Life With Derek

Chapter Two

Some Secrets Weren't Meant To Be Told

"It hurt so bad-" Derek Venturi thought, when he got sick. It had happened a lot more lately, and that scared him. He brushed his teeth rapidly looking into the fogged up mirror. He was wearing a yellow and green Bob Marley shirt and Hollister jeans with a too small Hockey sweatshirt next to him on the counter. He spit out his tooth paste wispering 'shit' as some of it fell onto his shirt. He sighed as he pulled his favorite article of clothing over top of his head. He suddenly lurched over, a sharp pain in his side.

"Not today..." Derek wispered to himself. He couldn't get sick today. He had things to do. Important things. But before he knew it, he was haunched over the toilette. It was like all the warmth had been taken from him. He was always so cold, and it was like every drop of blood in his body had been rerouted into his stomach. He heard a knock on the door.

"Derek! Can you please hurry up? You've been in there forever.Your sister is going to kill someone." It was Nora.

"Yeah-" He croaked as he felt that numbness again in his stomach, and as hard as he tried not to, he threw up what little he had eaten in the past day into the toilet. He heard a distant rapping on the door. It seemed like the volume had ben turned down on his life. "Derek! I am going to the mall with Emily in fifteen minutes. I have to take a shower!" He grabbed the toilet paper holder to try and stabilize himself, his vision fading in and out. His bare feet were freezing against the cold tile floor and he felt as if his sopping wet hair had turned into icicles.

"Derek! I have twelve minutes. If you don't open this door, I am going to do it for you."

Derek tried to say something in protest, but instead he just emptied the rest of the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He fought the dizziness that had swept over his body, though he began to slip from consciousness.

"Derek, I am coming in" Casey said, though to Derek it just sounded like a faint wispier. The air that rushed into the room as Casey opened the door rely warm as Derek let out a sigh. "Derek? Are you al right?" Casey asked questioningly, though it was pretty aparent that he was not.

"I'm not feeling too good, Case-" Derek wispered

Casey walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He jerked uncomfortably. He was so pale it scared her. "I am going to get George-"

"No." A voice loud and strong said, coming from Derek, who at the moment seemed anything but that. "Don't tell them, Casey. Please."

Casey looked at him oddly. He looked so helpless, and Casey felt genuinely sorry for him. "Please keep this secret for me Casey" Derek said, some color beginning to return to his face, though it still had the same pained look across it.

"Is this why you've been in your room lately?"

Derek ignored her. "Please?"

And as she saw him, sweating as he vomited into the toilet again, the look on his face made her believe that some secrets weren't meant to be told.

------

Under Derek's plea, Casey had left the bathroom and five minutes later, Derek fallowed in suit, though he didn't return to his room, though Casey could tell that he wanted to. Instead he joined George in his rusty 1984 station wagon and they drove away.

"Casey, Emily's at the door-" Her mom screamed as a newly refreshed Casey grabbed her purse and ran down the stairs.

"What's up?" Emily smiled as Casey closed the door behind them as they walked to the strip mall which was only a mile up the road.

"Not much." Casey said momentously. "Just waiting for school to start up again-"

"Not me" Emily snorted as she looked at Casey from the side. "How can you be so anxious for school to start up again when you haven't been to one good summer party. you haven't embraced it yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I know that before you moved to Canada you lived in Arizona, so you don't relize that here, winters are long." She talked in a dreamy voice, ovbiously wishing that summer would last forever. "Really long, so when summer gets here its like one big celebration. You haven't even been to one paty yet."

"I don't really ever go to parties-" Casey said. "And it's not like I am number one on every ones invite list"

"Well, I am having a party tonight. You should come over. Let loose. Even bright Derek if you want-"

A smile spread across Casey's face. "Al right. I will."

------

Casey smiled as she walked up the stairs. Emily had helped her pick out the hottest party outfit, though she couldn't help but be suprised as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her black halter top and acid washed mini skirt looked so unlike her. With her hair tied back in a tight pony tail and black ribbon necklace even made her look- sexy. Her make up was much darker than she had ever worn it before, and she completed her outfit with black heels that tied in a bow around her ankles.

