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 smile back and he knows something is wrong.
He hopes it doesn't have anything to his Dad. He cringes at the word.
"Mum, what's wrong?" He begins to worry.
"You had detention today," she deadpans.
He sighs in relief.
That's it? Thank God!
His mum notices and glares at him.
"Do you think it's a joke?"
"I'm sorry, Mum. I thought something worse happened."
"Why did you get detention?" She questions.
He knows she'd ask eventually. She didn't ask when he called to inform her but he knew she wouldn't be happy about it.
Christopher doesn't joke with his academics and it's because of his Mum. He doesn't want to hurt her- his dad has already done that in excess. If not that he wants to make his mum proud, he'd probably be one of those bad boys that always skip class and gets suspensions. Like Blake and his entourage.
Chris fits that stereotypical bad-boy image with his looks.
He wants to get good grades and get a scholarship to a good college.
That would make his mum proud and he'd set a good example for Emily to follow. He has only gotten detention once and it was in 9th grade. He has never been suspended either.
Come to think of it, he and Steph are kinda alike in that aspect.
"Hazel and I were whispering to each other in class then boom- Mrs. Greene got pissed and gave us detention," he explains.
"Hazel?" She asks. "Is she a friend of yours?"
She has never heard Chris mention a girl's name since Ivy. Not even a friend. So it's a surprise that he just did. And they got detention together because they were talking in class? Her son hasn't sworn-off girls, after all.
She watches him intently, waiting for his answer.
"We're not friends," he answers somewhat sadly.
"At least for now," he adds, smiling.
He begins to wonder if she'll get in trouble at home.
"Okay," she tries not to smile.
"I'm sorry Mum," he says again.
"It's okay, I guess." She shrugs and pats him. Then she walks away to finish up whatever she was doing in the kitchen.
He smiles and joins Emily back on the couch.
He doesn't like when his mum is mad at him. Some minutes later, Elsa begins to sing 'Let it go' and Emily giggles.
She stands and pulls Chris up with a lot of effort and help from him.
"Let's dance."
Chris rolls his eyes but smiles. She always does this when he is around.
Emily holds both of his hands in hers and begins to move around as she sings along.
Chris joins in the first chorus.
"Let it go. Let it go. Can't hold it back anymore. Let it go. Let it go. Turn away and slam that door. I don't care what they're going to say, let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway."
And they continue to sing and dance- if you think Emily pulling Chris around is called that- till the end of the song.
Their mum came in towards the end of the song and has been watching them since, smiling at the beautiful sight.
After, she announces her presence.
"I've found another babysitter for Emily. She'd be here tomorrow to babysit since you have practice and I have a client to take care of."
"Cool," he replies absentmindedly.
He hopes the new babysitter won't be like the last. The last one was always hitting on him but he never gave in. He had to make her quit because he feels she would be a bad influence on Emily. But his mum doesn't need to know that, right?
**
"Stephanie, remember you have to babysit today?" Karen, her mum says to her just as she's about to leave for school.
"Yeah, mum. Am I going over?" She asks.
"Yeah. Your Dad will drive you there after school so try not to get detention today," her mum says.
Stephanie sighs and walks out of the house to meet Brooke.
Her parents weren't happy about her getting detention. When she called her mum in school to inform her yesterday, she wasn't happy. She was pissed off. Her dad didn't take it any better.
Why does it matter?
They're barely home.
They work for the same company, a well-known and successful one. They work in different departments but it's still the same thing. Going on business trips, coming back late, and whatnot. Assuming they work in different places, Dad would probably be home when Mum isn't and vice versa. But they work in the same freaking company. That's why they're home now.
All those times they haven't been around, she could have gotten a lot of detentions and they wouldn't even know.
Thinking about it now, she doesn't care what they think. It's her life, not theirs.
She enters the passenger seat of Brooke's car.
"What's wrong?" Brooke asks once she notices the look on her best friend's face.
They wouldn't even buy a car for her with all that money they work their butts for. They are waiting for the right time apparently.
Cue the air quotes.
She's turning eighteen for crying out loud.
Stephanie doesn't answer.
