What do you do when you look 7 years old, but you're actually a college student in your late teens? For Kathleen's entire life, she had fought against people treating her much younger than her actual age. Feeling obligated to grow up fast to show people she wasn't the age of her size, Kathleen never let her inner child out. Tired of fighting against the world, she explores the adult submissive world. What she finds, however, is an enjoyment of regression. Had she made a mistake? Would life be better if she just let people treat her how she looks, 7 years old?

Katie was talking to Laura about Christmas present wishes while the latter was hanging around with her schoolmates.

Mrs. Holt, the Office Secretary, thundered, "Students go to your classrooms."

The regressed girl stepped to the side to get out of the way for the rest of the students. When the horde had passed, she turned to walk back to her temporary guardians, the Schneiders.

"I said all students go to their classrooms," Mrs. Holt said before rudely spinning Katie around.

Katie said, "I don't go to this school, Ma'am."

The secretary repeated the demand a little louder while grabbing Katie’s hand.

The regressed girl was getting nervous now. She said, "I don't go to this school, Miss."

"Yes, you do. And all students must go to their classrooms," the lady said while yanking Katie into the lower elementary wing of the building, where all the other kids Katie’s size had just gone.

The little girl thought that hurt and was getting quite scared now. She tried forcing Kathleen up and saying, "Listen, lady. I do NOT go to this school."

To the lady, Katie didn't sound like a nineteen-year-old. She sounded like a naughty seven-year-old getting cocky. Doubling down, Mrs. Holt pulled Katie towards the classrooms. It was obvious the kid was a first, second, or third grader, but she wasn’t sure which. The teachers would know. Again, while pushing Katie to those classes, she said, "GO TO YOUR CLASSROOM."

Katie, realizing that Kathleen was her last hope, started to cry, "Miss" … cry … "I" … cry … "don't" … cry … "go" … cry … "here."

Again, the lady screamed that the girl had to go to her classroom while pushing her down the hall.

Katie, by now, was so worked up that her heart was racing. She started to get dizzy, and her legs buckled under her. That just got the lady even more upset. She tried to force the little girl to get up.

Principal Mesmer asked the Schneiders, "You only checked out here, right? Not in the classrooms?"

"Why would she go there? She doesn't go to this school," Lyle Schneider pointed out while hugging his distraught wife.

The Principal said, "It is the only other location that she can be. I will go check."

Principal Mesmer was opening the door to the lower elementary wing of the building when he heard a child scream. There in front of him was a kid matching the description of the missing child. She was in a lump on the floor, and Miss Grouchy, I am never wrong, Pearl Holt was trying to yank her up.

Steve Mesmer yelled, "Pearl, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get this brat to her classroom. I’ve had it with this kid. Now that you're here, you can do it instead," she said, turning to leave.

Approaching the little girl, Steve stated, "You are going nowhere. And why would I take Katie, who doesn't go here, to a classroom."

"She does, too. Look at her," the lady said.

Principal Mesmer looked down at the little girl, "Because she is in a Christmas dress?"

"Yes! Plus, she was with the rest of the kids."

"Do you really think that Washington Elementary students have exclusive rights to Christmas dresses? And no one else can buy them? Do you think friends can’t be from different schools?"

"Umm. … No. No. No," Pearl realized she might have messed up big time. She was already on shaky ground after the last incident, and she wasn't sure if her connections at the mayor's office had 'fixed' the problem.

Mr. Mesmer bent down to the crying and shivering girl. Softly and with as much comfort as he could muster, he asked, "Are you ok, Katie?"

"No!" … cry … "My" … cry … "arm" … cry … "hurts." … cry … "My" … cry … "legs" … cry … "won't" … cry … "work." … cry … "I" …cry … "am" … cry … "Scared." … cry … "I" … cry … "want" … cry … "my" … cry … "Daddie!" Katie answered.

When the strange man picked Katie up, she immediately hugged his neck tightly. Principal Mesmer made two observations: Katie winced when she moved her arm to hug him, and this seven-year-old was wearing a diaper. Assumptions were made that the little thing must be in special education.

“I” … cry … “want” … cry … “my” … cry … “Daddie!” Katie got out.

Looking again at the person who had caused another kid to cry, he said, "We will discuss this kidnapping tomorrow with the Superintendent."

Pearl snapped back, "I didn't kidnap her."

"You forcibly took a kid in diapers away from her guardians without permission,” Steve paused and looked at Katie. "The girl is terrified; the guardians are beside themselves, and you are just lucky I stopped them from calling the cops."

Pearl just nodded with a huge lump in her throat.

"Now get ready to play the piano. We have a concert to put on while I deal with this angel," Principal Mesmer instructed. Smiling down at the girl hugging his neck as if her life depended on it, "I don't know who your Daddie is, but will the Schneiders be ok?"

Katie, between cries, agreed to the Schneiders. She hung on to him as he walked into the lobby.

"Katie, you are ok!?" Denise questioned when she saw a crying Katie being carried by Principal Mesmer.

