Making Friends (Private with JenandTonic)

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey Rogers was your normal 5 1/2 year old girl. She liked playing outside, watched cartoons, and went to school. She didn’t have too many friends, mainly because she was shy and withdrawn. She was always very anxious and worrying. She was an only child, and her parents were very overbearing. They wanted to do their best and make sure they didn’t “screw up” their first child. 

Casey climbed out of the car and went to the cafeteria. She got some milk and cereal and sat down at a table. She usually sat alone because she was too shy and nervous to talk to most other kids. She finished her food and headed to her classroom when the bell rang. She hung her Hello Kitty backpack up on her designated hook and sat down in her chair. At the time there was an odd number of kids in her class, so she didn’t sit next to anyone. 

Shortly into the class, one of the women who worked in the office came into the room, a girl in tow with her. Casey didn’t recognize this girl as having gone to the school. She must be knew. 

The woman introduced the girl as Olivia and explained that her family had just moved to the area and that she’d be in their class for the rest of the year. The woman left after the teacher said she would handle the situation from there on. 

Ms. Peters has Olivia sit down next to Casey. “You can sit here. We’ll get you a name tag and a cubby shortly.” She said smiling. 

Casey gave the girl a small smile, but was shy, she didn’t know what to say to the new girl.

[JenAndTonic]

"Be good Livy, Mommy loves you." With one final hug and an exaggerated smooch on her cheek, Olivia's mommy turned, gave a quick wave, and walked out of the office.

"So Olivia?" The principal started, he was a kind, older man that reminded her of her grandfather so even though he was a stranger she felt a degree of trust in him. "It must be difficult coming to a new school so soon." Olivia didn't speak, she hadn't spoken since Mommy dropped her off. Truth was she spent a good deal of the morning sobbing while Mommy changed her out of her night clothes and helped her into the bath. She begged and pleaded to go back to her old school. But Mommy didn't listen, she cried again before walking in and Mommy let her get it all out of her system, rubbing her back and whispering kind words while stroking Olivia's strawberry blond hair.

"You're a shy one aren't you?" Olivia didn't know what to do, she didn't want to be the shy girl so she shook her head, still keeping her eyes focused on the light up Velcro sneakers swinging back and forth in the too high chair. "Aw sweetie, it's OK. I think you'll really like it here."

"Promise?" Olivia piped up, the principal chuckled slightly,

"Yes, I think so. Who knows, you may even make some friends too today, won't that be fun?" Friends would be nice Olivia thought, she'd never had any before and then Mommy got a new job at work and they had to move, she'd hadn't had time to make friends. She had her sister, but sisters aren't friends.

"Are you hungry?" The principal asked, Olivia shrugged but nodded, all the while avoiding eye contact. "OK, Ms. Sellers" he said into a box thingy on his desk. A woman's voice crackled back with acknowledgement and Olivia was more than a bit curious, it was like speaker phone but not and she couldn't figure out what it was. "Take Miss Ross down to the cafeteria and get her a bowl of cereal and some milk, my treat." The principal winked at Olivia and she barely suppressed her smile. A short, heavy set secretary came into the room soon after and introduced her self as well.

"Hello cutie, My name is Ms. Sellers, lets go get some food in that belly, does that sound good?"

"Yes" Olivia muttered softly.

"Good," the principal said with genuine warmth in his voice, "and remember Olivia, if you need anything, you just ask to come see Mr. Hoffman and I'll help anyway I can." Olivia ate Froot Loops from a Styrofoam bowl while Ms. Sellers mostly supervised, she wasn't as fun as the principal. Ms. Sellers even gave her a disapproving look when she blew bubbles in the left over milk. After breakfast was done, Ms. Sellers took her by the hand and led her into the classroom. After a gentle knock came a pleasant voice.

"Come in." Ms. Sellers opened the door and Olivia nearly froze on the spot, it took a gentle tug to get her going. There were more kids than she could count and Olivia became frightened and froze.

"Class, this is Olivia Ross, she's going to be joining you for the rest of the year. Olivia, would you care to say anything about yourself?" Olivia vigorously shook her head no, keeping her eyes on the ground. "Come on Olivia, anything?"

