A Little Love

Chapter 1

25-year old Lauren Jauregui watched as her year 13 students left her classroom, backpacks swung over their shoulders as they chattered excitedly to one another. It was 4 O clock, which meant she had just half an hour until she was supposed to be at the house of the girl she was going to be babysitting after school for the next two weeks while her parents were out of town. Well, technically today was just a trial after which Lauren would decide whether or not she could do the full two weeks, but she couldn't see herself saying no. How hard could babysitting a 15-year-old be?

Lauren had just moved to Chicago and so was new to the school, however, when she heard that they had a program where teachers could sign up to babysit children in the younger years of the school, she had immediately decided to take part, both because she loved children and wanted to earn some extra money. She had been surprised to find that she had been paired with a 15-year-old rather than, say, an 8-year-old, but the job certainly paid well so she wasn't complaining.

The dark-haired girl quickly slid her laptop into her handbag before lifting it onto her shoulder and then walking out of her classroom, turning off the lights as she left. She opted to stop at Starbucks on the way to pick up an iced latte, knowing she would need the power boost, before walking the fifteen minutes it took to get the large house she would be babysitting at.

"Hi, you must be Lauren!" A blonde lady said warmly, opening the door. 

"Yes," Lauren smiled.

"Please, come in," she said, quickly stepping back. Lauren was immediately greeted by the sound of loud sobs coming from the living room. "Uh, Camila's not very happy that she has to have a babysitter," the lady explained, leading Lauren to the kitchen. "I'm Serena, by the way," she introduced herself.

"Are you Camila's mum?" Lauren asked.

"Yes," Serena replied after a moment's hesitation. "Technically, she's adopted, but she doesn't know so that stays on the down-low."

"Got it," Lauren nodded, taking a seat at one of the chairs at the kitchen island.

"She's really lovely once you get to know her," Serena said, although she didn't seem all too convinced herself. "Uh, she's got ADHD so she can be a bit fidgety and impatient but it shouldn't be too much of a problem if she takes her meds, you need to give them to her at bedtime and breakfast."Lauren nodded as Serena waved a bottle of pills in the air before placing it back down on the counter.

"She'd kill me for telling you this, but she has accidents so she needs to wear pull-ups, you need to change her in the morning, after school and before bed, she won't tell you when she's wet so you have to keep checking and she often tries to get away with not wearing one, don't let her," Serena continued.

"So they are for bed-wetting and also during the day and to school?" Lauren asked. Although she was slightly surprised to hear this, she knew that ADHD often led to children being unable to control such things.

"Yes," Serena nodded. "She's a picky eater but I'm sure you'll manage, uh, she gets distracted and needs prompting to continue tasks at times and help to get changed in and out of her school uniform and having a bath because she's not great at washing her hair and body, if all goes well you'll be staying in the spare room on the second floor, Camila's room is on the third, we still have crib bars on her bed becuase if we don't she'll never go to sleep, and that's about all you need to know."

"Bedtime?" Lauren asked with a raised eyebrow as Serena grabbed her purse.

"Uh, 10," the lady shrugged, before leading Lauren into the living room where she was met by the sight of a girl in her school uniform in tears on the floor while a man, who she assumed was her adoptive dad, was bent down trying to reason with her. She immediately recognised the girl as being one of the year 10s she had gotten into trouble a few days ago for running in the corridor. The child she was now looking at was nothing like the sassy, outspoken mean girl Lauren had encountered at school and looked more like a toddler throwing a tantrum.