AN: I have never had such amazing reviewers before. You guys make me so happy, you know that? Thank you so incredibly much for all of the feedback. You really make me want to edit and update faster! This chapter is a bit of filler before some real action happens, but I hope you like it nonetheless. Please review if you have the time, and thanks again!
Chapter 2 – The Aftermath
It's the day after the prank, and I'm walking down the school hallway with a load of books. Lunch is close to ending, and I'm trying to get an early start to math class so that Mrs. Long can explain one of the problems I didn't understand on the homework the night before.
The first half of lunch was incredibly awkward. I sat with Derek, my boyfriend, while Sam and Ralph asked us lots of questions about our relationship. Derek answered most of the questions while I just picked at my salad and tried to ignore the feeling of Derek's hand on my waist. Finally, Derek made up some excuse about having to go to the bathroom, and I gratefully ran away to my locker.
Thinking about the previous events of the day, I don't pay attention to what is going on around me, and I end up tripping over someone's feet. My books go flying in the air and I silently curse my klutzilla-ness, shuffling over to my books and picking them up hastily.
"This is a great view. Please stay right where you are when you're done."
I close my eyes as I hear the one voice that I would least like to hear at this point in time. Of all the people in the school that could've tripped me…
I whip my head around and see Truman smirking at me, his back against the lockers, his feet sticking straight out. He gives me a little wave. Yep, he's the culprit.
"Did you trip me on purpose?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at him. I gather up the last of my books and stand up.
"You're the one that wasn't paying attention to what was going on. So I happened to stick out my leg when you walked by, and you happened to lose your footing because of it. What's the big deal?"
"If you could quit stalking me, that would be greatly appreciated, thanks." I say, giving him a phony smile and walking away from him.
"Oh, come on! You know we were starting to get somewhere last year!" He jumps up from his seat on the floor and starts walking by my side, making it harder to avoid him.
"I have a boyfriend now, Truman! You can't just keep harassing me!"
"You have a boyfriend?" Truman asks, starting at me confusedly. "Since when?"
Of course he would be the only one in the school to not know. He probably had lunch detention or something yesterday.
"Since yesterday." I say simply, brushing him off, but this only makes quicken his pace and walk in front of me. So annoying!
"Who?"
"Do you seriously not know?" I say, stopping and giving him a glare. "I'm sure you've at least heard the rumours."
"You mean, you and your stepbrother are actually together?" He gives me a revolted look as if this is the most horrific thing he's ever heard.
"Yes, we are. And I'm very happy with him, in case you were wondering."
Truman leans against the nearest locker and smirks. "Really, Casey? I always knew you liked the bad boy type."
"Excuse me?" I say, taken aback.
"Derek is just like me. Can't you see it? Well of course you can. You'd have to be blind not to. Or in denial." He winks at me. What a pig.
"Derek is nothing like you, Truman." I say angrily. "He doesn't rate girls and tell the entire school their scores. He doesn't get expelled from school. He's a whole heck of a lot less obnoxious than you. And most importantly, he cares about me."
All of the sudden I hear clapping behind me, and I see Derek approaching. My cheeks go red instantly. He slips an arm around my waist and draws me close to his side. Even though I'm incredibly embarrassed at the present moment from Derek hearing my mini-speech, I still want to laugh at Truman's face.
"Nice one, Case." Derek says, pressing his lips to my cheek. I smile, not even having to fake it. Derek then addresses Truman. "I do care about her. A whole hell of a lot. So I would suggest backing off of my girlfriend. Unless you want that scrawny butt of yours to be kicked." My heart skips a beat. I've never heard Derek so defensive. I want so badly to believe that it's not pretend.
"Geez, I'll lay off." Truman says quietly, holding his hands up and backing away.
"That's better." Derek says. "Now try multiplying that distance by a few hundred metres."
Truman rolls his eyes, turns around, and walks away.
"Thanks, Der." I say softly, and he extracts his arm from waist to grab my books, which are obviously weighing me down. "He wouldn't leave me alone."
"No problem. I hate that creep just as much as you do." He totters under the weight of my books as we begin walking down the hall to math class. "Jeez, why do you carry all of these around? You have a locker, don't you?"
"Yes, but it's so far away from all of my classes." I take one of the books from him to help out. "If I went to my locker, I would be tardy all of the time."
Derek raises an eyebrow at me. "Then here's a proposition – why don't you share a locker with me? My locker is in a prime location, and you can keep it organized for me. Win-win situation, eh?" He smiles. "It can be a… um… mutualistic relationship!"
"Wow, really?" I ask, making sure he isn't playing some sort of practical joke on me.
