Whim Manor And the Boy Who Wasn't.

Misadventures in Babysitting

[Harper, did you leave without a buddy?] Ms. Windsor texted me.

[Sorry I forgot] I texted back [kitchen duty?]

[Just text me when you get there]

Caroline Tanner's place was only about five blocks away. It was a rented condo in a brick four-plex as close to the tourist area as you could get without actually being in it.

[there] I texted Ms. Windsor, stepping inside the building.

Stairs led up to the second story, and I knocked on the second door, noticing just how feminine my hands looked with candy-painted nails.

I bit my lip, the strawberry-flavored lip gloss punctuating the feeling, and—

The door opened to Caroline with her back turned, one arm in a sling. She was standing in an apartment furnished like a hotel room, the wild, stubborn, screams of a child echoing from down the hall.

"Tyler... Hush up! The babysitter's here."

Caroline did a double take when she saw me— Oh god, she knows?!

"Were you going on a date or something?"

"Ah ah ahhhhh!" Tyler screamed.

Steadying myself, I checked my reflection in the mirror and blushed at the cute girl glancing back at me. "No, just the girls, the other girls, they were... giving me a makeover."

"Fun—"

"AAHHHH!!eeh!!AHH!!" Tyler scream-singed.

"Tyler! Quiet down or no video games for a week."

The screaming cut off.

A brown-haired eight-year-old, Tyler, stuck his head out the door, and a nerf dart hit me in the face, bouncing off.

"Okay, no video games, mister!"

He stepped out, holding his hands up, a nerf blaster in one of them. "It was an accident, an accident!" The child looked genuinely mortified.

"Lilith?" he asked, scrunching his face up in just the cutest possible way.

"It's Harper... but yes."

"Oh," he looked at his mom. "You didn't say it was going to be her." He gave me a little wave. "You look different."

"Well... this is how I... normally... look, sort of."

"You look weird," he said.

"Tyler!" his mom gasped.

"Just all girlie and dumb and stuff."

"It's fine," I said, blushing even harder now.

"Well, I need to get going. Will you be all right?" Caroline asked. She seemed very distracted.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Good, good, there's a car waiting. I'll try to be back by eleven."

When I nodded again, she handed me a set of keys and left in a rush, down the stairs.

"Do you need help?" I called after her, but she was already gone.

And then Tyler and I sat in the living room, just staring at each other for a solid ten minutes.

"Am I in trouble?" he finally asked.

"Why would you be in trouble?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. Just you're all quiet."

"Well... I've never babysat before," I said, realizing I probably shouldn't admit that. "I don't know what I'm doing. What do your other babysitters usually do?"