Title: Casey's Code of Chivalry
Rated T
Summary: After Sally breaks up with Derek Casey offers to help him win her back. The catch? If Casey can turn Derek into Sally's knight in shining armor he has to wait on her hand and foot until she tells him otherwise. Will chaos ensue? Probably. .:Dasey:.
Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek
A/N: Is it sad that I don't have my own summary for this story memorized yet? When that happens, you know you're horrible at updating. Lol. I'm sorry guys! Life has been chaotic with a mixture of college, choir, boy troubles and the search for employment. Stupid economy. I need a new job. But you don't want my excuses. You came here for an update. Before I get to it I just really want to thank you guys all so much for the reviews/favorites/alerts and any support that you're giving me. The feedback means a lot and I always feel so bad if I can't reply to each and every one of your reviews. I certainly try to, but if I miss yours please don't take it personally. I'm naturally scatterbrained and I'm still trying to balance out my fan fiction and original fiction I'm working on (currently, I have 6 books in the works that I hope to publish.) Now you're probably thinking: "Enough of this long and sappy AN! I want my update!"
Okay, okay, here you go! I hope everyone enjoys!
Chapter dedication: For Emily aka kthxilyxxx on youtube! Thanks so much for making me that awesome trailer! You rock!
VI. Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack
Aka
In which Casey and Derek begin the greatest McDonald-Venturi Civil war known to all.
P.O.A.
Casey McDonald was a planner.
As a planner, she prided herself on being organized. Systems were friends to her, her close allies. A well-planed system of organization always went a long way.
Plan of Action.
Casey McDonald was never one for violence. Peaceful protests were her ideal way of solving situations. Gently laying down the facts in an organized manner was how to get the job done. Never did she find herself having to resort to crude, tactless violence, just to get her way.
Only, this was no ordinary battle.
This was personal.
Where a large collection of books used to be stacked, Casey's bookshelf was empty.
It pained her to come into her room, unable to settle in bed to reread a classic, or a new fantasy. Hell, she'd read science fiction if that were the only type of book available.
The only reading materials present in her room were text books on Pre-Cal, Trig, and physics. Though the idea of school pleased her, there was a particular book that she had been in the middle of. A romance, with a main character like Ivanhoe. It was set in modern times, and she enjoyed how the author was able to incorporate chivalry into a world where chivalry was way past dead. It was very much like what she was trying to accomplish with Derek now. Or she had been trying to accomplish anyway.
The thought of Derek infuriated her. He knew her biggest pet peeve was when she was unable to finish the ending of a book. This was all his fault. Everything was always his fault.
She wasn't able to finish the ending to her book. She wasn't able to know if the girl this "modern" Prince Charming was trying to woo would fall in love with him. Casey only had a few more chapters to go. They wouldn't even take her more than an hour to read.
Now, she had to wait two…whole…months.
Plan of Action?
"What do you mean you can't think of one?" Lizzie asked, incredulously, as her older sister paced back and forth. "You love planning!"
"And that's the problem!" Casey declared, giving up on pacing and settling for collapsing upon Lizzie's bed in irritation. Liz scooted over a bit to give her sister some "moping space".
"I'm not following," She admitted. "I thought you'd have a foolproof plan to get back at Derek by now."
"Whenever Derek wins a battle, he usually wins because his ideas are spontaneous." Casey sighed. "I keep thinking planning isn't the way to go with this war."
"You know, war affects people surrounded by it too." Lizzie stated. "And, I thought you were against violence."
"I am against violence," Casey protested, sitting up. "But I'm not against revenge."
"Whatever, just as long as you don't make me do something I don't want to do," Lizzie said.
"But Liz, you're my younger sister!" Casey whined. "You're my blood! You have to help me!"
"But I don't have a problem with Derek and I don't really feel like being apart of your revenge scheme." Lizzie retorted.
"I helped you with your relationship problems the other night." Casey frowned. "I figured you'd feel obligated to help me with this."
There it was. The guilt trip. Lizzie hated it whenever Casey laid a big one on her. As expected, Casey's expression turned soft and pleading…her famous pout. It was hard to not feel guilty after she pulled off her famous pout.
"Fine, I'll help. I'll help."
"Thanks Liz!" Casey squealed, reaching over to give her sister a hug. "Now, I need you to meet with Edwin to figure out what Derek is planning. Knowing him, he's probably already come up with a plan to protect himself from my plan of attack and if I can find out what that is I'll crush him for sure!"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you take things too seriously?" Lizzie muttered, sighing as she got up from the bed to perform her task.
