A/N: I do not own Life with Derek, or The Relient K song that is used in this chapter, but i do own this story! :) Chapter Two! Sheds a little more light on the past. I am very happy about getting the amount of reviews that i got, because i was expecting none! lol I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter! Thanks again, so so much! I really appreciate it! Read and review this one now, I guess! :)

He felt bad about bringing up the past, knowing that she didn't want anything to do with it anymore. It was just all so easy back then, nothing to fight about; Derek didn't have a care in the world. He was just living his life, one day at a time. He wasn't sure why he felt so embarrassed last night at dinner. All he knew was that he didn't feel comfortable enough to be in the same room with his entire family at that point in time. There wasn't much they did differently last night, compared to all the other nights of family dinner banter. However, the discussion that they had led into, before Derek took flight to hide in his room, was a little too close for comfort in Derek's eyes.

Derek ran his hands through his mess of hair roughly; slightly tugging on some clumps that he had managed to grasp. He was obviously regretting what he had done, which is very unlike him. He usually doesn't feel bad about pranking anyone, let alone Casey. Maybe it was the fact that he was going soft, or maybe it was that he didn't mean to bring up the past, he wasn't sure; but he did not like feeling this way.

He sprung out of his bed and went to the bathroom. He had forgotten to relieve himself last night before going to bed, so there was just way too much pressure in that area to remain at a calm speed to the bathroom. The conversation of last night was playing in his head.


"Derek, slow down, you're going to choke!" Derek's father, George, said.

"Can't dad, I'm extremely hungry, and this food is really good. Where did we order from?" He asked, as if mocking the parents' ability to cook a good meal.

"We didn't order anything! Casey made it." Nora retorted.

Derek choked on his food, not because of the speed that he was inhaling it, though, as George had mentioned. The reason he choked was because he had forgotten what a great cook Casey was. She had made him a meal before, but they both chose to forget about it.

"On second thought, I'm not so hungry." Derek lied, with an eyebrow raised at Casey, he was now mocking her ability to cook, even though it wasn't nearly as called for as the insult to George and Nora.

"Oh shut up, and eat your food, you ungrateful, little a-" Casey started but was interrupted by Nora.

"Casey! Don't finish that sentence. There are children around!" She said, gesturing mostly just towards Marti. Casey scoffed and glared at Derek as he continued eating his food.

"Alright, so how was everyone's day?" Nora asked pleasantly as if her daughter didn't just attempt to swear.

"Well, I got an A on my English paper! Can't say the same thing about Derek." Casey said, with a cocky smile at Derek.

"What did you get on your English paper Derek?" George asked his son.

He cleared his throat and swallowed. "A… D." He said, mumbling the latter of the sentence.

"Didn't quite catch that Derek." Casey said smiling.

"D" He said a little louder cocking his head a little to the side while staring at Casey. All the while she had that big grin on her face as if she couldn't be happier.

"Derek," His father started unhappily, "Why can't you just try harder?" he complained.

"Dad, its hard to do homework when you actually have a life." He said, staring at Casey, who wiped her smug smile off.

"I happen to have a great life, thank you very much!" She said.

"And what exactly does that entail? Writing poems for a column in the school newspaper? Reading? Oh yes, Casey, loads of fun there!" He said.

"I'll have you know, that's not all I like to do! I have a loving boyfriend, Max, and a great best friend, Emily; both of which I hang out with a lot. Also, did you forget that I'm on the cheerleading team?" She stated.

"How could I forget? It just makes you all the more peppy and annoying." He answered.

"Whether or not I agree with that, it still means that I have a life. What do you do with your time? Go to parties? Hang out with people that are only talking to you in hopes that it makes them cooler? Do you realize that people have no respect for you; they just fear you" She said.

"That is not true." He said.

"Really? Name one person who respects you, other than Sam, and our family." She said.

"That's not fair, why can't I use Sam?!" He asked.

"Because he hardly counts, of course best friends have respect for each other. You are just mad that you can't think of anyone else." She answered.

"So what, I don't care if people have respect for me, I want them to fear me." He said, matter-of-factly.

"Wow, you're more pathetic than I thought." She said. That stung him enough to make him really lose his appetite, but he didn't make it noticeable.

"Alright you two, that's enough! Can't you two just get along!?" George asked angrily.

"NO!" They both screamed.

"I'm going to bed." Derek stated, it wasn't a question of excusing himself, it was a demand that he warned to everyone.

With that he walked angrily up the stairs and slammed his door.

"Good going, Case." Edwin said. Casey didn't feel bad about what she had said. She meant every bit of it, she didn't care whether she hurt his feelings or not. She had nothing but hatred for him, despite their past; the past that she hoped still, that no one knew about.


