Chapter 10: The Cook Off

Riku and Isa got all their supplies ready for the cook-off and started to cook. They started with the salad. Everyone was watching Isa. She was tossing knives around while she cut her vegetables. It was like watching a professional on T.V. Riku finally realized how much he was falling behind. Even without all the fancy throwing he still wasn't nearly as fast as she was. 'I'm going to lose terribly.' he thought to himself.

They continued with beef stew,fried potatoes, rolls, and a dessert. Isa always finished before Riku, but she waited for him to get done to go to the next dish. They each picked what dessert they wanted to make. Riku chose to make a peach cobbler, and Isa picked strawberry cheesecake. Riku had the advantage here. Peach cobbler was simpler and easier to make. He went as fast as possible to hopefully beat Isa this time. When the timer went off he set his cobbler on the table at the same time Isa put her cake on the table. He was so proud of himself.

Isa looked over at Riku. He had the biggest smile on his face. She was really impressed. She hadn't held back at all. 'Now, time to see if his food taste good.' She headed over to his station. "I guess we should let the judges try our food now."

Riku nodded. He looked to where they were standing. Well, where most of them were standing. Where was Sora? He looked at the floor and saw Sora sleeping. He rolled his eyes.

Rach saw what Riku was looking at and went over and gave Sora a good kick in the ribs.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Sora yelped as he got up. He looked around and turned red.

"What was that about?" Roxas asked next to him.

"Um... Well, I was dreaming about Isa's amazing looking stew and in the process of trying to steal a bite, I knocked the whole pot over," he explained with a guilty look.

Everyone burst into laughter. Isa came over and patted him on the back. "It's okay, Sora. That would never happen anyway. I have a special force field around it that would have shocked you had you really tried that."

Sora paled as Isa walked back to where Riku stood. "Do you really have a force field around your food?"

"No, but now he won't even think of coming near my food again," Isa admitted earning a good laugh from Riku.

Rach, being the orchestrator, decided tho get the show on the road. "Chefs, are you ready to be judged?"

Riku and Isa looked at each other and smiled. "Yes, we are ready," they answered.

Judges, take you places," Rach looked toward the judges.

Tina, Sora, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy took their seats in front of their assigned plates on the table.

"I vote for Isa," Sora said when he sat down.

"Sora, we haven't even given you food yet," Isa told him.

"I know, but you were so entertaining," he explained.

"Sora?" Riku said exasperated.

"Yes?"

"What part of "you are judging the food and not the other skills of the chef' did you miss?" he asked.

"I don't remember that," he stated with an innocent look.

"Obviously," Rach put in. "I was trying to explain the judging rules to you as you were falling asleep."

"Oh, can you repeat them?"

"Sora!" everyone exclaimed.

The others found something to do while Rach explained the rules to Sora. Isa and Riku commented on their work. Rojer found the bathroom after thirty minutes of searching. Even with the directions Patrick gave him, he still got lost in the big house. Roxas and Namine disappeared to somewhere. Tina, Kairi, and Teresa talked about Halloween, which was coming up very soon, and Patrick talked to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy about their adventures.

After a while, Rach finally got done telling, then explaining, the rules to Sora. "Okay, before we start, is everybody ready?"

Rojer's voice came from up stairs, "Can somebody help me get back to the kitchen?"

Everybody started laughing as Patrick headed up the stairs. "We live in a mansion. You think he would be able to find his way." Isa commented.

"Isa, shut up. You would probably get lost in this house, too," Rojer retaliated as Patrick led him down the stairs.

"You two are finally acting like brother and sister again," Rach put in, glad things were back to normal.

"Are they like this all the time?" Sora asked curious.

"No, but it's really funny when the do act like this. It is hilarious. You should see them wrestle sometime," she explained excitedly.

"Do they really get that rowdy?" Teresa asked like a worried mother would.

"Oh, yeah. They go all out and completely attack each other," Rach said sarcastically.

