"Hello?" "Yes. Is this Natalie Drake?" "Yes it is. Who's asking?" I questioned, a little concerned that this person knew who I was and I didn't even recognize their voice. I noticed Riley watching me intently. He must've seen that I didn't know who was on the other end; I'm sure I looked a little freaked out. "Oh, right. I'm Mrs. Singh. My husband said he met you a few days back at our shop," she informed me. "Oh, yes. I guess I did," I replied, assuming her husband was the indian man I met earlier this week. "Right, well, we were hoping you could babysit for us Monday afternoon. I know it's only a day's notice, but something came up and-" "Mrs. Singh, I'd be happy to babysit. What time?" I said, silencing her worries. It's obvious I silenced any worries Riley had as well because his serious face turned back into a smile once he saw I was comfortable with the conversation. Mrs. Singh and I settled that I'd be at her house before 5 p.m. because that was when they were leaving. We also discussed my pay, and what time they planned to be back. I made sure to write everything down on paper, along with their address before getting off the phone. "So, you're a babysitter?" Riley asked, raising an eyebrow at me with a grin. "Part-time, yes." "Is seventeen too old to have you as my babysitter?" he continued, pointing a finger at himself. "You think you're funny, don't you?" I said, playfully slapping his arm. "Hey? What can I say? I'm a naturally funny guy." "Yeah yeah, whatever," I said, pinning my note to the fridge with a magnet. "I didn't know you wore glasses," he commented from behind me. "You look cute, like a girl version of Harry Potter." "Did you just say I look like Harry Potter?!" I exclaimed, and not in an excited way. "What's wrong with Harry Potter? You don't find him hot?" Riley teased. "Not at all. I'm more of a Ron Weasley girl," I admitted. His warm laugh filled the kitchen. I guess it filled the living room too, because Paully heard us. "Hey, you better not be flirting over there!" he yelled from the couch. "Shut up!" I yelled back. "And you," I said, pointing a finger at Riley. "Who? Me?" he asked in a dramatic way. "Yes, you! You don't tell a girl she looks like a guy, ever!" "Chill, HP. You look absolutely adorkable," he laughed before ruffling my hair and heading back to the couch. Well, at least I got a more satisfying compliment out of him. The rest of the night we stayed up playing with Paully on the PS4. Around 10 p.m., Riley's mom called and he had to leave. I walked him out, giving him a hug goodbye, and then headed upstairs to my room. I decided to work on my script for my project in Digital Studios. I would need an actor for it soon, but I'd deal with that later. Sunday went by just as fast as it came, and now I was getting dressed for school. "Natalie! You should be leaving soon!" Tracy screamed, her annoying voice killing my good vibes. I put on a pair of light-wash skinny jeans and my blue and yellow flannel. I tucked the shirt in at the front, letting it hang out in the back. Then, I laced up my all-white Adidas and was almost done. I styled my hair in a half up/half down do, and started my makeup. When I finished my usual mascara, I put my contacts in, grabbed my bag, and headed to the kitchen. I was almost hit in the face with a granola bar, but manage to catch it just in time. "Nice catch. Ready to go?" Paully asked, already opening the front door. "Uh, yeah. Let's go." When we pulled into the parking lot of LHHS, we were twenty minutes early. "Glad to be suspension-free?" I asked, tilting my head as I smiled at him. "Pft, nah. I enjoyed my vacation. Do you know how high I got my rating on PUBG while I was alone?" he said, genuinely admiring whatever rating he achieved. "I don't know what that is, but I'm guessing it's high." "Seriously, Nat? You haven't heard of Player's Unknown Battlegro-" But whatever Paully was saying started to fade out when I saw a sad Leila rushing into the school. If she's here, than he probably is, too. Sure enough, I spotted the tall, green-eyed monster talking on his phone by the flagpole. "Uh, I gotta go. Do you have a ride home or..." I interrupted, cutting Paully off. "What, uh, no. I'm good," he said, confused. Knowing he was all set, I grabbed my bookbag, and started walking toward Drew. He clearly saw me from yards away, but didn't acknowledge me. When I was less than a foot away from him, he finally made eye contact with me. "Yeah. I'll talk to you when you get here. Someone's busy invading my personal space," he sighed, never breaking his stare. I rolled my eyes as he hung up his phone. We hadn't even started speaking, and already he was making this very difficult. "What do you want?" he griped, impatiently. "Look, I'll make this quick. I'm sorry for assuming you were the bad guy in your fight with the sophmore. There was more to the story, and it wasn't my place to intervene." "Darn right, it wasn't," Drew said, crossing his arms over his chest. Again, a shame that those arms belong to such a prick. "Anyway, I'm sorry." "Is that all?" "Yeah?" I said, more like a question. I didn't know what else to say. "Kay. Bye now," he scoffed, walking past me, completely disregarding the fact that I just apologized to him. What a jerk! Feeling annoyed, I walked back to my now empty car. I guess Paully left when I did. As I walked, I noticed a certain artificial redhead walking toward the building. She was so little, with a black beanie covering the top of her head and she wore a distressed jean jacket with black leggings and brown combat boots. "Hey, Kimi! Wait up!" I yelled. She turned around toward my direction and waved when she saw me. "Hey, Natalie. What's up?" she asked when I got to her. "Nothing really." "Oh, really? Because I saw you talking to Drew. I'm telling you, he's not worth crushing on," she stated with a disapproving look. "What?! I'm not crushing on that Neanderthal!" I shouted, startled and disgusted by her assumption. "Gross, is that what it looked like?!" "Well, not really. I guess I just assumed his good looks and hot bod won you over," she shrugged, placing her hand on her chin like she was thinking. My eyes were wide open, trying to figure out how she could think that after all the stuff I said to her about him. But, then a smile formed on her little pink lips and we both burst into laughter. "I totally got you," Kimi boasted. "Yeah yeah, you did." "But I wasn't lying about his looks. That boy is fine as can be. Too bad I hate him," she admitted as she wrapped my arm around her shoulder and put hers around mine. "You still haven't told me why," I reminded her. "All in due time, Natalie. All in due time." After talking and making plans to get together sometime after school this week, Kimi and I went our seperate ways. I headed to my locker to put my stuff up, glad to be early and not in a rush this Monday. I pulled out my granola bar and started eating it as I tried to pass the extra time I had until first period. Closing my locker, I leaned up against it, watching the faces of people passing by in the hall. One face stood out to me, mostly because they kept looking at me. It was a boy, definitely a few grades under me, and he had a bandage across his nose bridge. I decided to be obvious and just stare back at him. He'd either buzz off and stop creeping, or he'd come and say whatever was on his mind. I guess my stare was pretty hard core because he scurried off with a group of kids when they walked past me. Once the bell rung, I headed to first period, which was my Spanish class. I was pretty average when it came to the language, but I knew enough to pass with an "A". After that, I went back to my locker to swap out my books. I wasn't there long before I noticed a stranger lingering behind my locker door. What the heck are they doing?