A/N: My first "This-has-a-deadline fic". To be posted today and completed by Christmas. Started in August (when the plot bunny claimed me). 'Finished' now. Derek/Casey. Lizzie/Edwin. Why are there so few fics with Casey's old life? Not cool, in my opinion. She did, after all, have a life before her mom married George. And met the bane of her existence, Derek. (Or did she…?)

Disclaimer: I am not daring enough to start the Dasey ship. However, I jumped it when it came the the US. Thank you, Canada. (I also don't own LWD)

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Blast From the Past

Chapter One—The Quartet

By VirgoMaiden

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"I know them."

Derek looked up at Casey in surprise, having forgotten that she was there along with a squabbling Edwin and Lizzie. She held the shopping list in her hand and stared off absently.

Derek peered curiously over her shoulder, tuning out the two ninth-graders whom he had previously been trying to separate. "What? Who? Where?" he asked, looking around the mall curiously. He didn't get how she could spot a particular person while in the middle of Christmas rush. But then again, that's what made Casey Casey.

"Over there. Or at least, I think I do…" she mused, pointing in the general direction of whoever it was she was talking about. Derek looked around curiously and was rewarded with the sight of three girls lounging by the fountain. Their thin frames were draped with long scarves, skirts and pants, and tight shirts. He saw that they each carried identical purple bags and held them close. Added to the fountain delicately splashing in the background, and it was almost from a dream.

This has got to be my lucky day…

"Who, them?" he asked. "No, can't be. 'Cuz if you did know them, then they'd be total…"

Casey unknowingly ignored him. "Hey, Liz," she said, pulling her sister from a very annoyed-looking Edwin, "do they look familiar to you?"

Lizzie was quiet for a moment, staring at the trio. Edwin's eyes gradually drifted to the three and his eyebrows unconsciously went up. If Marti had been with them, he would've been teased mercilessly for his sudden—and painfully obvious—interest.

"Actually," Lizzie said slowly, finally, "I think we do."

"Then it's--?"

"Probably."

Casey's eyes lit up. "Do you think that--?"

Lizzie nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Without a doubt."

Derek looked form McDonald to McDonald, trying to understand what the two were "saying." Who were those people? What did they think? And why was every person in their group suddenly captivated by them?

"I'm going to say hello," Casey said resolutely. She looked slightly unsure of herself, which Derek thought must be a first. Then, some determination and some glimmer and hope shone through and she murmured, "Yes, that's what I'm going to do," almost as if it was her new mantra.

"Should I come with you?" Lizzie asked doubtfully.

"No," Casey said, shaking her head slightly, still looking at the fountain group as if they would vanish if she looked away. "No, I'll do it. Then, if it isn't them, you won't look stupid as well."

("But you just said…" Derek faltered. His complaint just went unnoticed, however, as the two kept plowing on through.)

"If you say so, Lizzie sighed, putting her hands in her coat pockets. "Just make sure to mention that I'm here. You know how you can get…"

"Yeah…" Casey said absently, now walking towards the…quartet? Derek's eyes widened as a fourth girl joined the group. She resembled Casey slightly, Derek noticed, and was sipping at a large coffee.

"Hey, Casey—'' he said, attempting to speak again. "Are you sure you know—'' she was totally gone now, halfway to the group, and his insult was once again lost to the empty air and unheeding ears.

"Who are they?" he heard Edwin mutter to Lizzie.

"Some people we think we know," she said quickly.

"From school?"

"Our old one."

Both Derek and Edwin's eyes rose skeptically; Lizzie and Casey hardly ever talked about the old all-girls school they had used to attend before Nora had married George. All the two had been able to gather was that Casey had used to be popular (from Vicky), grade-grubbing had been encouraged (from Casey), and that Casey had starred in just about every production the school had (from Nora).

And to possibly meet with people who knew all of that…and more?

Derek grinned, thoughts of blackmail and rainforest-smelling laundry floating in his head.

"It looks like things are going pretty well," Edwin said, interrupting Derek from his 'evil' fantasies. "See? Casey's gesturing to us a bit."

