Never in a million years did I imagine this happening…to me, of all people
Like most of my stories, this just started out as getting a writing spark out of my head to continue on with writing the rest of my stuff, but it spiraled into a full blown fan fiction of its own accord. So, without further adieu, here's my latest story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sky High in any shape or form.
Savin' Me – Chapter 1
"Bella, can you take my shift tomorrow?" Kate asked me, poking her head into the kitchen. I picked up a towel, wiped off my hands and threw the towel in the hamper as Kate came in further.
"Yeah, sure thing," I told her, picking up one of the trays. Kate picked up another of the trays.
"Thanks so much Bell," she sounded full of relief. "It'll mean so much to Matt." Kate started dating Matt a few months ago. The two are quite the pair. Kate's about normal height and adorable, with brown hair and eyes to match. Matt is one of the tallest people I've ever seen with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She's completely and entirely infatuated with him and is very sensitive when you tease her about it. It's best not to mention that to her. Anyways, Matt's also in love with her to no end. He's discussed proposing to her before with me, but nothing much, only what kind of a ring would she like, is she the hopeless romantic type who'd want a romantic dinner, down on one knee, etcetera, etcetera or if she would prefer something simple, just like a walk through the park and him confessing his love and holding out the ring. It's really quite sweet when you think about it. I shot Kate a smile as we headed to the main room. "All right kids, snack time!" Kate's always good at getting the kids attention. She's one of those loud people and the kids love it. "Go to your tables!" The kids quickly assembled to their spots and looked up expectantly. Kate took one of the tables and began handing out the snacks from the eager kids. I looked at the other table; all of them smiled at me happily. I gave them all a smile and began to pass out the cups of trail mix.
I'm used to working with the really little ones, you know, from less than a year old to nearly two. They need consistency and I like the peacefulness. Those are usually the quieter, less rowdy kids where you could just put in a movie or read a book and they'd be happy as could be. The older kids aren't too bad, but they can get a little rowdy for my taste.
"Miss Bella?" Claire asked. She's one of the cutest kids here. She always calls me Miss Bella. Of course, Claire's pretty short, but she's got that adorable little kid blonde hair, usually pulled into pigtails, and big, hopeful blue eyes. She's also the most innocent and caring.
"Yes Claire?" I smiled at her. It's hard to not love Claire. Kids in general are adorable, but Claire takes the cake.
"What are you doing tomorrow night?" she stared up at me.
"Now why do you ask that?" I kneeled down next to her.
"Tomorrow's Friday and Miss Katie's doing something." As much as I love Claire, she always knows what's going on and how adults act. Her parents are high profile people who always party on Friday night and Saturday night. It's rather sad in my mind, but Claire's always so happy and loves her parents unconditionally.
"Well, I'll be here with you guys."
"But don't you want to go out or spend time with your boyfriend?" Claire looked sad. She always wants people to be happy and live life to the fullest – a philosophy she learned from her parents.
I gave her my biggest smile. "Well, I don't have a boyfriend, Claire, but I'd rather be here with you guys anyway." I ran my hand over her hair. Claire pouted a little. I laughed at her innocence. "Oh, don't worry about me. I like being here with you and all the others on Friday nights."
"Do you like it or love it?"
"I love it." Most parents think I'm lying when I say that. What's sad is that it's the truth. The last time I saw any of my friends was graduation three years ago when we parted ways. The people I talked with now either worked here or were under the age of five. Luckily, they never sent me up to the floor where they had the older kids. I love working here and that's all there was to it. "You have fun Claire." I stood up and grabbed the tray.
"Where are you going?" Claire began to panic.
"Relax – I'm just going to work with the younger kids. You'll see me tomorrow."
"Can you tell Abby I say hi?" she perked up instantly. Her little sister Abby is another one of those adorable children and is like a little mini Claire.
"I can certainly do that." Claire's smile got to its widest point. I left the room, dropped the tray in the kitchen sink, and washed my hands before going into another room on the floor. This was the room for the littlest children, the babies. Some who were over a year old smiled, while some ran over and latched on to my leg.
"Miss Bella?" Abby stared up at me with the same eyes as her sister. "Can we watch Aladdin?" That was her favorite movie in the world, just like Claire's was Beauty and the Beast when she was this young.
"Of course we can." Abby let go of my leg and took my hand. The other kids let go and followed in a mob towards the television. All of them plopped down in front of the television as I put the movie in. It was like they'd entered a trance or something, the way they all watched the movie.
