Disclaimer: I don't own LwD.

Thanks: To all those who have read and reviewed my previous stories.

Thanks: To David for pre-reading.

The Compatibility Quiz

"Hello, mom." Casey answered the phone, cradling it between her ear and shoulder, as her hands were busy with hairspray and a blue shoe.

"Hi, Honey. How are you?" Nora answered politely.

"I'm good, same as yesterday." Casey answered suspiciously.

"I'm so glad to hear that." Nora's voice was falsely bright.

"Did you call for a reason, mom?" Casey didn't have time for Nora's hedging. She was already running late for work after discovering Derek had put ABC gum in her heels last night when he was over.

"Well, you know, I miss you and…" Nora's voice trailed off.

"I haven't lived at home for two years, six if you count college." Casey said drily, hoping she'd come to the point soon.

"Oh, well, since you brought it up. You see you still have some boxes in the garage and I was hoping since you have your own place now maybe you could take them with you." Nora asked hopefully.

Was that all? "Okay, can it wait until the weekend?"

"Of course." Nora replied with a sigh of relief.

MOM! Casey heard Simon, her youngest brother, yelling in the background. She took this as her out. "Sounds like you're busy mom. I love you and I'll see you Saturday."

"Bye, Casey." Nora said distractedly, but Casey had already hung up.

...~~~...

Casey arrived at the McDonald-Venturi residence at 8am dressed in grungy cleaning clothes, hair back in a low ponytail and a bandana slipped over her head. She entered the garage, and… what a mess. The car couldn't even be parked inside. Casey felt that she had been duped into cleaning out the garage, not just removing her own boxes. She sighed and started hauling stuff out onto the lawn.

About an hour later, she heard loud voices from inside the house, but wasn't sure what was being said. She walked over to the kitchen door and opened it. She let out an exasperated sigh. She should have known. The clamor was over Derek. Her family acted like they hadn't seen him in months instead of just two weeks. Then she smiled realizing that he was probably asked to help with the clean out too. Good.

Derek was indeed there to "pick up his stuff" from the garage. He moaned and protested loudly when he saw the condition of the garage, but time had matured him and he started to haul out boxes with Casey.

George and Nora waved goodbye as they had plans to take Simon to the zoo. Marti was going to a friend's house. Liz and Edwin were at university.

Several hours and a pizza later, Casey finally found a clear plastic box with shoe-boxes inside. She figured it was her own, so she took it outside and sat down to look through the contents. She opened a red shoebox first and was surprised to find pictures rather than shoes. She always clearly labeled her boxes. She sorted through the pictures slowly thinking they must be hers because they were pictures of her blended family, high school friends, and university friends. She remembered the context of each picture and grinned widely to herself. She did find it odd that there were some pictures of just herself in the box, but figured someone else probably took them and gave them too her. She was about to share the pictures with Derek, who was going through a box of sports equipment, when she noticed the pink and white papers in the bottom of the shoebox. They looked like…yes, they were.

In university, one of the clubs had raised money by selling compatibility quizzes around Valentine's Day. You paid two dollars for the quiz and then turned it back into the club to receive your results a few days before the holiday. Casey looked at the pink and white envelope and saw it was marked 2010. That would have been freshman year. She smiled and thought back to that time.

...~~~...

Casey practically skipped to the lunch table, humming with excitement. She had noticed a table set up outside the Student Union by one of the clubs. They were selling compatibility quizzes for two dollars and she couldn't stop herself from buying one for each friend she would be meeting at lunch.

"Hello." She sang out to the occupants of her lunch table. It was always the same six for lunch as it had been since the second week of school. Her roommate Blair, their floor mate Rachel, Blair's almost boyfriend Rob, and his friend Jake. Oh, and Derek of course. Rob and Jake played on the hockey team with him.

Everyone greeted Casey politely except Derek who called out "Loser," in greeting and kept munching his sandwich.

Casey glared at Derek before turning back to their friends. "So guess what." She said still in a sing-song voice. "I bought us tests." She exclaimed excitedly waving the forms in the air.

"Keener," Derek coughed into his hand which earned him another glare.

"What are you talking about?" Blair asked trying to stop the inevitable fight between them.

With another death glare shot toward Derek, Casey turned to the rest of the table and smiled widely. "It's a compatibility quiz. You fill out the questions based on your personality and interests and then a few days before Valentine's Day we will receive the results of who we would best match up with. Doesn't that sound like fun? And I already bought them so I need two dollars a piece." Casey held out her hand expectantly.

