Unlikely

Chapter 5

I was shook by the phone call. I can’t believe he has only given me one hour to find Matthew. It’s impossible to search the whole Santa Barbara in a hour. I don’t even know where to start. It’s not like it’s my fault. I dropped him like I was supposed to. Matthew must have planned this. Sebastian should have warned me that Matthew does things like this. If I knew I could have kept a closer eye on Matthew. Also how did he manage to hack his fathers email and cancel his lesson. I picked Ava up and rushed over to Alexis. She was standing in the middle of the field talking with some of her friends. Usually I would let her talk with them until she is done, but I have limited time to find Matthew. I’m going to be fired for sure, but I will search until I find him, at least then I know that I did my job to the end. I walked over to Alexis and tapped his arm.

“Come on Alexis. We need to go.” I told her, she looked completely infuriated and disgusted by my behavior. She ripped her arm away from my touch and stormed to the car, leaving me and Ava behind. I followed.

"You have no right to pull me away from my friends! Who the hell do you think you are!" Alexis yelled at me. I understood why she was angry. Me being here ia already embarrassing enough for her, but me pulling her away from her friends is stepping over the line.

"I'm really sorry. Your brother is missing. Your father has given me an hour to find him." I explained to her hoping she would understand. My guess is she won't.

"I'm guessing that if you don't find him you're fired. Well good riddens." I thought as much. She really doesn't like me. Out of all the kids she hasn't warmed up towards

me at all. Mia likes me, Matthew tolerates me but Alexis just hates me.

"I don't care if I'm fired, but I want to find him and take him home at least. It's my job to look after you guys." I do care if I loose my job. My job means a lot to me. Without it I don't have a place to stay or any money to survive, but I know I won't find him within the hour ans manage to get him to the house.

"Clearly you suck at your job." Not normally but these kids are different. They aren't nearly as welcoming or open to the idea of a nanny. We have a teenager that already think she is an adult and that she can do whatever she wants. A boy that feels trap and knows how to hack his fathers email and probably his accounts and a toddler that is caught in between with a bunch of bad influences.

"Do you have any idea where your brother might hang out?" I asked Alexis as we started driving. I needed a general area to start searching for him. I can't just drive around aimlessly. Alexis didn't even look at me. She just stared out the window looking pissed. I didn't even really do anything wrong. Her practice was over which meant it was time to go home. She needs to get over it. She needs to get over herself. I've never worked with teenagers but in my opinion they are just moody kids all she needs is for me to put an end to this tantrum. She is use to get everything what she wants. She gets to say and do whatever she wants without there being any repercussions.

"That's enough. You are going to stop with this attitude. I'm not your friend, I am your nanny and that means I am in charge here. This was the last time that you will disrespect me. If I can muster respect up for you when you treat me poorly then it will be easy for you to muster up some respect for me when I'm being perfectly polite. Now put on your seat belt and tell me where your brother is most likely to be." She sat there staring at me. Clearly no one has ever spoken to her like this. Which is why she acts like this. Without saying a word she put on her seat belt.

"There is an Arcade his friends like to go. He is always complaining that he can't go." She put the destination into the GPS. It was half an hour away which means I wouldn't make it. So instead I head towards the house to drop Alexis ans Ava. I don't want them to fall behind on their schedule and be late for dinner. I drove as fast as I could without breaking speed limit or endangering the kids. We finally made it to the house.

"Alexis you are in charge until I get back. Give Ava a bath and then make sure Ava eats her food." I told Alexis as we started driving to the front door.

"That's not my job, you can't expect me to do this." Alexis said starting at me all alarmed. It's ridiculous that she is alarmed at such tiny tasks.

"It's not a job when it's family. It's a bonding opportunity. She knows where al her things are. You'll be fine." She didn't argue with me. She just gave me a glare before getting Ava out of the car seat and walking inside. As soon as I saw they were safely inside I drove off. I quickly dialed Mrs. Wilde.

