Okay. Sorry for the wait. I had a lot of things I had to do, and I couldn't find time to finish this…

Anyway…

OMG, SECOND TO THE LAST CHAPTER :O

Title: All We Are – One Republic

I could tear you apart
but it won't break anything that we are

"Massie? Massie!" Alicia Rivera called out, snapping Massie Block out of her trance. Massie jerked and looked at her. "Yeah?"

"You've been spacing out the whole day," Alicia pointed out.

"More like the whole week," Claire Lyons added.

"That's not true," Massie protested. Has she? Has she been spacing out the whole week? Massie looked back. There was that time in Art class. And then in English. And Algebra. And Trigonometry. And PE. And History. And…yeah.

Oh. So she was.

"Plus, there is this whole apathy thing. Like, you didn't even care that you failed that one worksheet in English, and I know that you're supposed to care, because you pride yourself in knowing all about Greek Mythology, and not just from reading Percy Jackson," Dylan Marvil pointed out.

Massie shrugged.

There goes that apathy again.

"Are you okay, Massie? Because you keep telling us you are, but we keep on doubting you because of your behavior," Kristen Gregory said, surveying the brunette.

"I'm perfectly fine," she said.

But they kept doubting her.

-o-

"What are we supposed to do?" Derrick Harrington asked his teammate, Dempsey Solomon.

"Run laps," Dempsey said before running off.

"Right," Derrick said before her ran off in the same direction as Dempsey.

"Dude, what's up?" Cam Fisher asked, slowing down to talk to Derrick.

"Nothing," Derrick said vaguely. "Just…nothing."

"You know, you've been kind of disoriented and scatter-brained this past week," Cam said.

"I know, man," Derrick said, looking back. There was that time in Art class when he was supposed to be drawing a forest, and he ended up thinking he was supposed to draw a zoo. And a time in Trigonometry when he was supposed to get the missing angles using that weird SOHCAHTOA method. And he thought it was SAHCOHTOA. He failed the worksheet given at the end. So, yeah, he wasn't paying attention, and he was confused as to what he was supposed to do most of the time.

"You okay?" Cam asked.

Derrick shrugged, like it was no big deal.

-o-

Massie immediately went home after school, heading straight into the Main House and not looking out her window at all.

"Darling!" her mother called out the moment Massie went through the door. "I have some great news for you!"

"Okay?"

"But don't tell your father yet, okay?"

"Sure?"

"Are you ready for my big announcement?" her mother asked, looking at her daughter expectantly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm pregnant!"

"Really?" Massie said, feigning shock. Is it weird that this wasn't fazing her at all?

"Yeah! Isn't this so great?"

"Yeah! Oh, my gosh, I'm going to be an older sister!" Massie said, still feigning happiness and excitement. Shouldn't she be excited? This was big family news!

"I know!" her Mom said, small tears forming in her eyes. "But don't tell your father, okay?"

No chance of that. She was probably too apathetic to be excited to tell him. "I promise," Massie said, smiling.

"Good. Now go to your room. You look tired, sweetie," her mom said, brushing her daughter's hair back.

Oh, you have no idea. "Thanks, Mom," Massie said, then added, "And congratulations."

When she got to her room, she flopped down on her bed and just stared at her ceiling, too tired to do anything else.

What kind of older sister would she be?

-o-

"Pass the sugar, Derrick," Sammi Harrington said during dinner time, looking at her younger brother.

"Here," Derrick mumbled, handing her the mashed potatoes.

"Sugar, Derrick. Sugar, not mashed potatoes," Sammi pointed out, standing up and reaching across the table to get the sugar, even if that was considered improper table etiquette.

"Sorry," Derrick vaguely said.

"Derrick, are you okay?" Pauline Harrington asked her son.

"Actually, Mom, no, I'm not," Derrick admitted, and his mom's face turned worried.

"Are you feeling sick? Should we set up an appointment with Dr. Wood?" his mom asked.

"No, no need for that." Derrick hated Dr. Wood. "Can I just skip dinner?"

"Sure, honey," Pauline said, that worried expression still on her face.

"Thanks, Mom."

-o-

In the middle of the night, Massie was still in her school clothes, still staring up at the ceiling, when she had an epiphany. And epiphany that was so obvious it's a wonder she took this long to realize it.

She had to do something.

Massie knew she had to do something. If she wanted him back, she had to do something. She knew Derrick. He would never make the first move. So, she had to do it. And she had to do it now.

It was two a.m. in the morning, but she grabbed her coat and slipped off her noisy flats. She grabbed her phone and grabbed a new pair of quieter canvas sneakers before sneaking barefoot out of her house.

When she got to the road, she slipped on her sneakers before she turned around and looked at her house. Oh, gosh. Derrick's house wasn't that far; still, it would be a lot faster if she wasn't walking there. It made her wish she knew how to ride a bike(yes, she did not know how to ride a bike, thank you very much).

She sighed and started walking.

