The Job Interview

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Phoebe breathed a sigh of relief, all but that tiny part in the very back of her brain happy at staying that much closer to her regular, adult life during her job. "I'll do my best," she promised, before blushing and looking away as Mrs. Hammil began to talk about her eyes again. "C-Can I just go do crafts now?"

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Mrs. Hammil nods. "Yes you may. Go on and scoot." She lightly pops Phoebe in the bottom. Mrs. Hammil watches Phoebe leave the room and then she walks into the bathroom to use it herself and clean the bathroom up.

Maris sees Phoebe coming in the door to the craft room. "You're here. I didn't think you was going to come." She noticed her jumper was not as puffy as it was earlier. "What happened to your diaper? You are going to get in trouble for taking off your diaper."

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Phoebe jumped slightly as Mrs. Hammil patted the back of her training pants, blushing at the infantile gesture, but happy to have gotten away from the conversation with a little independence intact. The idea that she could lose it on Mrs. Hammil's whim, however, was another exciting thought to her, one that left her shivering slightly.

It wasn't hard to find the craft room, and, luckily, once she was there, not hard to find Maria, since the girl did most of the work for her. She hurried over, sitting down next to her, blushing at her comment, hoping Miss Lopez wasn't paying attention. She wasn't sure why she cared so much about Miss Lopez, other than as a point of comparison, but she really would have preferred the woman to think she'd been in training pants the whole time.

So, as much as she wanted to announce it to rub it in Mary's face, Phoebe leaned over next to Maria and said quietly, "I don't need them anymore. Mrs. Hammil's letting me wear training pants now." She couldn't quite resist the childish urge to flip up her skirt briefly, showing them off to her friend with a strange sense of pride.

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Miss Lopez walks by the table. "I see we have a new little girl in the class. You must be Phoebe. You are just in time. I was about to pass out the finger paint and the paper." She walks over to the supply closet and gets out the containers of paint and paper. "Everyone get your smock on. Your mommies will be upset if you get paint on your clothes."

Maria frowns when she sees Phoebe wasn't wearing a diaper anymore and that she didn't need them anymore. "Oh I see. So you are a big girl now. I thought I had a friend who was like me,but she isn't. She left me behind and became a big girl while I'm still a baby."

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Phoebe blushed as Miss Lopez walked past her, off handedly dismissing her as a little girl. She was grateful, not really wanting her to know she was actually a grown-up, but still embarrassed, trying to hide it by hurriedly putting on the smock on the table in front of her, even though she was certain she wouldn't need it.

She was rather surprised at Maria's reaction, having expected her to be happy for her. Getting praise for earning an undergarment she'd outgrown more than a decade and a half ago was certainly a bit embarrassing, but not nearly as much as being greeted with disappointment over it. "I'm not leaving you behind!" she insisted. "Just because I'm not in diapers anymore doesn't meant I don't want to be your friend!"

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Maria nods. "That is what you say now,but then you will move from the toddler class to the 2 and 3 year old class and we will not be together anymore. You will have a different playtime,a different lunchtime and a different arts and craft time. Soon you will forget all about me. Everyone who was my friends have." She looks at the finger paints and her blank page. "I don't feel like finger painting anymore. You can go ahead and paint." Maria sets there and waits for Arts and Craft Time to be over.

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Phoebe squirmed in her seat, watching Maria and feeling bad for her. She wasn't sure how to explain that she wasn't going to be moving up classes anytime soon without telling her that she wasn't really a toddler, but a grown-up, something she'd rather avoid admitting for the time being. She wanted to make her feel better, though, and she didn't really want to set her other plan in motion either, unless she really had to, so she tried just giving Maria a hug and saying, "I won't do that, I promise," and hoping that was going to be enough, but worried it wouldn't.

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Maria nods. "Ok I'm going to hold you to that promise." She opens her finger paints and started painting. When Maria finishes painting she shows the picture. "Do you like it? It is the two of us holding hands and being friends forever. Over our heads is a rainbow. I love looking at rainbows. They are so pretty. Mommy said at the end of a rainbow is a pot of gold. If that is true. I would trade that pot of gold for something that is more useful. You as my friend."

Mary walks by and starts laughing. "Well if it isn't the two babies of the class. Both of you should be in the infant's class with the other babies."

Maria looks at Mary. "Well if we belong there. So do you. So you can learn some manners. I don't think the first time it worked."

Mary picks up the cups of red and yellow paint and pours them over Maria's and Phoebe's head. "There that is an improvement."

