Page 28 of A New Chapter
Beneath them, the grannies cheered.
Chapter Ten
Rom and Colton were in the pick-up line and waiting for Clayton when school let out a couple of hours later.
“I can’t believe I’m a dad,” Rom mused. He was driving, Colton still too nervous about everything to even attempt it.
It was easier, in Colton’s mind, to let Rom handle the driving for now.
“There he is,” Colton said. He rolled down the window and waved. Clayton saw them and hurried over, quickly jumping in the backseat.
“Well?” Colton asked as he looked back at him and prayed for a positive answer.
Clayton smiled. “It was good. I felt a little weird at first, but I ate lunch with some kids from my English class, and they’re nice.”
Colton reached back to give him a fist bump. “Good job!”
Rom pulled out into traffic and got them headed for home. “How much homework do you have?”
“Oh, boy. I have math. I’m glad they put me in the basic math class. I think I’m way behind. Everything else was okay, though. I might have trouble with biology.”
“Well, what we can’t help you with, we’ll get you a tutor,” Rom told him.
Colton couldn’t help it. “We got you something else, a surprise. It’s back at the apartment.”
“What?”
“It’s a surprise,” Colton repeated. “Tell us about your classes…”
By the time they returned home, Colton felt good about Clayton attending his new school. Sure, there could be problems with bullies that might develop, but at least Clayton was tall, like he was. That’d help a lot, as long as the bullies didn’t think they could cow him.
“Would you mind if I went by Clay instead of Clayton?” he asked.
Colton exchanged a glance with Rom before looking back at him. “Why would we mind?”
Clay shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really liked Clayton.”
“You go by whatever you want,” Rom assured him.
“Thanks.” He offered an awkward smile. “My first teacher asked if I preferred Clayton or Clay, and I realized I actually had a choice now.”
“Of course you do,” Colton said. “Or if you want something else entirely.”
As promised, they detoured through the store downstairs so the grannies couldoohandaahover Clay and get hugs before the three of them headed toward the back to go upstairs.
“They really like me,” the boy said, sounding awestruck.
“Yeah, they do,” Colton told him. “Most of them knew Grammy, and they loved her. So they loved me, and that means they’ll love you, too.”
The boy nodded like he couldn’t believe it. Colton knew how he felt, because there were times in the immediate aftermath of moving in with Grammy that he couldn’t believe all those nice people likedhim, either, and he’d already known nearly all of them, some of them for his wholelife.
It was another feeling that would eventually go away for him.
“What?” Rom asked as they headed up the stairs.
Clay shook his head. “Mom and Dad didn’t pay me much attention, unless they had chores for me to do, or wanted to yell at me for something.”
“Well,thatsounds familiar,” Colton snarked.