"Marti's not going to play a part in this?" Edwin inquired as Lizzie shut the games closet door behind her. She stood officially, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know about you Edwin, but I'm sick of these stupid wars between Derek and Casey."
"Speak for yourself, I find them entertaining."
You would, Lizzie thought. Instead, she gave her "partner in crime" a pointed look.
"You know, we don't have to be the messengers for their stupid quarrel. We can stand up and let them battle it out until they realize that Casey's the one at fault here for taking it so personal and starting this war in the first place. I'm sure Derek could care less about the whole scenario even if he is grounded."
At this, Edwin frowned slightly. "Actually, Derek's pretty irritated but I think he deserved it. Do you see the way he pushes me around? Like I'm his slave or something?"
"Oh please," Lizzie smirked. "The whole family knows you're his 'slave'. That's nothing new."
"Well, it's nice to know what you think about me Liz."
"Drop the sarcasm, Edwin," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "You can get mad at me later if you want but right now we have to stand together against Casey and Derek and show Casey that war isn't necessary…"
"I don't blame her actually," Edwin muttered. "I think this war is a good idea."
"War in general is a bad idea," Lizzie disagreed coldly.
"Well this 'war' isn't," He protested. "I mean, think about it Liz. If Casey won with our help Derek might actually agree to her terms. He's already got his chivalry lessons on the line. We could probably get Derek to stop messing with us for good!"
Lizzie thought for a moment. The idea seemed nice and she knew her step brother had a point but still. She couldn't help but think that if she became apart of this 'war' Casey would continue to think it was okay to order her around. If she stood up against her Casey would get that Lizzie wasn't that easy. Sure, she'd help her older sister with things that were important. They were, after all, family. Casey though didn't seem to get that she was so used to taking advantage of her that she didn't even recognize the crime anymore.
An idea came to mind and she grinned so brightly that it seemed to light up the dim closet.
"I may be willing to overlook my distaste of war," Lizzie said finally. "Casey did call it revenge, now that I think about it."
"What are you getting at?" Edwin pondered.
"You think Derek deserved the punishment?" Edwin nodded as Lizzie continued. "Well, of course I do too but I still think Casey needs to quit feeding the troll. I'll play her little game…but from the opposite side."
"So, you team with Derek and I team with Casey?" Edwin blinked. "Wow…that's different."
"Exactly." Lizzie smirked, holding out her hand for Edwin to shake.
The second eldest Venturi cautiously made his way to Casey's room to make his proposal. He found her at her desk, tapping a pencil irritably although no paper was laid out before her.
"Edwin, I don't have time games. I'm waiting for Lizzie. Get out and leave me alone," Casey demanded, harshly. Edwin didn't wince for the demand didn't even phase him.
"Liz isn't coming, guess you're stuck with me."
At his words, Casey turned her attention towards the door of her room, confusion present within her features.
"What do you mean Lizzie's not coming?" She asked, slowly but with an edge to her voice. "I sent her over to try to get you to sing about Derek's plans!"
Edwin shrugged casually as he perched himself on a nearby chair. "Just that. She says she's tired doing all the grunge work. Liz is siding with Derek this time."
"Nice try, Edwin," Casey retorted. "But I know my sister. She wouldn't…" Her voice trailed off as Casey caught the knowing look in Edwin's eye. Mild shock made its' way into her features before she was able to finally speak.
"You're kidding me!?" Casey cried. "I never thought my sister would be such a…a…blood traitor."
At this Edwin laughed. "Been reading Harry Potter again?"
Casey glared at him. "Of course not." She said, indicating her empty bookshelf. Afterwards she averted her glare. "Marti was watching the movie yesterday, that's all."
"Uh huh," Edwin scoffed, non-convinced. "So, are you going to let me become apart of Team McDonald? I want to see Derek get a taste of his own medicine as much as you do."
"Depends on how valuable your information is," Casey declared, crossing her arms.
He knew this was going to be required of him. Lizzie had warned him, so he came prepared.
"All I know is that Lizzie and Derek could strike us…I mean you," Edwin corrected once Casey glared at him again. "At anytime. Lizzie's pretty mischievous and with Derek's skills, they have a strong team. We need to match their strength with our own. You have killer planning skills and I well…I'm a snoop."
Casey raised an eyebrow. "I really doubt matching strength with strength would be the right way to go," She began, ignoring Edwin's smirk for he knew that was her discreet way of asking him to help her. " All I keep thinking is that we need to go for Derek's weakness. Which is really only one thing…" Casey broke off, smiling.
