Here's my new chapter, sorry it took so long I had writers block. Thank you to Maggie (xoMaggiexo16xo) for all the ideas! You're awesome. And also thank you to my beta reader and best friend Alice (cookie-cutter-rockstar) for uploading my chapters and also giving me help in some ways. Please check out Alice's story it's called After the Last Chord and it's awesome. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Only Maggie-May and those that aren't in the movie!
Chapter Three - The Highs and Lows of Kindergarten
Four Years Later
Maggie's brown doe eyes stared wide at the building in front of her. She was wearing a little plaid skirt, white shirt and her curly hair braided into plaits. Today was her first day of kindergarten, away from her home for the day. Away from her daddy and her uncles. Her eyes began to dampen, she glanced up at her daddy he was deep in thought. Maggie stamped her foot quickly and tried to turn around but Jason holding her hand prevented her. She tried again but still no avail.
Jason turned averting his eyes down to his now four year old little girl. She had grown up so much in the past four years and he knew she was uncomfortable in the skirt, he knew that just growing up with him and having her uncles around nearly all the time, Maggie had just grown accustom to wearing shorts and converses; not skirts and shoes. A heavy sigh groaned from the bottom of his throat. He didn't want Maggie to go to school, he'd rather her stay at home and be homeschooled there, he wasn't ready to let her go yet. Maggie was his little girl. He sighed again and bent down to her level.
"Pal, look at me." Jason spoke with ease, a smile on his face, even though he was worrying on the inside. The smile fell from his face as he saw Maggie refuse to follow his order.
"Margaret-Maye Tabitha, look at me young lady!" his voice didn't raise but he knew that pulling the full name card would get her attention; Maggie didn't like it when her daddy was angry at her. Her little head looked towards her father's face, her cheeks flush red from the water soaking her hazel brown eyes, her bottom lip began to tremble quite violently. Jason's heart broke at the sight of his daughter; he hated seeing his daughter so upset. He quickly scooped her up in his arms and held her close to him, her little arms clinging to his neck as tears began to fall against his shoulder.
"Maggie, pal, are you scared of going?" he felt movement against him and knew she nodded her head.
"Are you scared that daddy will leave you and won't come back?" Again, he felt a nod. Another sigh escaped his lips, he'd been sighing a lot quite recently; he placed Maggie back on the ground and looked in her eyes again, down to her level.
"Baby girl, you have to go to school, daddy will be back to pick you up at quarter past two, the time will fly Mags. You'll make tons of friends and have loads of fun; you'll probably want to stay when I come get you. How about this, we'll go visit Uncle Shane and Uncle Nate today after I pick you up. You can paint them a pretty picture, how about that Mags." Jason felt the tension leave his body as relief over took him as he saw his daughter's infamous grin.
"Okay Daddy, I love you." She reached up for his hand and they began towards her new classroom,
"I love you too pal, I love you too."
Children's voices merged together whilst doing certain fun activities. Maggie looked in nervously as she cuddled nearer to her father. A woman walked up to them with a warm welcoming smile on her face. She reached her hand out to shake Jason's hand.
"Mr Gray, I see you've made it. Margaret-Maye will be treated like all students here so she can have normal schooling like we discussed over the phone." Her voice was welcoming and calm as well, settling Jason's nerves. The woman bent down to Maggie's level,
"Hello Margaret-Maye, I'm Miss Phoebe; I'm your teacher and I promise you that you will have such a fun time, daddy will be back to pick you up real soon!" Maggie looked up at her dad then to the woman, she shyly walked forward dropping her fathers hand and walked towards the friendly woman her head bowed down a bit.
"I'm Maggie-Maye …" before she could continue a little blonde haired girl walked up and started talking to Maggie,
"Hi I'm Selena, you want to be my friend Maggie?" Maggie nodded her little head and both girls run off laughing holding hands towards the table where two seats were spare. Jason took one more look at his daughter sitting and talking animatedly to her new friend, his daughter was growing up and even though he adored the sight, he wished his daughter didn't grow up as quick as the last four years had been.
