The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 5 - The Case of the Missing Phones

"Hey, I'm going to Gina's lake house with a couple of people," Elliott informs as he walks into the kitchen to grab his keys. "I'll probably be back sometime next week."

I think quickly, jumping in front of the backdoor to block his way. "Actually, you're not going."

He scrunches his eyebrows together. "And why not?"

"Because your summer school teacher just called me," I say. "You haven't gone to one class. If you miss another, you won't graduate."

"That seems a little dramatic. It's just Spanish," he mutters. "I'm not planning on moving to Mexico anytime soon."

I click my tongue, eyeing him in annoyance. "Well, too bad. You have to go to your summer school classes. End of story."

"Where exactly in this cute little story did you become my babysitter?"

"I wouldn't have to act like your babysitter if you didn't act like a child!" I snap.

He doesn't say anything, a bored look on his face. That just angers me more.

"It's hard enough dealing with six other kids. I've been here a week and not once have you offered to help me with something! You ignore me when I talk to you, and you just smirk when I ask for help. I never know where you are. You come home way too late. Last night, I thought maybe you were dead, until you came home with some girl. I shouldn't have to manage an eighteen-year old adult, yet here I am, acting like a mother to a guy my own age!"

With the faintest of smiles, Elliott holds up his hand. "Alright, I'll go."

"You'll go to summer school?"

"I guess." He walks over to the refrigerator and rummages through in search of something.

I let out a sigh of relief. "¡Muy bien!"

He scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, turning to look at me with a slice of pizza in his hand. "What?"

"Nothing," I say and busy myself with cleaning the kitchen counter.

Elliott leaves the kitchen, traveling to the basement and closing the door shut.

I don't know why I feel so nervous around him. It's stupid, obviously. But I'm a girl, if I haven't mentioned already. Girls have feelings, surprise. I don't have an mental attraction to Elliott, but I will admit to a physical one. He's handsome, end of story. I'm allowed to feel a little nervous around handsome boys.

Luckily, there's his personality to steer me away from any real attraction. This job would be near impossible if that were the case. Thank you, Elliott, for you brooding, rude attitude.

The phone rings, and I search for the receiver. It's not in its normal holding place, so I go to where the other phone is kept in the family room. That one is missing too. At this point, the ringing has stopped. It stopped too soon, however, which means someone in this house has the phones.

I decide to check upstairs in search of the phones. Addison did seem awfully eager earlier when the phone rang. As of now, she's my main suspect.

Knocking on her door lightly, I enter after she gives me the okay. "Hey, Addison. What're you up to?"

"Nothing," she says a bit too casually, sitting on her bed with a Seventeen magazine flipped to a page of a Zac Efron photoshoot.

"The phone rang earlier," I start. Her face remains calm. "The phones are all missing downstairs. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"