Jayson

Chapter 9

After school that day as I was walking home from the bus stop, I heard someone shouting my name.  

"Who's that?"Trish asked, looking back to see the boy who was calling my name. 

"I have no idea!" I whispered loudly and continued walking. "Maybe he wasn't calling me?"

"Wait!  Haven, Stop!" I heard him say again, jogging toward me.

"Umm, yeah, he's calling you," Trish said.  "I'll catch up with you later.  I have to get home and start on my homework."

"Okay, see ya," I called out before I slowed down, giving him a chance to catch up.

"Oh my gosh, hey!" he said, leaning onto his knees to catch his breath, his brown hair falling iver his face.  "I'm so glad it wasn't that hard to find you." 

I smiled, uncomfortably and waited for him to continue.  I didn't recognize him, but he clearly knew who I was.  

"Do I know you?" I asked him, shyly, trying to remember his big brown eyes and sparsely freckled face.

"I'm Rob, you probably know me from the the party last year?"

I studied him carefully, not recognizing him in any way. "Which party?"

"Uh, the really bad one.  Kim's birthday party..." he told me.

"Oh," I quietly replied.  We both stood silent, avoiding each others eyes, neither of us knowing what to say next.  

"Jayson sent me to find you," Rob began again, "He described you pretty damn well, actually."

"Is he okay?  Is something wrong?"

"Oh, yeah, he's cool, far as I know.  He just thought you might need someone to keep an eye on you, make sure you're safe and all that."

I chuckled a little and lowered my head, blushing. "And how exactly are you planning to do that?"

"I don't know yet," he said grinning. "First, I'll have to see just how dangerous you are and then I'll develop a strategic plan on how best to keep you safe from harm."

With a deep sigh, I muttered, "I'm more of a harm to myself than anything and I don't need a babysitter."

"Oh come on!  I'm not babysitting, I'm just here to keep a smile on your face and give you someone to yell at or beat up on until your boy gets back."

"If he comes back."

"Okay, fair enough.  But I'm pretty sure he'll be back, so um, we going to stand here all day or did you have something else in mind?"

"I actually need to get home."

"Okay, cool, I can walk you - "

"No, you better not. Thank you, though. "

"Alright, can I call you then?  Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's fine." 

"Sweet! We'll talk later than."

I waved goodbye and began walking home, when he called my name again."

I turned to face him again and he shouted, "good to see you again, but I can't call you without your number!" I rolled my eyes and smiled again, ripping off a piece of paper from a notepad in my purse and scribbling my name and number.I handed it to him before quickly turning away, and walked the rest of the way home, grinning. He wasn't at all my type, but something about him was super cute and absolutely adorable. I figured that if I had to have a babysitter, having it been him wasn't really all that bad.