"Well, maybe later you can let people know all about you, OK?" Ms. Peters asked. All about her? That scared Olivia even more but she still just nodded. "“You can sit here. We’ll get you a name tag and a cubby shortly.” She was sat next to a brown haired girl in pigtails who gave her a small smile. Olivia gave one back quickly before averting her eyes as class resumed following her interruption.

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey looked down at her feet again and kicked her heels into the carpet. She was extremely shy and quiet compared to most kids in her class. In hindsight, putting the two quietest kids in class next to each other might not have been the best idea. 

Ms. Peters had the class gather around on the colorful carpet, having them sit in a circle on the edges. She could tell Olivia was a little nervouse so she gave her a gentle push to sit with the others. She was glad the girl had joined on the day she did. It was the day the class would be learning about butterflies. 

“Okay, can anyone tell me what this is?” She asked in a sing song voice and pointed to a picture of a butterfly on the SMART board. One child enthusiastically wagged his hand in the area and announced it was a butterfly when called on. 

“That’s right.” She praised with a smile. She explained some simple facts about butterflies and how they started out as caterpillars. She broke the class up into pairs and had one child in each group color a butterfly and the other a caterpillar. Casey and Olivia were partners. 

Finally, Casey spoke up, speaking with a bit of a lisp. “Do you wanna do the buttafly or the catapilla?” She asked quietly when they were back at their seats and the teacher had handed out the supplies to each student. 

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia similarly kept her eyes on her feet, the swing of her shoes sometimes hit her chair causing the lights in the back to flash up. She was glad the other girl was quiet, it was a bit uncomfortable but better than being by a loud girl, or worse yet a boy. After being led to the carpet Olivia sat legs crossed watching the SMART board. She'd hoped she get to sit with Casey but two other girls ran up and sat down next to her, by the looks of them they weren't paying attention to either her or Casey, but were talking and giggling back and forth. Olivia felt jealous and sad. It just remind her of how much she didn't want to be here. Stupid Maple Elementary, Olivia pouted.

She didn't pout long though, the lesson was on butterflies and Olivia loved butterflies. They were so colorful and pretty. She wanted to answer enthusiastically when Ms. Peters asked if the class knew the name of the animal, but she hesitated and a boy answered instead. Olivia knew some things about butterflies already, she liked them after all, but learned a lot too.

"Um.." Olivia started quietly, Casey being shy made her feel more shy. Not that she'd want to be paired up with anyone too friendly, but still. "I really likes butterflies. Can I do them and you do the catipiller?"

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey nodded and handed the coloring sheet of the butterfly to Olivia while she took the caterpillar one. She was also glad that the girl was quiet, she hated being paired up and having to talk. 

She sat quietly and colored her caterpillar, trying to make him look as much like the very hungry one from her book and stuffie at Home. She used the green crayon and was focusing very hard on it, especially to try and stay in the lines. 

When she was done with it, and had cut the drawing out along the dotted lines, she stayed in her seat. Ms. Peters had said they were allowed to go and play with play doh or get a book to look at, but Casey felt too shy and instead just scribbled and doodled on the scrap paper. Maybe when Olivia was done she’d go do something with her. Even if they didn’t talk to each other, it was nice to sit with someone. She got lonely sometimes since she was an only child. 

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia set to work on her butterfly, coloring it with as many of her favorite colors as she could. It's wings were pink, purple, and green. The green was darker than the light shade she liked but it was OK, they didn't have the right colored crayons for her favorite green, and she one she was using looked like the green Casey was using to color her caterpillar. She saw how good Casey was at staying between the lines and made sure to try hard as well. If Casey was that good at staying in the lines she must be a good colorer and Olivia didn't want her to think she wasn't.

After Casey was finished, Olivia was a bit jealous that she got to go have fun while Olivia was still working on the project. She also felt a bit jealous that Casey was such a good colored she finished when Olivia still had a whole half of the butterfly to go. The butterfly needed lots more colors and there were a lot more lines to stay inside of. But Casey didn't run off and play with the other kids, instead she drew on the paper she cut the caterpillar out of.

