was smiling out of the corner of her eyes.

Casey finished up first and high-tailed it back to her room as casually as she could. She let out a huge sigh of relief as she settled into her bed, happy that she avoided any interaction with Derek for the time being.

A knock was then heard at her door. Not thinking, Casey welcomed the person in her room.

Derek's head popped in between the frame and the door. A sly grin slid easily into place. "Just wanted to say goodnight, and, you know, sogni d'oro!"

"DER-EK!" The dancer growled as she threw one of her throw pillows at him. She could hear him cackling as he walked to his room next door.

…

Casey was standing at the stove, making herself some pancakes for a late breakfast. Everyone already seemed to be out for the day or, in Edwin and Derek's case, still sleeping.

"Buongiorno!" she suddenly heard behind her. She rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Seriously, Derek, what are you saying?!" Casey hollered, turning away from the stove to glare at him.

Derek had a floppy smile on his face as he jumped up on the kitchen counter to sit. "And why would I tell you? Especially since not telling you is a hell of a lot more entertaining."

Casey scowled at him.

"Also, make sure you don't burn the pancakes. I don't like mine crisp."

"Who said you were getting any?" Casey said sourly, turning back to the stove to flip the pancakes over. "Unless, maybe you told me what you are saying…then I might reconsider…"

Derek snorted and jumped off the counter. "I think I'll just have some cereal. You make terrible pancakes anyway."

"No, I don't!" Casey insisted. "My pancakes are very fluffy and flavorful and-"

"More like hard and dry and bland! I think I'm safer eating my cereal," Derek interrupted with a teasing grin. He then proceeded to pour himself a bowl.

"You've eaten my pancakes before and scarfed them down like you couldn't get enough!" Casey countered matter-of-factly.

"Casey," Derek began simply, "I scarf any food down. Plus, that day I must have been too desperate for food and too lazy to get anything else. I'm surprised I'm still standing after eating it."

"DER-EK!" Casey yelled out, stepping away from the stove to lean over him. Her face was beet red and splotching, while her hair was wild with tangles from running her hands through them in anger.

Derek smirked up at her, not in the least bit intimidated. "Sei bella quando ti arrabbi."

"URGHHH!" Casey let out angrily. "What are you saying?! What language even is that?!"

Derek opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it and instead started to chuckle. "I would check the pancakes if I were you..."

Casey's eyes widened. She frantically turned around and rushed to the stove, but it was already too late. The pancakes were burnt.

Derek appeared behind her, looking at the pancakes over her shoulder. "Just like I've been telling you. Hard, dry, and bland," he stated semi-seriously before laughing his way out of the kitchen.

Oh, that boy was driving her insane in more ways than one.

...

"Hey, are you Casey McDonald?" a voice suddenly asked from behind.

Casey stuck her head out of her locker to see a very cute guy with a dazzlingly smile and blonde hair looking down at her. The brunette shyly pushed some hair behind her ear. "That would be me."

"I'm new to the school, but I just have to ask…" he said trailing off.

Casey waited on baited breath, anticipating that maybe this cute, new guy would ask her out. She bit her lip.

"Is it true that you fell down a flight of stairs, wiping out a sea of people, before landing on some guy's butt?!" he exclaimed, beginning to laugh at her misfortune. "And that they call you Klutzilla?!"

Casey shrunk back. "It-it wasn't exactly like-" However, Casey didn't get to finish it as the boy was whisked away by none other than her step-brother.

Casey watched Derek roughly push the blonde-haired boy down another hallway. Raising an eyebrow, Casey curiously followed to see what Derek was up to.

As she rounded the corner, she saw Derek walking with the new kid under his arm, keeping him close and preventing the guy from escaping.

"Hey, I'm Derek Venturi and I'm guessing you're new," she heard Derek start, before he stopped walking. He then spun around the blonde so he would face Derek, but inevitably be trapped between a locker and Derek's frame. "Which is why I'm going to leave you off with a warning," her stepbrother continued with a sarcastic smile.

His face then dropped the act and grew solemn. "Don't ever talk about the Klutzilla accident again? Especially to Casey," he demanded of the guy, "Actually, don't ever talk to Casey ever again. Got it?"

The new guy fearfully nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Then scram," Derek said, stepping aside for the guy to get through. The new guy scampered away quickly.

