This is my first attempt at a multi chaptered cheesefest. A special thanks to my beta reader bodyandsoul.

I do not own Darkest Powers.

Derek and I were sitting on the edge of the swimming pool at our umpteenth hotel. He'd been giving me funny looks all night. He was making me kind of nervous.

"Derek, is there something wrong?"

"What? No . . . why?"

Something wasn't right. He sounded flustered and not very convincing. "You just keep looking at me funny, and then you open your mouth then snap it shut. Did you want to ask me something?"

"No. . . Yes . . . Ahhh would you . . ." the last part trailed off into a mumble.

I hated being pushy but I had no idea what he'd just said. Did he need to Change? "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

A deep breath "Would you go to the dance with me?"

In all of the scenarios I was running through in my head, that wasn't the question I'd expected. He'd caught me totally off guard. "What are you talking about Derek? What dance?"

He started talking really fast, like it was something he was forcing himself to say "I heard that group of kids talking about it when we were at McDonalds. It's this Friday at the high school. It's their semi-formal." This time he met my eyes, "Do you want to go?"

"Uh, do you want to go?" I was still stumped. Why was he asking me this?

"Well no, not really. I guess I thought this was something you had been looking forward to in your old life. I just thought maybe you wanted to live like normal teenagers for a day."

"Really, I'm ok. Yes, I was looking forward to it. But, no, I don't need to go."

This time there was a bit of an impatient sigh "I know you don't need to, but I think you'd have fun. Please for me? It'd make me feel better if I could do this for you."

If I was honest it was something I wanted to do, and I'd never been on a date with Derek. We'd been through enough experiences that we were comfortable in a way that people who'd dated for years couldn't manage, but we'd missed out on all of that first dateness. I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek "Yes Derek, I would like to go to the dance with you."

When I got back to my room, I told Tori and Lauren about my plans for Friday night. My aunt surprised me by offering to take me shopping for something to wear.

"Really, you'd want to do that for a date with Derek?"

Lauren sighed, "This is what I always wanted for you, a normal life. I ruined your chances for that. I can't begrudge you your chance to have regular high school fun."

I put an arm around her shoulder. "You didn't ruin anything, the Edison Group and their lies did. You did what you thought was best for me and mom."

"Oo oo oo. I want to help too." I gave Tori a suspicious look. "What? Like I have anything better to do. I haven't seen the inside of a mall in months."