Lizzie waved, and most of the girls waved back before turning to Casey again. She pointed back a few times and moved her hands rapidly, as if she naturally spoke sign language, gesturing. He saw that her mouth was moving even faster, so it was difficult to read her lips.

"Who are these people?" he asked Lizzie.

Lizzie shrugged. "Some friends of Casey's from her old school."

"Well, why're they here?" he found himself asking. "You guys used to live, what, more than two hours away?"

"They're part of Casey's old dance team," she said with a small trace of importance in her voice. "they travel a lot this time of year for concerts and ballets and such."

"Then why haven't we met them before?" Edwin asked, staring at the group with a dreamy expression that was usually associated with a pretty girl or a new investment on his face.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Good luck, I guess," she snorted, obviously annoyed with Edwin's infidelity. Then, with new excitement in her tone, said, "Look! Casey's bringing them over!"

Derek smiled and ran a hand through his thick hair. Okay. Four incredibly hot girls were coming over. No matter if they were friends of Casey's; she probably hadn't told them much about him yet, so he still had a pretty big chance of scoring with one of them. Now, for his intro, should he go for the indifferent "Whatever," the shy "Hey," or the confident "Derek Venturi. And yourself"?

"Oh my god! Lizzie!" one of the girls rushed forward, giving the teen a big hug. "It's been for-ever! You look so grown up! And pretty! Are you still playing soccer?"

"Add hockey and tae kwon doe, and that's about it," Lizzie said, smiling.

Girl No 1 (the girl who had rushed Lizzie, who was a brunette, was about Casey's height and had the same long hair as her.) smiled adoringly at her. "You must have ALL of the guys chasing after you."

Lizzie made a face at that and jokingly replied, "Not quite that many."

"Soon enough, you're going to look like Casey here," Girl No 2 (black haired, pretty skinny, nice cheekbones, and a good three inches taller than Lizzie, which wasn't saying all that much…) said. She nudged Casey with her elbow. "Little Miss Flirtatious," she said, smiling. "No guy was safe from her charms."

Casey blushed. "I wasn't that irresistible," she said shyly, looking downward and smiling, clearly enjoying the attention. Why she refused the praise, though, was something Derek couldn't figure out.

"Oh please." Girl No 3 (short, highlighted hair, and a good few inches shorter than Lizzie) scoffed. "You had us screen phone calls during homecoming. All of those upperclassmen asking all the time..."

"I thought she went to an all-girl school," Edwin said, finally piping up.

Girl No 3 looked at Edwin in surprise, as if seeing him for the first time. "We did," she said slowly. "But over at our 'brother' school—whom accompanied us to dances and sporting events—they had a not-."

"They somehow got her number," Girl No 4 (red hair, keener outfit, double-pierced ear) said, as if giving a piece of juicy gossip, "and we'd have to deal with all of her phones constantly ringing off of the hook!" she held her hand to her ear, pretending to be on the phone. " 'No, Marcos, Casey can't come to the phone right now. Yes, she's busy. No, she's not hiding from you! Whatever would give you that silly impression? No, I'm sure her ducking into a trash can when we saw you was because… she dropped her purse in there! Yes, her purse. Maybe next year, 'kay Hon? Okay, we'll give her your message. Buh-bye!' "

The four girls laughed while Casey grinned sheepishly. "Oh, come on…it was never like that!"

"Uh, yeah it was!" Lizzie said, smiling.

Derek and Edwin couldn't help but look confused. Casey? Popular? With actual guys? They must have arrived in a parallel universe or something. Next thing. You know, Derek wouldn't be able to get a date!

"So, who're these two?" Girl No 2 asked, smiling.

Disgust was evident on Casey's face as she glanced at Derek. He smiled his "Casey smile" and she narrowed her eyes.

"Casey?" Girl No 2 waved her hand in front of Casey's face. "Introduction?"Derek flashed what he knew was a flirty (and irresistibly charming) smile and stepped forward, his hand outstretched. "Derek Venturi," he said, shaking No 1, 2, 3, and 4's hands. "And you?"

