Casey slammed her locker shut. It had been a very tiring day, she had a chemistry test first thing in the morning followed by a Pre Cal exam. And to top it all off, she somehow got suckered in to helping her English teacher prepare for the school play. She was walking to the front exit praying that the busses still ran at 8:45 PM.
She walked out into the cool night air. She shivered slightly as she headed towards the bus stop. "What are you still doing here?" someone asked from behind her. She was so startled she jumped. Turning around she saw Derek staring at her on his way to the parking lot. When he got no response he repeated, "Case, why are you still here?"
"Oh…sorry, you surprised me. I was helping set up for the play. What's your excuse?" she asked in mock annoyance. Honestly she was relieved to see him because with him there it meant that she didn't have to wait in front of an abandoned school by herself.
"I was in detention." He admitted and seeing the look on her face he added, "I kinda skipped out on a few the past two months." He said with his trademark smirk.
"How many detentions do you have to skip to stay here until eight?" she asked bewildered.
Derek's expression changed slightly from smug to embarrassed. "Twenty seven." He admitted shyly.
"Twenty seven?" she asked in disbelief. "How can you be late to school twenty seven times? Derek you DRIVE here." She said putting an emphasis on the word 'drive'. She couldn't believe it he had a five hour detention. 'what could he have done for five hours' she wondered.
"Just was." He stated plainly. "So… do you want a ride…or are you gonna wait an hour for the next bus?"
"Sure it's freezing" she said as she walked over to him. She was glad he offered he usually would have said 'tough luck… remember to ask Nora for a car if you ever get home.'
I don't think that passenger seat
Has ever looked this good to me
'Oh my GOSH it feels soooo good in here' Casey thought as Derek cranked the heater. After three minutes of silence Casey broke the ice. "So how did you get ALL of those detentions? Were you really late all those times or were you with Kendra."
Derek turned his head to face her at the stoplight. He gave her that look that said 'I really don't want to tell you.' But after a few moments of Casey pestering him he thought 'what the heck it couldn't hurt…' so he said it. "I was with Kendra."
"All those times you were with Kendra? What were you doing?… ugh never mind" she said when Derek gave her a look.
"Do I need to go into detail for you?" he asked jokingly.
"NO don't!!!" she insisted. She did not want to hear about whatever he and Kendra did in the morning. But there was still one thing that bothered her. "What did you DO for five hours? Stare at the wall?"
He tells me about his night
And I count the colors in his eyes
Derek started to tell her about spending exactly one hour staring blankly at the wall. That at the time was the worst part of the night. That is until he got so bored around 5:30 that he decided to actually do his homework. All of his homework. Now he had nothing to avoid this weekend. What was he going to do Sunday night?
"Sorry I asked" Casey said as he gave her an extremely boring break down of the night's events. "What's going on with you and Kendra? You two have been spending a lot of time together lately?" she asked only to keep conversation going.
"Nothing, we just hang out." He said as he came to another stop sighn.
"Do you love her?" she asked. Derek seemed to choke for a full minute. His face had turned red and everything.
"Wh-why would you ask that?" he stuttered as he recomposed himself.
"Just a random question."
I'll never fall in love
He swears, as he runs his fingers through his hair
I'm laughing 'cause I hope he's wrong
"No, I don't fall in love." He stated. "Falling in love is for losers."
"Yeah…right" she said not believing him but she let it go.
Derek reached over and turned the radio on. "This," he said as he searched for a channel. "Should stop you from asking anymore 'random questions'."
And I don't think it ever crossed his mind
He tells a joke, I fake a smile
And I know all his favorite songs
Derek stopped by a fast food restaurant and ordered a veggie burger for Casey and a double bacon cheeseburger for himself. When they got home, they were both full and headed straight to their rooms.
The next morning Casey groggily rolled out of bed and got dressed. When she went downstairs for breakfast she saw her mom talking on the phone with someone. "Oh that's Great, I'll tell her as soon as she gets up! Nice talking to you and I'll see you later." Nora said as she hung up the phone.
"Hey mom, who was that?" Casey asked as Nora turned around with a big smile plastered on her face.
"Hey, honey. That was Nicole" she said and Casey gave her a 'Who' look. "from your old school" she singsonged.
