Evie sighed as she was designing a new outfit for one of her clients. Evie had already graduated from high school and decided to just wait on going to college and to just focus on her clothing line Evie's Four Hearts. She was making more money now and it seemed to be a stable enough job. Plus she didn't have time for college classes while also raising a small child. College was a lot of work and required a lot of time and effort that she didn't have right now.
Evie was trying to focus on her design, but she really missed Mal, and she hated the way Mal was crying and begging her to stay. It broke her heart to see her little girl, so upset like that. Evie's thoughts were interrupted by Doug who was helping her with her clothing line.
"Hey Evie are you alright? You have just been staring at your sketch design for like ten minutes. What's wrong?" Doug asked his girlfriend when he noticed that she looked so zoned out which wasn't like her. She loved designing and sewing it was her favorite thing to do, so he didn't understand why she looked so zoned out and out of it.
Evie just sighed as she looked at her boyfriend. "Doug I'm fine it's just that I really miss Mal. And you should have seen her when I dropped her off. She just kept crying and begging me to not leave her. I feel so bad. I just didn't think it would be this hard. I don't get it. I see other kids who are excited to go to school and meet new kids. Why is Mal not like that? I thought that she would grow out of her clinginess by now. Should I be concerned? Is there something wrong with her?" Evie rambled out as she let out all of her concerns and worries.
Doug just put his arm around her and pulled her close to him in comfort. "Evie Mal is fine. It's just hard because you have literally been with her everyday for two years. It's harder for kids to be without their parents when they are so close to them. And Evie she is still very young. Children tend to be shy when they are younger, but they usually outgrow it by the time they are older, usually around six or seven. It takes time to get kids out of their clingy and shyness. You need to start small. Which you are doing by only doing the two days a week Preschool program," Doug told Evie as he tried to calm her and ease her worries.
Before Evie could respond to what Doug said she got a call. Evie just sighed when she answered the phone already knowing what was coming as soon as she saw it was Mal's preschool calling. She took a deep breath before answering the call. "Hello, this is Evie. How can I help you?" Evie asked through the phone. She groaned when the lady answered her. "Oh hello Evie. You are Mal's guardian correct? Well I was just calling to let you know that Mal won't stop crying and she has been complaining of a bad headache and stomachache. I think it would be best if you came and got her early," the preschool teacher told her.
"Okay thank you for telling me. I'm coming now," Evie told the teacher as she hung up and then sighed as she looked at her boyfriend. "That was Mal's preschool. She won't stop crying and she's not feeling well. I need to go get her. You can come with me if you want, but I have to go now," Evie told Doug quickly as she grabbed her keys and headed out the door.
Doug just quickly followed after her as he wanted to come with her to get the four year old. He had become a big part of the small girl's life as he was Evie's boyfriend. He began to see the small four year old like his own daughter since he had been spending pretty much everyday with her and Evie.
As soon as they got into the preschool the teacher was waiting for them with a crying Mal holding onto her hand. The teacher just smiled at the two with her fake sweet smile. As soon as Mal saw the two she released her hand from the teacher's grip as she went running into Evie's arms.
"Mommy! Daddy! You came back for me!" The small girl screamed out as she hung on tighter to Evie. Evie and Doug were both just staring at the four year old not knowing what to do or say. They were in shock as Mal had just called Doug her dad, but she had never once done that before.
The two of them immediately composed themselves as they didn't want Mal to become even more distressed then she already was. Evie just smiled as she picked up the four year old and balanced her on her hip. It wasn't hard since Mal was still pretty small for her age especially since she just turned four. "Of course we came back sweetie. I told you I would be back before you knew it," Evie told the small girl as she wanted to calm down her worries.
The teacher who had been standing there watching just sighed as she looked at Evie. "Um Evie is there anyway that we could chat for a bit right now about something important," the teacher told Evie as she motioned towards the four year old. The teacher wanted to talk to Evie about Mal and her behavior, but she didn't want the four year old to know.
Evie noticing the concerned teacher and her signals just handed Mal off to Doug and she gave him her keys as she told him to go wait in the car with her while she talked to the teacher. Doug immediately picking up on what was happening just smiled as he grabbed the small girl's hand and took her to the car.
