Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I apologize for the lack of keeping up on this story! We've got some Derek perspective in this one, which I'm hoping you'll like. Thank you for your reviews, and I apologize for not responding to your reviews. Please review this one if you can!
*On another note, if you are a fan of both Criminal Minds and Avengers (like myself :) ) I have a brand new crossover called "Profilers of S.H.I.E.L.D." which is a mixture of both. I would be honored if you checked it out.
Sunday morning after the dance, Derek woke up feeling slightly hungover. After getting home from dropping Penelope off, he proceeded to dig into his private stash of liquor he had in his room. He was so mad at Penelope he could scream. But though he was furious, he had realized that she had been right. Jordan was a bitch, and he had more potential. But he didn't want anyone knowing about Buford. And going on the way he was was the only way to keep his feelings and pain at bay.
He sat up in his bed and glared out the window. It was sunny out, not a cloud in the sky. It didn't fit his mood one bit. Sliding out from underneath his comforter, he stumbled towards the door and opened it to start for the bathroom. Along the way, he ran into Sarah.
She smirked at him. "So what made you come home early and drown in booze last night?" she asked, leaning against the wall to block his way.
"Ugh, Sarah," he grumbled. "Not now, please!"
"Only if you promise to spill the beans on what happened last night," she prodded.
Rolling his eyes and knowing there was no other option that would make her leave him alone, he nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, fine," he muttered. "Let me brush my teeth, and I'll head back to my room where you can bug the hell out of me."
She grinned brilliantly. "Fair enough," she said, bounding off towards the stair. "I'll bring you a muffin. Mom made some."
He perked up at the mention of muffins. "Ooh, bring me a cinnamon chip one," he said.
Once his teeth were brushed, he headed back to his room where he found his sister with a plate of muffins and two glasses of orange juice. She was perched on his desk chair, waiting expectantly for him to start speaking and telling her what the big deal about last night was. He plopped down on his bed and nodded for her to toss him his muffin. Catching it easily, he rolled his eyes and began telling her what everything was about.
"Okay, so last night I left early from the dance because…" His voice trailed off. "Okay, maybe I should start at the beginning.
His sister snorted. "Well, the beginning is usually where most stories start," she snickered.
Scowling at her, he went on. "The night started off at dinner, and Jordan was being a complete bitch, like usual. So I just started talking with JJ. Apparently she thinks I like Penelope, too."
Sarah perked up at the mention of JJ. "Oh, did JJ win Homecoming Queen?"
"I don't actually know," he mumbled, taking a chomp out of his muffin. "See, I ended up leaving earlier than the winners were even announced. Back to what happened, though. So I was dancing with Jordan to a shit ton of crazy music, but then the slow dance came on and —"
"And the thought of dancing with her made you wretch?" she suggested brightly.
He nodded. "Well, sort of. Anyway, I made Cruz dance with her and then took off. So, I'm making my way out of the dance hall and across the room I see Penelope…and she was dancing with this guy named Sam." All at once, the jealousy came rushing back, and he felt the strong desire to punch the other boy again.
"Aw," Sarah said sympathetically. "I'm sorry, bro."
With a small smile, he shook his head. "You would think that, but she ended up stopping the dance with him and came over to me. So we went out into the hallway and started…just…talking." Unconsciously, a large grin spread over his face. He didn't even realize it had; he was to enthralled in telling his sister all about his evening with Penelope. The tone would likely change when he got towards the end, but for now he was just happy to be thinking happy thoughts about Penelope. "I told her she looked really beautiful, and she told me I looked dashing. Yeah, that was the word. We went outside and, you know, talked some more about…well, random stuff. So across the veranda, there's this fountain. And Penelope decides to take off her shoes and pull up her skirt to dip her feet into the water."
"She seems like an awesome girl," Sarah said with a smile.
He nodded. "Yeah…she is," he murmured, his mind shooting to the honey colored girl he couldn't get his mind off of. "So we sat by the fountain, the two of us with our feet in the water. She started getting on my case about my English grade because…well, I was failing on purpose."
Sarah cocked a brow and took a bite of her own muffin, washing it down with her orange juice. "Ugh, explain for me," she said. "What did she have to get on your back about? I thought you were getting the work better with her help."
He shook his head sheepishly. "Er, well…I might be failing the work on purpose so that I can spend more time with her." His voice trailed off, and he kept his eyes trained on the ground so as to avoid the look of anger on his sister's face.
Her voice ended up telling him just how angry she was. "You're risking your football scholarship to hang out with a girl?" she demanded. "A girl who you could easily spend your free time with?" She sighed in exasperation. "Derek, please God tell me you didn't tell her that the only way you could spend time with her was if you failed your English class so she would have to tutor you!"
"Er, yeah," he said. "I did. Why is that a problem?"
"See, this is the problem with you dating those…those bimbos!" she cried. "You don't realize the proper way to treat women. Telling her that the only way you can hang out with her is by purposely failing a class is a huge insult to her. She doesn't want to hear that you only have time for her under a required tutoring session. She wants to hear that you want to hang out with her. Show her that you care about her!" She huffed as he just stared at her quietly. "Now, please continue. Obviously there's more to this story."
Glaring at her, he reluctantly went on. "Okay, so after she got mad at me, she got up real abruptly and…and, well…she fell into the fountain."
Now Sarah's eyes went wide. "She…fell into the fountain?" she said slowly, as if trying to digest the words coming out of her mouth. After a moment of silence, she started sputtering laughter, so much so that crumbs started falling from her muffin as she shook from the body shakes the giggles were causing her.
"I don't get what's so funny about that," he said in annoyance. "Why the hell are you laughing so much?"
She shook her head. "Okay, bro," she said, her laughter slowing somewhat. "My assumption is you got just as soaked as her because you tried helping like a gallant gentleman you are when you're around her. Am I right?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're right," he muttered. "So we got kicked out of the dance by one of the chaperones, and I took her home. But along the way, we got into this huge fight. She kept telling me everything you always tell me about how I'm not —"
"So she was looking out for your best interests, and like a dick you shut her down the way you do everyone?" Sarah said with faux innocence. She blinked a few times and waited for his scowl. When it finally did come, she snickered. But her face became serious again. "Derek, you need to stop hiding behind whatever it is you're hiding from and listen to her. You care about this girl a lot, it's blatantly obvious she cares about you. Clearly more than that bitch you're dating." She was about to continue, but then she looked at her watch and shook her head. "Okay, I need to get going. I'm meeting some friends at the mall to buy an outfit for a job interview. Seriously though…call Penelope and apologize. And while you're at it, break up with Jordan. I'm so sick of her."
Derek just nodded wordlessly as his sister left the room. He flopped back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about Penelope again. Had he really hurt her feelings by what he'd said and done? How the hell could he make it up to her, though? He didn't know anything about romantic stuff.
Sitting up straight again, he pulled his backpack up from the floor and started digging around in it. Maybe he could surprise her by working on his essay early. But before he could get ahead of himself, his fingers found a book with a flimsy plastic cover. He pulled it out and realized it was the copy of Jane Eyre he had checked out of the library. He had completely forgotten it was in his bag. He looked at the cover and thought about how excited Penelope was about it.
"Well, I did promise her I'd read it," he said. So he leaned back against the pillows and cracked open a book, something he would never do for any other girl but Penelope.