"Bella?" Robert called from across the room. I looked down at Abby. She was so engrossed in the movie that she wouldn't realize if I left. I went to Robert. He's probably the most caring guy I've ever met. He's worked here about a year longer than I have, is fairly tall with brown hair and blue eyes. Robert's always loved his job here and been great with the kids. Kate's always wanted Robert and I to go out, but it just doesn't seem to work when you're similar type people. We all know – Kate's been there and done that more than once. He was cradling a baby who was probably about six months old at least. "I've been trying for half an hour to get this little guy to sleep and he just won't."
"What's his name?" I asked, holding out my finger for the baby, who grabbed hold of it tightly.
"Zachary." Robert held the baby out in front of me. Gently, we transferred Zachary from one to the other. Zachary had deep blue eyes that stared up at me. As carefully as I could, I bounced him up and down and rocked him back and forth. He let out a little yawn but still stared up at me. Robert sighed, unsatisfied.
"I'll give it a shot." I smiled at him. "Don't worry about it." Robert smiled widely and went over towards the engrossed children. I hooked my foot around the leg of a rocking chair. I should have figured it was one of the stupidest ideas of the day, but I wasn't thinking. I started to fall forward, holding the baby close protectively, and shut my eyes. The next thing I knew was that Robert was holding me up.
"Always careful Bella, huh?" he laughed at my stupid mistake. "I'll get the chair where you want it."
I smiled, still feeling guilty. "I was going to pull it up behind the back section of kids." Robert placed the chair where I was dragging it and returned to tending for the babies, some of whom were crying. I sat in the chair and began to rock back and forth, glancing between the television and Zachary. He still stared at me with those blue eyes. "Aw, come on, you know you want to sleep," I told him softly and soothingly. Nothing seemed to work, so I just kept rocking and watching the movie. Halfway through, I glanced down again and he was breathing slowly, fast asleep. Carefully, I got up from the chair and headed for a crib. Robert looked at me incredulously. He mouthed what looked like, "Are you kidding me?" I nodded and put Zachary in a crib.
"I don't know how you do it," Robert told me softly, smiling. I laughed a little. He was always so sweet and complementary. "You're awesome with kids."
I smiled back at Robert. "If you work here, aren't you, too?" Robert let off a laugh. His laugh was rather deep and was always a fantastic sound to hear. "Come on, you're great with everyone, even those above the age of five." He laughed again.
"Hey, don't you get off in five minutes?" he glanced at the clock.
I looked at it. Sure enough, it was five minutes 'til seven. "Yeah, I guess so." I flashed him another smile.
"Matt and Kate wanted me to go with them to Chipotle after we got off, but it'd be much more fun if you came along too. Plus, I'm not sure if I can stand the lovebirds all through dinner," Robert teased me. Every Friday night, this would happen. Matt and Kate always went out with some friends for dinner and then maybe a club or some place. "So, would you like to partake of the Friday night out?"
I laughed a little. Robert was also very lightheaded. "Well, my dad and brother intended to live off of left over food tonight before the game, so I guess I could…as long as the club part is optional – I have Kate's shift tomorrow." A parent walked in to pick up their child for the night. Both of us looked over at them while they searched for their child's face. I looked back at Robert and leaned on the crib. "Plus – I'm not too big of a fan of late night partying anyway," I teased him. I knew for a fact that Robert was also not a fan of partying.
Robert chuckled a little. "Well, then I guess we can just let Matt and Kate do the partying with his friends." He glanced at the parent again. "I should probably attend to that, but we'll meet up with Kate outside the locker room doors." Robert gave me a smile and went to the opposite end of the room.
Yep, we have a locker room at a daycare center. When you work at a large one in Maxville that's the size of a building a medium sized business could use, you sort of need one. Something tugged at my jeans. I looked down at Abby and smiled while kneeling down. "Hey Abby, what's up?"
Abby gave me those big eyes again. "You left the movie, Miss Bella. It's not over," she pouted a little. Oh, dear sweet little Abby.
"Well, how about we go back to the movie then?" I asked her sweetly. She gave me the biggest smile, grabbed my hand, and dragged me as only a little girl could back to the television. I sat down next to Abby and watched Aladdin with her. Four more minutes until I got off, but that was providing Abby would let me.
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