You're too young for this
Chapter One
I still don’t know why I picked to volunteer at a nursery; I mean seriously what was I thinking? A bunch of four to five year olds all competing for my attention, except for one, I always wondered why he never played with any of the other kids. He just stayed in the corner ‘till his dad came to pick him up, I had tried to talk to his dad about him not playing with the others but all his dad would reply with was ‘family issues’.
Yet again I was sitting at my desk, watching over the little gremlins that decided wrestling each other was a good idea, ugh. All they were doing was shouting and screaming, except for that kid again, I decided I would see if I could cheer him up. He was still staring into space when I got to him, he only moved when I put my hand on his shoulder and that was only to get away, I sighed but I wasn’t going to give up, I wanted to know what made this kid so unhappy. Sitting down next to him I lifted his head gently with my hand so he was looking at me
“Are you okay” The kid looked uncomfortable at me talking to him, maybe the other kids don’t like him and that's why he’s so upset. He shook his head at my question and his eyes glazed over with tears.
“Hey, you don’t need to cry” I was trying to sound as friendly and soothing as possible, He was just looking at me with those chocolaty, puppy-dog eyes, like he was looking for something in my eyes, maybe deciding if he wanted to trust me?
“I do” I could barely hear his words as they only just above a whisper and the other children were still being loud on the other side of the room
“Why is that?” I decided to sit cross legged instead of crouching because my legs were cramping up
“Th-they don’t l-like me” He was crying now but not bawling as you would expect a four year old to, he was silently crying, like he didn’t want to show weakness
“Why don’t they like you?” He sniffed and shook his head before crossing his arms over his knees and crying into them
“Hey, its okay, Shh, come here” I lifted him slightly off the ground and put him into my lap, resting his head against my chest and slowly stroking his hair. His sniffles grew quieter as he cuddled into me and began to trace the design on my shirt
“Because they say I’m not like them” My eyebrows creased in confusion, how was he different to them? He looked like them and everything. The only thing separating him and them was the fact that they didn’t like him
“How are you not like them?” He sniffed as his eyes once again became glazed in unshed tears and he snuggled into my chest again
“B-because I don’t h-have a mommy” What the hell? Kids don’t like him because he doesn’t have a mom?
“Why don’t you have a Mom?” He looked into my eyes with tears slowly and silently making their way down his slightly flushed cheeks, he looked so helpless and cute; I gently wiped away the tears before he spoke
“Mommy found Daddy with another Daddy” Well I guess I know how he’s different now. The other kids’ parents must have told their children to stay away from him, poor kid
“Shh, its okay, I like you” He looked into my eyes unsurely before a grin broke out on his face and he tightly secured his arms around my waist
“R-really? You mean it?” He looked like a kid at Christmas time; his eyes were as bright as a star at midnight as he stood up in my lap and looked into my eyes once more
“Of course I do, now friends need to know each other’s names, my names Gerard” for some reason I really wanted to know his name, in a way he was like me, people just don’t talk to me and they won’t even bother to know anything about me other than the fact I’m gay, it’s like a repellent.
“You have a really cool name, I’m Frankie” Aww Frankie, it adds even more to his cuteness.
I turned around to see the clock, ten o’clock, ugh, naptime. The kids had stopped wrestling and were arguing over who won, why don’t the things just automatically sleep? Why don’t they have a button that makes them just stop?
“Okay kids, naptime” I was met with a chorus of No’s and we’re having fun!
“Whoever doesn’t go to sleep won’t have chocolate at lunch time. They all gasped and rushed to the cupboard for their sleeping things, all except Frank. He looked uneasily at all the other kids as they gave him dirty looks. As I made my way over to him he looked up and his face immediately brightened when he saw me. Picking him up, I made my way over to my desk
“Hey Frankie, aren’t you going to sleep?” He cuddled up to my shoulder and shook his head
“Why not?” I reached my desk and carefully sat down, making sure that frank was comfortable sitting on my legs and cuddling to my chest
“They don’t let me” He indicated his head to the other kids that were all lying down, trying to sleep
“Well why don’t you sleep here?” His face lightened as he snuggled even closer to me, sucking on his thumb, closing his chocolaty eyes and succumbed to a deep sleep.
“Night night Frankie” I stroked his hair as he subconsciously leaned into my touch and hummed in his relaxed state. I smiled at how cute and innocent he looked, how could anyone not be nice to him?