Taken Away

Chapter One

Her spit was all over my clothes. She was still running around like a madman, her chubby legs weighing her down. She smiled a toothy grin at me. "Gahh!" She screamed at my face. I attacked her with tickles and she went down laughing. She was definitely one of my favourite kids to babysit. Delly was three and half, growing taller each day. Her brown pigtails stuck out on either side of her face and her cheeks were rosy red. The only reason I took on the job to babysit her was because I needed some money and like many kids around the world, my parents wouldn't raise my allowance. But that didn't mean I didn't like it. Delly was definitely cute and fun, and her parents paid me well. I was scared though, that I was taking on too much because I was slipping behind in school. I had never been the best but now my grades have slipped slowly to D's and F's. I sighed. I looked around and saw that her blocks were everywhere, the letters of the alphabet strewn on the floor. Delly was engrossed in the TV watching her favourite show, Teletubbies. At least it gave me time to clean up.

Delly fell fast asleep around eight and I read a book waiting for her parents to come home, They paid me and I walked down the street to my house which was only two blocks away. I counted the bills silently in my head. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty. I smiled to myself. I opened the front door with my key and I heard someone's footsteps apporoaching as I walked into the kitchen. "Kit? We saved some for you. It's on the table if you want some." My mom's voice chorused around the room. My brother playfully slapped me across the head. "Hey your boyfriend called." He dragged out the y in boyfriend. "Shut up." I said blushing as the mashed potatoes melted on my tongue.

I woke up with a sweat and I looked at my alarm clock. It was nine in the morning. Oh my god I was late for school! I panicked. Then I remembered it was the first day of spring break. I figured I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I went for a run, throwing my sweats on and a striped tank top. I tiptoed around the house trying not to wake anyone and closed the door silently behind me. I started down the street, heading towards the park that was close to my house. My headphones blared through my ears as I broke out into a sprint. "It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now", the song came over the speakers. I ran through the entrance to the park and started going around the loop that encircled it. My mind wandered thinking about how I was going to survive my final exams that were coming up in June. The English one was supposed to be brutal and my teacher had given me a warning, "If you don't bring your grades up, you're not going to graduate." His voice haunted my thoughts. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. How was I supposed to juggle it all? A voice cut through my train of thoughts. "Hey Kit!" The voice hollered. I looked in front of me and didn't see anyone. Nobody was behind me. All this pressure was getting to me I thought. Now I'm hearing voices. A person came and tackled me from the side and I sprawled onto the grass that lay beside the path. "Hey Kit." The person beside me said, breathing heavy. It was Toby, my supposed best friend. I had knew him ever since we were little kids, chasing each other with our water guns. His ink black hair was messed up and there was more gel in it than ever. "You idiot!" I screamed at his face. "Who the hell just tackles a girl and then just says "Hey Kit." I said. He smiled. God he was annoying. He ran his fingers through his hair. Almost every girl was in love with him. He looked ok, I guess, if you like pale skin, freckles and a lanky kid. He got up and offered his hand to help me get up. I took it gratefully, because when he had tackled, I landed hard on my back. As soon as I got up, I put him into a headlock. He got out of my grip and came after me. I ran to the beach screaming my head off. Just like when we were little kids.

Toby walked home with me, both of us eating popsicles. The air was balmy and warm and my skin was sticking to my sweats. I said bye to him when we got to his house, which is right across from mine.I walked into my house and looked at the time. It was ten thirty in the morning and nobody was awake yet. So I left a note on the table, telling my family where I was going. I tried to call my boyfriend Luke but all I got was the voice mail. I decided to just leave what I was wearing on, I didn't really care who saw me. I started walking towards the mall, my wallet heavy in the pocket of my sweats.