Wow! I'm surprised that I only got one review for the first chapter. :(. Not to be annoying or anything but I'm starting to feel slightly unsure about writing this story. But inspiration has suddenly took over me. A little romance is coming in this chapter so please! Let me know if I should continue on with this story and if you like the way I'm doing it! I'm trying to give the characters some background and foundation. It can't just be all romance and fighting. Trust me, there will be a ton of that but please, I'm trying so hard with this because my heart is set on working on this. I love to write so I'm going to just keep at it. Please review! :D
Chapter 2: Take Over Control
CL
"I'm home!" Claire said as she entered into her family's apartment. "Anybody feeling decent?"
"Claire? What are you doing home so early?" Her mom Judi called from her bedroom.
"It's 8:30 at night…Wouldn't really consider it early. We finished watching Scream and we decided to call it a night." Claire took off her dandelion yellow coat and placed it on the coat hanger. She thought her mom sounded strange. She paced faster on the way to her mom's room.
"Oh. Well, are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked.
Claire entered the room to find her mom in her pajamas and bathrobe over them. Her eyes were saggy. She'd been crying.
"The real question here is…Are you okay?" The teenager frowned in concern.
Her mom sighed, a weak smile had been on her face since her daughter had entered through the door. "Yeah…I'll be fine."
Claire shook her head. "Don't lie to me…What's this all about?"
Her mom's forced smile continued. "There's nothing wrong."
The blond sighed and sat down on the end of her mom's bed. "Mom, I know you." She stared at her mom and beckoned for her to reveal what she'd been feeling.
"…How long are you planning on sitting here?" Her mom asked, sounding a little more like herself.
"Until you tell me what's wrong."
Her mom laughed, giving her pale face more color. "It's just…pre-graduation jitters. You're moving out of the house and Todd's going to start junior year…"
"God help us all." Claire gaped and giggled a little. Her brother making it so far in high school was beyond both of them. She nodded for her mom to continue.
"I'm going to miss you." Her mom breathed it out. "I promise that this…" She looked at herself in her disheveled appearance. "Is only normal because every parent has a way to deal with their kids leaving."
"Crying alone in our apartment isn't the best idea." Claire hugged her mom. "You know I'll always be your crying shoulder."
Judi smiled at her. "I love you and I know that."
After watching A Walk To Remember with her mom, Claire was beat. She laid on her made bed with its SpongeBob bed sheets and turned to her side and looked out the window. It was around midnight and it was a school night.
Yep, this would definitely take a toll on her Friday morning but it wasn't like anyone would really care about her appearance. She had really no one to impress. She was still satisfied with herself and how the night ended. Despite being full of concern and frustration, she felt a little more secure with the fact that she had three amazing people in her life: Mom, Dad, and believe it or not, Todd.
She lied in her bed, staring at he ceiling. She did have a habit of spacing out. Sometimes, her thoughts revolved around what was going in with her life, provoking a migraine. At times, her thoughts would revolve around fantasies. Meeting Logan Lerman and falling in love with him. But when she thought about it…Logan Lerman wasn't really her type anymore.
In fact, she didn't even think she had a type.
If a guy came her way and made her heart beat, he would be her type at that moment.
And somehow, she believed that day almost came.
But then she remembered who he was and how he would never even consider settling down to just be with her. They had been friends for so long. What was the point in tarnishing what they had? It wasn't like it would have worked out, anyway.
He was a magnet for trouble and she was a magnet for staying on the sidelines.
But she did have dreams. And wasn't like she was planning on sitting around , waiting for something to happen.
She got off her bed and grabbed her iPod from her mahogany desk. She scrolled through her recently added songs and decided to listened to "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts. She sighed in contentment. She would lack a few hours of sleep and somehow, she had no problem with it.
A few Rascal Flatts songs and a V-Factory song later, Claire yawned. She decided to call it a night.
Then, her Blackberry started vibrating. It was right beside her alarm clock. She grabbed it and laid back on her bed to check her messages.
Cam Fisher: Sorry Claire but I really needed to talk to you.
Claire Lyons: Obviously this is about Massie. I'm all ears. Or eyes since this is a text…
Cam Fisher: Please hear me out. You know that I would never dump Massie.
Claire Lyons: I know.
Cam Fisher: I'm back in Westchester.
Claire Lyons: Clearly.
Cam Fisher: I've been talking to Derrick about how I could get Massie to talk to me.
Claire Lyons: So what part do I have in all of this?
Cam Fisher: I just need to you bring Massie to the park tomorrow night so she can listen to what I have to say. So I can listen to what she has to say.
