Catch My Fall | ✔

01. Awkward Situations

The smoothie was pink and cold and ruining my favorite sweater. The strawberry-banana flavored drink dripped from my hair, onto my face and collected in a puddle at my feet. If the culprit wasn't a tiny four-year-old, I would've fought her.

But Kennedy was only a toddler, practically a baby. The most I could do was a stern look, a calm explanation about why she shouldn't have dumped my drink on me and send her to the timeout corner for five minutes.

Her six-year-old brother, Carter, watched the whole scene with wide eyes. I'd been on the floor playing dinosaurs with him when Kennedy launched her surprise attack.

She was still upset I turned the TV off and took away the tablet. But those weren't my rules. Their parents had very strict screen time limits. They got only thirty minutes during snack time. Still, the little girl pouted and stomped and crossed her chubby arms.

Now, she did all that from the tiny pink chair that faced the corner, silent little sniffles coming from her. The timer on my phone said she still had two minutes left of her punishment, but I wanted to let her out early and give her a hug.

She was usually a chill kid. She'd been in a mood, according to her dad. But, no, I had to remain firm. So, I cleaned up the smoothie, Carter helping because he loved the vacuum mop his parents had, and Kennedy served her time.

Thankfully, I still had my P.E. clothes in my bag. Even though they desperately needed a wash, the smell was better than being sticky. Still, I hit the shirt with some Hawaiian Breeze air freshener and hoped the Wrights wouldn't notice when they got back.

Babysitting wasn't on my list of career goals, but the pay was good and I got to play with toys without judgement. Plus, the kids were adorable. Well, when they weren't throwing smoothies. I needed every cent I could get if I wanted a car by next school year.

Rolling into school in a slightly used car my first day of senior year kept me from completely losing my mind. Even as I used a towel to dab pink liquid from the best twist-out I'd had in months.

After Kennedy's time out, she was ready for a nap. Carter fought it, but eventually clocked out on the playroom floor surrounded by dinosaurs.

I had, at most, an hour of time to myself before one of them woke up. I put an episode of Gossip Girl up on the tv and pulled out my math homework.

When I picked up my phone, it was to use the calculator. But my thumb slipped and I ended up on HALLZ. It was a social app for students at Valle Vista High. Some senior created it for a school project a few years back. There were different message boards and an option to create private chats.

It was entirely anonymous. The usernames were automatically generated and you were unable to change them. So, I was stuck with TruckPlums. Clearly, the creator of the app had a sense of humor.

It was kinda genius, though. The weird usernames served as great icebreakers. Also, meeting someone as TruckPlums, was easier than meeting them as Daya Hartley.

The app was meant for people to find friends or study partners, but most used it for dating. Every other week there was drama surrounding the app--catfishing, cheating, ghosting. It was why I preferred to stay anonymous.

It was easy to talk to people when no one knew who were. When you couldn't see them, and they couldn't see you.

There was a new message from LaterTofu, someone I met in the Art section on the message boards. I'd been trying to teach myself how to draw digitally and LaterTofu was helping.

But the message wasn't about the digital art. What I read made me immediately shut down the app and contemplate uninstalling altogether.

LaterTofu wanted to meet in person.