Falling in Love

Chapter 3

Christine's POV:

Home sweet home. I trudged on the rocky path leading to my home. Paint was fading off the walls of the house, even a window or two broken. The only thing that made the dilapidated building feel like home was the flowers in the frontyard - the result of my mom's green thumb. My favourite was the Alstroemerias, colourful with pink petals and a little lightning yellow in the center. I stepped onto the first stair, and the wood made a sound of protest. I took courage to advance to the next, nervously bitting my lip. The foundation of the old house, which my dad named The Old Coop, was extremely weak. If one floorboard broke, let's just say the whole house could just fall into pieces. I sighed and went in. The door happened to be unlocked. Why? No one wanted our stuff. We lived in a neighbourhood of rich people, just as we had been once, but since then everything changed... Anyway, the point is, no one would try rob us when our neighbours had gold and money. Anyway, my dad wasn't home. He worked in a housing agency, and man - with the house prices rising, buyers were reluctant to pay such a big price. Dad worked extra hard, staying back to work for a couple of hours, sometimes coming back at midnight. Mom worked as a gardener, tending to our neighbours' gardens. She was nice and friendly to everyone, all the neighbours loved her, often leaving tips and even some extra jobs like washing their clothes. "Honey dear, I found a babysitting job for you. It's in a opposite neighbourhood, a rich family I suppose. A pair of twins, one girl one boy. 4 times a week." She placed her gardening tools in a basket. I nodded. We needed all the money we could get, and babysitting for rich families was good cash. "I know it's hard, but you know we need the money." She sighed, placing her gardening tools in a tray. I reassured her and she gave me the details of the house, address and all. 6:00 - 9:00, sigh. There goes my reading time.

Sebastian's POV:

"Sebas? Mommy says there's going to be a new babysitter! Do you think she'll tell me bedtime stories and bake cookies with us?" My sister, Lindsay, which we usually address her as Linds, barged into my bedroom, bouncing on my bed. "Don't you like it when I do those things with you?" I fake pouted, then twisted my mouth into a smile and chuckled a little. "But Mommy says everytime you do them, everything goes wrong." she frowned. I winced as I thought of the time I read a bedtime story for the twins. They got bored, saying that my reading was terrible. I decided to let them play my Xbox. Of course, I didn't keep track of time at all. Everything ended with Mom and Dad coming back at 2a.m., and the twins sent straight up to bed and my butt getting smacked. It felt like getting bit by a swan. The other time we baked cookies...it didn't go quite the way I wanted. We lost track of time and resulted in inedible cookies. I wasn't a clean freak either, so there was flour all over the twins' clothes, crumbs all over the floor, egg yolk in our hair, and I didn't even know how frosting got on Frederick's face, but that's beside the point. Truth be told, I was a terrible babysitter. My parents didn't trust me, so they hired babysitters. The first babysitter, it was a teenage boy, who came to my school. Ended up we spent to much time talking, and the twins almost blew up their bedrooms. He got the boot, but we're still best friends. The second, and also the last, well...she was pretty and I kind of hit on her. We flirted a lot, but unfortunately Mom found girls like these disgusting, plus she had a contract of things she couldn't do. Break her nails, she gets to hog all the snacks around the house, etc. Mom got furious, and *POOF* Mom told us she quit the job but we all know Mom breathed down her neck and fired her. Shucks, she was quite a catch. This time, Mom found a homegirl, poor and nice. She thinks they can be trusted more. Frederick seemed excited about it too, which I couldn't help feeling jealous how she got more attention then I ever got. "Fred, Linds, Sebastian. Come down! The babysitter is here!" I stretched and stared at at the digital clock, 5:58, early, huh. "Coming!" I groaned and went down the stairs.

Christina's POV:

I straightened the wrinkled parts of my Tee, the faint echo of the bell was still audible. I heard shouts and sounds of footsteps, a stretch of silence and murmurs. Then, a series of unlocking, and the intimidating door opened, a woman, she was wearing a glamerous dress and her hairdo was a Twist Hairstyle with a light brown base and ash blonde highlights, her face only had surprisingly simple makeup. "Darling, you're here! I'm Mrs Richards." She shook my hand warmly. Richards, why did that name ring a bell? My gaze drifted to the children. First, I saw the twins. They both had stricking blue eyes like their mom, but the similiarities ended there. Lindsay had her strawberry blonde hair tied in pigtails, an adorable round face, getting her beauty from her mother. Freddrick looked almost the complete opposite, jet black hair, handsome features and an ovalish face. He looked so familiar, I would have thought I wasn't sane if I had not seen the next figure. He had a musculine body, looked like someone who would hit the gym regularly. He had warm hazel eyes, the same jet black hair and a look of horror on his face. Sebastian.

Sebastian's POV:

No. No way. Christine? At my house with my siblings? This must be a dream, it must be. I pinched myself hard on the arm as Christine avoided my gaze. "Say hello to Christine, everyone!" Mom said, trying to sound hippie. That was the least of my problems at that point. Linds and Fred both said they're welcomes rather enthusiastically. 6 year olds, what do they know about high school and drama? Christine forced a huge smile and choked. "Hello, I'm Christine." She managed and looked down once again. Mom didn't seem to notice the dampened mood and clapped her hands to break the silence. "Alrightie, I'll leave the kids to you, ask Sebastian for any assistance." I hardly reckon she'll be asking me anything. Plus, Mom didn't trust me, as I mentioned before. To confirm my theory, Mom muttered under her breath, "Though he'll probably make things worse." She cleared her throat and finished with a note of finality. "I have important issues to settle with..." Yeah right, she was probably going out partying again. "...so behave kids, and I'll see you all in 3 hours." With that, she went out of the door, slamming it hard. What happened to the "No slamming doors" rule? There was some intense waiting for someone to make the first move to speak, making the situation a whole lot worse with the twins staring at us. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "If you're going to spend four days of my week here, we can't just keep hating each other." I paused, and her face hardened, thinking hard probably. "Your point is?" she said quietly, her arms folding. "Truce?" I sucked in air and waited for her reply. She nodded. She put both arms on the twins' shoulders and walked away. The twins told her all about their day as she laughed and messed up their hair. Maybe this babysitting thing wouldn't be as bad as it seemed, after all.

*edited*