A smile spread across her face. She felt good about herself, better than she had when she had dressed like a nun. Maybe she would start showing skin more often. She walked across the hall and rapped on Derek's door. She knew that despite her wardrobe change, Emily would be pretty angry if she didn't bring Derek with her. "Derek?" she called, rapping on the door again.

"Just a minute"He said as Casey could hear stirrings on the other side of the door. "Yes?" he said, opening the door just enough for him to stick his head out. He scanned her up and down. "You look dressed up."

"Yeah, Emily's having a party. I was wondering if you wanted to-" She stopped, catching a wiff of something in her nose. Her eyes grew wide. "Have you?-" she asked as she pushed the door open further, smelling again. "Ohmigod, Derek. Have you been smoking pot?"

"No..."Derek said, looking taken aback. 'Why would you say that?"

Casey pushed the door open all the way, walking inside. "Mainly because your room reeks of Marijuana, and because your pupils are the size of saucers-" She took a deep breath, angry that Derek had made such a negative life style choice. "You know, Derek. I don't know what has been going on with you lately, but this is the last straw. I am telling Mom and George!-"

Casey looked at her brother. He looked horrible, and she wondered if his was the life of stoners everywhere. He was plae and thin, and his face looked sunken in, but still in some sick way, Casey still thought that he looked cute. She started to walk out the door, but she felt him pull her back in.

"They already know-" Derek said

"What?"

"They already know that I'm smoking-"

"That's a lie, Derek. Why in hell would they let you do that?"

Derek walked past Casey and closed his bedroom door. "Casey, if I tell you why I am somkeing, do you promise not to tell Marti or Lizzie or the kids at school?"

"Al right?" Casey said uncertainly. She shot of felt like she was selling her soul to the devil.

"I am serious. I want you to swear on your life that you wont tell Emily or Sam or Edwin...especially Edwin..."

"I swear Derek, gosh. You must be high. Your talking like a crazy person-"

"It helps with the pain-" Derek said as Casey looked at him wide eyed, expecting more. Derek paused, not wanting to say it, because if he said it aloud, to Derek, it would mean that it was true. "I have Cancer, Case-"

"You really are out of your mind" Casey said, angry as she got up off the corner of Derek's bed.

"Sit down, Casey-" He said as she looked at his face.

"Oh, god. Your serious-" she wispered. The look on his face almost brought tears to her eyes. He looked so scared and vounderable, like he would never be happy again. "How- when did you find out?"

"About a month ago. Before my mom and dad got married they had genetic tests done, to se if they had the genes for any deadly deseises. My mom's parents both had the dwarfism gene they didn't know about, so when they first had their children, my Uncle Brian turned out a dwarf. My mom wanted to make sure that that didn't happen between her and my dad." Derek paused for a minute, and Casey thought he had fallen asleep, but when she looked at him, she saw that he was holding back tears."It turned out that they both had the gene for a rare genetic abdominal cancer. The doctor said that there was only a four percents chance of one of their children getting sick. I guess that I am one of the four percent"

"Are you going to be Ok?"

"Maybe. They caught it sort of soon but it had already metastasized into my appendix, which they took out when I went to 'Hockey Camp' I started my first round of chemo last week..."

"Derek? Are you going to die?" Casey said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"No!' Derek said getting up next to her and wiping a tear from her eye. "No way-"

Derek sent her off to her party as he looked at the door he had just sent Casey out of. He sat down in his office chair, putting his feet up on the desk. That definitely wasn't the first time he had had a beautiful girl in his room, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Casey looked good in anything, but something about the way she was dressed tonight made him go crazy. She looked so georgous that Derek seriously had to restrain himself from jumping on top of her. But she had asked the question that he had asked himself dozens of times. Was he going to die?

"I don't know, Case-" he said taking a drag from his joint. "I really don't know-"

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HA! Bet you didn't see that coming. Actually, most of you probably did, it's no the most original of ideas...but I am trying. I really need suggestions and constructive criticism to keep this going so read and review. More twists are coming, and thank you soo much for reading. I am going to respond with an akgnowladgements page later. Aiden