Chapter Three

Kristine awoke to her alarm clock going off. It was 8:30. She got up, pulled her hair back, got her makeup, and went into the bathroom. She took a 15 minute shower and was out by 9:00. She walked back to her room and put her stuff away.
"Knock knock!" She heard Aaron say.
"Hey kid, what's up?" She said walking towards him.
"Nothin', just seeing what you were doing." He replied
"Well, let's go watch some TV" She walked into the livingroom
She saw Nick sitting on the floor playing Sega Dreamcast with a friend.
"So, Nick ya gonna introduce me or what?" She asked with a smile.
"Nope!" He answered with a grin.
"C'mon man that was harsh!" His friend said.
"Don't worry, I'm used to it." She said giving Nick a death look "By the way, I'm Kristine, the baby-sitter."
"Hey. I'm Brian. Who are ya sittin' for, Nick or Aaron?" He joked.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell." She plopped down on the chair.
"Hey Kristine," Aaron yelled running over to her "Do you wanna go swimming?"
"Sure! Lemme go get my suit on." She ran in her room and got her blue bikink/shorts bathing suit on. She heard the door bell ring.
Nick opened the door.
"Hi, is Kristine here?" Lynn asked.
"Yeah hang on." Nick said sounding annoyed "Kristine! You got a visitor!" He yelled.
"Coming!" she said running to the livingroom. " Hey Lynn!" she exclaimed.
"Hey What's up?" Lynn beamed.
"Nothing much. Come on it." She said closing the door behind her. "This is Aaron," She began introducing everyone "That's Nick and that's Brian." Brian waved.
"Hey." She said looking at Brian as he got up and walked towards them.
"Aaron? Would you mind if Lynn went swimming with us?" She asked noticing Lynn had her suit on.
"Nope, not at all." He answered.
"Hey," Brian cut in "Can we come too?"
"Sure!" Kristine smiled.
Nick got up from the game and walked over to them. "B-Rok I...what the hell is this!?" He exclaimed snapping one of the straps on Kristine's bathing suit.
"Well, Nick, it's called a bathing suit." She replied.
"Looks more like a bra to me!" He shot back.
"Oh you wish Nick!" She said walking out towards the back doors. "C'mon Aaron."
"Coming!" He said running after Kristine, Lynn, and Brian.
"Aww man I lost him!" Nick said referring to Brian as he walked out the door.
Brian jumped into the pool first. Lynn slowly climbed in after him. Aaron did a cannon ball. Kristine grabbed a floatie and started tanning.
Nick walked into the backyard and stood there looking at Kristine for a minute.
"Like the view or what man?" He heard from behind him. He jumped at the voice.
"Yo, man it's only me, A.J.!"
"Oh hey A.J., ya scared me." Nick said still looking at Kristine.
"Ya man, and what a great view it is." A.J. replied also looking at Kristine.
"A.J. leave her alone!" Nick said noticing A.J. looking at her too.
"Sorry man! I didn't know you liked her!" A.J. quickly said putting his hands up.
"I don't like her!" Nick exclaimed, stressing the word 'her'.
"Whatever man," A.J. replied walking towards the pool "I'm gonna take a dip."
"Alright. I'm comming." Nick yelled running after him.
Kristine saw A.J. walking across the backyard to the pool. He took off his shirt, showing his rock-hard muscles and many tattoos.
"Whoo! He is fine!" Kristine said loud enough for only Brian, Lynn, and Aaron to hear her. They all turned to look at her and they were all smiling.
"What!?" She said looking at them innocently.
A.J. walked up the stairs, closely followed by Nick. They both got in the pool and A.J. doggie paddled over to Kristine.
"Hey, I'm Alex, but my friends call me A.J." he stated giving her his famous half smile.
"Hi, I'm Kristine." She replied smiling.
"That's a pretty name." He said standing up in the pool.
"Thanks," She said blushing "You want it?"
"Aww! We have a joker with us!" He said tickling her stomach. She laughed and pushed his hand away.
Nick was looking at the two of them in awe. 'Why can't she act like that with me?' He thought to himself. "guys umm...." He interrupted "Let's play a game or something."
"Aww, Frack feels lonley!"A.J. joked.
"No I don't!" He pouted "I'm just bored.
"Yeah ok Nick." Brian replied with a grin.
