A/N: PLEASE READ! For the song during the chapter, you need to keep these in mind:

Bold= Derek singing, Normal= Casey singing, Italics= Them singing together and the chorus. Okies...proceed to read. :)

Chapter 10

Earlier that day, Paul had given me a lot to think about. Ok. Technically he didn't, but you get what I mean. I sighed as I scribbled another paragraph into my journal. Mind you, this was my extra top secret journal. The one I had specifically bought so that I could write secrets that were especially true to my heart. I wasn't giving Derek a chance to read this…especially since most of the journal consisted of thoughts of him. I pouted and decided to flip through some of my entries.

Dear Journal,

It's been a couple days after we moved in this dump. It's been pretty rough and I'm kind of confused. Derek seems to hate me a lot when I haven't even done anything to him. So, it irritates me that he keeps picking on me. Ugh. Why can't he pick on someone else? Sheesh.

I HATE him.

I laughed at that entry. I was pretty heated that night. At the time the entry was written, I was convinced that I actually hated him. But to be honest, I have never hated him. Granted he has made me angry, annoyed, and completely infuriated…but lately I was starting to think he was changing me…for the better.

I mean, no longer did I worry every second about my grades. I learned to live a little dangerously. For heaven's sake, I was sixteen and married to my stepbrother. The only way this could be any wilder was if I was pregnant. Thankfully I wasn't.

As I flipped through some more entries, I noticed a pattern. Every single one mentioned Derek. Actually, every single one was about him. My eyes stared at this journal stunned. What did this mean? Did I really think about him that much? A knock to my door broke me out of my stupor. I quickly hid my journal and sat at my computer desk.

"Come in," I called. The door opened and my husband stepped into the room. I weakly smiled, unsure of what to do or how to act. Things felt a little awkward after practically kissing him earlier in the ice rink. "Yes?"

"We agreed that we were going to work on the song for the Battle of the Bands competition," he stated. I nodded, remembering the plans we made before our moment. I motioned for him to sit down on my bed while I pulled out a piece of paper and pencil. I cleared my throat and smiled. If Derek was brave enough to pretend like nothing happened, so could I. Hello? I'm the actress here.

"First, we need to decide what kind of song to create. While party-ish songs are always amazing, ballads seem to win people over," I said. Derek mused this over before snapping his fingers.

"I got it! We can make a mix of both. A rockin' love ballad. We put some of your flavor in it and some of mine…it'll be gold."

I grinned. "That's a great idea, Derek!"

The next few minutes were silent as we wracked our brains on what to write. You may think making a rocking love ballad would be easy…but it's so not. I tapped my pencil impatiently. How could I think about the song when the only thing running through my mind was that damn kiss?! I mentally growled and rubbed my forehead.

Wait a second! I grinned and started scribbling across the paper. I was such an idiot!

"Whoa. Looks like someone was hit by inspiration," Derek chuckled as he watched me frantically write my ideas on paper. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before. After the first verse was written I looked up to find he was waiting, eager to hear what I had so far. I cleared my throat and smiled.

"Ok. So I start off with:

You tasted so bittersweet

Like cotton candy and the summer heat

Together we light an eternal flame

One of magic and shame

And then you sing:

It was something unexpected

When you cast me under a spell

I knew right then

I was going to hell

And then I continue with:

A stray thought

A heavy load

I never knew

Something could happen

Down the road."

Derek was grinning ear to ear.

"That's amazing! Oh! I think I got something for the chorus. Ok, so since the first verse is totally melodic, we can totally rock it in the chorus. Maybe something like…" he trailed off chewing his bottom lip. I waited, staring up into his brown eyes. "Ok! For the chorus, I can sing the first time and you harmonize me and then the second chorus we reverse it, and the last time we sing together. Sound good?"

"Yeah! That's perfect. So, what did you have in mind?"

"Try this:

Together

For an eternity

Making history

But babe

All we need is you and me

Together, Together

Oooooh."

My jaw dropped.

"Was it that bad?" he asked nervously. I shook my head profusely.

