Alright, I think I've kept you all waiting long enough….

I don't own what S.M. does but I do own everything else.

Playlist For Chapter:

Behind Closed Doors-Rise Against Perfect song for chapter! Love it.

We're Not Gonna Take It-Twisted Sister

Chapter 13--It'll Work Out

"It's a camera," Derek said in a bored monotone.

Dad's eyes narrowed at Derek. "Down stairs now," he commanded before stomping down the stairs and towards the living room. I felt my throat immediately go dry and my stomach drop. Erika did get here before I did…and she brought pictures.

"Come on, it'll be alright," Derek said, pulling me off the bed and leading me downstairs. Mom was sitting on a recliner, Erika stood smugly behind her, and Dad was pacing around the floor in the living room. Derek and I sat down on the couch in front of him.

"You went to the dance," he accused, looking at me.

"Yeah, she did," Derek said, standing up and glaring at Dad. "And she had fun with her friends during her last year of high school."

"I told her she couldn't go," Dad thundered.

"And I thought she should. I think she should go back right now actually and have fun for the last couple hours of the dance but I can tell that's not going to happen, is it?" Derek asked with a scowl on his face as I watched him with wide eyes.

"Derek," Mom warned sternly.

"This is her dream Derek! You threw your chance away so don't blow hers," Dad said angrily.

"It's not my dream Dad," I interrupted, all of their heads snapping in my direction. "It's fun but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I just want to have fun and be a regular kid who's not training 24/7 for some stupid race!" I exclaimed angrily.

"You don't know what you want. You're not a regular kid, Andy," Dad said. "You can't afford to go out and do stupid things that don't mean anything. You need to focus. You can win-you can go all the way," he said wistfully.

"I don't care if I win! It doesn't matter! I have friends here-do you know how good that feels?" I asked him. I have never had this many friends at school before. Ever.

"Is this kid one of your 'friends?'" Dad asked, using air quotes with a scowl as he shoved the camera in my face. It was a picture of me and Brady dancing together, we were both laughing and were completely oblivious to our surroundings.

"Yes. He is," I said confidently.

"That's too bad because you won't be seeing him anytime soon," Dad said.

"What?!" I asked, my eyes going wide. I can't see Brady?! What the fuck is he trying to do? Kill me?

"You're not allowed to talk to him anymore-during school, after school-it doesn't matter. If you do, we'll find out," he said, looking pointedly at Erika who just nodded to him, not much of an expression on her face.

"What?! But that's not fair!" I yelled.

"It doesn't have to be fair Andrea, this is for the best," Mom snapped.

"Right. Cell phone," Dad said, holding out his hand expectantly. I just stared at him. "If you don't give it to me now I'll just cancel it," he threatened. I gritted my teeth and handed it to him. "No more open training sessions," he told me sternly. I swear my face drained of all color. Then that means…I have no chance at all.

I slowly sat back down on the couch, staring at my hands. That's it then, isn't it? There's nothing more I can do-nothing I can say. "You can't keep her away from him," Derek said suddenly, glaring at Dad.

"The hell I can," he said confidently. "If I see her with him again we're moving back to California. I don't care if this is more convenient-this town isn't good for us and you're all lucky I'm not getting us out of here now," he said before storming out of the room, Mom trailing behind him. Okay…so I was wrong. I can see Brady…but it would probably be my last time.

"Come here," Derek said, pulling me up and crushing me into a hug as a couple of tears slid down my face. "Thanks Erika," he snapped before pulling me up the stairs and back into my room. "I'm going to go talk to Dad, you just stay here," he told me before storming out of my room.

I listened as the door to my parent's room, two doors down burst open and then snapped shut. "What is wrong with you?" Derek yelled angrily, his voice muffled from the walls. "How could you do that to her? Make her chose like that? What the hell is your problem?"

"She needs to focus Derek," Dad's voice rang throughout the house. "And ever since you've been here she's been acting up."

"Me? If you're going to blame it on me then don't punish Andy-that's not fair at all!" Derek yelled at him. "You're such a fucking ass hole that you would hurt your own daughter just so you could live your own pathetic life through her I don't want anything to do with you guys! I came here to try and fix things but they're worse than when I left. You punish Andy for having fun and you reward Erika to ruin it-I don't know which is worse," he said, a little quieter this time.

"Derek, we're just trying to-"

"-Save it," Derek said, cutting off Mom. "I'm out of here-I would've been gone days ago if it wasn't for Andy," he said before I heard their door open and then slam closed. There was a soft knock on my door. "Andy?" he called through it.

"Come in," I said quietly. He opened the door and walked over to my bed, sitting down next to me and throwing an arm over my shoulder. "Thanks," I whispered over the lump in my throat.

"It's no problem…but I have to leave," he said quietly. "I just can't stay here anymore with Dad like that-and it'll probably be better for you if I'm gone," he said with a slight chuckle.

"It's alright. It might help Dad cool down a bit," I said, rolling my eyes.

He was silent for a second. "And…I'm sorry about Brady. I really don't know how to help you with that," he said quietly, and I could tell he wanted to help me-he wanted to know what to do…but it's not his fault.

"It's alright. At least I'll get to see him…from a distance," I tacked on reluctantly. Even I knew that wasn't good enough. "What are they bribing her with?" I asked curiously.

"Same thing as usual-shopping. I heard them talking about it before I went in their room, I guess she was a little more reluctant to give you away tonight," he said, sounding a bit surprised towards the end. So was I. "I guess she has a conscious after all," he mumbled to himself, making me crack a smile.

"Do you think I could just…refuse to ride?" I asked Derek.

He shook his head with a grimace on his face. "Nope. That didn't work out so well when I tried it. You'll sit there all night-because you won't leave until you ride," he said.

I groaned rubbed my face with my hands. "This sucks," I moaned.

He sighed before his eyes turned hard. "I'm going to figure this out. I can't do much until you graduate and turn eighteen but after that…you can come live with me. You're not staying here with our psychotic parents," he said determinedly. "Just keep it up for as long as you can, okay? I'll figure this out and I'll see what I can do to end this early," he said confidently.

"Thanks big bro," I said, giving him a hug.

"I'll call and see if they'll let me talk to the prisoner," he told me.

"Good luck with that," I muttered with a snort.

"Oh, I won't need luck. My awesome skills of persuasion can win Mom and Erika over in two seconds-as long Dad's not the one to answer the phone," he said with a laugh. "And I know it's going to suck but…you're going to need to stay away from Brady. If you guys move back to California then I can't check on you as often," he said reluctantly. I closed my eyes and nodded.

"Okay," I said quietly.

"It'll all work out-I promise," he said. As many times as I've heard that in the last few weeks…I'm just not sure if I can keep on believing it.

Short but it needs be done before the next chappy-it was pretty epic though, yeah? Please REVIEW! The situation will get better-I promise. And you're all in for a surprise when you find out how :D REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Don't you love Derek???

And yes, to answer a ton of questions, Seth WILL get an imprint by the end of this story and all the other imprint stories so don't worry! Timing, my dears, is everything.

And by the way, it's impossible for Andrea or anyone in her family to turn into wolves and it's also impossible for Vi to turn into one-she has a different Dad than her brother and that's how gets it. Even though I have contemplated turning either Andy or Derek into one just to freak out the parents or…you know…be rid of them. :DDD