Adopted by The Sidemen

Chapter 3

Several minutes later everyone was downstairs and sitting at a seat somewhere in the kitchen. The kitchen also doubled as a dining room, so we all ended up sitting on the benches or on the floor if all the seats are taken, which was quite often because it wasn't exactly a big area.

Katie was still hugging my chest and I left her there because I didn't have the heart to move her. From the look of her she was about 3 years old, and I saw straight away that she had a birth defect. Her right leg ended in a stump although she was wearing a prosthetic so she could walk.

Once everyone was settled Marissa stood up and read out the timetable for the day, where each dorm would go, who could go to the park and any appointments anyone might have. With roughly 40 children and maybe 5 or 6 caretakers the schedule was always full even if we didn't have school, which we didn't today. It was Saturday after all.

The other caretakers stood up and started serving breakfast to everyone which happened to be porridge that morning and I gently shifted Katie onto my right shoulder. I did it so I could use my left hand, which was my dominant hand.

At the movement she squeaked and squirmed around a bit, so took a few minutes to settle her down again. Marissa smiled at me, because she knew I made it my goal to help the new children adjust as best and fast as possible.

There was a good amount of quiet chatter in the room and I knew I would settle into the morning routine quickly. The small amount of talk always ment it was going to be a good day, and I loved it. As soon as people started pushing back their chairs and moving out of the room I got up too.

I had finished eating before most other people but with Katie asleep on my shoulder I had decided to put off moving until I was sure she wasn't going to wake up.

The people there may have been different but to me they were just people, no matter their disability. Physical, mental or no disability everyone was a person, so I treated them like a person. No matter what they looked like, no matter how they acted, no matter who or what they loved. People are different and some people just needed to grow to accept that.

I carried Katie out of the kitchen and into the younger children's dorm, which is where I had assumed her bed would be because of her age and laid her on the bed that had her name above it. She was too young to start school with the others so I knew all she would be doing was sleeping or playing with younger children upstairs for most of the day.

I bounced up the stairs once again and barged into my room, grabbing my shoes and sitting on the bed to do them up. I grabbed my black hoodie, my cap and my skateboard before running down the stairs and out the front door. I had told Devon, my closest friend, the day before that I would meet him outside school so we could hang out at half past 9 and as the school was a good 20-minute walk away, cut short by skateboarding, I was cutting it close.

15 minutes later I arrived outside the gates to his school and pulled my cap down low, hoping to not attract any attention from the children and teenagers playing there. I had been in some trouble with a few girls a couple of years older than me and I honestly couldn't be bothered with them. Yes, I treated everyone like a person, but if they didn't treat me like one then I would return the favour by doing the same to them.

I couldn't see Devon anywhere so I decided to walk around the back of the school to see if he was there. Bad idea. "Oi! Yeah, you! What are you doin' here!"