I hate my brother, Derek Venturi.

Er. I mean step-brother.

Gahd.

Well, okay maybe I don't hate him-hate him.

I guess 'strong dislike' would be it.

And I when I say strong, I mean strong.

And why do I strongly dislike him?

The better question would be why WOULDN'T I strongly dislike him?

God. That little annoying smirk of his.. every time he gives me when he beats me at something. Oh, look at me, I'm Derek Venturi and I get what I want.

Well, you know what Derek. You can take that stupid smirk of yours and stick it up your...

Okay, whoa there Casey.

Keep your calm. Just breathe.

In. Out.

In. Out.

There.

I feel a little better now.

Sorry. I always get a sudden urge to pull out my hair/scream/beatthecrapoutofsomeone when I think of that adoring step-sibling of mine.

But you know what? You would want to too if you were living with the guy. God, I swear he's never heard of a vaccum cleaner before. Not that I'm anal about cleaning and stuff...

Okay, I am a little.

But that's besides the point. He's the biggest pig I've ever met. Oscar meet your maker!.. Er, you know the grouch. Well, you would know the characters of sesame street too if you had a seven year old living under your roof. Anyway I'm getting way too sidetracked. My point is that Derek is ruining my life. ARGGGGHHHH!

Just last week, he pulled this little scheme to break me and Sam up. Can you believe that? I mean, just because your best friend's maybe spending a little less time with you, it doesn't give you the right to break him up with his girlfriend! Oh, and its not just that! He accused Sam, my faithful boyfriend, of cheating on me! God. Of all the things to say. Like. How cold and cruel-hearted can you be? Okay, so maybe Sam and I are going through a rough patch right now. But hey, ALL relationships have some. And now, we've just hit a couple. One particularly on communication.

I'm not saying my boyfriend is dumb. Because he's totally not. He gets A's and B's at school (while on the other hand, Derek struggles to even get a C). Its just that.. he sorta needs to sharpen up his communication skills. I mean it seems like whenever I try to talk to him about anything, everything I say goes through one ear and out the other. In other words: Sam sucks at listening. Like, I try to talk to him about my day and all I get from him is the occasional 'yeah' or 'really?'... all while having a dazed sort of look on his face. Like, he's day-dreaming of being anywhere else on the face of the earth, except here. With me.

But you know what, that doesn't mean he's CHEATING on me. It just means that, well, he and I has to work on that part of our relationship. I don't even know where Derek gets this crap. He's just jealous. He really is. Ugh.

I don't even get why girls like him so muuuch.

He's conceited.

Arrogant.

He doesn't even really try at anything he does. Like school, thus his D's.

I've already mentioned he's a pig.

The only reason why girls like him so much is because he's popular and decently good-looking. Oh and that he's jock. More specifically, a hockey player. Yuck. Okay, Sam's a hockey player too, but he looks waaay hot in his uniform. Better than Derek that's for sure...

Ew! Am I seriously comparing Sam to Derek?? Gross. Gross.

I don't want to think about that anymore.

Anyway.

Oh yeah, back to dissing Derek. He thinks that he can get any girl that he meets. I'm pretty sure that if he'd ever met Cameron Diaz, he would think that he can get her to fall in love with him...ignoring serious age difference. But anyway, I know him for what he really is. And that is a low-life scum. I wish I could just set surveillance cameras around the house so I could just show the girls at school what he's really like. And then, I would make them realize how stupid they are to like Derek. That would be such a sweet revenge. However, I can't really afford to buy surveillance cameras, and I wouldn't know how to set them up without Derek (or the rest of the family) seeing them. So I guess that's really out of the question.

But, hey, its nice to dream. I don't really even get how Derek is friends with Sam. I mean they're total opposites. Derek is well, Derek. And Sam is sweet, kind, considerate of others... Plus, Sam's not a egotistical selfish pig!

And all, Derek likes to think about is girls, girls, and girls. Moreover, sex, sex, sex.

But then again, that's all guys in high school think about--how to get laid. I suspect even Sam wants to do it with me. Which is a definite no on my part. I'm not saying that I'm saving myself for marriage. Its just that..well, sex is a huge step in a relationship. It can ruin the relationship or make it all the more better. But I don't want to take a chance. So, sex with sam is a no...for now.

Derek, on the other hand, doesn't have a moral standard when it comes with girls. I know for a fact Derek's been doing it with girls. A month ago, while snooping through his room, I found a pack of trojans in his nightstand drawer.

And the box's been open.

Ew. For all I know, Derek could have gonoreahea or herpes. He practically goes out with a new girl every weekend. I've even caught on Derek's type by now-- girls with busty chests and pea-brains. He also has a thing for blondes. His shallowness makes me sick.

I really don't understand how he and Sam are friends.

And I'm more confused as to why he would backstab Sam like that...you know, by telling me that Sam's cheating on me.

Which is a total lie.

Screw him.

Derek doesn't deserve to have a friend like Sam.

He deserves to be outcasted.

xXx

"So, Casey, is there something on your mind you'd like to tell me- your best friend?"

Yes. Derek is driving me absolutely insane, and I want to kill him. "Um, no Em, why do you think something's on my mind?"

