A/N: Ok, so Lizzie is a tomboy in this one and Derek is... you'll see. The whole story will be in Derek's Point Of View. I will show if it is otherwise. Oh and YES the title is lame, but I'm sick so I couldn't think of anything better. Hee hee, enjoy!

Skater Boy

Chapter 1

DEREKS POV

"Mom, Max and I have something to tell you," Casey said. Why does she look so nervous? And why is she acting like a scared squirrel. Wait she said that Max AND her had something to tell us. Ugh, i can't even believe she's dating that scum bag. "Um, Mom, I'm... I'm..." she looks like she's choking. What could be so bad that she could be choking? God, i wish her and Max would just break up already.

Because I love her too much to see her get hurt by that idiot. He's like my opposite. He's captain of the football team, with carefully groomed hair, behaves nicely to people, plus he's also a complete idiot when it comes to pretty much everything. I'm captain of nothing, a shaggy haired skater dude, i don't behave nicely to a hell of a lot of people, i mostly just ignore them. Even family sometimes. Plus I am the most street-smart person you will ever come across. But Casey loves him. She fucking loves Max whatever-the-hell-his-last-name-is.

"Mom I'm pregnant" Wh-what?! The whole room is silent.

"You're....what?" Nora manages to squeak out.

THUNK!

Lizzie falls out of her chair. I catch her before she can hit the floor. She is my favourite little sister (besides Smarti of course).

"Whoa, Liz, you okay?" I ask worriedly. She gives me a look. Right, stupid question. Back to the serious matter at hand.

CASEY JUST SAID THAT SHE WAS FUCKING PREGNANT!!!!

"Casey how did this happen!?" Nora wails. I can tell she is worried about Casey. I am too. I'm in shock. Oh God, when did this room get so small? Everything is spinning...

"Derek are you okay?" My dad asks, concerned. I look at him. He's worried about me.

"No...No i'm not...." I need to get out of here... I can hear them shout at me as I grab my skateboard from the front hallway and run out the door. It's about 8:00pm, so it's getting dark out. Whatever.

Boarding relaxes me.

"Derek get back here!" Dad shouts. I can't go back. I board faster as i jet down the middle of the road.

"Derek!" I can hear everyone calling me. I see Emily standing on her front porch, a look of confusion etched onto her face. But i can't stop and talk...not now...

I need to get out of here....

I need to get out of here fast...

I've been boarding for a while now. I didn't bother to grab my cell when i ran out the door, just my board, but i'm guessing it's nearing around 10:00pm. Shit they're probably so worried... Lizzie's probably having a panic attack, Ed's probably wondering where i would go, Marti's probably just confused, Casey...

My anger and pain return in a flash.

Casey

Pregnant

Max... I will kill him later.

I just can't believe that Casey even... you know... with him! It makes me sick... How can she not see that I love her?

Ugh, i'm exhausted. I look around and realize that I'm Downtown. I know a few people down here. They are mostly my buds from the skate park. None that I actually talk to though.

Plus, Sam's always too worried about hockey to hang out, and besides, he broke his wrist just trying to get on the damn board!

Back to where I am.

I hang out here a lot, mainly just going home when I have to. I've always been a skater, but ever since my dad got married to Nora, and the McDonald's moved in, things have been hard. I love Casey, i really do. That's why I stopped hanging around home when she came here.

I expertly flip my board up and head into an alley. There are kids doing shit there. I normally just ignore them for messing up their lives, but now, with the pain of hearing that Casey's pregnant, the smell of pot is drawing me towards it. I guess i must have stopped, because one of them starts talking to me.

"Hey, you wanna buy some shit?" the dude asks. He dresses sort of like me.

I have my cash on me...Hmm...

"Sure" I reply. At least it'll help me forget...

I hand over the cash and he hands over a bag of joints and a lighter. I lean against the brick wall and light up.

*******************************

Before I know it, I'm coming down off my high. Wow that was amazing!

"Yo, you wanna head down to the skate park and board a while?" one of the dudes asks me.

