A/N: Hey everyone! I saw Kelley at the Smart Chicks Kick It tour and it was amazing! I had an awesome time and learned a lot about the other authors as well! It seems that not only fans love Derek, but several of the authors do as well. :) I was able to get all of my books signed by Kelley and got some pretty awesome swag such as Darkest Powers/Darkness Rising cartoon bookmarks! I'm really envious of the girl who got an ARC of The Calling! Too bad Kelley only had one copy for my stop. :(

Disclaimer: I don't own Darkest Powers

Chapter 4: Creeper on a Mission

The door locked quietly behind me as I followed Derek out of the dorm, careful to keep out of sight. I didn't want to imagine what would happen if I was caught stalking him. Hiding behind the garbage can, I shivered at the thought. Derek would kill me for sure. I can't be caught!

As I peered around my hiding spot, I saw Derek's figure moving slowly away from the school with a large gym bag. I frowned in confusion. Please tell me he isn't dealing drugs! I just can't see him doing that! Heart thudding, I crept as silently as I could after him. After a few paces forward, Derek paused and stiffened. Without hesitation, I dove behind a nearby tree, trying to keep the panic from rising in my throat. He knows! He knows I'm stalking him! My eyes bugged at the thought. Any moment now, he's going to come behind to tree, strangle me with his bare hands and then throw my body in a place where no one will ever find me. I'll just be Chloe Saunders, the girl who mysteriously vanished without a trace. I didn't dare breathe for the next few seconds as I shut my eyes tightly, bracing myself for the inevitable.

A few seconds passed...

And a few more.

With my heart bouncing around in my rib cage, I tentatively opened one eye. Derek wasn't looming over me, with his eyes flashing in anger. He wasn't there at all. Stunned, I opened both eyes and peered about. In fact, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Uh oh, I lost him. I thought as I stepped out from behind the tree. I looked in all directions but I couldn't see him anywhere. Hurrying forward, I continued in the direction that Derek was last heading.

As I rounded the corner, I smacked into a solid wall of flesh. Yelping in surprise, I stepped back as I rubbed my face. My eyes traveled up slowly, trying to prolong what was going to happen next. Finally, my eyes met his and I winced. Déjà vu... Derek looked rather pissed off and his eyes reflected his irritation. "G-g-g-good m-morning, D-d-d-derek," I stammered in fear as my teeth clattered against each other.

He glared down at me, his rich green eyes looking at me in fury. It didn't help that he was looming over me as well, making me feel smaller than I already was. "Why the hell are you following me?" Derek demanded in a strained voice that barely concealed his anger.

"I'm s-sorry," I said in a small voice. "I noticed you when you left a few minutes ago and I was worried-"

"-about me?" Derek finished with a cold laugh. "Yeah. Right. Like everyone else, you think that I'm a drug dealer and wanted to catch me in the act."

I shook my head desperately. Although I didn't know what good was going to come in the result of telling the truth, but that had to be better than lying. "T-that's not it. I don't believe the rumors of you being a drug dealer," I whispered.

Derek's face flashed with a moment of surprise, like I had thrown him off guard. But then that look vanished in a second. "And why would that be?"

I swallowed thickly. "Because you're smarter than that," I blurted out. "I don't know you very well, but it's obvious that you wouldn't risk your future by doing something stupid like that."

Derek said nothing for a minute as I saw that the anger in his eyes was starting to ebb. Finally he said, "You didn't really answer my question; why are you following me if you don't think I'm up to something shady?"

Embarrassment flooded my cheeks with heat as I tried to figure out a non-creepy way to confess what I was doing. "You're up at the crack of dawn everyday, wouldn't that raise some questions?" I asked in return.

As he opened his mouth to speak, probably retorting with something amongst the lines of "it's none of your business" or "don't answer my question with a question", I quickly hurried on, "So, I wanted to see what was so important that you have to do this ritual everyday at such a hellish hour."

I expected him to be insulted but instead was surprised when he rolled his eyes. "That's what Simon said," he muttered. "But training when no one else is around is better than training with everyone staring at you."

"Training?"

Derek gaze met mine. "For someone your size, you're awfully nosy," he commented as my cheeks filled with heat once more. "Contrary to what everyone thinks, I have a legitimate reason for being up early; I'm on the basketball team, so I have to train or else they're liable to throw me out, which is what they want."

I blinked. That was he reason why he gets up early everyday? It was almost hard to believe. But then again, it was obvious that Derek knew what everyone was saying about him. And so, to avoid their curious gossips, he gets up earlier than anyone else to train. Yet I had followed him out here and barged in when he wanted to get away from everyone's prying eyes. The heavy weight of guilt settled painfully in my stomach.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quietly as his brows furrowed in confusion. "For intruding, when you wanted to be alone."

Derek rubbed his neck with his hand as he avoided my eyes, looking uncomfortable in the turn of events. "As much as I don't like being stalked-" my cheeks flushed red with humiliation. "-I guess curiosity isn't a capital crime. If scientists weren't curious, they would have never made it this far."

I stared at him as his words sunk in. Was that a roundabout way to say that he forgave me? The corners of my mouth twitched in a smile as I realized that Derek's inner Science Guy had revealed himself just now. Derek seemed to realize that too. "Never mind, forget what I said," he muttered quickly, his voice dropping an octave.

I hid a smile as I figured that Derek would probably have thought that I was making fun of him. "I should probably go, let you get back to practice. Er, get started, I mean. Though I probably won't be able to sleep now that I'm up," I murmured.

