Hey everybody! Thanks so much for the reviews, you guys rock:)

I don't have much to say, except thanks…lol…and this chapter is MUCH longer. Haha.

Therefore, here is Chapter 2.

Enjoy!

-

R&R and please, no flames!

-

Peace, Love, & Cheerios!

-degrassichick :)

-;-

Chapter 2

-.-

"Ugh, I hate snow." Lucy mutters under her breath as we trudge up the stairs and into my bedroom.

I giggle, turning to face her. "You're in Canada now. Get used to it."

Lucy's family just moved up to Canada this fall from where they used to live in Arizona. She is just now beginning to experience her first whiff of Canadian winters, and so far, it clearly hasn't been a very great experience.

She mutters incoherently under her breath and plops herself down on my large, pink chair that is in the corner of my room. She flips the television to MTV and watches the latest music video from some recent, indie band.

"It is January 15th and you have just heard 'Business with Pleasure' here on Music Television. After the break, we have more music from the artists you crave."

I log onto my MySpace and scan through the new comments that have been left for me since I left for school this morning.

One is from Erik, who is the sweetest, most amazing guy you could ever be friends with…who seems to be very much taken by our friend Colby. The two both came out of the closet at the same time last year, after it was revealed that they had been secretly dating one another since the summer before freshman year (they are a grade ahead of us). His comment was telling me about how happy he was to currently be sick at the moment, because it meant that he got to waste away an entire day and devote it all to MySpace.

The other was from Becca, Derek's friend Sam's youngest sister. She had left it not too long before school started this morning, and she was simply telling me to make sure that I had my notes ready for History.

I hadn't had them ready, of course.

Damn me for not checking my MySpace more often.

As I am commenting back Erik, I hear the television blaring in the background.

"…we are now taking you back to the nineties. Here are the Backstreet Boys with 'As Long as You Love Me'."

I immediately cover my ears. "Turn it off!" I shriek.

Lucy sends me a dumbfounded expression before putting the TV on mute. "I happen to like that song, thank you very much. That Nick guy is really cute."

I snort. "If you're going to even say that one of them is cute, at least go for the curly headed guy; you know, with the creepy highlights and the big smile. He dated Britney Spears, I think."

Lucy throws back a puzzled expression. "You mean Justin?"

"Yeah, yeah, that guy." I say, nodding, barley paying attention to my friend.

Lucy shakes her head. "I can't believe I call you my Canadian best friend." She says towards me.

Come again?

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Pardon?"

"Justin is in NSync, you idiot!"

Damn it. She's right.

"I knew that." I say quickly, nodding my head. "I was just testing your boy band knowledge. You passed. Yay Lucy!" I say quickly, grinning at her sheepishly.

She smirks at me, shaking her head. "You're a dork." She laughs before un-muting the television.

"I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did…as long as you…"

I drown out the whiny pitches of the boys singing on the television and retreat back to MySpace, noticing a familiar name that has posted a bulletin.

"Like Music?" was the title of the bulletin, and its poster was Donnie.

I clicked on the bulletin and scanned over it.

"Not until you've listened to Osmosis Oswald, you don't.

Most kick-ass, indie band in the history of kick-ass, indie bands.

…if only more people actually listened to indie bands.

Therefore, I demand you all listen to my MySpace song immediately."

"Oh my God." I declare, reading over the bulletin a second time.

"What?" Lucy asks, not even bothering to take her eyes off of the television.

"Donnie likes Osmosis Oswald. I have never met anybody who likes Osmosis Oswald." I say, beaming in surprise.

"Who's Osmosis Oswald?" Lucy asks confusingly, glancing over towards me.

I point my finger at her, snapping. "Exactly."

She shrugs in confusion and turns back to the television. It's only a few moments before she turns her body to face mine once more. "And who's Donnie?"

-;-

I step back inside my house after my swim meet to find my house empty.

Of course, my house is empty. And of course, nobody in my family bothered to show up to the swim meet that I won for our team.

I roll my eyes, raking my hands through my hair, causing it to stick up even more-so as I make my way up the stairs and into my room.

