AN: Thanks for all the reviews! It's great to know that you liked the beginning, even if it was a little short. Derek's thoughts are italic and Casey's diary entries are bolded italic :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Life With Derek or any characters.

It took Derek half an hour to clean Casey's room. Once he was finished he called Casey up to get her seal of approval. He didn't want her barging into his room later complaining that he did a bad job.

"Well Derek, you seem to be able to clean after all," Casey remarked as she walked into her room and closed the door behind her.

Derek gave a sigh of relief and then proceeded to his room. Once inside, he turned on his CD player, which started playing a 3 Doors Down song. Hoping that the music would give him enough cover, he opened Casey's diary.

On the front page, in fancy script, Casey's name was inscribed along with her address and phone number. Girls! Derek thought. As if anyone would return a diary if they found it, they'd probably throw it in the garbage. Well, maybe they'd keep it if it was someone they knew.

Turning the page, Derek found the first diary entry. It was dated the day of Nora and George's wedding. Sure enough, the entry was all about what happened at the ceremony and who had danced with whom. Derek found only one mention of himself.

Due to circumstances beyond my control (Mom) I was forced to dance with Derek, my new step-brother. He is so annoying, for the whole dance he wouldn't stop talking about hockey.

Derek remembered that day. He had been having a good time at the reception until his Dad had told him that he'd have to dance with his new step-sister. That was when he has started getting nervous. Casey was so pretty; he didn't want to mess up in front of her, especially since they'd soon be living together. Deciding that he'd better do what his Dad said he went up to Casey to ask her to dance. Now he knew that their parents had set them up. Being so nervous, all he could talk about was hockey. He obviously hadn't made a very good first impression on Casey.

Flipping the pages, Derek found the next diary entry. It didn't mention him, but it mentioned the house that they now lived in and how cute Marti was. Derek kept turning the pages until he found an entry in which he was mentioned.

I've only been living in this house one day, already I loath it. For the longest time I've only lived with girls. I suppose this has skewed my vision slightly. Living with boys is such a headache, especially when one of these boys is Derek Venturi. Already he has: drank orange juice straightfrom the carton, come out of the bathroom wearing only a towel and used up all the hot water. I don't know what I'm going to do about this boy.

Derek couldn't remember a time when he didn't drink orange juice straight from the carton. He could, however, remember that incident with the towel. He had just had a nice long shower after hockey practice and was heading back to his room. Figuring that since it was only two seconds to his room nobody would see him, Derek had walked out only wearing the towel. Unfortunately Casey had just come out of her bedroom. Derek chuckled to himself as he remembered her expression on that day. Casey had stood there gaping at him for what seemed like an eternity. She even stood there for a few seconds after Derek had gone into his room.

Derek decided that it might be better to look at some of the more recent diary entries. He found one that mentioned him that had been written a month ago.

I don't know what's wrong with Derek. Today he was totally out of it. He had bags under his eyes and was walking around half asleep. That's not normal. He was also awake at six thirty this morning, which never happens unless he's got practice. I even considered telling Mom, but she seems to have already noticed as I overheard her whispering something about Derek to George.

Oh God, thought Derek. She had noticed. That had been horrible. He had almost fallen asleep in every one of his classes. It had all started around eleven o'clock the night before, when Derek had gone to bed. He had a dream that – well – him and Casey were making out under the maple tree in their backyard. When the dream was over he awoke with a start. It was one o'clock in the morning. Derek decided that he shouldn't go back to sleep, not if he was going to have dreams like that. Those dreams just made him want his step-sister more. Derek stayed up the whole night so that he wouldn't have any more dreams about Casey.

The next diary entry was about Casey's first date with Sam.

The date was great. I like Sam, he's so sweet. There's just one problem, there's no sparks between us. He always agrees with me. I hate that! He always says sorry when he hurts me. I hate that! I don't know what's wrong with me. Sam is the nicest guy ever, but I'm going to turn him down because he always agrees and says sorry. Something in that sentence is not right. I think this has something to do with Derek. I still remember that day that he came out of the bathroom with only a towel on. I know I stood there and gaped at him openly, I couldn't help myself he has such a nice chest. I wonder what it would feel like to run my hands – CASEY STOP! There's something about Derek, he's a player, he's mean and he insults me daily, yet, I find myself wondering if I'd fall for him if he wasn't my step-brother. I think he might've gone out with me if we'd met the normal way. I think I saw him staring at my butt the other day. I think, I think. When it comes to these things, I doubt I'll ever know

Oh crap, thought Derek. She saw me that one time. I knew I shouldn't have looked at her butt. It's her fault though! If she didn't have such a nice butt I wouldn't have to stare at it.

Derek's thoughts faltered. Wait a second. Nice chest? Run her hands? An impish grin appeared on his face.