"What do you mean you don't know? You knew it yesterday!" The palms of my hands flew up in exasperation, only causing the pen in my grasp to fly across the library in the process.

"Yeah, well I forgot."

"Just think! I know you know this."

"Hold on." Lincoln bit out as he typed away on his refurbished phone, "gimme a minute."

Impatiently I tapped my fingers on the wooden surface of the table. I felt like a teacher having to deal with an unruly student.

"Lincoln, concentrate."

"I said hold on."

Feeling frustrated that he'd be distracted for practically the whole session I reclined back in my seat and crossed my sweater clad arms. To be completely honest I was trying to restrain myself from lunging for his blackberry. If that thing broke again he would surely be out for blood.

"Lincoln, you've hardly been paying attention for the forty-five minutes we've been here. Could you at least pretend like you're paying attention?" A few moments passed. He was blatantly ignoring me now. "What's going on that's so important?"

"Quite frankly, it's none of your business." Lincoln muttered, speedily finishing off his message and aggressively tossing his device back onto the pile of books next to him.

"You're wasting my time, you better believe it's my business."

Lincoln glared at me from his position across the table. After the last few study sessions I had grown to rival his pigheadedness with much more ease. The stubborn statements and semi-constant bickering drew attention to our table every free period. Yet no one bothered to intervene, not even Ms. Scott and her staple gun.

"If you must know, I'm texting my mother." Lincoln held out a finger, I guess sensing the cooing that was seconds from leaving my lips. "She can't pick up Sadie from daycare today and we're trying to think of who to call because I have work 'til nine."

Cocking my head to the side I asked, "What about Ms Fredricks?"

"What about her?"

"Well... where is she?"

"She's still not back. Probably won't be for awhile. There's rumours going around that she's backpacking in Asia or some shit like that."

My eyebrows furrowed together and I leaned forward, back into my regular seating position. "She's like seventy years old, how does a seventy year old possibly manage backpacking?"

His shoulders shrugged, "Sadie and I don't call her the dragon lady for nothing."

"Alright, well, who else would be available to pick up Sadie?"

Lincoln sighed, massaging his forehead, "That's the thing, there isn't much anyone else."

"Family?"

"What family?"

"Okay then... neighbours?"

"Not close enough that we'd know how to contact any of them."

"Friends?"

"At the moment, none available."

"Seems like you're in a bit of a pickle."

Lincoln rose a brow at me, "You know, it's not hard to tell that you work at a daycare. I don't even think old people say that type of shit anymore."

It took me a couple seconds to answer. The scar angrily sketched through Lincoln's eyebrow was a new discovery that I never took much notice in before.

"Anyways," I started changing the subject after sticking out my tongue in Lincoln's direction, "I could help you out. I can bring Sadie home after my shift if you'd like."

"Pft," Lincoln scoffed, "I'm not that desperate."

Leaning forward I flashed him a sickly sweet smile. "Oh, yes you are."

Another glare was shot in my direction before Lincoln snatched his phone back up and returned to his conversation. "You're not my last hope you know?"

Lincoln continued messaging for the next five minutes or so before he looked like was out of people to turn to. I attempted to hide my smile, knowing what was about to come.

The cellphone was flung to the hill of textbooks once more. Lincoln refused to make eye contact. His fingers reached for his once disregarded pen. He fiddled with it, shaking it in his fingers and treating it like a drum stick. Until that too was flung back into the wooden surface of our desk that sat at the edge of the library. Lincoln sat there for another couple of moments in concentration, his leg bouncing. Then he made eye contact.

Check mate.

"Okay, fine."

"Okay, fine what?" I questioned seemingly clueless.

"You can bring my sister home, after you're done your shift."

"That's not how you ask someone."

"Ask? You offered."

"My offer became null and void once you rejected it."

A bored look crossed Lincoln's features. "You're kidding."

"I'm as serious as a heart attack." I flashed a smile.

"I swear," Lincoln rubbed at his face in frustration, "you deserve to be in the daycare with those children."

"All you have to do is ask." I said, the smile on my face transforming into a grin.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead.

"Bring Sadie home after you're done work?"

"Nope."

"Why the fuck not?" Lincoln ground out.

"You didn't say please." I was tempted to throw in the puppy eyed look. Surprisingly to me however, I didn't even have to.

"Fucking please."

"Great! Now say it in a sentence."

"Mother fu— can you please bring Sadie home after work?"

"Of course! See? Was that so hard?" Reaching across the table I pat Lincoln's clenched fists, still with a grin plastered on my face.

Lincoln snatched his hand away as if I'd burnt him and grabbed the little he brought before packing up and leaving.

"Well then," I shut the textbook laying open in front of me, "this tutoring thing ain't so bad."

* * * * *

The inside of my locker was beginning to look like the long rectangle went spiralling down a hill and into a landfill. Reaching into my locker I pulled out a random Doritos wrapper.

