Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm back... Yayyy! Anyway, so I know that it has been a really, really long time since I've posted a chapter, and you can blame that on my old laptop that pretty much imploded on me. So, after losing all the data on my old laptop, disposing of it, buying a new laptop, installing all the programs needed, connecting to the internet, and waiting a week for a computer guy to come and help me, I'M BACK!! Enough of the sob story, onto the next chapter of the real story! Thanks again to all my loyal readers, especially Nadine who gave me one of the ideas for this chapter, and finally, enjoy chapter four of Cookies, Movies, and Mermen. I Heart Kid Chino.

Cookies, Movies, and Mermen – Chapter Four

Saturday, 8:17pm

"So what will it be tonight, young princess Sophie?"

Seth and Sophie were sitting together on little Sophie's bed, getting ready to read a story together.

"We've got 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'the Lion King', 'Pocahontas', and 'Beauty and the Beast', and uh... that's all." Sophie eyed Seth suspiciously.

"Any other books?" Asked Sophie, keeping her eyes glued to Seth.

"Ah, um, nope, I don't think so, sorry Soph." Seth looked around the room nervously, knowing how mad Sophie would get when she realized that her favourite book was missing.

Sophie paused for a bit, looked at her book shelf, and then blurted out loudly, "You're lying." Sophie glared at Seth accusingly.

"What? Pfft, no I'm not," Seth laughed nervously, "I don't see any other books here, so, um, I guess these are all of the books that you have."

"Nah-huh" Sophie yelled at Seth.

"Yah-huh" Seth shot back.

"Nope"

"Yeah"

"Nuh"

"Yeop"

"No times infinity thousand million plus a billion, so beat that." Sophie crossed her arms across her chest and smiled triumphantly.

"Okay you win," Seth admitted seriously, "but there still aren't any more books to read, so please just choose one of these." Seth once again showed her the books to choose from.

"I don't want any of these," Sophie declared, "I want my 'Little Mermaid' book. NOW!" Sophie used her cuteness to the best of her ability by pouting and giving Seth what could only be described as 'puppy dog eyes'. Footsteps sounded in the hall outside, and then suddenly Sophie's pink bedroom door swung open and Ryan appeared in the doorway. He leant back against the door frame and folded his arms across his chest with one eyebrow raised.

"What's with all the noise up here? Sophie, are you being mean to Seth?" Sophie continued to use her 'puppy dog eyes' at Ryan as she shook her head innocently. Ryan continued, "Didn't I tell you to be nice? You know how upset he gets." Ryan smiled cheekily at Seth, while he glared back in response.

"No Wyan, I wasn't, I promise. Seth stole my 'Little Mermaid' book." Little Sophie knew how to get Ryan wrapped around her little finger with just one look. Seth looked over at Sophie with a look that said 'What? You little liar', and then looked back up at Ryan innocently.

"I did not" Seth yelled louder than before.

"Did too" Sophie yelled even louder. Who knew such a little girl could scream so loudly.

"Did not"

"Did too"

"SHUTUP!" Ryan finally yelled at the two bickering siblings. Ryan was just appreciating the lack of noise in the room when he glanced over at Sophie's face and saw the look of shock horror that was plastered onto it. Sophie's jaw was dropped and her eyes were wide open, staring at Ryan in disgust.

"You. Said. Naughty. Words." Sophie said slowly, emphasising each word. "I'm telling mommy when she gets home, cos that was a really mean thing to do." If there was one thing Sophie hated, it was being yelled at. Tears quickly welled up in her eyes.

'Oh no' Seth and Ryan both thought simultaneously. They both knew what was coming, and it wasn't good. Suddenly, Sophie burst out into tears.

"I just wanted to read my mermaid book," Sophie wailed. In her opinion, it was the END OF THE WORLD, and if she didn't get her mermaid book soon, all hell was going to break out in the Cohen house.

"Calm down sweetie," Ryan soothed as he walked over and sat on the end of Sophie's bed, "I'll tell you what, if you promise to stop crying and to try and go to sleep, Seth and I will try and find your mermaid book so that you can read it tomorrow night" reasoned Ryan.

"Kay" Sophie stopped crying, deciding that Ryan's proposal sounded fair.

Ryan kissed Sophie on the head and said goodnight as he and Seth made their way out of her room.

