Love, Natalie

Chapter 10

After dropping off Sam at her house, I went to babysit David. It was barely 4:32 p.m., but I'd rather be early than late.

"Natalie? You're early. Katy and I aren't even ready yet," Dave states as he points at Ms. Santiago in the hall. So the rumor Sam told me wasn't a rumor at all.

"Oh, hello, Natalie. I didn't know you were the babysitter," Ms. Santiago says nervously.

"Yeah, it's a small world. Is David upstairs?" I quickly change the subject so this doesn't get any more weird.

"Uh, yes, he's up in his room working on homework. If you want, you can watch TV in the game room." I nod with a sly smile before slightly rushing up the stairs. Well, that was sufficiently awkward.

I walk down the familiar hallway, and take a seat in the game room. I'm not sure where the remote is, so I just start working on the little bit of homework I have.

"Hey, Natalie. I didn't think you'd come back after the way you stormed off last time." I turn around and see David in black and white pajamas.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't just leave you without a babysitter. Then you'd have to see Witch Katy more often than usual."

"Whoa, she's not a witch. You shouldn't call people witches just for fun," he says in a serious, but still childlike tone.

"You were calling her a witch a few days ago." I'm sure I didn't mishear him. Or did I?

"Yes, but I am over that." I nod slowly as I believe he has taken the whole situation seriously. "Also, because Dad told Lucas to talk me out of calling her a witch."

"Oh, and what did he say that made you want to stop?" I curiously ask.

"He told me every day I don't call her a witch, he'd give me five bucks!" He fists the air happily which causes me to slightly smile.

"Five bucks a day, wow. That's a lot of money for someone your age."

"I wanted ten, but I wasn't changing his mind anytime soon. Why aren't you watching anything on TV?" I glance over at the dark screen and shrug.

"I didn't know where the remote was," I sheepishly say. If I were like George, I would have looked through all the cabinets and drawers in order to find the remote. But I'm not the type of person to just search through someone else's things. Especially if I'm a guest in someone's home.

"It's always in between the couches." He walks over to the couches near the wall. What looked like an armrest, turned out to be a hidden slot filled with remotes. "We have a remote for the TV, the VCR, the Blu-Ray, the CD player, and the game consoles."

"I feel poor compared to you."

"Yeah, but having money and expensive things don't make me a better person. We should order some pizza," he quickly grabs the phone and hands it to me. I'm still taking in what he said, but take the phone. Did he just say something deep out of the blue?

"Oh, alright. What kind of pizza do you want?"

"Pepperoni pizza with bacon. Ooo and make it stuffed crust!"

I'll order a spinach pizza for me, and might as well add some boneless wings. Yes, I'm the type of person who doesn't like bone-in wings. The bone literally just gets in the way of the chicken.

"Okay, they said it should be delivered in thirty minutes. What do you wanna do in the meantime?" He rushes over to a cabinet filled with board games.

"Let's play Scrabble! Unless you want to watch TV."

"Challenge accepted!" I've always wanted to play Scrabble with someone other than Sam. She always beats me, and my brothers say it's a boring game.