invisible string

year 10

Derek had a girlfriend. For the first time ever, Derek had a girlfriend. She was nice and he met her in band. He didn't think he loved her or anything, but she was cool to be around. And for the first time ever, he wasn't a girlfriendless loser. He had a girl that he kissed and took out on dates. Mark of course was still ahead of him. He had already had sex with three girls. Derek couldn't even get three girls in the sophomore class to even look at him. But he had one girl. He wasn't going to have sex or anything with Cindy but that was okay. He didn't think he wanted to do that with Cindy anyways.

Tonight he was going to take Cindy home to meet his mom and sisters. Maybe Meredith would be there too. He hadn't told Meredith he had a girlfriend yet and he had no idea how she would react. Ever since he started high school, Meredith had started getting mad at Derek for various reasons. Usually it was because he was being stupid. Meredith would get beyond angry at him whenever Mark and Derek decided to do something that most people would deem reckless. It was really adorable, and she was the only one who could talk him out of doing something stupid. Derek's mom really loved her. Now when his mom yelled at him, she would ask him what Meredith would say if she saw him.

"So your sisters are Nancy, Kathy, Lizzie, and Charlotte, who you call Chuck." Cindy listed. "But Nancy and Kathy won't be there because they are in college."

"And Mer will probably be there." Derek added.

"Who's Mer?" Cindy asked with panic in her voice.

"She's Chucks best friend." He said. He probably should explain his and Mer's relationship a little bit better but it wasn't really easy to put into words.

"Oh okay." Cindy breather.

"She's in seventh grade. She's really quiet so she might not talk to you but she'll talk a lot to me. She might yell at me too, I haven't told her I have a girlfriend yet so I don't know how she will react." He said.

"Why would your sisters best friend react to you having a girlfriend." Cindy asked.

"Oh. We are really close." Derek said hoping that was a good enough explanation for her.

"You are really close with your sister's best friend?" She asked.

"Yea." Derek answered.

"That's kinda weird." Cindy said. Derek wasn't quite sure how much he really liked Cindy, but he really liked being able to say he had a girlfriend. They walked into the house together.

"We're home!" He yelled into the house.

"Derek!" He heard Meredith yell and there was a clamor until she was standing in front of him.

"Hey Mer." He said. She didn't respond. She was staring at his hand that was intertwined with Cindy's. He felt the sudden urge to pull his hand away.

"Who's that?" She said eyeing Cindy.

"Hi Mer, I'm Cindy." Cindy bent down a little and held out a hand. Meredith didn't like when people called her Mer. She liked when Derek called her Mer, but anyone else usually ended with them being chastised.

"Only Derek can call me Mer." She said glaring at Cindy. This is not going well.

"She would like to addressed with the formal Meredith." Derek joked trying and failing to ease the tension.

"Oh.. hi Meredith." Cindy said uneasily.

"Hi." She said, now eyeing Derek expectantly.

"Cindy is my girlfriend." Derek said.

"Huh." Meredith said glancing at Cindy. "She kinda looks funny."

"Meredith!" Derek yelled.

"I don't like her." She said. Meredith had never been this rude to someone unprovoked. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

"Oh um." Cindy said looking at Derek.

"Meredith you can't just say that to people." Derek said.

"Why not? She does look funny and I don't like her. She seems boring and kinda dumb." Meredith stated.

"Meredith!" He yelled again.

"I think I should just go." Cindy whimpered as she ran out of the house.

"I-" He had no words for Meredith. She had never acted like this before. He shook his head and left the room. There goes his having a girlfriend. Cindy did look funny and she was boring but he really liked having a girlfriend and Meredith had just ruined it.

"Derek." Meredith tried to follow him.

"I'm not talking to you anymore." He shook his head and continued to walk away. He didn't know how long the not talking to her would last but he had never been this angry at Meredith before.

"What?" She said as a small amount of tears filled her eyes. Oh great. How could he be mad at her when she started to cry?

"You just chased away my girlfriend!" Derek groaned.

"I- I didn't like her." She tried to defend herself.

"You met her for like two minutes." Derek rolled his eyes.

"But she talked to me like I was five. And she really did look funny." Meredith said.

"Yea maybe she does look funny but you can't tell people they look funny." Derek said.

"But why did you want to date a girl who looked funny?" Meredith asked.

"Because the girls who don't look funny don't want to date me." Derek explained.

"Why not?" She asked as she furrowed her brow.

"Because I'm in the band and I have really big hair and acne." He said.

"But you're Derek." She said with a frown.

"What?"

"You're the coolest. You're like Superman." She said quietly.

Derek smiled at her. Crap. He was supposed to be angry at her. He was really bad at being angry at Meredith. He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry the girls at your school are stupid."

He smiled down at her. "Thanks Mer."