Fat.

Chapter Three - Electric 'Sparks', A Tooth, and Burned Toast

Chapter Three - Electric 'Sparks', A Tooth, and Burned Toast

I pushed the button and immediately heard the Robertson's doorbell ringing 'Ode to Joy,'.

I waited a nano-second before I saw two smiling little girls in the doorway.

I smiled back and waved. "Aimee!" They screeched. "Hey," I hugged both of them. I'd known Jackie and Sarah since before they could speak.

I walked into the hallway, surrounded by familiar faces in picture frames on the musty old yellow walls. The house had a strange, but comforting smell of smokey pine. I could hear opera music playing loudly in the kitchen, and separate footsteps in the tv room and upstairs.

I adjusted my bag on my shoulders and looked at the five year old, Jackie. "Did the tooth fairy give you any money?" I asked the younger of the two.

She had a cheeky grin on her face and looked at me mischieviously. "I'll be right back," she called out to me, running up the stairs and crawling up the last few steps with her hands.

I turned and looked at the seven year old, Sarah. Her hair was in two little red-headed braids. "How's your lip?"

She gave a small smile. "All better. It was invisible this morning." I laughed. "So you didn't need the crutches in the end?"

I remembered Sarah haggling around the house with two sweeping brushes as crutches, dramatizing her injury.

"I needed them but Mikey said I didn't," Sarah scowled.

"Well," I heard a voice in the background, "Why the hell do you need crutches for a sore lip?" Mikey emerged from the living room.

He had changed out of his uniform and into a band t-shirt and a pair of dark skinny jeans. He was listening to 'She', my favorite Greenday song with old headphones in his ears.

"Hi Aimee," He said, fumbling with the iPod, turning the music off. "Hey Mikes," I smiled.

He pushed his big glasses up the bridge of his nose, to find them slide down again. Mikey looked at me again and frowned, "Did you hea-"

"Hey Aimee," Carla, their mom, emerged, her high-heels clunking down the hall and towards us.

She looks like she was in her mid-forties, but looked younger, as she looked like she was getting ready for some kind of interview. She always has me call her Carla because she thinks it makes her younger.

"Would you mind staying until ten?" She asked. I nodded and she smiled. "Thanks so much," she was rooting through her bag, "You are, by far, the best babysittier the girls have ever had, no offence Mikey, and you seem to be the only person that can get the girls to sleep,"

I smiled. "I'm flattered. And no, that's no problem,"

I liked hearing that I was good at babysitting, seeing as I'm not popular, not sporty, or all that smart. It was nice to have something I can always do right though.

Sarah was trying to grab Mikey's old iPod nano to play a game, but he towered over her, smiling while lifting it up so she couldn't reach. Meanwhile, Jackie was still upstairs.

Carla looked at the watch on her wrist. "Oh God! I'm going to be late!"

She rushed over to Sarah and kissed her on the top of the head. Then she went over to Mikey and gave him a big hug. I could see was Mikey's face turning red. She let go and gave me a quick hug. "Thanks so much she whispered," and let go.

"Bye Jackie, love you," Carla called out. I could hear a muffled "You too, mom," from one of the bedrooms upstairs.

Then Carla left, her old car screeching out the driveway.