***
Maggie and Selena were sat at the table colouring pictures of their family, Miss Phoebe had set them a task of drawing 4 pictures of their family at different places like the park and beach. Miss Phoebe walked behind Selena and Maggie, admiring their colourings,
"They're brilliant girls keep up the good work!" She pleased the young girls; they both giggled in unison and looked at each other, smiling. Maggie looked up to see a girl certainly taller than her, glare at her with big blue eyes, her ginger hair piled on top of her head in a high pony tail, before turning around whispering something to all the other girls at her table before all of them turned and glared at her as well. Selena looked up when Maggie-Maye stopped colouring after a while. She saw Maggie looking over to a certain table and she followed her vision, she quickly glared back at the little girl and her friends, causing them to go back to their work. She tapped Maggie on her shoulder grabbing the curly haired girls attention.
"That's Rose Tammie, she thinks she's the best cause her mommy works with the mayor. She acts all nice in front of Miss Phoebe but on the playground she's naughty, she likes picking on people. Nobody ever tattles though, nobody likes a tattle tail." Selena explained to Maggie and she carried on with her pictures as Maggie looked back at Rose nervously before carrying on with her pictures to give to her daddy and her uncles just like she promised her daddy this morning. She bit her bottom lip and distracted herself from her colouring once more, turning towards Selena.
"You don't think she would do something to me?" Maggie eyes started darting around the room looking out for anything that could possibly hurt her in one way or another. Selena shrugged her shoulders, Maggie sighed and continued colouring.
***
Jason sighed as he sat in Maggie's room on her bed randomly strumming his guitar, playing her song. It had only been a few hours since he dropped Maggie off at kindergarten and he was bored out of his mind. He would normally spend his time taking Maggie to the park and let her strum his guitar, but now he could do nothing. His brothers had agreed to have band practise when she got home but from the way he was feeling he was starting to rethink the decision made. Jason failed to hear his brothers enter the little girl's bedroom.
"It sure is weird not having Mags-a-million round." Shane stated sitting one side of Jason, Nate the other. Jason let out another sigh sitting up and placing his Gibson on the floor. He ran his hand through his curly hair,
"You should have seen her this morning guys, she started crying and refused to let me go. She thought that I was going to leave her there forever and weren't going to pick her up. But once we were there and her teacher introduced herself, no goodbye daddy and went straight off to sit at a table with another little girl. Guys I'm so glad she's making friends, but it seems just like yesterday she was having her first bath. It's gone by so fast; it's quite a daunting thought." Nate sat up to his older brothers level, placing his hand on his shoulders making Jason avert his gaze to him from the picture of him and Maggie on her 4th birthday.
"Jase, bro, she's five and her uncles and dad are in the spotlight with a highly popular band. She has to have a normal life and have friends. I know this is hard I mean me and Shane are missing her too I mean we still watched Barney this morning because we usually watch it with Mags. Dude even though Maggie's growing up she will always be your little girl and we've got her growing up on tape so the memories will always be there. All I know Jason is that we are all going to enjoy the other memories even if there bad." Nate's monologue made Jason stand up, placing his hands in his hair again. A sigh escaped his mouth again before turning to face his brothers,
"Guys I think we made a mistake…" Jason started before Shane cut him off before he could continue.
"No dude, don't drag Mags-a-million out of kindergarten! Didn't Nate's monologue get through to you at all I mean …"
"Shane I meant maybe we should do band practise during the day instead of when Maggie-Maye gets home from kindergarten, you know to make time pass quicker!" Shane sat back down on Maggie's bed turning a slight tint of embarrassment as Jason released a small smile for the first time since he left Maggie-Maye this morning.
***
The shrilling sound of the bell emitted through the kindergarten class stopping all the children immediately waiting for Miss Phoebe to allow them to go out and play before they wrote out the alphabet to learn at home with an object which started with that certain letter.
"Alright now children, break will last for twenty minutes if anyone does anything naughty, they'll have to spend break inside ok?" Her class nodded and made their way outside, Miss Phoebe turned around and jumped slightly seeing Maggie still sat at the table looking at the table. She made her way over and sat down next to the little girl. She put her hand under the little girls' cheek and turned it so she was looking straight towards her.
"Maggie, are you scared of going outside?" She wasn't surprised to see her nod her little head.
"Maggie-Maye I'll be outside as well ok so there's no need to be scared. If anyone hurts you or bullies you, come straight to me so we can sort it out." Maggie-Maye shook her head no, surprising Miss Phoebe.
