Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Life With Derek or "Someday," by Britney Spears. I do own one Coach purse. But I could only afford one. :(

God's Honest Truth

Shallow

Nothing seems to be the way that it used to

Every thing seems shallow

God give me truth,

In me,

And tell me somebody's watching

Over me,

And that is all I'm praying for

Casey MacDonald let out an immense groan and pulled the comforter further up over her head. There is nothing worse than having to get up at 6 a.m. on a Monday morning. Unless it's getting up at 6 a.m. on a Monday morning, when you know it's going to be 35 degrees outside. January in Canada? Worst combination ever. Leaving the warm comfort of her bed was the last thing Casey wanted to do, but she knew if she waited any longer Derek would beat her to the shower and then her day would never end well. Sighing, she threw the covers off of her toasty body in one large swoop and sat up, stretching her back in a way that only a dancer could.

She shuffled her feet in her slippers and carefully opened her closet door, knowing Derek was probably sleeping soundly on the other side of the wall. She quickly picked her thickest jeans, her favorite fitted t-shirt, and her fluffiest sweatshirt- scratch that- Derek's fluffiest sweatshirt. Nora must not have noticed she put the comfy attire in the wrong room. Casey smirked to herself as she thought of how angry Derek would be to see her wearing it. She told herself to make sure she spritzed it with her signature perfume before seeing him. He certainly would never want it back after that.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she turned on the shower as hot as it could go and set up her toiletries while the water warmed. When there was a noticeable amount of steam in the room, she stepped under the warm water and involuntary shivered, feeling the cool air still hitting her skin. She rubbed her goose-bump covered arms as she decided what shampoo to use for the day.

"Curly hair? Straight hair? Hair with extra body-"

"CASEY! Don't use all the hot water! Other people need to shower too!" Derek's muffled voice came from the other side of the door, interrupting her thought process.

Fifteen minutes later, Casey smiled to herself as she wrapped a towel around her dripping body. She squirted some lotion into her hand and placed her leg on the bathtub ledge. She leaned down and began rubbing the quenching moisturizer into her thirsty skin. She was sliding her hands up to her upper thigh when she felt a draft. Her head whipped around to find an open mouthed Derek staring at her.

"Der-ek!" Casey screamed, standing up straight and clutching the top of her towel.

"I, um," Derek cleared his throat, thoroughly rattled by the sight of his wet, slippery, practically naked step-sister. "I heard the shower turn off, and I thought you left." He turned on his heel and shut the door behind him.

-

Derek entered the kitchen 30 minutes later, as Casey popped the last bite of her English muffin into her mouth. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he blushed under her dark stare. He tried ignoring her, but it was hard when the image of her dewy legs kept popping into his mind. Finally, exasperated, he turned and placed his hands on the counter on the other side of the island.

"Stop glaring. You don't have to worry. If I had seen you naked, I would have been throwing up all over the floor. Nobody could look at that fat ass and be happy about it." Smirking at her indignant face, he grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl.

"Oh, and don't think I didn't notice you're wearing my hoodie." He slung his backpack over his shoulder, and left the kitchen. However, as soon as he closed the door behind him, he took a deep breath and shook his head.

"There wasn't a drop of fat on that body," he muttered to himself as he took off for school.

Still inside the kitchen, Casey looked down at her stomach and legs, and looked at the reflection of her butt in the microwave. Growling, she grabbed her own backpack and followed Derek's path out the door.

-

Casey eyed Derek warily as she placed her books inside her locker, binders facing out. She looked at her lunch, and back at Derek. His earlier words were still ringing in her ears. His comment from this morning was the first time he had actually made a specific attack about her. Stupid, ugly, boring. He usually stuck with things that weren't too insulting. Stuff she could brush off. Derek called her names all the time, she didn't know why it bothered her so much this morning. She wondered if he was trying a new way to upset her, or if he was simply letting the truth slip out. Sighing, she took the paper bag out of her locker and closed the door. Maybe because he only saw her in a towel? She stalked passed him and his groupies towards the cafeteria, and let herself relax when Emily came into sight. She plopped down in a seat across from her best friend and peered into the bag. She remembered packing the lunch the night before, but now she wondered why she put such crap in it. Doritos? No way is she eating those. Mini Oreos? Not eating those either.

"Ugh. Em, why do I pack such unhealthy foods?" Casey wondered aloud.

"What are you talking about? You're the healthiest eater I know. Look at your lunch, a turkey sandwich, WITH lettuce and tomato, no mayo, and one slice of cheese. It's even on wheat bread! And you have an apple!"

"Yeah, I guess I'll just eat that. I have to try and lose that holiday weight, not gain more by eating Oreos."

"That's right Case, go ahead and try to lose those extra pounds. Not like it'll help you anyway, you'll still be stuck with that face!"

Casey whipped around when Derek first leaned over her shoulder, and glared at him until he and Sam finally turned and walked away. Sam cast her an apologetic look, but Casey just frowned and looked down at her sandwich. She should have seen that one coming, she had noticed the dreamy look Emily had gotten in her eyes as Casey babbled about her lunch.

