Chapter 1
Danni
Kate and I were late. We were suppose to be at the Day Care ten minutes ago and we both know their supervisor Linda would not be happy.
"I told you we should have left earlier!" I said as we ran down the street.
"My bad Mother Time!" Kate said rolling her eyes. "Not all of us have the innate ability to tell time without a watch!"
I snorted at the comment and looked back at her. Kate's wild blonde hair was pulled back with a rubber band which on most days was the only way to control it. But at the moment her face was red from the running, and was wheezing.
"Sweet girkins girly! And you call yourself a dancer! Your out of breath on the sixth block!" I teased.
Kate glared at me and said slowing down, "You know I have asthma you dork! And you know I'm a great dancer!"
I laughed at her as we came up to the Day Care. The building was decorated on the outside with bright flowers and cartoonish pictures of smiling children holding hands.
"Gosh every time I pass those stupid pictures I just want to paint over it! Even though I don't like using paint." said I wincing at the pictures.
Kate laughed and replied, "I hear ya. I would love to just paint over that."
As laughed we walked through the doors and imminently got caught by Linda. And she looked pissed.
Linda was only 28 years old but was basically in charge of the Day Care Center. Her father was a very wealthy and owned a bunch of buildings in the area including the Day Care. But the rumor was that Linda spent all of her trust fund and her father made her work at the Day Care to start paying back money she spent. But that never stopped her from being a royal bitch. "So what's so funny girls? You think being late is funny, because I don't!" said Linda. Kate and I just stood there. We knew if we interrupted Linda while on a tirade it meant overtime, no extra money. Period.
"My father pays you lazy girls to watch brats all day. So I expect you to be on time!" she said angrily.
Kate glared Linda just angrily and opened her mouth, but just as she was going to say something, I cut in. "Sorry Linda. Wont happen again."
Linda continued to glare at Kate and replied, "See that it doesn't." she looked down to here clip board, "You two are with Tracy today." she looked back up. "So get moving. Staff meeting in half an hour." With that she turned on her five inch heels and walked down the hall.
"I hate that woman." said Kate as Linda turned a corner. I looked at her and said, "I know. But we have to deal with her for the rest of the summer, so don't kill her yet."
Kate sighed and started walking down the hall. I followed and said optimistically, "Hey at least we got Tracy."
"True." said Kate.
I opened a door to see a class room full of small round tables, easels, and the entire back wall of the room covered with books.
"Well good morning lady's!" said a cheery voice from the left of them.
We both couldn't help but smile back and replied, "Good morning Tracy!"
Tracy smiled back, "Well, I'm happy I got you two. You guys always do so well with the kids!"
Tracy was about the same height Kate and I and had beautiful black hair, that was put in a messy bun. Her skin showed only laugh lines and was slightly tan from the sun.
"Alright ladies, you know the drill. Put paint, pencils, and markers on the tables and anything else you think the kids need. I have to go and talk to Lisa about tomorrows trip, so I'll be back in a few. You two can hold down the fort right?" she said as she put her hand on the door jam.
"You got it Tracy." said Kate, as she pulled paint containers from the cabinets and Tracy smiled and left. As Kate pulled out more supplies I pulled out my I-Pod and put it in the dock on Tracy's desk.
"We cant do this without music right?" I said with a smile. Kate laughed as a David Bowie song came on.
"You know it babe!" said Kate.
I came up to her pointing saying, "You remind me of a babe."
"What babe?" asked Kate
"The babe with the power." I said matter a fact voice.
"What power?" Kate asked with a questioning look as she set out paint.
"The power of voodoo!" I replied as she put a box of markers on each table.
"Who do?"
"You do!"
"Do what?"
"Remind me of the babe!" We both sang. Then as we continued to sing as they set up the room. When the song was over we sat back into some chairs smiling. I looked around the room satisfied but then noticed the clock.
"Hey Katie do you notice anything weird-"
"Excuse me." said a deep voice with a British accent.
