Leah tries to look on the bright side. Like she said, taking a break from high school will be nice. And this way, she gets to dress as babyish as she wants without worrying about being teased for it. But she quickly comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t like Tina’s decision. She wants to dress like a baby, but not at the cost of going to daycare!
“Actually, I don’t think daycare is a good idea,” Leah says. Tina sighs.
“Do you really want to go to high school like this? Needing to go to the nurse’s office any time you have an accident, potentially walking around in a messy or wet diaper for a while because you haven’t realized you had an accident?”
“I don’t need diapers.”
“Sweetie, you do,” Tina says patiently. Leah opens her mouth to continue arguing. Tina pops a pacifier in. Leah sucks on it instinctively. “This conversation is over.”
As they finish shopping, Leah suckles on the pacifier for much-needed comfort, thinking about how poorly things have gone. If she confesses that she used the diaper on purpose, Tina will be mad, and Leah’s dad might get involved. So, for the time being, she’ll just have to suck it up and go to daycare. She can pretend that her potty training is getting better gradually, and before she knows it, she’ll be back in high school. Changing her wardrobe permanently can be something she handles after she’s out of daycare.
“Leah,” Tina says suddenly, as she and Leah are heading for the car. “Isn’t there a daycare at the high school?” Leah removes the pacifier to respond.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Well, it occurred to me that, if you still want to go to high school, you could just go to the daycare there.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No, it’s not. And I can’t just have you go to the daycare any time you need a change, since you’ve already shown you don’t know when you need one. But I could tell your teachers about the situation, and they can drop your coursework off at the daycare in the morning. You can do your coursework at the daycare.”
“Um…”
“Actually, I like that!” Tina says, her face brightening. “Yes, this is the best way to do things! You won’t get behind on schoolwork, you can see your friends, but you’ll still be supervised constantly in case of accidents.”
“Uh…” Leah says, a bit more urgently.
“Load up, Leah. I need to make some calls.” Tina pulls out her phone and walks away. Leah’s heart sinks. Things just keep getting worse. She should have come clean from the beginning. But there’s no stopping Tina now.
Leah crawls into the car seat Tina keeps in her car for work emergencies and buckles herself in. She might as well enjoy being babyish now, since she’ll be dealing with some serious issues later. Tina comes back.
“Oh, you got in the car seat! Good, someone dressed like you certainly should be in one.” Tina gets in the driver’s seat. They pull out of the parking lot. “I called the school and explained everything. It’s all set up. I’ll drop you off in the morning. Someone from the daycare will bring you there, and you’ll be given your coursework for the day once you arrive. If you finish your coursework early, you’re allowed to spend the rest of the day playing with the other daycare attendees. When school ends, you’ll be brought outside with the other daycare attendees, and I’ll pick you up.”
“Got it,” Leah mumbles reluctantly.
“Look, this is the best option until you get yourself back on track. Once you’ve moved up to only wearing training pants at night, you can go back to school like normal. But before then, you’ll need to prove you don’t need any sort of protection during the day.” Tina smiles at Leah in the rearview mirror. “And don’t worry about word of your problem spreading. The only people who know your situation are your teachers, the principal, the nurse, the guidance counselor, and the people at the daycare.”
“…Thanks for making sure it stays kinda secret,” Leah says quietly. Tina beams and thanks her.
The rest of the day is spent with Tina happily preparing for Leah’s new school setup. Tina chooses an adorable pink dress so short that it only covers part of Leah’s diaper. Leah should be thrilled by the dress, matching diaper cover, shoes, and bow, but she’s just dreading the morning. After dinner, Leah uses her diaper on purpose, submits herself for a change, and then goes to bed.
Leah wakes up with a completely dry diaper. Sighing in defeat, knowing she needs to keep up her façade, Leah wets herself. She then gets out of bed, squats, and empties her bowels. Tina comes in shortly after.
“All right, time for a change and to get ready for school!” Tina chirps, bringing Leah into the bathroom, where she’s already set up a spot to change Leah on the counter. She lays Leah on her back, removes Leah’s clothes, then opens Leah’s diaper. “Phew! You definitely need a new diaper!”
As Leah gets changed, thoughts race through her mind. This is her last chance to try to get out of going to the high school daycare.