Casey's face suddenly lit up. "Nicole? Are you serious?" she shouted excitedly. "Oh my god mom, I haven't seen her in months."
"I know so you two are going shopping today. She's coming over around noon." She said as Casey looked at the clock on the wall behind her. The clock read ten. That gave her enough time to take a shower and find the perfect outfit.
Exactly an hour and forty-five minutes later Casey came out of her room dressed in hip huger jeans and a green tank top. When she walked by Derek's room, she heard loud snoring. 'I can't believe he's still asleep at 11:45…boys' she thought as she walked down the stairs.
"Hi Case, you look nice. Where are you going?" George asked when she came into the kitchen. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a water.
"I'm going shopping with one of my friends." She said as she opened the bottle and took a sip.
"Emily?" he asked.
"No, one of my old friends. Her name is Nicole." George got up from the table and put his plate in the sink. Just then Casey heard rumbling coming from upstairs and was instantly reminded of a heard of elephants.
The doorbell rang and Derek was the first to make it to the door. He was wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. On his way down he had yelled something about that being Sam at the door. Casey entered the living room just as Derek opened the door. "CASEY!!!!!!!!" the girl who wasn't Sam yelled once Derek opened the door and she saw Casey.
"NICOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Casey yelled back.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" they screamed in unison making Derek who was standing between them twitch. The next few moments in Derek's memory went by like this:
"Oh my God"
"Oh my God"
"Look at you"
"Look at YOU"
"How you been?"
"Fine, you?"
"Fine"
"Oh my God"
"Oh my God"
Derek watched this go on for a few moments like it was a ping-pong match. As soon as the girls calmed down he made his move. "Hi I'm Derek." He said while extending his hand for Nicole to take.
Before Nicole could say anything, Casey grabbed her by the arm and said "Derek, this is my friend Nicole; Nicole, Derek. Now we have to go." She said as she pulled Nicole by the arm and led her out of the house. All Nicole could do was wave bye.
"So who was that?" she asked as they made it to the food court of the mall.
"Who?" Casey asked while looking around for seats.
"Derek, the guy in your house." She said.
"Oh, he's just one of my stepbrothers." Casey said lazily.
"Tell me about him." Nicole said as they found a seat and sat down.
"Oh, fine. He's 16 and a slob."
"What else? You two live together you've gotta know something else about him." she asked.
Casey gave in
And I could tell you
His favorite color's green
He loves to argue
Born on the seventeenth
His sister's beautiful
He has his father's eyes
"Wow…uh so what do you feel about him?" Nicole asked, taken aback by the overload of information.
And if you ask me if I love him
"Me?" Casey asked nervously. She might have been paying more attention to Derek these last six months than she realized. She didn't know what she felt about him. "He's a jerk."
I'd lie
Just then Casey saw Derek walking into the food court with Sam. 'I guess he and Sam were going out today too.' She thought as she saw Derek look in her direction. She couldn't tell if he was looking for her, at her, or just looking for the next available seats. 'It's a good thing Nicole couldn't see him because she would probably ask them to sit with us.' Casey thought as Nicole asked her something else that she didn't hear.
He looks around the room
Innocently overlooks the truth
"CA-SEY" Nicole singsonged as she waved a hand in front of Casey's face. "What's with you? You got those googly eyes that you only get when you like someone."
"Huh?…oh, nothing. I'm fine." She was still watching Derek. 'He's going to go straight for the burgers, then turn around and go to the other side of the court for that shake that only one smoothie bar makes.' She thought as Derek walked over to the burger hut, ordered, and then sure enough went across to the Smoothie bar.
Shouldn't a light go on
Doesn't he know that I've had him memorized for so long
"So what else can you tell me about your stepbrother? You seem to know a lot." When she had planned this get together she hadn't thought she would be talking about Casey's stepbrother the whole time. But it was cute watching her gush over someone.
"Why?" Casey wined. She really didn't want to do this. She was starting to get this weird feeling in her stomach. 'I can't be starting to like Derek…can I? No, no, no, NO. That's ridiculous.' She gave in again and started tell Nicole more things about Derek.
