"...How much do I know about what?" Timmy questioned as he swam slow, counterclockwise circles around Vicky, holding her right hand with his left, his momentum causing her to spin in place in the water as she acted as a sort of anchor point for the eleven year old.

"You know... Dating and stuff. Relationships. You're still chasing after that... What was her name? Trixie? You've got some huge crush on her, according to Tootie, so I mean... Why do you like her?" The red-head allowed herself to gently spin in place as Timmy swam around her, the motion not quite fast enough to make her dizzy.

"Well... Because she's pretty." The boy stated matter-of-factly, stopping for a moment to tread water, though Vicky's hand remained firmly in his grip. "I... Guess I never put a whole lot more thought into it than that. Trixie always has a whole line of guys asking her out during lunch, sometimes they give her gifts, sometimes they just try their luck and talk to her..."

"And you?" The red-head grinned, secretly proud of how far Timmy had already come regarding his swimming abilities. Her Twerp was obviously a quick learner, and so long as she kept his mind preoccupied with conversation, he didn't seem all that nervous being in the water... Though she had a sneaking suspicion that her presence played a part as well.

"I... I guess... I do that too. I try talking to her at lunch, I get her gifts for her birthday or... When she makes them a requirement to even approach her... Though she or Tad and Chad usually just get that bodyguard of theirs to throw me across the cafeteria..." Timmy frowned as he thought back on his near endless string of failed attempts to ask out Trixie Tang. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just wasting my time..." He muttered under his breath, not quite wanting the red-head to hear him.

"And how many times has Tootie tried to tell you she's just a shallow idiot? More than a couple, so she told me, anyway." Vicky chimed in as she reached for Timmy with her left hand, then pulled her right in and let it drop to her side to give it a rest. This in turn caused Timmy to reverse direction and hold onto her with his right hand, then begin swimming clockwise circles around his babysitter. "Should probably make a habit of listening to your friends a bit more, just sayin'."

"Ugh... That's just Tootie trying to get me to go out with her instead!" Timmy exclaimed in frustration, knowing he was to blame in this scenario, as while Tootie more than likely was trying to help herself to a certain extent, there were some days where taking his bespectacled friend's advice would be preferable to spending time on someone who might never even acknowledge him in the first place.

"Probably, yeah." Vicky remarked with an indifferent shrug. "There's not really any denying that Tootie's been crushing on you for... A good three years now. It's kind of funny, really. She's too stubborn to give up, and you're too stubborn to give in!"

"W-Well it's... It's not like I can just make myself like her..." The boy spoke with a slight frown, noticing the sun was almost directly above them in the sky. "I do... I like being friends with Tootie. She can be a lot of fun to be around, and Chester and AJ both like hanging out with her too, but..."

"Hm... But maybe Chester and AJ are the issue here..." The red-head thought aloud as she tapped at her chin with her index finger.

"Huh? How are they an issue?" Timmy paused to tread water again, gently kicking his legs back and forth to keep his head above the surface of the water.

"I was just thinking that maybe you're sort of... Putting up a kind of front around them; subconsciously. You're still at that weird age where most boys think girls are strange or even 'icky', so you always turn down Tootie because of how they might react... Also shut up, I already know what you're thinking about." Vicky quickly added, the annoying tune of 'Icky Vicky' beginning to play in her head just from mentioning the song.

"Just the thought of being around you makes me oh so sicky~..." Timmy sang along to the tune now playing in his head as well, only trailing off once he noticed the cold glare his babysitter was giving him, along with the feeling of her grip suddenly tightening. "Eh... S-Sorry, it's... Kind of a catchy tune- Er... N-Not that it's t-true or anything!" He quickly stammered out in a lame attempt to save face and keep from incurring the seventeen year old's wrath. "I-I like b-being around you!"

Vicky continued to stare at the boy for several more seconds, before at last releasing a loud huff of air through her nose and rolling her eyes. "You have no idea how lucky you are that you're cute, Twerp. Any of your friends said that, I'd leave 'em out here to learn to swim on their own." She could tell from the audible gulp Timmy let out that she didn't need to speak in a low, dangerous tone, but figured it did a good job conveying the sincerity of her threat.

"Th-Then I guess I am p-pretty lucky... Hehe-Eh..." The brunet resumed swimming slow circles around his babysitter, a somewhat awkward silence having fallen over the lagoon that was broken only by the occasional crash of a wave against the nearby rocky shore and cliff face.

"Huh... Now what were we talking about...?" Vicky finally spoke up, tapping her chin with the index finger of her free hand.

