Chapter 35
Luke never told Shelby about Lorelai not wanting them to move. He figured it might have made things harder on her. The transition was already tough as it was. Even though her new class was smaller, they were still new to her.
The teacher was younger than Mrs. Sweeny and not as scary. But it did not mean Shelby was fond of her. For the first three weeks, Mrs. Dawson let Shelby be and let her get to know everyone and observe. Halfway through the fourth week, she began calling on Shelby for an answer.
"Ten other kids raised their hand, but she picked me for some reason," Shelby explained to her dad and Nicole over dinner one evening.
"Maybe she was giving everyone a chance to answer and make sure you were following along," Nicole suggested.
Shelby gave a slight shrug. "I was. But I didn' know the answer. She should have called on someone who did."
"Well, that's how you learn," she pointed out. "Did she give you time to figure it out?"
"Yeah, but I couldn' with everyone sss-taring at me."
Luke spoke up at that point once he washed down what he just ate with water. "I'm not fond of being put on the spot either, kiddo."
Calling on Shelby did not stop there. Mrs. Dawson seemed to call on her as much as possible. Even though Luke had explained to the school and to Mrs. Dawson, especially, regarding Shelby not being able to easily speak in unfamiliar social settings, she continued to get her to speak up in class. To her, it was just a simple shyness and even had pulled Shelby out in the hall to point out there would be moments in life Shelby would need to get over it and have to speak, even going as far as pretending to ignore her head or shoulder gestures. It got to where it caused Shelby to tear up right there in class and one boy called her a crybaby, which Mrs. Dawson did not reprimand him, for.
Since Nicole usually picked Shelby up from school, she promptly asked for a moment of Mrs. Dawson's time and gave the woman an earful.
With January switching into February, winter lingered for a few more weeks, bringing fresh snow after a winter storm came one night. With school being stressful for Shelby at the moment, Roger suggested taking a ski trip up north, inviting, not only her, but Luke and Nicole, as well, as a way for them all to get to know one another. Nicole saw it as weird to hang out with one's ex, even if there was a kid involved, which he pointed out, it was only as weird as you make it. If both parties were there to support Shelby, then why would they need to make her live two completely different lives?
Luke and Nicole agreed to the ski trip, meeting them up at the ski lodge. Mostly because they never technically took that ski trip from the year before. Once they got there, Shelby ended up going with Rachel and Roger to learn how to ski on the beginner's slope while Nicole wanted to go off alone with Luke. Luke would have liked to be the one to teach Shelby, but figured since he already taught her a lot of other things, Rachel deserved this one.
The trip was a good relief away from the diner for a change, and it was a huge joy for him to see his little buddy perk up and have a smile on her face, accomplishing the basics of skiing.
Shelby also had dinner with Rachel and Roger, despite them suggesting all five meet for dinner. The trip was supposed to be for all five to hang out and get to know each other. Nicole at least agreed to have breakfast with them, Sunday morning, before they left and had a fairly pleasant conversation. Everyone was respectful of each other, at least, but later, Rachel told Luke, she could tell Nicole was not interested in being friends despite him and Rachel maintaining some kind of friendship for their daughter.
Luke tried asking Nicole why she didn't seem to like Rachel and Roger while they were unmaking the bed at the condo.
Nicole pulled her side of the comforter back. A comforter with a hideous design that Luke did not care for, by the way. The bottom layer was this mint green, while the top had this brown line design that swirled in several places. "I just don't have a lot of sympathy for a woman who has abandoned her child on more than one occasion," she replied with a slight shrug.
They sat on the bed once they folded the comforter and top sheet back.
"But they're working through that," he pointed out.
"Yes, and I am glad she is willing to work through the issues. But it doesn't erase the fact it happened in the first place. If it was my child and the father tried to weasel his way back into their life, I'd put a stop to it."
Luke stared at her. "I thought you were fine with Rachel being back and being in Shelby's life?"
"If that is your decision, Luke, I will respect that," she said. "But she's a part of Shelby's life. I mean, she's not even supposed to have contact according to custody laws, but it's, whatever. At least she's owning up to her mistakes."
Luke thought about what Nicole was saying. From that point of view, she was right, Rachel shouldn't even be around. Madison had mentioned the same thing. He even tried to enforce it. But Rachel was back, and doing better, and Luke found it hard to admit, Roger was right about not making Shelby live two lives when she already has to switch between two homes. At least he was trying to keep things civil when Roger did not like him.
