Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with "That's So Raven."
Chapter 4
Raven put empty bowls down on the coffee table and fluffed the pillows on the couch. The living room was neat, for the most part. Raven did a quick dusting before everyone was to get there. Cory and Victor had gone out for the evening, going out to eat before going to a baseball game. She had the house all to herself.
Just a little after six, the doorbell rang. Raven jogged over and opened the door. Eddie, Chantel and Chelsea were standing there. Eddie swung the bag of movies around on his finger while Chelsea held two big paper bags full of junk food.
"Hey Rae, sorry we're late." Eddie said and Raven shrugged. Eddie and Chantel moved past her while Chelsea struggled with the bags. One of them fell from her weak grasp, but Raven caught it just in time.
"Woah. What's with all this?" Raven asked, looking inside the bag she caught. There were chips, popcorn, chocolates, peanuts and pretzels in this one bag alone.
"Yeah well, Chantel helped me shop." Chelsea stated, and Raven nodded, understanding. Chantel, for a skinny girl, had a very large appetite. Raven often wondered where she put it all, and hated her just a little for eating so much and looking so great.
"Wow, Raven, you have a very nice house. Thanks for inviting me."
"Thanks Chantel." Raven said surprised, and then realized that Chantel had never been at her house before, which was weird because Eddie was there all the time.
"Let's put this stuff in the kitchen." Raven said and Chelsea nodded.
The girls continued to the kitchen, putting their bags on the counter and unpacking.
"You invited Chantel?" Chelsea asked. "I just thought that Eddie brought her along."
"I didn't exactly invite her. When Eddie asked about movie night, I just asked if Chantel would be coming. Eddie took it from there."
"So, why didn't you ask if Ben was coming along?"
Raven cringed at the sound of his name. "Well...I saw you guys fighting and just thought it wasn't the right time to ask."
"But you would be cool with him coming here?"
Raven sighed. "Yeah. Why are you asking anyway?"
"Oh, I don't know." Then Chelsea laughed a little. "I-I just sometimes get this feeling that you guys don't really like each other."
Raven didn't respond and Chelsea stopped laughing. "What, you don't like him?"
"I really don't care either way Chels."
"But, I thought you guys were friends."
"We are." Raven lied. "If you want to bring him next time, that's fine."
Before Chelsea could say anything, Eddie shouted, "Hey girls, where are those snacks! Cookie-lips is getting hungry! You know how she gets when she's hungry!"
They then heard a shrill "Eddie!" and the soft thump of a pillow connecting with Eddie's body.
Chelsea stood there, looking at Raven suspiciously. Raven avoided looking directly at Chelsea. After a few seconds, Chelsea sighed loudly, grabbed two bags of chips and went into the living room. Raven hung her head.
"What is wrong with you!" Raven whispered sternly to herself. Then, she grabbed four cans of soda and went into the living room.
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The first movie, "Man-Eating Zombies from Mars" wasn't as stupid as the title suggested. It was acutally quite frightening. Chantel had buried her head in Eddie's shoulder fifteen minutes into the movie and only came out to grab big handfuls of popcorn. Chelsea sat indian-style on the couch cushion hugging a pillow, which she frequently put over her face in fright. Raven had maneuvered herself into the corner, bringing her knees up underneath her chin and covered her eyes with her hand but had split her fingers apart a little to see what was going on. Eddie seemed to be the only one enjoying the movie; his eyes were wide, but his mouth had curved some sort of sick smile.
"I don't know how much more of this I can stand!" Chantel shouted from Eddie's shoulder who put a comforting arm around her.
"That's what we get for letting Eddie pick the movie." Raven said just loud enough for Chelsea to hear and she nodded in agreement.
Suddenly another helpless female zombie victim (and Chantel) screamed and Chelsea jumped, landing in Raven's lap. Raven froze, looking down at Chelsea, who had her hands over her face. "I can't watch! Is she dead?" Chelsea shouted, but it came out muffled because of her hands.
"Uh-uh...I'm gonna get another soda." Raven said, gently pushing Chelsea off of her and getting up. "Anyone else want one?"
Eddie raised his hand. Neither Chantel or Chelsea answered, too scared to move.
Raven hurried into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, shaking her head. "Now is not the time to break Baxter. You can do this. You can do this. You can do this..."
Raven continued to say it in her head over and over as she grabbed two sodas from the fridge. Suddenly, she was pulled into a vision.
Raven and Chelsea were in Raven's room. Chelsea's hair was wet. She was crying and shaking. Raven wiped a tear away with her thumb. Chelsea closed her eyes and leaned in...
Raven dropped the soda and gasped as she was pulled out of her vision. One of the cans exploded, spraying cola all over the kitchen floor. "Damn!" Raven exclaimed, jumping out of the way of the growing puddle.
Chelsea burst through the doors. "Raven are you okay? I heard a--oh!" She said, seeing the soda running down the linoleum floor.
Raven grabbed a roll of paper towel and tore off several sheets, throwing it down on the mess. She threw a few more down, and Chelsea crouched down to collect it.
"Oh, you don't have to--I got it." Raven stammered.
"Please. Anything to get me away from that movie for a while."
Raven stared at Chelsea while she gathered the soda-soaked paper towels. All she saw was her vision; a million thoughts ran through her head. Why was Chelsea crying? Why was she wet? What happened? More importantly, what was going to happen? Why did Chelsea lean in like that?
"...op?"
"Hmm?" Raven said, snapping back to reality.
"Where's your mop? The floor's kind of sticky."
"Oh! I'll get it." Raven said, going over to the closet at the end of kitchen and grabbing the mop and bucket. She put a little bit of water in the bucket and dropped the mop in. Chelsea dumped the dirty paper towel in the garbage while Raven mopped the sticky area.
When that was finished, Chelsea put down some more paper towels and stepped on them, shuffling across the wet area to dry it. Raven dumped the water down the sink and put the mop and bucket back.
Chelsea pulled the now wet paper towels from the bottom of her shoes and put them in the trash. "Okay, I guess that'll do."
"It's fine. Thanks."
"I kinda don't want to go back in there." Chelsea joked as a loud scream erupted from the television.
Raven grabbed two more sodas and opened the door to the living room. "Come on, it's not that scary."
"Are you kidding!" Chelsea exclaimed. "Are you watching the same movie?"
Raven shook her head and sat back down on the couch. She handed Eddie a soda. "What's happening? What'd we miss?"
"Well, the zombies ate three more people and the dog."
"Oh, not Chompers!" Chelsea whimpered.
Eddie nodded. "Yep. Sorry Chels."
"Man, I was hoping he'd make it."
Raven cast a sideways glance at Chelsea and smiled.
There were two more movies after that, neither of them as scary as the first one, but then again, Raven wasn't paying attention. She was thinking about her vision. She was excited and scared at the same time. When would it happen? What was going to happen? What did it all mean?