As soon as she was sure that the young girl was no longer in the room the teacher just looked at Evie. "Evie I really hate to bring this up, but I think Mal might not be ready for preschool. She refused to speak to any of the kids and she just sat as far away from them while she cried. She also refused to participate in our class. And she complained about a really bad headache and stomachache. I don't think Mal is ready for school yet. She seems to be very attached to you and I think it would be best if you just started homeschooling her. Homeschool is the best option for kids who are more shy and attached to their parents like Mal. I'm very sorry, and I just want you to know that I'm not kicking her out. She is very much welcomed here, but I do feel that for her best interest homeschool would be the best for her," the preschool teacher told Evie as she didn't want to be mean, but she had seen this before some kids just weren't ready to be away from their parents for so long.
Evie just sighed as she looked at the teacher. "Yeah I think you might be right. I wanted for her to go to an actual school, so she could meet other kids, but I don't think it would matter anyway since she doesn't want to talk to any of them. I think it would be best for me to homeschool her too. Anyway sorry for her disturbance and thank you for being understanding, but I really should go now. Mal and Doug are waiting in the car, and I still need to get lunch." Evie told the teacher with a small smile as she said goodbye and headed towards her car.
Evie just sighed as she was walking back to the car. Mal basically got herself kicked out of preschool and now Evie had to figure out how to homeschool the tiny four year old. When she got back to the car Mal was sitting in her car seat and singing along to some child songs while Doug was sitting up front and turning around to watch her.
Evie just got into the car and gave Doug a look that they both knew meant we need to talk. Doug just sighed as he looked back at the happy four year old and then back to Evie. He knew right away from Evie's expression that whatever the teacher told Evie wasn't good and made Evie upset. "Evie what's wrong? What did the teacher say?" Doug asked Evie in concern as he was worried about what the teacher had said about the four year old that made Evie so upset and stressed.
Evie just sighed as she looked at Doug. "I'll tell you when we get back okay. I don't want Mal to hear," Evie told Doug quietly as she didn't want Mal to know that she was freaking out about having to homeschool her.
Evie then looked at the happy little girl who was singing and dancing in her car seat as she put on a fake smile. "Hey Mal how about we go get some lunch. How does that sound, and then you can tell me about your day at preschool," Evie told the small girl in her overly exaggerated happy voice. She wanted Mal to tell her more about why she didn't like preschool, but didn't want to directly ask that. She wanted to be subtle.
Mal just looked at Evie. "I hate preschool mommy. And I never want to go back. I don't like when you leave me and the other kids are bigger than me. They scare me mommy. Please don't make me go there again. Please I'll give up strawberries for um three days if you don't make me go back to preschool," Mal pleaded to Evie as she hated being away from Evie like that and she didn't like being with so many other kids that were all bigger than her since she just turned four a few days ago and most of the kids were already almost five.
Evie just smiled at how adorable Mal was being. "Mal I'm not going to make you go back there. I'm going to homeschool you from now on. And Mal you don't have to give up strawberries. Besides, strawberries are good for you. I would be a bad parent if I took away a fruit from you. Now that we have that settled how about we go to Chuck E Cheese for lunch," Evie told the four year old.
Mal just smiled as she got really excited. "Really? You are going to homeschool me. This is the best day ever! And we get to go to Chuck E. Cheese yay! I love you mommy! Yay! Daddy we get to go out to Chuck E. Cheese!" The small girl screamed out excitedly as she began to move around in her seat.
Doug just smiled as Mal had called him her dad again. At first it had freaked him out since Mal wasn't technically his daughter, and he wasn't old enough to be a dad. However he realized just then that he actually liked that Mal had called him her dad. He was dating Evie who was pretty much her mom, and he did start to see her as his daughter. Plus he was really the only father figure that she had since Carlos and Jay were more like the cool older brothers and less like the responsible father figure. It made him happy that Mal had started to see him as a father just like he started to see her as a daughter.
Before anything else could be said they reached Chuck E. Cheese and Mal practically fell out of her seat from her excitement as she tried to quickly unbuckle her car seat, but she didn't know how. Evie just chuckled as she helped the small girl get out as she grabbed her hand and Doug did the same with her other hand as they went into the Chuck E. Cheese with the hyper and excited little girl who was practically pulling them from her excitement.