We turned and saw a man. And we couldn't stop staring at him because he looked completely other worldly. He was wearing a dark suit with a red tie and was tall, capital T tall. In contrast of his suit his long hair was snow white, and he couldn't have been older than 35. His eyes were two different colors which only added to the strangeness of the man.
"Umm can we help you?" asked Kate with a hesitated voice.
But I just continued to stare at the mysterious man. Why does he look familiar? I thought.
"Yes. I'm looking for a Linda Ever. I'm a new… investor." said the man staring at me.
I shook her head to clear it and cleared my throat.
"Oh uh sure. Linda mentioned that some new investors would be sitting in on the meeting. We were about to head down their too." I said.
The man just nodded and continued to stare at me; but not in a creepy way, but almost like seeing a long lost friend. But then he shook his head and smiled at us.
"Please excuse me. I've seemed to forget my manners. My name is Jared King." he gave us an exaggerated bow, which made the both of us smile. "And your names?" he asked.
"I'm Danni and this is Kate."
"Well you two couldn't be older than fifteen. What are two girls like you doing here, on beautiful summer day?" he asked leaning against the door.
Kate looked at me smiling, and we answered at the same time.
"Working!"
"But Katie here is OLD!" I said playfully shoving Kate as they walked toward the door. "She's turning sixteen, in a month!"
I always liked to make fun of the fact Kate was older by a year, because despite her hot headedness, Kate was very mature.
As we walked out the door Kate mock glared at me and said, "Ya well just wait till your birthday girly! Revenge is imamate!"
"I'm shaking in my shoes Katie Bear! Your just sooo scary!"
"You bet I am!"
All through the conversation Mr. King just smiled, amused by our banter. As we walked down the hall, Mr. King looked around, and he didn't seem impressed. He raised an eye brow at the cracks in the walls and shook his head.
"It amazes me how greedy hu- I mean these kind of people are." Mr. King said. Kate and I shook our heads too.
"You have no idea sir. You should see Linda." said Kate with her green eyes flashing. "All of us are sure that she steals money from the Day Care."
Mr. King looked down at her, "And you don't do anything?" he asked.
"We tried. We called her father but when he can down here, she burst into tears and acted like a nine year old. Then he didn't believe his sweet little angel could do anything wrong! But then when he did notice money was missing, he just paid it off like nothing happened." said I just as angry. Mr. King looked thoughtful and replied, "Hmmm I see. Well thank you for telling the truth girls. Its not easy to speak ill of your employer, especially when that employer is the owners daughter."
I smiled and laughed, "Are you kidding me? You obviously don't know Katie! You should see her after Linda tries to boss her around, you cant get her to shut up! Katie hates it when people like Linda tell her what to do."
Kate smiled back and said, "So true! But its in my nature!"
"Well there two you to are!" said sickeningly sweet voice. Linda came out of staff room, with a big smile on her face. Kate raised her eyebrows at this, but Linda's attention was on Mr. King.
"Well hello there! I'm Linda Ever, I'm in charge here." she said as she flipped her bottle blonde hair over her shoulder. She put her hand out to shake, but Mr. King just gave her a cool look and kept his hands behind his back. Linda put her hand down and laughed nervously. Then she stepped behind me and Katie put a hand on each of our shoulders.
"Well I see you found our two youngest workers. Hope they haven't been talking your ear off. You know how teenagers are." she said as she squeezed our shoulders. I winced as Linda's long pink nails dug into my skin, I was also silently praying Kate wouldn't say anything, because from what I could see she was ticked.
"No as matter of fact they were being nothing but charming. In fact I had the pleasure of hearing them sing, a David Bowie song I believe." he said smiling at both of us. I smiled back. Mr. King seemed to know how to make an awkward situation go away.
"That's right, I'm a huge David Bowie fan. It was Magic Dance." I said proudly.
"Oh that's right. Its nice to hear something like that, being so far away from home." Mr. King said smiling at me.
"Well, the meeting will begin in a few minutes we just have to wait for a few more people. Please sit down." said Linda trying to get the attention back to herself. Mr. King turned his head back to Linda and nodded.