"Uhm... Something about me... Putting up a front around AJ and Chester?" The boy offered sheepishly, eager to get back on more friendly terms with the red-head.

"Oh, right. Well... Do you think you do that? Are you going after Trixie because everyone else your age is? What would you honestly do if she actually gave you the time of day? Do you want to date Trixie because you really do like girls at your age, or because she's some kind of goal to reach at the end of a competition between all the other boys trying to get her attention?" Vicky railed question after question at Timmy, hoping to force him into giving serious thought as to why he was going after this 'Trixie', a girl she only knew of thanks to the very boy she was with and, of course; her sister.

"N-No, I want Trixie to notice me so we can... Go out..." Timmy stammered out, his babysitter's series of questions having more of an effect on him than he wanted to admit. The thought never really occurred to him before, but just what would he do if Trixie said yes to dating him? She was a bit older than him for sure, so she probably knew at least a bit more about dating than he did, but what did he even want from dating her? A kiss? Her attention? Bragging rights, even? Thinking on it now, Timmy realized how simplistic his thinking had been. The dark-haired girl had little in common with him at all, aside from the one time he found out she liked comic books and video games as much as he did, something she'd never once brought up again after it happened.

"'Go out'?" Vicky parroted back at the boy, raising an eyebrow at him. "And then? What comes next? You have almost no experience with dating, and if Trixie turns away as many guys as you say she does, chances are she barely knows anything more than you do about dating."

"W-Why are you asking me all this anyway?" The brunet finally stopped to tread water again, sweeping his left arm back and forth in the water while kicking his legs, his right hand still firmly gripped in the red-head's so he wouldn't drift away-or worse-sink. "I know Trixie's not... I know she probably doesn't even realize I exist half-... Most of the time, but... But I've already been trying to get her to notice me for so long..." He trailed off, his eyes dropping down to look at the sandy bottom of the lagoon, rather than meet Vicky's gaze.

Maybe she was right. Maybe Tootie was too. Trixie couldn't even bother to remember his name, nevermind agree to go out with him; and he already felt ten times closer to Vicky than he ever did to Trixie, and this was the very same Vicky that used to make him absolutely miserable on a daily basis!

But then what could he do? The thought of giving up on Trixie ever giving him the time of day had crossed his mind on more than a few occasions, but what would he do after that? It felt odd to just give up on a goal he'd held onto for so long, yet if he had no hope of reaching it, wasn't that the smart thing to do? "I guess... There are other girls out there..."

"Yeah well..." The older girl suddenly spoke up, trying to think of a way to cheer up her charge, or at least reassure him. "You're still young; making dumb decisions is just part of growing up, so don't be too hard on yourself when you make them... I mean, look at me! I'm seventeen and I still screw up... Every now and then..." Vicky finished in a self-conscious tone, her cheeks bearing a slight pink coloring.

"I guess..." Timmy admitted with a low sigh, his head tilting back up to make eye contact with his babysitter once again. "So then... You said you'd teach me about... Relationships and dating and... Other stuff." He felt his cheeks heating up as he talked, and wasn't entirely sure if it was the midday sun or his embarrassment that was to blame. "I-I'm just wondering, what does that... Y'know, make us? What are we doing?"

Vicky had to stifle a giggle as the boy looked at her. It had been a while since she'd seen him look so helpless and confused over something, and it almost felt strange that he was asking her of all people for guidance. "Aw... Aren't you cute when you're feeling needy?" She mused to herself, then opened her mouth to speak. "We are... Testing the water."

"Wha? N-No, I know we're swimming, I meant what are we doing? Like... You and I? B-Because you said you'd t-teach me...?" Again, Timmy stammered his words out as his cheeks blushed a furious red. He didn't dare presume that he was dating Vicky, considering how she'd reacted to the implication her friend Heather made back at the hospital; but then what were they doing? Should he treat this as a sort of student/teacher relationship? And what if his feelings got in the way? He knew he was at least starting to like her... In more than just a friendly way, but did she like him... Like that? It felt like a stretch to assume so, but Vicky was at least more pleasant to be around lately, easily more pleasant than Trixie had ever been to him... Well, the real him.

"Like I said, Twerp. We're testing the water." The older teen spoke with a somewhat forceful inflection in her tone as she gave her charge's hand a light squeeze.

"O-Okay...?" The brunet looked down at his hand, then back up at Vicky, her statement and rather simple gesture only serving to leave him even more confused.

"...It means we're testing things out, Timmy." Vicky finally deadpanned with a smirk. "We don't exactly know a whole lot about each other, despite knowing each other for about three years, so I figure we could... Kinda just hang out more often to start. Instead of you going up to your room to talk to your fish after school, you and I could..."

