Janie Tanner ~A Watty's 2019 Submission

Chapter 13

"Stephanie honey, what do you mean you're not going to school?" Stephanie shrugged, just sitting on the step, Janie sitting beside her and putting her arm around her younger sister, a little confused and very concerned.

"I don't feel good, maybe I'll go next year." Stephanie told them, looking quite fine, which of course, they called her bluff.

"You don't look sick." Jesse told her, crossing his arms, so she frowned.

"Is this better?" She asked him, and Joey walked over, studying her fake sick face.

"Well, the face is almost there. Give it kind of a" he pushed her lip in. "like that, and throw in a real hacking cough." He gave a real loud cough, Stephanie copying him, just as DJ came back in.

"Come on, we're going to miss the bus." Stephanie coughed at her, and DJ furrowed her eyebrows. "Stephanie, are you okay?" Joey gave her a high five.

"See, now your tricking people." Danny shook his head as he helped Janie get to her feet and handed her her backpack.

"DJ, Janie, you go on ahead. Stephanie's a little nervous about her first day of school. I'll make sure she gets there." DJ shook her head, but Janie put her hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Deej. We don't want to miss the buses." They rode different buses, but they had the same bus stop.

"Okay, I'll see you there." They both left as Stephanie moved past her father, her uncle, and Joey and sat on the couch as though nothing was wrong, but Danny wasn't having it.

"Stephanie, where are you going? Stephanie, I want to talk to you.
Stephanie didn't respond, and he squatted down in front of her. "Sweetheart, don't you want to go to school and be smart?" She shrugged again. She didn't see the problem with her not going to school.

"I'll stay home and watch public television." Danny sighed, but Jesse wasn't going to take crap from a five-year-old, and squatted down beside Danny.

"Come on Stephanie, spill your guts." He told her, and she sat up at once. She was ready for a battle. "Why don't you want to go to school?" She didn't fight. She just let out a sigh and said what she was thinking.

"Because I don't know anybody." She said nervously. "I will be all alone, it'll be real scary. I won't know anybody, and I won't have any friends." Danny's heart melted at the sound of how afraid his young daughter was of going to school.

"Oh, Stephanie, you're going to make friends, I promise." Stephanie didn't look convinced, and Danny made an executive decision. "You and I, we're going to go down there together, and Daddy's not going to leave until everything's alright." Stephanie balked at his words. What?

FULL HOUSE

Danny, Michelle, and Stephanie arrive at Stephanie's school, Stephanie stepping inside the classroom for a split second, before stepping right back out and looking to Danny.

"Okay, I came to kindergarten! We can go home now!" She ran out to the playground, and Danny ran after her, really trying to help her.

"Stephanie, wait a minute." He followed her out to the playground and took her hand, trying to stay calm. "Honey, sweetheart don't worry, you're going to feel a lot better after you meet somebody." He looked around, and saw a little blonde haired girl in a black dress with her mother. "Oh look, here comes a nice little girl right now."

"I'M NEVER GOING BACK IN THERE AGAIN! NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" She ran away, her exhausted looking mother running after her, and Stephanie gave Danny a dirty look.

"Let's wait for another little girl, one who has a better outlook on life." Danny tried to find something else to distract Stephanie, before he settled on the playground. "I know, we'll just we play for a while and just ease our way into this." He looked over, and saw a slide, and quickly pulled his two youngest daughters over to the slide. "Oh look, honey, it's a slide, your very favorite!" Stephanie gave him another look.

"This is like the lollypop they give you before you get the shot, isn't it?" Danny shook his head quickly.

"Oh no no no no." To himself, he said, "Why didn't I bring a lollypop?" He then helped her up the ladder to the top of the slide. "Here, come on honey we're going to play on the slide! Here we go, what fun! Weeeeeeeeee!" He squealed as Stephanie slid down, though she didn't look like she was having much fun. "Oh weeeee! Oh that was fun! Now it's my turn! Here I go, here we go! Weeee! Here I go!" He got up onto the slide himself with Michelle in his lap. "Weeeeeeeeeee!" he called as he slid down, Stephanie not looking very impressed, but Danny kept trying. "Oh, if we're having this much fun outside the class, just imagine the barrel of monkeys waiting for us inside!" That was when Michelle began to fuss, and his attention turned to his baby, looking concerned. "Michelle, oh honey! What's wrong sweetheart?"

"She's scared too, see what she did?" Stephanie told him, pointing at her diaper, and Danny took a sniff, grimacing at the smell.

"Ooooh yeah, she's got a Pamper full of fright." He commented, before taking both girls back inside and heading for the bathroom. "I'm going to go and change her really quick. Sweetheart, I want you to wait inside the class, okay." Then he hurried away, and Stephanie sighed.

"Okay, but I don't know anybody in here." She then walked into the classroom, and was shocked when she saw what was inside.