"No! Absolutely not," Casey yelled.
Derek Venturi didn't agree on much with his stepsister Casey but this was definitely one of the few times that he completely and absolutely agreed with her.
"Why can't she share with the girls?" Derek asked, annoyed.
"Why can't he share with Edwin?" Casey screamed.
George and Nora looked at their kids and sighed. They knew there was going to be problems. They knew Derek and Casey weren't going to accept this without a fight. But it had to be done.
"Casey, you know that Edwin's room is smaller than a closet and he can barely fit into it, let along Derek and Edwin together. Derek, you know that Marti and Lizzy are squeezed into that small room and we can't fit another bed in there," Nora explained patiently.
"Yeah," George agreed, nodding his head enthusiastically and not knowing what to say to the fuming teenagers in front of him. Better let Nora take care of it. She's always better with the firm, tough-love stuff.
"But mom!" Casey whined.
"What do you want me to do Casey? Turn Derek's grandmother away when she's homeless and recovering from a broken hip? She needs someone to take care of her during recovery time and you know she's all alone. Do you want to leave her out in the cold?" Nora asked, giving her daughter the stern business look she often gives to try and close the deal.
Nora knew what she was doing. After all, raising kids was a lot like business. You just had to know how to manipulate your kids. And Nora knew Casey only too well. Just play to Casey's natural sympathy and kindness and it would be a piece of cake. Now Derek was harder to deal with. Nora had to admit she didn't know Derek as well.
Casey, as suspected, nodded. Though Casey was unhappy, Nora could tell Casey would agree to this. Casey would never forgive herself if she were the cause of any discomfort for anyone, especially a kind old lady. Taking a look at Derek, Nora knew he was going to be harder to conquer. If only George would help. But of course, George was quite laid back, even if it was his own mother who needed the place to stay.
"I'm not doing it," Derek said, defiantly.
"Derek…" Nora said in a low voice. She was now switching to threatening mode.
"I'll just ask a friend if I could stay over. Maybe I'll sleep on the couch. I'm not doing it."
"Derek, listen to Nora. Please," George begged.
Derek shook his head again. There was absolutely no way he was going to do this. Absolutely no way.
"I'll stay at Sam's," Derek said.
"Nooo! Smerek! Don't go!" Marti yelled from the stairs. All four turned and saw Marti, Lizzy and Edwin spying through the rails, listening intently.
"All three of you, go back to bed!" Nora ordered.
But Marti didn't listen as she ran down the stairs and hopped into Derek's lap.
"Don't go," she said, almost to tears.
There were few things Derek could not say no to and one of them was Marti's tears.
"Fine I won't go. But I'm still sleeping downstairs in the living room," Derek said, giving Marti a smile. Instantly the eight year old's tears stopped and she ran back up the stairs to bed, followed by Lizzy and Edwin after a stern, you-better-go-or-three-weeks-grounded look from Nora.
"Uh Derek, you really can't do that. Remember, I'm renovating the living room."
"What!" screamed Lizzy and Edwin from the top of the stairs. Apparently, they haven't gone to bed yet, despite the threatening look.
"What about TV?" Edwin and Lizzy screamed together as they ran down the stairs and stared at George with wide, scared eyes.
"Sure, your brother gets thrown out into the cold streets but you don't care. But the moment the precious TV is mentioned, you come flying to the rescue," Derek said sarcastically after punching Edwin on the shoulder.
Nora rolled her eyes. "TV will be moved to the kitchen. Now go to bed, both of you."
With that, Edwin and Lizzy sighed with relief and started back up the stairs again. Casey was too busy feeling sorry for herself to even notice the supposed loss of TV.
"Then I'll sleep in the kitchen," Derek declared. Anything was better than the alternative.
"Derek, I'm not letting you sleep in the kitchen! It gets cold in there. Look, you have a choice and that's it. You can share a room with your grandmother or Casey. Nothing else. End of discussion."