'She must really like drawing' Olivia thought. Olivia liked it too, it was easier now that she had her glasses and could see the lines better. While she was finishing up she spoke up, "You're a really good colorer." she said quietly. "You're catipillar is pretty, she looks like the one from the book"

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey doodled absentmindedly, she just was too shy to get up and go play with the other kids. She swung her legs back and forth, liking how her heels kicked the carpet. It meant she was getting taller. Earlier in the year she was too short for her feet to touch the ground. They still barely did, but Casey took it in pride. 

She smiled shyly at Olivia. “Thanks! You’re really good too. The buttafly is so pretty.” She said smiling. “Thanks!” She said excitedly when Olivia said the caterpillar looks like the one in the book. “I tried real hard! It’s my most favoriteist book in the world!” She said smiling. 

“The colors you did were really pretty. Good thing you did the buttafly.” She said smiling. 

“Um do you wanna go play with the play doh?” She asked shyly at one point. She wanted to go play, but was too shy to go alone, and maybe Olivia was too. 

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia blushed at Casey's compliment. She was really happy with the butterfly and taking the extra time made it really pretty. She hoped she'd get to take it home to show her Mommy.

"I like the Very Hungry Catipillar too, my favoriteist is Frog and Toad, I can almost read it all by myself!" Casey's enthusiasm was contagious and Olivia was smiling to. After sharing their favorite books, both girls went quiet again. Casey was the one to break the silence, and did so with a qufiet question. Olivia looked over at a few of the other kids playing with the playdoh at a craft table. It did look like fun, she of course had played with playdoh some at home but had never done it with anyone else. "Um...OK" Olivia replied, her words came out softly, she was a little nervous to be playing around all the other new kids and Casey, but Casey seemed nice and she did want to play, so a bit of optimism did creep out into her response, "I mean, if you want to play with it with me?"

[Shy-Diapers]

“I never hearded that one before.” Casey said curiously. She liked froggies though, some of her pajamas had frogs on them. She did like books. 

“Okay.” Casey said, gathering all the scrap paper. “You can put the crayons and stuffs away over there.” She said pointing to the bin of scissors and crayons on one of the tables. “I’ll put the trash away.” She said standing up. 

“Uh huh! I do wanna play wif you.” She said. She didn’t wanna go play alone, but she also didn’t want to say that. 

After their table was cleaned up, Casey walked with Olivia to the table. She grabbed the purple can for herself before turning to Olivia. “What color you like?”

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia beamed at the idea that Casey would want to play with her, maybe her new school wasn't going to be as bad as she was afraid of it being. She couldn't wait to let Mommy know that she had been right, she was making friends and faster than even she thought she would. She hurriedly helped put the supplies away and followed Casey over to the play table. She didn't want to tell Casey that she had already taken her favorite color, so she looked over the table trying to find another that she liked. She eventually saw a can of her second favorite.

"That one," she pointed to the green playdoh near Casey.

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey reached across the table and got the tub of green Play-Doh. She happily handed it to Olivia before sitting down in her chair and shaking the can of purple dough to get it out. 

She seperated her dough into a few chunks before rolling them out and then into balls. She carefully stacked them on top of each other to make a snowman. Afterwards, she ripped tiny pieces off the remaining dough that she had to make the eyes, nose, mouth, arms and some clothes. 

[JenAndTonic]

• Olivia followed along with what Casey was doing, trying to make a snowman as well. She had a funny thought at the idea of green and purple snowmen. She played quietly next to Casey. She wanted to talk more with this new kid, but was unsure of what to say. Olivia liked that Casey was quiet too, that made her feel comfortable around her in a way that she as the new girl might not feel with a more talkative classmate who would want to find out about her and ask her lots of questions. Still, she didn't feel comfortable starting the conversation and neither did Casey, so aside from exchanging polite compliments about how good at playdoh and how nice the others snowmen looked, the mostly played quietly.

