Casey had a list of things she needed to do that day.

Most importantly of course was to pack all her bags (including stuff that Izzie had left behind). It was finally the last day of the ski trip. Just a week ago, when she was still together with Izzie, she was absolutely dreading this day, knowing that she would miss this fever dream of a trip with her girlfriend. But now that the day had come, and Casey was most certainly not together with Izzie anymore, she was more than ready to leave.

The next thing she had to do was go see Evan. She had to tell him that this was it. That everything that had been doing the past week meant nothing to her and it would be less complicated for both of them if they just stopped. Every time Casey passed by Beth on the slopes, a pang of guilt with choke her. She felt like an absolute asshole for having broken the hearts of the Chapin.

But no one broke anyone more than Izzie broke Casey.

The third thing she needed to do was to meet up with Quinn and Penelope while avoiding Nate in the hallways as she had been doing since he got here. Just like Izzie, Quinn and Penelope meant the world to Casey and she wanted to keep in touch. Although, not being with Izzie anymore would definitely cause a little bit of awkwardness between them. But Casey could see herself inviting them for pizza at Don's when they went back home. Unfortunately, Izzie wouldn't be a part of that plan.

Casey never openly talked about her break up with Izzie. Quinn and Penelope knew the reason why, of course, but they didn't suspect Casey even a little bit. They were just as frazzled about the situation as Casey was.

Casey simply messaged Sharice and Tanya that they had broken up, which definitely came as a shock to them, seeing that Casey had just only told them about their relationship. Casey didn't reply at all after that and eventually they got the hint and gave her some space.

Throughout all this, Casey was still figuring everything out. Figuring out who was this fucking asshole that filmed Izzie in the changing room.

It had to be Nate.

It was now 1pm and their check out was scheduled for 2pm. The room was now left exactly as how it was when she first got here. Casey took with her some of the villa shampoo, not because she wanted to use it at home, but because they reminded her of Izzie. It was one of their first interactions when they indirectly agreed with each other about the bizarreness of villa shampoo.

Izzie left one of her rings on the bedside table too. It was a ring she always wore on her right index finger so Casey was surprised that she had forgotten to take it with her. She was rolling the ring between her fingers, examining it and imagining Izzie's fingers in it.

She slowly put it on her finger and instantly, she was brought back to all the memories of Izzie's hand in hers. Casey wouldn't stop crying after that.

...

The school bus came to a screeching halt at Newton High. Casey looked out of the window to see a crowd of parents gathered, excitedly awaiting their kids arrival, and Elsa and Doug were no different.

Sharice and Tanya gave Casey a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder before alighting the bus. Casey waited for everyone to get off first, not eager at all to move. Elsa must have noticed this because her face dropped in concern.

Eventually, Casey grabbed her bag from below her seat and got up, trudging her feet towards the front doors of the bus.

"Casey!!" Elsa squealed as they ran towards her. "Hey guys..." Casey mumbled as she let Doug take her bags. "We missed you so, so much. Come on, let's get home so that you can tell us more about the trip!"

Elsa noticed Casey's off-putting mood throughout the ride home. She looked over at Doug who was as concerned as her and knew that she had to meddle.

When they had reached home, Sam had his headphones on as he sat on the couch, still working on the drawing he had been doing for a week.

"Hey Sam," Casey said, yanking his headphones off before sticking her tongue out at him. "Hi Casey," He said and Casey was surprised that he wasn't annoyed. "It's good to have you back."

Casey genuinely smiled through the pain for the first time in a while. Elsa and Doug looked over at their kids, touched by the sight. "I ordered Don's pizza for dinner! Casey, maybe you could ask Evan to deliver it and he can stay for dinner too," Elsa said, grinning and Casey immediately rolled her eyes.

"That's weird," was all she said before getting off the couch. She walked past her parents, grabbing her bag along the way as she walked up to her room, leaving them in even more confusion.

Casey pushed open her bedroom door and threw her bag on the floor before sitting down on the bed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She then got a notification from her group chat with Quinn and Penelope and saw that Quinn had sent an address.

Casey: what's this?

Quinn: izzie's address. use it in whatever way you'd like <3

Casey: and why would i need her address?

