Episode 12: The Transition Decay

Halley dislikes the fact that she is in the same school as her brother.

Everyone was over at Leonard and Penny's. Sheldon was sat in his spot, with Amy next to him. Leonard and Penny were sat on their usual seats, the same with Howard and Bernadette. Raj was sat on the floor and was being climbed on by five of the children.

"Raj, if you stand up, they won't climb all over you," Howard mentioned, laughing slightly.

"No, it's fine." He insisted, before Halley began trying to tickle him.

"Hey, how's Reuben adapting to preschool?" Leonard wondered, looking over at Howard and Bernadette before they both sighed.

"Urm... He's doing okay, but it's a struggle to get him out the door in the morning. Lucky for him he only has to go three times a week."

"What about Halley?"

"She has to go every weekday, cause she's in her second year. For some reason, the preschool takes kids from three to five, until they're ready for kindergarten."

"That's a little odd," Penny said, before standing up and walking over to the kitchen, and persuading Amy over too.

After a moment, both Penny and Amy walked back from the kitchen and sat back down in the same places as they were before they got up. Leonard raised his eyebrows at Penny and she shook her head, signaling that they still needed to keep their mouths shut.

"Hey, Halley!" Howard greeted, kneeling down and grabbing his daughter as she ran into his arms as Reuben stood awkwardly next to him.

"Mr. Wolowitz, can I speak to you in the classroom?" The teacher asked, pointing to the door.

"Yeah, sure." Howard hesitated, before leading both Halley and Reuben through the door.

Howard stood across from Halley's teacher as the two siblings ran off to the play area in the corner.

"What's going on? Has Halley done anything bad?"

"No, she's been an absolute delight in the classroom." The teacher answered, and Howard didn't get the hint as if it was sarcasm or not. "But we are worried about one tiny thing that has been happening."

"What's that?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well, Halley is brilliant when in the classroom. She's very helpful, cheerful and quite frankly, she is full of imagination. But when it comes to recess, she does have a tendency to get a little frustrated, especially with Reuben."

Howard nodded before the teacher continued.

"I'm only raising this because it has just started happening. She didn't do anything like this before Reuben came up to the school. I was hoping that you would talk to Halley about this."

"Yeah, I will. Certainly!" Howard insisted. "Don't want this getting any worse."

"Thank you, Mr. Wolowitz." The teacher smiled.

Howard grabbed Halley and Reuben from the play area and lead them out of the classroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Penny walked through into Bernadette's office holding a bunch of papers that she was told to drop off there.

"Here are the documents you wanted," Penny announced, placing the large pile of paper on the desk.

"Oh, thanks, Penny." Bernadette said, keeping her head at the computer.

"Is everything okay? You've seemed a little distant today."

"Yeah, everything's okay." Bernadette nodded.

"You sure?"

"If I tell you, will you not nag me anymore?"

Penny nodded violently, before Bernadette advised her to take a seat.

"I'm just worrying about Reuben and Halley." She sighed.

"What's going on?"

"It's just they haven't been getting along at school, but they then appear fine at home. I'm just scared that Halley will do something while Howie and I aren't there."

"Hey, you have every right to be nervous. For Pete's sakes, we're both mom's! I'm terrified that right now Ben's climbing the bookcase again."

"Again?!"

"Yeah, he's done it twice before. We actually ended up in the ER once." Penny sighed. "But that's the thing. You're allowed to be worried. I am... All the time. But Reuben is Halley's little brother. She wouldn't do anything that would hurt him."

Bernadette nodded as Penny sat back in the seat. "Seriously, he's climbed the bookshelf twice! How?"

Penny just shrugged her shoulders in response, as it even confused her.

Howard called Halley through from the dining room into the living room after she had insisted that she had finished her dinner.

Halley burst through the door and asked why he had called her in.

"Take a seat, I want to talk to you."

Halley sat down on the couch next to her father and again asked what he wanted.

"Halley, why have you been picking on Reuben at school?" He asked.

"Because I don't like him there." She complained. "It's my school!"

"Halley, it's not just your school. Reuben needs to go there too, and there are lots of other children there."

"I'm okay with them, just not with Reuben!"

"Halley, you need to stop being unreasonable. Reuben is at that school, and you might just have to get used to it." Howard said, easing his voice as Halley was becoming a little selfish.

"No! I don't want Reuben at my school!" The young girl sulked, before jumping up off the couch and storming out of the room.

Ainsley approached her father, smiling up at him.

"Oh, Ainsley. If you're a pain in the ass like her, me and your mom are in big trouble." Howard sighed.