My parents hate the fact that I'm not my brother. They have been pushing for me to attend Georgetown since I've known what college is, and it only got worse when Andrew got accepted, and then he met his perfect-Georgetown-girlfriend, and they're going to run off to Canada and produce perfect-Georgetown-babies. It makes me sick, really.

It gets pretty bad when your own girlfriend wants you to go to the same college that your brother and parents want you to go to.

But, alas, Jane does. Jane wants us both to go to Georgetown. She wants me to be the all-star swimmer, and she'll be the hotshot volleyball player.

But, I want to be a journalist, preferably for music.

I drop my duffle bag on the floor and log onto MySpace, quickly changing my song to my latest band obsession, Osmosis Oswald, and posting a bulletin about it.

Not even three minutes after it's posted and I already have a new comment.
I click on the comment and read the name of the poster, Marti the Monster.

I hadn't spoken to her since Christmas, so it was strange seeing that she was the one who left me a comment.

Wow, an Osmosis Oswald fan? I'm impressed. And here I thought I was the only one. Do you have their EP import from New Zealand?

I shake my head at the comment, no way.

There is no way that this girl can have the EP import from New Zealand. The label only released five hundred copies of it across the globe.

I quickly type back a response and impatiently wait for her answer.

I don't think I've ever met another Oswald fan, actually.

But, no, I don't have the import. And I'll probably collapse if you tell me that you do.

Her response comes back quickly.

Collapse away.

No. Way.

-.-

The giggle that I give towards Donnie's response to me telling him about owning the Osmosis Oswald import causes Lucy to glance over at me, raising a curious eyebrow.

"What?" she asks confusingly.

"Nothing." I say shaking my head.

"Oh, something between you and Donnie?" she drags his name out dramatically.

I roll my eyes. "If you must know, yes. But not in that sense. I barely know the guy, and we wouldn't even be talking if his brother wasn't engaged to Casey."

Lucy shrugs and turns back towards the television, zoning me out once more.

You're not serious.

I smirk and type back to him.

Oh, I am deadly serious.

-;-

"Hey there baby brother." Andrew chirps, sauntering into my bedroom.

"Hey." I say, closing my laptop shut.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

I shrug. Like you care.

"Just commenting on MySpace." I say simply.

"Who are you commenting?"

I shrug. "Friends. Why?"

"Girlfriends?" he asks, nudging me knowingly.

What is WRONG with you?

"A girl, yes. A friend, not exactly."

Andrew sighs. "This is your senior year, baby brother. Date as much as you can. But be sure to pay attention to your studies, because if you want to get into Georgetown-"

"Andrew." I cut him off. "I've already applied to all of my universities and I didn't even apply to Georgetown." I then reply, as an afterthought, "And I have a girlfriend."

Andrew shoots me a shocked expression, as if I had just admitted to being deeply in love with Heath Ledger, and completely dismisses my "girlfriend" comment. "You didn't? Since when have you not wanted to go to Georgetown!?" he fires off. "Where did you apply?"

I tick off the colleges with my fingers, "UCLA, NYU, University of Texas, University of Toronto, University of Colorado, University of Wyoming, and Maine."

Andrew snorts, eyeing me confusingly. "Maine? What's in Maine?"

"One of the greatest swimming programs in the country." I say offensively, scoffing towards my brother.

"And Toronto? That's in Canada!"

"And I thank you kindly for the geography lesson." I mutter, rolling my eyes up towards the ceiling, waiting for my brother to finally leave my bedroom.

But, Andrew doesn't take my telepathic hint that I clearly am not doing a good job sending to him. Because he simply drabbles on in typical Andrew Wilder-fashion. "Casey's from Canada."

I nod. "Very good, Andrew." I say, rolling my eyes towards him.

He pauses momentarily before eyeing me confusingly. "And Wyoming?"

Oh, this is going to be a fun evening.

-.-

"Yo, Martster!" I hear the familiar ring of my oldest brother's voice as he is charging up the stairs. He swings open my bedroom door, and I am met with his scruffy, brown head of hair.

"Hey." I throw back up at him from where I am currently intrigued by dividing my time between checking out music videos and texting Erik on my burnt-orange EnV, not even bothering to look away from my screen or take my attention away from the cell phone sitting on my lap.

