"So can we play now? We've been waiting forever Chad!" Junior groaned.
"Yeah, yeah, we can go play now Junior" Chad played with the boy's messy hair. "C'mon, let's go over to those tables over there" He said pointing to the picnic tables over by the sidewalk next to the lake where they were standing before.
"Why are we going there? Are we gonna eat?" Martin asked rubbing his stomach.
"No, why, are you hungry?" Chad asked
"No, I ate 6 cookies! I'm a pig!" He grinned. Everyone laughed with Martin as they headed over to the tables.
"So what are we doing?" Taylor whispered to Chad.
"Hmm, something that'll make you feel like a kid again," He said showing her the bag, "You're always so into your studies, you never have any fun. So I thought that I'd get something fun for all of us to do" He smiled.
"We already talked about this, I'm not always into my school work...I'm just focused. And besides, I do too have fun" She argued.
"Right... Focused." He mocked as they reached the table. "Okay, guys roll up your sleeves." He demanded as he started to roll his own up. Taylor gave him a confused look and did as he asked. After she and Chad finished their own, they helped all the kids roll their own up because theirs kept falling back down.
"Okay, now go get one or two rocks. But not ones that are too heavy or anything!" Chad told them, as they scattered to the dirt path a few yards away then came back. "Good." He pulled out some paper and gave a piece to each of the kids. "We're finger painting" He told them.
"YAY!" They all cheered.
"You guys can paint whatever you want. You can paint something for your parents, a friend, yourself, Mrs. Siggs, or whatever. And you guys can paint as many pictures as you want too, I've got loads of paper." He told them pulling out different colored paints.
They all sat down and started painting. Each of the kids wanted to paint something for their parents. Junior painted a plane for his dad, who happened to work at the airport because he loved planes. Mary painted a portrait of her family, with her father looking down on her and her mother from a cloud with angel wings. Vicky painted a picture of her and her mom hugging. Taylor, who was sitting next to her, looked at it and was impressed by her skills. She was only in the first grade, but she had a hidden talent.
"That's really good Vicky."
"Thanks." She smiled. "I like to draw stuff."
"Oh, really, like what?" Taylor asked.
"I don't know, whatever I come up with in my head." She shrugged.
"Hm, well, you're a very talented young artist." Taylor complemented her. Chad was on the other end of the table sitting with the two boys, Martin, and Junior. The three were becoming competitive with each other comparing their finger painting skills.
"Mine's better!" Martin practically yelled. Showing his picture of his parents with him between the two, smiling. This is how he wanted to see his parents, but he never met his father, because he left when he was born for another woman.
"No mine!" Junior said, showing him and his dad sitting in a plane. Chad shook his head in disagreement.
"Mine is way better than both of yours!" He said showing the two boys his picture.
"What is it?" The two boys said in unison.
"What? You guys can't see it?" Chad said shocked
"No.. what's that?" Junior asked pointing to a big area of black and brown paint.
"That's my hair! It's a picture of me and Taylor you guys!" the two little boys burst into laughter.
"Oh, I see Taylor! She looks pretty, nice job." Martin said.
"Yeah..." Junior agreed.
"Thank you." He said.
"But I still don't see you. I think you gave yourself too much hair." Junior added.
"Yeah, when people get old, they always try to give themselves more hair. Like my grandpa.. He wears a wig!" Martin said laughing.
"Hey! I don't wear a wig!" He told them. Everyone was listening to their little argument and laughing by now. Taylor walked over behind Chad and hugged him.
"It's okay Chad, at least you finger paint better than you count." she teased then kissed his cheek. Chad gave her a playful glare. "I'm kidding!" She laughed lightly slapping his shoulder.
"Not funny." He said.
"I love it. Honestly. It's the thought that counts more than the quality." She hugged and kissed him again.
"Okay."