Miss Lopez sees what Mary does and comes right over. She puts Mary in the naughty corner and then comes over to where Maria and Phoebe was setting. "Come on girls. Let's get you cleaned up." Miss Lopez takes both of their hands and leads them out of the Arts and Craft's room. She gets one of the teacher's assistants to watch the room until she can get back. Miss Lopez takes them down to the bathroom. She looks at the two of them. "I don't know how I'm going to get your shirts off without getting paint on them and your mommies getting upset about the paint on your shirts."

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Phoebe felt a little nervous about Maria's words, wondering if she herself had spoken a bit too quickly, or perhaps too broadly. Of course she would try to keep being the little girl's friend once she was through her training and an actual teacher's assistant - and full-fledged adult - again, but it wasn't quite going to be the same. If the little girl saw Phoebe getting back into training pants a betrayal, making it all the way back up to her real underwear probably wasn't going to go over well. She didn't want to hurt Maria's feelings, but at the same time, she didn't want to be stuck as a toddler for a long time, either.

She painted absentmindedly as she pondered all of that, smearing her paints across her paper, figuring that was basically how toddlers were bound to finger-paint, only to feel rather inadequate as Maria showed off her art, and her whole story behind it, which only made Phoebe feel worse. It was almost a relief when Mary came by, as a distraction. Phoebe had to fight the urge to show off her training pants, as she had with Maria, though hopefully with better results, but before she even had a chance to come to a decision either way, she found her head dripping with paint.

And then, after a blur of activity, she found herself nearly alone with Miss Lopez, her proximity with her only making her feel more self-conscious about their closeness in age. She felt much closer to Maria than she did to Miss Lopez, who she couldn't even start to think of as her equal in any way. Standing there in the bathroom, wearing a very short jumper barely covering a pair of training pants, which she was trying her best to keep covered as inconspicuously as she could, she felt even more like a toddler than ever before, wishing for her pacifier to help calm her down, but unwilling to reach up and put it in her mouth.

She stared down at her feet, hoping that not looking at the woman would help somewhat, as she shyly suggested, "Why don't you rinse off our hair in the sink first, an' maybe that'll get most of the paint out so you can take our shirts off if you hafta." She wasn't sure how much paint was actually on her shirt - she was hoping not a lot, as she didn't want to find herself getting undressed by Miss Lopez.

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Miss Lopez nods. "That is a good idea Phoebe. I can see why Mrs. Hammil thinks so highly of you. You are a smart little girl,but I think having the two of you lean over the bathtub and me using the hand held shower would work better." She does Maria's hair first and then removes her shirt which had paint on it. Miss Lopex turns to Phoebe. "Your turn." She helps Phoebe kneel down beside the bathtub. She washes the paint out of her hair. "You look good with red hair. Just not red hair caused by paint." Miss Lopez dries Phoebe's hair. "It looks like the paint got on your shirt and your jumper. You can't wear that back to class. Wait here." She leaves the bathroom and goes down to the clothing closet. She comes back with a t shirt and a pair of pink overalls with a teddy bear on the bib. Miss Lopez takes off Phoebe's shirt and jumper. She puts the t shirt over Phoebe's head and then the overalls. Miss. Lopez snaps the crotch shut. "There you go. In clean clothes." She puts another shirt on Maria. "Ok you two. You are ready to go back to class." Miss Lopez opens the bathroom door so they can walk out and go back to class. "Phoebe, I think you should spend the rest of the day in my class. Mary might try to attack you for getting her in trouble."

Maria smiles. "This is great. We can spend the rest of the day together in class. Like best friends should."

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Phoebe anxiously awaited her turn, still flushing slightly at the praise. Of course she seemed smart, if Miss Lopez thought she was a little girl - and if Mrs. Hammil was talking about her like that, she likely did. Which made things a little easier, she supposed, though if Mrs. Hammil was saying that to other teachers, it made her worry a little about how long this training would last.

She was still worrying about it as she knelt down, getting her hair rinsed out, but then she had something new to concern herself with, as she anxiously waited for Miss Lopez to return with her new clothes. She tried to think of a way to mention she could change on her own, that she didn't need help, without sounding mean or too grown-up, but before she could come up with anything, the woman was back, and she found herself automatically raising her arms to help the woman take her shirt off, not even thinking about it until she was standing there in just a pair of training pants. Neither Maria nor Miss Lopez seemed to give it a second thought, which only made it worse.

