Disclaimer: I own nothing. All belong to the writers and creators and WB.

A/N : Wow! Never thought anyone would even glance not to say even READ this story? Hopefully, I'll get enough ideas to continue this story into a series. Cross my fingers. Love the movie and I really wish there would be C.B.T.D 2 cos' I'd really love to see the characters once more especially Jake, Sarah and Mike!

Rating: PG-13. Just in case. A bit of curse words here and there but nothing too vulgar. I'm not a person with such 'colorful' vocabulary.Hehe!

Reviewers: Anyway, to these people:

Melbo18, joeywheeler's girl, Chaos-Fyre-Elf31, scorpio111: Thanks so very much for reviewing and reading my story. Put a smile to my face:)

Raspberry Rocker : Oh, I decided that since Sarah and Jake look so much alike, In this story I made it such that their ages are a few months apart from each other. So at one point of time, they have the same age and they go to the same school together with Henry. Sarah and Jake are not in the same class though. By the way, at what age do people in America go to high school? I'm confused with the grades over there. Anyway, thanks for the review and feedback! It's really appreciated: )

The Split of the Dozen

By avren

2 + Double Whammy – Nearly!

7.30 am

" I'll pick you guys up at 3 pm sharp! Remember! Don't be late! " Charlie reminded Sarah, Henry and Jake as they jumped out of the car and slammed the door upon reaching their school. He then sped away towards Lakeside High, leaving the shrill screeching of the tires in its wake.

Running through the school's entrance door just as the tardy bell rang, Henry separated from Sarah and Jake with a parting " See ya guys later! " and hurried off to his first period. Sarah slowed down her pace just as the first period bell shrilled through the hallways.

" Sarah, why aren't you hurrying to class? First bell just rang and you've already been punished for being tardy twice these last few weeks." Said Jake, flipping up his skateboard and planted it under his arm.

"Well I could ask you the same question, oh brother dear," she retorted, evading the question. She adjusted her beanie, which was slanted during the rush to school earlier just now.

"Hey, I asked you first! Anyway, I've got first period free cos' Miss Tandy had some meeting with some group for something, " he explained, " And I'm meeting Greg in the cafeteria in about -," checking his Swatch, "- five minutes."

Greg became Jake's best pal when he chatted him up during his first day of school after the Bakers move into their new home. They hung out with this group of guys who frequents ' The Ramp' – a skateboarding park a few blocks down across their home.

" Can I join you guys? " she asked as they reached their lockers.

She opened her locker and dumped her yellow battered lacrosse stick and her Fubu backpack and slammed the door shut. She crossed her arms and leaned against her locker, making no move to hasten to her first lesson.

Closing his own locker shut after chucking his skateboard and backpack in it, Jake looked up quizzically to his sister. " Why are you still here? You know you'd get into trouble with Dad if you get another detention. And I know you don't want a double punishment besides the one that we received this morning." He raised his brown eyebrows at her. " Isn't washing laundry for two weeks enough fun for you?" he mocked.

Shrugging his mockery aside, she just said, "First lesson's homeroom. It doesn't matter if I'm there or not. Mr. Puke-face won't even notice my absence with his favorite suck-up at his beck and call. I think he'll even be glad that I'm not there to ruin his first lesson." She rolled her eyes and glanced across the hallways to check whether the coast is clear of any hall monitors or a certain discipline master.

Just my luck to get Mr. Puceton as my homeroom teacher thought Sarah. Sighing, she turned back to Jake.

" So can I join you or not?"

" Why? Is he broken?" a cheerful voice piped in behind them.

They whipped around to find a grinning Greg, with his blond floppy hair covering his eyes. " Yo' buddy and my buddy's sis! " he added cheekily.

Sarah just rolled her eyes at him.

" Oh never mind," she finally sighed, "I'll just head to homeroom and sneak in the back door. Pray for me I won't get another detention today. If not, Jake, tell Charlie I'll be late."

Snatching the pen from Jake's pocket without permission, she grinned across her shoulder as she sprinted towards her homeroom class, her two pigtails swaying at back at them.

Slinging his arm across Jake's shoulder, Greg remarked, "Man, Jake old pal. You sure got a trouble maker there," glancing towards the direction of Sarah's retreating back. "And she sure is a feisty one," he added on with a mischievous grin.

Jake raised his eyebrows at him. "Please don't tell me that you have a crush on my sister!" he said, horrified. And he better not he added in his mind.

"What! No way, dude! As if I'm crazy enough to crush on your sister! "

"Hey!" defended Jake.

"Just kidding! Only about the 'crazy' part that is. The rest I'm not. Don't worry dude, I don't like like your sister. She's a cool pal, just like you." He reasoned.

"And you'd better be," he threatened.

Although Jake knew that Sarah can fight for herself, and I do mean fight he thought, he can't help but be defensive against anyone who harasses her sister.

