Chapter 7

21st century Romeo and Juliet

Lunch was a time everyone wanted to get to. Not for the food since that stuff tasted like radioactive sand paper, but the basic opportunity to converse with other people. Derek made his way to the lunchroom and sat in his usual seat across from Sam waving occasionally to friends and scanning the cafeteria.

"So where's Anna?" Derek asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Well, she went to the lunch line with Emily since Casey's in the library, so she could be anywhere right now." Sam replied and then took a bite of his sandwich.

Derek proceeded to scan the Cafeteria till he finally saw Anna…… talking to Dean from the football team! Immediately noticing Anna's discomfort, he got up and walked over to where they stood, angry as hell, yet careful not to show it.

Dean was popular, strong, smart, and had a reputation. Not the kind that Derek had, but he was known as a fast moving, womanizing pervert. Doing whatever he could to get the girl no matter what it takes. Which he usually did since every girl would conform to him. Derek came up and snaked his arm around Anna's waist pulling her close to him. It surprised her yet on the other hand, she didn't mind since she didn't want to talk to Dean anyway, and Derek felt comforting there with her.

Of course Derek was scared since Dean was a towering figure, but he was good at not showing it, he never did.

"So, Dean, I see you've met Anna." Derek smirked.

"Hey Derek," he gave Derek an evil annoyed smile before continuing, "Yeah, just wanted to make her feel welcome."

"Well, I think you've done your job big guy, and if you don't mind, Anna, would you like to have lunch with me and Sam?"

Anna nodded in relief and waved goodbye to a very angry Dean.

"Thanks so much Derek, he was just up in my face there! I owe you!" Anna replied gratefully as she sat down.

"No problem, I deal with guys like that on a daily basis!" He bragged and sat down himself.

After introducing Anna to Sam, Emily came and took the seat next to Anna.

"Sorry I took so long, that woman will take forever making a hot dog!" Emily complained. "Hi Sam…..Oh, hi Derek!" Emily blushed.

Derek only nodded in her direction muttering a "Sup?"

Anna, Emily, and Sam carried on a scintillating conversation about the upcoming math test and Derek found himself constantly distracted by Anna's features, he kept going back to the confrontation with Dean.

She looked so scared, like genuinely scared, I know Dean is big, but he is all talk. What's with that? He thought to himself the whole course of lunch before the bell rang and they all went their separate ways again.

After school was basically uneventful since the car ride home was silent except for the casual talks between Casey and Anna about their day. At home, both girls were in their room studying the entire time while Derek was downstairs doing his usual tv before homework. Then Nora called for dinner.

George wasn't home early so they said grace and ate anyway.

"So Anna how was your first day?" Nora asked.

"It was eventful, everyone was nice and helpful." Replied Anna spooning peas into her mouth.

"Ha! What school did you go to?" replied Casey and both girls broke into a laugh.

Derek only noticed Anna turning her head back and forth to the clock every few minutes.

Once dinner was over, Anna excused herself quietly to the bathroom as Casey and Derek went upstairs soon afterwards. Just as both reached the top, Anna walked out of the bathroom looking paler than before but she smiled politely as she headed into her room, Casey solemnly followed suit.

In his room by the computer reading, Derek, dressed in his dark green pajama bottoms and shirtless, tried to make sense of the book he was reading for English, Romeo and Juliet. Just then, there was a soft knock on his door.

"Come in." said Derek not looking up from his book.

Just then, Anna stepped in with her baby blue pajama pants and spaghetti strap cami of a matching color. Derek was surprised, yet pleased by this over night visit.

"Hey Derek, I couldn't get to sleep and I saw your light was open and I wondered if I could keep you company?" she sat opposite him crosslegged on the bed.

"Uh, Yeah, of course, do you think you could help me with this stupid book? I'm about understanding every other word of this crap!" He exclaimed which made Anna smile brightly. He loved that smile.

"Sure, but as long as you promise not to call it crap. Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful and unique romantic play about 2 people who are so different yet love each other unconditionally." The emotional way she referred to it made Derek smirk and move next to her on the bed.

They spent 2 hours going over the play and every time she leaned closer to him to read the fine print, he was lost in the vanilla scent that first entranced him from day one. As he finished reading one of the chapters on his own he smiled to himself and looked over to Anna to find she had somehow fallen asleep without him knowing and moved under the covers. He smiled again and figured he would sleep on the sofa downstairs for the night and as he turned out the lights and opened the door, Anna stirred.

"Derek, could you stay here please? I don't want to be alone."

He shrugged his shoulders and moved to lie down next to her yet on top of the covers. As he began to drift to sleep he felt her move closer to him and whisper,

"You are very smart Derek, just try harder and you'd be surprised." And soon after, he could hear her gentle breaths. He couldn't help but smile and fall asleep soon after her.

The next morning, he woke to find his hand sprawled out and realized he was alone in his room, but realized it wasn't a dream since he smelled the vague smell of vanilla from the pillow next to his.

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Like it? Slow start but just trying to fill in the details before the big part! Keep reviewing!