Chapter 6

When the car door finally opened and I looked at who was getting out of the car, I was immediately blown away. This whole time, I thought Mr. Brown was some old man but the man standing before me seemed to be a few years older than me. He was way taller than my 5'5 figure, seeing how I had to look up to see him. He had the most gentle eyes that didn't seem to match the scowl that graced his face. He was wearing some black business trousers, paired with a white long sleeved shirt that was tucked in, with the sleeves rolled up to about half way his lower arm, showing off the tattoo sleeve that he had on his left hand.

He was definitely built, but not overly built to the point where he looked like Johnny Bravo. His body proportions were just perfect.

"Hello, my name is Amaya, welcome to Miss Kay's community centre and daycare" I said with a smile on my face.

"Hi. Show me around, I don't exactly have all day." He let me know with a scowl on his face, as he took my arm in his, looking over my head at the building. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel some type of way. Usually I was able to make people who were having a bad day feel just a little bit better but sheesh, he just might have some deeper rooted issues.

"Okay then sir." I said, about to walk away but noticing he still held my hand in his. I looked up at him, hoping he would notice without me having to say anything to him.

"Why exactly are you still standing here staring at me?" He asked with the most disgusted face he could muster up.

"I-I, you, umm." I stuttered out while looking in his eyes, finally looking down at my hand that he still held, hoping he would finally notice and he did. "Ohh, sorry about that" He said as he finally let go of my hand with a small smile on his face shocking me.

"You don't need to apologise, it's okay. Shall we?" I said as I started leading him towards the community centre.

Walking in, I quickly showed him around the reception area and then proceeded to take him to the office expecting to find Miss K in there so I could introduce them but I didn't. Moving on I walked Mr Brown to the kitchen and introduced him to the chefs who were there. After Mr Brown was offered a few fresh treats in the kitchen By Miss Trudy (on of the chefs), Mr Brown insisted that I take him to the sports area to show him around. We walked outside the building to the back where the basketball court was and there was currently a game going on which he found interesting.

“You know what, let's stay and watch the game for a few minutes.”

“Oh ok. I was supposed to show you around and I was told that we have a short time with you but if you would love to watch the game for a while then that is fine with me.” I let him know as I followed him to the bleachers and sat down next to him.

“So tell me a little bit about your sports program if you have any” he spoke to me as he intensely watched one of the children steal the ball from the opposite team and run down the court to make a layup.

“Ok so the basketball court as well as the soccer pitch are open during the community centre hours. On the weekend we tend to open it up to the public and always host huge games for children as well as adults in the community every other Friday. During the week both the basketball and football pitch will exclusively be for the students that are either in the daycare which is more so the babies or the children that will come over after school hours just to have something to do until their parents are able to then pick them up and take them home.”

“Ok, that actually sounds great. Do the kids get any training, or do they just play as they want to?” He asked me as he turned his head and looked me straight in the eyes intimidating me just a little bit.

“We currently have two volunteers, one who teaches basketball and one who teaches football to the kids and they are at the community centre every day for about 2 hours except for Saturday and Sunday which is when we usually have games or we will host an event at the centre.” I let him know as I averted my eyes, feeling his intense glare and not wanting to look him in the eyes.

We were currently watching a basketball game for boys between the ages of 6 and 7. Every Friday we would have anywhere from 1 to 3 games a day, starting a little bit earlier for the younger kids and going in later to the evening for the older kids and or the adults. Both had just been donated to the community centre, so everything was fairly new. The flood lights that surrounded both the basketball court and the football pitch made for fun floodlight night games once a month.

“Ayt I think we should move on now.” He let me know as he looked down at his watch checking the time. “Do you think we can rush through the tour and come back and watch the game or will it be over?” he asked me with a look of hope and excitement in his eyes.

“We actually have three basketball games today and this is only the first so you will definitely be able to watch either the second game or the last game.” I let him know as I walked through the door of the community centre he had just opened for me, thanking him with a small smile on my face.

“Yessirrr, I'm definitely staying to watch the games now.” He said as he hit the woah with a smile on his face making me smile as well, watching him act like such a child.

