29/02/2008 23:23:00
I hate myself for taking this long to update. And I also hate myself for doing this: After this chapter, story is on hiatus! I'm SO sorry but with the way things are going right now I don't know how long it will be before I get to update again. I plan on taking some time, getting a ton of chapters written, then coming back and being able to post on a regular basis.
Thanks so much to everyone for all the feedback and alerts and all that jazz! It means a lot to me.
Remember that flashbacks are in italics.
Disclaimer: Although I do own Michael Seater, LWD, and all of it's affiliates, I do not own the story, Kat Culp, or Michella.
Wait. No. That's backwards.
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"You ratted him out though, didn't you? You didn't let your mom keep believing he was at hockey practice," Emily asked, after Casey finished telling her about her mom's surge of anger at her from the previous day.
"Of course! There was no way I was gonna let him off scotch free! It's all part of my 'Destroy Derek' plan."
"So what's your next step in this 'oh so hideous and cruel' plan?"
"Our next step, Em. You're in on this with me."
"Right…" Emily trailed, gulping nervously. Although she had it set in her mind that Derek's treatment of Casey needed to be rectified, she still wasn't feeling too good about what she may or may not have to do to him while being a part of Casey's planning.
"The next step is finding a girl who has zero interest in Derek to go out with him."
"Right. To make him fall for her then have her dump him. But Derek's not exactly known for falling for girls, and girls aren't known to not fawn over him so how are you gonna work this?"
"Hmm," Casey breathed, contemplating what to do. She clicked her tongue and took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm not sure about that yet. The first step would probably be having a hot girl play hard to get. You know of any?"
"Hot girls who go to this school, have no past relations with and/or have zero interest in Derek sexually? You're funny."
Casey rolled her eyes in disgust, shutting her locker and leaning against it. Emily sighed looking around the hall for ideas, when her eyes suddenly fell on the new girl. Perfect. "Nevermind. I know." She said smiling devilishly, as she turned back to Casey. "Kat."
"As in kitty?" Casey asked, her face scrunching in deep confusion.
"No!" Emily laughed resting her hand on Casey shoulder. She pointed across the hall to a tall, thin girl with long blonde hair turning the combination at a locker. "Kat. With a K."
"Ohh! New girl. That's genius, Em!" Casey squealed, standing up straight and pushing her purse straps higher on her shoulder. "Have you met her yet?"
"No , but she's in my Physics class and from what I've gathered so far she seems pretty cool. You want me to scope her out for a few days, find out her likes, dislikes, relationship status, the lot?"
"No, that would be ridiculous," Casey stated, with a wave of her hand.
"Yeah I guess that would be a little—"
"If we wait that long Derek would have already gotten to her," Casey continued. "Let's just go ask her."
Emily stuttered incoherently, reaching after Casey who was already halfway across the hall. Her body slumped, mimicking her exhausted mind due to Casey's persistence. She sighed deeply before following her across the hall all the while praying that this wouldn't get Casey put in a mental institution.
"— name is Casey Macdonald," Emily heard her finish as she stopped beside her and across from Kat. "And this is my best friend Emily Davis."
"Hey," Emily said with a small wave.
"Hi. Kat Culp," She responded warmly, gesturing to herself as she smiled back at them. "So are you guys the welcoming committee or something? Here to make sure I feel at home in a new town?"
"Well, I am student body president and an all around nice person," Emily joked causing the girl to chuckle, "But that's not why we're here… unnn-fortunately."
"Ok look I know we just met, but you wouldn't by any chance be willing to help us destroy a man by pretending to like him, would you?" Casey blurted out quickly, wide eyes looking at the girl expectantly.
One of Kat's eyebrows rose into her hairline as she chuckled, looking highly amused by Casey's question. "How very… John Tucker Must Die of you!"
"See!" Emily said whacking Casey's arm before turning back to Kat. "Well since you're new here we figured we should warn you about Derek, because you're his type—"
"Blond with boobs," Casey added.
"—And he'll probably be around any minute to hit on you," Emily continued, still in disbelief that the girl hadn't run away from them yet. "From the little bit that I've heard about you around school, you seem like a really cool person and we could really use some help with this."
"Yeah Derek desperately needs to be knocked off his high horse," Casey said with a roll of her eyes. "He can be quite charming and genuine sometimes, but a majority of the time he's just a jackass looking to score."
Emily looked over at Casey, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "He's really not that ba—"
"I'm in," Kat interrupted boldly.
"I thought that's what you'd—wait, what?!" Emily yelped her head whipping around to stare at Kat at the same time Casey exclaimed, "Really?!"
"Yeah," Kat responded, shrugging her shoulders as if what they were proposing to her was nothing new. "Not only am I excited at the possibility that I may have just made two friends not even a week after moving (albeit under… weird circumstances), but I totally get where you're coming from. My ex-boyfriend in Chicago was a chronic flirt slash jackass too. He would be SO amazing to me when we were alone and even when we were together in public but the second I wasn't around he'd be flirting up a storm with whomever struck his fancy at that moment."
