Monday Morning
Nick's POV
The alarm went off around 7:30 and I got up and went to get Clark up. I gently shook him awake. "Hey buddy, you have to wake up." I said softly and he soon opened his eyes.
"Tired." He said and closed his eyes. I sighed, but of course I couldn't say he should have went to bed earlier, but I couldn't because he went to bed when Jeff and I told him to as usual.
"I know, but you have to wake up. You have to school to school and both Jeff and I have to go to work." I say and then Clark opens his eyes and sits on his bed. I then take out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans for him to wear. "You get dressed and I'll get Jeff to make some breakfast."
I left and shook Jeff awake. I then kissed his forehead, which once again, got him to open his eyes. "I just wanna sleep." He mumbled and I laughed. Though I couldn't disagree, but we had to go.
"Come on, get up. We all have to get up today." I say. "Now should I cook breakfast this morning?"
"Yes, unless you're okay with me burning the kitchen down." Jeff said, I could tell he was majorly tired. I laughed a little though.
"This is what happens when you stay up till midnight watching Star Wars. Now go help Clark get ready." I say and then went downstairs and started looking breakfast.
Jeff's POV
I got up and went into Clark's room and saw that he wasn't up. I thought Nick got him up, but I then realized the covers we're pulled up and it looked like a large lump was on his bed. He was up, but he wasn't up out of bed.
I then shook him a little. "Come on Clark, you got to get ready for school." I say.
"I don't wanna." I hear him say.
"Hey, come on out of there—" I say as I pulled the covers off and see Clark laying down on the bed, holding his teddy bear close. He looked up at me and I could see the tears in his eyes. "Hey, what's the matter?"
"I don't wanna go to school." Clark says.
"Why not? School's fun!" I say, and I know it is in the earlier grades. I remember really liking the first grade. I never wanted to miss a day of school then. Clark shook his head at my comment. "Hey, what are you scared of?" I asked as I pulled him over so his head was resting on my lap.
"I just don't wanna go." He says, he's not giving me a reason.
"Can you tell me why?"
"I'm not going to know the answers." He says.
"You might. And if you don't, it's alright. You'll learn there, so you don't have to know all the answers right away."
"No one's going to like me." He says as tears fall down his face.
"Of course the other kids are going to like you." Jeff tells him. He remembers thinking that on his first day of kindergarten. "And I'm sure you'll have a bunch of fun too."
"No, I don't want to go." He cries and a part of me wants to give in, but I know Nick would kill me. And I'm sure Clark would like it after today was over.
"You're going to be fine, Clark. You're going to have lots of fun, learn, make friends, and when the day is over, I'll be there to pick you up and we'll have some more fun when you get home. I promise." I say as I stroke his hair and wipe his tears away. He then nods and sits up on his bed.
"Now just get your clothes on and you can come and eat breakfast downstairs." I say with a smile and then join Nick in the kitchen, whom was making some oatmeal.
"Interesting choice." I say and he laughs.
"Shut up, you love my oatmeal." Nick says and I don't argue. Only Nick Duval can make good oatmeal. "And besides, it's simple and I think that's what Clark needs this morning." He says and I nod. Nick was right, Clark didn't need something big with him being so nervous.
A few minutes later, Clark came downstairs and sat at the table. Nick put a bowl of oatmeal in front of it. "If it's too hot, let me know." Nick tells him and Clark kind of just looks at it. I get him some apple juice and put it there and grin at him.
"I'm not hungry." Clark says and I knew Nick was going to tell him that he needed to eat, but I stopped him before he could. Clark was stressed enough and I wasn't liking the idea of forcing him to eat. Especially like this—it may end up coming back and it would not be a pretty sight.
"You don't have to eat it, but at least drink your juice okay?" I said and Clark nodded and drank a little bit. I then turned to Nick who was giving me a look. "I'm not going to force him to eat, I don't want him to end up getting sick on his first day." I stated and I knew Nick agreed with me.
Then soon enough, I got my shoes on as Nick told Clark to get his things. He sluggishly made his way and got his jacket, backpack, and shoes. Then we left.
Clark's POV
I got in the car and just sat there as they drove. I put my head against the window and wished I was somewhere else. I didn't want to go to school. Mommy always told me how bad those schools were. Jeff had to be wrong about school because I knew no one was going to like me and I was probably going to be the dumbest person there. I mean, school started like last month, I think.
"Alright Clark, we're here." Nick says and I look out the window and slump in my seat. I didn't want to go out there. I did not want to leave this car.
"Come on, I'll walk you in." Jeff says and I only get out once he's outside my door is because I don't want them to yell at me. I'm surprised they haven't gotten mad at me yet.
I follow Jeff to this room and this woman approaches me. I go behind Jeff.
"It's okay." Jeff says and I feel his hand on my back. I hold onto his legs, I don't want to go in there and I don't want him to leave. "He's never been to school before." I hear Jeff say to the lady.