Like January, February came and went, taking the snow with it. The air was still chilly, especially late at night. It also meant it was that time of year again for Stars Hollow to start preparing for their annual Starlight Festival. Luke, of course, tried to ignore it. Thankfully, Taylor was out of town so he didn't have to deal with the old guy pestering him to decorate the diner or whatever scheme Taylor's mind cooked up.
Besides, Luke ended up having other stuff come up when he learned parent/teacher conferences were that same week. Shelby was only happy it meant half days for three days. She still did not like her new school or new class. What made things more unnerving was how strongly the school pushed the No "gang-related" stuff allowed thing. It seemed like every week her class had to watch a weird PSA video talking about anti-bullying, or saying no to drugs, drinking, and smoking. A lot of the anti-bullying videos ended up scarring Shelby for life with nightmares for the next week after she saw them. The sad part was, Mrs. Dawson continued to allow the same boy to call Shelby a crybaby for tearing up. It got to the point, Shelby was starting to miss Mrs. Sweeney.
Since Nicole wouldn't be able to pick her up for the half days, Luke drove to Lichfield and picked Shelby up from school. Rachel had to drive up north for work, Wednesday, but offered to pick her up Thursday for lunch after the conference.
Luke met Rachel at the school, parking next to her.
The students had already been released, so the small, gated school was mostly deserted except for the cars that belonged to the teachers and faculty, and an occasional parent who was there to meet with their child's teacher. Rachel made a comment about the school looking more like a prison than a school in a joking manner. Luke couldn't help agree with her.
Stopping at the back of his truck, he took a deep breath in and let it out. "Ready?"
"Probably more than you are," she teased, knowing him well enough.
He couldn't even argue. Even though Luke had already done this plenty of times, meeting with his daughter's teachers was still nerve-wracking for him. He never knew what questions to ask or say, for that matter. Remembering how well meetings between his father and teachers went, Luke was afraid something similar would be said about Shelby. It hasn't happened, thankfully.
Not yet, anyway.
Shelby was sitting on the floor, in a slouched position, now reading the second book of The Series of Unfortunate Events series.
"Hey, peanut," Rachel greeted Shelby first, who had to nudge the girl to the knee with her foot to get her attention. It was all in good fun, of course.
Shelby got to her feet once she noticed her parents there, letting them know another conference was going on at the moment.
Rachel commented on how weird not seeing Shelby without her hat has gotten, being used to seeing her with it on.
"I feel weird withou' it, too," Shelby agreed.
Talking about Shelby's hat reminded Luke to quickly remove his. Changing the subject, he asked how her morning was.
She shrugged. "We watched another one of those weird videos again."
Rachel had also been informed of the PSA videos the school shows the students, regularly. "What was it about this time?"
"Drugs again," she replied. "This one was so bad it makes me want to do drugs. Lor-lai and Rory would have fun mocking this if they saw it."
Luke held his hands on his sides. "That bad, huh?"
She looked over at him with a serious expression. "Really bad."
A new voice spoke out of nowhere, causing both Luke and Shelby to nearly jump out of their skins. "She speaks!" The three were so busy talking, neither one noticed Mrs. Dawson and the other parents step out of the classroom to leave.
Shelby's face turned a deep shade of red upon noticing her teacher standing there, listening when she hadn't been able to speak in front of her, before. Her gaze went straight towards the floor and remained there.
Luke immediately put a comforting arm around his little buddy, rubbing her arm.
Shelby buried her face into his old army-looking jacket.
"You're fine, Shelby," her teacher told her as if the kid was overreacting. To the parents, she asked, "Shall we?"
Rachel exchanged a concerned look at Luke, as if to question if he thought having Shelby at this school was still best for her. Looking down at his little buddy, he knew in his gut this school was hell for her. There were only two months left of the school year. Hopefully she could hang in there until then.
All three started to head inside the classroom when Mrs. Dawson asked Shelby to wait outside, only wanting to speak with Luke and Rachel. Patting his arm, Shelby softly admitted in his ear she was okay with it and returned to her spot on the floor to continue reading. If only he didn't have to go in there, himself.
Once the adults were inside the classroom, Mrs. Dawson offered them each a seat at a rectangular table towards the back of the room. Relieved they were normal size, Luke pulled out the left chair on the side with two.
Mrs. Dawson fetched Shelby's file from a bin of hanging files in a filing cabinet near her desk.
While waiting, Luke glanced around the standard-looking third-grade classroom. Instead of desks, the students sat at tables similar to the one in the back, in groups of four. On each table, there was a glittery plastic basket in purple, lime green, or blue. The table closest to him had pencils, crayons, and rulers inside. There weren't any name tags since there wasn't any assigned seating. That part was one of the very few things Shelby actually liked about being there.