"No way! It was the exact same way with me and Der— um…" Casey stopped herself, stiffening as she looked over at the still confused Emily with guilty eyes. "Uh… Derrin."
"I thought his name was Derek," Kat stated as Emily exclaimed, "Who's Derrin?"
"Derrin was an ex-boyfriend of mine from when I lived in Toronto," Casey spat out quickly, laughing nervously and pushing Emily's arm playfully. "I told you about him."
"Uh no! You didn't," Emily exclaimed, looking at Casey suspiciously.
"Wait so is it Derek or Derrin?" Kat asked looking just as baffled as Emily.
"Derek is who we are destroying. Derrin is Casey's ex," Emily explained, tearing her eyes away from Casey to look at Kat. "…apparently."
"So what did Derek do to you that makes you want to hit the destruct button?" Kat asked, looking over at Casey.
"He's my stepbrother."
"Really? Wow. Okay, umm… you really hate your family, don't you?"
"Our parents got married when we were 16 so Derek is no where close to being considered my family. He's just a— glorified housemate with a life goal to annoy me."
"Ok so resentment over being forced to live with someone you can't stand, I get why you might want to destroy him," Kat said to Casey before turning to Emily, "but why, may I ask, are you involved in this?"
"Best friend duties," Emily stated with a shrug. "And maybe a tad bit of resentment. I had a crush on him for like 10 years and the one time he asked me out it was to bug her, so I might like to see him a little flustered by a girl."
"Alright I think I'm up to speed. You dated Derrin when you lived in Toronto. He was a jerk just like you're step-brother Derek who once dated Emily here just to spite you, which makes her want to help you help me to bring down Derek by dating him and as soon as he's attached dumping him like the dog he is?"
"Exactly! You catch on fast!" Casey exclaimed, patting Kat on the shoulder. "Nice job!"
"Thanks. I'm been known to be amazing," she joked. "So what exactly do I have to do to make him like me?"
"Well maybe we could hang out after school to get to know each other better and to explain our plan in more detail," Casey said as she wrote down her phone number and handed it to her, "but for now all you gotta do is play hard to get. He's a sucker for the chase."
"Easy enough. How do I find him?" Kat asked, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and closing her locker.
"Oh don't worry about that," Emily stated as the three of them began walking down the hall. "He'll find you. He's got a hot blond girl radar implanted in his very soul."
"Well alrighty then! I'll call you guys after school and we can get together and further develop this plan of yours?"
"Sounds good to me!" Casey stated clapping her hands together happily. "Ooo, I'm so excited! Thanks so much for this Kat."
"No problem. I'll see you devious male heart-breakers later."
They waved to Kat as she walked into a classroom, Casey turning to Emily and sighing once she was out of sight. "I cannot wait to see Derek's face when Kat breaks his heart," she stated cheerfully, bouncing as she waved her fingers at Emily in a goodbye. "Tootles!"
Emily shook her head, still feeling astounded at Casey's recent drastic change in personality. Things are about to get interesting.
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"D-man! How's it going?"
Derek nodded his head, high five-ing a few guys from the hockey team as he made his way to his seat behind Sam in history class.
"Hey," Sam said looking up at Derek.
"What up man." Derek responded, slapping him on the back as he sat down.
"So how's it going in the war zone?" Sam asked.
"Just excellent!" Derek replied sarcastically. "Casey told Nora that I wasn't really at a hockey meeting yesterday which got us in even more trouble."
"Egh! Tough luck dude," Sam stated, looking at him sympathetically. "So what was the punishment?"
"Nora wanted to send us to 'couples therapy'," Derek stated shuttering, "But even Casey was against that so we and my dad managed to talk her out of it. But dude seriously, I really think Nora'll convince my dad to force us to go if me and Case keep this up. Even I know that we've been really bad lately."
"So you two are gonna start trying to get along again, like you did last year?" Sam asked looking at his friend with hopeful eyes.
"Hell no!" Derek exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in disgust. "We just agreed to not let them see us fight."
"Yeah I figured I was overshooting with the getting along thing. The only thing more impossible then that happening again would be— pft! I dunno, you guys dating or something." Sam chuckled at his own joke, shaking his head as he turned around to face the front.
Derek let out a nervous chuckle, his eyebrows raising. "Yeah… Me and Casey. Dating. You're hilarious Sam!" He shook his head, leaning back in his seat with a deep sigh.
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20 minutes into the class Derek was beyond bored. He had tried sleeping but he was surprisingly not tired, so he looked up from the paper he had been mindlessly drawing on and glanced around the classroom. His eyes fell on a girl he didn't recognize and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Hey Sam," Derek whispered, leaning forward in his chair. Sam leaned back, glancing over his shoulder at him.
"What?"
"Who the new chick?" he asked nodding his head in the direction of the pretty blonde. "And why haven't I been introduced?"
"Her name's Kat. She just transferred from Chicago. Today's her first day."