"Alright, let's play Marco Polo." A.J. suggested "I'll be it." He closed his eyes and started counting to 10. Everyone scrambled around the pool.
"Marco!" He yelled.
"Polo" everyone said in unison. He moved to the left where Kristine was.
"Marco!" He said as Kristine was moving away.
"Polo!"
"Marco!" He said. Then he jumped forward, wrapped his arms around Kristine, and said "I got you!"
She laughed at him. They looked into eachother's eyes and moved their faces closer to one another. Just as they were about to kiss, Nick interrupted them.
"A.J.!" He yelled
"What!?" He yelled back sounding annoyed.
"Uhh...." he stammered "Let's go get some drinks." He finished with a 'Please don't do that' look.
"Fine!" A.J. said getting out of the pool and walking inside after Nick.
"Somebody likes A.J." Aaron teased.
"More like A.J. likes somebody" Brian said looking a bit surprised.
"Nick, what's your problem?" A.J. asked once they were inside the kitchen.
"Nothing, why?" He asked innocently.
"I'm tryin' to kick ut with Kristine and everytime I get somewhere you stop me! Are you sure you don;t like her?" He asked grabbing Nick's are so he would face him.
"Really," Nick asked pulling his arm away "I don't!"
"Whatever man." A.J. replied walking outside with a tray of drinks. Nick floolwed with another tray of drinks. They put them down on the deck and A.J. hopped back into the pool. He grabbed two drinks and brought them over to Kristine.
"Here ya go." He said handing her one of the drinks.
"thanks, I'm so thirsty." She replied.
"Hey, uhh Kristine?" He asked looking at her "Did ya.......would you like to go out with me this Friday?"
"Well--" She began.
"She's already got a date Friday!" Nick cut her off.
She looked at Nick. "Oh yeah. He's right." She looked back at A.J.
"Well, what about Saturday?" He asked.
"She's gotta watch Aaron." Nick replied with a smile.
"Can't you watch him for once!?" A.J. was really starting to get upset.
"Hey, she's the one getting paid here!" Nick shot back.
"Oh no!" Brian said "It's 3:00! I gotta go!"
"Me too!" Lynn said surprised at the time. They dried off and Kristine heard Brian say to Lynn "I'll call you later."
"I gotta get going too" A.J. said getting out of the pool. "Can I call you sometime?" He turned around and asked Kristine.
"Yeah, anytime!" She replied. When A.J. was gone, Aaron decided he wanted to go in.
"I might as well go in too." Nick said to no one in particular.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
About 5:30 dinner was ready. They ate and then Kristine and Aaron went into Aaron's room to play some more video games.
7:30 Aaron was watching a movie so Kristine went into her room and turned on her C.D. player. "Quit Playin' Games (With My Heart)" happened to be on. She decided not to turn it, so she kept the volume down.
"Don't want Nick to think I actually like him or anything." She said to herself as she turned it down.
Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Hello? Hey Alex. I'm ok, you?" They talked for about two hours. "Oh no! It's 9:30! I gotta get Aaron to bed. Ok, Bye A.J." She hung up the phone and walked to Aaron's room.
"Hey kid, time to get ready for bed." She said sounding tired.
"OK>" He said going into the bathroom.
She sat on his bed for a minute, exhausted, then got up and went back to her room. She got her pajamas onand cleaned up her room a bit. Fifteen minutes later is was 10:00 and she went to put Aaron to bed. She opened the door and saw Nick was already there.
"Goodnight" He said to Aaron as he walked out the door.
"Night" Aaron replied.
"Thanks, I was really tired." She said to him as they walked into the livingroom. She was about to sit on the couch when Nick grabbed her arm.
"Nick what the--" She began, but Nick quieted her.
He went and sat on the couch. "Come here." He said patting his lap.
"Nick, you've inhaled way too much of those hairspray chemicals" She replied trying to pull her arm away. He jerked her arm back and she fell right into his lap. He looked at her and smiled.
"What are you doin?" She demanded.
"I thought you liked bad boys?" He looked dissapointed.
"What!?" She looked confused.
"You like A.J.!" Now he looked confused as well.
"A.J's A.J. Nick, not you!" She said getting up. "I don't like you like this, Nick!" She finished walking into her room.
"You don't even know me!" He yelled after her.
She shut her door and crawled into bed. "He's nuts! He's truly nuts!" She said to herself. In no time she fell asleep.