The next day, Tristin took Jennifer to a shop to buy her new school uniform. This way she learned that she would go to a different school than the year before now. Her family had just moved accross the city as their old flat would have been too small once the twins were born. She also found out that at 6 years old she was already about to start year two in the English school system - she hoped it would be more
interesting than kindergarten in the US. The "uniform" only consisted of a dark blue sweatshirt and matching t-shirt with the school's logo on them. To Tristin's surprise, Jennifer liked it despite - or rather because of - the "boyish" colour.
At the shop, she noticed her mom's huge belly caught a lot of glances, and on the way home Tristin told her never to stare at strangers as it was really rude, complaining that "People look at me as if they've never seen a pregnant woman before."
Jennifer spent the next few weeks mostly at home with her mom who was already on maternity leave while her dad spent five days a week at work. She didn't have any friends yet in her new neighbourhood and quickly decided not to make any before school started. She didn't feel like playing with her fellow little princesses and hoped that even at school she'd be able to avoid it - hopefully being the new kid in an existing class would make her an outsider automatically. Tristin seemed a bit concerned about her daughter's loneliness and asked her
several times if she missed her friends from her old school. Of course Jennifer didn't miss children she didn't even remember, still her mom kept taking her to the playground around the corner from their flat, hoping that Jennifer would meet some nice kids her age there. Jennifer mostly ignored the others though, prefering to spent a lot of time on the big climbing frame and the swings, enjoying the physical exercise until her mom decided it was time to go home.
She noticed that as she was growing older, her parents took more care not to mention certain private things and uncomfortable topics around her, still she could gather from their dinner talk and her mom's frequent phone calls with friends and family that Tristin was facing the birth of the twins with mixed feelings. She was eager to get rid of the huge belly and the discomforts of pregnancy and
was glad once she had the date for her scheduled c-section, but on the other hand she had many worries. Apparently Jennifer's parents had both wanted another baby, but not necessarily two at once, and Tristin was afraid of the stress taking care of two infants would mean. She also worried about how Jennifer would react to being a big sister. Would she be jealous of her new siblings, would she still feel loved when her parents were busy with the twins? Once, Jennifer even overheard her mom saying she felt she already neglected her, not spending enough quality time with her due to fatigue and scolding her too often due to her bad mood.
Jennifer was deeply touched by her mom's worries and felt a deeper connection to her than ever since she had become her daughter. Maybe it was just because she saw how much Tristin cared about her, but maybe the fact that if she ended up growing up into a woman, which unfortunately seemed quite likely by now, she might become pregnant and face all the discomfort that entailed herself one day.
Jennifer resolved to take care later in life so she'd never get pregnant, but also to help her mom as much as possible and be the best daughter she could be.
Due to her small and weak body and limited skills, Jennifer's contribution was mostly to help carry a small bag of groceries when they went to the store, to keep her room tidy and to help mom pick things up from the floor, still Tristin noticed. Jennifer proudly overheard her telling people on the phone how happy she was about her daughter's eagerness to help and her maturity. Often Tristin praised
her big girl directly, telling her what a great big sister she was and offering lots of hugs and cuddles. Sometimes they'd sit on the sofa together with Jennifer snuggled up to her mom, watching the twins' visible kicks on her belly. To her surprise, she was actually enjoying those moments of closeness. In a way, her adult mind was an advantage to both of them, allowing her to understand Tristin's feelings and problems while also making her easier to deal with for her mom. But soon the situation would change drastically as the start of the school year and the birth of the babies would force them both to adapt again.