Rob and Jake grumbled a little but handed over the money, as did the girls. Casey turned on Derek, "I need your money too, Der."

"I'm not filling out some dumb quiz to find out who I should date."

"C'mon, Derek," Casey pleaded. "It'll be fun and the money goes to a good cause."

"I am not giving you any money or taking any test, Spacey."

"But I already bought the test. I have it right here. We can fill in the answers during lunch." Casey looked around at the others. "No cheating." She shook a finger at them.

"You diseased keener," Derek said, "I already told you I'm not doing this. I don't need a quiz to help me get a date."

"Derek," Casey whined.

"Do you doubt my ability to get a date? Let me show you." Derek continued.

He scanned the cafeteria, eyes coming to rest on a cute blond from his English class. He stared at her for less than a minute before she looked up. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, nodding his head. She smiled shyly then giggled as her friend elbowed her in the side. He crooked a finger at her and she stood, as if under a spell, and walked over to the table.

"I'm Derek," he said cockily.

She giggled. "I know. I'm…"

Derek interrupted. "Polly. I know."

She giggled more.

"I was thinking maybe I would stop by your dorm tonight." Her eyes widened. "Unless you're busy."

"Oh no. I mean yes. I mean I'm not busy so you can stop." She said flustered by his cool attention.

"Great. Just write down your room number...here." He said, grabbing Casey's notebook.

The girl grinned nervously and wrote down her information.

"See you later." Derek said and waved his hand dismissively. She turned and went back to her table practically skipping in excitement.

Derek turned to Casey. "See? I don't need a test."

Casey was appalled by his behavior and by the girl's. Her face turned red in outrage. "Der-ek!" She exploded.

Jake intervened sensing a scene was about to be created. "Derek, it's for charity. It's fun. You might meet a girl out of it. We're doing it. Just do it."

Derek looked around the table at his friends, who were all nodding. Feeling outnumbered, he said, "Fine. Give it here." And reached into his pocket for his wallet.

...~~~...

Casey cringed as she recalled the disastrous results of her own test. She had sought out the one guy and asked him out. He ended up being a total pig. Sighing she now opened the test marked 2010.

CASEY MACDONALD…...92%

KEIRA WILLIAMS…...85%

BETH RODGERS…...84%

SARAH LOMBO…...79%

There must be some mistake, thought Casey, almost in full on panic mode. Why did this test have her name on it? Whose box was this? She looked up and her eye caught Derek's form bending over a box. He sneezed from the dust and then dove back in. He was totally ignoring her. Is this Derek's box? No it couldn't be. He wasn't one to save stuff like this. And the pictures, they were all times she remembered. Of course, they would have all been times Derek remembered as well. They had been sharing family and friends since their parent's wedding.

Casey looked again at the test results. Was he on her test results? She cringed then. Yes he was, she remembered. He had been listed first, but she thought it was a prank for getting back at her for making him take the quiz. She had figured he had answered the questions in the same way she did just to freak her out when his name came up. She had fully expected him to say something about this too, but he never had. It must have been a prank, Casey thought, convincing herself. Then she picked up the pink and white envelope marked 2011 - sophomore year, and searched her memory again.

...~~~...

She had purchased the quizzes again for her friends right before meeting them for lunch. Same group of friends. Same lunch table. She put out of her mind the terrible date that was the product of last year's results and danced over to the table. Her friends were prepared for her plea this year, but that didn't mean they were happy about. Derek, aware of her presence, totally ignored her entrance, instead he munched on a apple while reading his text book and listening to his iPod.

"Compatibility Quiz time again." She sang out waving the forms in the air.

"Please tell me you didn't already buy those?" asked Rachel.

"Sure did!" Casey answered brightly and held out her hand. "Two dollars please." Grumbling everyone reached for their wallets. Sensing her friends complaint she reminded them the money went to charity.

Rob elbowed Derek who was still ignoring the scene at the table. "Just give her the two dollars, D. Don't create a scene like last year."

Derek didn't look up, but Casey knew he wasn't unaware of what was going on. She pulled the buds out of his ears.

"What the f…"

"Language, Der." Casey warned.

"Fuck," he said clearly and defiantly. Casey was momentarily taken aback. While Derek was often insulting, he was rarely rude like this.

"Two dollars now." She said firmly.

"I am not going to give you two dollars. I am not going to take this stupid quiz." He said evenly and stood up to stare her down.