She always knew how to make him mad, and it bothered him so much that she had this affect on him. She knew that it bothered him, so in turn it made her want to do it more. It was a vicious cycle that would never end. He knew there was only one way to end it, but it just couldn't happen anymore; he didn't want it to happen, and neither did she, as it seemed.

He thought about the night before and groaned at the thought of Casey being able to make him so upset with himself that he stopped eating; let alone made him go to sleep right away on a Friday night.

He had made his way back from the bathroom ans sat down on the edge of his bed. He knew that she was finally getting dressed and going downstairs for some breakfast. He was hungry, but he didn't want to face her again so he just stayed in his room. He walked over to his computer and signed online.

Samstheman01: Hey dude, what r u doing up so early?

HockeyKing17: Casey singing obnoxiously in the shower again.

Samstheman01: O I C. Well do u wanna play some street hockey l8r?

HockyKing17: Sure man. Come on over at 3?

Samstheman01: Okay I'll c u then, I gotta go clean the living room, my moms on my case.

HockeyKing17: k see u later.

Samstheman01 Signed Off at 10:01AM.

Now that Sam was gone, he had nothing to occupy his time, so he started listening to music, in hopes that it would keep his mind off of the past. He put his iTunes on shuffle, only for it to start playing the one song he had hoped it wouldn't play.

I've given up on giving up slowly, I'm blending in so
You won't even know me apart from this whole world that shares my fate
This one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption
because I know to live you must give your life away
And I've been housing all this doubt and insecurity and
I've been locked inside that house all the while You hold the key
And I've been dying to get out and that might be the death of me
And even though, there's no way in knowing where to go, promise I'm going because
I gotta get outta here
I'm stuck inside this rut that I fell into by mistake
I gotta get outta here
And I'm begging You, I'm begging You, I'm begging You to be my escape.

The reason that he had not wanted this song to play was because this song was his song towards Casey; not these days, of course… but back then, when everything was so… different. It wasn't that he was unhappy at the time when he had met Casey, but it was just that she was so different from all the other girls that he had encountered. She wasn't ditzy or dumb, she was smart and beautiful. The other girls couldn't come anywhere close to what she was, what she is.

The sound of this song made his stomach twist, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't want to think of that day, again! Unfortunately it all came rushing back.


They had just broken from the passionate kiss that had made them feel so close to each other. As they pulled away from each other, Casey caught herself staring into his eyes again. Once more, she became lost in them and couldn't speak as he asked her a question.

"Casey?" He asked after she had not responded.

"Hmm?" she murmured softly still staring deeply into his eyes.

"I want you to listen to this song, okay?" He told her as he pulled out his iPod and gave her one of the ear buds.

"Oh," She said breaking of her gaze, "Alright." She smiled at him.

He played the song for her, it was "Be My Escape" by Relient K.

"Why did you want me to listen to this?" She asked him.

It was partly because it was his favorite song at the time, but mostly because when he kissed her, he felt as if this song was playing in his head the whole time. She was his escape; he wanted her to know that. He wanted to tell her that he loved the fact that she was so much better than all of the other girls. Better than anyone that he has every known, man or woman. How could he know this by one kiss? He didn't know it himself, but he didn't care how he knew it; he just felt this strange, but wonderful feeling of self-conclusion while he was around her.

"Because it's an awesome song!" He said, playing it cool.

"Alright…" she said hesitantly, "But why now? Why right after we kissed?" She asked.

"I don't know, it kind of just popped in my head." He half-lied. Even though he knew she was different, he still wasn't ready to let himself fully open up.

"Okay." She said, not believing that was the only reason.

They sat together, and talked all night in that room. Fortunately, no one came in to bother them; as with most parties with alcohol, people just barge into rooms, not knowing which are occupied and try to fool around with each other. In their case though, Derek was the only one of the two that had even had any alcohol, and Casey was very capable of handling herself around a slightly inebriated man. She was strong and independent, once again, a lot different from any of the other girls their age.

"Derek?" She asked after about an hour and a half of just talking about anything and everything.


"Derek!" He heard a man yell from downstairs.

He opened up the door and walked downstairs to see what all of the fuss was about. He made it into the kitchen to see his dad looking at him with glee. This was a great relief for Derek because he thought he might be in some sort of trouble, as he usually is.

"Glad to see you have joined us for breakfast!" His father said.

"That's what you wanted me for?" He said, a tad disappointed.

"Can't you enjoy eating breakfast with your family?" George asked.

"Of course I can." Derek said bitterly, with a fake smile on.

"Good, now eat your pancakes!" His father said, while serving him a heaping plate of chocolate-chip pancakes. They looked delicious, but Derek couldn't help but feel a little sick to his stomach when he saw who was making them, Casey.

A/N: Thanks again, for reading! Please review, it keeps me going, as with everyone else! haha :)