Babysitter | Calum Hood

2

"Hello, you must be Kendall," a lady with adorable crinkles by her eyes, smiles.

I nod my head slightly and grinned back at her. "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Hood. My mother talks about how nice you are all the time," I reply, trying my best to make a great first impression. She looks at me fondly and quickly runs over to her shoes, which she has still yet to put on.

While she slipped her feet into her shoes, Mrs. Hood began to explain the rules to me. "Ryder can be a handful sometimes by not listening and doing whatever he wants, but just threaten him by saying you're going to call me or something," she chuckles, walking towards the coat rack to find something that will keep her warm. "He has to be in bed my eight thirty. Ryder doesn't like to eat certain foods sometimes, but just make him mac n' cheese and he'll most likely eat it."

Mrs. Hood was now ready and her husband walked down the stairs and quickly kissed her on the cheek, making her blush. "You look beautiful, Joy," Mr. Hood compliments.

I internally awe and hoped to myself that I'll have someone love me as much as that when I'm older. Mrs. Hood looks over at me and asks if I understand everything she's been saying.

"Of course, Mrs. Hood. I'm sure I can handle Ryder," I state.

"No, call me Joy." I nod, not knowing what else to say. "My other son is at his friend's house so I doubt he'll be bothering you, so just make sure Ryder is safe, okay?" Joy says with a glint of fear in her brown eyes. I could tell she was worried about leaving her son alone with a girl he just met. I nod and smile, trying to reassure her.

As Joy and her husband walk outside to their car, I wish them some fun and shut the door. Right when I turn around, I see a ten year old looking boy with dark brown hair and perfect olive skin. His complexion is better than mine will ever be. Lucky, ten year old. I presumed that it was Ryder who stood there in a t-shirt and pajama pants. He had his hands behind his back and I was already suspicious about this kid.

"Um, hi. You must be Ryder; I'm Kendall," I say, bending down to his height by placing my hands on my knees. He didn't respond to me so I awkwardly bit my lip out of frustration. "Are you hungry?" I ask, hoping that he would say something so this wasn't a one sided conversation.

"Who are you? Are you my babysitter?" Ryder asks, completely ignoring my questions by asking some of his own.

"Yeah, I am-"

"Why can't my brother babysit me? He's cooler than you are."

"Hey, that's rude of you to sa-"

"I have a sister too. Why can't she babysit me?"

"Ryder, I don't know-"

"I don't like you," he states, before bringing the mystery item out from behind him.

A Nerf water gun shines in the light if the living room. The light reflecting from the plastic blinded my eyes for a few seconds as he aimed it at me. "Ryder, put that down," I beg, already shielding my face, incase he squirts water in my eye.

"Why would I do that?" he taunts, placing his finger on the trigger. I already hated this brat. I should've just continued to wallow about being broke. I would have never ended up with a threatening ten year old.

I make eye contact with Ryder and look in the depths of his dark brown eyes. They held mischief, and I was terrified for some odd reason. Before he could push his tiny finger down on the trigger, I took off. I didn't know where I was going when I ran through the house.  I just needed to escape.

Running through the hallways with my socks on was difficult. The hardwood floor was slippery, but I continued to run. When I attempted to turn a corner at lightning speed because I heard the sound of his footsteps increase, I slipped. Not just the slip where I fall slightly and I'm okay if I just walk it off, it was the type of fall where you slip backwards, fly in the air for a little bit and crash into the ground.

Ryder's laughter echoes around in my head that was still spinning from my horrid fall. My back had a stinging pain and my head continued to have an ache everywhere. I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping to rid the headache. But when I open my eyes, Ryder stood over my body with a smirk and the nozzle of the gun aimed straight at my face.

"I may not like you, but it's hilarious to see you fall," Ryder chuckles, still not pressing the trigger. I'm starting to think that the gun is just empty. "I thought you'd be boring but this chase was fun."

"Man, I hate running," I heaved, having a shortness of breath from sprinting throughout the Hood household. "Ryder, please get off m-"

A warm liquid suddenly squirted at my face. It didn't taste like water. Water had no flavor to me. My eyes were clenched shut so nothing would get into my eye. But when I opened my mouth and eyes to yell and glare, he already took off running throughout the house. I looked down at my clothes and licked my lips. It wasn't water.

It was soy sauce.

Ryder. Drenched. Me. In. Soy. Sauce.

**

I had no spare clothes so I continued to stay in my sticky clothes, smelling like a Chinese restaurant. After forcing him to eat a ham and cheese sandwich because I couldn't reach the box of mac n' cheese on the top shelf and Ryder hid the stool, it was almost eight thirty. I let him stay up to finish an episode of some weird cartoon that went until nine. I was wishing he'd like me better after I let him stay up past his bedtime.

Right when the episode ended, I speedily ushered him to his room and tucked him in. I wished him good night and he just stuck out his tongue at me. I stuck mine out back and he grinned.

Currently, I lied on the couch, waiting for Joy's arrival. At nine fifteen, the doorknob jiggled and the Hoods came in with happy smiles on their faces. When Joy's eyes landed on my stained white v-neck, I explained to her Ryder and I were playing around and he accidentally stained my shirt. She was hesitant about my excuse, but she nodded her head anyways.

I assured her that Ryder behaved like an angel and ate his dinner like a good child should. She was surprised but she just rummaged through her purse to find me my pay. I was handed twenty dollars and I grinned happily at her.

"Kendall, would it be okay if you stayed over next weekend? David and I want to go to a little getaway from all the stress we've been having," Joy asks me as I opened the front door.

I thought about how much Ryder had annoyed me today. He squirted soy sauce at one of the only few white shirts I owned. He laughed at me as I struggled to reach mac n' cheese. The little twerp hid the stool somewhere. After I let Ryder stay up past his bedtime, he sticks his tongue at me like I'm beneath him. He was annoying, rude, and spoiled. But he was fun to be around. I liked a challenge.

"Of course I would, Mrs. Hood."

**

OK CALUM AND KENDALL WILL INTERACT NEXR CHAPTER I PROMISE + dont forget to vote&comment xx