"Well, you sorta have this look on your face that tells me you're not on this planet right now. Is there something going wrong between you and Sam?"

I frown and stare at her. "Why would you think there's something wrong with me and Sam? Everything's perfectly fine."

"Oh." Emily nods slowly. She hesitantly opens her mouth to say something but quickly changes her mind, and she doesn't speak. We make our way down the hallway to our lockers. I open mine, neatly stack my algebra II book and binder inside, and take the books I need for my next class- A.P. biology. I do this in silence as I think about what Emily said a minute ago,

"Is there something going wrong between you and Sam?"

Is there some truth in what Derek said about Sam cheating? No way. There can't be.

But could there?

Stop it, Casey! This is exactly what Derek wants you to do. He just wants to see you in pain, because sickly, your pain causes him pleasure. He just wants to ruin everything you're happy about! Don't let him get to you! Just because Emily's acting weird, it doesn't mean Sam is being unfaithful.

"Well, I'm going to class.", Emily says suddenly to me with her chemistry books in her arms.

I snap out of my thoughts. "Oh ok, well good luck on your chem. test."

"Yeah." She replies with a weird expression on her face. "Um, Casey, do you want me to, uh, walk you to your next class? I mean, I'm sure I have plenty of time to get to chemistry on time."

I smile. "No, Em, really that's okay. But thanks for offering."'

"Are you sure?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Okay."

"Is there something going on, Em? Why are you acting all weird?"

"Nothing.", Emily sighs quietly. She gives me this unusual, sympathetic smile and tells me goodbye before leaving. I stand there, still at my locker, just wondering what just happened. What is going on? This is going to drive me absolutely insane, until I see Emily again and ask her.

This day is just going absolutely horrible.

I mean, just this morning, I was running late and forgot to brush my teeth and eat breakfast. I nearly failed my government quiz earlier. Derek had to drive me to school this morning and the whole carride looked like something that could go on "siblings gone wild". I almost attempted to punch him in the face and push him out of the car. However, that wouldn't have been sensible as I don't have my license yet. But I guess if that did happen and I was caught by the police and thrown into jail for driving without a license, it would be all worth it. For, you know, seeing Derek's expression when I punch him right in the nose--hopefully breaking it and then leaving him in the dust while I drive off in his car.

But, unfortunately, that didn't happen. Unfortunately.

I mean, why does Derek have to always be such a pain in the butt? I don't ever do anything wrong to him. I never play pranks on him or be mean. But, he's constantly making me the center of all his torturing. Its like he's making it his career to humiliate me for the rest of his life. For example, klutzilla. Do you know many months I had to hear random people call out 'there goes klutzilla!' whenever I was in the hallways? I mean, I still hear people calling me that now and then. And that was a year and a half ago!

Even the smallest things he does drive me crazy. Like the way, he bathes himself in cologne before going out on a date. He practically stinks up the whole house. And the way he always picks the cheese out of his sandwich before eating it last.

And the way he leaves his dirty socks everywhere in the house.

And the way he obsesses over finding new ways to make money.

And the way he always has to talk to a hot girl even if that means leaving the table at dinner with your family in a nice restaurant and walking all the way across the room to get that girl's number.

And the way--wait, why am I always thinking about Derek? No wonder, I'm getting so negative lately. Geez.

Ugh. But you know, I just can't help it. Everything he does just gets to me.

I hate to admit though that he does have a soft side that he shows once in a while. I mean, he'll just doing something so nice for you that you'll wonder why he's not like this all the time. But then he goes and ruins it all by going back to his old self. He always shows his soft side when he's with Marti. Sometimes when I watch them play together, I think that Derek's such a good older brother, despite the way he treats the rest of us. It's almost sweet. I know that sometimes he uses his special bond with Marti to his full advantage to get girls like Sandra. But I also genuinely know that their relationship is real.

Derek just really confuses me.

Which again brings up the subject on how Sam and Derek are so different.

Derek is complex. Sam is simple.

Sometimes, I think that's why I like Sam so much. He doesn't have multi-personalities or sudden mean streaks like Derek has. Sam is just ... Sam. He's nice, smart, and reliable. He's so unlike the other immature guys at school. He actually genuinely cares about the things I'm interested in. For example, my anti-'babe raider' report. He's the only guy who told me that he liked it. And he didn't scoff at my feminine manifesto like Derek did.

I really do think I'm the luckiest girl at school to have such a caring boyfriend.

And the worst thing so far today is that I haven't seen Sam all day. And its almost lunch. I mean, its like he's avoiding me, almost.

Almost.

You know what, I'm probably just getting all riled up for nothing. Sam would never do that. There could be plenty of reasons why I haven't seen Sam today. Maybe, he's sick. Or uh, maybe we really just haven't run into each other yet.

Although usually, Sam meets me at my locker and says hello.

Yeah, he's probably sick. Everyone is getting the flu lately. I should probably pick him up some chicken noodle soup afterschool and visit him. That'd probably make him feel better. I should probably also get his school assignments. Well, I'll just have to remind myself before I leave school.

Ring.

Greaaat. Now I'm late to class. Ugh. This day is just going splendidly.

xXx

Reviews would be nice!!
and motivating!
dj