Sophie was adjusting to Kindergarten very well. She had made lots of new friends. She loved her teacher. She even loved the school activities. There were different arts and crafts for them to do each day and she loved the books her teacher would read. She could not have had a smoother transition into grade school. That's why tonight's dinner conversation came as such a shock to Nicky and Lorna.

"Come on in, Sophie, your dinner is gonna get cold." Lorna called out to her daughter.

Sophie stomped in with a scowl on her face.

"Uh-oh bad mood?" Nicky noticed.

No answer

"What's wrong, Soph? Do you feel sick?"

"No"

"Okay so eat your dinner then. Maybe that'll cheer you up."
"I'm not hungry"

"You're not!?" This immediately got Nicky and Lorna's attention. Sophie was always hungry. Even last month when she had a stomach virus and was constantly throwing up, she still wanted to eat everything in sight.

"Sophie, what's the matter, hon? Please tell us. We can help if you just tell us what it is." Lorna explained.

"Nothing."

Lorna sighed. If Sophie wasn't willing to talk, there was nothing they could do.

As they were helping Sophie get ready for bed, they noticed her school folder was still out on the kitchen table.

"Soph, you know the drill by now. Put your folder back in your backpack so that it's ready for tomorrow." Nicky said.

"But I don't wanna go to school tomorrow."

"Soph, you love school! Don't you wanna see Tracey? I thought you do arts and crafts together. C'mon, I can't wait to see what you guys make tomorrow!"

"Please mommy I really don't want to." She pleaded.

"Kid, why don't you want to go to school all of a sudden? Did something happen?"

No answer.

"Do you still like your teacher?"

Sophie nodded.

"Is Tracey being mean to you?"

Sophie shook her head no.

"Are you having trouble with the school work? Do you want us to give you extra help with it at home?"
Sophie shook he head no.

"Then I don't get it, Soph. As of yesterday you loved school. What changed?"

No answer.

Nicky and Lorna just sat there for about 10 minutes staring at Sophie trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventually, they just kissed her goodnight and tucked her in hoping that by tomorrow things would be better.

The next morning, Nicky woke Sophie up and Lorna put a bowl of cereal on the table. They expected Sophie to fight them about waking up and getting ready for school, but surprisingly she didn't. Her appetite seemed to be back because she finished her cereal in 2 minutes. It wasn't until it was time to walk to the bus that there was a problem.

"Hurry up, Kid, you're gonna miss the bus."

"I don't wanna go" she started whining.

"Soph, you have to go to school. Everyone has to go to school. You're no different."

Sophie began to cry.

"Please mommy! I can't go! Please!"

They could not believe Sophie was getting so upset.

"Kid, please don't cry. Can you just tell us why you're so upset?"

No answer.

"Soph, I hate it that you're so sad, but you can't stay home. Mommy and I have to go to work and you can't stay home alone. Come on let's walk to the bus. Maybe you'll feel better once you're there."

"NO!" she immediately shouted. "Please don't make me go on the bus!"

"Oh it's the bus that's making you upset? What happened on the bus?"

"I'm the only little kid" she cried. "It's all older kids and they laugh at me cause I'm so little. I don't like it." She kept crying.

Lorna and Nicky just looked at each other. They had absolutely no idea what to do. Sophie had to go to school, but they couldn't make her go on a bus where she would get pick on. They just couldn't do that to her.

After another long minute of Sophie crying in fear, Nicky finally answered.

"I'm gonna call my boss and tell him I'm sick and can't come into work today. I'll drive you to school today and pick you up when it's over, okay Soph. We'll figure something out for the other days.

"So I don't have to go on the bus?"

"No, Kid. I wouldn't make you do that."

"Thank you," she muttered through her tears as she hugged both of her moms.

Nicky and Lorna both felt sick to their stomachs. What gave older kids the right to pick on their little girl just because she was younger? Nicky was getting so heated. Those little fuckers. They're only like 9 and 10 years old and they already think they're hot shit. Nicky wanted to strangle those kids. Lorna gave her a knowing look as if to say Nicky these kids aren't worth it. You would go back to Litchfield if you did anything to them. So Nicky just kept hugging her daughter and pretended that she wasn't ready to march onto the bus right now and teach those kids a lesson.

Later that day as Sophie was playing in her room, Nicky and Lorna had a talk.

"I don't know what to do, I can't keep taking off of work." Nicky said.

"I know, babe. I'm gonna see if I can get my hours switched so that I can go in an hour later every day and just drive her to school on my way to work."

"Yeah, but then how would she get home? The point of you going to work so early every day is that you're then always home early enough to be in the house when Sophie gets home."

"Shit, I didn't think about that. Ughhhh. Nick, I don't know what to do. She's such a happy kid in every other way. I can't just put her on a bus every day knowing that she's crying the whole time."

"No, I can't either."

Then Nicky got an idea. She dialed Red's number.

"Hey, mommy. We have a little situation."

So she explained what happened.

"So I was wondering if a couple days a week you could just put someone else in charge of the restaurant for like an hour and pick Sophie up? You can even bring her back to the restaurant and I'll pick her up from there when I'm on my way home."

"Of course I can. I can pick her up all 5 days and bring her to my restaurant. It's no problem I have enough people working for me. She'll love it, she can have great restaurant snacks every day."

Nicky let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, ma! She is so lucky to have you. Really, thank you!"

"You know I love spending time with my granddaughter. This is as good for me as it is for her."

They both excitedly went to Sophie's room to share the news. They were so excited that they were actually able to solve their kid's problem.

"Great news, kid. Mommy is gonna to drive you to school every day and grandma will pick you up and bring you to her restaurant. You can hang out and eat there until I pick you up."

"So no more bus!?" she said full of excitement.

"No more bus."

"Yay!"

"See, Soph. All you have to do is tell us what's wrong and we can fix it. Just let us know next time something makes you upset, okay?" Lorna said.

"Okay mommy."

So from that day on, Sophie got to spend a lot more quality time with her grandmother. She would eat so much every afternoon at Red's that she was barely hungry for dinner, but Nicky and Lorna couldn't complain. It's not like she wasn't eating enough, she still ate a ton, and at least their little girl was happy again. Finally, kindergarten was a place that she loved again.