I'm horrible, I know! I am so sorry for how long it took me to update this story! So, so, sorry!

A lot contributed to my very slow update on this chapter:

1. Everything going on at home right now.

2. I got the first sentence of the chapter wrote and I got a writer's block.

3. I idiotically started a new story.

4. I just started school.

5. I got sidetracked way too many times.

And now, it is the fifth day of school and I'm already skipping. Because I was overly tired, and I didn't feel good. And then I felt so horrible for missing school that to clear my head, I decided to write this chapter.

So, now that I've babbled enough, here's Chapter 14.

Hope you like!

R&R and please, no flames.

Lotsa love,

Degrassichick

-x-

PS: If anybody noticed this sentence in the last chapter: Cody nods, "You called me Derek three Joeyes, and then vented over Derek for forty-five minutes." Yes, I did mean to say "times". His name was originally Tim and then I changed and forgot to change the word back to "time"…sorry! Thank you to 'daseyshipper' for pointing that out!

-¤-

Chapter 14

-¤-

It's the last day of this whole bet, and neither Casey nor I have fifteen dates.

I still need eleven dates; eleven dates by the end of today.

Yeah, that's highly unlikely. Even for me.

Casey only needs 6.

I'm screwed, so screwed.

Just then, Casey comes hurrying down the stairs, combing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Morning, Casey!" Marti squeals from where she sits on top of the island in our kitchen.

Casey gives her a weak smile, "Morning, Marti." She says before glancing over towards me, the faint smile on her face immediately wipes off and she goes to the fridge, grabbing a whipped yogurt and shutting the fridge behind her. She grabs a spoon and rips off the lid, hurrying out of the kitchen.

"What's the hurry, Casey?" Nora asks as she brushes past Casey in the living room.

"Date." Casey says just as the doorbell rings.

My face falls.

She has a date? At seven in the morning?

She makes her way to the door and swings it open.

I swivel around to see who it is.

Chase Rasmussen, captain of the soccer team.

"Hey Derek." He says coolly, making his way towards me, "Gotta meet you so it's official."

What, did she tell everybody about the bet?

My jaw clenches and I don't even bother to reply.

"Okay then." Chase says, backing away, "C'mon Case. Thought we'd go grab some bagels."

"Don't call her Case." I snap.

All heads turn towards me.

My cheeks pale and I turn my back towards them.

I can feel Casey staring at me before she declares that she and Chase are leaving.

I hear the door shut shortly after.

I hate this.

-♥-

"So then I tell them, 'Yellow Card! I only kicked my ball at his face out of self defense!'." Chase says enthusiastically as we sit at a table in Millbrook's.

I glance up at him with sarcastic enthusiasm, "Wow, that's thrilling. Have you sold the movie rights yet?"

Chase gives me a puzzled expression, "I don't get it."

I roll my eyes, "Never mind." I glance down at the watch on my wrist, "Oh, it's seven forty-five. We have to go."

"But I haven't gotten to the playoffs yet!" Chase whines.

I roll my eyes, "Maybe some other time." I say, standing up from the table.

Yeah right.

Josh shrugs, "Oh well, I'll just tell you in the car." He says and gets up to pay for our breakfast.

Joy.

-

"I hated it. That date was so boring!" I groan towards Emily, slamming my head up against my locker.

Emily gives me a sympathetic look, "Sorry Case. But on the plus side, you're totally winning. You only need five more dates and you win."

I turn my head towards her, "What if I don't want to win anymore?"

Oh my God, I can't believe those words just left my mouth.

Emily eyes me confusingly, "What do you mean?"

I stand up straight and lean in towards her, "Okay, you have time to hear a long story?"

Just then the bell rings, I have to go to Algebra…damn it!

Emily glances up at the bell and sees all of the kids scampering towards their classrooms.
She latches onto my arm and hauls me into the washroom.

"Spill." She states, a smile on her face.

I sigh, I don't ditch class. That's just not what I do.

But, for once, I think that something is more important than Algebra.

Something named Derek.

I tell her the whole story, starting with what happened at lunch yesterday. I tell her about playing Babe Raider, and going out with Cody and Joey, and then I tell her about the kiss. Her jaw hits the floor but I carry on, telling her about Josh and Matt and then finally telling her about what Marti told me last night.