"Hi I just dropped Alexis and Ava. Alexis will look after Ava just watch them don't bother her or take over. Alexis needs to bond with her sister and learn some normal responsibilities." I ended the call and focused on the road ahead. I felt bad about what has happened but I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. I was trying to get through to Alexis. I know now that I should have kept a closer eye on Matthew if I was only warned about his shenanigans. The whole truth is that he is feeling suppressed, he isn’t allowed to be a kid. He has to follow so many rules and each second of his day is planned out no pre-teen or teen wants to live like this. I was driving all along the beach it was a spectacular view that I couldn’t focus on. I haven’t even had time to explore or enjoy my time here in California. Tomorrow I’ll be jobless once again and be looking for a new job. I can’t put this on my CV. I’ll loose my credibility if people see that I lost my job after only three days. Especially with it being such a prominent family. I don’t even have money to stay on in California. Maybe I can ask Sebastian to at least pay out my three days of work or maybe just for two of them. With that money I could at least pay for the bed and breakfast I previously lived at. I’ll get about 600 $ which means it will be enough for at least 5 day leaving me with 100 $ for some food. I might be able to get a job if I hit the pavement and take any job I can find until the company gets me an actual nanny job.

The GPS let me know that I will reach my destination in five minutes. When the GPS finally said that I had arrived at my destination. It took me another ten minutes before I found a parking space and by then I only had five minutes left before my hour time limit was up. I don’t know what I’m going to do if he isn’t here. I know what I’ll need to do. I will have to drive around and search for him until I find him or he goes home. I got out the car and walked over to the arcade.

It was a huge place so I went to the desk where he would have had to buy tokens to play. I showed the lady at the desk a photo of him. Nanny 101 always have a photo of the kid you are looking after for this exact situation. She told me that she did see him a few hours ago when he bought some tokens. She remembers him because he had bought a lot, a lot more than any normal child does. She was afraid to give him the tokens because she thought he might have stolen the card, but he showed her his student ID to prove that the name on the card was his fathers. I thank her and then I started searching through the place.

The thought that we might be missing one another ran through my head. He could be in a place I haven’t searched and then when I go there he could return to a place that I’ve already searched. So I started to call out for him. Hopefully he would hear me, but after a half an hour of screaming I knew that he wasn’t here. My throat hurt and my feet was starting to hurt. I have a long night ahead of me.

There was a pizzeria across from the arcade so I went there to order myself some coffee to help ease my sore throat and to keep me up for the rest of the night. I ordered it and while waiting I looked around which is when I spot him. Matthew was sitting there with a bunch of boys and girl around his age. I was relieved that I found him and I was extremely upset with him. He was sitting there laughing with his friends while I was freaking out and worrying about him. I started to make my way over to him when he spot me. He got up and made his way towards me.

“I’m sorry I know you must be mad. I didn’t have a choice. My father would never have let me come. I just wanted to spend some time with my friends. They are always talking at school about all the fun they have in the afternoons and on weekends. They always asks me to come along with them and I always have to say no. They started to think that I didn’t want to hang out with them and that I was making up excuses.” The whole speech that was forming in my head about how irresponsible he was disappeared as I listened to him. I understand his reasoning. I just wished he had come to me and I would have tried to arrange it with his father.

“This isn’t over, Matthew…Go and finish up with your friends. I’ll be waiting in my car I’m parked down the road. You are only going to finish your pizza a drink and then you are going to come straight to my car. Do you understand?” I told him. His face lit up with a smile, he jumped forward hugging me before going back to his friends. I collected my coffee and made my way over to the car. My hour has long gone, but at least I have found him. I took out my phone and texted Sebastian that I have found him and I will be bringing him home. I waited about fifteen minutes before Matthew came strolling towards the car. I unlocked the doors and he got in.

“I’m sorry.” He immediately said. I turned on the car without looking at him I want him to feel guilty so I’m going to let him sit in silence for a while.

“Put on your seat belt.” he did as I told him and then I pulled out of the parking space. I stayed quiet for about ten minutes. I saw him fidgeting and looking at me from the corner of my eye.

“What were you thinking. What you did was seriously dangerous. There is a reason why you need a nanny. You are just a kid. You can’t go out alone…especially not with who your father is. Rich kids are kidnapped, it’s a real thing. What would you have done if someone tried to take you! At least if I was with you I could have looked out for any danger. I can’t stop thinking of everything that could have gone wrong. You could have gotten seriously hurt or choked on your food what would you have done then?” I finally started yelling. He needed to understand what he did was wrong and saying that he is sorry isn’t going to miraculously fix that.

“I said that I was sorry what else do you want from me!” he yelled back and that was the wrong move. Sorry doesn’t fix anything. The damage is done. He clearly didn’t think about the consequences.