"No! It was awesome!"

It only took us another thirty minutes to finish the song after that. Lemme tell you, the Battle of the Bands contestants aren't gonna know what hit them.

"Let's try it all together," Derek suggested. I nodded and we both looked over the paper, our heads mere inches apart.

"You tasted so bittersweet

Like cotton candy and the summer heat

Together we light an eternal flame

One of magic and shame

It was something unexpected

When you cast me under a spell

I knew right then

I was going to hell

A stray thought

A heavy load

I never knew

Something could happen

Down the road

Together

For an eternity

Making history

But babe

All we need is you and me

Together, Together

Oooooh…"

I glanced to my left. He started the second verse and I couldn't help but grin. He always complained that he couldn't sing when that couldn't be far from true. He was actually a great singer.

"…All I need is you

Others don't mean a thing

I don't care what they say

This isn't just a fling

All I need is you

They may call us crazy

I don't care what they say

This all feels hazy…"

I closed my eyes and let myself truly get into the song. Songs always sounded better when you didn't hold back any emotion. And one of my methods was to close my eyes and really think about the inspiration of the song. I was happy no one could see inside my thoughts because all that was running through my head was my wedding. It kind of made me curious as to what Derek was thinking about.

"…Together

For an eternity

Making history

But babe

All we need is you and me

Together, Together

Oooooh

Hold on tight

It's gonna be one hell of a night

The day is like putting on a show

Whoa, whoa

But the darkness is where we can go

Whoa, whoa

Together

For an eternity

Making history

But babe

All we need is you and me

Together, Together

Oooooh

You tasted so bittersweet

Like cotton candy and the summer heat

Together we light an eternal flame

One of magic and shame."

My eyes fluttered open to find that Derek was staring at me with intense passion. My lips parted as I tried to come up with something to say. "Good job"? "That went well"? "See you tomorrow"? But before anything good enough came into my head, his head tilted to the side and he started to slowly lean in.

"Uhh, that went well. Good job. See you tomorrow," I managed to stammer. He stopped in his tracks and nodded before standing up.

"Right. Uhh, night."

XOX

The next day I decided to tell Derex the truth about my situation. It wasn't fair to anyone to keep lying to him. There's nothing worse than starting a relationship on a lie. I would probably lose Derex forever after he learned I was married but I guess that meant he wasn't the one for me. I sighed. Why did doing the right thing have to suck so much? I hadn't felt this much guilt since I had to confess to Trevor that our feelings were based off of a bet. Yikes.

And to make me feel ten times worse, I was totally wigging out about what happened last night. Neither of us talked about it this morning, which meant we were pretending like it didn't happen. But it did. Well, almost did…Maybe we were just really into the song…ugh. Who knows? Which is why it'd be best if I just set Derex straight.

As I was putting some books away in my locker, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, surprised to see it was Emily. She had a small smile on her face.

"Look, Case, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I shouldn't have flipped on you like that," she said sincerely. "Do you forgive me?" I grinned and pulled her into a hug.

"Of course I forgive you. In fact, you were right," I admitted with a sigh. She pulled away from me.

"I was?"

"Yeah. I shouldn't be leading Derex on without letting him know I'm married. Hopefully he'll understand but who knows?"

"Uhh, Case. That's not the point I was trying to ma-"

"It doesn't matter because at least I'll be doing the right thing," I continued. "Thanks so much, Em!"

With that, I rushed off in search of Derex.

A/N: HEEEEEEEY readers. Hahaha. A couple things...I know it has been truly forever since I last updated but I have been busy..no joke. I had to worry about my finals, the SATs, trying to find a car, and other things as well. But, I finally found some inspiration to write. I hope this chapter was good. It feels kinda meh to me. But hopefully you guys liked it. :D I'll try to update quicker next time. I feel really bad about taking so long. Especially since this fandom feels like its dying. :( Don't worry. I will never stop loving dasey and supporting it. Muahahahaha. :D

And OH MY GOSH! 298 reviews. That is a record for me. You guys are so awesome. I loveth you all. :D