A/N: JOE IS MINE! growls and claws Okay fine he's not, but cut me some slack and stop reminding me. I don't own anything but this plot and my imagination and maybe some twisted sense of humor D

Cole was not so much of a problem. He was still sleeping when Krisha stepped in to the house. When he woke up, he just sat quietly on his bad while Krisha looked over him from the couch in his room. Krisha remarked that he was rather lame, after noticing that he had not moved from the exact spot where he was sitting at his bed after a few minutes have passed.

"Where is Mum and Dad?" he finally spoke, his voice low and croaky, probably of dried saliva.

Krisha replied without even looking at the boy, "Out somewhere. I'm-" she paused, "I'm baby sitting you for the night until they are back." She decided not to tell the whole stepsister thing. There was no need for that, there probably would not be any other occasion when they would meet and have to know about it anyways. She finally looked at Cole and smiled. She figured why the kid must not have been talking, with all that make-up, what four years old would not have been stunned waking up to see that?

"Want to eat or something?" she asked as pleasantly as she could. She never really cooks or fix anything at home anymore so she was hoping he'd just say no. To her dismay, he nodded his head still bowed down.

"Let's go downstairs." she said, as she walked to the door and waited for him at the top of the stairs.

He looked at her uncertainly. He definitely looked quite scared of her but he followed her just the same. It felt like being with a mute, but Krisha could not really complaint. At least she would not have to worry about having to bond or be extra nice to the kid.

"Don't get so scared of me. It's just make-up." She finally said reassuringly as she set him on the chair in the kitchen counters, "I'm no good cook but I'll try to make it taste edible." She smirked which made Cole laugh. Krisha knew it was not his fault that her parents split up not that her Dad chose a filthy bitch over them; he knew none of that so she did not have to be nasty on him. And if there was one thing that makes her soften up, it would be kids.

"What are we cooking?" Cole asked uncertainly, his volume just above a whisper.

Krisha smiled at him as she rummaged through the cupboard, "You want pasta?" she offered. Her smile really looked weird with her do, it does not fit.

Cole nodded enthusiastically as he pounded on the counter in excitement. Okay, now he's acting more like a kid. He started singing something that sounded like those preschool adventure DVDs. Krisha have not yet heard of it before but she caught a few parts of it that she actually understood (Cole still have problems with his pronunciation). That part goes, we're not too big and we're not to touch but if we work together we've got the right stuff. He sang it over and over until the tune already got stuck into Krisha's head.

She was already done with the chili macaroni sauce and the water for the pasta already was already boiling. She could not find the scissors so she decided on using a knife instead. Krisha was used to using knives, but as she cut the top of the macaroni's packaging, the knife slipped and cut her right thumb. She winced at the pain, about one sixth oh an inch of her skin was dangling loosely from a tiny skin left before the knife has completely chopped the chunk of skin off. Krisha smirked at the sight of her finger and applied pressure into it to stop the bleeding.

When Cole realized what has happened, he gasped and ran over to her. She laughed when he eagerly asked to see it. She showed it to him and animatedly acted up a shiver, "Does it hurt?"

Under normal conditions, Krisha would have retorted with a simple but cruel, Duh. But she fought the urge to do that and instead said, "Nope. Not at all. I'm strong like that." Then winked at Cole who totally believed her and it up with interest.

After a few minutes, they were eating their chili mac, while Krisha's thumb still pressed on her index finger. They had a few dumb conversations, those you have with silly kids who would believe anything you would say. Cole's eyes would always light up whenever Krisha would twist stories and tell unbelievable things. In a few minutes, they were full and are bloated with water because the sauce wet too spicy.

It has been almost an hour since they finished their chili mac, and they were running out of things to do. Krisha reached on her pocket to check on her phone and pulled out her iPod. The two of them listened to her music, with Cole blinking abnormally frequent times because of the loudness of the music and the growling voices that he could not comprehend.

Krisha had just flipped open her phone when Cole tossed one of the earphones and opened the television, "It was too laud. I'm watching TV." he declared.

Krisha mumbled an okay. She had three messages and a missed call. The first message was from her Dad saying that they will be back before nine (which was barely thirty minutes from then), while the two other messages where from Joe, who was just saying hi. The missed call was also Joe. She smirked at his name and tossed her phone to her side. If she had not cut her finger, maybe she would have replied but her finger felt sore, and besides it was just a simple Hi so she decided not to bother.

Cole watched intently as some cartoon that sounded something like Backyardigans was played on Nickelodeon. He would sing along and go with what the character were doing. There were eve times when he would say the lines along with the characters. It was then that her phone rang again. It was Joe, she picked it up in a few seconds. She had not brought her headset and was pressing the phone against her shoulder with her face.

"Hey, sorry I've been busy lately." he lied, he has been home all along.

"I noticed." she said simply.

He forced a laugh, "Have you? I thought it would not make much of a difference if I called or not."

"What are you driving at?" she frowned at the phone, "Look, I'm baby-sitting right now, call me in thirty minutes."

"No, call me." he sounded rather demanding.

"Whatever. If you don't want to, then don't" she snapped then hung up.

She did not understand what was going on with him. He did not sound like his goofy self at all. What was that even about?

It was barely six days before the bet's deadline. Could that be the reason Joe was acting so weird? Was he just being pressured?

---------------

The door clicked and her Dad and Lily emerged from behind it. They looked as if they were arguing and Krisha figured it was the right time to slip off the house before she gets involved or snapped at by Lily. Luckily, she was already half way closing the door when she started bellowing her name and throwing things around the house. So their marriage was not too perfect after all.

Krisha decided to walk a few blocks, she was not yet called for a cab when she escaped from the argument Lily and herDad were having. She decided to walk the first few blocks then call a cab when she gets to a stop or a shed.

Her phone vibrated again, she cussed as she hurt her wounded finger when she reached for her phone to get the call. It was Joe, and she almost forgot about the whole deal with him asking her to call him back.

"So you really don't want to call me? It has to be me calling you?" he sounded very ticked off. What was his deal?

"Look I don't know what your problem is, but don't take it out on me. And for what it's worth, I'm walking home so I couldn't call you just yet. And gah, I don't even owe you any explanation." she snapped.

"I'm sorry." he said, not wanting to offer an explanation for his behavior, "I can pick you up."

"No, I'll be fine." she refused.

"Okay, can we at least meet up then?" he was already expecting another refusal but instead she sighed a yes.

A/N: I hope it's not that bad, I'm trying to get to the point where I end this installment as fast as I could cuz I'm already getting excited with the ending and the sequel so please bear with me. Just 3-5 more chapters and it's done ) I hope it's not that bad. Don't bash on me. Rofl! But reviews and suggestions are very welcome…just don't make it hurt too much. haha