Disclaimer: I have yet to acquire the rights of the Lifetime channel, the James Bonds movies and/or novels, and anything else that would seem odd for me to own.

A/N: Wha? An update so soon? I know, I felt motivated the past few days, although this chapter is the smallest yet, haha, forgive me. It's more like a conclusion of chapter 7.

Chapter 8: Venturi…Derek Venturi

Monday Night 8:00-8:30PM Venturi-MacDonald Residence

What ever Derek is planning, so far I do not like it.

Casey moves from her desk to the bed. She plunges face first on to the mattress; her brown silky hair blankets the bed. She pulls out her cell phone from her right pocket, and rotates her head 90 degrees to the right. Casey flips open her cell phone and scrolls down to Noel's number. She broods over the idea of calling him to see how he is doing. Hmm, calling him might be too much.

Casey's phone rings as she considers the idea of calling him.

"Hello." She answers.

"Casey! Where have you been? I've been calling you all day." Casey's best friend practically screams through the phone speaker. Casey clinches her face as she takes the phone away from her ear.

"Sorry, I had my phone turned off for awhile—," Casey manages, before being overcome by Emily.

"Is it true!?"

"Is what true? Oh." Casey replies.

"Oh? Oh, as in it's true, oh?!" Emily responds hastily. Casey thinks its better to wait for Derek to get home before telling Emily about her and Derek's newly found friendship.

"No. No. It was all blown way out of proportion. I mean, this is me and Derek we're talking about. We're complete opposites, and not to mention, family." Casey explains, "I don't even see Derek as a man, let alone a boyfriend. It's just creepy for people to think that about us." Casey snickers to herself, after saying that last sentence.

"So, you and Derek are not—. Aw, I was hoping it was true." Emily pouts.

"Em!" Casey replies.

"Well, you both live together, if you guys went out, you would see each other day and night. It would be so romantic living with your boyfriend," Emily starts fantasizing, looking up at her ceiling grinning.

"Em. You do know we're talking about Derek here." Casey reminds.

"Of course. If I could be in your body for one night, I'd definitely make the most of it," Emily cackles, imagining the many scenarios of her slipping into Derek's room in the middle of the night.

"Em, stop day dreaming." Casey says. She goes on to tell Emily the half-truth about the incident at the party.

-------------

Up in the attic, Edwin lays on his bed pondering on what to do next after watching the footage from the living room. He smirks at the contents of the footage.

"Knock, knock," Lizzie says, entering the attic.

Edwin shoots up from his bed, "What's up?"

Lizzie eyes point to the camera on his bed, "Have you watched it yet? Was there anything on there?"

Edwin's eyes wander to the camera.

-------------------------

FLASHBACK

"Alright, let's see what we got." Edwin says out loud. He skims through the boring stuff of Derek and Casey just talking and then he hits play right when Derek moves from his chair closer to Casey.

"Whoa ho ho, what do we have here?" Edwin focuses on the footage. He keeps watching intently. His facial expression slowly changes, and his jaw slowly descends, as his eyes slowly expand.

"Oh."

"My."

"God."

After reviewing all of the footage, he rewinds it and turns off the camera. A diabolical grin covers his face.

FLASHBACK

-------------------------

The same evil grin radiates from Edwin as looks at the camera on his bed. The grin vanishes as he turns back to Lizzie, "Nope, none-what-so-ever. Just showed them talking."

Lizzie smirks, "You see. I told you so." Lizzie turns around to leave Edwin's room.

"Yes, you did." Edwin sneers.

-------------

The sound of crying extrudes from the TV set along with the weeping, nose-blowing audience, as the MacDonald women watch, yet another sappy and dramatic Lifetime original movie. The front door opens, as Derek makes a very animated entrance. No one notices him. Derek observes the water drenched faces on the couch.

"Aw…Did you all miss me that much?" Derek asks in jest, hanging his jacket up. He turns around, their attention still hasn't moved from the movie. He sighs, and turns around to head up to his room.

Casey takes a glance at Derek as he walks up the stairs. Just as she returns to watching the movie, she gets a message on her cell phone, "Waiting for the downpour to end or are you coming up?"

