Adventures in Babysitting
Chapter Ten: Bad Day
Chapter Ten: Bad Day
I walked to Starbucks as slowly as I could. I wanted to think. About Adele, about music, about life in general. And the chances of me thinking this clearly with the guys is slimmer than...that pole over there!
Before I knew it, I was at the large cafe in all its green and white glory. I pushed open the big glass door and looked around. I felt someone grab me. “Yea! Frankie saved us!”
“Gee get off,” I told him. He laughed a little.
“Frank Iero is a hero!” he said. A few people turned and stared at him like he came straight out of a crack house. Come on people. He stopped that shit a long time ago! Keep up with the times! “Come on. We’re over here.”
Gee lead me to a table in the corner. Ray, Mikey and Bob were all scrunched together on the two seater seat. That looks uncomfortable. I sat down next to Gerard. The guys would have been pissed if I crowded in next to them.
“What the hell took you so long?” Bob asked.
“I was building up the suspense,” I replied. The five of us laughed.
“Better be careful with that. You may end up killing us with it,” Gee replied, sipping his coffee, “Suspense is a very powerful tool. You must use it wisely.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t be in Frank’s hands then,” Bob replied. We all laughed again.
“Do you want to get your ass kicked?” I asked him. He shook his head smiling, “Didn't think so.” I noticed the coffee counter was open. “Ooh. Coffee.”
I walked over to the dark green counter. A woman walked over. It was the woman who had served us the other day. Kelly. “Can I help you?” she asked happily.
“Um, one grande caffe latte,” I told her. She typed it into the register next to her.
“Anything else?”
“Um, that’s it I guess.”
“Okay. Five forty-nine,” she told me. I dug into my back pocket and pulled out my black wallet. I pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to her. She put it into the slots of the register and gave me my change. I took it into my hands and dropped the money into the tall cup they used as a tip jar. Kelly looked at me gratefully and smiled.
“So, how did the first drop-off go?” I heard someone ask me. I turned around to face Gerard.
“Well,” I told him.
“Well? Why not good, or even great?”
“Not great because I’m not a cereal spokes-cartoon.”
“Well, then why not good?”
“I,”I thought for a moment. I really didn’t know why.
“Because you care about Adele,” he replied, “And you’re more worried than ever. I’ve been there. I was like that when Mikey started school. Even though he wasn’t my kid or my babysittee, I still cared about him and felt like I needed to watch him. To take care of him. I didn’t want to see him hurt. And I’m still like that now.” Gerard looked over to where Mikey was sitting with Ray and Bob, laughing and drinking his coffee.
“You’re right,” I admitted. He smiled. He knew he’d be right, and I knew it too. He always is.
“It’ll get easier,” he told me, “I can promise you that.”
“Yea. I just don’t want her to get hurt. That’s all.”
“I know. Same with Mikey. Just don’t dwell on it. I don’t want to see you hurt either.”
“I know. But still.”
“But still what?”
“I mean, we’ve all had bad experiences with school. You ended up falling into a depression, Ray and Mikey were considered outcasts and didn’t have a lot of friends, Bob became a loner because of how much they rejected him, and I got beat up everyday for no reason. I just don’t want that to happen to Adele. You’ve seen her. She’s got the same taste in music as us, her parents are gone, and she’s living in a bus with four out of five guys she isn’t related to. She’s prone to being a victim.”
“I’m worried too. We all are,” Gee told me, “But we all ended up okay in the end, right?”
“Yea, I guess you’re right,” I replied. At that moment, Kelly put two coffee cups on the counter and pushed them towards us, smiling. I took mine gratefully and mouthed a thank you to her. I stared at the other cup. “Is that one yours?”
“Yep. I asked for it right before you came,” he told me. He took the cup and sipped it happily.
“How many cups is that today Gerard?” I asked jokingly.
“Ten,” he told me, “Three before Staples, four after you left, and three now. Or four. I’m not sure. I lost count.” We both laughed and walked back to the table.
