Kissing Habits.

06. Adventures Of Babysitting

Chapter Six
Adventures Of Babysitting

AT FIRST, CAMILA HAD BEEN EXCITED TO HELP HER FRIEND BABYSIT. But shit hit the fan real quick. When she'd first assumed she'd be lounging around watching films with Theodora whilst a little kid snoozed away in bed, the girl now found herself standing in the backyard with a shovel in her grip.

Dustin's hand-me-down hockey gear had been strewn to the side, beside a tree somewhere in his backyard, and Camila stared down at the grave she and Theodora were digging for his poor cat.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" The girl piped up, halting her labour for a moment to wipe the back of her hand along her forehead.

With a snort, Theodora followed suit, taking a step back and plunging the end of the shovel into the autumn leaves that littered the ground. "What do you think?"

Camila couldn't help but chuckle as well, but she shrugged. "I mean, I don't know! This could be some immersive experience you wanted to trick me into so I'll finally watch one of your horror films with you."

"If only."

Before Camila could conduct another reply, the backdoor burst open, revealing a panting Dustin Henderson. "Theo, I need your car!"

"Car!?" The girl whose dad's car was in question gaped up at the tween boy. "You can't even drive!"

"Then I need you to drive it!"

Theodora Özdemir glanced over at her friend for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. "Where are we going?"

"The Wheelers'!"

"The Wheelers'!?" Theodora repeated in confusion. "What do you need over there?"

From the top of the porch, lingering in the backdoor like a sizzling ball of annoyance, Dustin grumbled and stomped a foot. "I'll explain in the fucking car, just get up here!"

Following this tween enragement, Theodora left her shovel unattended in the ground and began trudging up the garden with Camila in her wake. "Jesus Christ, kids are different than they used to be..."

In Theodora's father's Ford Pinto, Camila Dimaano had taken backseat-centre, whilst Theo was in the driver's seat, and Dustin had shotgunned the passenger's. When Camila argued with this seating plan, Dustin had claimed it was "because I know the way there and you don't." Which was true. But he was also thirteen years old, and Camila didn't like getting bossed around by literal children.

"Erica, Lucas's sister, picked up his walkie and said she doesn't know, nor does she care where he is, and when I asked if he was at Mike's, she also didn't know and didn't care," Dustin explained, though much too fast for Camila or Theo to actually follow along with. "So! I think it would be much more practical to actually go to their house and ask their parents, since they wouldn't be a good parent if they didn't know where their kid was."

Hands clutching the steering wheel, Theodora glanced over at the young teenager. "Your mom doesn't know you're cruising around Hawkins in a Pinto."

"She knows I'm with you," Dustin shrugged pointedly.

Thanks to Dustin Henderson's (late) directions (which caused Theodora to pull many a U-Turn), the trio pulled up in front of the Wheeler's two-storey cul-de-sac house.