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year 2

It was really warm outside. Derek, Mark, and Lizzie were playing tag in the backyard while Meredith and Chuck were riding their tricycles. Well the tricycles were Derek and Lizzie's but they now ride bikes and they don't even need training wheels. Derek was able to ride without training wheels before Lizzie but he was 7 and Lizzie was only 6. Though Mark was a whole month younger than Derek but he was a lot better at riding the bike. But that's because Mark was a lot taller than he was. Mark also had a really cool bike that his parents got him for his birthday, but Mark didn't get a birthday party so he wasn't too jealous.

"Tag you're it!" Lizzie shouted as she tapped Derek on the shoulder. "No tag backs!"

"Kid's! Lemonade's ready!" His mom shouted. Great. Derek really didn't want to chase after Mark because he could never get him unless he tricked him, and lemonade break was the best way to trick him.

"PAUSE!" Lizzie screamed. They all walked towards the table with the pitcher and glasses. Lizzie poured herself a glass and handed the pitcher to Derek when he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Derek." He heard a quiet voice say, "Can you get me a glass?"

He smiled down to Meredith, "Sure Meredith." Derek really liked Meredith. She was really nice and really funny. She spent most of her time at their house cause her parents were really mean. Her dad didn't talk much but he would always look really angry and he took Meredith away a lot when she didn't want to leave. Derek hadn't seen Meredith's mom very much but the few times he did, she was really scary and always yelled at Meredith even if she did nothing wrong.

Meredith didn't usually talk a lot. Usually she just talked to Chuck or Derek. She didn't even talk to Mom or Dad. If she needed something she would just ask Derek. Derek liked helping Meredith. Whenever he helped her, she always gave him a hug which he really liked. He would never tell Mark that he liked hugging Meredith cause Mark would think he was really lame. But Derek thought that was probably because Mark didn't get very many hugs. Mark had no brothers or sisters and his Mom and Dad almost never hugged him. Derek's mom and dad sometimes hugged Mark and Derek thinks that Mark likes that but Mark never says he does.

"Here ya go." Derek said as he handed the four year-old the glass. She wrapped her arms around his torso and squeezed. "Thank you Derek."

"No problem Mer." A few months ago Derek had given Meredith a nickname. He liked giving people nicknames. He was trying to come up with a good one for Mark but the best he could come up with was 'Stupid' but his mom got mad at him when he called Mark 'Stupid.' Even if it's accurate.

Derek gulped down his lemonade and patiently waited for Lizzie and Mark to finish theirs. He couldn't un-pause the game until the lemonade was done. As soon as his friend and sister put down their glasses he yelled, "UN-PAUSE!" and lunged at Mark. "You're it! No tag backs!"

"That's cheating!" Mark yelled.

"Nu-huh. Lemonade is gone and the game is un-paused." Derek defended.

"Fine. I'm going to tag Lizzie and let her tag me back then you're going down." Mark threatened.

"If you can catch me." Derek laughed.

"I can always catch you!" Mark said.

"Nu-huh, not if you are too stupid to catch me."

"You're so slow, anyone can catch you."

"No they can't"

"Even someone as stupid as Nancy could catch you."

"That's REALLY stupid."

"I know." Mark grinned, then left to go chase after Lizzie. Derek turned his head to look at the two little girls and saw Meredith's dad grabbing her. He really didn't like Meredith's dad.