In a Perfect World

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

            Crap. Crap. Crap. "I'm really sorry honey, I didn't think I was going to get called in," my dad continued to apologize for the past half hour as he hurriedly tried to gather his things. "I'm sure you can find someone to watch her while you're in class."

            "Dad, honestly, it's not a big deal," I lied from my place on the living room floor with Hayley. "AP testing is over, I'm sure I could just skip school for one day.”  But I couldn’t actually.  I’d been late to a few days of school and if I was late another day, I would be pushed off track for graduation. 

            "Absolutely not," my mom cut in sternly, rushing into the living room. "The deal with the school was that you had to go to school every other day in order to graduate.  But honey, I’m sure the nurses will be fine with watching her, they did volunteer when we talked to them last semester."

            I nodded reluctantly as she kissed Hayley and me goodbye and rushed out the door.  My grandma had fallen last weekend, breaking her hip, and although she told us not to worry, my mom didn't want to leave her alone. I mean my grandma was almost completely fine, except for the broken hip, she was frustrated that she couldn't do things on her own and I'm pretty sure she would have been so annoyed with my mom if my Uncle and his wife didn't go over there at night to take over.  So now my mom couldn't watch Hayley since she was too busy with my grandma and my dad took off work to be with Hayley, but he got called in for work this morning and now I was stuck bringing Hayley into school with me. 

            "Brittany, are you ready?" Jessica asked, poking her head out of her room.

            "Umm... Yeah, let me just get my stuff," I told her, gathering my school bag and some of Hayley’s things so she wouldn’t be bored when I left her with the school nurse at school. 

            "Ma!" she screeched when I left the living room for the nursery.

            "Hold on Hayley!" I called to her. I gathered up a few diapers and some of Hayley's favorite toys and put them into the baby bag along with her blankie. I dropped everything at the front door, where Jessica was entertaining Hayley with a teddy bear, and went into the kitchen to grab a few jars of baby food and few apple juice boxes. "Okay, let's go, we're taking my car," I told Jessica as I put the food and juice into the baby bag.

            "Okay," she said, opening the front door and carrying Hayley to my car.

            I picked up the baby bag and my school stuff as I dialed Damien on my phone.  As I loaded everything into the trunk of my car, I listened to the endless ringing.   "Damn it Damien, pick up," I muttered into the phone.

            I waited for Jessica to put Hayley in the back and slip into the passenger seat as I dialed Damien’s number for the third time and he finally answered.  “Thank god.”

            "What's up pretty lady," he answered casually.

            "Finally! Look, my dad got called into court today extremely last minute, so I have to bring Hayley to school.  Unless… I know it isn’t your parents’ turn to watch Hayley today, but do you think someone will be able to watch her?”

            "What? Sorry, my mom's on site and my dad already went to work,” he asked his voice panicking.  “But what if I just skip school and watch her?  I only have two classes today anyway.”

            “Are you sure you can do that?  I don’t want you to have too many absences from school,” I said, hoping Damien cared about his eligibility to graduate because honestly I wasn’t ready to leave him alone with Hayley just yet.