"It's alright, I see it all the time." She says. "Clark, I'm Ms. Lucy, I'm going to be your teacher. And I'm promise we'll have lots of fun. Now you two say goodbye and I'll introduce Clark to the class."
Jeff then gets down on his knees and looks at me. "No, don't go." I say, but not too loud. I don't want other people to hear me or they'll think I'm a baby.
"I have to buddy. Both Nick and I have to go to work and you have to stay here to learn and have a bunch of fun. I promise, you're going to be fine. I'll pick you up later today." Jeff says and then gives me a hug. I feel like crying, but I stop myself. I am not going to cry. I am too old for that. Then everyone would really think I was a baby.
Jeff then started to leave and I put my coat on hook. I saw above it there was a sticker with my name on it. I guess I had to use that hook every day. I then followed Ms. Lucy to the front of the classroom and kept my head down. "Class, this is Clark, he will be joining our class today." She said. "Now Clark, you can find an empty seat, there." She said and I went down the row of desks, walking slowly until I reached the empty one near the back.
"Okay class, for math today, I thought we'd do a review game on what we learned last week." She said and everyone seemed excited. "So I'll ask a question—it'll be two of you at a time—and whoever gets it first wins a prize. You stand up when you hear your name." I guess the prize was fun—I wondered what it was. But like it mattered, it's not like I could ever win.
"Sam and Olivia." She says and this blonde girl and this tall boy stands up. "Sarah was baking cookies for a bake sale. She makes 10 chocolate chip cookies, 3 peanut butter cookies, and 8 sugar cookies. How many cookies did she make in total?" Ms. Lucy asks. I think about it and I think I had the answer.
"21." The girl says.
"Olivia got it." Ms. Lucy says and then places a piece of chocolate on her desk. Oh, that kind of prize.
"Next…Owen and Avery." Once again a boy and a girl stands up. "Richard picked 16 flowers from his mother's garden. He gave 2 flowers to his mother and 4 flowers to his sister. Now how many flowers does he have left over?" She asks. That question sounded easy. I knew it had to be ten.
"10." Avery says. And then Ms. Lucy gives her a piece of candy. And it went on and on. There was Lily and Amanda, Daniel and Janie, Micah and Jared, Kayla and Ali, and then Celia and Jess. I think that was it since everyone went.
"Now Julian and Clark." She says. Wait what? I didn't think she would be having me do it. I haven't been here. But I stand up and look at the other guy standing. He looks at me funny, probably thinking it'll be easy to get this right. "Okay Danielle was selling brownies. She started with 20. She sold 10 to her friends at school, 5 to her teachers, and 2 to her mom. How many more brownies does she have left to sell?" She asked. I counted as she asked the problem.
"3." I said—I knew that had to be the answer. I was surprised that other boy didn't get it faster. I never had done math in this way before.
"Clark got it." Ms. Lucy says and I look around and everyone seemed surprised. I was too. She then hands me a piece of candy and I sit down. I guess today wasn't starting off so bad.
Then a little later we moved on to Science and then after we went outside. I think Ms. Lucy called it morning recess. When everyone started playing, I didn't really know what to do. It's not like I had any friends to play with. There was a wall and I found this tennis ball on the ground and decided to play wall ball with it.
I did for a while and then the ball went over my head and turned around and saw that kid Julian had it. "What are you doing?" He asks.
"Nothing." I say.
"I guess you don't need this then."
"I-I…"
"Julian, cut it out." The other boy next to him said. I think his name was Owen, but I wasn't sure.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" He said and I backed up. I didn't know what to do and I was scared of what he might do to me. "You weren't like that in math this morning?" He says. Was he mad that I got the answer before he did? "You think you're so smart?" He says and then pushes me down. He then starts to laugh as I shuffle away.
"Leave me alone." I say and they laugh. They're laughing at me.
"Awe, are you going to cry? You're such a baby!" He says laughing. "Do you need your mommy?" No, please don't say that word. I cover my ears, it doesn't help. But I wish they would leave.
"Julian, what are you doing?" I look up and see this girl. "Leave him alone. He never did anything to you."
"Stay out of this Janie." Julian says.
"Leave or I'll tell Ms. Lucy on you." She says and gets in between me and him. He looks angry and instead of hurting her or me, he walks away, with the other boy at his side. Then the girl turns to me and grins at me. "Are you okay?" She asks and holds a hand out to me.
I nodded and then take her and she pulled me up.
"Sorry about him, he is just mad you beat him in math today. But it's not your fault." She says. "I'm sure he'll forget about that. But if not, I'll make sure he doesn't bother you." I grin a little, I guess that was nice.
"I'm Janie."
"Clark."
"Come on, you can play with me and my friends." I say, but then the whistle blows. "…well we can do that after lunch. And you can sit next to me too."
I grin again. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.
So Clark's first day of school. And of course his first friend would be Janie ;) I was going to add more to this, but it got very long, so, I ended it here.
Don't forget to review.