"You gonna look for that book tonight? What a waste of time" Seth added as he and Ryan were walking downstairs.

"Of course not, I'm way too tired. And isn't Summer coming over to watch that Valley Marathon that's on tonight anyway?" Queried Ryan

"Yeah... Love the valley" Seth grinned excitedly. Not surprisingly he got 'the look' from Ryan.

What the boys didn't know was that Sophie had climbed out of bed and wandered down the hall to go to the bathroom as the two were talking, and she had overheard everything. Little Sophie was not happy. Her mermaid book deserved first priority, and she was going to go looking for it. It was adventure time, and Sophie was not going to stop searching until her book was safely back on the shelf in her room.

Saturday, 9:08pm

"NO, NO, DON'T DO IT JAKE! SHE CAN CHANGE, DON'T JUST DUMP HER ASS!"

Summer, Seth and Ryan were all sitting on the couch watching episode number three of the Valley Marathon. Summer was cradling the tissue box in her arms and tears had been streaming down her face for the last hour or so; Seth was absolutely riveted by the show; and well, Ryan wasn't so much.

"You know what guys, I hate to tear myself away from this amazing show," Ryan sarcastically interrupted, "but I'd better check on Sophie." 'Any excuse to get away from this stupid show' Ryan thought. He sighed has he walked out of the living room, down the hall, and up the stairs. Upstairs he made his way to Sophie's room, expecting to see the small blonde haired girl sleeping soundly, but once he was inside her room, it was apparent that she was not sleeping soundly. She wasn't even in her bed, let alone asleep.

"What the? What is that girl doing? More importantly where is she?" Ryan mumbled to himself.

Ryan checked the bathroom, no Sophie; the guest room, no Sophie; Seth's room, no Sophie. She was nowhere to be found. Ryan paced downstairs and into the living room where Seth and Summer where still mesmerized by the Valley. Amazingly, Summer had finally stopped crying.

"Guys, Sophie's missing." Ryan blurted out.

"What? Are you sure you're not just imagining it Ryan? Because lately-"

"Seth, shut up. Did you check upstairs?" Summer interrupted.

"Yeah, every room, and I couldn't find her."

Summer decided to take charge. "Okay people, we're on a search and rescue mission. I want Sophie back in her bed within an hour tops. Let's GO, GO, GO." She yelled military style.

"Okay, Summer, I don't even know what the hell that was, but-"

Summer glared at Seth.

"Got it, LET'S MOVE PEOPLE" Seth decided it would be better for his general health and/or wellbeing for him to listen to Summer. The three walked out of the living room, all heading off in different directions to find Sophie as soon as possible.

Saturday, 9:55pm

"We've looked everywhere. I guarantee you that we have looked in every possible hiding place in this entire house."

Seth whined. The three friends were back in the living room after searching the Cohen house.

"Wait a second, there's one place we haven't looked," Ryan remembered that they still hadn't searched the pool house.

"The garbage bin?" Seth asked

"No dumbass, he means the pool house." Summer corrected.

"Oh right, yeah... I was kidding." Summer and Ryan looked at Seth, their eyes saying 'sure thing'.

The three made their way into the kitchen, out the back door, up the stairs and into the pool house. They started searching the room, under the bed, in the bathroom, and under Ryan's desk, when suddenly they all heard singing coming from behind the kitchen counter. The sound of a little voice humming 'Part of Your World' rang throughout the pool house. Summer, Seth and Ryan all exchanged glances and slowly made their way over to the mini kitchen that was at the back of the pool house. Nothing could have prepared them for what they would see: 'sweet little Sophie' was sitting on the floor behind the counter, reading her mermaid book, while scoffing down an entire box of chocolates that she had found while she was on her little adventure, looking for her book. Her hands were covered with melted chocolate, along with her face, hair, and pyjamas. Everything was soiled, except for her book which was sitting safely on the floor next to the box of chocolates, so that she could easily read and eat at the same time. Sophie stopped humming and looked up to see Summer, Seth and Ryan towering over her with their arms crossed. They were obviously unhappy.

"Uh oh," Sophie knew she was in SO much trouble. She smiled up innocently at the three. "Guess what Wyan? I found my book".

Thanks for reading guys. Updates will be way more often from now on. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please press that little review button and tell me what you think!