Penelope: cos she's your girlfriend

Casey: ex girlfriend

Penelope: yeah, yeah whatever. she lives just three streets away

Casey sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. She wondered what Izzie was doing now. She wondered if Izzie's mum was at home. And if she wasn't, she wondered if Izzie was having trouble taking care of all of them.

She picked her phone up again.

Casey: can we meet at the park later tonight?

Quinn: see u

Penelope: i'll bring potato chips!

Casey chuckled at the messages before throwing her phone back on the bed. She figured a shower would ease her.

It was around 8pm when Casey walked down the stairs. "Casey! Where are you going? I said I ordered pizza," Elsa said, noticing that she had her jacket on. "Oh shoot, sorry y'all. I have to meet up with Quinn and Penelope."

"Quinn and Penelope? Have I heard of them before?"

"Nope, they're Clayton girls. Later!"

"Casey Gardner! You are not missing an important family dinner. We haven't seen you for six weeks! You can meet them afterwards."

Elsa's nagging was only adding on to Casey's frustrations right now but she knew better than to take it out on her mother who was just simply being a mother.

"Okay... yeah, sorry," She mumbled before walking over to the dining table.

She sent a quick message to the chat that she would be half an hour late before sitting down next to Sam. "Okay, so tell us all about this trip!" Elsa exclaimed, putting a slice of pizza on Casey's plate.

Couldn't they talk about anything else?

"Yeah it was fine," Casey said, forcing a small smile and Doug furrowed his eyebrows. "Fine? That's it? During all those FaceTimes you were really excited. You were rooming with that Clayton girl right? What was her name? Lizzie?"

"Izzie," Casey immediately corrected before clearing her throat. "I'm just really tired from all the skiing. But really, it was overall a great trip."

Elsa and Doug gave up on trying to get anymore information out of her so they moved on to the topic of Sam's new art project.

Casey's mind raced back to Izzie and before she knew it, she was reaching for her phone, unable to stop herself. She clicked on her chat with Izzie and started typing a message.

Casey: The things I would do to be with you again...

She sighed as her thumb lingered on the send button. She closed her eyes and just before she was about to press it, a buzz on her phone made her open her eyes. It was a text from Quinn on the chat, saying that she was on the way to the park.

"Okay guys, this has been fun but I have to go," Casey said, gobbling down the slice before grabbing her bag and running out of the house.

...

Soon, she pulled over at the park and smiled to see them already there.

"What's up Case-"

"Was Nate the one that filmed Izzie?" Casey interrupted them and their eyes dropped. "Casey we have no idea. But that's what we suspect too," Penelope said.

"Have you talked to Izzie yet?" Penelope continued and Casey shook her head no. "Why would she want to see me?"

"Trust me, go see her," Quinn said.

"But why?"

"Because she told me! Before she left, she told me she knew it wasn't you. But she just can't be with you anymore because people know too much. That doesn't mean she doesn't love you."

"Well I can't do anything about Izzie until I do something about this video," Casey continued. "Okay so we can all collectively agree that it's Nate. We just need some proof for Izzie. And the school of course," Penelope said.

The girls continued to think of ideas to expose Nate until Quinn started to get excited. "I know! I say the three of us break into his house. We have to be able to find something there."

"Break in?!" Casey exclaimed.

"Break in. Look at his story. His parents are on some cruise for the weekend. Penelope will have a party tomorrow at her place for the Clayton kids so that he's forced out of his house. And you and I will take the opportunity to break in," Quinn explained proudly.

"I don't know about this guys..." Casey said reluctantly. Her being from Newton and all didn't prepare her for such experiences that the Clayton kids were familiar with. "It'll be fine. Look I already mass texted the school and he's coming. You'll have at least a solid 4 hours to find something," Penelope said, showing them her screen.

"Fine... let's do this."

...

Casey had trouble sleeping that night, with Izzie on her mind and all. But she realised how much she missed the comfort of her own bed at home. She never expected returning home to be like this because, as a matter of fact, she expected her return home to be with Izzie. She expected herself bringing Izzie home to introduce her to the family. She expected Izzie to be in her bed with her right now.

It was now the next day and Casey once again was hopelessly reaching for her phone on the bedside table to see if there was any text or call from Izzie. Not a surprise that there was nothing. Only texts from Quinn and Penelope.

