A Whole New World

Joe and Amelia ride up to the school house. Joe climbs down then helps Amelia. Seeing how nervous she was he holds her hand and gives her a reassuring smile.

A group of bigger boys walk over to them. "Hey Cartwright who is this, your girlfriend?" taunted one of the boys. "No she's my little sister" replied Joe.

"She sure is little. What is she like two?" asked another boy. "Isn't she a little young to go to school?" asked the leader of the group. "She looks like a baby"

Joe who wanted to punch the kid knew that he couldn't break his promise to his father takes Amelia and walks away. They walk over to their friends Mitch and Emily who saw the meeting.

"Don't pay any attention to them Mia. They're just jealous that they don't have a nice little sister like Joe does" said Mitch. Joe mouthed thank you to him when he saw Amelia smiling.

The bell rings; Amelia clutches on to Joe's hand nervously. Joe looks at his sister. "Come on sis it'll be ok I promise" said Joe. Amelia nods and they walk into the school house.

Little Joe walks up to Miss Jones' desk with Amelia beside him. "Good morning Joseph" she said she turns and looks down at Amelia and smiles warmly.

"And who's this?" she asked. "My sister Amelia. It's her first day of school" said Joe. "Hello Amelia" said the teacher. "Hi" said Amelia shyly.

"How old are you child?" she asked. "Four" said Amelia. "I see and do you know to read and write?" asked Miss Jones. "A little bit my brother Hoss taught me some" said the little girl.

"Well I'm sure you're gonna like it here" assured Miss Jones. Amelia smiles and nods.

The kids hurried in and sat at their seats. "Class we have a new student joining our class. I want you all to say hi to Little Joe's sister Amelia" said the teacher.

The children greeted their new classmate and Miss Jones tells the Cartwright siblings to take their seats. The rest of the school day was good for Amelia.

At lunchtime Emily introduce her to all of her friends and they all invited Amelia to eat lunch with them and play with them at recess. All the kids except for the bigger boys liked Amelia and thought she was fun to play with.

As Little Joe watches his sister play with her new friends he was relieved to see that she was happy and no longer scared.

Later that afternoon the school house was dismissed and all the children hurried out of the building. Joe and Amelia were walking to their horse when they were stopped by the same group of boys that were picking on them earlier.

"Look what we have here boys Little Joe Cartwright and his stupid baby sister" said one of the boys. "Why don't you leave us alone" said Joe.

He takes Amelia and walks by them but the leader of the group grabs Amelia. "How about a kiss" he taunted as he squeezed her arms hard and tries to kiss her. Amelia screams.

Joe who was about to pull the boy away from his sister was being held back by the other boys. "Leave him awone!" yelled Amelia fearing that Joe would get hurt.

The boy lets go of her and walks over to Joe. "Ya hear that boys Little Joe Cartwright needs his stupid baby sister to defend him" the boy said as he and his friends laughed.

"My sister ain't stupid" said Joe trying to keep him temper under control. "Sure she is why else would your Pa wants her to go to school. Probably ashamed to have a stupid baby" said the boy.

Joe's temper snaps and fights with all the boys who outnumber him and beat him up. Once they saw that Joe had enough they leave him lying on the ground.

Amelia hurries over to him and helps him up. "Wittle woe all wight?" asked Amelia worriedly. Joe looks at her as he tries to get up. "I'm fine" he assured her. Amelia helps him on their house and they ride to the ranch.