Babies and Bottles

Chapter 1

I have a simple routine every morning:

Wake up at six.

Get dressed.

Eat breakfast.

Grab everything I'll need for the day.

Bring Sadie to daycare.

Go to school.

Now, don't get the wrong idea. Sadie is my niece. My brother is in jail. He sent her to my dad and I since- I think I'll start at the beginning.

When I was twelve, my mother Linda left my father John and I without a word. I think it was because of his drinking. Or maybe his laziness. Who knows. I'm glad she did, though. I get the freedom I want living with the old man. Shit, all he really does is sit in his Lazyboy with a six-pack.

Of course by the time she left my brother Ryan was out the house. He married some woman we had yet to meet, and by the time we DID meet her, we found out he had been lying to her about pretty much everything and anything. Apparently he was a drummer in a band. And we were rich. And he had a pet rhino when he was little. So yeah, it was a big wake up call for her. (But can you say gullible!?)

I had heard he'd moved somewhere up north with her. It had been a while since he last called Dad or I, so he could have been Timbuktu for all I knew. Dad was still the same as always, so there was some balance there. He got me a car, thank god, as a present for finishing my junior year. I guess he didn't think I'd make it that far. Very optimistic.

That summer had been amazing for me. I'd gone to New York to visit my dad's sister for two months. We saw all the sights and she hooked me up with a wardrobe fit for any New Yorker. Upon returning to Mississippi I was the envy of my friends. I'm not some sort of social climber, but I have to admit that with the type of friends I have, that sort of attention feels good every once in a while.

Take my friend Francesca. She's tall, slim, tan, and beautiful. I don't know a guy out there who wouldn't love to go out with her... Don't tell her that though. She was all arms and legs up until two years ago. She still thinks of herself as gangly, not runway worthy. I've lost and gained a few friends over the years, but Fran has always been there for me.

Anyway, I had been enjoying my summer when I woke up to the doorbell ringing. It was around eight in the morning- early considering how late I'd stayed up on the phone the night before. I was still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes when I answered the door. I'm not sure which jolted me awake first, the baby coo, or the deep voice that said, "Hey."

And there he was. Right in front of me. Not in Timbuktu. The source of all my troubles. Ryan himself, with a ten month old Sadie grinning at me with her big eyes. She certainly didn't get her eyes from our side of the family. Dad and Ryan's were brown. I had gotten my mother's light blue, just as Sadie got her emerald green from the woman I don't even want to discuss.

He told me she pushed the little girl on him when she left. Five months old! There were several names I wanted to call her when I heard that, but he stopped me with more urgent news. Jail. For tax evasion. My brother swore up and down he didn't do it purposely. Despite that, he was still going to jail for two years. And he needed Dad and I to take care of his little girl for him.

Naturally, I agreed. Sure, he was a screw up, but I thought we could do it. And hey, two years was a long time, but it would be a good chance to bond with my niece.

Until I realized a few hours later while she played with my keys that we was really me. There was no way my drunkard of a dad could be trusted with a baby.

Within a day, my summer went from carefree to swamped. A baby was tough work. Thank God Sadie was complacent. She rarely cried, ate her mashed green beans, and loved me to bits. My dad gave me enough money to get what I needed, and Francesca offered to babysit every now and then. She was the only one I could really trust with my secret.

Secret. That's what it had to be. It couldn't be found out that I was taking care of Sadie because my dad was too drunk to. There would definitely be consequences. I just didn't want to think of them.

I also didn't want to think that someone at school would find out about her. If they did, I would have to say she was mine.

And at Breward High School, a student with a baby was torn apart by gossip and stares.