Edwin recognized the smile almost instantly. "You have a plan, don't you?"
Casey grinned as she pictured the latest Chivalry lesson from her list.
"Let's just call it an idea for now," She told him, shrugging off his perplexed appearance.
Derek Venturi had no intentions of 'attacking Casey' as Lizzie had put it earlier. She had tried to sell him with some 'You know you want to get even.' crap and he wasn't buying it. For all he knew, Liz could be some type of double agent for her older sister. Not that it mattered, of course, because he didn't intend to strike Casey with some revenge-filled scheme. Revenge was actually the last thing on his mind. Instead, the oldest Venturi teen was currently focusing on Sally once again. It was still a mystery as to why he didn't just leave the soda and Casey in the kitchen. Not that he was feeling guilty or anything, but Derek kept thinking about Casey's threat. No more chivalry lessons. Sally kept ignoring him at work as usual, but after finally getting her to say one word at least, he found out that she still kept to her word. She'd wait for him until these chivalry lessons were done with.
Only, he couldn't help but mess with Casey even for a little bit. He was tired of putting up the act that he was getting all these chivalry lessons. Most of them could just be based on luck. Inside, he really felt he hadn't changed much as a person at all.
It felt like déjà vu when Casey McDonald barged into his room again, holding some paper firmly in her hands.
"I'm not interested in your stupid, revenge game." Derek told her before she could even open her mouth to speak. "So, you and Lizzie can just go off about your own business. I'm sure you can find something to do since you're grounded from reading." Derek's wide grin taunted Casey, impulse urging her to attack and strike him in some non-violent manner.
She composed herself after a moment, ignoring impulse, and kept a fake, sweet smile on her face.
"So I assume you still think I'm going to give you chivalry lessons?" She asked in a casual tone.
Derek rolled his eyes. "I don't assume anything."
"Derek, I love reading as much as you love hockey," Casey protested, gaining a bit of edge to her voice. "If you think I'm going to sit around for two months while Mom and George hold my books captive because of something you started, something that was your fault…"
"It hasn't even been a day and you're already going insane?" Derek asked, amused. Wow, that was quick.
"I'm making a deal. If you tell Mom that the whole argument last night was your fault and that you'll do anything to get me my books back, I'll continue teaching you chivalry lessons." Casey said, firmly.
"And if I don't tell Nora?"
"You're on your own with Sally," Casey's eyes twinkled as she foreshadowed failure if Derek tried to win Sally back on his own. "Good luck."
Stop being rebellious, an inner voice commanded. You know you need Casey's help to win Sally back…
"So, do we have a deal?"
And he was about to say yes. He was about to agree with her conditions in a heart beat. He was about to actually listen to that inner voice, something he trained himself not to do through the years. Derek rose from his spot on the bed and looked Casey in the eye. She had a poker face on, her expression was stiff. She wasn't going to take this whole grounding thing lightly.
Then, Derek noticed something. Casey was dangling these Chivalry lessons over his head as if they were a cat toy and he was the cat. She wanted him to cave, she wanted him to beg. Derek Venturi never begged and he wasn't about to start now.
"I'll accept the lessons, Case," He began with a smirk as he watched Casey's features turn into confusion. "But if you think I'm going to bail you out of the mess you're in, you're wrong. If you want war so bad, I'll give it to you."
Casey remained speechless for a moment, before finding her voice. She thought she had him. She knew Sally was his weakness. What game was her step brother trying to play!?
"You don't get it, do you?" She retorted. "I'm not just giving you the lessons."
"Then may the best team win," Derek replied, simply.
The challenge. Casey narrowed her eyes and hmphed. Before turning on her heal, he wasn't breaking her pride, she replied in a non-Casey like voice. "Oh Edwin and I plan too." She scoffed, stalking out of the room. Derek watched her with a smug expression. He'd have to make sure that Lizzie was still on his team after all this of course. Knowing that the knew change of partners already had Casey riled up and pissy because things weren't going her way, he had the strong advantage. With Lizzie's McDonald smarts he was going to get back to his Chivalry lessons in no time.
-Fin-
A/N: Please don't kill me! This update probably sucked, I know. I have you readers waiting for over two months for an update and I failed at giving you the epic one I wanted to give you. The fight/war will be continued in the next update. That next update will indeed come out quicker than this one. I'm so sorry guys, I hope you all enjoyed the update and aren't too mad at me. Thanks for reading everyone, until next time!
"Never let go of the one you truly love."
-December'sRose