He nods at me. "Why would I be offering if I wasn't serious?"
"Thanks, Derek." I say, ignoring his question. "And nice use of a biology term." I laugh as he shrugs nonchalantly. "I'll move into your locker after school… if you're willing to wait for me and give me a ride home, that is."
"Do I have any other choice, babe?" His new nickname for me makes my cheeks burn an even brighter shade of red. "Hey, did you mean all those things you said to Truman? I mean, besides me caring, because we know that's not true."
My stomach does this weird flip-flopping thing. "Yes, I did mean them, Derek." Though I'm thinking of taking them all back.
"Well then… thanks, Case." He presses a quick kiss to my lips as we arrive at Mrs. Long's class. He puts my books on my desk for me and takes his regular seat. I'm almost too shocked to remember where I sit. But then I hear someone clear their throat, and I snap back to reality. It's just too bad that the person happens to be Emily. Wow, I'm having the best of luck today.
"You're in the way." Emily says harshly, apparently having seen my little kiss with Derek.
"Sorry, Em." I say quickly, sitting down. She just glares at me. "So now you're going to steal my seat, too?"
I don't realize that I'm sitting in her assigned seat until it's too late. I hop over to my seat, biting my lip. The first bell rings indicating there are five minutes until class starts.
"Listen, Emily, I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything." I say, not knowing how to go about apologizing to her.
"When did you plan on telling me that you were in love with your stepbrother, huh?" she asks, slamming her pre-calculus book down onto her desk before taking a seat.
"I… I didn't even fully realize it until yesterday." I say, spouting out words that, once again, sound too real to be a lie. "I would have told you but-"
"I know I told you that I don't like Derek anymore, but you should know there are always going to be feelings there. I thought you would be sensitive enough not to go after the guy I've had a crush on since… forever!" Emily says heatedly, her voice escalating from a whisper to an almost-yell.
"Like I said, Em, I didn't go after him. It just sort of happened." I try to reason with her.
"Yeah. Right. Like you don't flirt with him all the time. I've ignored your guys' looks and innuendos for a long time, thinking it was nothing. I assumed you wouldn't act on feelings because of not wanting to offend me, not to mention the fact that you're practically siblings, but I guess I shouldn't have put so much trust in you."
"Oh, now you're just being ridiculous!" I say, getting angry. "First of all, we're stepsiblings. There is no blood relation at all! And second of all, I had no intentions of hurting you! You're my best friend. I would never-"
The late bell rings, and I groan as Mrs. Long starts the class.
I am unable to concentrate on anything math related, formulating a better apology and explanation for Emily for when the class ends, but she storms out before I can get a single word in.
I meet Casey at the end of the day to help her move all of her crap into my locker. I find her leaning with her back against wall with her cell phone in her hand.
"Yo, what's going on?" I ask, holding my arms out. "I thought you were moving in with me. Why aren't you all packed and what-not like your keener-self should be?"
"I confronted Emily, and we had another fight." she says sadly, still not looking up at me.
"Um, so… what are you doing?" I stare at her as she presses some of the buttons on her phone. Oh no.
"I'm calling her and telling her what's going on. I can't stand my best friend being mad at me, and this stupid prank is messing up everything between us!"
"No, no, no! Not a good idea!" I say, grabbing the phone from her. "No one can know about this, Casey! That defeats the purpose of the whole prank! I didn't even tell Sam or Ralph. They think this is real. Our point is to convince everyone and giving our secret away, well… that would be counterproductive!"
"I can't even tell Paul?" she asks, sticking her bottom lip out a bit.
"No, not even Paul. Not until our two weeks is up and we tell everyone that this was a prank." I say, lifting a finger to her mouth and pushing her lip back in. And then another brilliant idea hits me. This is just an outstanding week for me! "Hey! What if we actually persuade Paul that we're together?"
Casey's jaw drops. "No, no way! There is no way we are weaving poor, innocent Paul into this web of lies!"
"Oh, come on, Case! I'm sure it will get us bonus points on the assignment! Think about it!" She shakes her head at me and crosses her arms. "He knows you best, and I bet you anything he can tell when you're lying. We have to give this a try! It will be one of our greatest feats yet!"
She sighs out, looking defeated. "Oh, fine!"
"Yes!" I pump my fist in the air. Victory, again!
"I have an appointment with him tomorrow, anyway." she says begrudgingly. "You can come with me or something."
"Excellent." I pat her on the head and she swats my hand away. "Now let's get your stuff so you can organize my locker, okay?"
