"...you're going to talk like you look, too," Tina instructed. "If you're going to act like toddler, you might as well go all the way and speak like one." To Tina's confusion, Leah actually looked relieved at this instruction.
"Otay," Leah said quietly. Tina grabbed a wipe and began to clean Leah's face of the makeup that had been ruined by her tears. "Tina, I sorry."
"I can tell." Tina threw away the wipe. "But punishments are punishments. I can't just let you get away with this sort of behavior! I mean, you're a teenager! You need to learn how to act like one." There was a strange expression on Leah's face. "Leah? Is something wrong?"
"How I act that?" Leah asked hesitantly. Tina frowned.
"How do you act like a teenager?" she asked. Leah nodded. "Well..." Tina wasn't actually sure how to respond to that, so she deflected. "We'll discuss your behavior and how to properly act when we get home. We still need to finish shopping."
Tina put Leah in the seat of the shopping cart and they resumed shopping. As they shopped, Leah played on her phone. Tina glanced over a few times to see the game on screen was one meant for children. Then, Leah began sucking on her thumb as she played the game on her phone. Leah was really leaning into posing as a toddler. No doubt she didn't want someone to see and recognize her.
Leah was relieved to be able to talk again, even if it was just toddler speak. But she had a new problem.
She knew she should be doing big girl stuff on her phone, not this. But she didn't know what big girl stuff was. When Tina had told her she needed to learn how to act like a teenager, all that knowledge immediately left her brain. Meaning that she, quite literally, had to learn how teenagers acted. All she knew right now was how to be a little kid. It was better than only knowing how to be a toddler or, worse, a baby, but given that Leah knew she was supposed to be a big girl, still upsetting. That was why she was sucking her thumb. If she didn't, she would cry. After all, that was what little kids did. And that was all she knew what to do.