Quinn: mission ruin nate's life starts tonight

Penelope: search EVERYTHING. check if he has any cameras and definitely check his laptop

Quinn: also casey, we have to hide at the side of his house before he leaves. so that we can see the password on his padlock

Casey: password???

Quinn: don't ask. we'll meet at his house at 6. pen, make sure he stays at the party until we text that we're out of the house

Penelope: you got it

Casey went for her run after that. It was the worst run of her life. She hadn't run for 6 weeks so it was expected but still, she was beating herself up for it. She controlled to the best of her ability but her feet were just running toward the direction of Izzie's house. When Quinn had sent her address, Casey recognised the street because it was only a few streets away.

She didn't want to be a stalker but she at least wanted to see where this girl lived. She ran even slower down the street until the house number came to sight. It was definitely smaller than Casey's and looked nothing like the houses the other Clayton kids usually had a few streets further.

She stopped for a while to catch her breath and saw that the curtain was open a tiny bit, showing the inside of the living room. She squinted her eyes to see a girl sitting on the sofa, eating cereal.

The girl looked very much like Izzie and very young too. She knew it was Chloe because of the photos Izzie had shown her on the trip. Casey was in two minds to go knock on the door when Chloe turned around to look at her, furrowing her eyes.

Casey noticed this and started to move away, not wanting to scare her anymore. She couldn't think about Izzie right now. She had to focus on the plan tonight. After that, maybe they would have a shot again, but Casey wasn't going to raise her hopes.

It was around 5pm as Casey was getting ready. Quinn had told her to wear black clothes which Casey thought was ridiculous at first until she realised Quinn was being serious. It seemed as if she had done this sort of thing before and Casey knew she had to ask her about it later.

She had on her black jeans and black hoodie and chuckled at herself in the mirror.

"Will you be back for dinner young lady?" Elsa called from the kitchen and Casey cursed under her breath, hoping that Elsa wouldn't be there. "Actually no, I'm going to get food with Quinn and Pen," Casey said with a smile.

"These girls sound like they've gotten really close to you. Hey, what about Izzie? She's not joining you guys?" Elsa asked as she continued to stir the soup in the pot. "Ummm, nope. She's busy," Casey said, turning around.

"Case, why are you in all black? Doesn't seem like you," Elsa chuckled. "I'm trying something different."

"Like an emo edgy look? I dig it," Elsa said with a hopeless attempt at being urban and Casey couldn't help but laugh. She reached forward to snatch one of the fries on the tray before leaving the house.

...

Casey had finally reached Nate's house. She found Quinn hiding somewhere at the corner. "Casey!! Here!" She called out and Casey jogged towards her.

"Okay so what's the plan?" Casey asked again and Quinn smirked.

"Nate should be leaving the house soon but I'm not sure if he'll go out through the back or the front. So you watch the front and I'll watch the back. Use your phone and zoom in to the padlock when he locks it to see the password."

"Okay... sounds like a plan."

It was now getting dark and they heard moving around inside the house. "Okay, he should be leaving now. Go hide in the bushes," Quinn said before giving her a thumbs up. Casey chuckled as Quinn ran to the back.

She took out her phone and opened her camera. Just as she was about to walk to the bushes, a familiar voice made her heart drop.

"Casey?"

She looked up wide eyed and for the first time in a week, Casey's eyes met Izzie Taylor's.

"Izzie! Hey..." She mumbled. Izzie bit her lip nervously before forcing a smile. "Ummm... where are you going?" She asked.

"Oh I was just uh... on a run..." Casey mumbled before clearing her throat, thankful that she was still on the pavement and not exactly in Nate's house or it would have been hard to explain.

"You look like you're gonna rob a house," Izzie tried making a joke as she looked her up and down and Casey let out a forced laugh. "Oh yeah... yeah... this is what I usually wear..."

They looked at each other nervously, the awkward air becoming too much to handle. "So where are you off to?" Casey asked, noticing that she was dressed up, and looking gorgeous as usual.

"Oh right! I'm on the way to Penelope's party. Um... I'm going with Nate..."

Casey's face dropped immediately and Izzie resorted to clarifying. "Just for a ride! My mum she... she took the car so..."

