I'm glad I have changed your opinions on Alison! Oh, and no-Larissa is not her daughter…one of the reviewers asked me that; there's just a resemblance. :)

Anyway…

Disclaimer: Same as always; though I wish I did own everything…I would be rather wealthy. ;-)

Raising Kids Is Hard To Do, Ch. 7

Over the next few days, there was a definite change in the way in which Alison treated Larissa. She was kinder and kept telling herself that Larissa wasn't Maya and she wasn't her ex-husband either. Larissa had also noticed a change, but had no idea why Alison was treating her differently. All she knew was that she was glad that Alison wasn't yelling at her anymore.

"Larissa, time for school," Troy called. Since Sharpay had an early meeting that morning, Troy volunteered to take the kids to school.

She came down the stairs, "I'm coming daddy."

He smiled when he saw what she was wearing. "Your grandma bought that for you, didn't she," he asked. Larissa was wearing a short-sleeve dress with sunflowers all over it. Troy had made it a point to tell his mom that Larissa loved flowers and that she loved them even more on her clothes.

"Yep, she got me this when you and mommy went out that one day." She smiled and twirled around, showing off the dress. Unfortunately, as she was twirling, she stepped on Kayleigh's foot.

Kayleigh responded with a rather loud scream, followed by shrill crying. Troy hurried over to her and picked her up. "Larissa, you need to be careful sweetheart," he said gently to Larissa who was looking as if she had just committed a terrible crime.

"Sorry, daddy," she said quietly. She looked at Kayleigh who was still crying, "Sorry Kayleigh."

He smiled, "It's okay; just be careful next time…and have you seen your sister?" He looked around the room for Ana who was nowhere to be found.

"No, but I'll go look in my room," she said as she headed up the stairs. She walked into her room and saw Ana standing in the middle of the room whimpering. She had just gotten sick all over herself and the floor. Larissa groaned, "Gross Ana! Now we're really going to be late." She stomped down the stairs, "Daddy she's up here, and you better bring a lot of rags with you," she yelled.

Troy was confused. "Rags," he said to Kayleigh. "Why do I need rags?" The toddler just stuck her fingers in her mouth and shrugged. He shook his head and walked upstairs and into Larissa and Ana's room, "Oh boy."

"See, I told you that you would need rags," Larissa said matter-of-factly.

He nodded, "Yep, you're right." He walked over to the linen closet and wiped up the mess and then quickly changed Ana. "Okay we really need to get going."

"You're taking her to school!"

"No, but she is only 3 years old; she's way too young to stay at home by herself," he said.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah." She went back downstairs and picked up her backpack and put her lunchbox inside.

After Troy had managed to get all four kids in the car, he drove Larissa to school first, since it didn't really matter if the twins were late for preschool (well, not too late anyway). "Honey I'd walk in with you, but I'm in a hurry he said as he helped her out of the car.

"But you always walk me in," she said, pouting.

"I'm sorry but with your sister sick and with Kayleigh and Zachary, it's just too difficult; plus I don't want to get the rest of your class sick."

Alison, who had just parked her car in the lot walked over to the two, "Good morning Larissa," she said, sensing that something wasn't right. "What's wrong?"

"My daddy won't take me inside," she said, frowning at Troy.

Troy looked over at Alison, "One of her sisters is sick and I don't want to risk getting all the other kids sick," he explained.

She nodded, "I see; well how about I walk you inside, Larissa," she offered.

Larissa looked at Troy who simply nodded. "Okay," she said dramatically.

Alison gave a small smile and walked Larissa inside the school as Troy closed the car door, got in, and drove away.

As they were walking, Alison dropped her purse, along with most of what was in it. "Great," she muttered to herself. She knelt down to pick everything up.

Larissa knelt down as well to help her when she came across a picture. "Who's this and why does she look like me," she asked, showing the picture to Alison.

"Oh that's my little girl, Maya," she said as she took the picture and smiled. "She's your age, you know."

