Remember Me This Way (Prequel to the Megan/Derek Series)

Chapter 4

HIGH SCHOOL

Sophomore year

It's 3 months into her sophomore in school and Megan was right. She would become popular and still keep her friends. 

Megan was a cheerleader and her class president. She added some makeup to her face, grew out her hair more and wore clothes that made her look tough, but approachable. And of course, she had "brains for days" as Jacob put it. She was in all accelerated classes and was loved by all.

Except Derek.

He didn't love her.

Well, he did.

But he won't let anybody know it.

Unless one of his friends makes a comment about her, about her body, about how they could try and get with her.

It drove him crazy. So finally, he had enough.

"Can you guys just shut up?" He finally snaps.

"Dang lover boy sorry." His bonehead friend, Nick, says. 

The guys walk away but Derek is still standing there watching her. She is laughing with her one of her friends from history class. He watches the ease in how she composes herself. Megan finally closes her locker, about to walk to class when she catches him watching. Her smile fades and the look of hurt is etched into both of their faces. 

Megan is still deeply in love with him, while trying to forget him. But she can't. Not when their parents are best friends, and they spend almost all of their time at one another's house. 

Over the last several months, Laura has been her lifeline. Keeping the two apart has become Laura's job and she is damn good at it. Although Laura loves her brother, Laura also knows how big of a jerk that Derek had been to Megan for well over two years now. 

Derek looks deeper than her eyes go, into her soul. The love he has for this girl, that he has had for her for years, is deeper than he can fathom. It's not like he wants to feel this much at such a young age. It's like there is a side of him that cannot repress these feelings, no matter how hard he tries. And he has tried. But nothing has worked. He sees the milestones in her life, and he is just an outsider looking in, when he used to be the insider.

He has tried convincing Laura to spill. Everything they have talked about, how Megan feels, while Megan just dropped him. But her lips are sealed like Fort Knox. Nothing is coming out of them, and it drives him crazy. He replays that night in his head over and over, but nothing seems to work. He cannot figure out why Megan left his side. 

Although it is obvious to everyone but him, no one will say. His parents tell him that he needs to not be so self-absorbed and see it from someone else's point of view but how can he do that is everyone is so tight lipped?

Megan finally walks away into the direction of her next class and unfortunately, it's the same class as Derek. He loves being near her, even if it is not close, because he can still secretly protect her. But it hurts all the same because he can't be close enough and she won't let him past these barricades she has placed around her. Being a 15-year-old boy sucks when they're in love and they don't really know what love is.

When he walks into the classroom, she is sitting at her normal, upfront seat. He makes his way back to the fourth row and plops down.

The teacher comes and shuts the door behind him to start the class. He wasn't listening until he hears that sweet voice of his best friend.

"Juliet was devoted to Romeo, no matter what either of their parents said or did to them, they were going to end up together in the end anyway. She was so focused on being with Romeo, she decided that the best thing was to fake her death so when Romeo came and rescued her, they could run away and never be told what to do ever again. Unfortunately, Romeo didn't take the time to understand the plan or even ask, so he jumped the gun and killed himself. Juliet was so devoted to Romeo that when she woke up and saw that he was actually dead that she decided to kill herself. Shakespeare depicted young love in such a way that was a turn of the century idea. In my opinion, he wrote Juliet in the way he did to depict how smart women are and how risky men are in the way of not slowing down and looking at the whole picture before making a decision and hurting everyone around them. Juliet planned this beautiful life and maybe if Romeo knew Juliet better, it would have ended the way that she planned it: a long happy life with her one true love." Megan explained.