Victoria Ashton - Confessions of a Teen Nanny, Volume 1

To Fanu, Ale, Sasha, Reg, and J Jo

without you all, I never would have been the most popular girl in school!

Contents

CHAPTER ONE how on earth did I get into this mess?

CHAPTER TWO u r a nanny!

CHAPTER THREE is this kid for real?

CHAPTER FOUR perfect in Prada

CHAPTER FIVE anything for Oprah

CHAPTER SIX who are these people?

CHAPTER SEVEN deep breath . keep your cool .

CHAPTER EIGHT today we turn you into a goddess

CHAPTER NINE arrive late, leave early . make an impression .

CHAPTER TEN dazzled

CHAPTER ELEVEN bomb ditch

CHAPTER TWELVE in the hot tubnaked

CHAPTER THIRTEEN on the cover of a magazine

CHAPTER FOURTEEN queen of france

CHAPTER FIFTEEN trust me ...

CHAPTER SIXTEEN blackmail

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN to us!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN youre fired!

CHAPTER NINETEEN going back ... and getting him back

About the Author

Other Books by Victoria Ashton

Credits

Cover

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

how on earth did I get into this mess?

D ecember

Adrienne Lewis raised a Baccarat champagne glass and proposed a toast: To a great party and the worst night of my life .

Across the empty room, Adriennes best friend, Liz Braun, raised her glass and nodded . You got that right .

Tonight didnt turn out the way I planned at all, she said, half to herself and half to Liz . Adrienne looked around the incredible penthouse at 841 Fifth Avenue, the scene of an enormous party she and Liz had just thrown .

The apartment was famous in New York for its elegance, its size, and the fa ct that it was owned by the bil lionaire socialites Dale and Christine Warner and their daughters, Cameron and Emma . Adrienne and Liz both worked as nannies in the building . Adrienne had started 1 with the Warner s a couple of months ago, watching their eight-year-old daughter Emma . Liz worked for their neighbor, Dr . Mayra Markham-Collins, a prominent child psychologist and author, who had two children, Heather, age nine, and David, age five .

More champagne? Liz asked, waving the half-empty bottle at her friend . We have tons left, and theres a load of food in the kitchen . Pt? Caviar? Doritos?

No, Im cool, Adrienne said, wishing the queasy feeling in her stomach would go away . Wishing she could rewind the night and figure out how the party had gone so horribly wrong .

Liz stood up and shook out her curly, dark hair . She smoothed her hands over the peach Chanel cocktail dress, conveniently borrowed from Mrs . Warner s amazing closet .

Slipping her feet back into the Jimmy Choo heels that Adrienne had swiped for her from seventeen-year-old Cameron Warner s shoe closet ( more like a shoe store , Liz thought), Liz walked over to her friend, and the two girls surveyed the wreck that was now the Warner s apartment .

Adrienne took a deep breath . If we dont clean this apartment immediately , I am so totally fired .

Liz nodded . Okay . Lets get to work . We can have this place back to normal in no time . It will be so clean, Mr .

and Mrs . Warner will never know we had a party .

That wont be too hard, Adrienne said . Mr . Warner is always drunk . He wont even notice hes home ! They ran to where their clothes were stashed in one of the apartments guest rooms near the Warner s master bedroom suite .

Slipping out of the Dolce & Gabbana designer dress Cameron Warner had given her, Adrienne sighed, smoothed out the wrinkles, and put it back on a hanger .

I look so great in these clothes, she thought . I cant believe Cameron has so many . Its not fair . She tried to control the anger bubbling up inside of her . When it came to Cameron, nothing was ever fair .

She placed the dress in the wardrobe, where Cameron always hung the clothes she was sending out to have cleaned . The bills from Madame Paulette, the dry cleaner, frequently came to thousands of dollars a month . The Warner s would never notice the extra cleaning .

Back in jeans, the girls finally looked like what they really were: high school students after a night of partying without permission . Turning up the music, Adrienne and Liz emptied the ashtrays, straightened the paintings, and cleaned the bathrooms .

Adrienne? Liz called from across the apartment .

Someone hurled in Mrs . Warner s toilet!

Well, flush it! Adrienne called back . And stop yelling . Youll wake up Emma!

Adrienne kept thinking about her boyfriend, Brian, she cleaned . Kept thinking about what she had seen before he left .

The bathrooms are spotless, and all the shoes and accessories are back in Mrs . Warner s room . Do you think were almost done? Liz came in and asked Adrienne .

Pretty close, Adrienne replied, dragging two huge bags of garbage into the service elevator area . Tania gets here about six in the morning . Tania was the Warner s

Russian housekeeper, who watched Emma when Adrienne wasnt working . Adrienne glanced at the clock . Three A . M . !

Tania will give this whole place another once-over . Mr .

and Mrs . Warner will go straight to bed . They wont even check the living room . And theyll never go in the kitchenI dont even think Mrs . Warner has ever seen inside the kitchen . Adrienne looked around the enormous room with its incredible views of the city, TV area, and casual dining corner . The Warner s kitchen was bigger than her familys apartment . By the time they wake up, it will be like this whole thing never happened .

I only wish that it would be like it had never happened for both of us, Liz said . You know, you should go check on Emma, and then just run through each of the rooms and make sure someone didnt go into Mr . Warner s den, or Mrs .

Warner s dressing room or bathroom, or something like that .

Good idea,Adrienne said . Liz was always so practical .

Adrienne walked down a long hall off the entrance where the girls bedrooms were located . Camerons was sleek and modern, filled with contemporary art and books that Adrienne doubted she had ever even opened .

Cameron was one of the most beautiful young socialites in New York, but she was not known at her school, Pheasant-Berkeley, for her major intellectual contributions . Liz and Cameron went to school together, and Liz had told Adrienne plenty of stories about Cameron over the years .

Adrienne carefully opened the next door and looked in on Emma . Tiny, blond, and snoring slightly, the eight-year-old girl was squeezed into a ball at the top of the bed, her sheets and covers crumpled on the floor . Smiling, Adrienne gathered them up and carefully placed them on top of Emma, who rolled over with a sigh . Emma was really adorable . Its too bad shes an evil genius, thought Adrienne .

Adrienne backed out of the room carefully and closed the door as quietly as she could . The last thing she needed was for Emma to wake up and start asking questions .

Emma was a born prosecutor .

Walking back into the hall, Adrienne picked up the note that Mrs . Warner had left for her on the hall table .

The distinctive paper on which Christine Olivia Warner wrote all her notes was pale gray . The card inside the envelope was thick, and at the top, her carefully engraved initials C . O . W . were in ivory ink . The initials always made Adrienne smile . Adrienne, began Mrs . Warner , thanks so much for looking after Emma on such short notice .