Casey uses her peripheral vision to see what Nora and Lizzie are doing. She returns back to her phone, "Okay, be right there."

She shuts her phone, "Hey, I'll be right back, going to the bathroom," she whispers.

Nora and Lizzie just nod their heads so as to not break their concentration.

-----

Knock knock

"Enter." Derek says, staring at the door across from his desk. Casey appears.

"I've been expecting you," he interlaces his hands together setting them on the desk.

Casey looks at him oddly, "Uh I know, you just texted me."

Derek's hands break apart, "Case, Case, if this was a James Bond movie; you would've just blown your cover." Derek stands up.

Casey continues the odd glare, "I'm not quite following you."

Derek sighs, "I did not just text you, understand?"

"I didn't? Oh, I didn't," She grins, shaking her head.

"Would you like a gold star now?" Derek asks, in a baby voice.

"No."

"We have to be smart about our secret alliance you know, if we want to keep this a secret and all." He says.

Casey folds her arms, "Yeah, about that."

"What."

Casey moves closer to Derek, "What was that whole thing with Sally earlier today?"

Derek's mouth opens up, "Oh. Yes, Sally. You see, after I got to thinking, I came to the conclusion that having a faux relationship with Sally could benefit us."

Casey jaw drops, "What kind of logic is that?"

"Wait, wait, it wouldn't be long term, it would be a gradual thing, so as to not arouse any suspicion." He replies.

Casey looks off to the side, thinking of it as somewhat reasonable, "Still, you and Sally would do—."

Derek puts his finger up to her lips, "You would think that, since this is me we're talking about, but not doing stuff is part of my plan." Derek looks at her for a response.

"Continue."

"By not doing what couples should do, she'll slowly lose interest in me over time and may even become so frustrated with me, that she'll want to break up, if that's even possible." Derek explains.

Casey coughs, "Oh it's possible."

Derek smirks, "Well, your one of a kind."

Casey smiles, "That I am."

Casey's smile turns to a frown, "Hey, why didn't you tell me your little plan before I broke Noel's heart, and let him know the real truth."

Derek spins to his right, "I…uh…thought of it, after the Noel Affair… you know I can't handle that kind of stuff. Though I don't know exactly how Sally would take, I just can't take that chance."

"You coward," she scoffs.

Derek falls in to his chair, "Call me what you must, but I'm thinking about our future."

Casey sighs, and sits on the bed, "But when Noel finds out about you and Sally, he's going to wonder what's really going on between us."

Derek cups his chin with his hand, "Hmm, your right. He might think you used us as an excuse to break up with him. We can use that to our benefit."

"Derek. Noel's smarter than that." Casey replies.

"Oh, he is? I never noticed."

She rolls her eyes, "What am I going to do?" Casey falls back onto the bed.

"You could tell him that it's a one-sided love."

Casey springs back up, "What?"

Derek turns to her, "If you tell him that I didn't return the same feelings, he might take pity on you, and console you, like the good guy he is. I'm not saying get back with him, but it would keep him from speculating."

"I don't know. I couldn't do that to him." Casey replies.

"Well, we don't have many options to choose from. People at school are going to wonder why you and Noel broke up and blah, blah," Derek tells her.

Casey slaps her legs, "Alright. I guess it's the only way." A sad look dons Casey's face.

Derek picks up on it, "Don't beat your self up about it. Noel will move on, this is only high school. When he gets older he'll forget all about you."

"Gee, thanks."

"That's a good a thing, seriously." Derek affirms.

Casey stands up and brushes her thighs, "I know, I know." She says. "I'd better head on down."

Derek nods his head, "Understood."

Casey laughs. Derek winks at her.

---------

Meanwhile in the attic, Edwin has just come back from the bathroom and is mulling over the secret talk he just witnessed. He smiles, "What to do, oh what to do."

A/N: What to do, oh what to do...seriously, I have know idea what I'm going to have Edwin do, maybe something very very abnormal, iono, we'll see.

Enjoy, lates.