Our little brother

Chapter 49

No one's POV:

Noah, Theo and Hunter build the puzzle together for 30 minutes, with Noah slowly warming up to Theo. Noah built the puzzle with one hand, the other clutching onto Hunter. Eventually his grip loosened, and the previous tension from his body deflated. Once the puzzle was built, Hunter thought it would be a good time to start leaving, and slowly stands up from the desk. Noah catches this movement and looks up to Hunter with slight panic written on his face. "W-where going?" He asks, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. Hunter smiles and kneels down in front of Noah. "I'm going to work in a few minutes." He says softly. Noah nods and picks up his backpack. "C-coat and th-then ready." He says with a hopeful smile. Sighing, Hunter explains that while he goes to work, Noah will be staying here.

"You're gonna have lots and lots of fun remember? Miss Hannah says that you guys are gonna do some reading soon, aren't you excited for that?" Hunter says as Noah continues to frown. "I bet Theo would be sad if you left now too, he wouldn't have anyone to sit with him during class." He continues. This brings tears to Noah's eyes. He doesn't want Theo to be sad, Theo was so nice to him and even let him have the purple chair, but he doesn't want Hunter to leave either. "Hey, no tears, it's going to be okay, I promise. And look, you see that clock? When it says two dot dot three zero, that means it's 2:30, and I'll be back right here to pick you up and take you home." Hunter says, wiping the tears from Noah's cheeks. Noah nods, but continues to cry. "B-back for N-noah, n-no leave forever. Noah c-come home t-two th-thirty." He stutters out. Hunter nods at him before Noah launches himself into Hunters arms. Hunter gives him a big hug, and says bye one last time heading out, but not before reminding Noah that Oli is in his backpack.

Noah's POV:

I give Hunter the biggest hug ever, just in case he doesn't come back. He reminds me that I have Oli with me and so I take him out. Oli gives me cuddles when Hunter leaves. I tell him that Hunter says he's coming back at 2:30, and to make sure to keep an eye on the big clock, so that we don't miss it. Hunter leaving makes me sad and my eyes don't want to stop dripping tears, so I lay my head down on my table.

"Are you okay?" Theo asks me, I sniffle but nod. "It's okay if you're not, first days are hard. My mom came with me on my first day, and she had to come back at lunch because I locked myself in a storage closet and wouldn't come out until she came to get me. It was pretty scary, I don't even know why I ended up in the closet anyways." Theo says and I lift my head from my table to look at him with wide eyes. That does sound scary, I won't go in any closets. I tell him I tried to run away today, that was scary too.

"Okay everyone, we're going to be working on some reading, now you all have your books and work pages, get started on those and if you have any questions just come and ask me alright?" Miss Hannah says, I look at Theo to see what he's doing because I don't have any books. Miss Hannah comes over to our table with a book, and Theo has the same one too! Is that going to be my book? "Noah, are you feeling a little better? I'm sorry you're sad about Hunter having to leave, but he'll be back soon to take you home." She says and I nod. "T-two thir-ty." I say to her. "That's right, he'll be here at 2:30 to pick you up, until then, how about we work on some reading? This book here is all about letters, do you know the alphabet?" She says and I nod again. "C-can sing alph-bet!" She says that's really good and that we can sing a little later, that makes me smile, I like singing.

"Th-that A! Noah h-have A in i-it." I say seeing the first letter. Miss Hannah gives me a paper and a purple crayon, she said Theo and I are going to trace the letters we learn! Theo knows more letters because he already started, but he said he's going to start again so we learn the same letters at the same time! He's really good at tracing the A, my A is a little wiggly, like a worm, yuck. "Try holding the crayon like this." Miss Hannah says and I try again, but this doesn't feel right. "Maybe you're left handed!" Theo says loudly, making me drop my crayon. "Sorry, I'm sorry, sometimes I get too excited and forget how loud my voice is." He says. "A-angry?" I ask leaning away from him. Daddy was loud when he was angry, and Nicky was loud when he was angry too. Theo opens his eyes really big and shakes his head no. "No no no I'm not angry I promise, you don't have to be scared of me, I'll be quiet I swear I won't even talk again." He says and I frown, I like when Theo talks, I don't want him to stop. "Theo you don't need to stop talking, it's okay. I think you just startled Noah a little, right?" Miss Hannah says and I nod. "S'ok Th-theo, can t-talk still p-please?" I say. He frowns and pulls his hair, he's going to have a ouchie.