She was glad for the new clothes, even if she was still feeling too shy to do anything but raise her arms and legs to help Miss Lopez dress her, something she knew she was more than capable of doing for herself. She squirmed as she heard the snaps on her crotch being done up, their presence making her feel especially babyish. The thought of Miss Lopez having something with those snaps was too ludicrous for her to even imagine, but she had them, and, what was more, Miss Lopez was the one fastening them, sealing her training pants up inside her outfit, hidden, but still obviously there. She was glad the woman hadn't patted her bottom, as Mrs. Hammil tended to do, because she was pretty sure that would have been just about the only thing - other than getting diapered as well - that could have made that change make her feel any more infantile.

She was happy to be on her way out of the bathroom, but froze at Miss Lopez's suggestion. She wanted to say she'd be fine, Mary wouldn't be that bad, but she knew if she did that, she'd hurt Maria's feelings. 'The day's surely almost over,' she told herself. 'It won't be that long.' She smiled, hiding her reluctance as well as she could as she said, "Great!", giggling with Maria, and wishing Miss Lopez wasn't watching her act so childish, even if it was for a good cause.

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The three of them walked back to the Arts and Crafts room. Everyone had already done and the paintings was hanging up with clothes pins to dry. "You two can pick up your pictures after you leave. They should be dry by then." Mrs Lopez takes them out of the Arts and Crafts class and back to her room. Maria takes Phoebe's hand as they walked down the hallway. Miss Lopez looks over her shoulder at Phoebe. "Do you know any spanish? If not I can teach you some spanish words."

Maria giggles. "My favorite word is panal."

Miss Lopez laughs. "Tell Phoebe what Panal means in case she doesn't know what the word means."

Maria stops walks and points to her diaper. It is Panal. It means diaper in spanish."

Miss Lopez looks at Phoebe. "How old are you and I'll tell you the spanish word for your age. I'm 21 which is veintiún in spanish.

Maria holds up 4 fingers. "I'm cuatro. Which is 4."

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Phoebe shook her head at the question, feeling a little silly that a little girl knew more of a foreign language than she did. She'd taken Latin in high school, but she'd never paid very close attention during that class, and now, just a year later, she'd be hard pressed to remember a single Latin word.

She felt even more silly as the conversation went on, however, a slight shiver passing over her as Miss Lopez told her her age. Just two years older than her... Phoebe stared up at her in amazement, feeling inadequate in every way. What a difference those two years made... That morning, if she'd gotten a look at Miss Lopez, she might have thought she could get that far in two years, but now, looking up at her dressed like a toddler, that seemed impossible.

She knew she couldn't very well say that she was nineteen, and wouldn't have wanted to admit to that even if she could. She thought for a moment, unsure about the proper cover age to choose, before finally saying, "I'm four, too... Or, I'm cuatro, too, I guess."

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Miss Lopez looks at Phoebe. "If you are four and in training pants. Why did your mommy put you in a toddler class with kids that is younger than you?" She shrugs. "I guess your mommy had her reasons." Miss Lopez takes the two of them into the classroom. "Class, we have a new girl for the rest of the day. Make her feel welcome." The kids stopped what they was doing and came over to Phoebe. Each of them introduced themselves to Phoebe. Everyone in the class was real nice to her and made her feel welcome. "Ok kids it is rug time." All the kids get on the rug and look up at Miss Lopez while she gets out the felt board with pictures on it. "When I point to a picture. I want you to tell me the spanish word for it. We will let Phoebe go first." She points to a picture of a taco. "What is this Phoebe?"

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Phoebe fidgeted, realizing she'd made the wrong choice... She should have realized Maria was mostly just in the class because of her diapers, more than her age. She wanted to correct herself, but Maria had seemed pleased that they were the same age, and she also didn't want to sound silly enough to have forgotten her own age. So she sighed inwardly and decided to live with it, walking along hand in hand with Maria. She felt nervous as Miss Lopez introduced her, and the other kids came up to her - she didn't like the attention, the feeling of all of these toddlers treating her like an equal, not even considering she was anything more than that. While she knew the truth, of course, all of that was making it more difficult for her to reconcile with what her life had become. Their niceness didn't help - on the contrary, it made her feel even more babyish. She was happy for the next activity, hoping for something to make the time until the end of the day pass quickly, following Maria over to the rug and sitting down with her legs crossed. She blushed as Miss Lopez singled her out first, glancing around at the other kids nervously. She didn't know any Spanish, how was she supposed to know this? She bit her bottom lip, staring at the picture and squirming before coming up with a reluctant, "An el taco-tio?"

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Miss Lopez nods. "Yes you are correct,but it is just taco. I figured even if you don't know any spanish words. You probably knew what a taco was. I don't know too many people who don't know what a taco is." She points to a picture of a cat. "Who can tell me what this is?"

A little girl with blonde hair and glasses raised her hand. "It is El Gato."

