Hey reviewers. Sorry about the long update (once again). I just wanted to thank you guys on your reviews and wishes towards my mom; they really meant a lot to me. As I stated in a review from Chapter 12, my mom had her surgery and was in mortal pain. But luckily, the pain will fade. And the good news is that she might not have to go through chemo, which is amazing.

Anyways, thank you so much for all the reviews, you guys are amazing.

Sorry, once again, for having such a long update!

Here is Chapter 13…hope you like!

R&R and please, no flames!

This chapter gets very…emotional. Not crying emotional, kind of PMS emotional…LoL, you'll just have to read it to see.

Lotsa love,

degrassichick

-♥-

Chapter 13

-♥-

Derek and I are barely pulling out of the driveway of Millbrook's when my cell phone vibrates against my thigh. I recognize the ring tone as the one that I had set for whenever Emily calls-which was just about every other hour.

I pull it out of my pocket and lift it to my ear, "Hey Em."

"Okay, so you can call me a saint." Emily laughs.

"Why?" I ask curiously.

I can tell Emily is grinning on the other end of the phone, "I got you four dates for today."

My jaw drops, "Four dates?"

Derek's head whips towards me; he almost runs a red light.

"With who?" I ask, ignoring Derek's antics.

"Cody Davis, Josh Calloway, Joey McGrath, and Matt Kenney."

"Oh my God, Em!" I squeal.

Emily sighs, "So, right after school you're going out with Cody, Joey is picking you up at six, you're meeting Josh at seven-thirty, and then Matt is picking you up at nine. Will that work?"

I grin, "Definitely, thanks so much, Em! You're amazing."

Emily laughs, "Yeah, I know. See ya in a few." She says before hanging up.

I turn off my phone and smirk towards Derek as he carries on back to driving as the light turns to green.

"You have four dates tonight?" he asks cautiously.

I nod, "Uh huh. Looks like you're going to need seven dates to beat me now."

Derek's body stiffens as he misses our exit towards the school.

What the…?

"Derek, you just missed our-"

"I know." Derek says in a know-it-all tone.

I eye him confusingly, "Then what the hell are we doing?"

Derek turns his head towards me, "Casey, Casey, Casey, are you telling me that you would rather be bored in school than out with your oh-so-amazing stepbrother?"

I scoff, "Uh, yeah." The words end up coming out more like a question than a statement.

Derek sighs, "Well…"

"What do you have in mind?" I ask turning to look at him.

The fact alone that Derek would rather hang out with me than be at school is completely beyond me, but I'm still curious…and kind of excited.

Derek sighs sarcastically, "What does it matter? You wanna go back to school."

"Shut up!" I exclaim, "What did you want to do?"

Derek turns his head towards me slightly, "I challenge you to a round of Babe Raider. Loser owes-"

I hold up my hand to stop him, "I don't think having two bets going on at the same time is such a good idea."

Derek holds up a finger to stop me, "Loser owes the winner whatever the winner chooses the loser to do."

I sigh and slump down in my seat, "Well, it doesn't make complete sense, but fine."

Derek smirks at me and pulls into our neighborhood.

I whip my head towards him, "I'm only doing this just so you understand that I can beat your ass at this game."

-¤-

"And Venturi prevails once again." I say with a triumphant smirk, tossing my controller on to the couch and smirking at Casey proudly.

Casey narrows her eyes at me and slumps against the couch, "So you won a round of Babe Raider, big deal."

I laugh, "Well, you remember our deal from earlier in the car, right?"

Casey glares at me, "Are you seriously following through with that?"

I nod, "Of course. Venturi men always keep their promises."

She guffaws at that, "Yeah right." She glances towards the digital clock on the cable box and drops her controller to the ground, "Derek, its 3:15."

I glance towards the clock and then back at Casey, "What? Can't believe you actually skipped three hours of school?" I ask sarcastically.

Casey jumps up from the couch, "No, you idiot! My date! I was supposed to meet Cody right after school."

I feel like I just swallowed a bowling ball as those words drop from her perfect, pink lips. She has a date. She's leaving me because she has a date.

"You better get going then." I grumble. Oh my God, I'm seriously being a drama queen. Me! Why the hell am I so wound up about this?

Casey glances towards me curiously, "Derek…are you okay?"

I scoff and grab my leather jacket from where it is draped over the couch and stomp my way towards the door, "Fucking fabulous."

-♥-

I had to call Emily up and have her tell Cody to just pick me up at my house.

But thanks to Derek's lovely outburst, it ruined my entire date.

I couldn't think, I couldn't talk…I couldn't even remember my date's name.