Getting up, she gathered her trash.

"Want my apple?"

"Sure Case, but don't let him upset you. You're a dancer, there is nothing wrong with your body." Emily smiled reassuringly and led the way out of the cafeteria.

'Yeah, maybe I'm NOT that fat. But you didn't say anything about my face.' Casey turned sad eyes onto Derek for a minute, and was surprised when his brows furrowed after meeting her gaze. Squaring her shoulders, she flipped her hair as she turned and walked out the door.

-

Casey's mother was moving around the kitchen, getting things somewhat ready for dinner. It was almost 4, and Nora knew that within minutes, a stampede would descend upon the kitchen. Soccer practice, dance rehearsal, and hockey practice were all ending. Marti's play date would be over any minute, and Edwin was upstairs "tweaking notes". With two hours left until dinner, Nora knew the kitchen would be the first stop. Right on time, Derek came bursting through the back door.

"Noraaaa my lovely step mother. Could you be so kind as to fix your dear, sweet, starving step son a snack while I put my hockey stuff away?" Derek smiled his sweetest, most loving, most fake smile he could muster. Nora rolled her eyes and nodded at him briefly before turning towards the cupboard.

While Derek was gone, Casey entered the kitchen and swiped a celery stalk off the plate Nora was arranging. She scoffed at the peanut butter Nora offered her and pulled cream cheese out of the fridge. She was spreading a thin layer of the cheese on her small snack when Derek entered the kitchen and made a face at her.

"Eating again, Casey? Don't you ever stop?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at him.

"You ate at 11:30 just like I did, Derek. Why is it ok for you to snack and not me?"

"Because I need to replenish muscle and bulk up. You, on the other hand...should eat celery andonly celery for the rest of your life. You probably wouldn't lose any weight, but hopefully you wouldn't gain any more, either. You might not be able to fit through doorways soon!"

Derek smirked in satisfaction as she pushed the plate away from her. Nora took a step closer to Casey, but she just shook her head and left the room. Turning on her heel, she caught the back of Derek's head with her hand.

"You can really be a jerk sometimes, Derek. She's a teenage girl, you know. That's a pretty mean thing to say. What if someone said that to Marti?" Derek shrugged his shoulders and smirked, turning away. A startled Nora put her hand to her chest when she saw the reflection of his face on the oven door as he left the kitchen. His smirk had fallen away and had been replaced with a look of concern, his mouth turned down and his eyebrows furrowed.

-

Later that evening, Casey was sitting at her desk, surfing the web. The rational, smart part of her knew that Derek was only saying things that he knew would upset her. Casey knew that at 128 lbs she was a weight that many females envied. Her body was one to admire and strive for, especially her long, lean legs and the definition of muscle on her upper arms. But the real girl, the girl with feelings and fears, was contemplating whether or not he was right. As she was changing into her pajamas earlier that night, she had stood in her bra and panties in front of the full length mirror in her room. Her stomach did bulge a little over her jeans when she sat. Her butt was a little dimpled in spots. That's when she had come to the conclusion that the normal exercise she was doing wasn't enough.

Thinking back to the disgust she felt when she saw her thighs touching in the mirror, she wrote down the names of three aerobic DVD's she had been researching and decided that tomorrow she would go to the library and rent them. It was time to take charge of her life, and she was starting with getting rid of her excess weight. If she did that, it would be one less thing Derek could make fun of.

Right?

Author's Note's:

-Unfortunately for any of you reading this outside of the US, I wasn't really taught how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, so anytime I mention the weather, it will be in Fahrenheit. Sorry for the inconvenience.

-I have all of the chapters outlined, and the first two written. I don't like it when an author leaves a story unfinished so I didn't want to do it to you guys either. So I won't. :) Lucky for you guys I just quit my job so whilst I am unemployed I should be able to bang out a few quite fast.

-Anyone else ever notice that Ashley Leggat was in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen with Lindsey Lohan?

-I included swearing in this story. I don't believe any teenagers in North America don't swear once in a while. You may think it's out of character, but that's just because the show is on Disney.

-Something else you should know, for the sake of this fic I will be making Kendra the antagonist. I need someone to be nasty later on and she just fits. It's not OOC because it's my fic, k:)

-I don't watch the show too often, and on here I've seen a lot of people refer to Casey being a Vegeterian, which is a lifestyle choice I personally don't follow. I wouldn't want to offend anyone who is a Vegeterian by including incorrect information so I'm going to allow Casey to eat meat.

-I'd also like to make it clear that I am in no way saying that a weight of 128 lbs or more is fat. I am, however, a 21 year old girl who does weigh 128 lbs and I know these are all things I have thought and felt myself at some point or another.

-This is a serious story. The message is serious. However, Life With Derek is not. I, like 95 of you reading this, enjoy reading the Dasey ship. I included a lot of it in this because I know it's what the readers want, and hey, I'm only human. I wrote this for the reviews! I don't know how it will end (friends or lovers), but I hope I approached it in a new and creative way.

-I hope you enjoyed. Drop me a line if you're feeling generous. Thanks for reading!