Rachel spoke up while Mrs. Dawson was flipping through the files, pointing out how well a student Shelby's other teachers had complimented her, already. The response she received made Luke's head jerk in Mrs. Dawson's direction.
"I'm surprised to hear that."
"Why is that?" Rachel asked, confused.
Mrs. Dawson finally found Shelby's file and brought it over, sitting in the chair across from them. "I understand switching schools in the middle of the school year can be hard for any child. Every teacher has their own lesson plan they teach and go at different speeds," she explained.
"Shelby says you were behind her old class," Rachel pointed out.
"That's what you and your wife said," she told Luke before turning back to Rachel. "I'm afraid that did not make things easier for Shelby." Mrs. Dawson then opened the file, turning it around and pushed the sheet of paper on top, closer to them. She showed them Shelby's latest report card and explained how Shelby was doing, academically.
Mrs. Dawson explained what past teachers had said, including the same struggles Mrs. Sweeney mentioned during the conference back in the fall. Afterwards, she told them about speaking with the school's special education teacher.
"I'm not sure if Shelby told you, but we went ahead and sent her to his classroom where he gave her a couple tests to complete, to see how well she does, overall, with math, reading, and writing."
"She mentioned something like that," Luke said that time, "but she wasn't sure what it was for."
"They were to show us if Shelby has a learning disability or not," she explained.
Luke's head flinched to the side upon hearing that.
It was Rachel who asked, "Learning disability?"
"Some children have a harder time and take longer to learn than the rest of their peers. Or, aren't able to learn at all. So we put together an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, to help them be able to succeed in school. Shelby will still be with us for most of the day, but during math and reading, she'll go to another classroom to work with Mr. Baxter, one on one, at her own pace."
"Hold on," Luke stepped in, confused about all the information the woman was giving them. "I thought this school helps kids who struggle in school. Isn't that why your class is smaller?"
"Yes, we do help kids and tend to go at a slower pace than a regular public school," Mrs. Dawson agreed with a nod. "However, some kids needs even more help and that's where Mr. Baxter comes in."
"So, what exactly does this mean for Shelby?" Rachel asked. "I know it takes her longer to grasp something and math and spelling aren't exactly her specialties, she's still a pretty bright kid. She can learn to play the music from her video games on her guitar."
Mrs. Dawson shrugged her hands she was holding on the table. "Usually, those who aren't gifted in the classroom, are usually gifted in the arts. That won't help her in the real world when she's older, I'm afraid. But, since it was caught fairly early enough, there might be still hope for her to succeed in college."
Rachel gave an offended look. "What do you mean being gifted in the arts won't help her in the real world?"
"Just what I said," Mrs. Dawson replied and then pushed the usual teacher response of the arts not being a "real job".
"I'm a photographer," Rachel pointed out her arts-centered career choice. "Luke and I are teaching Shelby to follow her passions."
"That's your choice," she said. "Even though we know the arts are important and can make an impact on academics, academics are still the most important in succeeding in life. On the positive side, you probably don't need to worry about having to pay for expensive schools such as Harvard or Yale."
Can she say that? She shouldn't say that, but can she?
Luke could feel a nerve in the side of his neck, throb. Voices of past teachers from high school came rushing back, shouting loudly against his skull, making comments of his own academic success, including how he should look into trade schools for further education.
Next thing he knew, Luke blurted out, "Shelby is a smart kid!" It caught the women by surprise. "She's already reading at a fourth-grade level." He only knew that because upon further inspection, A Series of Unfortunate Events was aimed at kids a little older than Shelby, Roger's parents didn't know that. They were only told she was already reading chapter books. "She's good at science. She can write amazing stories. So what if she struggles at math? She can count out change for a customer at the diner."
"I'm not saying Shelby is completely incapable of learning," Mrs. Dawson reassured him. "She just needs extra time like you said, and she'll get that. She'll also be able to take all further tests in there, so it can be open-book instead."
"Which means?" Rachel asked.
"She'll be able to look through the textbook to find the answer."
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of tests?"
Mrs. Dawson shook her head. "Students with learning disabilities also struggle with studying and processing the information they are learning. So, sometimes, that means allowing them to use their notes or the textbook to look up the correct answer."
Hearing all of this was still taking a toll on Luke. He didn't know how Rachel was feeling about being told their daughter had a learning disability, but Luke was finding it difficult to take in. He had already begun a college fund for Shelby, since the end of kindergarten, so they could pay for it when she graduated high school, in case she wanted to go to a school like Havard or Yale. Now, he felt so many anxieties go through him and thoughts raced through his mind of what would happen for his little buddy. How did his sister end up with the smart kid and he was being told his kid had some kind of disability?
