Clark's POV
I was sitting with Janie and Danny at a table in the classroom. It had a few other kids too, but I didn't remember what their names was. It was craft time and Ms. Lucy told us to draw whatever she wanted. I decided to draw me with Nick and Jeff.
I still couldn't believe they wanted to keep me.
Mommy always told me no one else would ever love me; but I guess she was wrong.
"What are you drawing Clark?" Janie asks me after I was almost done.
"That's me, Nick, and Jeff." I tell her.
"Are they your daddies?" She asks me and I think for a minute, but then nod. I guess they kind of were. "That's cool you have two dads. Ali has two moms, I think." They were really nice and they never got mad at me, like mommy did.
"What are you drawing?" I ask Janie.
"That's me and that's the big orange tree in my backyard." She says. "I have to show you when you come over to my house." I turn back to finish my drawing and it's gone. I look around and under the table and I can't find it. "What's wrong?" Janie asks.
"My drawing is gone." I say and she starts looking. I look up and see Julian looking at it. Why did he take it?
"Wow such a drawing." Julian says.
"Give it back Julian." Janie says.
"Still having the girl talk for you Clark?" He says and laughs. "Who is Nick and Jeff anyways? Did you hear me Clark?" He says the last part louder.
"Go away Julian. They're his daddies."
"Why would he call his daddies by his first names? And how can someone have two daddies? They can't have a baby." He says.
"They a-are adopting me."
Julian laughs again. What was so funny? "So they aren't really your daddies."
"Yes they are!" I say.
"Oh look, someone can actually speak." He says. "I mean they did have you as a baby. You're not their kid."
"They say—they love me." I tell him and he laughs again.
"They're lying. How could anyone love you? They don't love you. They're not your kid." Julian says. I don't say anything back. That was what Mommy always told me. And she always says how people lie. I tried to stop myself, but I started to cry. Then everyone just stared at me and that made it worse.
"Clark—it's okay." I hear Janie says, but I shake my head. He was right—no one loves me. No one would ever love me. Mommy said so. Then Ms. Lucy came over and walked me out into the hallway.
"Clark, what's the matter?" She asks me, but I just continued to cry. I didn't tell her what Julian says because he would just get in trouble and he was right anyways. "Tell me what's wrong." I don't tell her. There was nothing she could do. She then takes me into her office and then gets on the phone. She probably is calling Nick and Jeff. No, they are going to hate me. They have leave work to come get me. They are going to be mad. I started crying more where I started to do hiccups.
Jeff's POV
I get the call during my lunch from Clark's teacher. She apparently called Nick first but there was no answer. He probably either didn't get the message or there was an emergency and couldn't come. I texted him, letting him know I would handle it.
I got there and could see Clark was pretty upset. "What happened?" I asked as she brought me outside of where Clark was.
"I'm not sure exactly. I was having the kids draw and the next thing I knew was Clark started crying. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong and he seemed really upset, so I thought it might be best if he went home." She tells me and I nod.
I went in and Clark was sobbing. He didn't seem sick or hurt, but something might have happened with one of the kids. I'm sure Nick and I could get him to tell us later. As he continued to cry, I picked him up and grabbed his belongings and then took him to the car. By then he calmed down a little bit, but by glancing back, I could see he was still crying, just not as audible.
I carried him inside and sat on the couch with him on my lap. But once I did he moved away from me. "Hey, hey, come here." I say and he quickly moves back. "Now you usually like it when I hold you."
"You're mad at me."
"Why would I be mad at you?" I asked. He hadn't done anything wrong.
"You had to leave work." He says.
"Yes. But Ms. Lucy told me you were really upset, so I left so I could take you home." I tell him. "Clark, I would never be angry at you for that. And I'd rather be here with you anyways." Clark wipes another tear away as they start falling down his cheek again. I wrap my arms around him and rub his back.
"You're okay now."
I woke up to get some water and as I made my way back to bed, I heard crying coming from Clark's room. He must have had a bad dream. I slowly moved his door so I could get in and then slowly approached the bed. Clark was faced the opposite wall and was clearly awake. I started by rubbing his back, and usually that helped calm him down right away, but this time it didn't change. He continued to sob and that's when I took Clark in my arms. "Shh, shh, you're alright now." I sooth.
"I'm sorry." I hear Clark whisper.
"Why are you sorry?" I ask him.
"I woke you up." Clark tells me.
"I was already up. I was getting water and then I heard you crying, so I wanted to see what was making you so upset." I tell him as I continue to rub his back. "Did you have a bad dream?" Clark nods slowly against my shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?" He shook his head. "You know, when I had bad dreams, it helped to talk about it." I tell Clark, hoping he would tell me. It seemed to really make him upset and I just wanted to make him feel better.
"Y-You and Nick d-didn't want me a-anymore." Clark says and starts to cry again.
"Oh Clark, that's not going to happen." I tell him. There was no way Nick or I would ever want Clark to leave.
"Yes it will." He says. I frowned at hearing his disbelief. What made him so sure that one day we'd decide we didn't want him anymore?
"No, we want you to stay with us."
"For now."
"Always." I corrected. We didn't want him to stay for only a short time. We want Clark to be with us always—well at least until he's ready to leave and live his own life.
I watched as Clark shook his head again. Why did he think I was lying to him? "Nobody loves anybody forever. And nobody would want me. That's what mommy told me and she was right." Clark says and starts to cry again.
How could someone say those things to a child? How could they say those things to their own child? I picked Clark up and held in my arms as he cried. I started to rock him, like I would if he was a baby and then started to softly sing another song my mom would sing to me.
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams
Be tossed and blown
Walk on
Walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Once I finished, I noticed Clark had stopped crying and was relaxed in my arms. He had his head against my chest, with him holding onto a part of my shirt in his hands. "We love you and we will always love you, Clark." I tell him. "Your mom was wrong. I will love Nick forever. He will love me forever. And we are going to love you forever. And we are going to keep you forever, I promise." He says and he notices that Clark seemed to believe him.
I wrapped my arms around him and just sat there holding him close for several minutes until I realized that it was late and we both had somewhere to be tomorrow. But maybe not.
"How would you like to stay home from school tomorrow and have some fun with me?" I ask Clark and he looks up. He slowly nods, after thinking about it. He must have some good friends at school then. If my mom had asked me that when I was seven I would have said yes before she even finished talking.
"Alright, it'll just be me and you." I tell him and Clark had a smile on his face, so I knew that was good. I did think it'd be good for us to get some sleep, but a part of me didn't want to move Clark because he looked so happy and relaxed.
"I think it's time to get back to sleep so tomorrow we are happy instead of really grumpy." I say in a sort of monster voice and Clark laughs. "Would you like it if I slept with you?" I ask and Clark practically nods right away. I move myself to the left side of Clark's twin bed and keep him wrapped up in my arms. I watched him fall asleep; he looked so much happier.
I had a feeling tomorrow we would have fun.
Yes, Julian is awful, but there is always that one kid. Now should I include Clark and Jeff's day off or not? Tell me, in the reviews. Also, the song is "You'll Never Walk Alone" is from the musical Carousel and I actually sang this song with my chorus at my Graduation. I hope you liked it.
Sorry for being gone so long, but I have graduated and my work schedule isn't as busy, so I may have a bit more time for writing this summer.
Please don't forget to review!