Derek shrugged as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Again, he looked rather uncomfortable. "If that's what you want, sure. But if you don't have anything else better to do, I don't particularly care if you stick around."

I looked at him in surprise as he caught my gaze and quickly turned, so that his back was now facing me. Although his earlier animosity towards me was scary as hell, he didn't seem like such a bad person. Sure, he is rude, introverted and intimidating, but Derek's not as horrible as everyone made him out to be. That was probably what Simon meant when he said that I needed to be patient with his brother.

I followed after his retreating figure, surprisingly satisfied with the chance that I would be able to get a glimpse of Derek that hardly anyone else had witnessed. We made our way in comfortable silence down to the track and I sat down at the bottom of the steps as Derek dumped his bag on the grass and stepped onto the track. "So, Simon doesn't join you?" I asked curiously as Derek warmed up.

He gave a dismissive snort. "As if he can wake up at such a 'hellish hour' as you said. He's too busy snoring away to bother with practicing in the morning."

I grinned. "I guess that makes him the normal one then."

"Guess so."

Once he finished warming up, Derek stretched. You'd think that it'd be boring sitting here in the dead of the morning watching my roommate workout, but oddly enough, I found it quite interesting that Derek took a lot of care in being careful not to injure himself. He stretched his long limbs carefully, never rushing through his stretching exercises. Once he was satisfied that he was ready, he took off on the track, taking long, powerful strides. He was extremely fit and rather than going for speed, like most people, Derek ran the endurance lap. I watched him as he dropped his guarded features and relaxed as he continued his run. Normally in our room, Derek looked rather restless and stressed, as though he hated being caged inside, but now, that was all gone. Going for a run must help.

Finally as he completed his last lap, he slowed to a walk and sat down, a few feet away from me. Breathing hard, he took off his baggy sweatshirt. I stared. When I first met him nearly a week ago, I would have guessed that Derek was chubby, boarding on being overweight, but seeing him run the laps today definitely wiped that thought out of my mind. He was very muscular for a 17 year old guy. With extremely well-defined biceps and back muscle that would make any quarterback envious and girls swoon. Until they glanced up and saw his face that is. But it's not Derek's fault that he wasn't cover-model gorgeous.

At school, he never seemed to care about what others thought of him. At a point in life, maybe the words did sting, but I guess after a long time, Derek built a subconscious shield around all of that. And because of that, people tended to avoid him, but he preferred being on his own. I cleared my throat. "So, how long have you been doing this everyday?" I asked as he drank out of his water bottle.

"Since last year. When Simon and I enrolled here."

"And have you missed a day?"

"Nope."

"Seriously? Not even once? Damn, that's insane."

"You mean 'serious dedication'."

I rolled my eyes. "If that makes you feel better, sure, call it what you want."

A low rumble that sounded like a strangled cough answered me. It took me a moment to realize that Derek was laughing softly at my reply. It was the first time I ever heard him laugh, and oddly enough, a small nameless something went through me. It was a strange feeling, though it wasn't unpleasant.

Derek took out a basketball from his gym bag and started dribbling. Then without any another word, he raced down the track, dribbling as he went. Derek had really good control over the ball as he jogged around the track, switching from hand to hand. Never once did the ball bounce away from him. Once he felt that he was ready, he jogged over to the basketball court, which was a few paces from the track. I watched as Derek went through a series of layups, 3-pointers and everything else I couldn't name. There were a few times that he missed the net, but got it in for the most part. His muscles rippled with every movement, pushing his body to his limits. I watched, fascinated as time seemed to slow when Derek went up for a layup. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and neck as the rising sun shone on his features, lighting a side of his face as he pushed the ball into the net with a hand.

The ball went through the net in a swishing motion as Derek landed back down on his feet, looking victorious and more alive than I had ever seen him. Breathing heavily, he practiced some more, going for shots at different angles and dribbling furiously, swerving imaginary opponents as he finally took his last 3-pointer. He leaped high into the air as his hands shot the ball in the direction of the net. The ball spun quickly before sinking into the net, leaving it untouched.

The ball bounced off the ground and slowed to a stop as Derek went over to retrieve it. Finally, he came over to where I sat and kneeled down, careful to sit a few feet away, where I wouldn't get a whiff of his BO. "Good workout?" I asked conversationally.

"Yeah." Derek took a sip from his water bottle before getting a towel to wipe the sweat off of his face.

"You're really good."

A dismissive grunt. "I mean it," I told him. "You know what you're doing."

Derek hung the towel around his neck as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "And you have a lot of experience with basketball," he said in a disbelieving tone.

"Well... no. But anyone who's not blind can tell that you're really passionate about the sport."

Derek said nothing as he sat there, his breathing slowing to normal. We sat there in silence as the sweat dried from his skin. Finally, he rose to his feet and dropped everything back into his bag. I stood up as I checked my watch. It had been a few hours since I had followed Derek out here. "I think the cafeteria's open," I said. "Do you want to get breakfast?"

Derek hesitated for a slight moment before shaking his head. "Nah. Need to shower first."

"Oh. Right. Um... I'll see you later then."

Another grunt, which I interpreted as an agreement. We went off in our separate ways but after a few paces, I turned around to look at Derek's hunched retreating figure, with his gym bag hanging off of one shoulder. He's really dedicated to everything he's passionate about. So why can't people see his true self?

A/N: Voilà! Hope you guys like it! I'm sorry that it's so short and I seriously wanted to put more, but here, it seemed like a good place to end. I'm so worried that Derek here is out of character, so please, let me know what you think! Anyway, please look forward to my next chapter!