Heyy people. Terribly sorry for the super long wait. My computer finally bit the dust, and I only managed to get a new one last week. So here's the next instalment of "The Not-So-New Girl"! Enjoy, and don't forget to REVIEW!

Our Night To Shine

"Oh my gosh, " Casey said, gushing over the dress she was trying on. The dance was in four days, and Casey, Charlie and Emily were out shopping for dresses. "This dance is gonna be the best ever!"

"Do you realize your IQ just dropped 5 points by saying that?" Charlie said, smiling.

Casey rolled her eyes. "She's kidding, Case," Emily said.

"You look stellar, " Charlie said.

"Really," Emily added.

Casey smiled. "Thanks, you guys," she said, twirling around, causing the flowing pink fabric to move with her. The dress was a halter-style in fuchsia pink. "I think this is the one."

"You said that about the last 10 dresses," Emily said, sighing.

"Actually," Charlie corrected. "12 dresses." Casey glared at her. "But whose counting?" she quickly added.

"You know what?" Casey said. "I'm gonna go pay for it right now, just to prove you guys wrong." She went back into the changing room. A couple of minutes later, she came out and went to pay for the dress.

"You're up, Charlie," Casey said, as she returned, clutching a big blue bag. "You're the only one who hasn't gotten a dress. Unless you're bailing? Derek won't be too happy."

"I'm not bailing," Charlie retorted. "It's just…"

"Spill," Emily and Casey said simultaneously.

"Jake Cloves asked me if I would go with him to the dance," Charlie said.

"And you like him?" Casey asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said. "He's super sweet. And really smart. He's in my Junior AP math class and he's a sophomore!"

"Did he ask you before or after Derek asked you to go with him?" Emily asked.

"After," Charlie said, looking at her feet.

"And you said…" Casey asked.

"I didn't say yes or anything," Charlie said. "I told him I'd think about it."

"But what about Derek?" Emily asked. "You can't just tell him you don't want to go with him because you got a better offer."

"She'll just have to let him down easy," Casey said. "Right, Charlie?"

"He won't mind, right?" Charlie said. "I told him we could go as friends. I'm sure there are tons of other girls that want to go with him!"

"But he doesn't want to go with any of them!" Emily said loudly. "He wants to go with you! You can't do this to him!"

"I'm sorry Em," Charlie said. "I don't like him that way. He knows that. I'm sure he'll understand."

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"Hey," Charlie called out to Derek the next morning at school.

"Oh God," Emily said, putting her hand over her eyes. "I can't watch."

"What's up?" Derek said, casually leaning against his locker.

"We're going to the dance as friends, right?" Charlie said.

"Yeah," Derek said. Friends. That word made him wince.

"So as my friend, you wouldn't mind if I decided to with someone else?" Charlie said, hoping his feelings weren't hurt. "Like as a date, since we're not, you know, going on a date?"

"Um, yeah, I guess," Derek said. Her words felt like daggers in his stomach. "It's cool."

"You sure?" Charlie asked.

"Of course," Derek said. "We're just friends, right?"

"I knew you'd understand!" Charlie said, hugging him. "Thanks!" she added, as she jogged away, and then stopped where Jake Cloves was standing. She said something to him Derek couldn't make out, and then went to join Casey and Emily.

"Yeah," Derek thought aloud, heartbroken. "I understand. I just lost the perfect girl." And he walked away.

"I can't believe you actually just dumped Derek Venturi," Emily said, shaking her head.

"I can't believe Derek Venturi just got dumped," Casey said, smiling. "Finally."

"I didn't dump him." Charlie said angrily. "He isn't-–wasn't—my boyfriend, okay?" She stormed off towards the math class as the bell rang.

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"How do I look?" Casey said for what seemed like the 76th time. She was tugging at her dress and poking at her hair, which was in a clean bun on the top of her head. It was the night of the dance, and the girls were prepping in Casey's room. Their dates (Sam, Jake and some guy from Emily's homeroom class named Cory Michaels) were going to meet at the school at eight. It was seven thirty.

"Awesome," Emily said, who was wearing a pale green dress with green metallic ballet flats. Casey and Charlie had managed to straighten her hair, but it still had a hint of wave in it.

