Chapter Nineteen: Frozen Christopher walks into the house and shuts the door. "I'm home," he announces. He sights Emily on a couch watching TV after turning around. "Hey Em." He drops his backpack and sits beside her. She being engrossed on the TV, finally notices him. "Chris!" She exclaims and hugs him lightly. "What are you watching?" He smiles before turning to the TV. "Frozen," Emily replies with a grin. "Seriously? Haven't you watched it like a hundred times?" He groans. "No. I haven't. You're exa......" She trails off, forgetting the word. "Exaggerating," Chris chuckles. "Yeah, that." "Say it Em," Chris urges her. A frown appears on Emily's face as she tries to pronounce it. "Exa....." Chris begins to laugh. "Mum! Chris is being mean," Emily shouts. "You're lucky I love this movie," Chris huffs and crosses his arms childishly. "Chris?" He turns in the direction of the voice. "Hey Mum," he smiles and goes to hug her with a peck on the cheek. His Mum doesn't
Chapter Twenty: Babysitting "Hazel," Chris whispers from his seat behind her. She doesn't answer. "Psst," he pokes her with his pencil. Still no answer. He's been doing this for a while now, trying to get her attention. Stephanie isn't answering because she doesn't want another detention. Even though it would be nice to spite her mum, she still doesn't want it. She's sure Mr Sato, the Maths teacher wouldn't hesitate to give out detention. And there's the fact that he's still calling her Hazel which she has told him not to. So ignoring him it is. Mr. Sato ends the class as the bell rings and students begin to leave. Stephanie leaves too but not without Christopher on her trail. "Hazel," he calls as he follows her. She still doesn't answer or even spare him a glance. Why's she being so damn difficult? He wonders. He has never had this much trouble with a girl and it's frustrating. Stephanie who is still ignoring Chris begins to notice girls looking her way with confused expre
Chapter Twenty-One: I Like Her An hour later, Chris is done with basketball practice. He heads home and arrives some minutes later. Oh yeah, the new babysitter. The first thing he notices is that she doesn't have a car, or didn't come with one. He begins to hope she isn't yet another psycho. He prays she's different, if not, he'd make her quit one way or the other. He steps into the house and shuts the door. Immediately he steps into the house, he hears the sound of the TV. Frozen. She's watching Frozen with the babysitter. At least that's a good sign. He turns around. The first thing he notices is a mop of jet-black hair on the couch that has its back to the door. Why does that look so familiar? He asks himself. "Emily," he calls, walking further into the living room. Emily turns around on the couch on hearing her name and jolts out of the couch. "Chris," she hugs him. He hugs her back, smiling. He looks up at the new babysitter who has also turned around on the couch and he
Chapter Twenty-Two: Shrek "You won't believe this," Stephanie says to Brooke as they're standing in front of her locker. "What?" Brooke replies, shutting her locker to face her. "I'm babysitting Christopher's sister," Steph says. "Quit joking around Steph," Brooke scolds. "I'm serious, B. I went to babysit yesterday and found out it was Chris' little sister, Emily." Steph explains in a casual tone. "Oh my Gosh!" Brooke squeals. "This is a sign Steph. A fucking Sign," she grins. "Ah, geez!" Steph exclaims with a facepalm. "What sign?" "This is a sign that the universe wants you and Chris to be together," Brooke babbles. Steph groans unattractively and glares at Brooke. "Don't you see it? You're babysitting his sister. That means seeing each other more often and talking. Then boom - the feelings step in and then you're a couple. Holy Molly! This is great news," Brooke gushes to Steph's irritation. "You're insane," Steph tells her dryly. "You are too if you aren't seeing what
Chapter Twenty-Three: Debbie Downers It's Saturday morning and Stephanie is getting ready for her outing with the guys after having breakfast with her parents. Just as she's looking through her closet for what to wear, her phone rings. It's a video call from Brody. She picks up her phone from the bed and sees the caller ID. To say she's surprised would be an understatement. This is the first time that Brody is calling her in a while. He texts once in a while but barely calls. When she calls, he's usually too busy to answer or something. The last time they spoke on the phone was on Monday, six days ago and she was lucky that he answered. Now he's calling her and it's barely been a week. She swipes across the screen to answer with a grin on her face. His face appears on the screen. "Hello Stephanie," he greets with a grin of his own. "And to what do I owe this August call?" She asks suspiciously. "And not just any call - a video call." "Just decided to see my little sister's
Chapter Twenty-Four: Threat It's Monday and Stephanie Valentine isn't in a good mood because it's that time of the month. Yeah, mother nature has visited her. And her parents are back to work, they left this morning. Their break is over. She doesn't even bother to make herself breakfast. When Brooke arrives, she leaves the house with her backpack and enters her car - her movements are almost robotic. "Hey," Brooke greets once Steph enters. "Good morning," Steph grumbles, buckling her seatbelt, then placing her backpack on her lap. Brooke notices her countenance and knows almost immediately that something is wrong. "What's wrong? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" Brooke says the last part jokingly in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. It does not work. "Mother nature visited and I just have this feeling in my gut that today is gonna be a bad day." "Don't be pessimistic and you're always cranky when aunt flow visits," Brooke points out. "Whatever. Just drive us to that hel
Chapter Twenty-Five: Dump Her Ass Brooke pulls into Stephanie's driveway. She's in the driver's seat watching Stephanie who is in the passenger's seat carefully. After Steph dropped the most shocking news of the year, she walked ahead and got to Brooke's car. It took a few seconds for Brooke to get herself and her stuff together before following her. She met Steph leaning on the passenger's side with a distant look on her face. She had unlocked her car and they both got in. There was this awkward kind of silence and Brooke watched Steph who was looking out the window. Brooke took a deep breath and started the car. Throughout the ride, Brooke kept giving Steph glances waiting patiently for Steph to speak, but she didn't say even a word. Now, she's parked in Steph's driveway, watching her carefully. After a few agonizing seconds, Steph steps out with her backpack, heading into the house- her movements almost robotic. Brooke watches her in confusion, her eyes following her movements
Chapter Twenty-Six: Acting Strange It's Thursday and school's just starting. Brooke and Stephanie get into the school and head for Brooke's locker. Steph waits for her as Brooke gets her notes for class. "There's a party this weekend," Brooke announces. "Wow! That's cool but guess what?" Steph says dryly. "I don't care." "Sure you don't but you're going. We are going," Brooke declares. "Good luck with that," Steph huffs. "What if I get Luke to make you come, huh?" Brooke wiggles her eyebrows suggestively with a smirk. "Not gonna happen," Steph says with a gloomy sigh. She has been trying to avoid Luke but it isn't exactly working. He makes conversation whenever he sees her and that makes it difficult. On the good days that she's succeeding in avoiding him, she'll get this ache in her that she'll want to see him- even if it's just his face. If she hears his voice, butterflies flutter in her stomach. All this trying to avoid him seems to make her want to spend more time with him