Coming from a huge family, you need to learn to speak up and stand for yourself cos' you need to be heard over the din and that's the reason for Sarah's mischievous and troublemaking behavior.

He knew that you could get attention from people that way. He couldn't help but adore her sister for that cos' she has fire and lots of spirit in her even if it's not put to good use in school.

The only time when her skills are being fully utilized is during sports or when she's thinking up pranks to get at other people.

Shaking away his thoughts, he said, " C'mon, lets go meet the guys. We're supposed to be there like 15 minutes ago."

Putting his arm around Greg's shoulders, they headed towards the cafeteria.

Later at lunch

Glancing around the noisy cafeteria that was already jam packed with students milling around and queuing for their lunches, Sarah spotted a certain brown wavy-haired head that's she's all too familiar with, sitting at the corner of the square, brightly colored lunchroom, with his back facing her.

She tried to squeeze her way through the throng of students searching for tables and in the process, she accidentally bumped into the hands of someone carrying a cup of chocolate milk which caused it to spill all over his front shirt.

"Whoops! My bad! " Sarah apologized to the person she knocked into and searched her pockets for tissue to offer when she heard the familiar voice.

" What the –"

"Oh shucks," she muttered under her breath as she recognized the voice. Grimacing, she looked straight into the eyes of Joshua Garvin, a vicious bully well known in this school. It's not that she's afraid of him or anything, but she couldn't risk another detention if he tries to pick a fight with her right now. And not with the detention that I got during homeroom earlier this morning, she thought.

"Dad is SO gonna ground me for this," she muttered.

"Well, lets just get this over with shall we-" she assures herself, "– and hopefully the less painful way." She added in her thoughts.

"Well well well.." Joshua started, "If it isn't one of the Baker's Dozen," he sneered loudly, causing everyone in the cafeteria to turn and look his way.

Jake looked up to see what the commotion is all about and was startled to find Sarah in the wrath of the Joshua Garvin. Oh no, he thought and hastily stood up and hurried towards Sarah.

" Look at what you've done to my $50 dollar jersey, you clumsy punk!" he snarled.

"Hey!"Sarah snapped, " Its not as if I deliberately wanted to spill milk all over you!" Licking her stained fingers, she added, "and a chocolate one at that!"

"You should have watched where you're going!" he growled at her, poking his finger at her shoulders. Even though Joshua weighs like a ton and looks huge and intimidating in front of Sarah, she didn't even flinch or cower even for a moment. Instead, she grits her teeth and snapped back at him.

"Look Bulldog! " she started," I don't want to make a scene here okay? I'll pay you 50 bucks for your stupid jersey and let me eat my lunch here in peace!"

"Hah!" Joshua mocked and mimicked her," I don't wanna make a scene here and let me eat in peace!" Yeah right!" he spat.

"C'mon, leave her alone!" Jake's voice rang across the cafeteria, halting the scene for a moment. Joshua glared at the brown head guy, standing with an air of defiance behind Sarah.

"Jake, you stay out of this! I'll handle this by myself!" she pushed Jake back with her arm but Jake stood firmly regardless of her protests.

"Oh lookie what we have here," Joshua taunted, " It's her big strong brother, coming here to protect his wittle bittle sister," he leered, motioning to his cronies who had come to watch the show. They were sniggering loudly.

"Now WHAT is going on around here!" boomed a voice which belongs to none other that Mr. Puceton, the discipline master of the school.

"Drats! Looks like it's going to be a double one for me," Sarah moaned to Jake who just looked at her with a confused "What?" on his face.

" Sarah Baker, " rounding in on her, " I should have known! Now tell me what commotion have you caused now!"

" I didn't do it on purpose!" she defended herself. She continued, "I was just trying to get through the crowd towards where Jake was sitting and I accidentally knocked into this guy and spilled his drink all over him! Ya' think I would do it on purpose?" she asked incredulously.

" She ruined my jersey! And it cost 50 bucks too!" Joshua accused, pointing his finger at her.

"Who cares about your stupid jersey? I'll pay them back you Materio freak! " She continued to spew insults back and forth. Jake on the other hand, was trying to restrain her, which is proving to be very difficult cos' she really have a lot of strength. A/N: Materio freak – materialistic person. Sorry if you don't know ;)

Meanwhile, the crowd was not helping as they were starting to chant, "Fight! Fight Fight!" headed by Joshua's cronies.

"Sarah, dude! Get a grip!" warned Jake, "Or you'll get into so much trouble!"

"SILENCE!" Puceton hollered and the ruckus abruptly stops. Everyone stared at him.

"Sarah, Jake and Joshua! Straight to the office! Now!" he thundered.

The three of them was marched to the disciplinary office and was ordered to stand in front of Puceton's desk.

Inside Mr. Puceton's office

Sarah and Jake stood ramrod straight, side by side while Joshua, covered in chocolate, and were glaring daggers at them.

" I told you I would handle this myself and now look what you've gotten into!" Sarah whispered harshly to Jake.

