The China Doll Chronicles ✔

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Babysitter

A/N - As you might have noticed, this story now has an official cover, blurb, and new title. I'm going to go back and revise the first few chapters accordingly within the next week or so. Meanwhile, I'll keep uploading my first draft of this novel, but be warned that I'm already planning to make some big changes in the second draft! (Which means I may or may not pull this draft off the site once I'm on the second draft). As always, enjoy and thanks for reading, commenting, and voting! Your feedback is so valuable to me and I'm extremely grateful for it :)

*****

There were many times I'd wished something bad would happen to Grandma. Like when I was eleven years old and she took away my Nintendo DS because it was "ruining my eyesight". Or the time she tossed out my entire Sailor Moon figurine collection after mistaking them for voodoo dolls. (And I'm the one with bad eyesight? Seriously.) Even now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't waiting for the fashion police to show up and teach her a thing or two about color coordination.

But the realization that my strong-willed grandmother had been hospitalized brought my world to a complete halt. Pummeling the treadmill's emergency stop button helped, too.

"What happened?" I demanded. "Is she hurt?"

"No, they hospitalized her for shits and giggles. Of course she's hurt!"

"How?"

"Uh...not sure on the details. Hold on, I'm going to--" A loud background noise drowned out Kevin's voice.

"Hello?"

Crackling. "...Yeah, still here. Anyway, Dad says to come home right now."

I didn't need to be told twice. I hopped off the treadmill, leaped dramatically over a few benches, and grabbed Carter as he was about to hit the sauna. "Done so soon?" he asked. "Or have you come to your senses and realized this is the place to be?"

"We need to leave. Now." After I explained the situation to him--very quickly and probably very poorly--I thought he'd make a big deal out of the fact that he'd already changed into his swim trunks. Instead, Carter tossed a T-shirt over his head and was on my heel in second.

"Do you need to go to your house or the hospital?" he asked, still trying to get his arms through his T-shirt sleeves.

I patiently grabbed hold of his left sleeve and pulled his arm through it. "Home. My dad's gonna drive me to the hospital."

Carter popped his head out of the shirt. "Let's split."

We practically sprinted out of Planet Fitness after spending a grand total of ten minutes inside, which probably made Grant think even less of my workout abilities than he already did. But I couldn't spare him or his nice, buff arms another thought at this moment.

All the way home, I imagined every worst case scenario possible: Grandma falling victim to a sudden illness, dangerous accident, overexertion from scolding everything that stood still long enough. She wasn't my favorite person in the world, but she and Grandpa (who was still in China, too sickly to make the trip here) were the only two grandparents I had left.

Also, if Grandma passed away in America thousands of miles away from her all her other relatives, her spirit would never get to rest--or let us rest. Our neighborhood would be haunted by a power-walking ghost for all of eternity. It'd be tragic.

"You good?" Carter asked when we stopped at a traffic light.

"Yeah," I said. "I think." I wasn't sure how to answer him, because I wasn't sure what to think or feel. Panicked? Scared? Anxious?