Seeming quite satisfied, Derek turned only to find Casey standing close-by watching. He winced. "Case, before you start ranting-" he began, walking closer to her.

"I'm not going to rant," Casey stated.

Derek looked at her cautiously. "You're not?"

"No. I mean, I wish you had let me handled it myself, but I appreciate the fact that you had my back." She gave him a small smile, to which Derek couldn't seem to not reciprocate.

"Sei molto goffa, ma sei anche sorprendente e bella e intelligente," Derek spoke with a soft smirk.

"Der-ek," she let out weakly. He chuckled.

"You know, I'm not going to let that ruin this moment. It was probably a jab at me anyway..."

"Only slightly," Derek admitted, but grinned down at her.

Casey smiled wryly. "So, you only speak the other language to insult me?"

"I usually speak in a different language to say the things I can't really say in English," he said openly and honestly. "But also just to piss you off too."

Casey smacked him in the arm good-humorly.

"You ever going to tell me what you're saying?" she wondered out loud.

Derek looked at her seriously for a moment, pondering her question thoughtfully. "Maybe...just not today," he answer somberly, before walking away.

...

Casey was furious. Livid. Completely outraged by her stepbrother's latest antic.

Derek didn't have a good track record with any of her previous boyfriends/dates, but this most recent incident seemed to be the key catalyst to Casey's breaking point.

Casey still couldn't fathom why he would intervene in such a way, but that was why she was about to get some answers.

She knocked loudly against Derek's locked door. "DER-EK!" she hollered. "You better open this door!"

"Or what? You gonna claw the thing?" she heard Derek sneer behind the door. "But you might break a nail!" he sarcastically exclaimed, sounding falsely outraged.

"Der-ek, I demand answers right now for what you did to Michael!"

Derek opened the door just enough to poke his head out. "Who's Michael?" he asked, looking as if he was trying to remember.

Casey rolled her eyes, but used Derek's slight distraction to push open the door, thus enter his room.

"Michael, you know the guy I've been going out with lately," Casey stated.

Derek shrugged his shoulder noncommittally. "Not ringing any bells."

Casey's jaw locked. "Michael, the guy that you apparently spoke to earlier today and told that I was already planning our wedding and had baby names chosen! Michael, the guy you told that should dump me before things got serious because I tend to go psycho!"

Derek's eyes widened and he began to walk away from Casey cautiously. "Well, if you could see yourself right now…" he let out weakly.

For every step Derek took away from Casey, she took one forward. "And then you told him a whole other mountain of lies about me to further scare him away!"

"Well, if he was 'the one' then he wouldn't have minded, right? In a way, I did you a favor," Derek tried, knowing that it was a long shot that she'd accept that bull. Derek then stumbled back into his desk, rattling the objects on it. He silently cursed his predicament.

Casey stood directly in front of him now, seething. "That's beside the point, you pompous jerk!" she hollered. "Why?!"

"Why what?!" Derek yelled back, annoyance seeping into his words.

"Why did you go out of your way to ruin my chance with Michael? Why do you even care about who I date?!"

"Because," Derek started, but stopped abruptly. Derek's mouth twisted and his eyes closed as if he was trying to hold himself back. From what, Casey couldn't begin to know. "Because io sono pazzo di te e ti amo!" Derek finally spout out.

Casey's brows deeply furrowed. "Oh, no! You are not pulling that foreign crap on me right now!" she hollered, jabbing him in the chest with her index finger. "You are going to tell me, in English this time, why you hate me so much to do what you did?!"

"Casey, you don't get it!" Derek said as he pushed away her arm from his chest. "Just, get out!"

Casey was momentarily taken back from his outburst, but quickly composed herself. "No," she answered defiantly. "I have a right to know and I want to know right now. Tell me what I'm not 'getting,' Derek! That you're a selfish, lowlife idiot? I think I got that already!"

Derek growled, obviously unpleased by her answer. He then swiftly picked her up over his shoulder.

"Derek! Put me down!" Casey demanded as he began to walk out of his room and into hers. "Der-ek!" she further yelled, beginning to hit his back with her fists in protest.

He finally dropped her down on her bed. Casey immediately sat up to argue with him further, but stopped when she realized he was staring at her very intensely, as if he was observing her very closely and carefully. He then tore his eyes away, shaking his head nonplussed. Then without a word, he left.

