REMAKE! Moulin Rouge

Nature Boy was the opening number, and the boy who sang it had an amazingly good voice. Casey approved of such, a smile on her face as she watched the Freshman kick his feet, sitting at the edge. She looked back down at her own script, flicking the paper at the edge as she looked over her first lines. Though she loved to sing, she was a little scared that her entrance was actually a song. And that her entrance was her on a little swing that she had to sit on a little above everyone else. Oh this whole entrance was a bit scary. But the worst thing that the whole entrance thing was that she had to dance with Derek, who was playing Christian. The whole play she had to be around him, acting like she was in love with him. God, it was going to be torture.

Luckily, her boyfriend had decided to audition too, but he didn't get Christian. He got, the Duke, which was the worst part in the whole play. Lance, her long term boyfriend, was slightly like the Duke in ways, extremely jealous. The reason behind him getting such a role was completely obvious, he couldn't sing, and he looked nothing like Christian with his dirty blonde hair. And, ever so convenient, the Duke didn't have much singing roles, and when he did, they were extremely horrible. So, Lance was stuck with the Duke, evilest man in the world, while her step-brother Derek got the role of Christian!

Now, for Derek, there were a ton of reason why he got the role. He could sing surprisingly well, almost scared me a bit after I heard it. He looked more like Christian then anyone else that auditioned for the role. He could act, again, surprisingly well. And he was just perfect for the role in other roles. He was good for publicity, for he was still, in the middle of senior year, the most popular guy in school. It just bothered her so that he got the role, and that she had to get the role of Satine. It was bothering her to no end. She was just glad that it wasn't like that in real life, because if it was, there would be hell. Derek and Casey together, everyone expected it, but Lance would beat the crap out of him if he even looked at her in the 'wrong' way. Lance, the overprotective, extremely jealous boyfriend. Ugh.

Casey knew only five other people in the play, and they had the more supporting roles. Max was playing the Argentinean, because Kendra forced him too, while she got the part of Nini. And then Derek forced Sam to audition for the play as well, and he had gotten the role of Harold Zidler. The others, like Toulouse, Satie, Audrey, and the Doctor, were all played by people in Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years. She was annoyed that Emily never auditioned, or her boyfriend Sheldon. All of her friends had left her with the likes of Derek and Kendra. And she wasn't exactly on the greatest terms with Max after they broke up. Also, Sam and herself weren't exactly buddies either. The whole cast was just a jumble of people who barely knew each other. Thankfully, she at least had Lance, even if she had to pretend to hate him during the whole play.

Sighing, Casey dug her face in her script, not reading, but attempting to think. She knew that she was going to have difficulty acting like she loved Derek, because she didn't even remotely like him in such a way. True, they had gotten off on better terms over their years together, but she had no romantic interest in him. Hopefully, being the best actress she could be, she would somehow find the will to pretend to love him. Maybe, once she stepped in character as Satine is would just flow into her, of course, she was just wishing this. Her flow of thought was so jumbled; she couldn't pick out the lines on her paper without over analyzing anything. Sitting straighter, she gazed out into the auditorium. What was she going to do?

"Casey," a voice cuts through her thoughts, Lance is behind her with a smile on his face. "Dear, are you okay?" He queried with the tone that sounded like a married couple. She hated it when he called her dear for some reason. She wanted him to just make up a pet name or something. Case was better then Dear. Shaking her head, Casey stood up and turned towards him with a small, half-smile.

"No," she said with a mirthless tone of voice. "You didn't get the part of Christian, and now I'm forced to love Derek." Casey's words left her mouth dry, glancing at Lance for some reassurance on his part. She really didn't know what he felt about this whole thing, though she could only guess that he was getting jealous already. Just mentioning Derek was probably making him get all worked up.

"Don't talk about it," Lance said with a clenched jaw, Casey decided that she was right. "Well, I do at least get to kiss you anytime I want, and we have a kiss during the movie." His green eyes were smiling down at her, and Casey laughed softly.

"But remember, I have to act like I don't like it," Casey reminded him with a small laugh, and he shrugged. "It's going to be hard." Casey decided for him, before turning back to her script and re-reading her opening lines. Singing them softly under her breath, she didn't notice when Lance wandered off as someone called. "The French are glad to die for love," she whispered, looking up at the empty seats in the auditorium.

Something touched her shoulder at the exact moment she was mouthing her next line, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose, jumping up from her seat. Looking behind her, her eyes come in contact with the oddly bluish green eyes of Derek. She rose an eyebrow at him, instead of shouting like she would have done in the past. She stared oddly into Derek's eyes, wondering why exactly they were such an odd color.

"Contacts," Derek finally spoke up, answering Casey's unanswered question. She nodded, and stood up as she clamped onto his hand for help. "Casey, you know that rehearsal is over right?" Derek said as she let go of his hand, his eyebrow raised, curious for her answer. She looked around and saw the back stage crew moving things behind the curtains. Her eyes widened a little bit before she laughed it off. She must have been a little too far into her world. "Come on, Space Case, lets go home," he laughed, the name added in their as a joke instead of an insult.

