Rejects // l.h.

4

I walked up to the door, but I could hear voices. I pressed my ear against it. Carmen and Ashton.

"I'm sorry. I know you just like me as a friend,"

"Look, Ashton, I think we should just be friends. Say we were together, and we had an argument, and then the friendship would be over,"

"I know. You're right,"

"But I can still do this," And then it goes silent. My heart starts beating. I can't hang around any longer.

I barge inside and see Carmen and Ashton, sitting on his bed, their lips attached. Carmen pushes Ashton away.

"Luke! You could knock!" She exclaims.

"I don't have to knock, this is my room too!" I protest feebly. She rolls her eyes and stands up.

"Well, I need to go," And she hurries out the room. I look at Ashton.

"What just happened?"

"I dunno. She said she just wanted to be friends but then she kissed me and-"

"Yeah, I got that bit. So is it you she likes?"

"No. She said she only likes me as a friend,"

"And she kissed you?" I ask, eyebrow raised. He shrugs.

"She's got a weird way of thinking," Ashton says, biting his lip.

***

It was the first day of the Home Care class. I had babysitting. Babysitting. How the hell are we going to babysit? Are they going to bring real babies in?

I arrived at the class, and walked in. I saw Carmen sitting beside an empty seat. I went and sat next to her.

"Hey,"

"Oh, hey. You're babysitting too?" She asks me. I nod.

"I've heard we are given a partner and then we go on a bus and it drops us off at houses,"

"We get to leave the building?" I ask in excitement. I'd only been here about a month and a half but the idea of going outside was heavenly.

"I hope so. I haven't stepped out the grounds for four years," She says, suddenly sounding different. She didn't sound like the usual bubbly, feisty seventeen year old girl. She sounds young, and lonely and scared.

"I-I mean, if you don't mind me asking, but...?"

"My parents threw me out when I was only thirteen. I didn't know what to do, so I went to the park and slept on the grass and ate leftovers from the local cafe. Then my neighbour found me and I stayed with her for a few days. She tried to call my parents but it was like they'd vanished off the face of the earth. They just took off. So she enrolled my into Charlton and at first, I was bullied because of my looks -"

"Your looks?" I asked in disbelief. She blinked at me. I coughed.

"Carry on,"

"Uh, anyway, I got bullied for my looks and my size - I used to be really overweight and I wore glasses. Then, as I came here, I ate less because the food was awful and I lost weight, someone broke my glasses and I obviously couldn't get new ones. I nicked the other girls makeup and when I went home in the summer, I bought a huge supply of new clothes and makeup. People started showing me more respect. I wasn't a loser anymore,"

My mouth is wide open at Carmen's story. She had had a much worse past then I thought. Even though my mother had died, at least she'd died loving me. Her parents are probably still alive now, and they've probably forgotten all about her.

"Carmen, I didn't realise..." I whispered. She shrugged and smiled weakly.

"It was ages ago,"

"Was your eyesight bad?" I ask in curiosity. She shakes her head.

"I hardly needed the glasses, but I wore them because I liked them and I thought they looked good. Obviously not,"

"I bet they looked good," I say. She smiles.

"Sorry, you two! I do hope I'm not interrupting anything!" A sarcastic voice booms. We both jump and look to the front, seeing a middle aged man standing with his arms folded, in front of us.

"Sorry, sir," Mutters Carmen.

"Anyway, as I was saying. Welcome to babysitting. It doesn't take a genius to babysit, so I don't know why we're doing this, but I need the damn money so listen up," The teacher snaps.

"I'm Mr Clide, and you'll be leaving the school for the next three hours to babysit a little kid who's parents are going out. I'm assigning you partners, and if you don't like who you're with, I don't give a shit," Mr Clide exclaims. We all raise our eye brows at his attitude.

"Right then. Frances Watergreen and Polly Smuthers. Emma Juniper and Dan Ghulstrom. Luke  and Carmen Smith..." Carmen let's out a sigh of relief.

"So glad I'm with you, not with any of those idiots," She mutters. I nod in agreement.

We are led out the grey building, and out the gates. I can feel Carmen shaking next to me.

"I can't believe it. I can't fucking believe I'm outside," She whispers, looking around in awe. I smile at her.

"It's so beautiful. I haven't been out the school is so long,"

We clamber onto a small, yellow bus. Carmen sits on the window seat and I sit next to her. We have to sit with our partners, but I think Carmen and I would sit together anyway.

Mr Clide comes round and drops a sheet of paper on our laps. He drops it on mine and Carmen grabs it, scanning through.

"Ok. We have a five year old boy called Freddie Lawson," She reads. I nod, and the bus's engine rumbles and we chug slowly down the abandoned road. It seems as if the air conditioning isn't working, because it's absolutely boiling.

Carmen flips her head forward and ties her long, thick black hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. I can feel my own blonde hair drooping down onto my forehead from the heat.

"Your hair looks cute like that," Carmen teases, touching a strand. I shake my head and try to make it stand up.

"Shut up,"

"You should leave it down more often,"

"No way," I laugh. The bus starts dropping people off, with Mr Clide yelling the names of the people who have to get off and which house to go in.

"Luke and Carmen! House 56!" He yells as the bus squeals to a halt. Carmen jumps up energetically. Her face is slightly pink from the heat on the bus but she doesn't seem to care.

We get off and find ourselves in front of house 56.

We knocked on the door, and just before it opened, Carmen turned to me.

"How do you babysit?"