“What did you think would happen? You’d do this and your father will just look past it? You’ll probably be grounded and your father isn’t happy.” I told him. I looked over at him to see if he was grasping in how much trouble he is.

“My whole life is just one big grounding. It’s not like it will change much, what will he do not let me see my friends?” This was a classic spoiled kid talking. He has everything he could ever want and he just isn’t satisfied.

“Your life isn’t so bad Matthew. You life in a gorgeous house filled with everything you could want. If you need something your father will buy it for you. He cares enough to make sure you have an excellent education and some skills and hobbies…You should have just come to me. We could have worked something out. I could have talked to him. Instead you went of on your own and had all of us worried.” He doesn’t realize how lucky he is. He should be happy he has a dad that cares. My mom had to raise me all by herself and it wasn’t easy. It can’t be easy for his father either. He needs to raise three kids all on his own. He needs to force their mother to be a part of their life. It can’t be easy for him.

“I didn’t know that asking you was an option.” Was all he had to say.

“Maybe if you talked to me some more you would have known. Now next time try and talk with your nanny and ask her when you want to do something like this. At least then you won’t be in trouble.” I told him hoping that I could get through to him and spare the next nanny from a disaster like this.

“What do you mean with my nanny? You are my nanny.” I looked at him and then back at the road. He finally acknowledges my role and now I’m not his nanny anymore.

“Your dad gave me a hour to find you. I didn’t make it in time. Even if I did you missing your lesson is one of the rules I wasn’t allowed to break.” I told him, not looking at him. I was focusing on the road trying very hard not to let all this get to me because I could already feel the sadness wrap around my heart. At the same time I could feel the sadness wrapping around my lungs. I don’t want to think about my financial situation and all the repercussions of this.

“You mean he is going to fire you? But you didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one to decided to go off like this.” Everything what he was saying was true, but also not entirely true.

“It’s my job to look after you and when I don’t know where you are I’m not doing my job. I signed the contract and I knew what would happen if I broke the rules. It’s fine. You just need to behave better for the next nanny that your father hires.” I told him. I didn’t want him to blame himself.

“but it isn’t fair. If you are fired then why did you come and find me. I’m not you’re problem anymore.” him saying that was just so sad. A kid shouldn’t feel like they are just in the way.

“You aren’t a problem. I never saw you as a problem. I had to find you because I promised to take care of you and that is exactly what I intended to do. No matter what.” he kept looking out the window and back at me.

“But why, why do you care? You don’t even know me.” He finally said after he worked up the guts. I looked at him and saw real confusion in his eyes.

“Because I wanted to get to know you.” I told him. He stayed silent for the rest of the ride home.

Alexis POV

No one has ever talked to me like that. In that moment I didn’t know what to do, but I must admit that I might have been a bit rude. And now she wants me to give Ava a bath. I’ve never done anything like this before. I asked Ava where her bath thing were. She rushed to her closet on her tiny legs. I followed slowly and was still able to keep up. As she opened the closet to get everything I noticed stickers on everything. It named the thing in english, spanish and french. Did she do this to help Ava learn? Ava got everything then she led me to the bathroom. I started to fill the bath when she handed me some bubble bath and a bath thermometer. I didn’t know how warm the water should be, but the thermometer had an hour that said OK. Once the bath was done I took of her clothes and put her in the bath. She told me what to do by handing me the bottles. While I was busy washing her hair she was drawing on the bath with bath crayons.

“This is you.” She said pointing to the drawing she made. It looked nothing like me, it didn’t really look human shaped.

“That’s beautiful.” I told her smiling down at her.

“You’re beautiful, I will also be beautiful when I’m clean.” She told me. She held out a crayon for me. She wanted me to draw with her, but we only had so much time, but her face looked so sad the longer she was holding it out for me so I took it and started drawing with her. By the time I was done bathing her I was completely wet. I dried her up and dressed her before I gave her a few toys to play with while I jumped into the shower. Once I was done I took her to the kitchen where we sat down and enjoyed our dinner. Father didn’t join us. He was probably waiting for Matthew. I must say that it was fun spending some time with Ava. I liked that she smiled at me, she doesn’t smile all that much, neither do I but I actually laughed while playing with her while she bathed. Maybe the nanny actually knew what she was talking about when she suggested that I do this. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.