"Of course." he responded, he walked to the door and opened it and winked at the us. "Lady's first of course."
Kate walked through the door and I followed grinning. The staff room was the second largest room in the building and probably the ugliest. It had four gray tables with six seats each, and gray walls to match. There was an old chalk board in the front that had any announcements for the day, but no one usually did anything with it because it was scratched and faded. Kate once said to me if this room were anymore depressing people would just start crying as soon as they put one foot in it. And I couldn't help but to agree. The only nice part of the room was the view, it looked right out to the play ground which was probably the best part of the Day Care. The play ground always had bright flowers and happy children, so I thought as long as they could see that then things would be fine.
Kate and I took our normal seats in the front by the window, and Mr. King sat across from us.
"Beside Ms. Ever, how do you like working here?" he asked.
"Its fine." I said gesturing with my hand in a so-so movement.
"Your just saying that because small children scare you." Kate said with an eye roll.
"Hey they can be scary! Besides I DO like working here, just not with kids younger than the second grade."
"I was wondering, what are your duties? You cant be taking care of small children right?" asked Mr. King.
"No not the really small ones but we work with second grade and up." I replied.
"And what do you do with them?" he asked
"Oh well it depends who you get for the day. Like if you get Lisa you'll be mostly outside, so you just got to watch the kids. If you get Seth then your inside and watch movies and play games. This week Katie and I are with Tracy, that fine lady over there." I pointed at Tracy who was in deep conversation with Lisa. "In Tracy's then you basically do it all."
"Which is?" asked Mr. King.
"Painting, playing outside, reading, playing inside, ect. But Danni is the best when the kids are doing art, she's an amazing artist!" said Kate.
"And Katie here can tell a mean story!" I said.
Kate rolled her eyes, "Danni girl, I read to children. As much as I love it, to them its just story time."
"Whatever, you know the kids love you!"
"Hey they love you too!"
"Yes but if they get annoying, my first thought is to slap them on the back of the head."
"You really need to play nice."
"Says the girl who dreams of hitting her boss on the back of the head!"
"Well… yes but, most of the time its my brother I want to hit. And its for a good reason!"
"Uh huh. Sure chica, whatever you say."
Finally Mr. King burst out laughing, "Do you two always speak to each other like this?" he asked
Me and Kate looked at each other and shrugged. "Eh usually its crazier believe it or not." I replied.
"Ok, it looks like everyone is here. So lets get started, shall we?" said Linda from the front of the room. I now noticed that every chair in the room was now full, except for the table we were sitting at. Kate sighed and turned her chair toward the front, and slouched in her seat. Mr. King slowly turned his head from me and looked toward the front, looking positively bored. I followed Kate's and Mr. King's example and moved my chair, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Mr. King perfectly. How the hell do I know him? How could I know him? Its not like I've ever really been outside of California. I was still racking her brain, when Linda began to speak.
"So welcome everyone to the Ever Day Care Center. I as you know am Linda Ever, and I'm so happy you all could make it today. First I would like to begin with our most recent activities though a slide show. So Seth lets get started." she nodded at Seth, and he came up to the front. Seth was in his early thirties and had dark curly hair. Before I had met Mr. King, Seth was the tallest person I had met being 6'6. But Mr. King was actually about the same height but maybe shorter, but something about him made him seem taller than anyone. As I thought that out of the corner of her eye, I saw Mr. King smirk and drum his gloved fingers on the table.
At the front Seth was meddling with the projector with a look of pure confusion. "I'm sorry Linda, but there seems to be a problem with the projector." he said finally. Linda put a big false smile on her face and replied, "Oh well, that's fine Seth. We'll just move on then."
Once again at the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. King smile.
"Well then I'll start with our next topic. Tomorrow starts our three day camping trip, up to the mountains. The kids are very excited and now I'll have Tracy come up and tell you more about the trip." said Linda. Tracy came up after a brief applause, and looked a little nervous but smiled. I smiled and thought of all the times during the last week when Tracy would find us on break and practice in front of us. Tracy was wonderful with children but, she just couldn't speak in front of people. She smiled bashfully at the audience and cleared her throat.