We spent the rest of the day at Starbucks. Who ever invented full-time kindergarten is a genius, and they shall be my best friend, next to Gerard and coffee that is. I mean, I missed Adele a lot, but spending time with your best friends really helps you out. Better than Dr. Phil could ever do.
As we started to walk outside, I looked at my watch. Two thirty. Shit! I gotta get to the kindergarten. “Um guys, I gotta go get Adele. I’ll meet you back at the bus okay?”
“I’ll come,” Gee volunteered.
“Gee, really. You don’t have to.”
“But I want to.”
“Okay,” I replied. I turned to everyone else. They all shook there heads, as if they could read my mind. “All right.” And with that, we headed off to the school.
We got there a little early. Some of the kids were still outside playing. Gee and I waited by the hedges near the sandbox. I saw out of the corner of my eye Adele and a few kids playing. Yea. She made friends!
I noticed that two of them were girls, and one was a boy. That made me fume. Wait. I’m a guy. Why am I mad about this? Great. I’m turning into an overprotective father. Yippee.
All four of them had name tags on, two of them I could read. One girl’s, who had tannish skin and black curly hair, read Julie. The other one’s, the boy with shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes, read Hunter. Cool enough names. And they seem nice to me. But the other girl, she has pin straight black hair from what I can see. I can’t see her face or name tag though. She’s facing Adele, not me.
I smiled slightly and started walking towards the school building. I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard talking behind me. A snobby voice and a familiar one. Adele’s. I ducked by the hedges and eavesdropped. Yea, I know it’s wrong, but it just feels right. Get over it.
“Can I have that back?” I heard a voice (a girl’s) ask.
“Um, sure!” Adele answered. I could see her pick up the doll from the sand through the thin hedge. She handed it to the other girl, who had light brown hair and brown eyes. “Would you like to play with us Rachel?”
“Um, I don’t want to play with you Adele,” the girl, Rachel, replied.
“W-Why not?” Adele asked, kind of sad. Aww. I wish I could just run over and hug her right now. But I think I might scare a kid or two. Maybe three. Hell, maybe even a teacher.
“Because you don’t have any parents,”Rachel told her. Oh no she didn’t! She did not just play that card! “My mommy says I can’t play with kids like that.”
Silence. “I have a daddy!” she alerted her.
“Where?” Rachel asked. I could almost see Adele’s face fall. “See? I knew it. Come on Zoë.” She looked over to another girl, who had curly dark brown hair in a ponytail and glasses behind her, “I got your doll. We can go now.” She handed the girl the doll and dragged her away. Bitch.
At that moment, the teacher called everyone back inside to be picked up. All the kids ran inside and I got out of my hiding spot and walked over to the small building. Out of the corner of my eye though, I could see Adele standing alone, crying silently.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Gee asked. He was leaning on the wall next to the classroom door. I guess he must have ‘overheard’ like I did.
“I’m not sure,” I told him, “It hurt me to see her like that though.”
“I know. The same thing happened to Mikey on his first day. Some kid found out from their older brother that I was the artsy kid everyone hated, and made fun of him for being my little brother. I remember hearing Mikey crying that night in our room. It hurt me so much,” he told me, “But it blew over, and everything turned out fine.”
“Yea,” I agreed. At that moment, the teacher opened the classroom door. Yep. I was right again. The teacher was indeed, a woman. Her name tag read ‘Ms. Smith’. Well, that’ll be easy to remember.
“Are you here to pick someone up?” she asked me, looking at my tattoos and piercing.
“Yea,” I told her, “Adele Ortiz.”
“All right. I’ll get her for you.” With that, Ms. Smith ran off to find Adele. We waited a few minutes. In the process, three other parents came. One for Hunter, one for another kid I didn’t recognize, and another high-class mother for the kid that made Adele cry. Rachel.
“Mommy!” she screamed, reaching up to hug her the second she saw her.
“Hold on,” she told he, “I’m gonna talk to your teacher, all right.” Rachel nodded her head. So this was the woman who taught her daughter to hate a perfect stranger. I just wanna walk over to her and congratulate her for being the coldest asshole I’ve ever seen. But that wouldn’t be nice, now would it?