Brooke sighs. "Does this have to do with getting detention yesterday?" She guesses.
"Yeah, B. But right now, I don't care what they think. It's their problem."
"Okay?"
Steph buckles her seatbelt and smiles.
"How was your night?"
"It was great. Yours?"
Steph shrugs in reply.
"Let's get to school so I can get detention again to spite Mum," Steph smirks.
Brooke laughs as she pulls out of their driveway and head to school.
"So you and Chris played twenty questions?" Brooke asks, smirking.
Yesterday night, they talked on the phone and Steph told me what happened.
"Yup. But we didn't even get to five questions," Steph remarks.
"Doesn't matter. You're talking to the guy now. That's like huge, not to mention the fact that he wants you to know the real him," Brooke giggles.
Stephanie rolls her eyes.
"Hazel," Steph mumbles.
"What?" Brooke turns to look at her in confusion.
"Focus on the road, B. Don't get us killed because of your crazy obsession with Christopher."
"I'm not obsessed with him," Brooke visibly cringes. "What did you say?"
"Hazel. That's what he calls me." She forgot to mention that on the phone last night.
"Really?" Brooke grins. "That's awesome."
"No, it's not. I told him not to call me that," Steph says in monotone.
"You're kidding," Brooke says but the look on Steph's face tells her something else. "Why did you do that?"
"We're not friends," Steph points out.
"I wish Cole could give me a nickname or pet name. It would be awesome," Brooke says dreamingly.
"Please do not daydream right now, I don't want to die yet," Steph wheedles.
A few minutes later, they enter the school.
"Wanna hang out today after school?" Brooke asks as she puts her backpack into her locker.
"I can't," Stephanie replies with a gloomy sigh.
"Why?"
"I have to babysit," she replies pleasantly.
"Seriously? Why do you babysit, huh? It's not like your parents are poor or something so why do you keep babysitting?" Brooke wonders.
"I don't know," Steph shrugs. She pauses for a few seconds. "I guess it's because I like kids."
Brooke stares at her.
"Okay. The reason I started babysitting was that I got tired of doing the same thing every time and being the only one at home," she confesses.
"Aw. My baby girl," Brooke croons and puts an arm on her shoulders as they walk to her locker.
"I'm not your baby girl," Steph argues, shrugging Brooke's arm off her shoulders.
"Of course you are. You just don't wanna admit it," Brooke grins smugly.
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"Hey Brooke," someone says, stopping their bickering. It's Chris.
Steph rolls her eyes, "What do you want Christopher?"
"Why hello to you too Hazel. Isn't it a lovely morning?" Chris smirks.
Brooke doesn't say anything, she just watches in amusement.
"It was lovely," Stephanie smiles. "Until you showed up," she deadpans, her sickening smile dropping.
Since her last encounter with Chris, she doesn't hesitate to lash out. She can't stand his cockiness.
His smirk doesn't falter. He likes that she's getting more comfortable with him to talk like this.
Steph sighs. "What do you want? And didn't I tell you not to call me Hazel, huh?" She seethes.
Chris shrugs. Steph glares at him.
Brooke decides to clear her throat.
Chris looks at her, totally forgetting that she's standing there.
"Hello Brooke," he smiles at her.
"Hey. Can we help you with something?" Brooke beseeches.
"Thank goodness I'm not the only one wondering that," Steph mutters as she sorts through her locker.
"Nothing. Just decided to say hi." He replies, shoving his hands into his pockets.
He and Brooke just stare at each other. Steph turns after dumping her backpack in her locker.
"You're still here?" She asks in disdain.
"We have class together. I'm walking you to class," Chris announces.
"No way," Steph shakes her head in disagreement after what he said sinks in.
Why would he wanna walk with her?
A wallflower? A social pariah?
Wouldn't that mar his reputation or something?
She studies his face, looking for a sign that he's joking but she doesn't find one. She shifts her gaze to Brooke and finds her grinning.
The bell rings and Steph sighs before walking off, hoping Chris doesn't follow her.
Unfortunately for her, he falls in stride with her as they head to class.
"Bye," Brooke hollers.
What a great way to start the first period.
Random Question: Which country are you from? I'd love to know.