Casey wanted to say, "You could have asked me" but why on earth would Izzie ever ask her for a ride. "Oh... I see... how're you doing? You and your family?"

"We're fine... just... dealing with my mum as usual," Izzie chuckled. "But we're fine."

Casey nodded before looking down at the pavement. They heard footsteps and looked up to see Nate walking towards them.

Casey took in a sharp breath, angry that she had missed him putting in the password for the lock. "Hey Izzie..." he said in a deep voice before going in to hug her. Izzie awkwardly hugged him back with one arm.

"Casey Gardner. I thought I had gotten rid of you," He laughed and Casey clenched her fists. Izzie looked away nervously.

"What're you doing here?" He asked. "I was on a run. I don't wanna keep you guys waiting. Have fun at the party," She said with a small smile.

Nate smirked before walking together with Izzie to his car. "Hey Casey!" Izzie exclaimed, turning around and her eyes widened. "You should come to the party," She said and Casey immediately shook her head no.

"Oh it's fine, it's a Clayton thing."

"You're Penelope's friend. She would love to have you there."

"Well... I'll come by later maybe..." Casey mumbled and Izzie smiled. They looked at each other for a while and Casey noticed Izzie's eyes linger at her lips.

"Yeah... cool..."

...

"You guys could have talked literally any other time but you choose now!" Quinn exclaimed as she looked up to the highest window at the side of the house. "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't think she was gonna be here!"

Quinn huffed before trying to shake one of the pipes and was glad to see that it was sturdy. "Alright hop onto my shoulder Gardner. I'll lift you up," Quinn said and Casey climbed onto one of the boxes before putting her other foot on Quinn's hand.

With one strong push Quinn lifted her up and Casey grabbed onto the pole before wrapping her legs around it. She used the layered walls to her advantage as she climbed up easily, Quinn following behind her, and soon enough, they were both in Nate's room.

"Oh my God, this place is massive," Casey said, looking around in awe. "Well, he needs a room big enough for his ego. Come on, let's start looking."

Casey felt wrong being here. But this was potentially the man that embarrassed Izzie and ruined their relationship. She was not going to stop at anything to get revenge. "Why not you check his computer. I'll check if he's got any cameras anywhere," Casey said and they went to separate ends of the room.

She looked through his drawers and all she found were condom packets, polaroids of him touching girls and e-cigarettes. Casey rolled her eyes as she moved on to the next drawer. She was shocked to see women lingerie and a bunch of porn magazines, but at the same time, she expected it.

"Oh God he's disgusting," Casey groaned, closing the drawers. "Why the hell does he have lingerie?"

"Ew. That sicko. Everything on the laptop seems normal though," Quinn said and Casey walked towards her. She sat down next to her as they scanned through his stuff.

"His search history doesn't seem too weird. His files are just school assignments. His emails... yeah nothing weird."

"Maybe he didn't do it?" Casey started to question. "Who else would have though?

Casey felt her phone buzz and she took it out. Her heart leapt to her throat when she saw that it was Izzie.

Izzie: hey Casey... i hate to ask you this but could you send me a lift home if you're coming for the party? i think nate's gonna be here for a while...

Izzie: only if it's convenient though... i can always hitch a ride with someone else

Casey's heart softened as she quickly texted back.

Casey: hey. i'm not coming for the party but i'll definitely pick you up. around what time will you be done?

Izzie: omg no i don't want to trouble you if you aren't coming for the party

Casey: izzie it's fine really... i don't have anything to get home to...

Casey felt her heart beating fast as the conversation went on. The thing is, she always knew she and Izzie would come around to talking again eventually but it wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to be with her. To date her. To be her girlfriend. She couldn't imagine being happy with anything else

"Casey! Look at this!" Quinn exclaimed and Casey moved her eyes back to the screen.

It was a folder that said "PRIVATE". It was a sub file that was hidden within a bunch of other files. "Wow, that's not suspicious at all," Quinn laughed as she clicked on it.

Links to different images came out and Quinn clicked on the first one.

"What the fuck..." they said at the same time as they gasped. All the pictures were obscene pictures of different girls at Clayton and Quinn recognised all of them. "Oh God... I know her, she's from the swim team. Oh my God and her? She's in my math class. What the fuck is wrong with this guy?" She let out an exasperated breath.