Did I even eat Doritos?

I shook my head at the thought. No, I don't think I did. Stuffing the litter in my jacket pocket to dispose of later, I was about to close the metal door when it slammed shut on it's own.

"Newest 4-1-1 as told by Cathy Ferlly in English. Apparently you two must be getting down and dirty." Ella informed me, her manicured hand still pressed to my locker.

"And you believe that?" I gave a small laugh, fixing the strap of my bag over my shoulder.

"Of course not Virgin Mary, but apparently that's the only possible way the likes of Lincoln Pierce would ever allow you to tutor him."

"Hmm, well that's a new one." Harper appeared behind Ella, already busily spinning in her locker combination. "The rumour I heard around AP Calc is that you're paying him."

"Wow, I'm shocked." Ella gapped next to me.

"I know right? That's ridiculous. Why would I pay him for a service I'm providing?"

"No, I meant it's shocking that nerds even gossip. Didn't think they had any time for that between chess club and playing Dungeons and Drakos."

Harper and I blinked rapidly at our blonde friend. "Dungeons and Drakos?"

Ella blinked back, "... yeah. Isn't that what it's called? You know, the game?"

Harper waved her off, "Close enough."

"Anyways," Ella continued, "how are you cool with these rumours circulating? I mean, sex with Lincoln Pierce? No one's gonna say you have bad taste but how are you so cool with that?"

"They're just rumours Ella."

"They don't bother you in the slightest?" Ella gawked at me appearing bewildered.

"Why should it? The people who actually know me wont believe it. The people who care to know me will ask me. And the rest don't care about who I am as a person so why should I care about what they think?" The palm of my hand met Ella's bare upper arm in a pair of claps. "And with that being said I should get going, time for work."

Without waiting for a goodbye from either one of my friends I turned on my heel and headed down the hall.

* * * * *

The bottom of my boots continuously squeaked as I made my way down the front half of the daycare. The snow outside was finally thawing which led to the never ending trail of puddles and footprints. I followed the path of muddy water to the open door belonging to Mindy's office.

"Mindy?" I stuck my head in, spotting my boss in her expensive office chair with her cheeks stuffed to the brim with crackers.

"Calista, hi!" She mumbled around the bits of cracker in her mouth. She placed down the one in her hand back down on it's wrapper. "How was school?" She questioned, a hand raised to her lips as she swallowed her mouthful.

"It's been interesting lately." I answered honestly. Everything has gotten more interesting ever since Lincoln made his grand entrance into my life.

"Interesting is good." Mindy nodded as she scanned the oversized calendar that took up the majority of her desk's surface. "I'm going to need you in Pre first today then to Kinder seeing as Tammy will be responsible for kitchen duty from now on." Not quite believing what I was hearing I blinked rapidly. This was too good to be true. "If she wants to take her time doing things she can waste her own time and not everyone else's."

I just stared at my boss in surprise. Who mentioned it to her? I know it wasn't me. "Is it sad that I'm kinda happy with this news?"

Mindy let out one of her contagious laughs. "No, not at all. I'd be worried if you weren't happy. From what've heard she's been making you fall behind almost daily. I can't have that."

I nodded, not even trying to fight the smile off my face. "Well thank you. I really appreciate it."

"No problem at all Calista." Mindy said shoving another cracker in her mouth. I was half way down the hall when I heard her shout, "Enjoy your freedom!"

I felt like dancing down the hall, but knowing my luck I'd end up slipping and breaking my collar bone or something like that. I didn't want anything to spoil this mood.

When I got to Dawn's room my smile had obviously not dimmed one bit.

"Good news?" My coworker called from the craft table on the other side of the room.

I wanted to cheer. "Great news. I'm not responsible for kitchen duty anymore."

"Oh good, so Mindy took what I said into consideration then."

I widened my eyes at Dawn, watching her as she scraped the dried glue off the green table top. "You said something? Why?"

"I couldn't just let you suffer like that. Tammy was walking all over you. She deserves to be stuck in there washing dishes until her fingers are prune-y, not you. Personally, I'm disappointed she didn't lose her job."

Not being able to help myself I wrapped my arms around her.

"Thank you."

Her arm reached out and pat my elbow in a comforting manner. "Not a problem Cali."

The next few hours honestly flew by. Without the gruelling task of being the royal dish washer the kids were able to keep me busy. Especially the sassy Kinders. The little buggers thought they were all grown up already.

It was refreshing to be able to spend time with the children without interruptions or constantly checking the clock to ensure how much longer I had before dragging myself into that mush infested Hell hole. I spent the rest of the night doing what I envisioned I would be doing when Mindy offered me the job. I spent time with the children without the threat of kitchen duty.

The night was quiet as most of the children had been retrieved earlier than usual. Sadie, like most days, was the last child in the daycare. Ally was tad a bit shocked when she realized I would be taking Sadie home that night.

