chapter one Every time I leave the Garden’s house, I promise myself I’m not going back. But then the next time Mrs. Garden rings me in a fluster and asks me if I can look after the kids while shes does some errands, I always say yes. Every single time.
"Cerridwyn, honey, Thankyou so much for doing this. I won’t be much longer than two or three hours, dear. The emergency numbers are on the fridge, and there are some things for the kids to do on the kitchen table." Mrs. Garden was searching through her purse for her keys while also trying to put on a pair of shoes. She gave me a rushed smile and, in lurching movements, made it towards the door. I grinned.
"Okay, Mrs. Garden. Have a good time." She gave me a weary smile before disappearing behind the door. I shook my head slowly and turned around to find Emily, aka tyrant number one, looking up at me, eyelashes working overtime.
"Hi Wyn!" She flashed a 100 watt smile and held up a box of jello mix.
"Can we make jello people?" I smiled and slipped my backpack off my shoulder.
"Sure Emmy….. where are your brothers?" Emily made a distracted motion in the direction of upstairs and placing her hand in mine, proceeded to drag me toward the kitchen. Before I could ask about her sister, Emily had me decked out in an apron and standing in front of the sink. I glanced out the window at the grey Oklahoma day and wondered what the afternoon had in store for me."Haha Josh you’re dead!" I stuck my head around the door to the Living room and found the two boys, Josh, 7, and Mark, 10, playing with a Nintendo. It appeared I’d arrived just in time to see the end of a game and the begginning of a fight. "Marrrrrrrrrrrk! That’s not faiiiiiiiiiiiiir! I didn’t know you could do that!’
"You did too! I saw you do it yesterday!"
Time to step in, I decided.
"hey, hey guys… its only a game! How about you play for the best of three?" Mark looked up and eyed me carefully.
"Hi Wyn," he mumbled, and then turned again to Josh. "We’ll do that. You need to win the next two games that means"
I carefully backed out and headed down the hall to check on the baby.
There may only be 4 Garden kids, but they definitely are a handful. I sighed as I headed downstairs again to check on the jello people."Really, Mrs. Garden, they were fine." She gave me a knowing smile and passed me a check.
"Thankyou, Cerridwyn. I’ll give you a ring when I need you next." I smiled, grabbed my backpack and shifted it onto my shoulder. "Oh, Wyn, I almost forgot…. My sister and her family from Tulsa are going to be visiting us for a while next week. They have 7 kids, and there are some nights we’ll want to go out and we’ll need someone to look after the children. They have 2 older children that can help you out, though."
I blinked. Now was my chance to tell her I was too busy to do very much next week. Be assertive, I told myself.
"So do you think you can help out?"
I gulped. "Sure, Mrs. Garden."
I’m not a particularly assertive person….I left the Gardens house and crossed the road. It’s quite cool, because I only live down the road a bit from them. "Bri?" I paused in the doorway to my house and listened. No-one answered. My sister, Brianna, usually isnt home at 5pm anyhow. She works at the music store in town and doesn’t get home until about 6. My parents both work full time, and aren’t home until around 6, either. So, for most of the day, I have the house to myself. Which is fine by me.
I dropped my backpack and headed for the kitchen, looking for food.
chapter two "Okay, Lisa, can you carry on reading please?"
I fiddled with my pen and eyed the clock above the teacher’s desk. 5 minutes until 12. I tried to concentrate on Lisa’s reading, but I really wasn’t interested. As the clock ticked towards midday, I shifted in my seat. When the bell did ring, my History teacher glanced at her watch and sighed. "Okay guys… you can finish reading the chapter for homework. See you tomorrow" The screeches of chairs being pushed back and desks being cleared ran around the classroom. I grabbed my bag and started towards the door.Our school cafeteria at lunchtime resembles a zoo at feeding time. It’s a really big building, and because it has a very high ceiling, it echoes. So when you have a hundred or so teenagers in there, all talking very loudly and clanking plates around, it gets kinda noisy. I found my best friend Meredith and we took our trays over to our usual table, a large one in the corner of the room. A few of our friends had beaten us to it, so we sat down next to them. A chorus of ‘Hey Wyn’ and ‘Hi Meredith’ went around the table before they went back to their conversation.
"Are you serious Jess? When are they coming?"
"What’s this?" Meredith asked, as she dissected a bread roll.
Michael looked over, and said with a roll of his eyes, "Hanson are doing a concert at the Stadium next week." I groaned and shook my head. Jess grinned at me.
"Don’t say it, Wyn. We all know what you think." I sighed and went back to my sandwich. Nothing against Hanson, but pop music really isn’t my thing. Meredith smirked at me over her roll. She’s the opposite to me.. leaning towards obsessed. She looked back to Jess.
"How do we get tickets?"
"Umm, they’re going on sale tomorrow, I think…"
As they carried on, I zoned out and started to scan the cafeteria. My eyes settled on a guy sitting over the other side of the room, in a group. Tom Matthews. Tom is like the most wanted guy at our school. He’s got the most amazing features, and..
"Wyn? Wyn!" I turned back to the table and saw Meredith frowning at me.
"Will you come with us?"
I blinked. "Where?"
"The concert."
I raised an eyebrow. "Me? At a Hanson concert? I dont think so…"
Meredith sighed, "Come on… you might have fun…."
I chewed on my lip. "Ummm, I’ll think about it" I knew full well I had no intention of going, but Meredith seemed satisfied with my answer and turned back to Jess.
Shaking my head, I glanced over at Tom’s table. I just about died when I saw him looking right back at me. I quickly became very interested in my sandwich. I don't know what it is about that guy, but just looking at him sends me into cold sweats. When I glanced back a few seconds later, he was talking to his friend and they were both looking at our table. I gulped and turned to my friends, deciding to pay attention to the conversation."Hey Wyn," I closed the door behind me and raised an eyebrow. Brianna, my sister was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, eating a bun.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. She laughed.
"Well, thanks for saying hello…"
I grinned. "You know what I mean…."
"Yeah, I know. I had the afternoon off because they were stocktaking at the store."
"Oh, ok." I started past her and up the stairs.
As I made my way up the stairs, I heard the phone ring and paused to see who it was.
"Oh, Hey Mrs. Garden. Yeah, she's here, I'll just get her." I sighed and made my way slowly back down the stairs, as Bri called me.
"Hello, Wyn?"
"Hi, Mrs Garden."
"Hello. Now dear, I can't talk long, but would you be able to sit for my and my sister's kids on Saturday?"
I chewed on my lip. That was only 3 days away. Inwardly groaning, I said;
"Sure, Mrs Garden. What time?"
"Well, if you could be here by 6pm that would be great."
"Sure."
We hung up, and I turned to Bri, sighing.
"Hey, they're not that bad, Wyn," She grinned, giving me a thumbs up sign.
"You'll be great."
"Yeah, sure, whatever." I mumbled, making my way back to the stairs. It was going to be a long week, I could tell.
[index]
[contact]
[part two]
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