Disclaimer: Yep, still don't own Life With Derek.
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"An Intense Game of Pickleball"
By VirgoMaiden
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"You're going down," Casey McDonald said, giving her opponent an evil smile as she bent down, already anticipating his serve. "Down to Chinatown."
Her opponent, Derek Venturi, grinned. "As if, Space Case. When it comes to sports, I've got you beat, hands down."
"Ha! As if. Before my mom got married to your dad, I had a mean reputation for anything with a racket."
"You trying to be kinky, McDonald?" Derek asked. "Because it's not working."
"You're sick, you know that? Sick, sick, sick."
"Well, at least I –''
"Would you two just serve the ball already?!" Mrs. Daniels asked from the sidelines where she stood, clipboard in hand. The boy's gym coach, Coach Williams, had been sick that day, so instead of hiring a sub, Lassiter just decided to merge the two gym classes together for the day. Little did he know, Derek and Casey both had the same gym period, and a segregated gym class was what was barely keeping the school out of the clutches of teenaged anarchy.
Derek gave Mrs. Daniels one of his teacher-charmer smiles. "But of course," he said. "But Casey, don't come crying to me when –''
"D, just serve it," Sam said exasperatedly. Emily, standing opposite him, nodded in agreement.
"Seriously," she said, "you two have been trash-talking each other for ten minutes at least."
"You won't have to wait much longer, then," Derek said, winking over in her direction. Casey rolled her eyes.
He served.
The ball bounced once, in court, as it was supposed to, before the Casey-Emily team sprang into action, Casey heading after the ball with a scary sort of determination.
"Mine!" she shouted, swinging her arm back and giving it all she had.
It soared over the net, landed three feet in front of Sam, and as he was about to take charge of it, Derek was suddenly in his path, his arm pulled back, and it was over the net again within seconds. Sam didn't have any idea what had happened until he saw Casey do the same to Emily. He took that as a sign to inch away from the game, Emily joining in in his decision, and the two watched the Derek-Casey fight unfurl before their eyes.
"Heads up!" Derek shouted, slamming into it.
"If you're gonna talk, talk trash," she shouted back. "There's no room for niceties in pickleball!"
Pickleball? Emily mouthed to Sam and he nodded reluctantly.
Pickleball was a sport much similar to badminton, except it was played with a smaller net. And the court spanned the length of the gym, and teams usually consisted of one to two people each. Not that it made it much different from badminton. Frankly, Sam considered pickleball a way to show the school board that the Physical Education division was still up and running like no tomorrow.
"Fine then!" Derek shouted back. "Don't say that I didn't warn you!"
At that, the game took a suddenly more serious turn: the two were soon diving on the floor, grunting in exhaustion and effort, and barely reaching the ball in time, causing the two to stop suddenly and pitch forward.
But they still found time to trach talk.
"That as fast as you can go?" Derek shouted mockingly. "Geez, challenge a guy!"
"What's with your swing?" Casey taunted. "Is there a bee somewhere, or is your form really that bad?"
"Toosh!"
"Thouché, Derek!" she called back exasperatedly.
"That's what I said!"
At the sideline, Mrs. Daniels was watching the two with the upmost attention.
"Very nice," she said. "Look at that energy! And that spirit! We could really use Miss McDonald and Mr. Venturi in some extra sports."
"If it's morale you want," Emily advised, "make sure that it's co-ed and that they'll play each other."
"Why is that?" Mrs. Daniels asked.
"They hate each other," Sam and Emily chorused, giving each other a knowing look.
Mrs. Daniels was quiet for a minute again before saying quietly, "And here I thought that they were just competitive. Well, if it goes to a good cause…"
"DE-REK!"
She, Emily, and Sam looked over at the game. The two were obviously losing their energy, breathing heavily.
"That all…you got?" Derek yelled.
"You…wish!" Casey gasped.
Mrs. Daniels picked up her walkie-talkie.
"Two for the infirmary in five," she said stoically, not paying attention to the dismayed looks of Emily and Sam. "Yes, the McDonald-Venturi spaces."
The game continued for thre-and-a-half more minutes before the final cry – from Casey – and as the ball barely made it over the net, Derek took another swing…and missed completely.
There was complete sience in the gym, aside from the heavy panting from the two before Derek croaked out "I…I lost," and sank to the floor.
Casey gazed on in astonishment. "I won," she whispered, and took a nose dive as well.
The bell rang and as the rest of the class filed out of the gym, having five minutes to change and get ready for next period, Mrs. Daniels motioned to Sam and Emily. "get those two to the nurse? There's a pass in it for you."
Emily shrugged, and Mrs. Daniels tore off a pass, and under "Reason For Pass," stamped "Venturi vs. McDonald, Gym Class."
"Have fun," she said sagely to Emily and Sam, their arms full with their best friends. Tell Sherry 'hi' for me."
"Will do," Sam promised, and hauled Derek throuh the big double doors, taking the pass in his teeth.
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"I beat you," Casey sang, nearly jumping with glee as she and Derek made their way out of the school doors. "I, Casey McDonald, grade grubber slash "Klutzilla," beat you at a sport."
"Pickleball isn't a sport," Derek snorted, throwing his hockey bag in the back seat.
"Of course it is!" Casey mock-gasped. "Right next to badminton!"
"Yeah, you –''
"I'll count jumping rope as a sport if you do," she said.
"Pickleball's a sport, then," Derek said, slapping the dashboard as he turned the keys. "So, where does that put our count?"
"I've got fourty-one and three-fourths," Casey said professionally, taking out a chart labeled "Victories against Derek/Casey, "and fifty."
"Yes!" he crowed. "And if you count jump-rope, that brings me at a grand total of –''
"Fifty still," Casey sang. "I was counting, Derek, when I told you your total a minute ago. You were way behind me."
"Then what about that time when you left the chart out on the kitchen counter?" he asked. "What was that?"
"A decoy," she said simply. "Ignorance is bliss, after all."
He looked at her strangely before slowly backing out of his space. "You're evil," he said simply.
"I know," she said, ruffling his hair. "But you love me anyways."
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A/N: Sorry if that ending was way too sudden. I was going to end it earlier, but then I felt that it needed a bit more.
This was a prompt from my beta, Irresistable Scent. (she writes Twilight and Harry Potter – Lily and James – fics) Hope that it pleased you all!
VM