I filled her in on the details, mainly saying Lincoln had asked me for the favour and had notified Mindy that I was now authorized to pick her up. Ally and I were eventually able to lock up after a rapid fire round of questions hosted by my blonde coworker. Needless to say she was ecstatic that for once in a long, long, time we were able to close on time.

When we got to the Pierce residence it was pizza night again for Sadie who insisted it was a healthy dinner choice, despite her picking off all the vegetables.

After dinner the two of us decided to watch a movie — or rather Sadie guilt tripped me for not staying the last night I was over.

"Okay, okay, show me what you got."

Sadie immediately made her way up the steps. I stalled at the bottom for a moment. I felt like I was intruding again.

"Ms Cali!"

"I'm coming!"

Tentatively I made my way up the stairs, the carpeting tickling me through my socks. Sadie didn't bother to turn the lights on before she made her sprint to her room although there was a dull nightlight that illuminated the space. Not feeling as if though that little bit of light was enough I flicked the switch when I reached the top step. The hall upstairs was short and narrow and there was not very many choices to choose from. I could either take a quick right and ram into a closed door or go in the opposite direction.

Figuring Sadie's room was somewhere down the hall I ignored the shut door to my right. I slowly moved down the corridor trying to make an educated guess on which room belonged to Sadie — but to be honest I was also trying to fight down my curiosity.

The door belonging to the very last room in the hall was left ajar. A long stretch of dirty looking white fabric hanging out of a gym bag grasped my attention. It dangled out of the dark material and off the desk that the bag rested on.

Tilting my head I subconsciously moved towards the open door. What was that?

"Ms Cali, over here!" Sadie's gentle chirp broke me from my trance-like state.

"Yeah... I'm coming."

Pushing the white fabric to the back of my mind I backtracked to Sadie's room. I nudged the door open a little more, the simple surroundings coming into view.

The little blonde girl perched herself in front of a tan book shelf, a puddle of DVDs pouring from the bottom compartment.

I smiled at Sadie as she busily shifted through the movies in search for something for us to watch. "Okay, show me what you've got." I challenged, coming over to sit next to her.

Little fingers reached back into the self and slowly, but surely, the puddle of movies threatened to rival Lake Ontario.

"Whoa Sadie, you have a lot of movies eh?"

"Uh-huh." Sadie nodded extracting a few more DVDs. "I got them all from birthdays and Christmas. Sometimes, if I'm good, Mommy gets me a new one."

"Well, that's very nice of her."

"It is." She continued to shuffle through the bottom shelf, a small smile gracing her features.

"Have you watched all of them?"

"Uh'huh."

Grabbing a couple of movies from the pile I asked, "Which one's your favourite?"

She thought for a moment, tilting her head to the side, "Cinderella. Lincoln says I look like her."

I laughed, "That's true, you two could be twins."

Her abnormally blue eyes lit up, "Does that mean I could be a princess?"

A small smile found its way onto my face, "You are most definitely a princess."

Sadie was glowing from the inside out as she sifted through the small mountain that materialized between us.

"Hey Sadie, do you have Peter Pan?" My eyes ran over the row of movies again in hopes of picking it out.

"What's that?"

Turning to look at her I opened my mouth slightly, "You've never watched Peter Pan?"

The three year old shook her blonde head.

"Never?"

"Never ever."

"Girl, you are missing out big time. Next time I bring you home I'll bring it okay? Peter Pan is my favourite." Reaching over to her I gently plucked the movie from her grasp. "But, how about for now we watch Cinderella?"

With an enthusiastic nod Sadie snatched up my hand and forced me to jog down the stairs. She released me when we reached the bottom and took a running leap to the couch, landing on her knees with a bounce.

Together Sadie and I watched Cinderella. We were nearing the end and Prince Charming was moments away from figuring out who the glass slipper belonged to when the front door clicked open, distracting us both.

"Linky!" Sadie shouted from the cushion-y green couch. Her whole body swirled as she peered over the back of the sofa. "Ms Calista and I are watching Cinderella."

"Without me?" Lincoln held up his hand to his leather clad chest in mock hurt, causing his sister to giggle.

"You weren't home silly!"

"Oh well."

"Come sit and watch the rest with us."

By this point I had turned my attention back to the tv instead of watching as Lincoln stripped off his outerwear. It was difficult to concentrate on the movie. Even though I had probably seen it more times then I could count I had no idea what was going on anymore. I was completely distracted with the thought of how Lincoln acted with his sister in comparison to how he responded to the rest of the Earth's population.

I really must not have been paying any attention because everything around me had been drowned out until the feeling of sinking deeper into the couch registered in my brain. Lincoln had made his way over to the two of us and had lowered himself next to his sister. Was he actually going to entertain her and sit through a Disney princess movie?

Maybe Lincoln Pierce wasn't such a hard-ass after all.