“Frankie!!!” I heard Adele scream. She jumped up and hugged me tightly. I’m glad she’s happy now.
“I missed you too,” I told her laughing. She pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled back. She then ran over and hugged Gee for a while. Something’s wrong. I feel like someone’s looking at me. I turned. That girl Rachel was staring at me, her mouth open. I looked at her. She blushed and turned towards the other girl Zoë. Zoë turned and looked at me. I smiled softly at her.
I suddenly heard sobs coming from Adele. I turned to her and Gee. He was trying to calm her down from what I could see. Wasn’t working in his favor. I walked over to her and crouched down. I pulled her into a tight hug and rubbed her back. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” I repeated over and over again.
“They don’t like me,” she said, “They hurt me.”
“I know Adele. I know. But you know what?” she shook her head, hiccuping now, “Anyone who’s mean to you, well, they don’t matter. All that matters is that you have friends who care about you and like you for who you are. Not for what you look like, or what clothes you wear. But for you, and you only.”
Adele wiped away her tears. “Thank you,” she said. She walked over to me and hugged me. I ran my fingers through her blonde hair. She’s so sweet. I’m gonna miss her when she’s gone.
I felt a tap on my shoulder as Adele pulled away. I turned around and came face to face with Zoë. “Can I help you?” I asked. What does she want?
“Um, well,” she walked over to Adele,” I just wanted to say sorry. I should have done something about Rachel. She was too mean to Adele, and I don’t want to be friends with her anymore. i don’t like mean people.” She smiled at Adele.
“Do you want to be friends?” Adele asked.
“I-I’d like that a lot,” Zoë told her smiling. The two joined hands and laughed happily. I smiled.
“Adele, we need to go home,” I told her. I felt bad for breaking up the heartwarming moment, but Bela calls. I have inspiration for the song. Plus, we need to practice for the show next week.
“Okay,” she said. By now, the other two girls I’d seen Adele with were leaving with their parents. “Bye Zoë. Bye Julie. Bye Sakura.” She waved goodbye to the three and took my outstretched hand and we started to walk back to the bus.
I guess we had a good day, right?
I walked to Starbucks as slowly as I could. I wanted to think. About Adele, about music, about life in general. And the chances of me thinking this clearly with the guys is slimmer than...that pole over there!
Before I knew it, I was at the large cafe in all its green and white glory. I pushed open the big glass door and looked around. I felt someone grab me. “Yea! Frankie saved us!”
“Gee get off,” I told him. He laughed a little.
“Frank Iero is a hero!” he said. A few people turned and stared at him like he came straight out of a crack house. Come on people. He stopped that shit a long time ago! Keep up with the times! “Come on. We’re over here.”
Gee lead me to a table in the corner. Ray, Mikey and Bob were all scrunched together on the two seater seat. That looks uncomfortable. I sat down next to Gerard. The guys would have been pissed if I crowded in next to them.
“What the hell took you so long?” Bob asked.
“I was building up the suspense,” I replied. The five of us laughed.
“Better be careful with that. You may end up killing us with it,” Gee replied, sipping his coffee, “Suspense is a very powerful tool. You must use it wisely.”
“Maybe it shouldn’t be in Frank’s hands then,” Bob replied. We all laughed again.
“Do you want to get your ass kicked?” I asked him. He shook his head smiling, “Didn't think so.” I noticed the coffee counter was open. “Ooh. Coffee.”
I walked over to the dark green counter. A woman walked over. It was the woman who had served us the other day. Kelly. “Can I help you?” she asked happily.
“Um, one grande caffe latte,” I told her. She typed it into the register next to her.
“Anything else?”
“Um, that’s it I guess.”
“Okay. Five forty-nine,” she told me. I dug into my back pocket and pulled out my black wallet. I pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to her. She put it into the slots of the register and gave me my change. I took it into my hands and dropped the money into the tall cup they used as a tip jar. Kelly looked at me gratefully and smiled.
“So, how did the first drop-off go?” I heard someone ask me. I turned around to face Gerard.
“Well,” I told him.
“Well? Why not good, or even great?”