"Yeah . . . let's go home," she nodded as she stared at the stage, passing Derek by as they headed towards the doors. She took a look back at the stage with a smile shaping her lips, knowing that Moulin Rouge was going to be one of their school's best plays, even if she had to pretend to love Derek.

-x-

"... They delight in fighting duels ..." was heard as Derek passed by Casey's room, attempting to get to his own. He stopped for a moment, and leaned against the door to her room, just wanting to listen to her sing. Derek had admitted before that she did have a good voice, and god was he right. "... But I prefer a man who lives, and gives expensive jewels ..." Sighing at the wonderful sound of her voice, Derek removed himself from her door, as the faster part began.

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend," her voice grew louder as she sang, coming through the wall in between them because of the vents. Derek looked towards the wall that separated their rooms for a moment longer, before collapsing onto his bed, script in one hand. "A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or help feed your pussycat," he heard her laugh at the end of that particular line, and found that he couldn't focus on the sheet of paper in front of him. It was all her fault, she just had to be singing so damn well.

"Men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all lose our charms in the end," Derek gave up on the script, throwing it on his counter with amazing accuracy. Lying back on his bed, he closed his eyes, pondering his relationship with Casey MacDonald. Yes, he actually had a non-fighting relationship with Casey now-a-days. The childish act had to end sooner or later. But only did it to gain her attention anyway, but as he grew out of that stage he learned other things that caught her attention that didn't involve wrestling with her.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend." Casey had gotten over the fighting thing as soon as he had. She didn't ignore him after it either; they had just gotten past the screaming and physical fighting. Why had Derek wanted Casey's attention from all the way in the beginning? Well, there was only one obvious reason; he had a 'crush' on her. Yeah, Derek had a crush on his step-sister Casey. Not that he really thought of her in such a way, a sibling way, that is. Right from the wedding to this day, he had a liking for her.

"Tiffany's! Cartier!" Why did Derek like her? Because she was a challenge! She was that girl that could walk around scantily clad, and he couldn't stare at her, why? Because she was suppose to be a sibling to him. She had probably never he glanced at him in such a manner, never looked at his bare chest when he came out of the shower. Casey didn't need him; she had other guys to please. Sam, Max, and now that damned Lance.

"'Cause we are living in a material world, and I'm a material girl!" And Derek had thought she had some dignity! Really, she could easily be called a hypocrite after all the shit she put him through because he went out with multiple girls. Though he never approached the subject with her, and she didn't appear to want to talk about it, he always had that itching in the back of his head to just explode at her for being so hypocritical. But he wouldn't touch that subject yet in his life, not when he had her so close already.

"Black star, Roscor! Talk to me Harry Zidler, tell me all about it!" Friends, they were already friends. So all he needed to do now was get her to return the feelings he had been hiding so easily beneath his friendly face. That secret crush wasn't going to be a secret much longer, as long as Derek could keep her around as his friend for that long. "There may come a time when a lass needs a lawyer, but diamonds are a girl's best friend." Maybe this play would help him get closer to her, especially since their roles were so close together. Hah, this would be perfect. He would overcome this challenge, he was sure of it.

"There may come a time when a hard-boiled employer thinks you're awful nice." Her voice floated through his vents once more, but he couldn't take it anymore, and slammed it shut, trying to focus once more. He was stuck on his thoughts with Casey, but they were perfect thoughts to recite his own lines for. He wondered exactly why he decided that playing Christian was such a wonderful idea. Derek laughed to himself, he suddenly had no doubt that he did it because then Lance would get jealous. Ah, he loved to bother that guy so much. Now he knew the reason why Lance would never come to dinner at their house! Derek would be there, and that bothered him just too much.

But Derek himself was a jealous person, somewhere beneath that entire emotionless exterior. And he always felt that light stab of jealously when he saw Casey and Lance laughing and kissing each other. He always was the one that stared at them across the lunch room with a faint hint of scorn through his eyes. And he was sure that Casey caught him staring sometimes, but always held her composure as she stared at him. Of course, she would have noticed the jealousy that ran beneath his skin, but she never acted upon it. So it left Derek wondering what she thought of him. Did she think it was funny? Or did she find it frightening? Exciting? Was he her challenge? Was she flaunting her boyfriend in his face on purpose? What was she feeling?

Shaking his head to get such thoughts out of his system, Derek looked at the ceiling with an aggravated sigh. All would come together in time. But for now, he had lines to read. Grabbing the script, he once more lied back on his bed, the script over his face.

Was she worth reading all these lines over?

…

Yeah.

-x-

Author's Notes: Please be kind, this is my first fanfiction. I bet all of my characters are slightly OOC, huh? The song has nothing to do with what Derek was thinking.

Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek, Moulin Rouge, or any songs that may be used throughout this story.

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