They opened their mouths to give their names when Casey interrupted. "This is my stepbrother. The one I've told you about."

Almost in sync, every girl's eyes narrowed and their cheery smiles left their faces. Derek began to worry; No girl—besides Casey and occasionally Lizzie or Marti—had ever looked at him with such…disgust, was it? He wasn't sure. Aside from the obvious (Casey), he had never received the level of the look that they were giving him. Not even one of his numerous ex-girlfriends.

"Oh," Girl 1 said, sizing him up in a clearly judgmental way.

"We've heard a lot about you," Girl 2 said, crossing her arms.

"From Casey, of course," Girl 4 said.

What Derek hoped would appear to be a "reassuring charming" smile broke over his face. This he could handle. Just had to turn up the charm…

"I'm not such a bad guy when you get to know me," he said, hinting heavily.

"Right," Girl 1 said. "Sure you are."

Derek's mind came to a complete blank, 'charming' smile still plastered onto his face. Not good. Not good at all. Smile wasn't working. Since when did the smile not work?! Girls melted at the smile. They blushed. Stammered. Flirted back (And even though he wasn't proud to admit it, a few guys actually went red). Fainted, even! And now…he just couldn't comprehend it. It was like everything right with the world had been reversed, resulting in Derek being snubbed by four girls all at once and Casey being…popular.

"I'm Edwin," Edwin said, trying to break the icy silence. "It's…nice to meet you…" he was close to stuttering now, and his cheeks were glowing a faint pink. Lizzie rolled his eyes at his weakness.

Each frown instantly became a smile again, and it seemed that a particularly warm beam of sunlight was shining through the mall skylight.

"So handsome!" Girl 3 squealed, ruffling his hair. "Girls must be all over you!" She continued to gush over him and hug him. Edwin, slowly turning redder, smiled deeply, content with life for the moment.

"Are girls really all over him, Lizzie?" Girl 4 asked amusedly.

Lizzie turned slightly pink herself, from the frankness of the question. She looked at the display nearest to them muttering, "I don't know. He has a girlfriend, so… I guess?"

Derek's cheeks were beginning to burn, as the continuous smiling was absolutely killing his cheeks. He dropped it and began to rub his cheeks, still looking at the quartet and his brother in the midst of them.

"Sarah, let him breathe!" Girl 1 laughed, detangling Edwin (who was trying his hardest not to look put out from Girl 3's (Sarah's?) arms.

Girl 2 kicked Casey. "Nice going, Spacey," she said, smirking. "You forgot to introduce us."

Casey laughed, looking about as carefree as she had the night of the bathroom lock-in, which had been a very long time. It was…surprising, to say the least. They had called her 'Spacey' and got a laugh? When he called her that, whatever was closest or in her hand at the time was thrown at his head.

"Sorry, sorry," Casey apologized, brushing some bangs out of her eyes. "Edwin (she was obviously trying to keep him out of this; to put it simply, it wasn't one of her more complex insults), this is Sarah-'' a point at Girl 3 "-Caty-'' a gesture to Girl 1 "-Noelle-'' a wave at Girl 2 "-and Jessica.'' a flourish to Girl 4, who acknowledged it with a sort of bow "I'd introduce you to Coach Carter, but…"

"She's not here," Noelle said, suddenly mellowed out again. "She went out to attend to-''

"Spacey. Lizzie. What a surprise."

The voice behind him caused him to flinch involuntarily. That voice…it could only be…

"Hello, Vicky," Casey and Lizzie chorused. The quartet merely rose their eyebrows in acknowledgment.

He turned around and there, sure enough, staring right at him were a pair of brown eyes he had once promised to call.

"Hey, Victoria," he said, raising his arm in a half-wave almost nervously. It was awkward enough, and he didn't want to call her by her nickname; this sounded strangely forced and unfriendly.

The stepsister-procaimed Queen of Mean smirked at him. "Hello, Derek."

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A/N: Dun Dun Dun! And so ends chapter one! Reviews are welcome, but not necessary. Any questions, feel free to include it in the review or to PM me. Flamers will be used to burn homework.

-VM ♡