Claire Lyons: That's it? No duct tape or handcuffs needed?
Cam Fisher: She'll listen to you.
Claire Lyons: She'll wanna know what's up.
Cam Fisher: Everyone is going to be there. Kristen, Alicia, Dylan, and the guys.
Claire Lyons: When you put it that way…
Cam Fisher: Will you please do it?
Claire Lyons: Since you asked nicely…I will.
Cam Fisher: Thanks Claire. I owe you one.
Claire Lyons: That you do, my friend.
Claire found it strange yet not-so-strange that Cam texted her. Sure, Cam was one of the first friends she made in Westchester but she met Massie way before she ever met him. She sighed. She knew Cam was a good guy and she also knew Massie was a good person. They were just both idiots that were in love. Madly in love.
See, that's why Claire never easily fell in love.
She thought it to be stupid. She thought it would never work out for her. She had been asked out a couple of times in the past two years but no guy has ever made her heart skip a beat and made her feel like she can actually connect to him. She thought it impossible that she'd meet someone until she landed herself in college.
Or maybe after college. It seemed hopeless. She thought she'd end up getting married and then divorced a year or two later.
After all, isn't that how it always was?
It wasn't like he was going to change her mind anytime soon. If ever.
Now Claire wasn't always this pessimistic. In fact, she was considered by her friends to be one of the most optimistic in their senior class. Claire had a knack for being a great actress.
Because beneath that mask of serene joy laid something much deeper. Something that was truly sincere.
She was afraid.
But who wasn't?
She sat on her bed, leaning on her comfy pillows. She then laid back down, staring up at the ceiling that had some skylight. She was able to look at the stars and the gleaming crescent moonlight. It was a beautiful evening. A perfect one for romance.
Like almost every teenage girl in this whole dang universe, she made her own little fantasies about meeting her knight in shining armor. She thought it could happen in a coffee shop or at a carnival or at a play where she performed community theater.
Sadly, it never happened. Her hopes were so high that they came firing down.
She was exhausted and her eyes started to feel heavy.
She dreamt of tomorrow. If anything would be different. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate what she had. Don't get her wrong. She had almost everything at the palm of her hand.
So why did her heart keep yearning for something more?
Hormones, she decided. It must be these damned teenage hormones that are causing her to be a lovesick crackhead. With that, she fell fast asleep.
Well, she almost did when someone else texted her.
She groaned, putting a pillow over her face. And then her phone began vibrating constantly. Someone was daring to call her when she was trying to go to sleep.
She picked up. "Hello?"
"Sorry, Claire!" Kristen Gregory laughed a little as she replied. "I honestly couldn't wait until tomorrow to at least hint at it!"
"Kris, what are you doing calling so late? And what are you talking about? Hint at what?"
"Something interesting will be happening to you tomorrow morning. Just wait and see!" She laughed mischievously.
"How do you even possess the energy to stay up this late?" Claire yawned.
Kristen sighed. "I was too excited. I'm sorry I can't give you all the details. I was sworn to secrecy…To keep my mouth shut…Blah blah blah…"
"Okay, Ke$ha." Claire teased. "Now can I get to sleep?"
"Of course! I'm sorry…I needed to get at least something off my chest! I'm so excited!"
"Should I be afraid?" Claire asked cautiously as she got up from her bed and went to the bathroom that was within her bedroom. She flipped on the light and grabbed her hairbrush that was right by the sink. She nervously ran the brush through it. She had a habit of biting her nails whenever she felt nervous. She was trying to rid herself of the unsanitary habit and brushing her hair was another outlet for her anxiety.
"Nope. Not at all." Kristen replied. "Well, good night, Clairebear!"
"Night, Kris!" Claire laughed a little and hung up.
"Claire? Go to bed!" She heard her mom's muffled voice from a few doors down.
"Good night, mother!" Claire replied as she set the brush back where it was and went back to bed.
Her eyes fluttered and they grew heavy again. She was in for a deep slumber and her dreams would be beautiful.
But fictional. Extremely fictional.
Because he wasn't the guy she thought he was.
It was just that one night that almost changed her mind.
DH
Derrick was pensive as he dribbled the soccer ball in Cam's expansive backyard. Something about the constant kicking had relaxed him, the tension he had been feeling slowly diminishing.
He heard Cam's voice faintly in the distance.
"I'm sorry, what?" Derrick frowned as he caught the ball with his hands and walked over to Cam, who was sitting on the patio in his hammock.
"You didn't listen to a single word I've been saying for the past five minutes?" Cam feigned offense. "And I thought you were just a good listener."