"Watch TV together?" The boy offered, his blue eyes bright and hopeful.

"Uh... That's... Well yeah, I guess so, if that's what you wanna do. I was thinking maybe hanging out at the park or... I dunno, the mall; but sure, I wouldn't mind just relaxing for a day." The red-head found she had trouble keeping the uncertainty out of her tone. She knew part of it was due to how long it had been since she'd made plans with anyone, let alone relationship-type plans; and she did feel a kind of giddy excitement at the idea, but then, this was also Timmy. He didn't have the foggiest idea about... Well, anything to do with... "Should I call this dating?" She wondered to herself. "The kid probably thinks it is, and... And maybe it is. I'm not just teaching him, after all. I'm probably gonna have to... Demonstrate, too..."

"W-Well we don't have to just watch TV. We could play video games or... Or like you said, go and hang out at the mall..." Timmy nervously scratched at his nose, only for his eyes to suddenly widen at the realization that began to form in his mind. "Ah-Just-! I'll have to see what Chester, AJ, and Tootie are up to on the days that we do, so we d-don't... Run in to them...?"

"Oh? And why's that?" Vicky questioned with a sly grin and pulled Timmy a bit closer to her, instantly capitalizing on the opportunity to tease her Twerp. "Are you embarrassed to be seen in public with me? Am I just supposed to be your secret girlfriend, Twerp?"

"Huh?! N-No! I just- I th-thought you'd wanna keep it a s-secret! After how you acted when Heather mentioned us going o-out, and... You... D-Did you just call yourself m-my girlfriend?!" The brunet practically developed a full-on stutter as he spoke, his cheeks now feeling like they were blazing with heat rivaling that of the sun beating down on them overhead.

"Heehee-Ahaha!" A few giggles escaped Vicky after a moment, soon followed by a fit of loud, amused laughter at how flustered Timmy had become. "J-Jeez! Relax, Twerp! Hehehe! I'm just messing with you!" She continued to giggle like a schoolgirl, and quite unlike herself, before taking a deep breath to get her laughter back under control. "Ah... It's so easy to get you all flustered!" She remarked with a genuine smile, nearly laughing out loud once again as she saw Timmy's dumbstruck expression.

"What- Y-You... Of course you were messing with me...You're you." The brunet spoke dryly as he rolled his eyes, shooting his babysitter a deadpan stare of his own.

"Oh... Look at you, trying to be intimidating!" The red-head extended her left arm again, putting Timmy at arm's length once more.

"Agh... Can't you just let up on the teasing for a little bit?" The boy questioned in a mildly pleading and weary tone. "I'm still getting used to swimming and us being friends and... And you-Ah!" Timmy's expression quickly shifted from flustered to somewhat disgusted, then rapidly into horror as he shot forward, releasing his babysitter's hand and instead wrapping his arms and legs around her lean frame with a shout.

"Ack! Wh-What?! What's wrong?!" The seventeen year old threw herself and Timmy to the right, in the direction of the shore of the lagoon that held their towels, food, and sunscreen, far enough that she could stand on the sandy bottom of the lagoon, and thus keep both herself and Timmy above the surface of the water.

"M-My foot touched s-something weird and slimy and... Yucky toes!" The brunet exclaimed as he wrapped his limbs ever tighter around his babysitter and squeezed his eyes shut, holding onto the girl for dear life just as he had before.

"Y-Yucky wha...?" The red-head looked over toward where Timmy had been swimming to see there was a patch of wispy seagrass a bit longer than the other nearby ones. "Yucky toes." Vicky mentally deadpanned with an unimpressed frown. "You're serious?" She glanced down at her charge, still clinging to her in apparent fear of the big bad patch of seaweed. "Timmy, it's just some seaweed! What'd you think, a shark got in here and tried to eat your foot?" With a bit of effort, Vicky managed to wriggle her arms out of Timmy's grip, then settled her hands on his shoulders, giving both a light push to try get him to release her. "Argh... Come... On! Just-! Nngh!" She groaned in exertion, trying in vain to release herself from the boy's tight grip, but finally gave up; taking a second or two to catch her breath so she could try again. "...Treefrog."

At this, Timmy finally peeked one eye open, following shortly after with the other, before looking over his shoulder, and then up at his babysitter. "You're sure it was just some seaweed?"

Vicky remained silent, responding with little more than a frown that asked, 'Really?'.

