Parents in Training

PROLOGUE

I had only one thought that morning. I was thinking that even though I possessed zero idea on babies - hell, I would become a horrible mother - I was very sure that baby dolls aren't made to turn alive overnight.

My mind went completely blank as I stared at it. It sat where I left it in the pink baby basket. The big blue eyes were blinking and the cheeks were redder than when it was plastic. Sounds were coming out of it this time. The longer I stared at it, I felt myself going insane by the second. It was probably a dream. Maybe I was so tired from yesterday and was so stressed out by Leon, I went into a spiral of unbelievable dreams.

Maybe if I pinched myself, I would wake up and the baby would be plastic as ever.

I winced at the pain and the baby giggled at the red mark on my arm. My breath picked up its pace and I could hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears. My pulse was going out of control. It was too early in the morning for this. I tasted metal in my mouth and my visions began to blur. The baby kept laughing and I could hear the sound echoing in my head, bouncing off inside of my skull.

This had to be a dream.

How could a plastic baby turn real overnight? That's scientifically impossible. And illogical!

But it was moving its hands and making bubbles from its saliva!

Maybe I've gone mad.

My breath hitched as the baby crawled out of the basket with a wide smile on its chubby face. Slowly and clumsily, it crawled and attempted to stand up but fell back onto its own bum. It started giggling madly. It was either laughing at me being delusional or laughing just because it could.

"Mommy!" it squeaked with its small hands reaching out as if it wanted me to pick it up.

My visions got blurry and my bedroom looked woozy. Everything around me began to look distorted as if Picasso decided to rebuild my room. Soon enough, my eyes rolled back and the last thing I remember happening was my back hitting the floor.

"It's Bella. Like Bell-ah." I demonstrated for him which he rolled his eyes to. I look from the smiling baby and back to him, "So, how are we going to do this?"

"I was thinking, Bell-ah," Leon grinned and his smile looked even more amazing up close. He held my shoulder and looked deeply into my eyes which made me shift on my foot, trying to minimise the awkwardness in my system. "I've heard that you never failed a single assignment while I, on the other hand, am highly debatable. So, I was thinking to put this on you since you're good at almost everything because let's be real, I'm going to screw up."

I scoffed and his eyes shot up as if he found out that I knew what he was up to. "Are you implying that you do nothing but do every girl in school while I'm going to be stuck with this mechanical baby for us to pass?"

"Exactly! I like you, you're smart!" Leon exclaimed and leaned in like we were about to share secrets as if we were already besties for life, "And not every girl in school because I haven't gotten to you yet. So what do you say?"

"No." I told him and he looked offended.

He laughed humourlessly before his facial expression shifted into a stone cold one. "Do you want to fail? Because if you give it to me, fine. I'll bury that thing so I wouldn't hear it monotonously crying for food and then dig it back out in time when we give it back to Miss Philips."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You wouldn't."

"It's not real anyway and yes I would and I know you wouldn't because you're scared of one single flaw in your student record. Am I right?" He asked and I was afraid of agreeing with him so I crossed my arms over my chest to show him that I didn't give a single rat's ass. Leon leaned in again and considering how short I am compared to him, he had to slightly duck his head to meet my eyes, "And if you do somehow give it to me, I'll burn it and we'll see how your perfect student report will look after that."

I could feel my blood boiling in my veins. I knew that he was using his power against me because he knew he had it. Every girl in this school fantasized about him and with him knowing better, he used it against them to get what he desired. But he wasn't going to do that to me. No matter how hard he flashed that perfect smile of his and how good he smelt that day.

But then, I was on a good streak. I was passing each class with flying colours and I wasn't going to let one single assignment making one single flaw.

"Should've known about your wonderful threats." I muttered under my breath as I adjusted the carried in my hand. Leon winked and pushed his shoulder off the locker before walking away.

We were just parents in training.