Isa smacked her. "We do wrestle sometimes, but it's just for fun. We don't really hurt each other."

"If you were my kids..." Teresa began the perfect mother act.

"Mom, me and Sora wrestle all the time, and you've never said anything about that," Riku stopped his mother.

"Yes, but she's a..." she began again.

"Don't start with the whole girl subject either," Kairi interrupted this time. "Selphie and I fight with the boys all the time."

Teresa sighed in defeat.

"Can we get on with the competition?" Sora complained. "I'm hungry."

"Alright, judges, take your places. Chefs, get out your spoons and ladles," Rach ordered everyone. "It is time to see who the best chef really is."

Riku and Isa served their food. Each judge got half a serving of every food from each chef.

While the judges ate, the others got whatever they wanted. Riku and Isa got some food from both sides to compare.

Isa was glad to finally eat. She had been so hungry. She tried all of her stuff first. It was good, as always. When she tried Riku's, she was impressed. His food was equal to her's. It tasted different than what she was used to, but it was still amazing.

Riku did the same as Isa. He thought her food tasted great. She was a great cook, even with all the tricks and everything. He had already noticed the difference in the spices and food they put into their food. He had still had some hope because she put some stuff together that he would never put together, but it really just made it that much better.

Rach interrupted everyone. "The judges have come to a conclusion. After some thought and consideration, they have decided, just by chance of desert choice, that..." she gave a long pause.

"Spit it out already, Rach. If you don't, Sora looks like he might beat you to it," Rojer told her.

"Isa is the winner of the competition," Rach finally told them with excitement.

"Isa's cheesecake was phenomenal," Sora said. He looked like he would have burst if he hadn't have gotten that out.

Isa and Riku walked to each other and shook hands. "I might have won, but you really are a great cook, Riku," Isa complimented him.

"Thanks, Isa. You cook really well yourself. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I really am glad you won," he said surprised. He was usually a sore loser, but he actually didn't mind losing to Isa.

When Rojer saw that they were done, he went up to Isa and asked her to go outside with him.

"What do you want?" Isa said wanting to go back inside and talk with the others.

"Well, I was going to ask if you had found a place to stay yet, but I see you don't really care about what I think at the moment," Rojer snapped back.

"I'm sorry," she said not meaning to upset him. "I just really wanted to stay inside and hang out with them."

"You mean 'I wanted to stay inside so I could drool over Riku some more,'" he said.

"That's not true. Why do you dislike him so much?" Isa asked her brother.

"It's not that I dislike him," he stated.

"Then what is all the hatred towards him for?" she asked a little confused.

"You know just as well as I do what will happen if he confesses his love for you," Rojer explained.

"He doesn't love me. He already has somebody else," Isa shouted at him.

"Calm down. Whether that is the case or not, I still think he needs to be warned," Rojer told her.

"Rojer please no. I don't want that stupid curse to come between our friendship," Isa pleaded with him.

"Your steadily growing friendship. At this rate he'll be professing his love to you by the end of the week," Rojer said angrily.

"That is not true. He could never..." Isa was cut off by the patio door opening.

"Is everything alright out here children?" Teresa asked worried.

"Yeah, everything is fine," Rojer answered.

"I couldn't stop thinking about something earlier. I don't mean to intrude, but... do your parents really let you wrestle like that?" She asked trying not to sound intrusive.

"Actually, our parents..." Rojer began.

"Our mother died when we were young. We live with our grandparents now because our dad is in jail," Isa finished not wanting Teresa to have to deal with this even though, for some unfathomable reason, she trusted Riku's loving mother.

'So she's doesn't want me to know,' Roxy thought. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." she said switching back to her role as Riku's innocent mother who knew nothing.

"It's okay. I didn't tell you till now, so there was no way for you to know," Isa said soothingly.

'She is so much like her mother,' Roxy couldn't help but notice the similarity in personality between Catrina and her daughter. "Wow, you are so much like her."