"How come she doesn't go here?"

Alison finished picking her things up and continued to walk, Larissa by her side. "She doesn't go here because she goes to a special school."

"Like how Ana goes to a special school?"

She nodded, "Sort of."

"What's wrong with her," the inquisitive 5 year old asked.

Alison sighed and didn't say anything until they got into the room. "Well…you know how Ana has trouble talking and understanding certain things?"

She nodded.

"Well Maya has the same problems, only they're a little worse than Ana's, I guess you could say."

"Oh," Larissa said, not fully understanding. "Will she be okay?"

She smiled, "Yes, she'll be just fine; the school she is at takes very good care of her," she said, trying to hold back her tears. She didn't want to think about what had happened.

Larissa nodded, "That's good," she said as she walked over to her cubby and put her things away.

Alison watched her go and then turned to put her things away. "Morning, Sherri," she said as she saw the teacher walk over to her.

"Good morning; how are you today?" Sherri (Mrs. Johnson) asked.

She nodded, "All right; all things considered," she said in a distant tone.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just…Maya's tuition bill is due at the end of the month and they just raised the tuition at the school, so it's getting harder to afford taking her there," she said, shaking her head.

Sherri nodded, "Well you know we have a pretty good special education program here, right?"

Alison shook her head, "I do, but I think that Maya's needs are beyond what this school can offer," she said sadly.

"I see…well, just think about it, okay?" She gave Alison a reassuring smile. "All right children, let's sit down on the story rug," Sherri called out to the children.

"She's sick again," Sharpay said over the phone. She was in between classes and had decided to give Troy a call to see how things had gone that morning.

"Well she only got sick once, so I'm thinking it had something to do with giving her that vitamin on an empty stomach," he said, preparing himself to hear the worst from his wife.

"You gave her the vitamin on an empty stomach! Are you nuts, Troy? Of course she's going to be sick if you do that; did you feed her breakfast afterwards or something?"

He was silent at first, "Um…yes?"

"Ugh, Troy it's the other way around! Breakfast and then vitamin, okay," Sharpay said exasperated.

He sighed, "I know, and I'm sorry but we were running a little late this morning and I goofed up, I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath, "Me too…I shouldn't have yelled at you like that; forgive me?" She asked with a hopeful smile.

"You know I always do."

She smiled, "Okay then…well I have to get to my next class, so I guess I'll just see you at home then, okay?"

He nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him, "Yeah, I'll see you this afternoon…love you."

"Love you more."

He smiled and hung up the phone, as did she. This was how most of their arguments were; one would yell at the other and then apologize. Although Sharpay was usually the one who would do the yelling.

Cross Household…

After making Katie's lunch, saying goodbye to her and Jason, and cleaning up the kitchen, Kelsi decided to lie down. She went upstairs and lay down on the bed, but just as she did, she felt the baby kick again. "Sweetie, can't you let mommy get some rest," she groaned. The response was yet another kick. "I guess not." She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, even though the baby kept on kicking…the doctor had told her that she and Jason had a very lively baby and to expect it (they still did not know, nor did they want to know the sex of the baby) to be rather active.

After about an hour, Kelsi woke up to the phone ringing. "Can't I ever get a break around here," she muttered as the baby kicked again. "I get it, okay? You already said 'no.'" She got up and answered the phone. "Hello…yes, this is she…oh great…well the only thing is, I can't come and get her…because I'm not allowed to," she said, knowing she sounded like a horrible parent. "No, it's not that I don't want to, it's that I'm not allowed to drive for the remainder of my pregnancy. Can't you just call my husband…thank you." She sighed and hung up the phone.

20 minutes later, Kelsi heard the garage door open and close. She slowly got up and walked downstairs and saw Jason holding a very pink Katie. "Wow, they weren't kidding when they said that she had a high fever," she said, feeling her forehead.

"No, they weren't," Jason said as he carried Katie up to her room, with Kelsi in tow.