"Hey Derek." Lucy says flirtatiously, leaning her head back over the back of my pink chair, her sleek, black hair falls over her pale face as she grins at him upside-down.

"Hey Luce." He throws back with a smile before glancing up at me. "That much MySpace time isn't good for a frosh, Marti." Derek jokes.

I shake my head at him. "I'm not on MySpace, I'm on YouTube."

Derek holds his hands up in surrender form towards me. "Forgive me." He snipes. "What'cha watching?"

"The new Osmosis Oswald video." I toss back, grinning wildly.

Derek nods. "I'll pretend to know who they are." He says. I roll my eyes at his ignorance and he quickly changes the subject. "We're going out for dinner in five."

I sigh and exit out of the internet, closing the lid to my laptop. "Where at?"

"Does it matter?" he shrugs back towards me before turning and making his way back into the hallway.

Lucy beams after he is out of visual distance. "Your brother is so-"

She nearly falls off of her chair when Derek pops his head back in. "You're welcome to come with us, Lucy. My friends, Daniel and Amy, are coming, so it should be pretty decent."

Lucy quickly straightens herself up and smoothes down her board-straight hair. "I'm good, actually. I'm probably wanted back at the prison, it's almost meal-time, and warden gets angry when we're not in our cells when he comes to check in on us." She jokes, she glances back towards me and my brother. "So, I'm just going to…go. Now." She stammers. "See you tomorrow, Marti." She tosses towards me and weaves her way around Derek, giving him a final, nervous look, before she hurdles herself down the hallway.

I shake my head, laughing and standing up as I cross my arms over my chest and glance towards my brother, while dropping my cell phone into my purse and draping it over my shoulder. "So, how does it feel to have all of the little fourteen-year-old girls obsessing over you?"

Derek chuckles, dropping his arm over my shoulder as we make our way off down the hallway. "Like a typical Wednesday." He says dazedly, and I slug him in return.

-;-

"What is that?" Jane asks, wincing towards me and plugging her ears.

My eyes widen towards my girlfriend from where we are sitting in her bedroom, open French IV books in our laps. "Osmosis Oswald!" I say, as if she should be ashamed of what she just asked. "It's their new video."

She rolls her eyes, smiling towards me softly. "Well, we need to study. So, they have to go." She says, leaning over our textbooks and sweeping her hand over the finger pad on my laptop.

"NO!" I shout overdramatically, diving my hand under hers.

Regardless, one of us hits the mute button. I am now watching lead singer, Kenny Doges, mouthing along the lyrics silently.

"Pure evil." I mutter towards her, closing the lid to my iBook and sitting it down on the floor.

She grins back at me and presses her lips to my cheek. "Hope that helped your impression of me."

I can't help but grin back towards her. "Only mildly." I say before pushing my lips back against hers.

She grins against my lips and kisses me back momentarily.

Next thing I know, her small hands are pressing against my chest bones, shoving me back from her. "We have to study, Don."

"I am studying…anatomy and chemistry." I throw back, leaning my face back into hers.

"Donnie!" she squeals, laughing as she pushes me back once more.

"Come on, you know this stuff backwards and forwards." I press. "You could recite it in your sleep, if need be. In fact, I could give you the test right now and you would pass. With a solid A. "

"Well, you don't know it backwards and forwards." She throws back. "Therefore, I am not only studying for my sake, but for yours as well."

"What kind of a girlfriend are you?" I throw back sarcastically. "Not giving your boyfriend of a year and seven months the pleasure of practicing the art of French kissing. See? I am studying."

"I'm a very good girlfriend." She laughs. "The kind that is helping her boyfriend get into Georgetown."

Well that killed the moment.

I throw myself back into her neat stack of pillows on her bed. "I didn't even apply to Georgetown, babe."

She sighs. "You could still win the scholarship though." She suggests weakly. "If you win that, you immediately get into Georgetown."

"That's a swim scholarship." I groan. "I don't need French for that."

She rolls her eyes at me, "You still need to study." She says, swatting me with her hand.

I sit up and growl towards her. "I'm dating a dictator."

