Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Ok, so this one isn't very long, but I like the cliff hanger at the end, something you're going to have to read through a few chapters for. Mwahaha lol.

Chapter 8:

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Bradin walked in the house with Derrick, whom he'd been acting as a personal taxi to for the day. Bradin didn't mind, though, he was just happy to be back in Derrick's good books after the surfer sponsorship incident. His latest job as a chauffer to Derrick was to pick up Martha and bring them both back to the house.

Bradin walked into the back garden and sat down at the table for a rest, leaving Derrick and Martha in the house. He looked around the garden blankly, before realising something wasn't right. He thought about it for a minute or so before going into the house and asking Derrick.

"Derrick, have you seen my surfboard?" He asked quickly.

"Is it in the garden?" Derrick replied simply.

"If only I thought of that." Bradin said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Derrick. Moments later Bradin heard two voices coming closer from the back door, both of them laughing. He looked out the back door to see Demi and Adam walking up the stairs into the garden, Demi donning a new wetsuit and Bradin's board. "Oh, you had it." Bradin said.

"What do you mean?" Demi asked, turning on the outside shower.

"I thought someone had took my board."

"Oh yeah, sorry, I didn't think you'd mind."

"It's ok. When did you get the wetsuit?" Bradin asked over the rushing of the shower.

"Today, so I wanted to test it out. Sorry about making you worry. But I'm getting a lot better." She said with a laugh and a smile.

"Where've you been all day?" Adam asked, as Demi moved out of the shower and let him in.

"Driving Derrick everywhere." Bradin said with a little moan. "He's inside with Martha now." Both Bradin and Demi poked their heads round the patio doors quietly to check on them, and saw something they definitely weren't expecting to see. Derrick and Martha were stood about a foot away from each other, their faces coming gradually closer to one another's, their lips puckered and they kissed for about three seconds. Demi and Bradin looked away before Derrick or Martha could realise they'd witnessed the whole thing.

"Aw." Demi said under her breath. Bradin had a large grin on his face, evidently stifling a laugh. "Don't laugh, your little brother just had his first kiss." Demi told him, although a grin was growing on her face, too. Once Adam was finished in the shower, they all made their way into the kitchen. Once Derrick and Martha saw them come in, they quickly scooted a little further away from each other on the sofa and unlinked their hands. The grins Bradin and Demi had just gotten rid of were quickly starting to appear again. Demi tried to hide this by quickly reaching into the refrigerator and getting a bottle of water, pressing it to her lips.

"So, what've you two been up to?" Bradin asked, causing Demi to choke a little on her water before elbowing him in the side as subtly as she could.

"Nothing." Martha said with a nervous giggle.

"We're gunna go play upstairs." Derrick told them, and they quickly left the room.

"Wait until I tell everyone." Bradin said after he'd controlled his laughter.

"Oh, don't, that's horrible." Demi told him.

"Well, I don't get to have any secrets in this house." Bradin said, leaning up against the counter and giving Adam a can of coke and opening one himself.

"Oh, I'm sure there's PLENTY your family don't know."

"Yeah, but they always find out the biggest stuff."

"You've just got Derrick to like you again, remember." Bradin considered this in his head for a moment before answering.

"Fine, I won't tell anyone."

"Won't tell anyone what?" It was Ava, she and Johnny had just gotten home from grocery shopping. Bradin and Demi looked at each other quickly.

"Nothing." They chorused. Johnny raised an eyebrow at both of them but neither of them said anything. Neither Johnny or Ava believed them but decided to drop it for now.

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Adam?" Ava asked him politely.

"Thanks, Miss Gregory, but I'd better be going home now anyway. See you guys later." Adam said as he headed for the door.

"Bye." Bradin and Demi chorused again.

--Later that night--

Ava, Johnny, Bradin, Demi, Nikki, Derrick, Susannah and Jay all sat around the outside dinner table that night. They held hands and said grace before tucking into tonight's dinner, chips and pizza. Everyone was talking their usual dinner time conversation, until Ava directed a question at Bradin and Demi.

"Oh, you two, what was it that you were talking about earlier when Johnny and I walked in?" she asked as casually as she could, eating a chip.

"We already told you, it was nothing." Bradin said. Everyone scoffed at this and asked for the truth. Demi could see a smile playing on Bradin's lips, she could tell he desperately wanted to tell them. She gave him a quick kick under the table as she dug into her pizza. "It was nothing, honest." He told them, although his smirk was quickly growing. Every time he thought about watching them kiss he wanted to burst out laughing.

"Was it about someone in this family?" Ava asked. Everyone looked at Bradin and Demi.

"Yeah." Bradin said, obviously seeing no harm in telling them a little bit about it.

"Shut up, Bradin." Demi said warningly, although a smile was growing on her face as she thought back to the kiss.

"Well, whatever it was, it must've been funny since you both can't stop smiling." Johnny said. Bradin and Demi looked up at each other and both started laughing, neither one of them could help it.

"Really, it's nothing." Demi said once she'd stopped laughing, but continued to smile. Everyone persisted asking, even Derrick who was oblivious to the fact the secret was about him.

"I'm just going to put my plate away." Nikki told everyone with a mischievous smile on her face, exchanging a glance with her aunt. She took her plate out and made her way back to the table, where everyone continued to ask. Just as Bradin was about to say 'I'm not telling you!', Nikki came up behind him, using his biggest weakness to try and get the secret out of him. She tickled him, and soon Jay and Derrick had joined in.

"No… please… stop." Bradin said through laughs, but of course they persisted. "Alright! I'll… tell you!" The tickling ceased, though they stayed in position, ready to tickle him again if they didn't get the truth. "Sorry Derrick." Bradin said quickly, causing him to look confused. "Me and Demi… well, we saw… we saw Derrick and Martha kiss earlier." Bradin blurted out. Derrick's face went red as a tomato within seconds. Nobody spoke at first, but silently grinned to themselves, all except for Derrick, who picked up his empty plate and took it to the kitchen sink and started scrubbing it clean, happy to be away from the table.

"Well this is awkward." Demi said quietly, causing everyone at the table to start sniggering. They heard a Derrick's door slam in the distance and all let out a quiet laugh. No one spoke about it afterwards and eventually everyone had left the table to go off and do their own thing.

--Later that night--

Demi lay awake in her bed. She looked at the alarm clock. 11:58. She was exhausted, but could get to sleep. She felt so guilty about everyone finding out about Derrick's secret earlier, but something else was playing on her mind, something she'd forgotten about recently, something she hadn't even thought about since before her mother had beat her. She tossed and turned in her bed, fed up, trying to forget about her own secret.