"So how high is it?"

"103.6," he answered.

Kelsi's eyes went wide, "Well shouldn't we take her to the hospital or something," she asked frantically.

Knowing that she wasn't supposed to become excited over anything, Jason quickly jumped to her side, "Don't worry; I made an appointment for her to see the doctor at noon. It's 11:00 right now."

"Noon! Why so long?"

He shrugged, "'Tis the season," he said, even though it wasn't really flu season yet.

"Fine, but I am coming with you."

He looked at her, "No you're not; don't you remember what the doctor said? You are not allowed to go anywhere that will cause you to get stressed. If Katie has something other than the flu, you'll probably get stressed," he said, knowing for a fact that she would. She had freaked out when Katie had strep throat the year before; something that was very treatable with an antibiotic. She had also freaked out when Katie got sick from watching the scene in 'Madeline' when Madeline had appendicitis.

She sighed, "Fine; but give me a full report," she said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," Jason said as he walked back over to Katie. "How are you feeling honey?"

"My head hurts," she said as she rubbed her eyes. "My tummy hurts too…down there," she said, pointing to her right side.

Jason looked over at Kelsi, "Hmm, you know the hospital doesn't sound like such a terrible idea," he said, having a feeling of what was wrong with Katie.

Kelsi nodded, "I'm coming and don't you argue," she said to him. "I will do my best to not overreact."

He sighed, "If I see you start to, I will personally make you go sit in the car, understand?"

"You do know that I'd freak out even more in the car, right?"

"Okay then, I'll make you stay in the waiting room while I go with the doctor to see what is wrong," he said as he lifted the little girl up and carried her out to the car.

"Deal," Kelsi said, following Jason.

Sharpay pulled up at Larissa's school at exactly 3:15. She got out of the car and walked into her daughter's classroom where she found her looking at a book. "Hi sweetie," she said as she kissed her head.

"Mommy!" Larissa closed the book and ran into Sharpay's arms.

"How was school today," she asked as she picked Larissa up.

"Good…but Miss Alison's daughter is sick kind of like Ana," she said.

Sharpay nodded, "That's right," she said.

"She seemed very sad."

She nodded again, "It's hard to go through that kind of thing," Sharpay said as she walked to Larissa's cubby and gathered her things. She had put Larissa down as she put her lunchbox back into her backpack.

"Mommy who's that," Larissa asked, gesturing to a little girl who was in a wheelchair; Alison with her.

Sharpay smiled sadly, "That's Miss Alison's daughter," Sharpay said.

Larissa walked over to the two before Sharpay could stop her. "Is this Maya," Larissa asked Alison.

She nodded, "Yes, Larissa. This is my daughter." She knelt down and looked at Maya, "Maya, this is Larissa; can you say hello?"

The little girl slowly turned her head, "Hi," she said softly.

"Why isn't she walking?"

Sharpay hurried over to the three, "I'm sorry," Sharpay said, picking Larissa up.

"Don't be," Alison said. "She isn't walking because…she can't," Alison said, rubbing her daughter's shoulder.

"Why not?"

"Her legs just don't work for her like yours do," she said simply. "Anyway, I had forgotten something and since I had already picked her up from school, I figured I'd bring her in with me," she said, mainly to Sharpay.

Sharpay nodded, "Well it's very nice to meet you, Maya," she said with a smile.

Maya looked up and smiled as well, but didn't say anything.

"Well we should go," Sharpay said after an awkward silence. "Bye, Maya, it was nice meeting you."

"Bye Maya…did you know we look like each other," Larissa said, hearing both her mom and Alison chuckle softly. "What did I say?"

"Nothing," Sharpay said as the two walked out of the room and to the car.

Poor Katie! So what do you think is wrong with her? I gave you a little hint there, so you'll probably figure it out. And Maya was actually introduced. What do you think is going to happen between her and Larissa…hmmm…I would really like your opinions on that; please review! And thank you for reading!