A Little Love

Chapter 11

"Good girl," Lauren praised as Camila sat down in her lap, handing her a red block.

They were at the day care centre and Becky had invited Lauren in to do some work with Camila seeing as she'd been acting out particularly badly since the news about her parents.

"Okay, let's tidy up the blocks and then we can go play with the other kids," Becky smiled.

"Tidy up time!" Lauren said enthusiastically, helping Camila up.

"She's doing well," Becky said quietly as they watched Camila carefully packing up the blocks.

"She's okay when I'm around, but at school or with Dinah she's becoming a bit of a handful," Lauren explained.

"Camila, do you want to play tag?" Another lady who worked there, named Ariel, asked.

Camila glanced at Lauren for approval before running to join the group.

"It's such a difficult situation," Lauren sighed as the two of them sat down on a bench. "I can't believe anyone would abandon a child like her."

"You'd be surprised, people don't expect their children to have special needs, it's an adjustment some are never able to get their heads around," Becky explained. "Is she going to go into care?"

"Oh, uh, no, we're not going to let that happen, me and my partner, I mean," Lauren rambled.

The conversation was interrupted by a cacophony of disruption.

Lauren quickly ran over when she saw that Camila was sitting on the back of another girl, pulling her hair in one hand and pinning her down on the floor with the other.

"Camila!" she shouted, lifting Camila up off of the child and into her arms. "Hey, stop it," she snapped as Camila wriggled and tried to get back to attacking the girl.

"What's going on?" Becky asked as Ariel comforted the now crying girl on the floor.

"She called me a baby!" Camila shouted, pointing accusingly. "She took paci, GIVE ME PACI!"

"That's it, we're going to go have some quiet time," Lauren said, carrying Camila into the nap room which was now empty. 

"I need my pacifier," Camila sobbed, reaching for Lauren for some comfort.

"What you need is to start behaving," Lauren said angrily, her temper getting the best of her. 

Camila cried even louder, stamping her foot.

"Okay, come here," Lauren sighed, opening her arms to Camila, who completely ignored her. "It's okay," Lauren soothed, picking the distraught girl up and sitting down on a bench. "Shh," she hummed as she held Camila against her chest.

She had quietened down ten minutes later when Becky slipped in, holding up the pacifier to show Lauren she had retrieved it.

The dark haired girl quietly shook her head and Becky nodded, slipping it into her pocket.

"Look who's here," Lauren said once the pacifier was safely out of sight.

Camila clung onto Lauren, not wanting to have to go play with Becky.

 "You shouldn't have called Sarah a baby," Becky said carefully, lifting Camila off of Lauren's lap and standing her in front of her. "I understand that she called you a baby and took your pacifier but it doesn't excuse your behaviour."

Camila's bottom lip wobbled; she hated being told off.

"LoLo," she whimpered, trying to climb back into Lauren's arms.