Page 43 of Fierce-Jax

At least she didn’t think so.

“I just got home,” she said. “You can keep playing. I’m going to talk to Grandma for a few minutes.”

“Okay,” Gianna said, picking a mermaid and fish up and cramming them into each other, bubbles and water flying against the tile walls. “It’s an accident. It’s an accident. Call the police!” Her daughter was giggling and that lightened the mental load on her heart.

She walked back out and toward the kitchen. They could hear Gianna yelling and giggling and talking to her toys loudly.

“What happened at Pre-K today?”

“It doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Gianna said Max is always coming over to talk to her. He wants to sit with her and play and she does most times. She’s being nice, but he doesn’t like to get up and run around like she does.”

“Did she tell you it’s because he’s overweight and should move?” she asked drily.

“She didn’t say it as politely as that to me,” her mother said. “I asked if she mentioned it to Max or not and she said no.”

“Do you believe her?” she asked.

Her mother laughed. “I’m not sure. She knows it’s not nice to say anything about someone’s appearance. She said one girl in her class said Max was fat and he was slow. She was next to Maddy when it was said.”

The birthday girl.

Maddy’s mother was having a grand time pointing out people’s flaws with the other kids’ mothers at the party.

“So it’s possible Max thought Gianna said it or feels the same way and that he was trying to pick on her?”

“That is what I said to her,” her mother said.

Which was nice her mother thought the same way she did.

“What did she say?” she asked.

“That she didn’t like when Maddy said things about people, but if she said something back, then Maddy would say things abouther.”

She sighed. “They are too young to learn those behaviors,” she said. “But I know I can’t stop it.”

“You can teach her to do the right thing,” her mother said. “Like we did you.”

“What, tell someone off?” she asked. “I don’t need her making things worse.”

“You never told anyone off,” her mother said. She squinted her eyes. “Not that early. You just walked away. I’ll leave it to you to decide what to say.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

She went back to the bathroom where Gianna was still playing. “Am I in trouble?” her daughter asked.

“Did you hear Grandma and I talking?”

“Yes,” Gianna said.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Max is always by my side. I don’t want to only play with him, but no one else plays with him. I shouldn’t be stuck though, right?”

“No,” she said. “You shouldn’t. You should be allowed to have more than one friend. Have you tried to ask Max to play with you with your other friends?”

“They don’t like Max,” Gianna said.

“Why?” she asked.