A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I just have not had any inspiration lately. But here's the next chapter.
Chapter 7 All but the Parents
Derek's POV
It had been almost a month since that first kiss and still no one knew about Casey and I being together. Not even Sam, who was the most supportive. He kept asking, but I couldn't say anything. Casey and I hadn't really talked about telling anyone so I didn't want to betray her trust by telling Sam too soon.
I was laying on my bed after dinner. I knew she and I were the only ones in the house, but it had only been five minutes and I didn't want the family walking in on us, so I hadn't made it to her room yet. In all honesty, I was sick of hiding what we had. I wanted to show everyone that we were together. I wanted to be completely cliche and yell it to everyone in the school. I know, THE Derek Venturi being a cliche romantic. But I couldn't help it.
I heard a knock at my door and grinned. "Yes, Casey?"
She came in and I knew instantly that this wasn't a pleasurable visit. At least, not now. Her face was set and instead of coming right to me she sat in my desk chair. Either this was really bad or it was really, really bad. She seemed kind of on the edge.
I, knowing this was important, sat up and looked at her while she sat for several minutes in silence. "I've been thinking about us."
That worried me. What was she sick of me already? I'm the one known for moving from girl to girl. Sure, she's been different the last month or two, but Nora said that even in her old life, Casey was more of one-guy girl. She made out with lots of guys, but she didn't date tons of guys and stuck with them for a while. I thought a month just wasn't long enough for her to get sick of me.
She must have seen what I was thinking in my eyes because she laughed and shook her head. "No, Derek, I don't want to break up with you." She paused. "I just think that maybe we would let people know we're going out. I mean, honestly, all the girls in school keep hanging all over you. They never did that when you were dating Kendra. They glared at Kendra, but they didn't hang all over you. I don't like it."
It was my turn to laugh at her. "You know, I could just tell them to stop and they would. I don't like them hanging all over me, either, and the only reason I didn't tell them to stop was because I figured you'd get mad at me for doing something unusual."
She sighed and fixed me with an amused look on her face. "Derek, I know you better than that. You've been wanting to tell everyone for a month."
"We've only been together a month."
"Exactly."
I stared at her for a moment, contemplating what I said next. Do I tell her that I want everyone to know that she is mine and no one else can have her? Do I tell her she's wrong and I have no strong feelings either way? That was out, she would know I was lying. The last time she caught me lying to her she wouldn't kiss me for three days, and that was just about where I put me English book. "I want to tell people, but I won't if you don't want me to."
She seemed to have rehersed what she wanted to say before she came to my room. "I don't want to tell everyone yet. I don't care if you tell Sam, and I'm going to tell my friends. Also, I think it would be safe to tell Ed, Liz, and Marti, but I'm kind of on the fence about George and Mom. Jazz says that if I tell Mom she will disown me, but I don't think her reaction would be that extreme."
"Dad's would be. Look, for the parental units' sake, how about we just stop fighting as much and act like more of a 'we've-been-together-so-long-it's-not-even-funny' kind of couple, who you think is a couple, but it isn't glaringly obvious. That way they can get used to the idea, before we actually come out and tell them." Ok, so I had thought all of this through as well. I also already knew my back-up plan.
"That sounds reasonable."
I frowned at her. "You sound surprised. Have you that little faith in my abilities to actually think?"
"I have never had any doubt that you had the ABILITY to think. The DESIRE was the issue." We both laughed. "I'm not really surprised, and I do like the idea. The only question now is, what about school. If those girls don't get away from you I will rip their heads off, but if we show everyone we're a couple there, Mom and George will get a call from the principle or Paul or someone."
She was right. "I'll tell the girls to lay off. I'll tell them that I have a girlfriend."
"And when they ask who she is?"
"I'll say something about her being from another school. I'll say I met her at a hockey game, which, isn't even really false."
"The second part. Not that you care, lying is easier for you than telling the truth."
I shook my head violently. "Not anymore. THe consequences are far to great."
She laughed. "So, I guess we have all of that figured out now."
I nodded. "It would seem so."