"As if I would let you face this dog alone!"

"But now you'll get into trouble that you didn't even do!"

"What's done is done-"

"Yeah right," Sarah interrupted, " It's not even over yet."

"At least you didn't get to punch him. That would have caused even worse."

"Oh ya' think? When Dad finds out about this, he's going to blow his top! Not to mention he'll ground us till we're SIXTY!" she whispered loudly to him.

Jake just groaned wearily at her.

"So, any more 'Two Words' coming from you?" Sarah gave half a grin despite the circumstance they were in.

" Yeah," he nodded, "Dead meat!"

"Ditto!"

"So are you two done with your little chat?" Jake and Sarah jumped in surprise when that voice startled them.

They glanced at Puceton's face whose forehead was creased with lines. After a few minutes of silence, he finally spoke.

"Well, I'm gonna let you off the hook this time Sarah Baker." That revelation met with three loud 'What!'.

"Are you for real?" Sarah blurted out. Hmm….don't push it Sarah. He already said he'll let you off! She thought.

"What!" Joshua roared. "You're not gonna do anything about it? She ruined my jersey!" he pointed at the hardened chocolate milk on his jersey.

"Here we go again about the 50 bucks jersey…blah blah blah," muttered Sarah under her breath. Jake, who heard her, just snickered.

"Enough Mr. Garvin. Your jersey can be washed." Turning to Sarah," Now you apologize to him-"

An insincere apology was heard from Sarah.

"- And from now on, stay clear of his path. If I hear anything about this next time, you won't be let off so easily! And Jake! Make sure your sister behaves and keep her in check at all times!"

"Is that CLEAR?" he barked.

"Crystal, sir!" Sarah cried out, finishing with a mock salute. Jake just rolled his eyes.

"Joshua?"

"Yeah," he muttered under his breath and added, "whatever..."

"Now off with the three of you!" he ushered the three of them out of his office, muttering under his breath," Nothing to do but waste my time with such trivial stuff," as he shut the door to his office.

Jake and Sarah heard his mutterings and sniggered.

"Yeah, my goal in life is to waste yours, Mr. Puke-face!" she rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping with every word.

"Phew! That was close!" sighed Jake, relieved.

"Not so fast Bakers!" Joshua growled as he loomed towards them. They were out of earshot from Puceton's office.

"Beware, just beware. You'll pay for the damage. You'll see!" he threatened.

"Ooh, I'm so scared!" Sarah pretended to bite her fingernails in mock fright and shivered exaggeratingly. She then rolled her eyes at him. "Get a life, loser!"

Joshua tried to lunge at her but Jake blocked her away from him. He pointed behind Joshua and said," Its Principal Kilburn! Look!"

He turned to look but there was no one there. Jake used the distraction to grab Sarah's hand and dragged her away from Joshua.

"C'mon! Run!" Jake shouted.

They ran as fast as they could down the hallways and as they turned the corner, they had lost Joshua.

He let go of her hand and wiped the sweat that had trickled down his forehead. "Should've brought along my skateboard," he panted," would've been useful. Too bad no skating in the hallways."

Panting hard, Sarah spoke in between gasps of air," No running in the hallways too, but do we care? Nope." She smirked at him.

He just grinned back at her and took off the beanie atop his head and ruffled his hair. Its damp cos' it was drenched with sweat caused by that entire running.

Sarah took off hers and stuffed it in her pocket. Luckily, her two pigtails are still intact.

"By the way, Jake thanks for helping me. I owe ya' one." She beamed at him, slinging her arm across his shoulders.

"Yeah, you owe me BIG time! " he grinned back at her, repeating the same action Sarah did. "Hmm…so I was thinking, how about doing half of the dishes since you 'owe' me?"

Her eyes widen and she stared incredulously at him. "Yeah right! No way am I going to wash the dishes for you! Do you realize how much work THAT is, even it is half? And I have to do Laundry for the next TWO WEEKS!"

"Well, that's your fault too, should've let me win last night's video battle. But no…you had to compete until we finally had a draw. And I only slept like, FOUR hours or less!"

"As if I slept even longer." She rolled her eyes at him. They flanked each other, walking with arms across each other's shoulder, towards their lockers. The students around them just looked on curiously at these two siblings.

Then, Jake remembered something. " What is that I heard earlier about you getting a double? Ya' know, when you saw Puceton coming in the cafeteria?"

Oh no! The detention! Sarah thought.

"Err, where was Henry this whole time anyways, huh?" frantically changing the subject so he won't question her about her detention. "He wasn't even at lunch was he?"

"Oh no, you don't! Sarah, don't dodge the question!"

As she tried to pry herself from Jake's arms, she made up an excuse, " Err, sorry Jake, gotta go do this thing, erm-" think Sarah Think! "- for GEOMETRY! Yup! That's the one. See ya after school Jake! Bye!"

With that, she headed in the opposite direction, leaving Jake calling after her, a confused expression on his face.

TBC