Love, Natalie

Chapter 8

"Have you started the work for Mrs. Croe yet?" Sam asks as we drive out of the parking lot of Jack in the Box.

"Gee, you and I barely got our work right now after school and we came straight to our fast food place. I don't think that leaves me any time to work on any math, Sam." She gives me one of her looks, then starts laughing. This is why I love her.

"So we've got lots of work to do!" she says with fake enthusiasm.

"You're telling me," I say with a sigh. "Sam! I totally forgot! I'm babysitting this little kid today at five. What time is it?"

"It's 4:47. Where does this kid live?"

"Take out the paper. It's in my backpack in the small pocket." She nods as she takes out the paper from yesterday. She reads the address to me and I smirk.

"You're lucky their house is on the same street as mine, but you didn't get to change from your school clothes though." I look down and shrug. I don't really care about how I look at the moment. That's the least thing that matters right now.

"Thanks for the ride, Nat!" Sam yells as she gets out of the car. I honk as she waves back. Just a few houses down and it's barely 4:54.

I pull into the driveway of a huge house and double check that this is the right one. These people must be rich or something.

I park my car far from the other ones near the huge garage doors and rush up the steps. I take a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. I look through the glass door and see a staircase and a chandelier. I admire the chandelier, or what I can see, until a figure starts walking towards the door.

"Well you're right on time, Natalie." I smile nodding slowly at Dave. I hear small footsteps coming down the stairs knowing that they're David's steps.

"Is she here?" he asks while peeping through the side of the door. "Natalie!"

David opens the door wide for me to walk inside and gives me a huge hug. This kid is a tree hugger.

"I'm just about to go out with-"

"With Witch Katy!" David blurts. I wanted to laugh, but I knew it would be kind of rude so I stayed quiet.

"David, for the last time, Katy is not a witch," Dave says with a sigh. I'm guessing he's divorced?

"She sure seems like it. Come on, Natalie! I was just about to watch a movie!" He pulls my arm and leads me upstairs.

"I'll be back around eight thirty or nine!" Dave yells as he walks out the door. I guess it's just me and David.

"Did you just come from school?" David asks while looking at my backpack. I look down and nod.

"Actually I was on my way home and then I remembered I was going to babysit you. That's why I forgot to bring my sister today," I say as he opens a door that leads into a movie room.

"That's okay. Maybe I know her already. What's her name?" I look around and admire how the seats are placed and how the screen looks like one of those from movie theaters.

"Huh? Oh, her name is Sylvia Lopez." I have a feeling he knows her because his eyes widened at the sound of Sylvia. "You know her, don't you?"

"Let's just say she and I didn't have a good encounter." I think this kid is pretty smart. Using words like encounter is quite impressive. "Today was my first day at this new school and I accidentally spilled my coffee over her drawing in art class. She was pretty upset and so she punched me in my stomach. Then I poured coffee down her hair and that's when our teacher came in."

"Whoa. That is just terrible. Wait, coffee?" I ask in disbelief. A ten-year-old drinking coffee? Now that's something you don't see everyday.

"Yeah, I drink coffee every day. Dad says it keeps me active and doesn't make me lazy like my brother." I narrow my eyes at him. He has a brother?