The Guy Next Door

Chapter Twelve (Thea): I think I'm going to take a nap

"Wake up, sweetie, it's time to get ready," I felt my mom gently rubbing my back and slight dent in my bed. Rolling over, I opened one eye, and could see that she was already dressed and ready to go.

"Mom, I don't want to go today," I responded, pulling the covers over my face. All the thoughts from yesterday came rushing back into my head. How could Toby treat me like that? How could anyone treat anyone like that?

"Are you not feeling well? Did something happened?" I could hear the concern in her voice.

"No, mom, I just didn't sleep well last night and I'm tired," I deadpanned, hoping she'd drop it.

I felt her get off my bed. Normally she's understanding about these things so I'm not too worried about it.

"How about this? Why don't you work in the nursery today, okay? Your dad double checked and your car is running just fine so you can come in a little later and just watch the children?" she asked, but it wasn't really asking. It never really is with her.

I groaned, "Okay, mom."

~

"STEVEN PUT DOWN THE SCISSORS AND WALK AWAY FROM CALLIE!"

Not caught up? Steven, a sassy 4-year-old, just cut Callie's hair for her. Callie's parents are usually pretty forgiving, they have seven kids and Callie is the youngest so they've seen it all but goodness gracious someone needs to learn to control these kids.

"Steven, come here," I said to him, as sternly as I could.

He walked over, and let me tell you, this kid is quite the actor. He was already starting the water works, but I wasn't falling for that again.

"Yes, Ms. Thea?" he asked, sniffling?

"What did you just do?" I asked him, taking the scissors from him.

"Nothing," he replied, staring at the ground. I'm not going to lie. A part of me did hurt for him. No kid is just like this. There can be a plethora of reasons: not enough attention at home, too much attention at home, he has a crush on her, he doesn't know how to communicate that he wants to be friends, etc.

"Did you cut Callie's hair?" I stared at him, then looked at Callie who just looked kind of sad. I've watched these kids a few times and I never really see her with too many of the other kids.

"No ma'am," he said, still not looking me in the eyes.

"Why don't we walk over here to the corner to talk, okay?" I asked him, and he obliged.

"Okay, so what happened? I saw, so don't lie to me," I added, so he knew I meant business.

"I didn't mean to I promise!" he got a little flustered, "she just didn't have anyone to play with and wanted to play 'Hair Salon' so I was fixing her hair."

"You were fixing her hair?" I asked him. He nearly cut a whole 6 inches off her hair.

"She doesn't like her long hair, she told me, she did. I promise. I was just helping."

"Okay, I believe you, but you got your scissor privileges taken away for a month, and you have to be careful, okay?"

"Okay! Thank you, Ms. Thea!" he said, bear hugging me.

"Callie, can you come here for a second?" I asked, turning to her.

She walked over and sat down in a chair, staring at the ground, blankly.

"Are you okay, Callie?" I asked her. She didn't reply. I wonder what's going on with her home life. It's kind of crazy to think that. That a 4-year-old could have a "home life".