Casey took a step closer as their friends looked on in exasperation. "You will." She said coldly.

Derek took a step closer and bent his head so their foreheads were almost touching. He spoke in a low menacing voice, but most of the cafeteria was already paying attention. "Make me, Princess."

They stared at each other for a full minute, bodies tensed, imaginary sparks flying, as Derek waited for Casey's comeback. "You're just afraid that this test will match you up with a real girl instead of those dumb blond bimbos you always date. You couldn't take the heat of dating a real girl." Casey spat back. It wasn't a great line, but with Derek's hot breath on her neck it was the best she could think of.

"I wouldn't date the girl first on my list if she were the last person alive." Derek growled.

Casey's brow creased. That didn't make any sense. He didn't have his results yet and why wouldn't he date the girl whose answers best matched his. Casey took a step back. "Fine. Be a chicken." Again not her best, but she figured he might just take the bait anyway.

His eyes narrowed. "Fine." He said turning away and gathering up his backpack. For a moment Casey thought he really intended on leaving without the test. Then he pulled out his wallet, threw two dollars in her face, took a test sheet laying on the table, and walked away, in the wrong direction of his next class.

Casey stared after him for a few seconds, then put a smile on her face and turned toward her friends. "Okay, let's get to work." She said brightly, sitting down in her seat and pulling the test toward her.

...~~~...

Casey looked over to Derek again. He was sorting through a box of old clothes now, totally oblivious to her dilemma. She opened the 2011 envelope.

CASEY MACDONALD…...94%

BETH RODGERS…...…...87%

HEATHER LOVE…...…...85%

MANDY DODSON…...82%

What? She looked over at the opened 2010 envelope. Her score raised two percentage points, and Beth's raised three points. There was no way these results were for real. "I wouldn't date the girl first on my list if she were the last person alive." Derek's words rang in her ears. Had he answered the questions seriously and been matched with her? Had he been on her results the second year? Yes, he had, but she had dismissed it again figuring he had again deliberately answered the questions untruthfully just to irritate her. She hadn't given it a second thought at the time.

Her hand trembled as she picked up the last three envelopes. Wait. There shouldn't be three envelopes left. She fanned then out in her hand - 2012 - 2013 - 2013. Why did he have two envelopes for senior year? Had he taken the test twice. Yes, he probably had decided to fill out one to prank Casey and one with his truthful answers on it - finally. She felt her panic ease at being a true match to Derek.

Had he been on her results these years also? Yes, he had been in 2012, but in 2013 their senior year, she couldn't remember what her results were. Oh, that's right, the computer had messed up her envelope and she never received her results.

She looked over at Derek again. He had a box of toys in front of him, and he was pulling out Transformers and setting them in what looked like a battle formation. He must of felt her gaze because he shifted and looked at her with a huge grin on his face. "Look what I found! My old action figures. I wonder if they're worth any money?" Casey smiled in reply, but Derek had already turned around back to his toys.

...~~~...

As Casey purchased the compatibility quizzes outside the cafeteria, she was determined that this would be her year, putting out of her mind the awful dates she had had with the guys on last year's results. She had a feeling the guys didn't take this as seriously as the girls, but she hoped that now that they were juniors that the matches would be a little more accurate. Casey didn't even say hello before Derek popped up from the table and took out his wallet. Stunned speechless, she watched him hand her two dollars, rip a quiz from her hands, and stock off with his backpack.

"Okay, then." Casey muttered to herself, and turned to the rest of the table's occupants.

...~~~...

She opened the envelope marked 2012.

CASEY MACDONALD…...96%

MANDY DODSON…...…...86%

LAURA BRUERE…...83%

BETH RODGERS…...82%

She sighed, definitely a joke. She was sure if she opened the 2013 envelopes, one would have her name at the top and one would have a totally different list of girls. What an idiot Derek could be at times. She looked at the two 2013 envelopes in her hand. Should she open them now that she knew it was a prank? She was kind of curious who Derek had been matched with for real. She debated internally. She knew this was an invasion of his privacy, but then again she had gone this far, why not finish it, right?

She looked over at him again. He was putting the action figures back in the box, but still had a huge childish grin on his face. Actually he looked kind of adorable with his shaggy brown hair falling in his chocolate eyes. Involuntarily she smiled and turned back to the two 2013 envelopes still debating her next action.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Case?" Derek said over her shoulder. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him walk up behind her.

...TBC