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
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Old Lady "Thanks for the ride," Stephanie says to Brooke as she alights in front of Chris' house. "You're welcome. Say hi to Chris," Brooke replies and drives away. Stephanie walks onto the porch and rings the doorbell. Kate opens the door with a huge smile on her face. "Stephanie, welcome. Come on in," she opens the door wider for her to come in. "Thank you." "How are you? Your family? Everything?" Kate asks with a beam. "Great. Everything's going great." Ever since Steph first babysat Emily, Kate has been acting all nice and extra sweet to her and it's kinda strange to her. "That's good to hear," she smiles before yelling, "Emily, Stephanie's here." "Really?" Emily's voice comes from upstairs. Some seconds later, she's running down the stairs and jumps into Steph's arms. Kate smiles at the sight. Emily likes her babysitter who would most likely end up being Christopher's girlfriend. "Stephanie!" Emily giggles. "Emily!" Steph smiles and squeezes both
Chapter Twenty-Eight: La Vida Loca "Mum, can you help me with my hair?" Brooke yells from her position in her room. She's sitting in front of her dresser, staring at her reflection in the mirror with a curling iron in her hand. "I'm coming dear." She hears her mum yell back. Her mum strolls into the room a few seconds later. "Let me get this done for you and you'll be ready," her mum says as she touches Brooke's hair from behind her. Brooke hands her mum the curling iron and she begins work on her hair. A few minutes later, she's done. Brooke and her mum stare at their reflections in the mirror, having a lot of similar features. Her mum rests her hand on one of Brooke's shoulders and squeezes it gently in assurance. One of Brooke's hands reaches up to hold hers. "You look stunning dear. Cole is one lucky guy." "Thanks, Mum," Brooke blushes. "Cole would be here any minute from now," her mum announces. "Yeah." As if on cue, they both hear the sound of a car pulling onto their