Playdates

First Day

It's cold in your car as you drive to the pizza plex. The chocolate chip and strawberry granola bar tastes good and gets your hunger to dissolve. You eventually drive into the parking lot, which is almost empty. The pizza plex doesn't open for another hour. 

You walk in through the front doors. You immediately feel small inside the vast mall-like structure. You've been inside here once before during the day of the interview. This gives you an eerie vibe with it being empty. You begin to hear a booming voice. You look to your left to see a young man with red curly hair that falls to his shoulders. "Welcome, Welcome!" He shouts to you. 

As he walks up to you, you notice he has freckles and a scar across his left cheek. Honestly, he looks cute. He holds out his hand for you to shake it, "I'm Liam, I'll be showing you around the daycare and tell you all you need to know!" 

You look at his hand. He's wearing a black ring on his middle finger. He's a lefty. 

You shake his hand slowly, feeling his warmth and noticing he has a firm grasp.  "I'm Y/N." You tell him, still eye-balling his hand. 

"Well, Y/N," He says with confidence while handing you a searing cup of coffee that you didn't notice that he was holding,  "Let's get there, shall we?"

You walk through the lobby entrance; following Liam like a lost puppy. "There are two ways you can enter the daycare! You can either enter through the door or you can go through the slide. Whatever floats your boat..." 

You walk into the main entrance of the daycare, this is a place you haven't recently been inside of. You notice couches and TVs along the area. Smack in the middle there's a golden statue of a jester-looking animatronic with the face of a sun. Looks a little creepy. You guess that's going to be who you're working with since all of the other animatronics have their own polished, golden statues, as well. "Here's where the kids are dropped off. Make sure you count every single child that gets dropped off, we don't want to get sued for losing a kid..." 

He continues to talk as you look at the rainbow-colored slide, "You can write down their first and last name, you don't necessarily have to, but it's recommended." 

Liam notices you looking at the slide, "You can go down that if you'd like, I'll meet you down there from the back door." 

That's not what you were looking at the slide for, but you stay quiet. You go ahead and sit and slide down it. It's in a bundle of colors and twists. It was honestly fun. 

You fall into an ocean of plastic balls; they're all different colors. You stand up to where the balls are to your thighs. This is a ball pit. It makes your skin crawl at the thought of this being unsanitary. You look around the place. It's rainbow everywhere. It kind of hurts your eyes. 

You walk out of the ball pit and onto the cushioned ground (which is also rainbow). You begin to hear loud thumping sounds, then mechanical laughter. "HA HAHA!!" 

You turn around a little anxious. You see the same animatronic that was the golden statue that you have seen at the slide. He puts his hands on your shoulders and explodes with joy. "HEYA THERE, BUDDY! Are you my new helper? Oh boy, I'm super pumped to have you by my side!" 

He brings you in a warm but tight embrace. He smells like caramel. "Too...much..." You mumble while being squeezed.

The animatronic lets go of you and chuckles awkwardly. "Sorry...I forget that some people aren't huggers! But that's no problem, everyone is welcome here!" He shoots his arms in the air, "I'm Daycare Attendant, but everyone calls me Sunny!" 

You hug yourself. He is hyper. 

You hear the back door open and see Liam walking out of it. Sunny beams and waves wildly. Liam smirks as he walks towards you two with his hands in his pockets, "I see you've met Mr. SunnyDude." 

"HI, LIAAAAAM!" 

Liam laughs, "Hey, Sun." He looks back at you, "Sunny will show you where everything else is at. Here's the schedule and guideline on what to do in an emergency." 

He hands you two papers: one sky blue and one pastel pink. You read the first one, which is the schedule for the kids: 

6:00am/opening time 

7:00am-7:30am/breakfast 

7:30am-9:00am/free time

9:00am-9:30am/story time

9:30am-10:00am/arts and crafts

10:00am-12:00pm/free time 

12:00pm-12:30pm/lunch

12:30pm-2:30pm/nap time 

2:45pm-3:30pm/play at the theater

3:30pm-4:00pm/snack time

4:00pm-5:00pm/arts and crafts

5:00pm-7:30pm/ free time

8:00pm/closing time

You remember preschool having similarities to this. The other paper is about what to do during power outages, fire, tornados, anyone breaking in, all that good stuff. You fold the papers and put them into the pocket of your pants. "Well, now that's all known, I'll leave you two to it. I'll be here to check on you during the kiddo's lunch. Peace." 

He walks out of the daycare, closing the door with a big thud. You feel Sunny's eyes that lack pupils on you. He puts his hand on your shoulder, which is strangely warm for a robot. "We're going to be great friends...I don't think I got your name!" 

You turn around and look at the toothy grin that's pasted on his face. "I'm Y/N." You say monotonously. 

"Y/N, Y/N! Such a fabulous name for a fabulous new friend! We're going to have so much fun!! The kids will LOVE you!"

 You look into his eyes. It feels more comfortable since he doesn't have pupils that can pierce your soul. And just for the slightest moment, you grin just a little. 

(956 words)