She stood up walked towards me. "What ever shall we do now?"
I pulled her down into my lap as she stradled me and let my mouth remain centemeters from her's. "We'll think of something, I'm sure." And I kissed her. Pure bliss. And now I was even able to tell Sam.
Casey's POV
Emily still isn't speaking to me. I keep passing her in the halls and she won't say anything. We are about to graduate and she is seriously going to abandon me like this. I haven't told her about me and Derek. Why make her even more mad at me?
But after talking to Derek last night, I really want to show off what we have. Ok, so I've wanted to show off what we have, I just don't think we should for our family's sake.
We told Ed, Liz, and Marti last night after they got back. They all told us that they were actually about to lock us in a closet until we got together. We were both happy about that. The kids even said that they would keep it a secret from Mom and George. I know that Derek was also planning on telling Sam today.
And suddenly Sam was beside me. "Hey."
"Hey."
"Derek told me, and I just wanted to say congrats. I've known about his side of things for a while and I'm really happy you two are on the same page."
He was walking with me to my next class, which we had together, and we turned down an empty hall. "Derek also told you to keep it secret, right?"
Sam nodded and I laughed. "Well, you're doing a very good job of talking in code. Thanks for supporting this. I know it means a lot to Derek, and it means a lot to me, too."
He smiled. "Behind you 100!"
By last period I was so ready to be home. Derek and I were going to be home alone until dinner time. I don't remember why, but I also don't really care. I'll look it up right before they get home, so that I can ask the right questions. But the day had been hell. Emily was becoming increasingly hostile. Not only did she not talk to me, but she outright glared at me whenever I have to be in the same room as her. While I tried really hard not to care that she didn't want to be my friend anymore, I couldn't ignore her blatant hatred of me.
As I made my way to the car after school I heard feet running up behind me. I turned around and saw Derek running over. "Into the car! Quick!" He unlocked the door for me and I jumped in.
I looked at him as he peeled out of the parking lot. I was completely confused. "Derek, was there some sort of problem at school?"
He nodded.
I waited. "Are you going to explain it to me?"
Again, he nodded.
Again, I waited. "Derek! Now!"
He licked his lips. "Well, I did what I said I would. I told those girls that I have a girlfriend and she goes to a different school. They didn't take it too well."
"What did they do?"
"They said that they would follow me around until they found out who it was and then they would kill her." He paused. "I figured if I got out of there fast enough, we could get home without them following us."
"Derek, every girl in school knows where you live."
He nodded. "I know that, but I meant that there would be no way, if we got home soon, that they could catch us together."
"You don't think they can look through windows?"
He smirked. "Well, I kind of figured we'd be in a bedroom."
I laughed at him. "That cocky attitude will get you into trouble some day, Derek Venturi."
"Yeah, but not with you."
"Oh, eventually it will."
He pulled into the driveway and we went into the house. I knew that Derek wanted to go straight upstairs, but I was feeling evil so I went to the kitchen. He followed me and waited at the bar for me to finish getting a snack for the two of us. As soon as I had put everything away and was sitting down, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his lap resting his chin on my shoulder. "What are you doing?" I whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back.
I laughed. "Answer my question."
"I am trying to keep my girlfriend from being evil again and leaving me alone in the room without so much as one kiss."
"Is making out all you think about?"
"No. In fact, right now I don't care if we make out or not, I'm just very comfortable and don't want to move."
"Derek, we're on a stool."
He nodded against my shoulder. "I know."
I turned my head to kind of look at him. "You really feel that comfortable just because of me?"
He looked up at me. "Yep."
I smiled, kissed his nose, and peeled his arms away from my waist. He pouted at me and I laughed at him. "I'm just going upstairs, Derek." With that statement he smirked at me and chased me up the stairs.
Derek's POV
School was hell. Of course I had always thought that classes were hell, but I normally liked the halls. But that day was bad all over. People kept whispering behind my back and looking at me with disgust. I wasn't used to that.
It wasn't until lunch time that I saw Sam and he told me what was going on.
As he sat down he looked nervouse. "What?" I snapped, and I didn't mean to. "Are you too embarassed to be seen with me now?"