As Olivia finished up her snowman, she wondered if she would get to make any this weekend. It seemed like a long way away, but Mommy was already talking about making sure they were ready for snow this weekend. Mommy had told her that there was lots more snow in Buffalo than there was back home in New Rochelle. Thinking of the old house started to make Olivia sad. If Mommy was just going to come here, why couldn't Daddy have kept it? She wanted her old bedroom and her old school. Her play slowed and finally stopped. She didn't cry, she was all done crying after this morning, but thinking about the place that until last week had been her home, took away a lot of the fun she had been having.

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey also wanted to talk more to Olivia, but she didn’t know what to say or how to start a meaningful conversation. She did like this girl though, she seemed nice. Some of the other kids were kinda mean, one time they stuck gum in her hair! Casey’s mommy had to use peanut butter to get it out without cutting it, because Casey didn’t want to lose her long pigtails. 

Pretty soon Ms. Peters turned the SMART board in the front of the class and turned on the class’s clean up song which meant it was time to stop what you were doing and start putting things away. 

“That’s the clean up song.” Casey said seeing Olivia look a little confused. “It means we gotta put the Play-Doh away now. Then we go to the carpet for story time.” She said, trying to smush her dough back into its rightful tub. She searched around for the lid before putting her can back in the container all the dough belonged in. 

Afterwards, Casey went to the rug in the front of the class, waiting for Olivia so they could sit next to each other. The rug had big squares for all the kids to sit on, every row had a different color. Casey liked sitting on the purple one. “You can sit next to me.” She said to Olivia. 

Once all the children were sitting down, Ms. Peters got out The Very Hungry Caterpillar book. She waited for all the students to be quiet before she opened the book and started reading, making sure the pictures were always facing the kids, and that each one of them could see. 

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia was confused at first, but after Casey explained what was going on, she joined her in cleaning up the table. She followed after Casey to the rug and took a spot right next to Casey, settling in for the story. After settling down, Olivia noticed a growing need to use the potty. She squirmed trying to find a position where her bladder didn't bother her so much but couldn't get comfortable. She wanted to raise her hand and ask Ms. Peters to use the potty but was afraid too, so she let out a soft whimper and crossed her legs as tightly as she could. If she could just hold it until they finished the book and she could ask Ms. Peters alone, but she couldn't ask in front of the class.

Olivia wasn't a stranger to accidents, she did have them every now and then but she'd only ever done it once at school and that was in preschool. Now that she was a big kid though, they were less frequent, but still happened every few weeks. Of course there was night time but Mommy told her that didn't count. Finally, the book was over, Olivia started to get up to go over to Ms. Peters to ask but the teacher told her that they weren't done with story time and asked her to sit back down. Olivia wanted, needed, to ask for the toilet but couldn't find her words and sat back down. Ms. Peters began asking questions to the other kids about the story. A powerful cramp shot through her tummy and Olivia whimpered ever so slightly as her bladder released. She felt her warm pee soak through her panties and jeans and soak the rug and Olivia began to sob.

[Shy-Diapers]

Ms. Peters was gentle with Olivia, she figured the girl was used to different rules at her old school and she would need to get used to the new ones in her classroom. She had her sit back down so she could finish talking about the book and butterflies and caterpillars in general. 

When Olivia started to pee, one of the kids’ hands shot right up and they loudly announced; “Ms. Peters! Olivia peed on the rug!” He said loudly. 

Ms. Peters frowned. “Hush hush children.” She said trying to stop the rising commotion. “It’s ok. Everyone has an accident every now and then.” She sighed and stood up before sending the children back to the toy area in the back of the class to play. She called someone to come watch the class while she took Olivia to the school nurse. 

“What happened honey?” Ms. Peters asked gently, unsure why the girl would have an accident when they had a toilet in the classroom. 

Casey frowned. She was no stranger to accidents either, but usually she only had them at home, or the other kids at least didn’t notice most of the time. They were mean when they did though. But she was too shy to stand up for herself, or Olivia. She heard some of the kids saying mean things, but didn’t know what to do. 

