Chapter Text
Little Will has always been afraid of changes. He didn't like it when something changed in his life, and he had to learn to cope with new things. That's why he was very sad when he found out that he and his parents were moving to a new house for the second time, and he had to go to an absolutely new, unfamiliar kindergarten. In his old one, he got used to the children, and the children got used to him. And in this new one, he will most likely sit in the corner alone and make up stories about imaginary worlds.
***
The new house didn't turn out as horrible as Will had expected. It was nice and tidy. He even had his own bedroom here, with a large toy box and a bunk bed.
Will was unpacking his toys and putting them into the toy box when his mum came in.
"I have good news for you, Will," she smiled.
"What are they?" Will asked, grabbing his favourite toy, a large stuffed deer named Wendigo, from the box.
"You got accepted to the local kindergarten!" mum said happily. "Tomorrow is your first day."
"Tomorrow?!" Will asked, horrified. He hugged his deer tightly.
"Don't be scared, you will get used to it soon. And the kids there are really friendly. One of the girls - Alana, I think, - said that she would really like to meet you."
"I hope so," Will sighed.
"Don't worry, Will," mum said, coming closer to the boy and hugging him. "Everything will be alright. And on the weekend, we will order pizza and go to the amusement park. Okay?"
Will nodded. But he was still worried.
***
The next morning, mum took Will to his new kindergarten. They entered a large room, full of light and happy, joyful children.
A tall, fat black man came up to Will and his mum.
"Good morning," mum said to the man.
"Morning," he replied. "And are you new here?" he asked Will.
"Will, this is your new teacher, Mr Crawford," mum said to Will. "And Mr Crawford, this is Will Graham."
"Nice to meet you, Will," Crawford smiled. "I'm sure he will get to know everyone soon. You don't need to worry about him."
Mum gently ruffled Will's hair for goodbye and left. The boy felt scared in an unfamiliar room full of strangers. It seemed that he suddenly became even smaller than he was.
"Don't be afraid, Will. You can call me Jack, all kids here call me that," Crawford smiled. "Come on, let's go."
Jack led Will to the indoor playground, where most children were playing at the moment.
Immediately, an Asian girl with ruffled black hair ran up to them.
"Hi! Are you in our class now?" she asked Will.
"Yes," Will nodded.
"What's your name?"
"Will. And yours?"
"Beverly. Let's be friends!" the girl grinned, offering her hand to him.
"Okay," Will murmured, taking her hand. He didn't have time to say another word as Beverly pulled him after her, to one of the corners of the playground. Two boys were sitting there, playing with toy cars.
"Will, these are Brian and Jimmy, they are my friends," Beverly said, pointing at them. "Hey, you two!"
The boys raised their heads and looked at Will.
"Oh, hi there!" said one of them. He was taller than the other, and had curly hair.
"What's your name?" said the other one, small with shоrt hair.
"Will," said Will.
"I'm Jimmy, and this is Brian," said the second boy. "Let's play together!"
Will smiled and nodded. He and Beverly sat down on the carpet.
"Will, do you like to play with toy cars?" Brian asked.
"Yes," Will grinned.
"Great!" Brian said. "Beverly, show him your car. The one which goes very far forward, remember?"
By the game, the time passed quickly. Soon, Jack called them for breakfast. Will sat at the same table as Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. He suddenly realized that he was very hungry. Will ate his omelette very quickly.
"Can you tell me who else is in the class? I don't know anyone here, except for you three," he said.
"Oh, we have a lot of people here!" Beverly smiled. "Abigail is the youngest. Over there, there are Francis and Reba. And at thaaat table you can see Frederick. He is so annoying."
"And next to Abigail, it's Freddie. She really likes to take photos," Jimmy added.
"And who is at the table over there?" Will asked, pointing at the table in the middle. There were three children there - a very tidy boy with neatly combed hair and two girls.
"Oh my god! How come we forgot about them?" Brian slapped his forehead. "Hannibal, Bedelia and Alana. They are very smart."
"Everyone wants to be their friend," Beverly added.
Will looked over at them. At the moment, Hannibal was eagerly talking to Bedelia and Alana. Suddenly, somehow realizing that Will was looking at him, he raised his head and smiled warmly at Will. Will smiled back.
***
After breakfast, Jack said that they are going to have an art class.
"Oh, no! I'm so bad at art," Will sighed.
"You are probably not that bad," Brian said to him.
"Hannibal is the best at drawing, you can ask him to teach you," Beverly suggested, passing paint and brushes to Will.
"I don't think he will want to be my friend," Will shook his head. In his old kindergarten, the popular boys never wanted to be friends with Will. They laughed at him, pulled his hair and took his toys away from him.
"Don't worry, he doesn't bite, you know," Jimmy laughed.
Will shrugged and went to the bathroom to get water for brushes. He filled his cup and turned to go back to the classroom. But suddenly, he tripped on the wet floor.
"Ouch!" Will fell to the floor. The cup flew away from his hands, and the water splashed everywhere.
One of the children nearby laughed loudly. Will shut his eyes, holding back tears. Why did he have to fall?!
"Stop laughing, Freddie! Can't you see that he is hurt?" shouted one of the boys. Will heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to him. He raised his head and saw that Hannibal was standing nearby. Apparently, he was the person who stuck up for Will.