And he sees everything in black and white
Never let nobody see him cry
'Where do I know all of this from?' she asked herself. She was beginning to worry she had only lived with him for six months and already she knew more about him than any other stepsister knew their stepbrother in Canada. Just then Derek came back into view. He was heading back to the Burger Hut to pick up his order. She briefly wondered where Sam went but quickly found that she didn't care. She mentally sighed 'Why wont he look at me? Oh crap… what did I just ask?"
I don't let nobody see me wishin' he was mine
Casey started to eat her Soy burger when Nicole started talking. "You know what I think?" she asked as Casey began to chew. "I think you like your stepbrother." Casey nearly chocked on her mouthful of burger.
"WHAT!!!!" she asked once she could breath again.
I could tell you
His favorite color's green
He loves to argue
Born on the seventeenth
His sister's beautiful
He has his father's eyes
And if you ask me if I love him
"You heard me!" Nicole said between laughs. "I think you like Derek."
"N-n-n-no" she stuttered. "I defenintly do NOT like Derek."
I'd lie
"Really?" she asked. "Then why have you been staring at him for the last five minutes."
"How do you know I've been staring at him?" she wondered aloud. She had thought that Nicole couldn't see him.
"From the mirrors behind you." She said while looking in the mirror at Derek and his friend. "Oh, and he's leaving."
Casey looked up and saw that Nicole was right. Derek and Sam were both leaving; they had their burgers in bags and walked down the hall. Nicole could tell that Casey was a little disappointed and embarrassed.
He stands there, then walks away
My God, if I could only say
I'm holding every breath for you
"Anything else you want to tell me before you go chasing after him?" Nicole knew Casey wouldn't chase after him. She also knew that Casey wouldn't tell him anyway. That girl was too shy.
He'd never tell you
But he can play guitar
"Wow. Guitar." Nicole thought about it. "And you sing right?" Casey nodded her head. 'Oh, this is perfect' she thought. "You two could totally start a band." She shrieked.
Casey laughed. "We actually did. A few months ago I joined his band D-Rock."
"That must have been so COOL! Did you do any concerts?" she asked eagerly.
"Yeah this one at the school. We lost to my friends boyfriend." She added because she knew Nicole was going to ask if they'd won. "Oh, and he knows I can't lie. I've tried a few times and he always catches me in it."
I think he can see through everything but my heart
"As much as I like watching you squirm…lets go shopping."
"Good idea" Casey admitted as they walked into the mall and started looking for sales.
"When she got home it was eight at night. She had already called her mom to let her know she was coming late and had already eaten. She walked up to her room with five different shopping bags and left them on the floor as she plopped onto her bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow she started to dream about kissing Derek.
'Oh NO!' she thought. 'I do love him.'
First thought when I wake up is
My God, he's beautiful
So I put on my make-up
And pray for a miracle
She walked downstairs and saw Derek sitting in his favorite Chair wearing a Green Hockey shirt and some jeans.
Yes, I could tell you
His favorite color's green
She went into the kitchen to get breakfast. Not paying attention to where she was going because she was watching Derek the whole time and walking backwards. She tripped over the chair.
"Hey Klutzilla!" Derek yelled from the living room. "Please don't destroy the furniture. People actually live here." Ha said jokingly.
"DE-REK you're SUCH A JERK!!!" she yelled.
"Yeah well I'd rather be a jerk than a neat-freak klutz" Derek started to laugh histerecly.
"What is so funny?" Casey yelled as she walked back into the living room.
Derek was rolling around on the floor when she got there. "It's a… Oxy…Moron" he said between fits of giggles.
She had to admit he was right. But she still wanted the last word. "You're the moron." But she couldn't hold her composure and was on the floor laughing with Derek.
And he loves to argue
Oh, and it kills me
They were still laughing when Marti came downstairs in a purple bunny costume. They had almost stopped until they saw her hopping into the kitchen. They started laughing harder, still on the floor. Once they finally calmed down Casey found herself with her head on Derek's chest. She looked up into his eyes and sighed.
His sister's beautiful
He has his father's eyes
And if you ask me if I love him...
They were kiss close. She couldn't help but notice how cute he was. She sighed again and whispered "I love you"
Don't you ask me if I love him...
"What did you say?" he asked. He could have sworn he heard Casey say that she loved him. And if she had she would have made him very happy because that was all he'd wanted her to say for going on two months now.
"Nothing" she said.
'Cause I'd lie