California Girl's

Grayson was sitting on the cool sand of the mostly deserted beach. It was the beginning of April and the salty water of the ocean was only just starting to warm up. The cold water usually wouldn’t stop Grayson from going surfing, but she simply wasn’t in the mood today.

She buried her toes in the warm sand as she watched two boys sitting on their boards in the deep water. She had been watching them surf every morning around 8:30 for the last two weeks. Before that she had never laid eyes on them, considering she was never up before noon. However, since Annabelle came to stay with her, her mornings usually started at six.

Grayson cringed as the darker haired boy took a nasty looking fall. The other taller boy easily rid the wave back into shallow water and jumped down into the water that just reached his knees. He turned back to face the ocean and began laughing at his friend that was making his way out of the water with his arms crossed over his chest.

Her phone started vibrating from where it laid in her lap and she took her eyes off the two boys and looked down at her iPhone. The name that flashed across the screen made her sigh, but she unlocked the screen on her phone and put it up to her ear.

“Hello?” Grayson spoke as she fixed her eyes on the two boys who were both walking out of the water.

“Gray!” Jennifer’s voice shouted loudly in her ear. “Where the fuck have you been!”

“You know where I’ve been.” Grayson mumbled as she watched the guys approach a set of wooden steps that led up to a house that looked almost identical to hers.

“Well sorry 'Miss Attitude',” Jennifer shot back at her friend, “You seriously need to come out with us tonight.”

Grayson tore her eyes away from the two boys as they entered the house that was three down from hers and sighed loudly; she was now regretting answering the phone.

“What do you expect me to do with Annabelle?” Grayson shot back. “Bring her to the club with us.”

“Uh,” Jennifer groaned in annoyance, “Fine, whatever.”

“I’ll talk to you later.” Grayson said quietly and hung up before her friend could say anything else.

She laid her phone down in the sand and rested her head in her hands. She knew she was pushing all her friends away, but she didn’t know how else to deal with the situation. It had only been two weeks and she still had no idea how to take care of a five year old.

Jennifer and the rest of her friend just didn’t understand; heck Grayson barely did. She would of much rather went out tonight and drank with her friends then staying in and attempting to cook Annabelle something for dinner and be forced to watch the Disney Channel all night.

Grayson really didn’t want to admit that this was going to be the rest of her life. She was going to have to make sure Annabelle got to school on time, make sure she was fed properly, and make sure she was healthy. Everything was now about Annabelle and Grayson didn’t like that at all.

She usually wasn’t a selfish person, but having taken care of and only worrying about herself for the last three years, she didn’t want to have to take care of anyone else. She was young and just turned twenty-one two months ago; she just wanted to hang out with her friends and drink.

She stood up slowly and brushed off her shorts before walking back towards her house. Annabelle got out of school in five minutes and it was a ten minute drive. Grayson rolled her eyes and headed out the front door and into the garage to get her car.

~x0x~

Once she reached the school all the buses were gone and there was only two children still waiting for their rides, one of which was Annabelle. Grayson stopped next to the curb and climbed out of the car and sent a small smile to Annabelle’s teacher. Annabelle climbed into her booster seat and Grayson buckled her in and quickly walked back around the car.

Once they were on the road back to Grayson’s house Annabelle was quietly humming to herself as Grayson watched the road quietly.

“When do we get to go back to New York?” Annabelle asked suddenly. Grayson almost slammed on the breaks at the small girls question but kept her composure.

“Were not going back.” Grayson stated simply as she turned left at a stop light.

“But I don’t like it here.” Annabelle whined and Grayson cringed at her high pitched voice.

“Well, were not going back.” Grayson said in a firm voice.

After that Annabelle stayed quiet and the couple times that Grayson looked at her the rear view mirror the small girl had a frown on her face.

Grayson knew that Annabelle wouldn’t like it here, but there was no way in hell she was going to move back to New York. She had always hated the small town she grew up in and as soon as she graduated she high tailed in to Los Angeles and hasn’t looked back since.

They pulled into the drive way and Annabelle managed to unbuckle herself and stomp to the front door. Grayson groaned and got out of the car and shut the garage door behind her as she walked towards the still pouting five year old.

Once she unlocked the front door Annabelle quickly threw her back pack down and pulled off her shoes and stomped over to the couch.

“That pout won’t work on me.” Grayson said as she stood in front of Annabelle with her hands on her hips. She held her tongue from saying anything further because she was trying to not be mean.

“What do you want for dinner?” Grayson asked, but Annabelle stared straight at her and didn’t say a word. Grayson was losing her patience with the little girl quickly.

“Do you want Spaghetti-O’s?” Grayson asked as she tried to keep her cool. She wasn’t good with kids and that, on top of her short temper, was about to cause a huge problem.

“Annabelle,” Grayson stated firmly, “That pout may have worked on mom and dad, but it is not working on me!” She shouted at the small girl.