He glared at me. "D, I've been your best friend for twelve years. I'm not going to be embarassed by you in only one day. I'm nervouse because I have to tell you what is going on."
I stabbed at my food. "What is going on, Sam?"
"Emily found out about you and Casey."
I frowned. "Casey told her?"
Sam shook his head. "No. She claims that she saw you guys being all lovey yesterday. She is also saying that this has been going on for at least a year and she only just now had actual proof."
"Which makes Kayla defensive, since that would overlap when we were dating."
Sam nodded.
"So, what is the school concensus?"
Sam shrugged. "Actually, not as bad as you might think. Everyone is a little shocked, but they aren't grossed out by it. In fact, many around here seem to think that it might not be a bad thing. I've heard several people comment on how happy you and Casey have looked lately." He took a bit of his food while I processed that. "In all honesty, I think Emily's plan for humiliation has backfired. Maybe if you and Case explain, right now, that it has only been two months then Kayla will stop."
I nodded. "Do you know if Casey knows about all this?"
Sam nodded. "She asked me to tell you to meet her in the library after you're done eating."
I nodded and started to scarf my food down. Sam kind of laughed at me, but I had to get to Casey as soon as I could. As I swallowed the end of my lunch I stood and slapped Sam on the back. "Thanks, man. You have no idea how much having you behind me and Casey means to me."
"No problem, man."
I headed strait to the library. When I got there I went to the back of the room and looked along those tables for Casey. Naturally, she was the only one in there at lunch time. I rushed over to her and sat down, putting my arm over her shoulder. I could see she had been crying. "You ok, baby?"
She nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm done crying about it."
She leaned her head on my shoulder and I leaned my head on her's. "What do you want me to do?"
I could feel her frown, then she sat up and I could see it. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Sam said that there aren't very many people who actually think us dating is gross or anything. What do you want me to do to keep the few who are quiet?"
She smiled. "If there are few, then who cares?"
I smiled back. "You really don't care about the nay-sayers?"
She shook her head. "I really don't. In fact, I was just thinking, before you got here, that maybe this is a good thing. In all honesty, I didn't want to keep everything secret. I think that we should still try to keep this from Mom and George for now, but I'm kind of glad that the student body knows. Now, even if they don't like it, we still don't have to hide it everywhere."
I smiled even wider. "Good." I leaned in and kissed her. "And, just so you know, Sam said there is no way he is gonna back down from supporting us."
"I'm glad." She leaned against me again and gave a sigh of relief. Things were going to be ok.
Casey POV
I had to get to the bottom of that rumor. I knew it came from Emily and all, but I wanted to know where she got her information. I actually figured she was just speculating.
I walked up to her after school and glared. "Where the hell do you get off spreading rumors about me?"
Emily put a hand on her hip and glared right back at me. "I'm not spreading rumors, I'm spreading truth. I saw you and Derek making out in your kitchen yesterday."
I was confused. "Where were you?"
Emily smiled as if triumphant. "I was in your backyard. I was intending to talk to you, to tell you I was sorry and I shouldn't have been reacting the way I was. Then I realized that I was actually right."
I stared at her a moment. "Ok, me and Derek are together. But it has only been for the last month or so. I didn't change my look to get him, I changed it back to what it used to be. So backoff, Em."
At that moment I felt an arm slip around my shoulders and my head turned towards the arm's owner. Instantly Derek's lips were on mine. As he pulled away, he grinned at me. "What's up, baby?"
I smiled back. "Nothing. We ready to go?"
He nodded and looked at the people around us, all of whom were staring in complete silence. Derek's eyes darted from person to person as he smirked. "You can look, but if any of you try to touch my Casey I'll kick your ass, I don't care what gender you are."
Before anyone could say anything we were walking down the hall towards the door. As we walked out of the school I noticed more and more people smiling at us and a couple even clapped. I smiled at Derek and he kissed me. Things were going to be ok.
A/N: So, how was this chapter? I know there will be at least one more chapter, but I'm going to decide that after the next chapter. Review!!!!