Problems (EDITING)

Alma - #3.Babysitting And Mac And Cheese

I walk off the bus thinking about Ruben. He seemed nice, but he also seemed like a huge player, and honestly I can't do that again. He is sort of cute though, and he's my lab partner. And then again, if I remember correctly, he's really popular, but I'm not sure.

I get home, happy that I don't have any baby sitting jobs today, content to just face timewith Sienna Adler, my only true friend form my last school.

*The next day*

"Mom, I'm home!" I yell as I walk into the house. 

"Hey hon. I baked cookies." She says, as I walk into the kitchen, where she stands with flour in her hair. She's just a little taller than me, standing 5'6", with short reddish-brown hair, brown eyes like mine, and a heart-heart shaped face.

"Aw, thanks Mum." I take it and bite into it. It's still warm, and it's my favorite, lavender chocolate chip. "Oh, by the way," I say, mumbling around the cookie. "I need to go over to the McCall's house tonight. They want me to babysit Emily again. They called me during lunch, and I'll probably be there 'till a little after ten thirty."

"Okay. Just make sure you bring your homework so that you can get it done." Mom, always worrying, but it's one of the things that I love the most about her. I go up to my room and grab my homework; my special 'Babysitting bag' (this contains things like a first aid kit, some games, and a couple coloring books and colored pencils.); and my purse. My purse is black and white and it has my wallet, my pepper spray, and my pocketknife, which mum insists I take with me. I tell mum I'm ready, and she drives me down to the McCall's house. I'm early, but Mr. and Mrs. McCall never seem to mind. I start on my homework as Emily, their seven year old daughter, walks over to me.

"Hi!" She says. "Want to play a game?"

"I will as soon as your parents leave. I came early so I could work on my homework, so I can play while they're gone." I explain.

"Your doing homework?" She asks, and I nod my head. "I can help you!"

"Emily," I smile. "You can try, but it's pretty hard for me to understand." Emily looks down, dejected. "But you could try. Who knows? You might know it!" She smiles and says okay. She clambers into my lap, and we work on my math homework. (Well, really it's just me, but I was letting her do the simple addition and subtraction.) "Look at that!" I exclaim, looking at her. "You helped me with my homework! I couldn't have done it without you." She giggles and runs off to tell her parents while I finish the rest of my homework.

At about seven o'clock, Mr. and Mrs McCall walk in. "Okay sweeties, we'll be back around ten thirty!" They smile. "And Alma, you remember what time to put Emily to bed, right?" I nod, and they wave and leave. I pack up my homework, and Emily pulls out a game. Life. We both love the game, and after three rounds of her beating me, I get up and tell Emily to find a different game while I make mac-and-cheese, her favorite.

"Emily, come get dinner!" I yell, and she comes barreling into the kitchen. She trips over Tasmin, their tabby cat, and skids across the floor. "Oh my god! Emily, are you okay?" I ask as I hurry over.

"Yup!" She says, smiling, then frowns. "My knees hurt though." I laugh. She's pretty tough for a seven year old. "Let's eat! I'm really hungry!" With her bright blue eyes; blonde hair, which is halfway down her back; small nose; thick lips; and her dimples, I know she'll be the envy of the school one of these days. I just hope she doesn't turn snotty.

We eat our food, and I ask her about second grade. She loves it, and we talk about other things, like boys. Even though she's only seven, she has a crush on two different guys.

"One's name is Karan, although everyone calls him Kudi. And he's so cute. He's really funny, and he's nice too. Although he's convinced that I have cooties. Do you think I have cooties?" She asks, tipping her head to one side. "Anyway, the other one is Eric, and he's really cute too. He's kind of rude, but he's nice to me, and and he get's really protective when he sees me talking to Karan." We both laugh at this.

"And two days ago, they got in a fight over me. It was so cute!" She squeals the last word. She keeps talking about them, and then asks me if I like any boys.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know who I am. He's always too busy joking with his friends to say 'hi' to me." I sigh, and she looks confused.

"Why don't you try talking to him?" I think about it. Shit, she's smart.

"Well," I say slowly, thinking it over. "I never really thought about it. I mean he's really popular, while I'm pretty much a nobody that sits in the back of the class."

"What do you mean?" She's surprised. "You're really pretty. Any guy would fall for you."

"Aw, thanks Emily. You are too." We continue talking about random stuff, and I wash the dishes after we finish eating. Emily insists on drying them, she want's to feel like she's helping. We go back to playing bored games, and I don't realize until twenty minutes past bedtime that she needs to go to sleep. She goes up to the bathroom and brushes her teeth before I tuck her into bed.

"Alma?" She asks, right before I go out the door. "Can you turn on my nightlight?" I totally forgot she was afraid of the dark.I feel bad as I turn it on and go to the living room. I catch up on my favorite show, Teen Wolf, until they get home. 

"Do you want a ride Alma? It's pretty dark outside." States Mrs. McCall.

"No, I'm fine. It's a nice night outside. " I say smiling.  "Do you need me tomorrow night too?" I ask.

"No, we don't. But thank you for watching her tonight."

"Of course, you know that I love Emily." I say, smiling, and head out the door, waving.

As I'm walk home, I bump into someone, which sends my books , papers, and my bags flying everywhere.

"Ah shit! Sorry." The person says, bending down to help me pick everything up. I recognize the voice, but I can't place it. Oh, well. "I wasn't paying attention."

"No, it's okay. I should have been paying attention to where I was walking." I say, picking up my pepper spray, from where it had  tumbled out of my purse.