And When The Tables Are Turned... |Derek Venturi| Chapter One

The next morning when I woke up, Derek was downstairs, and you know that if Derek's up, so is the whole house.

That kid gets up energetically. I've never met anyone like that before.

Oh, God.. Derek and I kissed last night, didn't we? I totally forgot, but now that I remembered, I'm all happy and stuff and Casey's going to wonder what's up. How am I gonna explain this to her?!

I got up and went and got changed in Casey's room. I put on a pair of skinny jeans, black tank top with small white polka dots all over, and a pull-over sweater that was white with blue and pink stars on it, that revealed the black tank top underneath around the chest section.

I walked downstairs and Casey was sitting at the counter in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal infront of her, flipping through a ginormous book, with alteast five hundred pages.

"Good morning, Casey." I said chipperly.

"Oh, hey, you're up. Don't tell me you're in that happy-go-lucky, perky mood, too?" Casey asked.

"What?" I asked, giving her a confused smile.

"Oh, Derek's been walking around the house smiling, being nice to everyone. It's really starting to get on my nerves. He did this exact same thing when he wanted Kendra to like him-- Wait.. Derek likes you, too?!" She asked.

"Um. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know." I said, quickly looking away.

"Hm. Well, if I were to take a guess, I'd say that Derek likes you back--" Casey said. I cut her off mid-sentence.

"Derek and I kissed." I said suddenly.

"You what..?" Casey asked.

"We kissed. It happened." I said.

"Um, okay, when? How?" Casey questioned.

"Uh, last night. I kissed him after he was done rambling on about me and his ex-girlfriend." I told her.

"Well, unless he said something to deserve the smallest kiss, it probably shouldn't have happened." Casey told me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Derek only does that to girls, then leads them on. You're going to get your heart broken." Casey said.

"..Really?" I asked.

Casey sighed. "I'm sorry." she winced her eyes. "It's just that, I've even asked all the girls he's went out with, he never calls a second time."

"Technically, he can't call me.." I said.

"Right, so what does that technically mean in this situation?" Casey asked.

I sighed, knowing the answer.

"Well, if this is that, then that means that nothing will ever happen between me and Derek, and he just kissed me so he could stop wondering what it would have been like." I said.

Casey nodded.

"So wait, how does that explain the mood Derek's in?" I asked.

"I like to call it the after-kiss stage. It happens every time with him." Casey said.

I looked down and sighed again.

"Hey, there are so much more guys out there. Guys better than Derek. You know that, right?" Casey asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Alright, good." Casey smiled at me.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

"I got it!" Casey yelled to the kids upstairs, then picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Oh, Mr. Lasider, what are you doing calling here?" She asked the caller.

"What? Oh, Derek?"

"You mean he never returned them? ...Uh, no, I haven't seen them around.. I will, Mr. Lasider. You too. Bye."

Casey hung up the phone then got an annoyed look on her face.

"Derek!" Casey shouted.

Suddenly, Derek came racing down the stairs.

"Hey, where's the fire?" Derek asked.

"Hey, where are your textbooks?" Casey asked in the exact same tone.

"What? My textbooks?" Derek looked confused.

"Yeah, that was Mr. Lasider calling, and--" Casey was about to continue, when she was cut off.

"Ew, Mr. Lasider called?!" Derek asked.

Casey sighed. "Yes, Derek, and he said you didn't return any of your school textbooks. You have to pay for them all."

"I have to pay for the textbooks?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. You need to replace the ones you stole." Casey said.

"Alright, Casey, why would I steal textbooks?" Derek asked.

"I don't know, you tell me. Did you burn them? Where are they!" Casey shouted.

"I don't know!" Derek shouted back, then walked back upstairs.

Casey huffed, then turned back to me.

"Why would he need textbooks? Probably a bet with one of his stupid friends or something." Casey sighed, then walked back over.

"Maybe he did burn them." I suggested.

Casey shrugged, not ruling out the suggestion.

Just then, Derek ran back downstairs.

"Uh, just a question, but how much are the textbooks going to cost?" He asked Casey.

"Oh, you mean the ones you stole? Well let's see, one for every subject, that should come to around the price range of one hundred dollars." Casey said.

"I didn't steal the textbooks. Seriously, like I wanted to study all summer? Maybe you just took them, I wouldn't be necessarily surprised." Derek said.

"Huh, alright, well then you burnt them?" Casey asked.

This, Derek laughed at, then just went back upstairs.

Casey looked back over at me. "He burnt those textbooks."