“Not great because I’m not a cereal spokes-cartoon.”
“Well, then why not good?”
“I,”I thought for a moment. I really didn’t know why.
“Because you care about Adele,” he replied, “And you’re more worried than ever. I’ve been there. I was like that when Mikey started school. Even though he wasn’t my kid or my babysittee, I still cared about him and felt like I needed to watch him. To take care of him. I didn’t want to see him hurt. And I’m still like that now.” Gerard looked over to where Mikey was sitting with Ray and Bob, laughing and drinking his coffee.
“You’re right,” I admitted. He smiled. He knew he’d be right, and I knew it too. He always is.
“It’ll get easier,” he told me, “I can promise you that.”
“Yea. I just don’t want her to get hurt. That’s all.”
“I know. Same with Mikey. Just don’t dwell on it. I don’t want to see you hurt either.”
“I know. But still.”
“But still what?”
“I mean, we’ve all had bad experiences with school. You ended up falling into a depression, Ray and Mikey were considered outcasts and didn’t have a lot of friends, Bob became a loner because of how much they rejected him, and I got beat up everyday for no reason. I just don’t want that to happen to Adele. You’ve seen her. She’s got the same taste in music as us, her parents are gone, and she’s living in a bus with four out of five guys she isn’t related to. She’s prone to being a victim.”
“I’m worried too. We all are,” Gee told me, “But we all ended up okay in the end, right?”
“Yea, I guess you’re right,” I replied. At that moment, Kelly put two coffee cups on the counter and pushed them towards us, smiling. I took mine gratefully and mouthed a thank you to her. I stared at the other cup. “Is that one yours?”
“Yep. I asked for it right before you came,” he told me. He took the cup and sipped it happily.
“How many cups is that today Gerard?” I asked jokingly.
“Ten,” he told me, “Three before Staples, four after you left, and three now. Or four. I’m not sure. I lost count.” We both laughed and walked back to the table.
We spent the rest of the day at Starbucks. Who ever invented full-time kindergarten is a genius, and they shall be my best friend, next to Gerard and coffee that is. I mean, I missed Adele a lot, but spending time with your best friends really helps you out. Better than Dr. Phil could ever do.
As we started to walk outside, I looked at my watch. Two thirty. Shit! I gotta get to the kindergarten. “Um guys, I gotta go get Adele. I’ll meet you back at the bus okay?”
“I’ll come,” Gee volunteered.
“Gee, really. You don’t have to.”
“But I want to.”
“Okay,” I replied. I turned to everyone else. They all shook there heads, as if they could read my mind. “All right.” And with that, we headed off to the school.
We got there a little early. Some of the kids were still outside playing. Gee and I waited by the hedges near the sandbox. I saw out of the corner of my eye Adele and a few kids playing. Yea. She made friends!
I noticed that two of them were girls, and one was a boy. That made me fume. Wait. I’m a guy. Why am I mad about this? Great. I’m turning into an overprotective father. Yippee.
All four of them had name tags on, two of them I could read. One girl’s, who had tannish skin and black curly hair, read Julie. The other one’s, the boy with shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes, read Hunter. Cool enough names. And they seem nice to me. But the other girl, she has pin straight black hair from what I can see. I can’t see her face or name tag though. She’s facing Adele, not me.
I smiled slightly and started walking towards the school building. I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard talking behind me. A snobby voice and a familiar one. Adele’s. I ducked by the hedges and eavesdropped. Yea, I know it’s wrong, but it just feels right. Get over it.
“Can I have that back?” I heard a voice (a girl’s) ask.
“Um, sure!” Adele answered. I could see her pick up the doll from the sand through the thin hedge. She handed it to the other girl, who had light brown hair and brown eyes. “Would you like to play with us Rachel?”
“Um, I don’t want to play with you Adele,” the girl, Rachel, replied.
“W-Why not?” Adele asked, kind of sad. Aww. I wish I could just run over and hug her right now. But I think I might scare a kid or two. Maybe three. Hell, maybe even a teacher.
“Because you don’t have any parents,”Rachel told her. Oh no she didn’t! She did not just play that card! “My mommy says I can’t play with kids like that.”