Hannibal gave Will his hand. Will took it, and the boy easily pulled him to his feet.
"Are you hurt?" Hannibal asked with concern.
"No, I'm fine. Thank you," Will said.
"Let's be friends! My name is Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter. And yours is?..."
"Will... Graham," said Will shyly.
"It's nice to meet you," the boy smiled. "Do you like to draw?"
"Yes, but I'm not good at it," Will said.
"Come and sit with us! I will teach you," Hannibal offered.
Will shot a confused look at Beverly, who was standing by the wall. She nodded eagerly.
"Okay," Will smiled.
***
In a few minutes, Will was sitting at the table with Hannibal, Bedelia and Alana.
Today, their task was to draw something related to autumn. Will reached for the largest brush he could see on the table.
"It's better to choose a smaller brush. Smaller brushes are easier to draw with," Hannibal suggested.
"But you can colour quicker with a bigger one!" Will objected.
"Speed is not important in art. But we can draw a picture together, if you like," Hannibal said.
They took a large sheet of paper and started to work together. Firstly, Hannibal carefully drew a contour of a tree and the leaves. Then Will took a large brush and coloured the tree. He used a lot of colours: yellow, orange, green and red were all mixed there. When the paint dried a bit, Hannibal traced the leaves one by one, and soon their painting was finished.
"Can I have a look?" said one of the girls. She had dark hair and wore a T-shirt with flowers on it.
"Sure," Will passed the drawing to the girl.
"Oh, that's so cool!" she said, looking at the painted tree with awe. "Bedelia, would you like to see it?"
She turned the drawing around, so the other girl, a blonde in a blue dress, could have a look at it.
"Are you Alana?" Will asked, turning to face the dark-haired girl.
"Yes, I am. And you are new here, right? What's your name?"
"Will."
"Do you like to read, Will? And can you read?"
"Yes to both," Will smiled.
"That's so cool! Me too. I love books about nature," Alana grinned.
Soon Will got to know Bedelia, too. She wasn't very talkative, and she loved to ice-skate. And Hannibal, as it turned out, wasn't only good at drawing. He also learned to play music.
"And what do you like to do, Will?" Hannibal asked.
"Um... I don't know. I like Legos, and cars, and fishing, and making up stories..."
They talked and talked, until the class was over and it was time to go outside.
***
Outside, it was warm and sunny. It was autumn, and bright yellow leaves slowly fell to the ground. Near the fence, they lied in a huge pile.
When Beverly stepped out of the kindergarten door, she ran straight to the pile and jumped into it. The leaves went in all directions.
"Are you okay?" Will asked, running up to her.
"Of course! The leaves are soft!" Beverly laughed. "Also, I bet I can run faster than you! Run!" she yelled, jumping from the pile and making a scary face.
Will ran away from Beverly as fast as he could. She ran after him, laughing. But it seemed that Will was faster than the girl. She couldn't catch him, no matter how hard she tried.
"Phewww... but Francis would definitely catch you!" Beverly sighed, stopping and catching her breath. "He is the fastest runner..."
Brian and Jimmy ran up to Will and Beverly.
"There you are!" Brian said.
"Hey, let's play hide-and-seek!" Jimmy suggested. "Are you with us, Will?"
"Sure!" Will grinned.
"Let's call for more people, so it's more fun to play," Beverly said. She folded her hands and put them next to her mouth like a megaphone. "HEY! WHO WANTS TO PLAY HIDE AND SEEK?!"
Soon, Hannibal, Bedelia, Alana, Abigail and Frederick joined them. They started to play.
Will was very good at hide-and-seek. He found everyone quickly. Soon, Hannibal was the only one left. The outside play time was almost up, and still Will couldn't find him.
"Hannibal, where are you? Come out!" Will shouted.
Suddenly, the was a ruffle behind him, and somebody covered his eyes with hands.
"Guess who?" the person laughed.
Will turned around, and saw a very happy Hannibal. It turned out that he was hiding in a bush, waiting for Will to come near.
"I always do that," Hannibal said, grinning.
***
After lunch, it was nap time. Will changed into his deer pajamas, got into bed and fell asleep quickly.
When he woke up, he accidentally put his hand under his pillow. To his surprise, he found a candy bar there.
"Whoa, what have you got there?" Brian asked, coming up to Will.
"It's a candy bar. But I don't know how it got there."
"There are two ways that could happen. One: somebody put it there a long time ago and forgot about it. Two: somebody put it there on purpose."
"But what for?" Will said in surprise. He opened the candy bar and broke it in half, giving some to Brian.
"No idea," he shrugged, putting it in his mouth. "Maybe they want to give you some candy, but are too shy."
Will decided that it was probably an accident. Why would anyone want to give him candy?
***
When Will's mum came to pick him up, she was afraid that she will see him in a far-away corner, sad and alone. She was very relieved to see him playing happily with other children.
"Will, it's time to go home!" mum called to him.
"Oh, are you leaving already?" Beverly asked.
"I think, yes. See you tomorrow!" Will smiled, standing up to go.
"Bye, Will!" shouted Beverly, Jimmy and Brian.
"Bye," said Will, going to the door.
***
Will was walking home with his mum.
"Did you like it in the kindergarten?" mum asked him.
"Yes!" Will said happily.
Maybe, it's a good thing they moved to a new house.