Chapter Two

(Derek's POV)

I didn't realize it at the time, but this was the day of Casey's turning point. It was a turning point for our whole family really, but I wasn't aware of that either. The day had started off normal, for me at least. Until I realize that something was missing. Casey. Where was she all day? I didn't find out until it was almost too late. I had gone to hockey practice this morning, leaving earlier than I would have liked to even be awake. I got home around 1:00pm. Around 3pm, I started to wonder where Casey was. I hadn't seen her all day. I shrugged it off, thinking maybe she was just next door with Emily, her best friend. But at 6:00, Emily called asking for Casey. I had no idea where she was.
A little while later I decided to go ask where she was.Not that I cared, I just wanted to know how she had managed to find someone else to hang out with. As I was walking out of my room to find out, I walked smack into Casey. Her hair looked wind-blown in an odd way. Like she had been riding in a convertible with the top down. She doesn't know anyone with a convertible. So, I followed her into her room, avoiding getting hit in the face by the door. I wanted some answers.

She was ignoring me. I couldn't believe it. So, i stood there. Even after she had turned her music up. I stared at her until she looked at me again. She finally turned around. "WHAT?" She was clearly annoyed. I shut her door and went over and turned down her music. I looked around to find her at her door which was opened again. "Derek, get out."

"Not until you tell me where you were today. Emily called for you half an hour ago, so don't even try saying you were over there."

"I went for a walk. Not that it's any of your business. Now get out!" She was hiding something. I knew it.

"Case, I haven't seen you since last night. You were gone before I even went to hockey practice. Where could you have been walking all day? I thought maybe you were at the library, but from the looks of your hair, you were doing something very un-Casey like." I laughed as she looked in the mirror and groaned when she saw her tangled hair. She grabbed her brush, yanking it through the knots. "So where did you really go?"

She sighed, "I told you. I went for a walk. I was downtown. It was windy today." As I opened my mouth to say something else, I heard Nora,"Kids! Time for dinner."

I opened her door and before she walked out, I said,"We'll finish this later. I know your up to something. And I'd rather know now, so I'm prepared to bail you out of whatever trouble you're going to get yourself into." She glared at me as I walked out. Yeah. She was diving into trouble head first. After dinner I decided to do some snooping.

Casey had gone to Emily's that night to watch some movies, I was grateful that I had at least two hours to look around. I searched through her entire room. I didn't find a thing. Her journal hadn't been updated for a few days. And I never would have guessed to look in her phone, even though she had it with at the time. That was a month and a half ago...

On our first real day of summer, during dinner she announced

that she had gotten a job for the summer,our whole family had been surprised. She said that she would be working at the desk of the hotel downtown. Obviously our parents were thrilled that she had a job,but the attention wasn't on Casey hat night. She had started Lizzie talking about her soccer camp that she was going to start. Maybe they thought it was strange that she wasn't going on about her job, but I think they chalked it up to her last debacle working as a waitress. Which might have been a legitimate statement, if she hadn't been clearly lying. Dad and Nora had always been oblivious as parents. I guess it was realistic, they did have five kids. But, honestly, Casey is the worst liar I've ever seen. And turning the attention to her sister was a total cop out. I decided to confront her after dinner. That Saturday that she had disappeared for the day, had stayed in the back of my mind. Maybe now I could figure out what was going on with her. It was true that she had seemed happier the past few weeks, even through finals. She still studied, but she wasn't as stressed as she normally would've been. It was then that I started to be concerned, not that I wasn't happy for the quiet, but it was just so... un-Casey.

I wasn't sure when it had happened. When I had started being able to read Casey like a book. I could tell when she was sad, angry(usually directed towards me), frustrated(at me), and I could tell when she was lying. The last one wasn't so hard. Just because she always looked so guilty when she was lying. It was all in her eyes. I could almost see her thoughts. And she had lied today. A whopper of a lie. I just couldn't figure out why she would lie about where she was working. Where could she possibly have gotten a job that she couldn't tell our parents about.

I had gone up to her room around 11pm that night. I was surprised that she was still awake, she always went to bed ridiculously early. I opened her door without knocking, as usual. She was on her cell phone when I walked in and sat down at her desk. She glared at me before saying she had to go, and hung up. She looked at me before she went to plug in her phone to charge. She wanted to know what I was doing in her room, but I decided to just sit there.

"What do you want, Derek?" she looked tired, so I decided to ask her.

"Why did you lie?"

"What? What are you talking about?" She was nervous. I looked at her face. Priceless. I chuckled.

"Where are you really working, Case?" She rolled her eyes, but sighed. I had really expected her to fight with me about this, but later I would understand why she told me.

"Derek...You have to swear not to tell anyone. Okay?"

I nodded.

"No, promise me."

"Okay. I promise I won't tell anyone. Now what's going on?"

"I got a job at a pub on the edge of downtown." She sighed again. What was up with that?

"You WHAT?" I started laughing. She stared at me in disbelief.

When I realized she was serious I looked at her. "Oh... I thought you were joking..."

"Derek, I'm not kidding. That was where I was last month. You know, the day that I had been gone... I really did take a walk. I wanted to clear my head from studying. I ended up walking all the way to the edge of town. I ended up outside this pub called THE LUCKY CHARM. Anyways, long story short, I Walked out with a job over the summer. And probably during school next year..." She trailed off and looked at me.

It took me a few minutes take all this in. When I finally spoke, what came out of my mouth was not expected. "Why did you to tell me? I mean you could have just kicked me out and said it was none of my business... I'm not going to tell anyone. I just find it hard to believe that you would want to work at a place like that. Why did you tell me?"

She sat quietly for a minute, looking a little embarrassed. Why? I don't know. She's never trusted me before. She was quiet. Finally, in a soft voice I heard, "I don't know. I guess I just thought you should know. And thanks. For not saying anything, I mean." We sat there in silence for a minute. "Can you get out now? I want to go to bed."

I smirked at her. But I stood up and walked over to the door and opened it. "Goodnight, Princess Casey."

She rolled her eyes, "Goodnight, Derek."

She crawled into bed. I stopped before I closed the door. "Case?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope your job works out." Then I walked out and closed the door.

What the hell did I say that for! I have no idea. I had lost any control I had over my mouth. I smacked myself on the forehead, climbing into bed and going to sleep.