Chapter Text
Drew groggily walked into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had just woken up from a well deserved nap, and was planning on grabbing a snack, scroll on his phone, head back to bed.
He opened the cabinet, grabbing a bag of chips and pouring them into a bowl. He then yawned as he started to head up into his room again. Then he heard his mom’s voice.
“Is afterschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays okay? He should be free those days, and if not, that’s too bad. ” His mom said, seeming to be talking on the phone. Drew froze in his tracks. She couldn’t be talking about his older brother, considering he’s graduated high school. And she most certainly isn’t talking about his little sister, since his mom said ‘he.’
Which only left Drew. Drew rolled his eyes as he began to make his way to his mom, who was in the living room talking on the phone. She noticed him and mouthed ‘one second’ before turning from him.
“Mmhm. Perfect. Okay, he’ll be seeing you guys on Sunday. Bye, thank you.” She hung up and then sighed deeply as she turned to Drew. Drew, was as dumbfounded as ever. He tilted his head to the side as he waited for an explanation.
“You’re volunteering for the daycare nearby.” She said, putting her phone in her pocket.
Drew’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and irritated. “You’re joking?”
“They’re short staffed, and I thought, well, you’re good with Melody, you would be a huge help, Drew!” She smiled.
“I’m good with Melody because she’s my sister. That doesn’t mean I’m good with kids.” He complained.
“Drew. Don’t argue with me. You’re volunteering for the daycare. It’ll only be a couple weeks. You’re gonna go there on Sunday, and they’re gonna show you around and have you take a survey of some sorts. It’s only three thirty to six thirty.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
“Hey, are you the new volunteer?” Drew was greeted by an older lady who was wearing a tie dye shirt with the daycares logo on it. She wore a badge that said “Iris Scarlett.”
Drew’s mom forced Drew to wear something else other than his black hoodie he was rarely seen not wearing it and grey sweatpants. So, instead, he was wearing a colorful shirt based off of ‘Adventure Time’ that his mom let him borrow. It took him a while to agree to it. He’s still wearing his boring grey sweatpants though.
“Yup.” He sighed as he stood from the chair he was sitting on for what felt like decades, waiting for someone to come out.
“Alright, and your name is Drew?” He nodded at her. “Perfect. You can call me Iris, or Ms. Scarlett. I’m gonna have you fill out this sheet for me real quick. Shouldn’t take longer than five minutes” She handed him a clipboard with the paper on it, and a pencil.
The paper was basically just questions about himself and his skills with kids. When he finished, he handed the paper back to Iris.
She smiled as she read over the paper. “Your mom said you have a little sister?”
“Yeah. She’s eight. Me and my brother—even though it was mostly me—used to help our parents babysit her when they were busy with work. Or on a date.” Drew replied, going back to his memories of Melody sobbing that one time when she kept breaking her pencil lead. His older brother was laughing at her while Drew tried to get her to stop crying.
She hummed in understanding. “Well, I’ll show you the classroom that you will be volunteering in. You’re only here for the last three hours of the day. The hours that you aren’t there, I will be there. Then, when you come, I’ll introduce you to the kids and you will just be there to help out. That way, if I have to deal with two kids fighting, or whatever, you could take charge of the other kids. Easy enough.”
Drew nodded in agreement, watching the floor as they walked the halls. Iris finally stopped in front of a classroom, and opened a door.
Inside, Drew spotted a bunch of toys and other stuff that were for children. A mini kitchen set, an arts and crafts section, etc. It was extremely colorful, but in a good way.
Iris walked over to her desk, where she grabbed a sheet that had kids pictures and their names below it. She handed it over to Drew.
“These are the kids that are in this classroom.“ Iris explained, even though it was pretty obvious. Drew examined the kids, and held back a sigh. He was gonna have to see these four year olds every week? He doesn’t even wanna imagine all the screaming there’s gonna be.
They finished the… tour..? Whatever you wanted to call it. Iris showed Drew their schedule—or at least the schedule Drew will follow when he gets there. Iris will tell the kids about Drew on Monday morning, and then they will see him after Drew’s school.
As Drew was about to leave the daycare, Iris stopped him quickly.
“Wait, I almost forgot. Stay here.” She turned on her heels and speed walked to a room. Drew sighed as he looked at his phone to check the time. Wow, he’s been here for thirty minutes already?
Iris came back with a sage green t-shirt, matching her own. So it’s like a uniform thing then?
She threw the shirt at Drew, who wasn’t really expecting her to throw it, but he still caught it.
“Wear that when you come on Monday. I assume you don’t wanna wear it at school, so just keep it in your bag for the whole day and change when you get here. Or, wear the shirt but also wear a hoodie the whole day.” Iris commented. Drew smiled slightly to be polite, but it quickly faded as he turned around to exit.
“See you tomorrow.” Iris shouted after Drew as he left. He muttered a goodbye, loud enough for her to hear. His mom was at the house, probably making dinner for him and his sister for when he gets home. So he had to walk home. Which wasn’t an issue, he enjoyed his alone time.
“So, how’d it go?” Drew’s mom greeted him with as he entered the kitchen. Melody looked up in confusion, chewing on her Mac n cheese.
“Just tell me when my last day there is.” He grumbled, sitting down in his usual spot next to Melody.
“You haven’t even been there for an hour, or met the kids.” His mom laughed as she also sat down at the table, in front of Melody.
“What is Drew doing?” Melody questioned, glancing at the shirt Drew threw on the chair.
“He’s volunteering at the daycare. He’s gonna be seeing cute little five year olds, gosh, I miss when you guys were little babies. You were both so adorable. Ashton was just trying to burn my house down half the time.” His mom explained.
“Can I go to the daycare? How long will Drew be working there?“ Melody looked up with shiny eyes.
“Sorry, kiddo, you’re too old for daycare. They don’t accept kids over ten. He should only be there for a month or two—“
“A month or two? No, no way. I don’t wanna do that. That’s way too long.” Drew interrupted, clearly upset.
“That’s not long, Drew. Be glad you’re not doing it everyday, unlike your father. Your dad is barely here because he’s too busy with his job.” She sighed. “God, I wish he would just take a day off to spend some time with us. Drew, never become a person like that. Someone who barely spends time with their family.” Drew was barely listening but he still nodded along to his mom’s words and agreed.
Drew was just thinking about the daycare. He eyed the shirt Iris gave him, sighing in frustration. Just the thought of snobby little four-five year olds was making Drew want to scream. He can’t imagine how overwhelming it’ll be.