K is for Kids

"This one's Laura, this is Mandy, his name is John, and this one is Spencer," Tori introduced Andre individually to the neighbors' kids she was watching for a charity event the neighborhood parents were at. Andre had showed up to Tori's house, not realizing what he was walking into. He wasn't exactly the greatest with kids, so it was like walking into a trap.

"Uh, hi there," Andre raised a hand in salute to the kids who were staring at him with bored eyes. Laura and Mandy looked to be around the ages of seven and eight, John was easily the youngest at kindergarten age, and Spencer was about twelve.

"Are you allowed to have friends over when you babysit?" Spencer demanded, and the little girls resumed their game of dolls.

"Uh, yeah," Tori nodded. "I mean, I think so. My parents never said-"

"Well that's lame," Spencer said. "Who's this? Your boyfriend?"

"No, Andre and I are just really good friends," Tori said brightly. "Maybe he'll play with you and John while I play with the girls?"

Tori looked up at Andre with pleading eyes, who shook his head violently at first. But after she gave him her pouty eyes, he surrendered and sat down on the floor next to the little one, John.

"Stupid head," John threw a Lego at Andre, who dodged it and looked over to Tori.

"Tori, he just called me a stupid head and threw a Lego at me," Andre said sounding confused and sort of angry.

"John's just playing," Tori gave him a sunny smile and resumed playing with the dolls.

"No he's not," Spencer sat down next to Andre and eyed him evilly. "You are a stupid head."

"So, what are we gonna play? I see you got the action figures, alright, haha," Andre changed the subject and reached forward to pick up one of the plastic figurines.

"Don't touch it," Spencer slapped it out of Andre's hands, and John threw another Lego at him. This one bounced off his head. Andre sighed and looked to see how Tori was fairing with the girls.

"No, no, no, that's all wrong!" the older of the two, Mandy was stomping her foot in frustration. "Princess Amanda is married to Prince Alfred, not Prince David! What's wrong with you, are you trying to cause a royal affair?"

"No," Tori shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You can't play anymore," the other little girl pulled the dolls away and Tori looked down in defeat.

"Come on, Laura, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Besides, you need to be pretty to play with the princess dolls and you're not."

"Hey," Tori looked offended. Spencer broke into chuckles.

"Haha, Tori's ugly," he sang. "Ugly Tori, Tori's ugly, ugly Tori."

The other kids joined in his song, even John, cackling as they sang.

"I'm not ugly," Tori protested.

"-gly Tori, Tori's ugly, Ugly Tor-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Andre stood up as John lobbed a Lego in Tori's direction, followed by a second.

"-ri, Tori's ugly-"

"Listen!" Andre shouted above the noise. The kids all stopped singing and throwing things at their babysitter, and turned towards Andre.

"Now I know y'all probably don't want to be here right now," Andre started. "But your parents are paying Tori to babysit you, so you have to sit here for a few hours. I know it's not fun, but life isn't always going to be fun. Now you don't have to be nice to Tori if you don't want to be, but she's your babysitter and you need to respect her, alright? So everybody please apologize for calling her ugly."

There was silence.

"Sorry, Tori," John, the youngest was the first to speak. He picked up another Lego and Tori braced herself for it to hit her, but instead he held out his hand offering it to her. "Wanna play?"

Tori grinned.

"We're sorry too," added Mandy, pointing to herself and Laura. "If you want, you can be Princess Amanda…"

They all turned expectantly to Spencer.

"Sorry," he said, grinning cheekily. "That you're so ugly."

Tori sighed, and glanced at Andre who shrugged.

Hey, he wasn't a miracle worker.

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