"Sorry that I was such a spaz tonight." I say as Cody pulls his SUV into our driveway.

Cody shrugs, "It's alright, I could tell you had someone else on your mind."

My jaw drops, "You could?"

Cody nods, "You called me Derek three Joeyes, and then vented over Derek for forty-five minutes."

Oh my GOD. I am completely mortified.

"Cody, I am so sorry." I babble.

Cody shakes his head, "It's alright." He says as I begin to climb out of the passenger seat. As I shut the door behind me, Cody rolls down the passenger side window, "Word to the wise, Casey…"

I turn to face him, "What?"

"You might want to tell Derek you're into him before he decides that you aren't."

As he pulls out of the driveway, I can only think of one thing.

Is he right?

Am I actually interested in Derek?

Nah…I couldn't be.

Could I?

-¤-

I am lying on my bed playing my iPod on full blast when Casey stomps into my bedroom and slams the door shut behind her.

As I sit up, I glare at her, "Did you want something Case? Cody texted me, I know you guys went on a date. I'm not going down to meet him."

Casey shakes her head, "It isn't about that. Thanks to you, I had the worst date of my life."

I eye her stupidly, "How the hell was I a contributor in your crappy date?"

I get up from the bed and slowly make my way towards her until we are face to face.

Casey sucks in a deep breath and glares at me frustratingly, "Because! The whole Joeye I was on the date with Cody, all I could think about was-"

"Was what, Case?" I ask huskily, staring into her blue orbs.

Casey is practically out of breath, "Was…was…"

"Casey!"

The two of us jolt apart as Nora calls up the stairs to Casey.

"Joey is here!" Nora calls out.

Casey backs away from me, still glancing at me curiously, "Okay!" she calls out to her mom, her eyes still locked on mine.

"See you after your date, Case." I say lowly to her.

Casey has tears shimmering in her eyes for some unknown reason before she hurries out of my bedroom.

I make my way back to my bed and collapse down on it, staring at my ceiling.

I am in way over my head.

I get interrupted just moments later as there is a knock at my door.

Casey didn't go. She seriously didn't go on the date!

I get up almost excitedly and make my way towards my bedroom door, "Couldn't stay away?" I say as I open the door.

It isn't Casey.

It's Joey McGrath and he's smiling at me.

"What do you want?" I grumble.

"Well, I know the date doesn't count unless I meet you, so I just wanted to meet you. Hey Derek, I'm Casey's date."

I nod sarcastically, "Hey Joey, I don't care." I state and slam the door in his face.

-♥-

"So, your brother isn't exactly the most chipper person in the world, is he?" Joey asks as the two of us sit down at a booth in Gentry's Pizza Parlor.

I shrug, still thinking back to the incident before in Derek's room, "What do you mean?"

Joey sighs, "I introduced myself to him and he said that he didn't care and slammed the door in my face."

I shrug towards him once again, "That's just Derek being Derek. Trust me, if you were around him long enough, you'd get used to it."

"He seemed pretty pissed that I was going out with you." Joey states.

My eyes shoot down towards my lap, trying not to look up at Joey as I begin to blush, "That's insane."

Just as insane as those butterflies that were in your stomach when you were in Derek's bedroom.

"And you're blushing." Joey says, eyeing me curiously.

I look up at him, noticing that I'm blinking my eyes to prevent tears from leaking out of them.

"And crying…Casey, what's wrong?"

I shoot up from the table, "Everything."

"Do you want me to take you home?" Joey asks, standing up as well.

I nod, "I'm really sorry."

Joey shakes his head, "It's cool. I understand." He walks ahead of me, making his way out the door of the restaurant.

I tilt my head back and close my eyes, "Damn you, Derek."

-¤-

"Smerek, are you feeling okay?" Marti asks I sit with her in her bedroom, watching her color.

I smirk, "Of course, Smarti. Why do you ask?"

Marti shoots me a stupid look, "Cause you've been sitting in my room for a long time and all you've done is stare at my picture of me, Lizzie, and Casey." She says, pointing towards her picture of her and her stepsisters in a glittery pink frame, "Well, you weren't looking at me and Lizzie…mostly just Casey."

What the hell is happening to me?

"I'm sorry, Smarti. I guess I just got distracted." I say and slowly stand up from her floor and make my way towards her bedroom door, "Goodnight Smarti." I say and slowly open the door.

"Do you love her, Smerek?"

As soon as those words leave her mouth, my heart falls into my stomach and I gulp.
I can't be in love with Casey. That's impossible.

My mouth apparently does not think the same way, because when I turn to face Marti, the words that leave my mouth are, "Yeah, Smarti. I do."

