Chapter 2

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Oh god. I hadn't thought about that part at all. And by the look on Derek's face neither did he. He smiled and took a step forward. How was it that he could look so calm, cool, and collected? His eyes glinted with both worry and amusement. I bit my lip for a split second and then inhaled a breath. I closed my eyes and soon I felt Derek's lips on mine.

It was such a strange feeling. I gasped and I held onto him tighter. An electric feeling was tingling on my lips and my heart was beating a mile per second. I felt my stomach flip and flop and it was enough to make me feel sick. Derek's hand was on my cheek and then he was cupping my face. He gently but forcefully pulled my face away from his. Suddenly, I felt very self conscious. Tom and Martha were grinning at us.

"S-sorry. Guess I got a little out of hand," I said shyly. Derek grinned.

"A little? Sweetie, save it for the honeymoon," he smirked. I smacked his arm playfully and then we walked down the isle with Martha and Tom behind us. I followed Martha into the dressing room and changed back into my regular clothes. She grinned the whole time but never uttered a word- until Derek and I were leaving. She gave a small congratulations and that was it. Derek and I walked down the sidewalk holding hands and caught a cab.

Once we got in we both sat on either end of the cab. Derek was staring out the window bobbing his head and tapping his fingers on his jeans as if there was a good song playing at the moment. I- on the other hand- had my hand on my forehead with my eyes closed. I suddenly realized what a long day it had been and I felt myself nodding off. I didn't even remember how I got into the room. I vaguely remember hearing someone telling me to change and then getting guided to the couch bed but that was the last thing I could remember.

Before I knew it- it was morning.

I felt something hot beating down on my face and it was uncomfortable. I groaned and turned over to my other side. I then realized that the back of my neck was getting hot now. I groaned again in frustration and then realized it was the sun. The sun meant one thing- it was morning. I shot up in bed and my eyes widened. I looked all around but no one was left in the room. I glanced at the nightstand beside me and saw a little note.

Case,

We left for breakfast and didn't want to wake you. See you later, wifey.

Love, Derek

I gulped and re-read the note a thousand times. Wifey? Love, Derek? Suddenly, everything was becoming very clear. I fell back down on the bed with my eyes as wide as they would go. My lips were slightly parted.

"Oh. My. God."

I had to have been the most idiotic person on the planet. Wait- that was Derek. I couldn't believe what he got us into! Getting married? AS A JOKE?! What was he thinking? What was I thinking? Why did I ever listen to Derek? Why did I even consider listening to Derek? Yeah we were bored but that didn't give us the right to get our parents to unknowingly sign a permission form to let us get married and then actually going through with the ceremony! I gulped again. Ohh Casey Casey Casey. Look what living in the same house as Derek done to you!

How could I have been so foolish? This is exactly what happened before- the time when we snuck out to go to Tim Burton's party. Yes, it was the party of the year, but it was still a foolish thing for me to do. And yet- I had done it. Technically I didn't because we hit George's car, dented it, and then snuck up back into our rooms. Derek left again without me but that isn't the point. The point is that I was willing to do all of that. And even after that one mistake- did I learn? After tonight I'd say "no I did not".

Get me to do something outrageous and stupid once: shame on you. Get me to do something outrageous and stupid twice: shame on me! Shame on me! I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then another memory kicked in.

"I don't know Derek. Getting married? Isn't that a bit…extreme for a joke?" I countered calmly. He rolled his eyes.

"It'll be funny. And then all we have to do is annul it the next day. It'll be fine."

I took a breath of relief. Yes we may have done something idiotic but he did think of the day after. We were getting it annulled…everything was going to be fine. With those thoughts I smiled and sprang out of bed. I went to go take a shower and then I noticed the ring on my finger. How could I have missed it before- I had no clue. I muttered a profanity under my breath and continued getting ready.

XOX

Derek was wrong. I was wrong- so very, terribly wrong. As I was walking towards the table my family was sitting at I felt my stomach churn and churn with guilt and nervousness. What if they knew? What if just by looking at my face they knew that Derek and I got married last night? I gulped. It couldn't have been true but my warped, nervous brain was putting those silly thoughts in my head. And at the time they didn't sound so silly. I took a deep breath and continued toward my descent to the table.

If I was trying to appear as calm, cool, and collected it didn't work. I stumbled and almost ran into a guy. I finally sat down and to my unfortunate luck I had to sit next to Derek. This only made my heart pound faster. The object of my guilt was right next to me. And you know what made it worse? We were sitting directly across from George and my mom. This made it easy to see my face which would give away our secret prank. I stole a glance at Derek and he was smirking at me.

"Morning," Derek mumbled. My brain was feeling frazzled.

"Morning, honey," I muttered without thinking. Lizzie's head snapped up and Nora looked at me strangely. Uh oh. I guess I was still in the pretend-to-be-in-love-with-Derek mode from last night. "Um…I meant could someone pass me the honey?"

"You hate honey- after Derek smothered your hair with it. The stench makes you puke," Lizzie said. The memories suddenly came back and the thought of honey only made my flopping stomach worse.