"Then I'll be a tattle. No one likes a tattle." Her voice quivering as she voiced her truth.
"Maggie. You won't be a tattle. You'll be doing the right thing. Other children say this because they tell me the right thing, then feel bad. But trust me Margaret-Maye; you WILL be doing the right thing by telling me ok?" Miss Phoebe tried to convince her she was doing the right thing. She released a smile when Maggie nodded her head in agreement her plaits flowing in the same direction.
Maggie-Maye made her way over to Selena in the sandbox and sat down, immediately starting to build sand castles excitedly talking to one another talking about anything and everything. The sun was suddenly taken away from their faces, turning around they were face to face with Rose Tammie. Rose face held an intimidating stare to the new girl and began to tap her foot to a certainly slow rhythm; her tiny arms crossed against her chest.
"Look here girls, the new girl, she can't even speak properly and look at those curls!" Rose pointed towards Maggie and started to laugh with all her friends. Maggie looked down at the sand as Selena stayed quiet not knowing what to say. Rose pointed towards Maggie, wiggling her little finger to beckon her to stand up.
"Didn't your daddy twell you pointing is rude?" she asked innocently towards the taller girl and she stood up, unbeknownst to them Miss Phoebe was watching from by the swings. Rose smile soon turned into a snarl and raised her voice,
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Before anyone could stop Rose reached out and pushed Maggie over roughly on the tarmac causing her to graze her knees and kicked her once; her friends laughing along with Rose.
"Rose Tammie back in the classroom now and sit in that naughty chair!" Miss Phoebe shouted at the little girl. Rose's bottom lip trembled but no tears appeared as she made her way back to the classroom. Maggie was still on the floor her little arms wrapped round her legs crying her little heart out in pain, both knees had cuts that were not too deep but not too shallow; a bruise would be sure to form on her shin later.
"Everybody inside playtime is ending now; start working on your alphabet pictures!" Miss Phoebe told the rest of the kindergarteners as she picked up Maggie and took her to the nurses' office after making sure the rest of the children were in the classroom doing the work set and Rose was still in the naughty chair, the teaching assistant looking after them.
***
The sound of What Did I Do To Your Heart filled the basement of the 2 storey house of the Grey household. Jason felt a shiver go down his spine, and it wasn't a good one. He wasn't paying attention causing him to miss some notes, causing the rest of the group to stop playing. They tried to get through to him but he was just staring at a picture of Maggie, him, Shane and Nate. He turned and glared at Shane when a pillow brought him out of his one sided staring contest.
"Jase, bro, what's up? You never stopped playing unless something was up with Mags." Nate questioned his thoughts. Jason let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding; placing his Gibson guitar by the sofa, rubbing his hand over his eyes.
"I was fine till I got a shiver run down my spine and it wasn't a good one. Do you remember that time when we took Maggie swimming and I went to go to the bathroom but came back straight away because I got that shiver; it turned out that the wave machine was turned on and she drifted away from you two and Shane only just managed to grab her before she got to the deep end? I got THAT shiver. Something's happened to her at kindergarten, I just know it." Shane and Nate looked at each other then back at Jason, they knew not to question him, he was probably right. Shane glanced at the clock,
"Dude another half an hour and then you can pick Mags-a-million up. Me and Nate will even come!" Nate nodded in agreement; Jason just wanted the time to go faster.
Half an hour later
Jason ran out to his car and had the engine running before Nate and Shane had the time to put their shoes on. He really wanted his little girl back badly. Shane quickly called shot gun leaving Nate to sit in the back with Maggie-Maye's car seat. It was a very uneventful ride to the kindergarten but Shanes singing out of key to Beyoncẻ on the radio. It seemed like forever to Jason but they finally reached the kindergarten. Jason quickly found a space parked and entered the building anxiously his brothers following behind; all three desperate to see the little girl. Reaching the entrance to the classroom, they saw other parents picking up their children, Shane, Nate and Jason finally made their way through the small crowd; their eyes gazing at Maggie sat at a table with Miss Phoebe talking.
They slowly began to make their way towards her, Miss Phoebe just happened to glance their way and whispered to the little girl; making Maggie glance their way and in a split second was running to her daddy's arms Jason swirled her around; the plasters on her knees caught her uncle's attention. Jason's eyes widened as he heard Maggie sobbing quite hard in his shoulder, he held her closer to his body. Miss Phoebe stepped in when Shane started rubbing Maggie-Mayes back, Nate holding her little hand.