-o-

After eight minutes of walking, Massie realized something.

She was completely losing her mind. She was going insane. She was crazy.

And, really, she didn't really care.

-o-

Massie was five minutes away from Derrick's house when she thought of something else that was crazy.

And, since she was already doing something completely out of the ordinary, she decided to just do it.

So she grabbed her phone and called Derrick. She was relying on the fact that it was almost two-thirty in the morning, and Derrick wouldn't bother checking who was calling him. He would just answer, and be too shocked and confused and groggy to hang up on her or something.

He picked up after the seventh ring, with a bleary but clearly annoyed "What?"

"Derrick, don't hang up," Massie said, not bothering with formalities.

"Massie?" he asked, his voice sounding clearer and less sleepy.

"Yes, and I don't care if you don't want to talk. I want to talk and don't hang up," she said.

"Massie," he said, sounding slightly exasperated. "It's two-thirty-seven a.m. Can we please talk tomorrow? You know, when the sun is up."

"No," Massie said, and before he could ask why, she answered. "Because tomorrow, you'll just avoid me and not talk to me. So, no. We talk now."

"What do you want to talk about?" Derrick asked, and Massie felt relieved. She knew that tone of voice. It means he was resigned to the fact that he won't be able to get out of this. He would talk to her.

"I want to talk about us."

"Us?"

"Yes, us."

"Massie." He sighed. "There is no us."

"No, Derrick," she countered. "There will always be an us. No matter what happens."

"Fine. What do you want to say?"

"I want to explain that night."

"I don't really want to hear your explanation right now."

"I don't care. You will listen," Massie said. "One way or another," she mumbled, but he heard no matter how low her voice was.

"One way or another?" Derrick echoed. "Massie, what does that mean?" he asked warily.

Massie surveyed her surroundings. She was in front of Derrick's neighbor's house. She half-ran in front of his house and positioned herself where she can be clearly seen.

"I'm, uh," Massie started. Oh, gosh, this is so crazy. "I'm outside."

"Outside?" Derrick asked. "Outside your house? Or outside…my house?"

"Your house."

"Holy shit, Massie," he said before Massie heard scrambling and a minute later, he emerged from the house, phone still in ear. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I have no idea," Massie said, snapping her phone shut. He did the same with his phone. And for a minute, they just looked at each other, disbelief and shock and hopefulness crossing their faces.

Then they both slipped on their blank faces.

"So, yeah. I just wanted to say I'm sorry," Massie said, looking down at her sneakers.

"Me too," Derrick said.

Massie's head snapped up at what she heard. "You're sorry?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "I mean, I think I should've listened to you first."

"Whoa," Massie said, momentarily distracted. Then she remembered what she was here for. "I'm sorry, too. For…you know."

"Sammi forced me to listen to the story last night after she finished with her dinner."

"What?" Massie asked, confused. Sammi? Why would Sammi know "the story"?

"Oh, come on, Massie," Derrick said, like it was the most obvious thing. "Have you forgotten? Landon's my cousin. Sammi's my sister. Their cousins, too. Sammi somehow forced the story out of him."

Actually, Massie had forgotten Landon was Derrick's cousin. But that doesn't matter right now.

"And?" Massie asked hopefully. Oh, gosh, her heart was beating freakishly fast she's scared she might get a heart attack.

"And…well, I don't really have to forgive you, do I? You did nothing wrong."

Massie bit her lip to keep from smiling. Not yet.

"And?"

"And…uh…how do I say this?" Derrick said, running his hand through his hair. "Okay, I don't know how I'm going to say this because I've never said it before, so I'm just going to say it." He took a deep breath. "I love you."

Massie felt the wind knocked out of her. "What?" she said, her amber eyes widening in shock.

"Wasn't that what I was supposed to say?" Derrick said, spots of red appearing on his cheeks.

"I was expecting something along the lines of 'let's be friends again,'" Massie said truthfully. "But this is so much better," she said, smiling so big she suspected her cheeks would explode.

"And?" he prompted.

"And I love you too," she said, blushing.

-o-

"I was so apathetic," Massie said, after telling Derrick all about the past week. She loved the feeling of her hand in his as they walked. Yes, it was 4 a.m. and they were walking out, heading nowhere.

"Massie Block, apathetic? No way," Derrick said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up," she said. "But, yeah. I was so apathetic, I didn't even feel anything when my mother announced that—oh my gosh!"

"What? What happened?" he said, looking around.

"My mother is pregnant," Massie said, her eyes widening and a general expression of shock and disbelief crossing her face.

Derrick breathed in a sigh of relief. "Congratulations."

"I'm going to be an older sister," she said, like she never expected this to happen to her. Which was true.

"Massie, you're so weird sometimes. Have I ever told you that?" he said, glad that the non-apathetic Massie was back.

So, yeah. Hello. Long wait for this. I'm sorry. I had a lot of things happening. So. Uh. Almost done with the story. Isn't that so weird?