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-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-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-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-Nine: First Time? "I can't believe I'm attending another party after that awful last one," Steph avers as they exit the car. "Stop whining and try to enjoy the night. And that party wasn't awful, baby girl." Brooke croons as they both stare at the house hosting the party which is the brightest one in the neighbourhood. Stephanie has never been to this side of town but it's not like she attends parties. "Okay, this baby girl thing needs to stop," Steph demands as they walk up to the wide-open front door. "Whose house is this anyway?" Steph glances at Brooke. Brooke shrugs. "I don't know. I heard about it from someone in school and apparently, everyone is going." "So you have no idea who's throwing the party?" Steph questions as she looks at the lawn littered with trash, cups, bottles, and whatnot. "Does it matter?" Brooke retorts. "It matters to me," Steph mumbles to herself. Steph notices a guy on the porch checking Brooke out but she doesn't seem to notice or