"I think your all wondering why Maggie-Maye is this upset and has plasters on her knees. Well if you would like to take a seat I will explain." With saying that Miss Phoebe went to her desk as all three sat opposite her, Maggie still placed on Jason's lap.
"To begin with, even though it's Maggie-Mayes first day but she has shown she is very intelligent young girl, today she not only drew four pictures of her family she's starting, like her classmates, are self teaching themselves the alphabet by writing the letter then an object they know perfectly well drawn next to it. However when the children went out for a break today I witnessed something. Maggie-May and her friend Selena in the sand-pit when Rose Tammie who is rather intimidating child, to others; walked over to Maggie pointing at her and when Maggie stood up she probably said something and Rose ended up pushing her over and kicking her before I sent her inside."
Jason shifted in his seat, "Knowing my daughter she probably said something along the lines of pointing is rude." Maggie nodded against her father's neck proving that what he said was indeed what she had said. Her sobbing had subsided and was calming down; Jason kissed her cheek lovingly.
"Now I've spoken to Rose Tammie's mother and we've agreed on the terms, and if you agree to them to, that Rose will not be allowed anywhere near Maggie and will be seated the other side of the classroom and if it so much as it does happen again Rose will be moved to another kindergarten. But we will try 110% to prevent this from happening." Miss Phoebe finished what she had to say. Jason shared a look with his brothers and all nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, agreed." Was all Jason could say then he stated shaking hands with Miss Phoebe, his brothers following suit; before grabbing Maggie-Mayes pictures and heading back home.
7 O'clock that evening
Maggie-Maye sighed, she sat on top of her bed looking at the pictures spread out on top of the bed spread. When she got home she told her dad and uncles about all the good things that happened that day, had some dinner and had been in her room for the last hour, just staring at the pictures. She had yet to show and give them out for the person she drew them for. She didn't hear her door open or her Uncle Nate and Shane, or her father enter the room.
"Well Jason I have no idea where Mags-a-million is!" Shane explained exaggerating looking everywhere including under the bed, Jason followed him; looking under the bed.
"Guys! Mags must BE invisible!" Nate exclaimed. Maggie-Maye giggled at their silliness.
"I'm right here!!" Maggie continued her giggle when her daddy and Uncle Shane in unison popped their head up higher than the bed; eventually sitting on the floor. Nate gasped quickly grabbing her tickling her, taking her place on the bed and placing her in his lap.
"Now then pal, why did you come up here? You normally beg to stay up and to stay down stairs with us until you fall asleep." Jason consoled to his daughter. Maggie sighed and looked down.
"I dwon't want to go back daddy, I might of made a friend; but it's a nasty place!" The three men shared a look; before Shane started talking.
"Mags-a-million, we all love you so much, we don't like having you away but it's compulsory, which means you have to go unless we home school you. But we want you to make friends because we know you don't like being lonely, and if you stay here everyday you will be. And you've already got a best friend Selena. If you don't go to school daddy could be taken away, you don't want that do you." Shane cleverly talked to Maggie making her understand and he smiled successfully when he saw her shake her head no.
"I drew you thwese today." She stated handed them each one picture. Nate looked at his picture and saw that she had drawn him and her in the basement him strumming his guitar whilst she was strumming with her fingers also. They always did this it was like a ritual between the two of them since she did a few years ago. Shane's showed him and Maggie at the park, with her on his shoulders whilst they fed the ducks. Jason couldn't look away from his drawing. Maggie had drawn him and her on the sofa asleep with the TV on, there were many pictures of this around the house because it happened all the time. Jason looked up and kissed Maggie on the head his brothers following suit.
The next day
Maggie again gripped Jason's hand as they made their way into the classroom Maggie shrunk into his side as Rose Tammie was sat at her new assigned seat and her mother talking to her in a hushed voice. Maggie looked towards her daddy as she saw Selena wave to her smiling big. She tugged on Jason's trousers so he came down to her level.
"Bye daddy, I'll be alwright I love you." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him.
"I love you to pal." Jason kissed her on the forehead and released her from the hug, smiling as she greeted her best friend.
So what did you think? Please review!