"Like the other seventy-five time you asked," Charlie said, who was wearing a dark purple strapless number with matching wedge-heeled sling-backs. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her bangs were clipped back (they formed a kind of bump-like shape on the top of her head), and the hair that was flowing out of her ponytail was curled.

"I'm nervous, okay?" Casey said, walking towards her bed and put on her pink heels.

"Yeah," Charlie said.

"Girls!" Mrs. McDonald yelled from downstairs. "It's time to go!"

They made their way downstairs. Derek was already waiting, wearing a black suit and a blue shirt. His jaw dropped when he saw Charlie. She looked incredible, even more than usual. He didn't know that it was possible.

"Wow," he said as they all climbed into the car. "You look really…very…wow."

"Thanks," Charlie said, glowing. "You don't look too bad yourself. So, whom are you going with?"

"I decided not to restrict myself to one girl," Derek said, in his usual cocky tone. "That wouldn't be fair to all the pretty ladies."

"Of course," Charlie said, rolling her eyes. The Real Derek had reared its ugly head.

The rest of the drive was quite. Once they got there, Casey immediately went onto the dance floor with Sam. Emily and Cory followed suit. Charlie and Jake talked by the punch bowl for a couple of minutes, and then danced. Charlie couldn't help watching Derek dancing with what looked like 3 girls. But for some reason, he didn't seem to be enjoying himself. After a while, Jake said he had to go to the bathroom and left. Charlie stood against the wall alone for a couple of minutes until Derek came to join her.

"Where'd Jake go?" Derek asked.

"The bathroom," Charlie replied. "You having fun with all those girls?"

"It's not that bad," Derek said, grinning.

"I'm gonna go find Jake," Charlie said.

"Let me join you," Derek said. "I've gotta use the little men's room anyway."

Charlie laughed and they walked towards the bathroom. "So are yo—" she began but stopped dead in her tracks. Derek followed her gaze and suddenly was come over by a wave of incontrollable anger. There was Jake Cloves; Charlie supposed date, with his tongue down Tiffany Collins' throat.

"That son of a---" Derek began, but stopped when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Charlie was crying. Jake quickly realized that she was there, broke away from Tiffany, but before he could offer an explanation, Charlie took off towards the exit.

"Charlie!" Derek yelled, chasing after her. "Wait up!"

He went outside and saw Charlie sitting on the steps, her face buried in her hands. "Hey," he said softly, kneeling down beside her. "It's okay."

"No it's not," she said, looking up at him. "I'm such a loser. How could I not have seen through his flimsy façade?"

"You are far from being a loser," Derek said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "It's his loss. If he'd rather be with a cheap slut like Tiffany Collins, then he's not nearly as smart as he leads on."

Charlie smiled sheepishly. "You know," she began. "Contrary to popular belief, you're not such a bad guy when you want to be."

"Popular belief?" Derek said. "More like Casey's belief."

"Honestly," Charlie said. "I thought you were a jerk at first. All cocky and stuff."

"Honestly, " Derek replied. "I was. I kind of still am. You just bring out the good side of me." He smiled.

"Good to know I have that effect on people," Charlie said, smiling, then got up. "I think I'm gonna go home now. I only live a couple of blocks from here."

"Let me walk you home," Derek said. "You shouldn't have to walk alone after what happened."

"Thanks," Charlie said. They walked off into the dimly lit street. They began talking about school, which turned into a conversation about anything and everything. About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at Charlie's house.

"This is where I get off," Charlie said, turning to face Derek.

"Yeah," Derek said, who found himself slowly getting closer to her.

"Thanks for everything," Charlie said, also approaching him.

"No problem," Derek said, now standing less than an inch from her face. He slowly leaned in to kiss her, and Charlie found herself not trying to back away. When his lips brushed hers, her initial reaction was to pull away, but she was overcome by what seemed like a magnetic force towards his lips. The kiss seemed to last forever, but Charlie was pulled back into reality, quickly pulled away, and scampered into her house, leaving Derek standing on her porch, smiling from ear to ear.

"Good night," he said aloud.