-♥-

The first thing I do when I get home is go up to Derek's bedroom door and knock.

"What is it, Case?" Derek's voice causes me to jump.

I turn the side of me and see Derek standing beside me.

"I…uh…" I stammer.

Derek chuckles almost evilly, "At a loss for words yet again, Case?"

I gulp and back away from him, "No…"

Derek slowly makes his way towards me, "Then why is it that every time I ask you a question, you stutter?"

I feel a blush rising to my cheeks and I look towards the ground.

"Why do you always blush and turn away when I get close to you?" he says in a near whisper.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I ask in a whisper.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he repeats the question right back at me.

My breath becomes shorter and quicker, almost as if I'm panting. I shoot my eyes towards the ground, not daring to look up at him.

"How come I've been thinking about you nonstop all day?" God, please make him stop. "How come the only thing I want for you to for your bargain of our bet from today is kiss me senseless?" Oh my God, please make him stop. I won't be able to control myself…"How come-"

I cut him short as I crush my lips against his, kissing him hard.

His hands almost immediately grip my thighs before one hand removes itself, finding the doorknob and twisting it, the two of us practically falling into his room.

As soon as the door shuts behind us, Derek slams me against it roughly. I could almost have bruises from this. But I really don't care. I just want to kiss him; all I want to do is kiss him.

His lips attack my neck and I manage a whimpered, "Derek…" before I wind up letting out a yelp and letting my hands slide down his back, my ankles locking together tightly from where they are wrapped around his waist.

His lips find their way back to my lips before he grabs me and makes his way towards a different part of his room.

His bed.

He lays me down and lays on top of me, never breaking the kiss.

As he fiddles with the hem of my shirt, I don't notice that somebody is calling us from downstairs.

As soon as we hear a tapping on the door next to Derek's, I push him off of me and jump up from his bed, wiping my lips and smoothing down my hair.

Derek eyes me as I try to make it look completely unobvious that anything was going on between Derek and I, "God, you are so infuriating!" I exclaim before stomping out of his room and slamming the door shut behind me as I am face to face with my mom.

"Hi Casey…there is a boy here for you." She says with a smile, "You sure are popular tonight."

I give her a weak smile before turning towards the stairs and making my way down them. I smile towards Josh as I see him standing by the front door in our foyer.

"Hi Casey." He says with a smile.

I smile back, "Hey Josh."

"Should I go upstairs and meet your brother?" he asks.

Geez, Emily must have filled all of my dates in on this whole thing before she let them accept the date.

I think back to how Derek is losing to me by seven people, it honestly doesn't seem fair.

I'm guessing that that's my reasoning for shaking my head at him and saying, "No, don't worry about it."

-¤-

All I can think about is Casey as I hear the front door shut behind them.

I rake my hands through my hair, "I have to get out of here." I declare and grab my cell phone, scanning for the first girl's number that I find and calling them.

It turns out that its Sam's sister, Shelby.

"Hey Derek…" she says coolly, she's a ninth grader, so it isn't that big of an age gap.

"You doing anything tonight?" I ask quickly.

"No, why?"

-♥-

Derek isn't home when I get home from my last two dates of the night; the first one being with Josh and the second with Matt.

And, of course, all I could concentrate on was Derek.

I seriously hate him for that.

I hate the fact that I haven't been able to stop thinking of him all night, and it doesn't help much that we practically had sex only two hours before.

"Hi Casey!" Marti practically attacks me as I make my way towards my bedroom.

"Hey Marti." I say with a smile, turning to face my youngest step-sibling, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

She sighs, "Not tired." She says before glancing up at me curiously, "Are you looking for Smerek?"

Yes.

"Nope." I lie, "Just heading to bed."

"Oh." She says, glancing down at the floor before looking up at me, "He's on a date with Sammy's sister."

My shoulder's tense, "Oh?"

Marti nods, "I don't know why though. He already said he loves you."

Wait…what?

"Oh well, goodnight Casey!" Marti said with a smile before blowing me a kiss and skipping off towards her bedroom.

"Marti, wait." I call after her.

She stops and turns around.

"When did he say that?"

"Tonight, while you were on a date." She says simply before waving at me and making her way towards her room.

As soon as I enter my room and close the door behind me, I slide down it and sit on the floor, my back leaning against the door.

Is Marti serious?

Derek loves me?

No way.

-♥-

Okay, so that sucked. LoL

Anyways, once again, I am so sorry for the long update…but thank you a million for the reviews! You guys rock!

R&R and please, no flames!

Lotsa love,

degrassichick