Derrick sighed. "No, man. I just…can't get her out of my mind."
His best friend rolled his eyes.
"Nah…" Derrick grew defensive. "I put up with your Romeo-poetic crap every single day…24/7. A few minutes of my bitching shouldn't be a bother." He swiped his hand through his shaggy dirty blond hair. His brown eyes flashed with slight anger.
Cam put his hands up in defense. "Okay. Don't get your panties in a twist."
Derrick raised an eyebrow at him as he sat on a patio chair beside Cam, whose eyes were looking up to the stars.
"So what's on your mind, Derricka?" Cam asked, pretending to be serious and trying hard not to crack up.
Derrick brushed off Cam's stupidity. "Sammi's getting married."
"To the biggest douche bag in the world?" Cam's eyes widened.
"Yeah-huh." Derrick muttered.
Derrick's older sister Sammi was living in Washington, D.C. and she had been going out with a guy that wasn't exactly Derrick's favorite person. He was her on-again-off-again boyfriend because he wasn't ready to be tied down. It pissed the hell out of him off that Sammi couldn't let him go.
"I don't understand what she could possibly see in a guy like him." Cam said, speaking out Derrick's thought.
"Beats the hell out of me." Derrick shrugged. "I will do anything to stop that wedding."
"Over your parents' and sister's dead bodies they'll let you do that."
"My folks are being so damn ridiculous! Just because he's the son of a senator they want her to get married to him."
"Can you blame them?" Cam observed his arms, which were covered with Sharpie doodles that his cousin Katie drew on him on the way to the airport for his flight back home.
Derrick thought about it. Well, his parents really did care about Sammi. But did they ever think that she would feel secure with a womanizing, self-centered bastard?
They hadn't so much considered that.
"But did they ever think she would be happy?" Derrick asked, more to himself than to his dark-haired best friend since they were months old.
"What does it mean to be happy?" Cam thought as he got himself off the hammock and motioned for Derrick to come back inside with him so they could go to the living room.
"I don't know." Derrick wanted to shout it but it came out normally. "Everyone's got their own version of it. That's all I know."
A smile creeped onto Cam's face. "Well, tomorrow's your chance to find happiness. You're really going through with this?"
Derrick almost turned red, thinking about his plan for tomorrow. There was a girl at his school that he was absolutely crazy about. He wanted to deny it. How he had wanted so much to deny it.
He sighed as he rested his feet up on Cam's family's coffee table. He thought about her more than ever. At first, he thought he was only slightly attracted to her. Thought her to be cute and innocent and funny and smart and talented and cool and…
Sweet. But then when he realized that he started seeing her this way he knew that things were changing at a swift pace. His heart started racing and his palms occasionally grew clammy whenever she was near him. She was everything that he had never been able to find in a girl. This wasn't how he ever expected a girl to make him feel.
But she was different.
Derrick was the classic player in Westchester High's senior class. Notorious for his hook-ups at parties and for swiping the V-card in the tenth grade, Derrick wasn't one to commit so easily. However, he wasn't a pig that let his family jewels be used all the time. He never had sex after that. He, the first of so few, wanted that something special.
But he never would admit that out loud.
He knew he was being pathetic. But at least he could still make himself out to be the guy everyone admired him to be. He was fun-loving, confident, and attractive. He was dedicated at playing soccer and wanted to be the head of a successful company. Maybe the head of a big-time music label. That's why he wanted to major in business and minor in the arts. Aside from those two goals, he would never give up soccer. If his soccer career didn't follow through, at least he would have something to fall back on.
He had it all figured out. He never thought that his slacker days would end. But at one point last year during his junior career, something inside him snapped.
He really had to step it up with everything he did if he wanted to make it big. His grades were never considered mediocre but he knew he could do better. He surprised everyone around him with his sudden devotion to doing better. It shocked him most of all.
The girls swooned over him and he didn't even notice anymore. And his obliviousness to the attention he'd gotten increased when that one fateful day arrived.
"Derrick?" Claire's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Derrick was attending an interesting business party his mom dragged him to. It was like Take Your Child To Work Day: Teenage Edition. The parents would ditch the kids to have their own version of "play time" while they went off to their own, which made Derrick somehow cringe. He shook the thoughts out of his head. But he didn't expect so many kids to show up. He didn't even expect some kids he knew to be there. But then he remembered that Claire's mom had been hired a few months ago by Derrick's parents to work in accounting and as a secretary in their practice for plastic surgery.