"W-Well how was I supposed to know?" The brunet asked as he uncurled his legs from around the older girl and allowed gravity to pull him down into the water, his arms remaining coiled around her body as they slipped down her back and waist, only releasing their grip once his feet touched the bottom of the lagoon. "It's not like I go in the ocean when I go to the beach, I dunno what's in the water..."

"Considering this is a natural pool too small to support anything big enough to even fit your hand in its mouth... I'm gonna go with fish. Very small, harmless fish."

"O-Oh... Um... I didn't- ...Sorry about... That, then." The brunet looked away, his cheeks stained pink with embarrassment for having overreacted to something as nonthreatening as a plant.

Vicky crossed her arms and hung her head with a huff. "What am I gonna do with you? ...Maybe we should call it a day. I'm getting hungry, and all this sun and teaching you to swim is tiring me out." She stretched her arms up over her head as she spoke, punctuating the end of her sentence with a yawn.

"Uh yeah, I'm getting kinda hungry too, anyway." Timmy agreed without a second thought, quietly sighing in relief as he excitedly moved past his babysitter and toward the shore that held their beach blanket, towels, and the cooler.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you eat before we even got here?" The seventeen year old spun around in the water to face her charge and the shore he was rapidly closing in on; leaning forward a little and settling her hands on her hips as she shot him a knowing look.

Timmy slowed down a little as he reached the shore, only stopping once he was out of the water and standing in the thick, muddy sand on the shore. "Yeah..." He admitted hesitantly as his eyes locked on the cooler, then slowly spun around on his heel to face his babysitter as he heard the loud sloshing of her footsteps behind him in the water. "But you did pack-" The brunet suddenly paused and stared at his babysitter with his eyes wide and his mouth agape in complete shock.

"Yeah?" The red-head questioned in a somewhat disinterested tone as she tilted her head to the right and wrung the water out of her vibrant red hair with both hands. When she didn't get a response, however; she focused on her charge more intently, quirking an eyebrow up at his apparent stunned silence. "What? Never seen a girl wring her hair out before?" She asked in an amused, yet bewildered tone; releasing her hair and tilting her head back to a normal angle.

"The-..." Timmy tried to speak, only managing a single, low mumble before his voice seemed to just fade out with a low whimper, causing him to gulp audibly. "You-Your..." He pointed at her with his index finger, which she simply stared at in confusion. "Your sw-swimsuit... The... T-Top is... Um-"

"My what? Swimsuit?" She questioned in bemusement, before finally looking down at herself, her own eyes widening once she realized what Timmy was having so much trouble pointing out. Down by her feet, her left foot specifically, was a piece of lime-green fabric, partially wrapped around her ankle thanks to the small waves lapping against the shore of the lagoon. And far above that was her chest, now free of the top part of her bikini and exposed; both modestly-sized breasts topped by a round, pink nipple, roughly the same diameter as a quarter, and slightly erect from the cool sea breeze hitting Vicky's damp flesh, still dripping with water.

Quick as lightning, the seventeen year old brought her arms up and wrapped them around herself, covering her now exposed breasts. "T-Turn around! R-Right now, Twerp!" She very nearly shrieked in embarrassment, her face turning a bright cherry red as she watched Timmy flinch at her tone, continue to stare at her in awe for a moment, then at last turn around once he realized he was seeing something he most definitely was not supposed to see.

"Ah! S-Sorry!" The boy, despite having turned completely around; slapped his right hand over his eyes, his own face nearly the same color as Vicky's. "I-I didn't r-really see anything for m-more than a sec, so-"

"J-Just stop talking!" The teen interrupted, her eyes locked on her charge; ready to yell at him the moment he even thought about turning around to get another sneak peek at her chest. "D-Don't you dare turn around, Timmy... I mean it!" She shot the back of his head a steely glare as she crouched down and retrieved her bikini top, then rose to her feet and momentarily uncovered herself just long enough to re-cover herself with her bikini top. "Frickin'... How did that even happen...?" The girl muttered to herself quietly as she tied a knot in the string that made up the back part of her top, followed by another one to secure the first, and then one more at the back of her neck, where the top's second pair of strings were supposed to be tied. "O-Okay, you can- Wait!" She suddenly exclaimed, causing Timmy to quickly face forward again midway through turning around to face her. "Just need to..." The now thoroughly embarrassed red-head gave each cup of her bikini a light tug, followed by the string that held the(admittedly) skimpy piece of clothing together. Upon noticing it hadn't loosened in the slightest, she spoke up again with a sigh. "Hah... Alright, I'm pretty sure I took care of the wardrobe malfunction..."

"So... I can turn around now...?" Timmy asked slowly, his tone full of hesitance.