"Yeah, um...." I realize I don't even know his name.

"Jerome"

"Derek"

"Hey. Derek this is Mike, and Marshall." He introduces them, pointing to them in turn. We all pretty much dress the same. Baggy jeans and hoodies, hoods up or flat billed hats on. I always wear my beanie over my shaggy hair, though.

"Sup?" i ask.

"Not much, bro. So you from around here?" Marshall asks as we all start walking to the skate park.

"Nah, I live about a couple miles from here," i answer. Mine as well tell them. Not like it's gonna stay a secret for long.

"Whoa, what you doin' down here in this land of shit then? You must be like rich, am i right?" Jerome exclaims.

I give a short, humourless laugh. "I don't like hanging 'round home much, you know? Oh, and I'm well off, but I'm far from rich. Plus, man , there's no place to board around there!" They all laugh. Great, they like me. I like these guys. "I like it much better down here."

**********************************

We arrive at the skate park and even though it's locked, we jump the fence anyway. I don't even know why they bother locking this place up. It's not like people can steal the ramps.(Ha ha, i guess I'm still a little high.)

I jump on my board and head off. I do some sick jumps on the ramps, and finish with an ollie and a reverse grind down the rail. The guys are whooping behind me and clapping. Soon they join in and we're all laughing like we've known each other for years. I forget about the whole fucking Casey situation. I'm free when I'm boarding.

"Catch," Mike says, chucking me a pack of cigarettes. I take one out, light up and shove the rest of the pack in my pocket with the joints. I slowly inhale and blow the smoke out of my lungs as i lean against the fence. The rest of the guys light up too.

"So, how come I haven't seen you round before? You're an awesome boarder, you'd think you'd come down to the skate park more often," Jerome asks.

"Yeah I do come down here often, and no offence but I've never seen you either," I say, smiling. These guys are like me. On our way to the skate park, the guys told me why they don't hang around home much. They're all pretty tough (much like myself) but there's a reason why they are that way.

Jerome, his dad walked out on his family when he was six. He had been cheating on J's mom and they had a huge yelling match before his dad finally just walked out. His mom has to work about four jobs now, just to pay the bills.

Marshall's dad hits him when he's around. The rest of the time he's at the bar. His mom doesn't give a shit, she's always stoned. His parents waste all their money on drugs and booze, so there's not much to go around.

Then there's Mike. Mike's parents hate him because he boards and slacks off in school. He lives a few blocks away from me, but I've never met him. His parents are always on his case about how he should be doing better in school, how he should be saving that money for college, instead of buying a new deck for his board. They just don't care.

"So we told you earlier why we don't hang around home so much. What's your reason?" My face goes serious again. I sigh. The question was bound to come around soon.

"I live with my dad, my siblings, step siblings and my step mom. My mom is dead. She used to abuse me. One night, when I was twelve, she pulled a gun on me and shot me. Then she shot herself. My dad was horrified when the doctors told him that I had been abused before. He refused to believe it was my mom. I hate him because of that. In fact, i barely talk to him unless I have to. Serves him right for marrying that bitch." They nod, as if they've heard it before. Though, all of them look a bit surprised when they hear the part about my mom shooting me.

Yeah, i don't tell this story often. Sam knows, but then again, we don't really talk or hang out much anymore. Not since we started high school. But, hey, that's fine with me. He's let the popularity of being "Hockey Captain" go to his head. I'm pretty much an outcast. We stopped hanging out in sophomore year when he was being an asshole and starting to ignore me. I feel like these guys (Mike, Jerome, Marshall) are the only people who actually give a shit. We've all been through the same thing.

"Yo, earth to D!" Jerome shouts in my face.

"Huh?" I ask confused.

"Man, you've been spaced out for like ten minutes, what the hell was that?" He says it in a teasing way, so I know that he's not actually pissed. He takes a puff of smoke and then stomps the butt into the ground. "Listen, I gotta jet. It is..." he looks at his watch. " 4:30am, and I gotta go in case my mom is home. See you later, man." He bumps fists with everyone and leaves.