Miss Lopez nods. "Yes you are correct. I would have guessed you got that one. El Gato."

Catherine smiles and purrs like a cat. Miss Lopez laughs and then goes back to pointing out pictures on the board and having the kids tell her what it was. Soon it was time to start cleaning up the room and putting the toys away. "Remember children. Tomorrow is our festia."

Maria looks at Phoebe. "Are you going to be back here tomorrow? I hope so. I like having you in here with me. Tomorrow is going to be alot of fun. Tomorrow is our festia. We are going to decorate the room,play games and eat food. Ask your mommy if you can be put in this room forever. We have alot more fun in here than Mrs. Hammil's class. She doesn't have a fun bone in her body." Maria walks over to the play kitchen and starts to straighten it up.

Miss Lopez kneels down in front of Phoebe. "You are welcome to come back tomorrow and stay here if you want. It seems Maria has found a friend in you." She leans in close. "I know you are not 4 years old. Mrs. Hammil told me that you are in training to be her assistant,but I think you will have more fun if you just stay a toddler. You seemed to be having fun as one on the playground,in Arts and Crafts and in here. I also know you are 2 years younger than me,but that doesn't matter to me. You could be older than me and I still wouldn't care. For what it is worth. I think you make a better toddler than an adult. Just think about it. I know Maria would be happy if you stayed the way you are now Even happier if you ditched the training pants and wore a diaper like you did on the playground. You are the first person who didn't leave Maria after you found out she was in diapers at her age." She straighten up and winks at Phoebe. Miss Lopez walks off to help the kids get the room straighten up leaving Phoebe standing alone with her thoughts.

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Phoebe watched the kids cleaning up the room, feeling rather conflicted. She didn't want to hurt Maria's feelings by saying she didn't want to stay in this class with her, but she was supposed to be training to be an assistant for Mrs. Hammil... While she had certainly had more fun here than in the other classroom, she had to remind herself that she wasn't here for fun, she was here for work, and that was what she should be focusing on.

And, even if she didn't care, the idea that Miss Lopez knew her real age, knew how close they really were, but still had no problems in treating her like a toddler, and even sort of wanted her to go back to diapers, was naughtily exciting. But there was a difference between having that idea, and living it, and she wasn't sure she wanted to commit to it that much. She did want to move on to becoming a worker here, rather than just one of the kids... Didn't she?

Then again, as Miss Lopez said, she seemed to make a better toddler than an adult. Those words echoed through her mind as she reached between two of the snaps on the crotch of her overalls to make sure she hadn't had another accident - she hadn't - and she found herself rubbing the thick fabric of her training pants in between her legs against herself for a split second before making herself stop, knowing that wasn't appropriate.

Her head was spinning, and she was no closer to making a decision. She'd have to think about it that night, she told herself. Maybe once she was settled into her new apartment, back in regular clothes, she'd have a clearer mind to think this all through with. So, for the time being, she quietly joined the kids in picking up the room, waiting for them to start leaving so she could go back to Miss Winslow's office and see where she would be living.

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Miss Lopez could see the conflict in Phoebe's eyes as she stood there looking around. She decided not to say anything about it to Phoebe while the kids was still there. Miss Lopez didn't want to embarrass Phoebe by letting the other kids and more importantly Maria that Phoebe was not a toddler,but infact an adult. Though she was starting to think it was more of the first than the last part right now. As the kids finished cleaning up the room. Their parents started coming in to get them. Maria was the last to be picked up. A teenage girl come in and Maria runs over to her. "Sissy. You can to pick me up. Come here. I want you to met something. Phoebe this is my hermana Carmen. Hermana is sister in Spanish."

Carmen smiles at Phoebe. "It is a pleasure to meet you." She turns to Maria. "Go get your diaperbag. Mom wants us to stop by the store on the way home and put up some yellow rice. So she can cook it for your festia here."

Maria nods and goes to get her diaperbag. She walks over to Phoebe and gives her a hug. "See you tomorrow amigo. That means friend."

Carmen looks at Maria. "Will you quit showing up infront of Phoebe. You are making her feel bad because she doesn't know spanish as well as we do." She looks at Phoebe. "Sorry about Maria. She is a bit of a show off when it comes to speaking spanish."

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Phoebe watched the other kids leaving, waving goodbye and feeling more and more grown-up as they left, knowing she was about to get to grow up again, now that the daycare hours were almost through. She couldn't let herself make that transition until after Maria left, of course, but she was getting there.