Emily is now sitting on the toilet seat, her face holding a shocked expression.

"Oh…my…God…" she says slowly, shaking her head in disbelief.

I run a hand through my hair, "I know. Horrible, right?"

Emily laughs, "Horrible? No. Try incredible!"

My eyes widen, "What?"

"Derek loves you, Casey. That explains everything!"

"Explains what, exactly?" I ask, leaning against the wall.

Emily stands up, "Why he's been acting so weird and so jealous. Why the great Derek Venturi has only managed to get four dates while you have gotten ten. It just explains so much, Case. Derek loves you."

"Yeah, well there's not much I can do about it." I say with a sigh.

Emily's face lights up and it's as if a light bulb just appeared over her head.

"I have an idea."

I eye her confusingly, "What is it?"

"Go on the rest of your dates, and-"

"That's your plan?"

Emily holds up a hand to stop me, "Will you let me finish?" she leans in closer towards my ear, "Go on your next five dates, win the bet, and…"

-¤-

You know, if I wasn't as completely into Casey as I am, I would really hate her right now.

She just came up to me and introduced me to her second date of the day, Alan Jennings.

But her face held a really odd expression, the whole time Alan was 'introducing' himself to me, Casey's eyes stayed glued on me, her eyes running up and down my body and a blush rising up to her cheeks. When Alan asked her if she was ready to go, it took her nearly thirty seconds to respond. I practically had her in a trance.

Am I good or what?

"Why don't you just surrender?" Sam asks, coming up beside me as I watch Casey and Alan walk away.

I whip my head towards him, "Why would I do that?"

Sam chuckles, "Because there is no way that you can win this bet now."

I scoff, "Have you that little faith in me?"

He rolls his eyes, "D, you have to get eleven dates and you only have until five to get them. And it's already eleven. Do you think you can do it?"

I don't respond.

"Besides, all you'll manage to do is ruin all the girls' hearts."

"Why would you say that?" I ask confusingly, turning to face him.

"Because we all know you like Casey."

My expression sinks, "What?"

Sam scoffs, "Don't play dumb, Derek. Everybody knows you're into her and if they don't, they're dense."

"I agree." A female voice states.

I turn around and am face to face with Emily.

"How would you know?" I ask confusingly.

Emily sighs, "Casey told me."

"Casey told you what?"

Are they just trying to confuse me here?

Emily sighs, "Apparently, you told Marti that you love Casey."

Sam's eyes widen and his jaw drops, "You what?"

What the…?

"How do you know that, Emily?"

Emily sighs, a smirk on her face, "Because then Marti told Casey."

Oh my God.

My head slams against my locker, "Marti told her?"

"You told Marti?" Sam shoots back in the same tone.

Casey knows I love her.

Casey knows I love her.

Adding on to my statement from earlier today:

I am so screwed.

-♥-

I step into our house that afternoon.

I didn't win the bet.

I've only been on eleven dates; I still needed four more dates to win. But I couldn't do it.

You want to know why?

Because I called Alan 'Derek' seven times.

I realize that I did the same thing last night to Cody, but this time, it really stuck out. It really made me realize something.

I'm love Derek.

No wait, let me rephrase that, I'm in love with Derek; completely, one hundred percent, head-over-hells in love with Derek Venturi. I think I might always have, even when I was dating Sam I still always thought of Derek and I never knew why; but now I do.

After the sixth 'Derek' of our date, Alan asked me if I was in the right place.

"Of course I am." I had responded, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I don't think you are." He had replied, combing a hand through his strawberry blonde hair.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think you need to be with Derek." He responded.

My jaw dropped, "What?"

"It's obvious that you're into him, Casey."

I shake my head, "It can't be obvious; it's not true."

Alan shot me a blank look; it had been obvious that he didn't believe me; "Do you love him?" he had asked.

I let out a laugh, "Do I love him? No, of course not. He's my stepbrother." I cringed when the last part of that left my mouth.

"It's okay if you do, you know. Some people may think its wrong, but I think its okay. If you're happy, then that's all that matters."

"Really?"

Alan smiled, "Really."