The ballroom at Westchester's Country Club and Golf Course was located on the second floor of the grand hotel. The teens' parents were partying it up on the first floor. The atmosphere was dark with lights flashing across the ceiling. It didn't look like a business party at all. Snack tables were set up elegantly with green table tops. And apparently someone didn't forget to bring their flask to spike the drinks because the party was going at full speed. Everyone was having a blast.
Well, it really wasn't a business party to begin with. It looked better than homecoming had.
"Your mom works with my parents, remember?" Derrick's face had revealed as much shock as Claire's had.
"Well." Claire relaxed. "It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one who got dragged to this. She smiled.
Derrick smiled back. "Well, do you want me to get you something to drink?"
"Gee, Derrick…What if one of the parents spiked the punch already?" Claire joked.
He chuckled. "You're absolutely right!"
She laughed, her nose crinkling in a way that Derrick thought was cute.
Cute? What the frick's coming over me?
"I'm okay, thanks." She said. She looked absolutely stunning, in a simple royal blue dress that had a neckline that had been tied around her neck. Her light tan skin was complimented by the party dress's color. Her silver strapped heels made her a couple of inches taller but still petite in comparison to Derrick's tall stature. Her hair was naturally loose, the way she would occasionally let it be when she went to school everyday but it was wavy. And he thought his heart might start racing. He was on the verge of freaking out, not having ever felt this way about someone he's known for years.
But he had never truly gotten to know Claire.
"You look great." Derrick avoided her eyes once she noticed the way he was looking at her.
She laughed lightly, some color rising to her cheeks. "Thank you. You, too."
She took in the sight of him and usually Derrick would gloat on the inside, saying:
I know. How is it possible that something as heavenly gorgeous as me be gracing you with my presence?
But that wasn't what he was thinking at all. It was more along the lines of:
Oh my damn…Is my tie messed up? Are my pants too long? Is my hair being annoying? Is there something wrong with the way I look?
A huge smile appeared on her face. "Seriously, you look awesome."
He sighed a breath of relief and then he regretted it because she had been watching the way he reacted the entire time.
"I know." He revealed a shy grin.
She looked down at her toes, which were painted electric pink with daisies on them. Her crystal blue orbs looked up at him.
"Would you like to dance?" He asked, knowing from the second he saw her that he wanted to.
She hesitated and it…hurt him. Slightly.
Well, that's as much as his pride would let him admit to himself.
"Yeah. That'd be great." She said, nodding shyly.
He took her hand and they stepped out to the dance floor, surrounded by already sweaty teens from grinding next to each other. They were being shameless, considering their parents were only a floor down from them going crazy themselves.
"Take Over Control" by Afroman featuring Eva Simons was being played by the DJ. The pulsating beat seductively blasted through the speakers, making it possible for almost anyone to fall in love that night.
Derrick and Claire never expected to be caught in a moment like this together. But Derrick knew that he himself thought it was somehow…
Right. Like it was completely meant to happen.
A few fast songs later, "Marry Me (First Dance Mix)" by Train began to play so some couples remained on the dance floor and embraced each other. He and Claire stood there, hesitant.
He knew he just had to ask her to dance. They had officially established that they were dance partners after "Yeah (X3) by Chris Brown played.
He took her hand again and led her practically to the center of the dance floor.
She was blushing but Derrick couldn't be smug about it because…
Well, he didn't really know how to explain what he was thinking…Much less how he was feeling.
She looked so beautiful. She always had. It just took the two of them to be alone.
Technically, they weren't alone. But they were surrounded by strangers and people they barely knew. It felt like an unofficial date.
And Derrick wanted it to be the first of many dates that would be official.
The night could have ended so much better than it had. Derrick's mom texted him saying that they were leaving early because Sammi's flight back from Virginia would be arriving soon and they should be headed for the airport to pick her up.
Not that he wasn't happy that he would be seeing his sister. But he never wanted the night to end.
And now he couldn't see Claire and say one thing to her without looking like a complete fool.
"What are you talking about, man? You look fine!" Cam would say when Derrick asked him if he looked decent to say hi to her.
Kristen rolled her eyes at Derrick when he asked her that one time at the pep rally if he should go sit beside her. "You idiot! We'll both go together if it makes you practically pee your pants to gather up the courage to simply sit with her and talk to her."
He was falling hard. And he was…for the first time, afraid that a girl who had caught his interest wouldn't feel the same way.
Chapter Title based on: Take Over Control by Afroman featuring Eva Simons (epic dance song! addicition :D)
Next Chapter: Secret Admirer (Massie Block and Claire Lyons' PsOV (points of view XD)
The chapter was meant to be called Someone To Watch Over Me but I decided to move that to a future chapter so stay tuned! :)