A Little Love

Chapter 2

Lauren looked up upon hearing a knock at her classroom door.

Although tired from the night before, Lauren realised that she couldn't give up on Camila. She had a special bond with her, and so had told Serena when she came back that she would be happy to babysit Camila for the next two weeks.

"Hi, I'm Miss. Epseley, you can call me Nancy," the lady said with a smile. She couldn't have been older than 21, Lauren noted, which wasn't unusual for the teaching aids at the school.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Lauren said warmly. "Hi, Camila," she said, noticing the girl hiding behind her teacher. "Come in."

Lauren had stuck to her word and dropped by Camila's classroom to talk to Mrs. Williams that morning while all the kids were at assembly and it had been agreed that Miss Epseley would bring Camila to Lauren's classroom every lunchtime for a change rather than to the nurse.

"I'm not wet," Camila whined, tugging on Miss Epseley's sleeve.

"Hey, you're lucky you're in here and not playing outside in this weather," Miss Epseley joked, nodding towards the window which showed that it was raining heavily.

"We'll do it quicky like yesterday," Lauren promised, closing her classroom door.

"I hate school," Camila complained sulkily.

"C'mon, let's get it over with," Lauren said, rolling out the changing mat on the floor.

"No," Camila said, her bottom lip wobbling.

"Is this going to be a bigger problem than going to the nurse?" Miss. Epseley asked, nudging Camila gently in Lauren's direction.

"We have our special plan too, don't we?" Lauren said, winking at Camila and causing her to giggle. "So, you finish school slightly earlier than the year 13s do, so if you come to my classroom you can sit at my desk for 15 minutes and start on your homework."

"Uh, I don't think that would work," Miss Epseley pitched in as Lauren lifted Camila's school skirt and untaped her wet pull up.

"I'm sure you could sit still for fifteen minutes, couldn't you?" Lauren asked, not saying anything about the messy pull-up as she wiped Camila down.

"Not at the end of the school day," Miss Epseley said, knowing how disruptive Camila could be.

"I just wanna stay with my friends, it's only fifteen minutes," Camila shrugged.

"How about I just pick you up from your classroom," Lauren suggested. "We can see about playing with your friends later."

"Okay," Camila said, lifting her hips so that Lauren could slide on a new pull-up.

"Right, off you go," Lauren said, watching as Camila ran out of the classroom the moment she was allowed to leave. "Her energy amazes me," Lauren laughed.

"So, you're babysitting her while her parents are out of town?" Nancy asked, leaning on the desk.

"Yeah, I know she's a bit of a handful but I have a feeling we're going to get along really well," Lauren smiled as she started packing up her papers.

"You're good with her," Nancy nodded, standing up straight.

Lauren watched her leaving before letting her thoughts overtake her. It really was a big commitment she had made, looking after a child like Camila so intensively for such a long period of time. It was still weighing on her mind a few days later as she walked down the colourful corridor to Camila's classroom, however, she quickly pushed her worry aside, knowing she needed to be at her best to manage Camila effectively.