"An American? Sweet. I call dibs."
"Dude you suck!" Sam replied, his hand held out in exasperation. "Just don't do the bracelet thing again. It's getting old."
"Aw. Poor action deprived Sammy. Sorry," Derek teased, using an American accent on the word. "And the bracelet is classic. Hasn't failed me yet." He smirked as he leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head confidently. The hot new chick was his.
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Derek popped the collar on his jacket making his way down the hall, running one hand through his hair as he checked his breath with the other. He stuck his chin up and put a smirk on his face as he fell into pace with Kat.
"You must be the new girl," he stated flirtatiously, pushing his sleeve up on his right arm and running it through his hair. "I'm—"
"Wa-wa-wait, let me guess!" She said, a coy grin filling her face as she came to a stop by her locker and turned to look up at him. "You must be… Derek."
"Impressive," Derek stated, clearly amused by her attitude. "You have a habit of guessing guys names, or has my reputation preceded me?"
Casey and Emily really weren't kidding about this guy, Kat thought as she laughed flirtatiously. She pulled open her locker and put the book in her hand inside. "The former, but this time I had a little help."
"What do you mean?"
Kat reached out and pulled his wrist towards her, pushing his sleeve up and gently tugging at the bright purple bracelet reading 'Derek' in messy stitched letters. Derek forced himself to look embarrassed, redirecting his eyes to the ground as he slid the bracelet off and put it in his jean pocket.
"My, uh… haha, my kid sister made that for me yesterday. She wouldn't stop crying until I swore I'd wear it."
"Aww," Kat stated with a knowing smile, turning back to her locker to pull out a text book. "So is there a reason why you struck up this engaging conversation or did you just do it to embarrass yourself?"
"Psh! Please, that wasn't embarrassed!" Derek said pretending to pretend not to be embarrassed. He made himself chuckle nervously again, regaining his 'composure' before leaning towards her and fixing her with a smug gaze. "I've heard a few nice things about you and I thought I'd introduce myself. Maybe be your own personal tour guide around the school?"
"Aw that's so sweet of you!" Kat gasped, gazing up at him in the best 'aren't you adorable?' face she could muster.
Derek shrugged looking at the ground shyly. "It's no problem. I'm used to—"
He cut himself off as she pulled a ripe looking, orange-red peach out of her locker, his body freezing as his words trailed into a gulp.
"I told you Michella means nothing to me," Derek groaned, straddling the bench to face Casey, his left knee resting against her lower back. "We dated before I even met you!"
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, her voice taking on a slightly softer tone than it previously had had. "And you promise you haven't had any more romantic involvement with her since you set foot on this camp ground?"
Derek held his hands up in surrender. "I swear on my comic book collection."
Casey giggled, throwing her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his nose. Derek smiled back at her, reaching forward to brush a hair that had fallen out of her braid back from her face.
"Ok so let's play a game," she said clasping her hands together against her chest. She reached forward and grabbed an apple off of her lunch tray. "Say Michella is this apple."
"Cay-sey!" Derek groaned, leaning his head forward to rest on her shoulder.
"Der-rek!" Casey moaned back mockingly, pushing his head up and staring intently into his eyes.
He groaned again. "Fine. Michella is the apple. And you should know that you're the only person I ever have and ever will, let turn me into the pathetic mess you see in front of you."
"You're not a pathectic mess. You're just a big old sap!" Casey retorted, baring her teeth to him happily.
Derek looked at her in disgust. "I am not a sap!"
"Yes you are. Now stop avoiding the subject." She flashed him another grin as she held the apple up in her hand. "Okay this is Michella and I'm…" she looked around, reaching to grab a fruit off of his tray, and holding it up in her left hand. "I'm this peach. Which one do you want?"
Derek didn't hesitate in taking the apple from her right hand and holding it up, causing Casey's face to fall. Derek smirked at her as he tossed the apple over his shoulder and onto the ground. He put his hand over Casey's on the peach and pulled her closer into his body. Reaching his other hand up he placed it on the side of her neck, his thumb gently caressing the curve of her jaw.
"You know I want you peaches. I'll always want you."
Casey bit her lower lip happily and leaned forward, pressing her lips against his in a soft, lingering kiss. She pulled back and rested her forehead against his, scrunching her nose at him.
"You know I kinda wanted to eat that apple."
"Derek!"
"Sup?" he asked, as his glazed over eyes refocused on Kat. "Oh sorry."
"Are you okay? You just zoned out for like a minute."
"Oh yeah I'm cool," He said, putting the smirk back on his face, the twinkle in his eyes from before missing. "So how about that tour?"
Kat looked at him strangely for a moment before she shook her head and smiled back at him. "Thanks for the offer cutie, but I think I can find my way." She winked at him, letting her body brush against his as she walked past. She waited a moment before looking back and she smirked as she caught him checking her out.
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I originally didn't intend to have another flashback so soon but it just came out. Tell me what you think loves.