"That's Miss Dictator." She throws back, winking.

"Smartass." I say, narrowing my eyes at her and sticking my tongue out at her.

She shrugs. "Yeah, but you love me."

I laugh and tackle her.

"DONNIE!" she exclaims.

"You can't say stuff like that and expect me not to jump you." I say from where I am hovering over her, staring down at her wavy blonde hair that is splayed across her bed, framing her porcelain face. "Now can we please make out?"

She shakes her head at me, her lips pursed into a smug smirk.

Next thing I know, the lights are shut off, and we are rolling across her bed; our textbooks lying on her hardwood floor, forgotten.

-.-

"How's French coming along, Marti?" Derek's best friend, Amy, glances over towards me knowingly.

"A-minus, thank you very much." I say smugly, grinning triumphantly.

"It's a good thing." Derek snorts. "Otherwise, you'd be so screwed when you go to France over spring break."

Amy grins. "I totally forgot about that! Who are you going with?"

I wince. "Currently, nobody. None of my friend's parents will let them go."

"Casey would go with you, Marti." Nora says, glancing up at me from the other end of the table.

Derek flinches at the name-dropping of his ex-girlfriend.

Oh, yeah, and our step-sister. Interesting, eh?

Lizzie snorts. "I'd go with you."

"Eh hem." Edwin clears his throat in a completely obvious reference to the fact that he's, in fact, not clearing his throat.

"If I wasn't going to BC with Edwin." She throws back, smirking at him.

"Much better." He says and presses his lips softly against her mouth, grinning against her lips.

Oh, yeah, Lizzie's my other stepsister…and Edwin's my brother.

Nora really should have had a son too, then I wouldn't feel so left out of this whole ordeal.

"Did you know that the French don't shave under their arms?" Amy's husband, Daniel, fires out randomly.

Derek scoffs, smirking. "Nice."

Amy shoots Daniel a very disapproving look. "My mother is French."

Daniel grins sheepishly before bursting into tune. "Have I told you lately…that I love you?"

She chuckles beside him and shakes her head at him before nuzzling her nose against his own. "I love you, you stereotypical jackass." She sighs against him.

Seriously. Couples like Amy and Daniel are just so cute that you want to take a very large amount of sleeping pills before going to bed.

But, they're adorable, so you can't hate them. And that is what sucks about the whole ordeal.

"Lizzie actually has made it through the first semester with a 3.8 grade point." My dad says proudly. "That's the highest GPA she's ever had."

"Aw." I say, glancing towards him. "Thanks for the overwhelming burst of confidence."

"Hey Marti." I hear an awkward, male voice come from behind me.

I turn around in my seat and am face-to-face with Colin Davies, a sophomore at Thompson.

"Oh." I say, dabbing at my face with a napkin. "Hey Colin."

"Hey Colin…" I hear Derek mocking flirtatiously in the background towards our family and Amy and Daniel.

"Are you ready for Kessler's alg exam tomorrow?" he asks me.

Colin, although bright in every other subject, is in my algebra class as opposed to geometry, which majority of the rest of the sophomore class is taking.

I wince. "For the most part." I say weakly. "I still think that anybody who assigns a test this early into a semester is prime evil, though."

He laughs. He has a cute laugh. "I whole heartedly agree."

I give him a close-lipped smile.

"Well," he says, jerking his thumb back towards a nearby table, "I better get back to the family. It's my brother's birthday, so we're celebrating."

I nod my head, smiling. "Okay, well, tell your brother 'happy birthday' for me." I say.

He nods. "Okay, I will. See you tomorrow." He says, giving me one final smile before turning and making his way back towards the table.

I turn around and smile to myself.

It's nice to be loved.

"So," Derek says, placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his clasped hands jokingly, "how does it feel to have all of the upperclassmen obsessing over you?" he says, tossing back my question from earlier today.

I glance at him, a smirk playing at my lips. "Like another day at Thompson High."

Derek grins widely, glancing around our table proudly. "She takes after me."

-;-

Ha! A longer chapter!

Anyways, I hope you guys liked it!

R&R and please, no flames!

-

Peace, Love, & Cheerios!

-degrassichick :)