The next day at school, Casey and I do a pretty good job of avoiding Emily. We decide that it's best to keep a pacifistic sort of view on her until the prank is over. We don't see Truman at all. Heh. Lunch is filled with gossiping and staring people as are the hallways. It seems as if talk of our 'relationship' isn't going to die down for a while, which is perfect news for our prank.
At end of the day, it's time for us to commence Operation: Prank Paul. I wait outside his office as Casey talks to him. I press my ear up against the door to listen to their conversation.
"Well, there's actually someone here with me today." I hear Casey say. "Uh, someone pretty important to me."
"Okay, well, go ahead. Bring them in, Casey!" Paul says enthusiastically, and I can't help but grin. This is going to be awesome. I peek through the door window, and Casey is gesturing for me to come in.
I open the door and saunter over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Hey Paul." I say casually.
"Derek… Hi!" Paul says, clearly shocked. "I didn't expect to ever see the both of you in here together. This is quite the surprise! Have a seat, please."
I take a seat next to Casey in one of the bulky chairs in Paul's office.
"So, why are you here?" Paul asks, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his desk. I glance to my left. Casey still looks apprehensive about lying to Paul, so I decide to start talking first.
"We have some pretty big news for you, Paul. Casey thought you should know, since the whole student body is going to be talking about it anyway. She wanted to tell you personally, right, Case?" I nudge my stepsister and she puts on a fake grin.
"Right." she says, and then she reaches over and laces her fingers with mine. I feel my ears get a little hot. "See, Paul, Derek and I are… together now."
"No way!" Paul shouts, looking exuberant, nearly knocking over his coffee mug in excitement. "Finally! I mean, I'm so happy for you two!"
I try not to laugh at Casey's face as she sees Paul's enthusiastic reaction. "Wait… you thought Derek and I were going to get together?"
"Well, yeah." Paul says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, laughing. There's never been a session of ours where you didn't talk about him. You always go on and on about-"
"Okay, that's enough chatter, Paul!" Casey says, her cheeks turning bright red. I'm holding back the biggest laugh ever. "We just wanted to stop by and let you know."
She stands up, taking me with her. "So, as you can see, a lot of my problems have been solved." she says, laughing nervously and swinging our clasped hands up so that Paul can see. "But I'll probably still stop by. You know. To visit. I'm sure I'll have non-Derek related problems." Annnnd the rambling never ends.
"Of course." Paul chuckles and waves goodbye as we make our way to the door. "Good luck, you two."
"You talked about me… all the time?" I ask as soon as we're out the door, raising my eyebrows. "Ha, I always knew you were obsessed with me!"
"Shut up, Derek!" she says, shaking her hand from mine. "I'm not obsessed. I had to go to Paul for you giving me problems, not because I had some stupid, girly, crush issue."
"I never said that." I say, winking and taking her hand back in mine. She glares at me, struggling to get away. "Come on, we can't be fighting! We're a couple who are supposed to be very much in love."
She groans and gives up as I pull her towards our locker. "Come on, Case. I have a surprise for you."
"I don't like surprises!" she whispers harshly. "What are you going to do?" she asks as I put my combination in and open our locker.
"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now, would it? Now close your eyes and hold out your hand."
Her brow furrows as she tries to figure out what I might be doing. "No way."
"I won't hurt you, Case. I promise." She purses her lips and squeezes her eyes shut, holding her palm open.
I reach into our locker, pulling out a little wooden box from my jacket pocket and giving it to Casey. "Okay, open it." I say, and she squints open one eye to see what she's holding.
"What is it?" She pokes at the box, narrowing her eyes.
I roll my eyes. "Just open it!"
She obliges, cautiously lifting the lid of the box up. She gasps when she pulls out its contents, holding it in her line of vision. "Oh, Derek. No. This is yours." she says, pushing it back towards me.
"Well, it's yours now." I say, heat rising in my cheeks. "You know, you always wore that butterfly necklace Max gave you, so I figured…"
"Thanks." she says as my sentence trails off. "Will you…?" She stretches her hand out with my – now her – circle loop necklace, and I realize she wants me to fasten it for her as she holds up her hair.
"Sure." I say, my voice cracking a little. It's very possible for her to fasten it herself and then slide it over her neck easily, but I don't complain as I move around her and tie the strings together in a tight knot. My fingers brush the nape of her neck, and little goose bumps form on her skin before I face her again.
"There." I watch her run her fingers over the necklace, examining it with a small smile on her face.
"You never did this for any of your other girlfriends." she says suddenly, and I avoid her gaze.
"Well, you're… you're my special girlfriend, remember?" I say hastily, and she looks a little crestfallen.
"Right."
I breathe out and then wrap an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go home, Case."