Casey thought about running after him to continue the fight, but she could already hear Derek through their shared wall, locking his door. She then heard her stepbrother sigh deeply, before swearing very colorfully, but soon that was dissolved by the loud rock music Derek began to play.

It all left Casey very confused as she sat on her bed, thinking about just what was going on with Derek.

…

He was ignoring her. It had almost been a week since the blowout and he hadn't said a word to her. Not a joke or a tease or a casual comment about the weather. Nothing. It was beginning to really disconcert Casey.

She didn't realize how much undivided attention he really gave her until he wouldn't even glance at her. She didn't realize how much they talked until he stopped speaking to her. And she missed it. Everything. All of it. Even – sometimes especially – the fighting. But she didn't know how to fix this. She didn't even know what to fix.

Casey sighed as she stirred around the cereal in her bowl. It was all soggy now, for she was spending too much time thinking about things with Derek than eating. She pushed it away, not feeling hungry anyway.

"Nora, I'm leaving to head to the office," she heard George shout down the basement steps to her mother. She heard her mother shout something back up, but it was too muffled to hear it from the kitchen.

"Good morning, Casey," George greeted as he pulled out a thermos mug to take his coffee on the go.

"Morning, George," Casey politely greeted back.

He stopped pouring his coffee and gave Casey a peculiar look. "You okay? You seem a bit…off," he pointed out as he spun on the cap of the thermos mug.

"I'm fine, George," Casey insisted, trying to give him a convincing smile to ease his worry.

"Alright," George conceded, "It's just that I've noticed that the house has been a whole lot quieter lately too. Just making sure I don't have to find a dead body around here," he said, chuckling at himself. Casey tried to respectfully laugh along.

"Georgie!" Nora said, jogging into the kitchen. "Good thing I caught you, you forgot one of your files downstairs!"

Taking the file, he graciously pecked Nora on the lips. "You're a lifesaver," he told her, beaming loveably down at her. He then caught sight of the kitchen clock. "I have to get going though! Arrivederci!"

Casey's mind immediately took her back to the classroom that day Derek got her in trouble. Derek had said the same thing.

"Wait!" Casey blurted out as she rose from her seat. "What did you just say?" she asked George.

George stopped in his tracks. "Arrivederci?"

Casey nodded. "Yes, that. What does it mean?" she asked anxiously.

"It's Italian for 'goodbye,'" George answered.

"Italian?" Casey wondered aloud. She wanted to hit herself in the head for not figuring it out herself. In hindsight, she should have been able to figure it out sooner.

"Yes, we Venturi's all speak at least a little Italian. Mainly for my mother's benefit," he stated proudly.

"Even Derek?" Casey surprisingly asked, though obviously he did, since he had been using his Italian recently to annoy her.

"Oh, especially Derek. He's actually pretty fluent. When he was young he spent a lot of time at my mom's, who speaks Italian whenever she can so…" George shared.

George looked at the clock again and jumped. "Ah, I really need to get going now. Bye, Casey!" he said, waving to her. "Bye, Nora. Ti amo!" he said, giving her a peck on the cheek before rushing out of the back door.

"Ti amo…" Casey said to herself, knowing that it sounded familiar to her. It then clicked that it was another thing Derek had said to her at one point. Actually it was the last thing he said to her in Italian before he completely cut her off.

"That's Italian for 'I love you.'" Nora supplied, having must have heard Casey and wanted to share her limited knowledge of the language. "George says that you're only supposed to use that expression for your ultimate love, so usually your spouse."

After hearing her mother's explanation, Casey was hit with a wave of emotion. Love? Derek had said something to her that involved love? She began to hyperventilate.

"Casey, are you okay?" Nora asked, her concern growing as she saw Casey's breath becoming labored. She quickly ran to one of the drawers and brought Casey a paper bag. The girl eagerly took the bag and began to breathe into it until she eventually calmed down.

"Sorry," Casey apologized. "I just realized…I forgot about a test," Casey fibbed, but Nora nodded in understanding, buying the lie.

Casey stood up. "I better go start studying," Casey further said, making a beeline to the stairs.

As she reached the hallway upstairs, she immediately bumped into the person currently occupying her mind. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to see him now or not, but when he simply went by her like she was invisible, Casey decided she needed to talk to him. Now.

"You speak Italian," she called after him. Derek froze in his place, but he didn't turn around.

"I know what you said the other day. I know what it means now," Casey pressed.