[JenAndTonic]

Olivia's tears came easily after the boy announced to the whole class what had happened. She sat feeling like the loneliest girl in the world as children scooted away from her to avoid the puddle she sat frozen and embarrassed in. Now not even Casey could like her. She cried for a lot of things while Ms. Peters waited for the teachers aide to come take over the class. Her accident was most obvious among them, but now she knew that everyone would be mean to her and tease her about it. Her Mommy might be disappointed in her because Olivia had promised that she would be a brave big girl on her first day. She was sad about moving and starting a new school and not being able to see Daddy as often anymore.

Once in the hall, she started to calm down, her sobs turning into weak sniffles. She accepted the comfort Ms. Peters gave her as she walk along, her hand in the teachers, down the hall. Her wet pants on display to anyone who may walk by.

"I wanted to ask you to potty but I was scared. I thought once the story was over I could go but you asked me to sit back down. I didn't want everyone to know I needed to potty." Olivia offered meekly.

Once in the nurses office, she received some more kind words from the school nurse who introduced herself as Ms. Coleman. Olivia was given a zip-lock bag containing the change of clothes her mom had to bring for her and brought to the bathroom inside the nurses office and allowed to clean off with wet wipes, before changing into new pants and panties. When she came out of the bathroom, Ms. Peters had left and she was left with Ms. Coleman.

"There you are, feeling better darlin'?" Olivia shrugged. "Are you ready to go back to class?" Olivia shook her head, with her strawberry blonde ponytail going back and forth. "Are you afraid to go back?" Olivia nodded. "You're not much of a talker are you?" Ms. Coleman chuckled, "OK, you can stay for a few more minutes, but you can't stay here all day." Olivia knew it was true but she was so embarrassed, she couldn't go back and she started to tear up again at the thought. "Oh no, no tears," Ms. Coleman squatted down beside Olivia and rubbed her back. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Olivia shook her head, she knew grownups wouldn't understand. Grownups didn't have accidents on their first day of school, or have to move to a new house when they had a perfectly good one still or have mommies and daddies who fought and lived different places. "OK then, take your time then darling." 

Twenty minutes later, Olivia's tears had stopped and she was led down the hall in her new clean skirt and back to the class. She felt all the eyes on her as she entered and made her way to her seat beside the girl who almost surely hated her now.

[Shy-Diapers]

“I’m sorry sweetie. From now on whenever you need to go you can just go to the bathroom. It’s in the classroom. Just be sure to flip the sign around on the door so nobody walks in and make sure you check the sign before entering.” Ms. Peters as said gently and as kindly as she possibly could. 

Casey felt bad for Olivia, but was too scared to say anything to the other kids in class. She decided to make something nice for what she hoped was her new friend. She carefully colored some stick figures on some paper and drew butterflies and caterpillars as best she could. 

She sat back in her seat when Ms. Peters came back in. They were now having quiet time at their seats. Recess would be soon, but it would be in the gym because it’s too cold to play outside. She smiled when Olivia came back. 

“Hi.” She said shyly. She didn’t know what to say, but wanted to say something. “Sorry you had an accident.” She said with the best intentions, hoping to make her new friend somewhat happy. 

“I drew you this to make you feel better.” She said smiling, handing Olivia the picture she worked hard on. 

[JenAndTonic]

"Hi" Olivia quietly responded. She blushed when Casey apologized about her accident. She was embarrassed that Casey brought it up, but she also felt relief that maybe Casey didn't hate her after all. " "Thank you. I'm sorry I had an accident by you"" Olivia offered. She did get excited though when she saw the picture.

 "It's really pretty." Olivia said. Casey was a very good colorer, she couldn't wait to take it home with her today. "Does this mean you're not mad at me?" Olivia asked hopefully, maybe Mommy was right and she might make a friend today after all, in spite of her accident.

[Shy-Diapers]

Casey was happy that Olivia seemed to be feeling better. She knew it was embarrassing to have an accident in class, but she didn’t want to say that to her new friend. She was just happy she liked the picture and they were still friends. 

“Nuh uh.” She said shaking her head. “We’re still friends.” She said smiling, a big gap in the front from one missing tooth. 

“Okay class!” The teacher announced. “Line up to go outside.” She said, standing by the door. 

“Cmon!” Casey said smiling, putting her things away. “It’s recess time! We gots a big playground and everything!”