A/N: I'm a horrible person for not updating in over a year. I couldn't decide what direction I wanted to take this. I had a chapter all planned out, but then I read something very similar and decided to start over from the drawing board. It's totally different from what I thought the chapter would be, but it just might have set up a fifth chapter (that I had never planned on writing) pretty nicely…
Disclaimer: I do not own 10 Things, nor do I own the song by Paramore that inspired the title. If I did own 10 Things, there would be at least one more season to wrap up the madness!
Chapter Four: To Believing
Bianca Stratford would never admit it, but she wished she could be more like her big sister. Kat was strong-willed and brave; she did her own thing and didn't care what other people thought. Bianca did care. She wanted to be accepted by the "in-crowd". But she envied the freedom her sister seemed to enjoy by doing her own thing.
Well, she was free most of the time. Bianca did not envy the grounding of all groundings that had occurred after getting caught by their father in a compromising position. She had learned a lot of lessons from her sister over the years, but that had been a big one. If you're going to get down and dirty, don't do it at home!
It was something she was considering more and more lately. Joey was finally home and their relationship was getting better every day. Still, she couldn't help but remember what her sister had gone through after moving here. She could only imagine how much worse a break-up would hurt if she decided to take that step. Of course, Kat had moved on, learned to trust again, and was happier than ever.
A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts.
"Hey Bianca, Patrick and I are going for ice cream; you wanna come?" Kat offered.
"Sure, why not. You're buying right?"
"Patrick is. He just doesn't know it yet" her sister revealed with a devilish grin.
Bianca laughed and followed her sister out of the room. She sent Joey a quick text to see if he wanted to meet them. Never in a million years would she have thought she would go on a double date with her sister, but small outings were becoming quite common lately. She smiled when Patrick opened the car door for her and Kat. How he had ever convinced her to let him drive her car was a complete mystery, but again it was becoming quite common lately.
"So, Bianca, is Joey meeting us there?" asked Patrick as he backed the car out of the driveway.
"Not sure yet; he hasn't texted me back. Am I that predictable?"
"Yep" Kat and Patrick said in unison.
"Aww, how cute; it's like you two are morphing into to same person" she quipped back.
"Truce?" her sister offered.
"Truce" she obliged, falling into a comfortable silence the rest of the short drive.
The trio was pouring over the ice cream case, trying to decide on flavors when Bianca's phone beeped. She checked the message and smiled when she saw that her boyfriend was on his way. She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and literally jumped when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. It was Chastity and she greeted her with a hug after her initial surprise.
"So what are you doing here?" Chastity asked brightly.
"Just getting some ice cream with my sister" she replied.
"I hope it's fat free" she said with a slightly judging tone.
"Actually, I think I'm getting mint chocolate chip. In a waffle cone" she added for good measure.
"Well, just remember I'm having a beach party next weekend" she said, the condescending tone becoming more evident.
"Yeah, we're going to try to make it" Bianca said with a little bite.
"Oh, like you have something better to do?" Chastity challenged.
"Not yet, but you never know. Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I have to order now" she said, turning away and feeling victorious.
"Nice going, Kat Jr." Patrick whispered as she rejoined him and her sister.
Bianca smiled and blushed slightly. Maybe she could admit that she enjoyed channeling her sister every now and then.