"Shit!" I exclaim. It's four thirty am! Dad's gonna kill me... Wait, why do I care? Oh yeah, I don't. "I gotta go too, I had witnesses when I left. Later, bro." I got on my board and headed off down the street.

**********************************

About half an hour later, i come up down my street. I shove my hands in my pockets to make sure the joints and smokes are still there. Yep, still in. I'm gonna need them when I meet up with the boys after school today.

"Derek?" I skid to a stop as Sam's astonished voice meets my ears. He's probably wondering what I'm doing out this late- er, early. Wait, why is he up this early? Oh, I see the trash bag in his hand. "What the hell are you doing out at this time of the morning?" Shit, it's probably about 5:00am by now.

"I was out," I reply shrugging.

"Out where?" he asks suspiciously. God, why does he care, he ignores me usually.

"None of your business. Listen, i better get home."

"Sure, whatever." Ah, see, he doesn't care. He just felt the need to ask. Dumb ass.

I ride off down the street and stop in front of my house. Huh, this should be interesting. I'll have some fun with this...

I use the back door (using the spare key hidden under the mat. I know, bad hiding place, i mean, can you say clichéd?) and the clanking of dishes stops immediately as I walk in.

"Derek!" Nora cries out and rushes to squeeze me in a tight hug. I roll my eyes and shrug it off. What right does she have to hug me? I don't like being touched. It comes from being abused for years. "We were so worried! Where have you been?! Do you know what time it is?!"

"To answer your questions, I've been out and yes, i do know what time it is." I am getting more pissed off by the second because now that I'm not boarding, I can remember what Casey said the night before. Ugh, I can't believe she had sex with that moron! He's changed her for the worst.

Before Casey went out with Max, she didn't dress like such a slut, she wasn't a cheerleader, she wasn't so fucking giggly and stupid, and most importantly, before she started going out with Max, she was all for keeping her virginity until she was married. I loved THAT Casey. The new, whorey version, I'm not so sure about.

I start to head upstairs, but I'm stopped by my dad.

"Derek, it is now 6:00 in the morning! You have school today, so, no, you will not go to sleep like you were going to," He cuts me off as I try to protest. Damn it! " You will go upstairs, grab your book bag and be ready to go to school in an hour and a half."

I glare at him. "You know what? I'm going to skateboard to school today, I don't feel like taking the bus. Later." I head up to my room to grab my book bag. I nearly run into my 12 year old step-sib in the hallway.

"Derek!" she screeches, throwing her arms around me in a hug. Her and Marti are the only ones allowed to hug me. End of discussion. "You're okay! I was worried sick! Do you not know what a phone is!? Next time you have to call ME, even if you don't want to call mom and George! Oh my God, did you just get home?! Do you know that it's 6:00am?! I mean seriously, where could you go at six o'clo-" i cut her off by giving her a hug. She starts crying.

"Whoa whoa who, calm down Lizzie! No, don't cry, you know I can take care of myself. I have battle scars, isn't that proof enough?" I smile at her and she gives me a watery one back. She only knows about my mom abusing me because she saw my scars one day. I decided she was old enough to have a real explanation. "Now, I have to be on my way to school, I'm boarding there. You wanna come along and I'll go with you to your school and then head off to mine?" she nods enthusiastically. I got her her own skateboard for Christmas, and after using an old one she bought at our neighbour's garage sale, I know she wants to ride it every chance she gets. But she mostly just rides with me, when she's not busy. After all I taught her everything she knows. "Well, grab your board and meet me downstairs in five, dude."

"Okay!" she runs away to get ready. I love that kid so much.

Five minutes later, she is coming down the stairs. I sling my backpack onto my back and I notice something.

"Hey Lizard, where's Casey?"

"Oh, she headed out with Max really early this morning. A couple of hours ago actually. I can't believe Mom and George agreed to it! But i guess they figure, since she's already pregnant, things can't get much worse." She explains logically. She must have noticed my hardened expression because she continued much softer. "Hey, everything is going to be alright."

