Classified: A New Life

Chapter V: Day 9; Afternoon

Dropping this chapter early in celebration of the new year! Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, and please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think, I love hearing your thoughts!

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"Hi, Emmy!" Kori almost-shouts.

That's all the warning Emory gets before she's blindsided by the other Little. She's caught off-guard by the intensity of the other girl's greeting, and ends up flat on her butt, arms still wrapped around Kori. With her diaper cushioning the fall, it's not painful, but she still giggles in surprise at Kori's antics.

"Hi, Kori! I missed you!" Emory says, smiling so hard that her face hurts. "It feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

Kori laughs. "It's only been a week, silly." she points out. "I missed you too though. It's nice to have someone my age around. The bigger kids scare me sometimes, they like to play really rough--especially Kale and Mitchell."

Emory frowns thoughtfully. "How? I thought we were supposed to sit criss-cross-applesauce and be quiet for storytime..."

"We are," Kori agrees. "But there's a playground outside that we play on afterwards, sometimes. Last week everyone had stuff to do after storytime, so no one went outside. Maybe we can go today though."

"Oh, that might be fun." Emory says, fiddling with the strap on her overalls. "I have to ask Mellie if we're doing anything after storytime though."

"Okay." Kori smiles at her. "You gotta loosen up a little, Emmy."

"Loosen up? Why, what am I doing wrong?" Emory wonders. She feels a lot more relaxed than last time she was here, but she's still not quite used to being around other people yet. Kori is nice, but also kind of intimidating--she's so comfortable with herself and with being a Little in general.

"You're not doing anything wrong." Kori explains. "You're just really tense. You look kinda constipated."

"Hey!" Emory says indignantly, pouting. "I'm not..." she sighs. "I'm not constipated." she says, her voice barely above a whisper. At least, she hopes not, since she's usually gone by now, and she hasn't yet today. She's not going to tell Kori that though.

"You just look uncomfortable, and kinda scared." Kori shrugs. "Seemed like a pretty safe bet to me."

"I am uncomfortable and kinda scared." Emory confesses.

"What for? No one here is gonna do anything bad to you, there are grown-ups everywhere. And besides, how are you gonna do fun stuff like playdates and sleepovers and stuff if you're always so nervous?"

"I dunno." Emory admits. "I just don't like being away from Mellie. She makes me feel safe. And what if I say or do something dumb, and then everyone thinks I'm weird or something?"

"Unless you're the type to eat glue, crayons, or bugs, I think you'll be just fine." Kori explains, ticking things off on her fingers.

Emory makes a face. "Ew. People do that? Why?"

"I don't know. People are weird sometimes. I wouldn't recommend the crayon thing though, they're not very good."

Emory just stares at Kori in disbelief. "You ate a crayon?"

"Not all of it." Kori defends herself with a shrug. "I was hungry, it said Wild Watermelon, and I was curious. It did not taste like watermelon. Daddy says it made for an interesting diaper change though."

Emory giggles. "That's pretty silly...and kinda gross."

"Yeah, but that's my point. You need to relax. Be sillier! It'll be a lot easier to get comfortable with being a Little once you stop worrying so much about acting like a grown-up."