the cards that life deals you {camren}

Prologue

It was a particularly sunny day in Los Angeles; the rays seemed to favor the Hollywood Hills especially that Saturday morning. Sounds of breakfast being made emanated from the kitchen while the birds chirped and made their peaceful noises outside.

The TV was going in the living room when eight year old Lauren Jauregui padded out of her bedroom in her navy blue pajamas. Her father was speaking in hushed tones with a feminine voice down the hall.

"... we just moved in a couple weeks a-" As soon as Lauren made it behind her father and peeped around his leg, her green eyes met pretty brown ones that reminded her of her mother's daily hazelnut coffee. A bright smile lit up the face of the peppy teenager and she knelt down to Lauren's level while stopping mid sentence.

"Hi, you must be Lauren!" The brown eyed girl beamed with an inner shine that seemed to radiate around her body. Lauren's eyebrows dug down and she looked up at her father with a curious glance.

"Lauren, honey, meet your new babysitter. This is Karla." The man's deep voice turned soft while speaking to his only child, and while Lauren was a handful, she was his pride and joy. Green eyes rolled in annoyance as she turned the opposite direction and padded off down the hallway toward the kitchen. With the intention of getting rid of her newest babysitter, she went to her mother first.

Pale hands gripped the edge of the doorway as she peered around the corner and caught her mother humming happily to herself and pouring pancake mix into a hot pan. Seconds later, Lauren made herself known and padded quietly over to her mother.

"Mommy, I don't like this babysitter." She stated bluntly with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Mrs. Jauregui laughed good-naturedly and piled pancakes, bacon, and eggs onto a plate.

"Honey, you haven't even talked to her yet. I had a lovely conversation with her yesterday and she's... different than your other sitters." A warm smile tugged on the woman's lips.

Her brown hair swung forward as she leaned down to pick up Lauren, the girl was pretty small for her age. The pale girl pouted and leaned her head against her mother's shoulder as she turned off the stove and made her way back down the hall to properly introduce Karla to her daughter.

The youngest of the Jauregui's had her face hidden in the crook of her mother's neck when they reached her new babysitter.

Karla shoved her hands into her back pockets and rocked backwards on the heels of her clean, bright red converse. She really hoped that her nervousness wasn't obvious, as this was her first babysitting job and she was pretty sure that she was off to a bad start if the kid she was babysitting didn't like her.

A timid smile found its way to her full plump lips and she pulled one hand from her pocket to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"Mrs. Jauregui." Karla laughed a little to ease her nerves.

"Did I come at a bad time?" The tan teenager asked, referring to the mood that Lauren seemed to be in.

"No, no, dear. She's always like this. I don't know where she gets it from, but my guess is from his mother." Mrs. Jauregui jerked her thumb in the direction of Lauren's father with a kind-hearted smile on her lips to show that she was only joking.

Mr. Jauregui rolled his eyes and chuckled as he took Lauren from her mother's arms and into his own, only to then place her on the floor.

"I don't know why you baby her. Let her walk around on her own." Mr. Jauregui grumbled and ruffled Lauren's hair. Mrs. Jauregui sighed and shook her head at him before she turned her bright smile back onto Karla.

"Do you mind watching her today? We're leaving after breakfast." She asked hopefully. Finding a sitter last minute was out of the question, at worst, they'd have to just stay home.