Silence. “I have a daddy!” she alerted her.
“Where?” Rachel asked. I could almost see Adele’s face fall. “See? I knew it. Come on Zoë.” She looked over to another girl, who had curly dark brown hair in a ponytail and glasses behind her, “I got your doll. We can go now.” She handed the girl the doll and dragged her away. Bitch.
At that moment, the teacher called everyone back inside to be picked up. All the kids ran inside and I got out of my hiding spot and walked over to the small building. Out of the corner of my eye though, I could see Adele standing alone, crying silently.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Gee asked. He was leaning on the wall next to the classroom door. I guess he must have ‘overheard’ like I did.
“I’m not sure,” I told him, “It hurt me to see her like that though.”
“I know. The same thing happened to Mikey on his first day. Some kid found out from their older brother that I was the artsy kid everyone hated, and made fun of him for being my little brother. I remember hearing Mikey crying that night in our room. It hurt me so much,” he told me, “But it blew over, and everything turned out fine.”
“Yea,” I agreed. At that moment, the teacher opened the classroom door. Yep. I was right again. The teacher was indeed, a woman. Her name tag read ‘Ms. Smith’. Well, that’ll be easy to remember.
“Are you here to pick someone up?” she asked me, looking at my tattoos and piercing.
“Yea,” I told her, “Adele Ortiz.”
“All right. I’ll get her for you.” With that, Ms. Smith ran off to find Adele. We waited a few minutes. In the process, three other parents came. One for Hunter, one for another kid I didn’t recognize, and another high-class mother for the kid that made Adele cry. Rachel.
“Mommy!” she screamed, reaching up to hug her the second she saw her.
“Hold on,” she told he, “I’m gonna talk to your teacher, all right.” Rachel nodded her head. So this was the woman who taught her daughter to hate a perfect stranger. I just wanna walk over to her and congratulate her for being the coldest asshole I’ve ever seen. But that wouldn’t be nice, now would it?
“Frankie!!!” I heard Adele scream. She jumped up and hugged me tightly. I’m glad she’s happy now.
“I missed you too,” I told her laughing. She pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled back. She then ran over and hugged Gee for a while. Something’s wrong. I feel like someone’s looking at me. I turned. That girl Rachel was staring at me, her mouth open. I looked at her. She blushed and turned towards the other girl Zoë. Zoë turned and looked at me. I smiled softly at her.
I suddenly heard sobs coming from Adele. I turned to her and Gee. He was trying to calm her down from what I could see. Wasn’t working in his favor. I walked over to her and crouched down. I pulled her into a tight hug and rubbed her back. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” I repeated over and over again.
“They don’t like me,” she said, “They hurt me.”
“I know Adele. I know. But you know what?” she shook her head, hiccuping now, “Anyone who’s mean to you, well, they don’t matter. All that matters is that you have friends who care about you and like you for who you are. Not for what you look like, or what clothes you wear. But for you, and you only.”
Adele wiped away her tears. “Thank you,” she said. She walked over to me and hugged me. I ran my fingers through her blonde hair. She’s so sweet. I’m gonna miss her when she’s gone.
I felt a tap on my shoulder as Adele pulled away. I turned around and came face to face with Zoë. “Can I help you?” I asked. What does she want?
“Um, well,” she walked over to Adele,” I just wanted to say sorry. I should have done something about Rachel. She was too mean to Adele, and I don’t want to be friends with her anymore. i don’t like mean people.” She smiled at Adele.
“Do you want to be friends?” Adele asked.
“I-I’d like that a lot,” Zoë told her smiling. The two joined hands and laughed happily. I smiled.
“Adele, we need to go home,” I told her. I felt bad for breaking up the heartwarming moment, but Bela calls. I have inspiration for the song. Plus, we need to practice for the show next week.
“Okay,” she said. By now, the other two girls I’d seen Adele with were leaving with their parents. “Bye Zoë. Bye Julie. Bye Sakura.” She waved goodbye to the three and took my outstretched hand and we started to walk back to the bus.
I guess we had a good day, right?