Mrs. Dawson continued the meeting, moving on to how well Shelby was doing socially in class. What irked Luke was the very few positives she pointed out. At least Mrs. Sweeney was willing to work with Shelby's muteness while Mrs. Dawson tried to insist she start speaking up in class, especially now that she heard Shelby speak out in the hallway.
Rachel asked if the speech therapy was continuing there since Shelby had mentioned she wasn't seeing anyone yet. Mrs. Dawson wasn't sure about it yet and would need to find out for them despite Luke having mentioned it when he enrolled Shelby and it was in her transcripts from her old school. He was starting to wonder if this school was a bit unorganized. Or if it was just Mrs. Dawson.
By the end of the meeting, Luke was ready to get out of there. He shook Mrs. Dawson's hand at least, but was the first to leave.
Shelby was deep in her book some more when he tried to get her attention.
Rachel and Mrs. Dawson followed him out.
"Ready for lunch, peanut?" Rachel asked Shelby, who nodded.
Mrs. Dawson thanked them for coming and told Shelby she would see her, tomorrow.
Shelby waved back as a response.
"What was that?" she asked, pretending like Shelby had spoken but couldn't hear her.
Shelby stared back at her teacher. She ended up dropping her gaze towards the floor once more.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Shelby," Mrs. Dawson repeated and continued to wait for a reply.
Wanting to leave already, Luke told Shelby, "Come on, kiddo," and nudged her down the hallway towards the exit as he held a hand to her head. She kept her gaze to the floor as she turned around to walk beside him.
Behind them, he heard Rachel thank Mrs. Dawson out of respect before hurrying after them, catching up to walk on Shelby's other side.
"You okay, peanut?" she asked.
Shelby nodded towards the floor.
Looking up at him, Rachel asked, "Do you want me to talk to Shelby over lunch or should we talk about it together?"
As hard as it was, Luke felt he should be there. So, once they got outside in the parking lot, Luke lowered the tailgate of his truck so they had somewhere to sit. Rachel had a blanket to sit on in the back of her jeep to make it a little more comfortable.
Luke wasn't sure where to start. To his relief, Rachel took the initiative.
"Mrs. Dawson had a lot to say in there," she told Shelby. "Maybe not as nice as she should have been, but I guess it was somewhat insightful."
Shelby held a foot under her other leg with her hands in her lap. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you remember when you told me they made you go to another room to take a couple tests?"
Shelby nodded.
"Mrs. Dawson says that was to see if you have a," Rachel paused, stumbling on her words. "A barrier, I guess, that makes it hard for you to learn and why math is so hard for you."
"But, I know that already," Shelby pointed out.
"Yes, but she wanted to find the cause why math is hard for you."
"So, why?"
"She says you have, what's called, a learning disability," Rachel answered and explained what Mrs. Dawson had said about what a learning disability was, leaving out the parts that were opinions. Unfortunately, Shelby took it as if having a learning disability meant she was dumb.
Luke was quick to point out she wasn't dumb. "It just means you learn at a slower pace than others."
"And, that's okay, peanut," Rachel also added. "We all learn in different ways and have our own strengths and weaknesses. That's what makes us all unique."
Thinking about this, something Jess had once said about Shelby being slow but not dumb came to mind. He didn't know why he was remembering an offhand comment like that. The fact Jess could see something was wrong, made it even more heavy for him and was further proof Mrs. Dawson was right.
Rachel reassured Shelby she would get the help she needed. As a bonus, it also meant Shelby would spend less time in Mrs. Dawson's class.
"I like the sound of that," Shelby stated in a more upbeat way that made him smile and received a snicker from Rachel.
"Just don't catch a crush on this teacher," Rachel teased her, playfully.
Shelby frowned at the tease and whined, "Mom, sss-top."
Rachel gave a small laugh but reassured she was only teasing and asked if she was ready to finally have lunch.
Pulling her baseball cap out of her messenger bag, Shelby hopped down from the tailgate and swung her messenger over her head so Luke could shut it. While Rachel folded and put the blanket back in her jeep, Shelby hugged and kissed her dad, good-bye. He made sure to remind her she was still a bright kid in her own way, even if stuff like math wasn't her strong suit. Luke then watched her run over to the other side of Rachel's jeep to climb into the front seat.
This had to be every parent's worst nightmare to hear almost the same crap they were told growing up. Luke wanted better for his little buddy than what he got.