And then, when Maria's sister showed up, she found herself growing shy again. She wasn't certain why, for sure - maybe because this was someone not in on it, like the workers here, and not young enough not to think much of it, like the kids, and she was treating her like the toddler she was still dressed as. Perhaps there was a part of her imagining Carmen watching over her and Maria while they were on some sort of a play-date, checking her training pants, giving her sippy cups of juice... She couldn't even muster a wave at the introduction, just blushed and looked away.

She had been so close to getting back to her adult mindset, with everyone gone, and now she found herself sliding back into immaturity. It was a struggle to make herself speak, and when she did, even her voice sounded younger. "I-It's okay, I don't mind," she said, squirming. "I'll see you tomorrow, Maria," she managed a small wave at that, happy to see them go.

Finally, she started to head for the door herself, telling Miss Lopez, "I-I gotta go see Miss Winslow. There's supposed to be some apartment above here I'm gonna stay in, so I'm gonna go get changed and check them out. It was nice to meet you."

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Maria nods. "Ok I'll see you tomorrow. What are you going to have your mommy fix for the festia tomorrow?" She waves bye to Phoebe as she leaves the room."

Miss Lopez nods. "Yes there is. I live up there in the apartment. Miss Winslow lets me live you there until I can save up enough money to afford to move into an apartment. A fire wiped out my apartment and I was homeless. So Miss Winslow lets me live up there until I can get back on my feet."

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Phoebe shrugged, unsure of what to say to Maria. "I-I don't know... I'm sure she'll think of something!" She wasn't sure how big the apartments upstairs could be... Did they even have kitchens? She supposed they did, but even so, she wasn't exactly great at cooking, and she hadn't brought any ingredients with her. Hopefully she'd figure something out, if she was going to stay in Miss Lopez's class. Which she hadn't quite decided on yet.

"Oh, that, uh... That's nice of her." Phoebe nodded, having difficulty in having a conversation with the woman as an equal. At least Miss Lopez hadn't changed her diaper, but she had changed her clothes, and treated her like a toddler, so that made it hard to think of her as anything but her teacher. It would be weird living with her right across the hall, or whatever, but at least she had her own place, finally. "Maybe I'll see you up there sometime." She tried not to make it sound too obvious that she was hoping that wouldn't happen too often. It wasn't that she didn't like Miss Lopez, but, at least until she got through this training, it might be too much of a mixing of worlds. She slipped out and hurried to Miss Winslow's office, knocking on the door and waiting politely, sure that her own pants and underwear had been laundered and were waiting for her there, so she could finally allow herself to grow back up.

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Miss Lopez nods. "Yes it was nice of her to let me stay in the apartment upstairs." She laughs. "Of course you will see me up there. There is only one apartment up there. If you are staying there. Then you will be living with me."

Miss Winslow opens the door. "Hello Phoebe. How was your day in both Mrs. Hammil and Miss Lopez's classes? I hear you had a friend with Maria. That is good. Will come on in and set down." She moves out of the doorway and sets down at her desk.

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Phoebe looked at Miss Lopez with confusion, wondering if she was joking. Surely Miss Winslow would have mentioned there was only one apartment, and it was being shared, right? She pondered that as she went to Miss Winslow's office, and as she sat down in front of the desk. Maybe running into Miss Lopez every once in a while was one thing, but living with her was something different entirely... But maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Maybe Miss Lopez could separate her work and private life enough to keep things from getting too weird.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good day," Phoebe said uncertainly. "Hey, uh... Could I get my old clothes now? I thought I'd change before you showed me the apartmentS upstairs." She emphasized the s on apartments, hoping for some clarification.

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Miss Winslow nods. "I'm glad you had a pretty good day. I heard about what happened in the Arts and Crafts Room with Mary. I'm sorry it happened to you and Maria. You can have your pants back. I think you should stay in training pants for the time being. That way you will get use to the feeling of having them on and you won't be switching back and forth every day." She shakes her head. "There is only one apartment up there and Miss Lopez lives there. The two of you will be living together in the apartment. It is big enough for the two of you. I'm sure you was hoping to live alone wasn't you?"

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Phoebe squirmed in her seat, feeling the training pants beneath her, a pout starting to form on her face as she realized she might not be getting out of them after all. "I'm used to them," she said. "I don't mind going back and forth..." She supposed she was lucky she'd gotten herself back out of diapers, but even so, she'd been looking forward to getting some real underwear back, especially if she was going to be living with Miss Lopez. How was she going to show Miss Lopez that she was her equal, and NOT just another one of the woman's charges, if she was stuck in training pants? Well, maybe her pants would cover up the bulge, keep it from being too noticeable...

She sighed and shrugged. "Well, I did kinda hope so," she admitted. "But it's free, so I guess I can't complain too much."