*15 minutes later*

I had finally managed to walk him through the daycare parts, rushing it along just a little bit because of how anxious he seemed to be to get back outside. Before going through the community centre part I decided to take him to the conference room and check up on everyone else who was there.

“Baby I literally can't believe you left me with these women. You know I can't stay away from you for a long period of time.” I watched on as the lady that had stepped out of the car first rushed over to Mr Brown giving him a hug and an overly exaggerated kiss.

“I wasn't gone that long so you need to relax.” He said as he slightly pushed her away looking irritated. “Miss K, it's definitely nice to see you again.” He said as he walked over to her with outstretched arms. I saw them embrace in a hug and pull away, engaging in a small conversation cutting the rest of us out. Seeing how close they seem to be, I definitely wondered why Miss Kay was panicking when they said they were coming over. Looking back up at the two of them, I watched as they both looked at me with amusement in their eyes, whispering between themselves. I felt myself start to become extra shy and offered to take the whole group through the community centre part just to get out of this awkward situation.

“Actually why don't you and I go through the community centre part so it's quicker and easier. Oh and call me Jeremiah.” he said as he started walking towards me are showing me out the door.

“Baby you're really going to walk out with this this cheap looking woman and let her show you around the community centre without me?” His girlfriend said as she looked me up and down. I definitely felt embarrassed at that moment and offered for Miss K to walk them through the community centre to which Jeremiah said no and insisted that I do.

“Listen Star, you're not going to start disrespecting people you have never even met before. You're a grown woman and acting childish. All you're doing is embarrassing me.

At this point I was already standing out of the door waiting for him to come so I could walk him through, feeling my self-esteem go lower than it already was. When he was finally by my side, We went downstairs and turned down the long hallway that held each of the different rooms. I took him through each room explaining what it was used for and stopped to introduce him to some of the workers who were there as well as the kids were excited to see someone knew.

After about 30 minutes, countless hugs and high fives from the kids we finally stopped by my classroom which held all my kids who were currently going through a reading session. Softly knocking on the door I poked my head in and ask the stand in volunteer if I could come in along with a guest.

“Hey my babies!” I exclaimed as I saw all of them should their heads up and look at me, excitement filling their eyes.

“Hi Miss A!” they all squealed in excitement, standing up and rushing over to hug me. For a quick second I forgot all about Jeremiah as I embraced each of my children in a hug, asked them how they were doing and listened to all the amusing stories they had to tell me.

I finally realised that about half the kids were looking up at me with wide eyes. Snapping out of the moment I quickly stood up and introduce to Jeremiah to the class.

“ Okay children this is Mr Jeremiah and he is very important in ensuring that you are able to come here every day and play with each other and learn new things.” I let them know, completely surprised at how they all burst out clapping and cheering for him. Before I could get another sentence out I realised that all of the children were by his feet hugging him and giving him high fives.

“Are you and miss Amaya, are you Miss Amaya's boyfriend?” one of my students Dustin asked as the whole class erupted into oohs and aahs. Jeremiah who was now squatting, slapped an extra huge smile on his face and looked up at me, making me involuntarily smile.

“Ok guys guess what, it's actually time for your break so line up and go outside and be safe as you play.” I let them know, watching their attention go in a split second from Jeremiah and I to forming a line to be able to go outside.

“ I'm sorry about that.” I told him as we both stood by and watched the kids walk out.

“Ohh don't sweat it at all it's fine. They're kids, their imagination tends to be out of this world.” He let me know with a smile. I'm not exactly sure if he is bipolar, but the way his attitude did a complete 180 turn from when he first came is shocking.

We decided to walk back up to the conference room and let everyone know that he wanted to stay and watch the games now that the tour was over.

After giving his girlfriend about $1,000 due to her refusing to stay and being upset that he chose to watch a match over taking her shopping, we all walked back outside to the basketball court taking a seat and watching the games go on.

Pulling out my phone, I anxiously went to the group chat that consisted of Kerry, Jess and I, super eager to tell them about Jeremiah and how handsome I thought he was, as well as his disrespectful girlfriend.