Learning To Fly

Chapter 2

The next couple of weeks went by pretty quickly and were very uneventful.

By the time Introduction day came, I was pretty nervous. I would be leaving Kinsley with complete stranger for hours. I've never been away from her for that long. Especially since my dad had signed me up for the dance class early on before I knew I would be coming to the Academy. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunity to dance, but the class he signed me up for is after school. I gotta love him though. 

At around eight in the morning, the babysitter showed up. And they were not what I was expecting. 

"Hi. Are you Lola?" He asked.

My babysitter ... is a guy. Once I realized I had been scrutinizing him for too long, I cleared my throat and spoke. "Yes. You must be River?"

"River Brookes in the flesh." He said. My eyes narrowed the slightest bit and he chuckled. "I get what you're thinking. Male babysitter? Yeah, that's what they all think at first."

"At first?" I asked before finally getting a good look at him. His hands were in the pockets of his dark-washed denim jeans. He was wearing what looked like brand new work boot style shoes. He was wearing a blue, black, and grey flannel paired with a light blue jean jacket with white fur lining. I took a long look at his face, just now noticing how hot he was. He had bright blue eyes and auburn, dark brown hair. His jawline was taut and he was sporting a loose dog collar beaded necklace that somehow looked good on him.

"I'm pretty good when it comes to kids. It brings in good money, too. My prices aren't too high which is why I get so many people to let me watch their kids." I nodded as he said all this, biting my lip in thought as I wonder whether or not he is trustworthy.

A question comes to mind a few seconds later. "How old are you?" I asked.

"Just turned nineteen a month ago."

"Well, happy belated birthday, I guess."

"What about you?" He asks. "How old are you? Are you starting out in college? Your dad said something about you had school."

"Um ... " I hesitated to tell him, but did so anyway since he would find out sooner or later. "I just turned eighteen a few weeks ago. And, I don't go to college ... " I trailed off. "I'm a senior in high school."

He looked shocked, to say the least, but he shrugged it off. "That's cool. I hope you don't mind, though. I brought my computer and some school work. I do college online."

I shook my head and smiled kindly at him. "Not at all. Kinsley's in her playpen right now. She doesn't cry a lot. But she needs her daily bath at four. Her breakfast is at ten, and her lunch is at two. Her nap time is at eleven thirty and then her next nap is at two thirty. She'll usually sleep for about an hour before she wakes up and plays with her toys. She likes listening to music before she sleeps, so play that before every night. Oh! And -"

"Hey, hey, hey. This isn't my first rodeo. I appreciate the fact that you care though. Most of the time, parents basically throw their kids at me and don't care about any schedules. I admire that." River cut me off.

I let a breath I didn't even know I was holding and laughed to shake it off. "Sorry, I just -"

He cut me off again. "Aren't used to leaving your daughter for more than a few hours?"

"Exactly." I glanced at my watch and swore. "I'm gonna be late if I don't head out now."

"What time do you have to be there?"

"Eight thirty."

"That's in twenty minutes. You still have time, right?"

I recited the lines my dad drilled into my head all those years ago. "Early is on time, on time is late."