"Ohh, right. Then can I just have some jam. And thanks to whoever got my plate of food," I muttered in response.

"No problem, sweetie," my mom said. "So, did you two have fun last night? Must have been crazy, eh?"

My eyes widened and I almost choked on my orange juice. Then I suddenly remembered she was talking about the teen club.

"It was fun. Totally rocking," I rasped.

"Casey, are you ok? You seem off this morning," my mom said with a pout on her lips and concern etched on her face. I put on a smile.

"I'm fine. I'm just still waking up," I said with a forced laugh. She grinned and continued to eat her eggs. I glanced back at Derek and he smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and then he winked. I sighed and continued to eat my toast.

"Casey?"

"Yes, Liz?" I asked without looking up.

"What's that on your left hand?"

I froze- mid bite. I slowly looked up to see my confused sister. I finished biting and as I did so I glanced at Derek's hand. His was ring free- a smart guy.

"Um, all the girls who went to the club last night got rings…some weird thing," Derek said. He truly was a good liar because I almost believed him. Lizzie still seemed confused.

"Hmm…it almost looked like a wedding ring to me," she said with a giggle. Oh no! They saw through my phony façade. My heart beating was the only thing I could hear anymore. I couldn't hear the rest of Lizzie's sentence or feel Derek poking my knee under the table. I also didn't hear my mom asking if I was alright. I gulped and my eyes bugged out. I was breathing unevenly and I could feel their scrutinizing eyes on me. They knew. They had to have known. And that's when I couldn't take it anymore.

"DEREK AND I GOT MARRIED!"

It got very silent and still. Lizzie slowly turned her head away from Edwin- him doing the same from Lizzie. They both had shock all over their faces. George was confused and my mom was well... a mixture of shock and possibly some anger. Marti looked at everyone at the table like I had just told everyone that the sky was blue- like it was no big deal. I also heard the clatter of silverware from the boy next to me. I gulped.

"You and Derek…what?" my mom asked slowly. I felt Derek frantically tapping my knee but I didn't care. Half of it was out of the bag- might as well confess the whole thing.

"Me and Derek got married. We were so bored in the room and Derek came up with this fun little thing to do. So we tricked you into signing a permission slip to giving consent on us getting married and then we went to some chapel near the hotel and got married. We thought it'd be ironically funny since we never get along. But it was horrible 'cause we had to pretend to be in love and he kept touching me. And then I had to change into this dress and when I walked out Derek was looking good in his tux…and THEN we had to kiss and for being his step sister it had to have been the most amazing kiss EVER! But anyways, so we get in a cab and the next thing I know its morning. Ohh, and we were going to get it annulled today before we left tomorrow morning so it really isn't a big deal. Funny, huh?"

At the end of my rant I took a huge breath. I was relieved. I smiled and looked around the table. Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti's mouths were completely dropped, George had this glazed over look and my mom's was of fury and utter confusion. Derek was grinning.

"Look, it was all an accident and um, this experience actually brought me and Casey together. We came together for a common goal: to have a good laugh. Well we laughed and everything so we're good. Right, Casey?" He didn't wait for my response. He wrapped his arms around me. "This means me and Casey are cooperating together."

"A joke? Let's see. You snuck out to a place where we didn't know you would be, you tricked us, and you took a precious ceremony and mocked it. If you were pulling for a joke it didn't strike me as being very funny," my mom said in a low voice. I gulped.

"But we were gonna get it annulled today. I mean, what happens in Vegas…stays in Vegas, eh?" Derek joked.

"Son, not the best times to be making wise cracks," George piped in.

"George and I are going to discuss this. In the meantime, the four of you can go back to your room. And you better stay there. We'll come get you when we're ready to talk," Nora said finally before getting up from the table with George and Marti.

As Lizzie, Edwin, Derek, and I walked to our room I knew one thing- we were totally and completely screwed.


Hey everybody! I am back with another chapter. YAY! I suddenly felt like writing and so I decided to work on chapter two. Yes it is a little bit shorter than my normal chapters but I felt the need to end it where I did. Haha. Kind of a cliff hanger. This was a very entertaining chapter to write. A guilty Casey is a funny Casey. And I have 52 reviews? WOW! And all I posted was the prologue and chapter 1! I am not complaining. In fact, keep them coming. This is truly amazing. It makes me happy and it really motivates me to keep writing. 30 reviews alone for the last chapter. I am shocked. I truly appreciate it you guys. Thank you SO MUCH! For the anonymous reviewers: THANK YOU SO MUCH TOO! If I wanted to say something to each of you personally, I can't remember considering it is past 3 in the morning. Haha. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review. No flames please. But if you had any constructive criticism: that is totally welcome. Well, I'm gonna shut up now and go to bed. Night/morning people!

J.S. Goldberg

P.S. If I didn't reply to a review of yours: I'm sorry. I must have been either busy or in a lazy mood. Haha. Hope ya forgive me.