Derek's figure tensed at her words. He slowly turned around to face her. "Well then get it over with," he responded quietly.

Casey's face scrunched up in confusion. "Get over with what?"

Derek let out an low, empty laugh. "My rejection, okay? Tell me I'm a fool. Tell me I'm a selfish jerk. Tell me I'm a lowlife! Tell me I'm beneath you! Just tell me whatever you need to say to me!" Derek replied, getting a tad louder after every sentence he spoke.

Casey's eyed were beginning to water as she watched the most confident person she had ever known look so vulnerable in front of her. All she wanted to do was hug him. So, she went to give him one.

As she approached him, Derek closed his eyes tightly, expecting maybe a slap to the face. He was expectantly surprised when she instead wound her arms around his waist and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

She felt him go rigid, but little by little she felt him relax against her. "Case?" he bewilderingly called out.

"What exactly did you say to me the other day?" she whispered against him. She felt a shiver pass through him.

"I thought you said," Derek started, but Casey interrupted him. "I don't know what all of what you said meant…just the last part," she confessed.

Casey could feel Derek's Adam's apple bob up and down a few times. "I said 'io sono pazzo di te e ti amo,' which means 'I'm crazy about you and I love you,'" he answered uncharastically soft and affectionate.

Casey squeezed Derek a little tighter. Her emotions were overwhelming her, but they offically brew over the edge when Derek finally returned her hug. She could feel herself starting to cry.

"No!" Derek groaned, but began to rub her back soothingly. "No tears. Please."

Casey giggled waterly. "Sorry," she apologized, trying to wipe away some of the evidence.

"So..." Derek began hesitantly, leaning back from the embrace to look at her. "Are you hugging me out of pity or are you hugging me because...you feel the same?"

Casey took a moment to look at the growing man in-front of her. Before their argument, Casey hadn't thought she felt anything for Derek other than sheer annoyance. However, when he withdrew himself and ignored her, it was only then did it open her eyes to how much she really liked having him around, even if he was teasing or pranking her. And when she found out Derek loved her, something inside her felt like it clicked. Like things were finally making sense. Feelings she couldn't place before were finally given their proper names: jealousy, envy, lust and…love.

Casey leaned up on her tippy toes and placed a soft, lingering, but chaste kiss on Derek's lips. When she pulled away, Derek's eyes were still closed.

"Ti amo," Casey whispered against his lips. Derek's eyes immediately opened to gazed down into hers. His lips soon curved into a self-satisfied smirk that, dare she say, made her knees go weak.

"I think it's time you learned some Italian," Derek commented. Casey nodded; never being one to turn down a chance to learn something new. "That way we can talk dirty in public and no one will have to know a thing."

"Der-ek! You can't just teach me foul-mouthed phrases to satisfy your libido!"

Derek pouted. "Fine," he reluctantly caved. "Though, you're still going to learn some," he promised with a smirk.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Teach me a word right now," she asked.

He looked down at her funny, amusement playing in his eyes. She could have sworn he muttered 'keener' under his breath, but she wasn't sure since she couldn't get over the fact that he was looking at her with so much affection. Did he really always look at her like that and see just never noticed?

"First word, 'baciami,'" Derek spoke.

Casey said it a few times, trying to get the hang of it. It surely didn't come off as smoothly as Derek's pronunciation. "Okay, what does that mean?" she then asked.

Derek repositioned his arms from around her waist, so that they instead cupped her face. "It means 'kiss me,'" he answered smugly, before swooping in.

A/N: So, yeah, this idea came from the head canon on tumblr that said something about the Venturis knowing Italian. A friend of mine and I just kept going on and on about it and this was essentially created! Damn, plot bunny!

Also, I know I'm overdue for an update on Pretending to Be Nice, but I'm trying. This semester has been a bit of a killer, but it's over in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll have time then to write more! :)

ITALIAN to ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
(some of these might be wrong, so don't hold it against me…)

Vaffanculo' – Fuck you

Cazzo – Fuck

Arrivederci – Goodbye

Sogni d'oro – Sweet dreams

Buongiorno – Good morning

Sei bella quando ti arrabbi – You're beautiful when you're mad.

Sei molto goffa, ma sei anche sorprendente e bella e intelligente – You are very clumsy, but you're also amazing and beautiful and smart

Io sono pazzo di te e ti amo – I'm crazy about you and I love you

Baciami – Kiss Me