"Yeah, it's fine..." Vicky remarked with a pout as she crossed her arms, inadvertently pushing up the very part of her body she'd been trying to cover just a moment ago.

The brunet slowly turned around in place, his blue orbs settling almost instantly on his babysitter's chest, and not just because it was almost level with his gaze. "Wonder why she made such a big deal about me seeing her chest?" He thought to himself, now noticing that beneath the girl's bikini top, there were still two little pokey... Things, one on each side of her chest. "And why are there..." He chanced a quick look down at his own chest, taking note of the obvious difference between it and Vicky's. Mainly that while his was flat, Vicky had two... Lumps, he supposed. He'd always noticed that most girls and women sort of just did, but before now, he'd never put much more thought into it than a sort of passing acknowledgment.

Yet now, the fact was... Intriguing, somehow. There was something about these 'lumps' that he found indescribably fascinating, though in far less wordy terms, mainly due to his age. But this did little more than create a new dilemma for the brunet, as for whatever reason, he wanted to... Well, see them again. Maybe more than just see them, as while they were interesting to just look at, some part of him wanted to touch them, see how they felt and... He wasn't sure. It was an odd feeling, not unlike wanting the latest issue of The Crimson Chin, or the newest video game in one of his favorite series.

Only... How was he supposed to see them? Vicky's reaction to losing her top had made it abundantly clear that whatever these 'lumps' were, they clearly weren't meant for his eyes, not while they were bare, anyway. "Uh... Vicky-"

"So how much-" The red-head interjected rather suddenly, unknowingly cutting Timmy off. "...Did you see? And... And be honest."

"Er... Y-Y'know, just... Those...?" Timmy pointed at her chest, noticing the expression, somewhere between uneasy and annoyed; on his babysitter's face. "You-or most girls-have... Um..."

"Th-These?" The red-head gestured down at her own chest with the quickest of glances, reestablishing eye contact with her charge after less than a second. "They're... They're called boobs- Eh... Breasts. You don't...?" She trailed off, realizing that at Timmy's age, no, he probably didn't know what they were. "Well they're mostly for... Uh... Y'know how cows have udders?" Vicky asked, feeling her cheeks heat up once again as her voice went up several octaves.

Timmy nodded simply, feeling just a bit confused by where this conversation was headed.

"See, cows have udders for feeding their young, just like... Most mammals do. Cats, dogs, deer, elephants... Even whales have-Uh..." She trailed off again, wondering just how far she should take her impromptu biology lesson. "Th-The point is... Humans are mammals, so girls and women have... Boobs." Vicky finished somewhat flatly; breaking eye contact with her charge and looking toward the ocean somewhat evasively. "And uh... Unlike with a cow's udders, boobs are... Usually a lot nicer to look at."

"No argument there." Timmy blurted out, instantly agreeing with his babysitter, much to her immediate chagrin.

"J-Jeez, how much of a little perv are you?" The seventeen year old stammered out in visible surprise, her eyes widening ever so slightly at the boy and his quick response.

"I-I'm not a perv!" Timmy shot back in a childish whine. "Crocker's a perv, always trying to follow me home and prove that I've got fairies or something... I just... I was just agreeing with what you said! Those lum- Your b-boobs? They're... Nice to look at..." The boy felt a mildly oppressive wave of heat wash over his body, made worse by the hot sun beating down on both himself and Vicky. "B-Besides, you said yourself that I should have an interest in a girl's body at my age!" He protested in annoyance, using Vicky's earlier argument against her.

"I- You're- That's not- ...J-Just don't make a habit of... Staring at them." The red-head responded in a somewhat defensive tone, feeling like her charge's eyes were boring into her. "Or... If you have to, like absolutely have to, I guess..." Yet again, Vicky found herself at a loss. What could she possibly say? She knew some part of her... Didn't hate the attention she was getting from her Twerp, even if he was probably a little too naïve to really understand it himself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was... Corrupting him, in a way. And unfortunately, she knew the next words out of her mouth would only strengthen that feeling, but at the same time... She honestly couldn't quite bring herself to care. "L-Look, I'll... Make an exception for you."

"Huh? ...What kind of exception?" The brunet asked, intrigued by the older teen's offer.

Vicky sighed, remembering that thanks to Timmy's aforementioned naivete, there were a great many things she'd have to explain to him, especially if they were going to be 'trying things out' as she had rather inelegantly put it a short while ago. "I mean that... You shouldn't- Stare...At other girls' chests. It's a good way to get slapped, even if you are young. So what I'm saying is...Wh-Why don't we sit down for a bit and take a break? I'll, eh... Explain it over lunch..."