Casey grunted her jaw as she took over and started to scroll down. All the way at the bottom there was a video- the video of Izzie.

"This fucking asshole. I knew it."

"Pen said she got the video from her group chat with her cheer mates. I know one of them is dating a guy on the lacrosse team. Nate must have sent it to him first," Quinn said and Casey took in a deep breath.

"Okay... okay let's take screenshots of this and send it to ourselves," Casey said, trying to keep calm. While Quinn was taking screenshots, Casey walked around the room to do one last check and also to make sure everything was left the way it was.

Quinn then emailed those screenshots to herself and then deleted them from his laptop. She made sure to close all the tabs before finally shutting down the laptop.

...

Quinn dropped Casey home after they both agreed to only talk about it the next day with Penelope. "Get some rest Gardner. It's been quite a day," Quinn said and Casey looked over and smile.

Quinn's heart broke as she saw the smile quickly fade from Casey's face.

"Do you miss her?" Quinn softly asked and she saw a tear roll down Casey's cheek. She chuckled before wiping it away.

"Yeah."

"It's gonna hurt for a while."

"I know. The thing is... I dated Izzie for a much lesser time than I dated Evan. But Izzie hurts so much more," She choked as more tears started to fall.

"That's because you and Evan broke up for a valid reason. You feel like Izzie just left unannounced, right?"

Casey slowly nodded as she processed her words.

"Casey you know Pen and I will always be there for you. And maybe even one day, you and Izzie will be friends again. Or maybe even more than that. Only time will tell."

Casey wanted to tell Quinn how much it would hurt to JUST be Izzie's friend. But they had a long night.

"Thanks for today Quinn," Casey smiled and Quinn blew her a kiss.

Once she saw Quinn drive off, she felt a buzz on her phone.

Izzie: hey, i know it's really late but could you pick me up? i need to get home there's an emergency

Casey: i'm on my way, give me 5 minutes

Casey immediately got into her car and drove out of the driveway, ignoring Elsa who came running outside in concern.

When she got to Penelope's house, she saw that there were still many people and the music was thumping. She parked a little further from the house before calling Izzie.

"Izzie, I'm parked outside. The silver truck," She said. "O-ok."

Izzie sounded distressed and Casey got nervous immediately. She stepped out of the car to see Izzie hastily walking towards her.

"Izzie, is everything okay?" Casey softly asked and Izzie ran her hand through her hair. "I just... I gotta get home. Dani said Chloe's running a fever and we have no more medicine and my grandma can't get there on time. My mum... I just... I don't know where she is..." Izzie choked and Casey pulled her in.

Izzie immediately rested her face on Casey's chest as she cried. "Hey... don't worry. I'll bring you home now okay? Then I'll go get some medicine from the pharmacy and bring it over."

"Newt- Casey... you don't need to do that."

"But I want to. Come on let's go."

When they had reached Izzie's place, Casey dropped her off first before driving to the pharmacy, which was thankfully, not that far.

She got some medicine and rushed back to Izzie's before knocking the door.

Casey was happy to see that Izzie looked calmer now. "Everything good?" Casey asked and Izzie nodded. "Yeah... Chloe's calm down..."

Casey awkwardly nodded her head before handing her the bag of medicine. "This should help. My mum always gave it to me as a kid and it works wonders," Casey said and she saw Izzie's pupils dilate.

"Casey... this means so much, you have no idea. Thank you... thank you so much..."

"No problem Izzie. Just call me if you need anything."

Izzie looked to the floor before looking back at her.

"Can I... can I have a hug?" She asked quietly and Casey's lips quivered as she moved forward to embrace her. Izzie held her tightly, resting her head on her shoulder.

When they slowly moved away, Casey couldn't stop looking at her lips, looking at her freckles.

"You know we should... all hang out. You, me, Quinn and Penelope," Izzie started and Casey smiled. "That would be nice."

"I don't want things to be awkward between us. We can... we can still be friends," Izzie mumbled and Casey's world crashed.

"Friends... yeah... that would be cool," Casey managed to force out.

Izzie smiled at her one more time before closing the door.

Casey drove home with tears streaming down her face.