"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... " Cory loudly read to his best friend – his pet rat. "Ya know what Lionel?" Cory continued. "I bet we could change that to rat if we wanted to..."

With a smug smile on his face, Cory quickly picked up a red inked pen and scribbled out the word "mouse," while in its place he wrote "rat."

"That's much, much better," Cory said in a baby voice to Lionel. He then decided to start the story back over, just to see how what he called, A Rat's Christmas, sounded. "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a rat - "

"Cory!" Raven shouted in a tone of deceitful disbelief. "Okay, first of all, why are you reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, and – "

"You mean A Rat's Christmas," Cory said in a reassuring voice. "Um, whatever," Raven continued. "I thought I asked you to leave the house! Chelsea's birthday party is starting in four hours and I need to decorate, and finish her present, and get the food ready and – "

"Ray, Chels is my girl, and I'm staying for her birthday party to give her my present," Cory said in a – I don't even need to say it. "Cory what present would you..." Raven said as she the thought of what Cory had just said. "Ya nasty!" she screamed all of a sudden as the thought of her and her brother came to her head... She shuddered and gasped all at the same time.

The shudder and the gasp led to a faint as Raven plummeted into a dark dream...

Meanwhile...

"Ray! Raven! Are you okay?" Cody shouted over his sister as he waved a book over her face. "WAKE UP ALREADY! CHELSEA'S PARTY IS STARTING IN THREE AND A HALF HOURS!"

"Whose party?" a voice behind Cory said. "Uh oh..." Cory muttered to himself. "Better play it cool." "Hey Chelsea baby," Cory said in a cool and calm voice.

Chelsea gave a depressed sigh. "Hi Cory, can I talk to you?"

"Of course Chelsea baby," he said again in a slick tone. "You can tell me anything." He kicked Raven under the bed as he slid closer to Chelsea. "Uh, Cory, first of all, you have no chance with me, you're only like ten."

"Twelve," he said quickly. "Same difference," she said back.

"Anyways," she continued. "I don't feel special, I feel like no one is acknowledging that it's my birthday!" She gave a small frown as she plopped herself down onto a pink computer desk chair and began to spin herself in rapid circles. "You know, I will always think you're special," Cory said in another one of his slick tones. "Uh, whatever," she continued. "Do you know where Ray is?"

"Let's talk about us Chelsea baby," Cory said as Chelsea abruptly stopped spinning and bolted for the door. "Chelsea, I mean-" Cory thought over what he had just said for a moment. "Never mind, that is what I meant," Cory said as he frantically pulled Raven out from under his bunk beds and onto the carpet that lay below. Once again, he began waving the same book over her face. "Oh Ray," he muttered to himself. "I want Chelsea to have the best birthday ever! I don't want her to be disappointed! You are the only one who can give her the birthday party. SO WAKE UP!" he finished in a shrieking voice.