Once all five of the kids finished making a few more paintings, they cleaned up. After cleaning, Chad put all the paint back into the bag, and took out small bags of candy that he bought at the store as well, and gave each of the kids a bag. Since he had two extra, he left it in the brown bag to make sure Mrs. Siggs gave it to the twins when she saw them on Tuesday. They made their way back to the playground since it was almost time for the bus to come and pick up the kids to bring them home. When they reached Mrs. Siggs, the noticed that she was on her cell phone yelling at the person on the other line. They waited for her to finish and hang up before they fully approached her.
"Hey Mrs. Siggs, uhm, here's the finger paint that I bought for the kids today. There's still a lot more, so I thought I'd leave it with you for next time or something. There's also two bags of candy that were supposed to be for the twins." Chad spoke.
"Why thank you Chad. That's very thoughtful." She smiled.
"No problem."
"Well, speaking of problems, there's one. The bus company says that we weren't scheduled for a bus ride home. They said we only booked a ride to just come here." Mrs. Siggs sighed.
"Oh, wow. That is a big problem." Taylor said.
"How are we going to get home?" Erika asked grasping her paintings as the wind blew.
"I don't know sweetie. We're still trying to figure that out, but we better soon before the wind picks up more..." Mrs. Siggs said.
"I have an idea!" Chad almost shouted in Taylor's ear since he was standing next to her. Mrs. Siggs was startled by his action. "Well, most of the volunteers are drivers, and those who aren't their parents pick them up or something. I think we should give our groups that we had rides home if that was possible for each of us to do. I mean I have my car, and you could call Mr. Siggs or something.." Then he was cut of by Mrs. Siggs.
"What a wonderful idea Chad!" She exclaimed. "Looks like I taught you well..." She joked.
"So, should we ask all the other volunteers if its okay with them?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, that would be important now wouldn't it." Mrs. Siggs laughed.
Mrs. Siggs called all the groups together and explained the situation. All the volunteers agreed to take their groups home. One of the other volunteers took Mary and Erika because they were neighbors with the two girls. So Chad got the adresses of the three kids left so that he could drop them off, and picked up their bags that their parents packed because sometimes they would get messy, so Mrs. Siggs started to ask the parents to pack extra clothes and snacks just in case. After he put the bags in the trunk, Taylor made sure that Vicky, Martin, and Junior were buckled in.
"Alright you three. Time to bring you three home." Chad said as he pulled out of the parking lot. "First stop Vicky's house!" Vicky giggled as Chad messed around. Once they arrived, Taylor jumped out to go get her things out of the trunk. Before Vicky jumped out, she handed Chad a picture she painted.
"Here you go Chad!" She smiled.
"What's this?" He turned around in his seat.
"A picture of Taylor! Duh.." She giggled again. "I made it for you since she's your girlfriend silly." Chad looked at it, and smiled.
"Thanks Vicky! I love it. You're a really good artist, did you know that?"
"Yep, Taylor told me. Bye Chad!"
"Bye, see you next time!"
Taylor walked her to the front door. Vicky gave her a painting as well, but explained that it was Chad. Once her mother answered the door Taylor explained what happened with the bus, and her mother thanked her. With that, they left and headed towards Junior's house. Chad got out this time to bring him to the door. After that they made their way to Martin's house. Chad noticed the front door open and pulled up. On the other side of the street instead of in front of the house just to be on the safe side.
"Here, I'll go check it out." Taylor insisted, just in case if Chad had to drive off quick if they needed. Chad nodded
"Be careful."
"I'll be right back sweetie." Taylor said as she turned around to Martin who looked confused.
Taylor walked up to Martin's door. She heard two voices and she neared, each getting louder and louder as she became closer to the open door. She heard glass smashing against something and shattering. Taylor was shaken at what happening. When she reached the door, she saw a woman, who she assumed was Martin's mother. Martin's mother, Grace, noticed Taylor, and walked over to her at the door.
Review if you want. I might update again later today..