"How do you know?" I mumbled. "When I was little I thought everything would work out fine with my mom, and it didn't." She pulls me into a hug and i reciprocate before lightening the mood. "Well, we'd better head out, I know how slow you board, so if we want to be on time, we'd better go." I laugh as she slaps me on the arm.

"DAD!" He looks up from his newspaper as i peek my head in the kitchen door.

"Yes?" He responds in a peeved voice. Whoa, no need to be bitchy. I mean I may have arrived home a few minutes ago, and it might be six thirty in the morning, but i mean come on.

"Me and The Lizard are gonna skateboard to school. I'm going to take her to school and then head to mine." I leave before he has a chance to reply.

As we walk out the door, i brotherly put my arm around Lizzie's shoulder. Although my feelings for Casey may be COMPLETELY un-sibling like, Liz IS my little sister.

****************************

By the time we get to her school, people are already gathering around the grass. Lizzie spots some of her friends and waves to them. They eye me and they whisper to each other. I come around here so often, I'm surprised that I still get that reaction.

"See you later, Derek," Lizzie says, giving me a hug and going over to her friend, board in hand.

"Later Lizard," I call after her. Then I take off down the street. People are still looking at me, so i decide to give them something to look at. I cut across the pavement, and do a rail slide down the bars and then finish by doing a three sixty jump down the other set of stairs.

"Whoa," I smirk as I pass some skater wanna-bees as they gawk at me. But hey, why wouldn't they, I mean I AM awesome.

Soon enough I'm at my own school. I head up the wheel chair ramp in front of my school. I heard the warning bell go off a long time ago. I should have roughly... five minutes before I have to be late to homeroom.

Without even bothering to stop, I push the doors open and skate my way through the halls. I bump fists with some guy as i weave my way through the throngs of people at their lockers. Some of them roll their eyes, but those same people look pretty damn impressed when I jump over Principal Lassiter as he ducks to avoid me. He shouts after me but I just laugh and continue on. It happens at least ten times a month.

I skid to a stop in front of my locker and elbow it to get it open.

"Derek, where the hell did you go last night?! I mean what the fuck was that?!" Oh, no, Casey did NOT just say that!

I spun around. She is such a hypocrite! "What did I do?! You're such a bitch, Casey! God, you throw a bomb on everyone like that, and then you go and accuse me of doing something wrong?! Well FINE! 'CAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" I yell. People start staring, but at this point I really don't care.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Oh look, the Orangesickle.

"You wanna fight me?" I say, getting up in his face. "Go ahead, punch me. Just prepare to wake up in the hospital. Hopefully you'll come out of your coma before your BABY is born. Isn't that right Casey?" She stares at me in disbelief as tears well up in her eyes. The crowd that has gathered around us gasped and started whispering. Through the anger pounding in my ears, i could hear them say things like "OMG- Casey McDonald's pregnant with Max Millers kid!" and "Whoa, he knocked her up!".

I don't know who threw the first punch but soon enough it's a full-blown fist fight. I could distantly hear Casey screaming at us to stop. Max hesitated for a second, giving me time to gut punch him and shove him to the ground.

"You like that, bitch?" I say, panting. I can feel blood trickle down from the scar in my head. That was from the abuse days, but it's deep enough that it still bleeds.

I look down at Max and smile at the damage that I did. He has a hell of a bloody nose and there's going to be a shiner there tomorrow on his right eye.

He jumps up and wraps his arm around Casey's shoulders. She leans into him. My victorious feeling wears off, replaced by anger. I wipe my head with my white sleeve. The look of it stained with blood is pretty cool.

People are leaving the scene, but they glance back at me as I grab my backpack and walk away. I wipe my forehead again with my sleeve before heading off to homeroom.

A/N: So let me know what you think! If you think it rocked, tell me! If you think it sucked, TELL ME! Don't hesitate, constructive criticism is always welcome! Anyways, I'm in the process of writing the next chapter, which by the way, will be in the same day as this chapter. Just so you don't get confused!

I Hope to see more REVIEWS!!!

~Alanna