And now, here I am; stepping into the living room preparing to end the bet with Derek.

Edwin turns to face me from where he is sitting on the couch, "So how's my winner doing?" he asks.

I shake my head, "I didn't win, Edwin."

Edwin's face pales, "Derek won? He only had four dates when he left this morning! Did he ditch school to make the other eleven?"

I shrug, "I don't know, Ed. All I know is that I only had eleven dates today."

Edwin points towards the door, "You still have two hours, go out and find the other four!"

I roll my eyes, "I don't care about the bet anymore, Edwin."

"But I have to beat Lizzie!" he exclaims.

I eye him confusingly, sitting down next to him on the couch, "Why?" I ask, turning to face me.

Edwin sighs, "I don't know."

"Do you like her?"

Edwin's cheeks turn pink but he tries to cover it up with a scoff, "What? That's crazy talk, Casey. Of course I don't like Lizzie, she's my stepsister."

Just like Derek's my stepbrother…

I give him a knowing look and he sinks into the couch, "Yeah, I like her." He grumbles before suddenly shooting up and pointing a finger towards me, "But if you tell that to anyone, I will personally hunt you down."

I roll my eyes but laugh, "Why don't you just tell Lizzie?"

Edwin scoffs, "I can't just tell Lizzie. If you can't tell Derek how you feel and Derek can't tell you how he feels, how do you expect me to tell Lizzie how I feel?"

I eye him confusingly, "What do you mean by me telling Derek and Derek telling me?" I ask, although I have a good feeling what he means by it.

Edwin's eyes widen, "Are you that dense? Derek's into you."

I sigh, "What, did he just tell that to everybody or something?"

Edwin shrugs, "He didn't tell me, it's just obvious."

I shake my head and sigh, "It'd be too difficult to tell him."

"How do you figure? He's into you and it's obvious you like him."

I turn to face him, "How did you become such an expert on dating?"

Edwin shrugs, "I'm not an expert, I just know."

Just then, the door swings open and Lizzie steps in, Edwin's face immediately lights up and I can't help but laugh at his expression.

"Hey Casey." Lizzie says with a smile before turning to Edwin, her face holding a puzzled expression, "What's with you?"

"Nothing…" Edwin stammers; his voice jumpy.

"Okay…" she says warily, "I'm going upstairs to finish up my homework."

"You're doing your homework on a Friday?" Edwin asks.

Lizzie nods before glancing up at Edwin with a small smile, "Do you want to help me? You're better at science than I am."

Edwin jumps up from the couch, "Sure!" he says in a just a bit too ecstatic tone, "I mean, uh, sure."

Lizzie laughs before jerking her head up towards the stairs, "Let's go." She says before jogging up the stairs.

Edwin turns to face me, mouthing 'thank you' before following her up the stairs."

I watch them leave before I lean into the couch and laugh.

The front door opens again and Derek steps in, glancing towards me, "Do you just want to finish this bet right now? You already know you won."

I eye him confusingly, "You have that little of faith in yourself?"

"You know you beat me, Casey." Derek says, his face holding a blank expression.

I shrug, "Not exactly…"

-¤-

I can't help but stare at Casey as soon as I walk through the front door.

"Not exactly…" Casey says with a shrug.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask confusingly, shrugging my book bag off of my shoulder and making my way into the living room.

Casey sighs, "I only got eleven dates."

I shrug, "So? You still beat me because you got more dates than I did."

Casey laughs, shaking her head in surprise, "Who would have thought that I would beat you in dating?"

I narrow my eyes at her, "Don't get cocky with me."

Casey laughs. God, I love her laugh.

"So, I get to pick your date then…" she says nervously.

I nod, "Yeah. When's my date?" I ask in the same tone.

Casey sits up straighter; a look of confidence is spread across her beautiful face, "Tonight."

My eyes widen, "Tonight?"

-¤-

Shorter chapter, I know. But I'm starting on the next chapter right now because I finally know how I'm ending it, LoL.

Yeah, the next chapter will be the final chapter.

Anyways, thank you so much for the reviews! Sorry it took me so long to update, I'm so sorry!

Anyways, R&R and please, no flames!

Lotsa love,

degrassichick