The Apprentice.

Chapter One

Charlotte smiled "no don't worry Alfie, I'll sort it out" she spoke softly bending down to pick up the tipped over paint pot "Don't cry Alfie it's alright". Charlotte picked up the toddler ignoring the fact that the bright yellow paint on his t-shirt and pants transferred across to her, it was washable, and she always brought a spare change of clothes with her when working, you never know what kind of mess or random bodily fluid might end up on your clothes working in a nursery.

As she was crossing the room to the bathrooms, she heard the familiar sound of the door opening and one of the managers voices speaking "and this is the toddler room" Reece the manager of the sister nursery spoke as he entered the room. "Charlotte?" he called looking around. "Sorry Reece, paint emergency" she called from inside the toilets where she stood helping Alfie out of his clothes and into his spares. "Be with you in a minute".

Carly stood up from the book corner. "Hi Reece!" she called across the room, she didn't recognise the girl stood next to him, but she was beautiful. Her long chocolate coloured hair was neatly curled, it fell to the middle of her back, a black velvet headband kept most of it away from her face except a few small strands curled gently at the sides of her face. A face of, in Carly's mind, pure beauty, she was fair skinned with brilliant blue eyes, the kind of blue you'd find looking at perfect sapphires. She had gently winged her eyeliner and her lips were painted a pale pink which suited her pale skin perfectly and seemed to match the small amount of blush on her cheeks. She was slim, a deep blue blouse fitted her figure showing her small waist, she had on a small pencil skirt that stopped just above her knees, Carly noted the black tights and thigh high boots she wore, they showed just how long her legs were. She was so focused on this girl she totally zoned out to what Reece was saying.

"Carly" he called right next to her making her jump.

"What!" she called.

Reece rolled his eyes gently at her "You haven't heard a word I've just said" he muttered causing the girl stood next to him to smile gently.

"This is Annie" he smiled motioning to the new girl "She's going to be our new apprentice here".

Carly looked over at the girl who smiled sweetly back at her "Hi Carly" she voiced; Carly didn't know if she's heard a smoother voice.

"H-hi" Carly responded totally taken aback by the apprentice. "How'd you know my name?" she asked causing a giggle to come from the girl. "That's what Reece just called you" she responded.

"r-right" Carly spoke a small blush creeping up her cheeks. "Oh, Charlotte you're back!" she rushed out hoping the girl didn't notice the affect she had on her "This-This is Charlotte" Carly finished motioning to the woman who had just returned with a crying toddler holding onto her hand.

"Sorry Reece, little Alfie here had a paint incident" Charlotte smiled sweetly at the little boy then at the new girl "Oh you must be the new apprentice, we got an e-mail around this morning."

"Hi Charlotte, I'm Annie" the girl spoke again lowering her eyes to the little boy clutching his teacher's hand "Oh no, well a little splash of paint isn't a bad thing" she chuckled gently. Alfie sniffled

looking up at the young woman and his sniffles stopped and he stood behind Charlotte's leg. "Sorry he's not very good with strangers" Charlotte smiled.

"Oh, that's alright" Annie smiled bending down to his level "I'm Annie" she smiled at him "We won't be strangers for long, will we?" she smiled offering a nearby toy truck to the boy. Alfie hesitated but soon took the toy and smiled at her moving off to play.

"Well, I never" Charlotte smiled "took him weeks to warm to me" she smiled at the girl who stood up brushing down the front of her skirt.

"well" Reece began "I think you've met most of the staff now, Marjorie should be back in tomorrow and of course you already know Autumn, she'll be back tomorrow as well." Reece continued. Annie smiled looking up at him "I'll be happy to see her again" "Right then we best go and let the ladies continue it's nearly the children's lunch time" Reece motioned to the clock. "Of course," Annie smiled looking at Charlotte who smiled back and Carly who'd made herself quickly busy with some children in the book corner very clearly trying to avoid the girls' eyes "Well I'll see you both tomorrow" Annie smiled "I cannot wait to get started" with that she followed Reece back out into the hallway.

"Sorry about Carly" Reece said when he got back into the quiet corridor "She's normally so bubbly with people" he smirked "Wonder if she's just having an off day" he muttered.

"Reece don't worry about it, I'm sure it's just because she's not used to another apprentice being here" Annie smiled up at the taller man "By the way Reece I wanted to say thank you for this, I'm so grateful that you've sorted this out for me and offered me this position".

"Hey, don't worry about it Annie" he smiled "you're family, well practically family" he laughed resting his hand on her upper arm "We look after each other remember" Annie nodded looking towards the ground.

Charlotte looked on through the window "Reece seems to know her, I wonder how" She muttered to Carly who caught a glimpse of this interaction outside the door. "I don't know but she said she knew Autumn already maybe they are friends?" she muttered. Charlotte caught the little bit of nervousness in Carly's voice. "Are you okay Carly?" she spoke softly to her friend. "Yeah of course I am Char" Charly perked up "Don't worry about me" she smiled walking off to help the children with their food.

Charlotte smiled tomorrow was certainly going to be interesting, she knew something was going on with Carly but she didn't want to push but this new apprentice would certainly shake things up.