"Well like Linda said, welcome to Ever Day Care. And now I'll talk about our wonderful camp experience. Oh, I also have pictures to pass around from last year." she pulled a handful of pictures from the papers in her hand, and handed them to the man sitting closest to her. "Now as I was saying our camping experience is just wonderful…"
I really just tuned out after that, hearing the speech so many times before. I closed my eyes, now realized I should have listened to mom and not drawn all night. Now I felt every ache, and my eyes felt like lead. I sighed, Well at least it's a mellow day. The kids will watch movies, Katie will read, play some game Tracy comes up with. I opened my eyes and sighed again and looked at the clock. Only 8:30. We had another half an hour at least after Tracy was done, of Linda trying to take money from the investors. I wish that this meeting was over. I closed my eyes again and felt a strange tingling on my skin, especially my hands.
"Well I hope this has been an insightful experience for all of you. And please remember that an amount is helpful."
I opened my eyes and looked around in confusion, When did Tracy sit back down? I thought as I saw Tracy in her seat across the room. I quickly looked up to the clock and just stared in shock. It was 9:10. What the hell? I started my hyperventilate a little.
"Danni, you ok?"
I looked at Kate who was now standing in front of me looking at me with concern. I shook my head and said with a dry mouth, "I'm fine just…"
Kate just looked at me waiting for me to continue. I put my hand on my head. "I don't know Katie, I feel odd." Then I just noticed that my hands were shaking. Now I just stared at them and Kate noticed them too.
"Kate would you please get Danni some water?" asked Mr. King. We looked up and saw Mr. King standing there and looking concerned.
"Sure no problem." Kate said as she walked toward the fridge.
Mr. King knelt in front of me and took off the black gloves he was wearing. He put his hand on my forehead and said, "You don't feel warm." But as soon as he touched my skin, I felt a small shock. Then he took my wrist and felt my pulse and I felt the shock again, but this time I felt better. It was like a rush of cool water running over my skin. Kate handed Mr. King a bottle of water and opened it and handed it to me, "Danni do you feel faint or sick maybe?"
I took a long drink of water and then said, "Just a little faint I guess."
"Danni is something wrong?" asked Tracy who just appeared over Kate's shoulder. Mr. King turned his head and answered, "She feels a little faint."
"Oh you poor dear! Should I call Ana?" Tracy asked. I shook my head and said, "No no, I'm fine really. I feel better already, really. We don't need to call my mom."
Tracy looked at me and answered hesitantly, "Well, ok. But keep drinking that water, and if you wont go home then just be careful, and take it easy."
I nodded and took another long slip of water. With that Tracy walked away and I stood up. Mr. King still looked at me as if I were made of glass, but I felt ten times better then I did when I walked in this morning.
"Well then I guess its back to work for us." I said smiling. Kate gave me a smile back but still had worry in her eyes.
"Yup, we open up in fifteen, so lets get down to the room." Kate responded. Mr. King smiled and asked, "Does nothing deter you two?"
"Rarely anything." said Kate as they walked down the hall. Once we got to Tracy's room, Mr. King once again bowed and said, "Thank you for a lovely morning girls." This time we couldn't help but laugh.
"It was nice meeting you sir." said Kate with a smile as she shook his hand.
"Likewise." he said. As he turned to me, I noticed that the black gloves were back on.
"Nice to meet you Miss Danni." he said, but his eyes seemed so sad. He looked like someone who was saying goodbye their child. I shook his hand and said, "You too."
With that Mr. King turned away and walked briskly down the hall to the door. But then I noticed that the doors seemed to open before he reached them. I shook my head and thought don't be silly! I looked again, he was now just outside the closed door and he turned and saw me. I gave him a half smile and a wave, Mr. King winked back at me and walked across the street. Just after he did a car came rushing past, after it did the space where Mr. King would have been, was empty.