"Who?" Isa asked.

"Hm, nobody," Teresa said mentally kicking herself for slipping up. Teresa then noticed the tears at the edges of Isabella's eyes. "Is everything okay, hon?"

"Yeah, I just miss my mom," Isa explained wiping away the tears in her eyes.

"Rojer, could you go inside with the others?" Teresa asked.

"Um, sure," he replied then headed back through the door.

"Why did you send..." Isa began before being cut off by a tight hug from Teresa.

"I know it must have been hard for you to grow up without a mother's love," Teresa said.

"Yeah, kinda," Isa replied. She really started crying now. She didn't have many memories of her mother, but the ones she did have were great.

Teresa felt Isabella put her head down on her chest. She could feel the younger girl's tremors as she silently sobbed.

"I love you, Mommy," Isa said quietly. This made Teresa gasp.

Roxy had always wanted to have a daughter, but was unable to when a few complications arose. If all she could hope for was a daughter-in-law, especially if it turned out to be the girl in front of her, she would gladly take it.

When Isa finally looked up, she was surprised to see that the older woman's eyes were also puffy and red. They looked at each other a moment and then laughed. Teresa then surprised her again by saying, "Hon, if you ever get the feeling to call me "Mom," feel free to."

"Okay, Mom," Isa said with a smile on her face.

"Is the tear fest over now?" came Rojer's voice from the door.

"Rojer," Isa shouted, "were you watching the whole time?"

"No, I just showed up before you two broke apart. I got tired of listening to them," he pointed behind him to imply everyone else in the house, "and I still need to talk to you."

"I guess I'll leave you two alone for now," Teresa said before heading into the house.

"What was that all about?" Rojer asked coming up to his sister.

"I don't know. She just came up and hugged me and I just started crying. I think something is wrong with me," Isa replied.

"We already knew that," Rojer said earning a smack on the arm from Isa.

"I'm serious. I don't know what is going on. I have been acting weird since I got here," Isa explained.

"I think I know the reason for you to act so weird,' Rojer told her.

"Really?" she said astonished.

"Yeah, he's sitting in there with all his 'silver haired gorgeousness,'" he said using his best girl voice for the last part.

"Oh, shut up. I don't think..." she began but was cut off by her brother's defiant expression. "What?"

"You really can't see it can you?" Rojer asked.

Isa sighed, "I know what you mean and I'm denying it because I know it can't happen, okay?"

"Isa, I don't want to do this to you. You deserve this probably more than anyone I know, but if you fall in love with him and he confesses his love for you, you die. End of story," Rojer explained.

"I know," Isa said with a slightly pouty expression. "He won't let me have any happiness, will he?"

Rojer didn't know what to say to that. The loving father that he had known was not the same anymore, and Isa had never know him when he was like that. As far as he could tell, Isa's statement was true.

"I don't know what he plans, but I do know what he has already done. I can't change the curse, so I am trying to make sure the end of it does not come to fruition. I want you to be happy, but I'm not going to let you get hurt," Rojer explained.

Just then Teresa called them into the house. Isa headed towards the door, but Rojer grabbed her arm.

"I am going to have a talk with Riku. You may not like it, but as your big brother, I bring it upon myself to protect you," he said hopping she wouldn't be too mad.

"I understand Rojer. I just ask that you don't scare him too much," she said before releasing her arm and walking inside.

"This is about to get very interesting."

Author's Note: I'm finally back. I'm sorry for the really, really long wait. I got internet back about a month ago but couldn't update because school was so hectic. I have written up to chapter twenty-three. I have to do some editing as I go, but hopefully that will speed things up a bit. I know that the whole switching from Roxy to Teresa is confusing, but it will make sense soon enough. I showed this to a friend, and our stories fit so well together that we decided to collaborate them. I hope that this won't make things too confusing for anyone. I'm glad to be back. I want to thank all my faithful readers who have very patiently waited for me to update again. I hope this chapter was everything you were waiting for.