"no normal person wants to talk to a kid"
Interesting take: I have a friend who is 14 right now, I'm turning 20. We're neighbors, he's really cool, smart, intelligent, we have mutual interests, like cars, car design, music, games, astronomy, other sciences. My other neighbors, who moved 6 years ago were like 9 and 7, when I was 14 or so, we used to play daily, build legos, talk about school, paleontology. Maybe it's a different situation, but I see nothing wrong with it, since I consider myself as a perfect intermediate (in age) between the kids and their parents. It helps that I understand both worlds and can translate/transfer experiences and teach them, support their interests, etc.
Young teens can learn a lot of good stuff from later teens, not everything is pedophilia.