Chapter Ten
Confusion clouded his features. "Late? What do you-?"
"My period, Derek! My period is late." She blurted out. It finally clicked in his mind what it meant. There was a short silence as he digested this thought. Millions of images were swirling around in his mind, of babies and bottles, a mortified Casey as she walked through the school halls, her stomach swollen, of their distressed parents, of fighting and yelling coming from their house. Derek could hardly breathe.
"You- you mean you think you-" Derek gulped, his heart racing. "You think you might be pregnant?" The way he said it sounded as if he were a judge sentencing an innocent man to death. Casey's eyes began to tear up, the emotion of the situation shaking her to the bone.
"Of course I'm not sure, but Derek…" she gazed through him, forcing herself to get the words out. "I haven't ever been late. Ever! Not even when I first started my period. I just forgot about it because I've been all caught up in…us." She buried her face in his shoulder, grabbing and holding onto him for dear life. They weren't ready to take responsibility for another person, no way.
Derek froze up, wanting to comfort her but unable to move his arms. His whole body went rigid, but Casey didn't notice. "We haven't even had time for that!" she cried out hysterically. "We only did it that one time at the party, and we don't even remember it! But I know we used protection, we must've."
Derek stared at her, then closed his eyes, practically mute. "Look Case, I didn't want to have to tell you this…" Casey paused and took a step back from him, horrorstruck. "I didn't want to scare you, because I could be wrong…"
"No, no, no. Don't you dare tell me we didn't- didn't use it." Her eyes were wide with fright and understanding.
"I had three condoms stashed in my room," he continued, despite her warnings. She needed to know. "The next morning, I was a little worried. So I checked," He breathed deeply, "And there was still three there. And there was no wrapper in the garbage, either."
Casey finally broke down, tears streaming down her cheeks. "How could we be so stupid?" she choked out in disbelief. Derek reached out to her, but she shrugged him off of her.
"Are you sure you weren't on birth control or something? For, you know, like, girl reasons?" he asked helplessly.
"No, why would I be?" she snapped, wiping at her eyes. "Did you expect me to take care of it? Did you think that I, the virgin, would have the condoms, Derek?! You're the man, it's your responsibility!"
"Woah, wait a minute, Casey!" Derek shot back defensively. "It takes two to tango, okay honey?"
Casey rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Well obviously! I didn't just wake up one day and decide to have sex with myself."
"Well it wouldn't matter if you did," he growled, "because either way, the baby won't have a father. I give up, Casey. We both know you're a better parent than I am. I would just screw things up more than I already have."
Both Derek and Casey were shocked at this statement. He could barely believe he just said what he did; that he was leaving Casey to deal with it on her own. For now, anyway. He couldn't deal with it all. Casey felt as if she had been slapped.
"You're…you're just going to leave me?" she whispered, hands over her stomach.
The guilt was already eating away at him. He pushed past her and headed toward the door. "See you at home." He loved Casey, he really did, but right now, it was all too much. So he was resorting to what he was best at: walking away.
--
"Casey Mcdonald, where have you been?"
Casey barely acknowledged the stern voice of her mother that greeted her as she wearily walked into the house. Derek's stinging comment was still whirring around in her mind, taking up every inch of her thoughts: "Because either way, the baby won't have a father. I give up, Casey." Her frown deepened as she kept from crying again. She couldn't believe he could drop it so easily, so without remorse. Casey had the urge to throw up.
"Your mother asked you a question, young lady," George jumped in, both of them sitting on the couch, waiting for her. Her anger flared up.
"This has nothing to do with you, George. You're not my dad-" she lashed out, causing Nora to gasp at Casey's outright remark. "-and thank god for that because if you were, I'd probably have turned out like your other good-for-nothing children. I may be living under your roof, but there's no way in hell that I'm living under your rule."
George gaped at her; they sudden disrespect was overwhelming. He stood up angrily. "Nora, you better tell your daughter she's completely out of line," he demanded before storming out of the room, all the while mumbling something about "fucking PMS". Casey almost laughed at how opposite the statement was to the actual circumstance.
"I cannot believe you just said that!" Nora finally exploded, her face red. "George has done nothing to deserve that. You need an attitude adjustment, and if it doesn't happen within the next five seconds, you're grounded." Casey rolled her eyes. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. With all this racket, Derek was sure to hear and come down, and he was the last person she wanted to see. "I never thought I'd have to say those words... Are you even listening? "
"Jesus Christ mom, get off my back already!" Casey began walking up the stairway, but Nora got up and blocked it.
"Don't ever speak that way to me again," she warned, face to face now. "The school called me today and told me you got out of class because you were sick, but never went to the nurse. No one knew what happened to you! I was worried!"
"Since when? I've taken care of myself and Lizzie ever since you married into this psychotic family." Casey blew up, and she was surprised the neighbors couldn't hear her. "I'm a better mother than you ever were!" So what was she worrying about? The thought flew in and out before she could really catch it.
Nora took a step back, taken off guard. "C-casey, I don't know why you're acting this way. If it has anything to do with your new 'alliance' with Derek-"
"Derek? Shit, he's the whole damn cause of the problem, Nora. As for the 'alliance' thing you're talking about, well let me tell you, you have no idea, okay? No idea!" Casey barged past her up the stairs.
"Grounded! You're grounded Casey, ground-" SLAM! The force of Casey's bedroom door being shut shook the house, blocking out the voice of everyone. Fine. They could ground her. They could suspend her allowance. They could take away her phone. They could take away her freetime. But they could never take away the pain.
Author's Note:Icky. What a sad, terrible ending to this chapter. Poor Casey, huh? I actually don't like leaving it at this, but now that I wrote it, it seems there's no other way. Let's hope next time, it's a little bit more upbeat. What do you think will happen in the next chapter?
a) Derek won't take back what he said about not being a father
b) Derek will take back what he said but Casey won't forgive him
c) Dasey will be completely resolved
d) Dasey will be completely destroyed
e) None of the above/ I have no idea/Other
R&R R&R R&R R&R! Oh yeah, and R&R! Questions, comments, concerns or suggestions? Message me! Or email me at: catfanmeg123 h o t ma i l . c o m
Preferrably email I will be happy to discuss anything with you, from a questions about myself or the story, or even the psychological choices of the characters that make them do what they do. Eventually, I'll even post the really good questions and answers on it's own chapter for everyone to read! So ask away 3