"Not exactly,” Mr. Mesmer said as he handed Katie over to Lyle. “She appears to be scared and is asking for her Daddie. She’s complaining about a sore arm and legs that don’t work. I saw Pearl Holt yanking her arm in an attempt to get Katie to a classroom. I will be investigating that tomorrow. Do you want the nurse to look at her arms and legs?”

Denise’s Mommie instincts wanted to get Katie checked out, but she was not really seven. Softly, Mrs. Schneider turned to Katie for guidance, "Do you want to see the nurse? We can go to your Daddie, but you will miss Laura singing."

“No!” … sniffle … “nurse!” … sniffle … "Laura" … sniffle … "first," … sniffle … "Daddie" … sniffle … "later," Katie responded as she was becoming less scared.

Lyle turned to the Principal, “She apparently doesn’t want to see the nurse. If she is still complaining tomorrow, someone will get her checked by a doctor..”

Katie was crying and hugging Mr. Scneider’s neck as he carried her to the back of the auditorium. Lyle knew something significant must have happened. Katie had twelve years of experience being seven, so what did that nasty Pearl do to break her?

Once his bride had sat down, Lyle handed Katie to her. He watched as the girl laid her tiny head on his bride's shoulder. He was happy she wasn't crying as much as she was ten minutes ago.

"Sorry about the delay, folks. We had an emergency in the back. But everything is mostly fine. The show must go on," the Principal said. "May I introduce Miss Yoder's Kindergarten's singing 'Here Comes Santa Claus.'"

Katie had basically tuned out the world as the kindergarteners sang. She felt someone tap her shoulder. Turning to look, Katie saw Principal Mesmer standing in the aisle, holding a candy cane out to her. With a massive smile on her face, she accepted the candy cane and quickly got it unwrapped. Once the cane was in her mouth, she leaned her head back against Mrs. Schneider.

Holly Anderson had just stood up to take a picture of her first-grade niece from the balcony. She heard sniffling from the main floor.

Peering down to the dimly lit main floor, she was shocked to see the upset child was Katie from college in her Christmas dress. That surprised her a lot. Holly knew her cluster-mate regressed, but she had never known her to be emotional in either of her ages.

Something serious must have happened for the strong Katie to be the emotional mess she saw below her.

The Principal came back and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Timbers' first graders. Next, we have Mrs. Vanderwel's second graders singing 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.'"

With that statement, the first graders started filtering out one side, and second graders, including Laura, started filtering in from the other side.

Laura walked in with her classmates. When she faced forward, she scanned the audience for her parents. Unable to find them, she looked for Katie's dress, for that should be easy to spot.

When Laura saw them, she was confused. Her friend was sitting on Mommie’s lap and leaning her head against her. Laura smiled as Katie turned and looked at her with interest.

Katie had only the occasional sniffle now. She felt really safe in her friend's Mommie’s lap.

Mrs. Schneider whispered in Katie’s ear, "Laura is on stage."

The regressed girl sat up with a start and looked to the stage. Even in her emotional mess, she had to giggle at all the students on stage with red lit-up noses. She also had to laugh at their fake reindeer antler hair bands. She scanned for Laura and found her and her shiny red nose. She watched and listened with interest as her friend and classmates sang. She watched them file off when they were done, and the third graders filled up the stage instead. She went back to leaning into her safe spot.

Mr. Mesmer said, "Thank Mr. Egar's sixth graders. Now welcome all grades singing 'Joy to the World.'"

Katie, who had started watching the students somewhere around the end of fourth grade, watched for her friend to file on. There were close to two hundred students now on and in front of the stage. It was hard, but eventually, she found her friend.

When the house lights went on, Mrs. Schneider asked, "Do you think you can try walking, Princess."

Katie nodded and timidly put her feet down. Finding they supported her weight, she smiled and offered her hand to Mrs. Schneider.

They were walking out of the auditorium on the way to gather Laura when Holly appeared in front of them. Getting down to Katie’s height, Holly asked, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yes, no, yes, no," Katie said before whispering, "I will explain it tomorrow."

Holly looked at Mrs. Schneider, "I’m confused."

"She has had an emotional day, and she probably doesn't want to relive it right now," Denise Schneider said. "Not to be rude, but we have to gather Laura."

As they entered the hallway leading to Laura’s classroom, Katie shuddered a bit at the location. Soon, they were three instead of two.

Laura looked at her friend, rubbing her arm, "What happened to your arm?"

"We will tell you in the car. We need to get Katie out of here,” Laura’s Mommie said as she led the two girls over to the coats, where Daddie was waiting.

Soon, Katie and Laura went hand in hand to the car. The actual little girl noticed her friend wasn't as cheerful as when they arrived.

Once the family was in the car, Laura's Mommie explained, "Mrs. Holt happened, sweetie. Katie was being dragged, I am assuming, to your classroom."

"It was you she was screaming her head off at,” Laura commented. “She was being really grouchy. She is known for being grouchy, but this was over the top.”

Mrs. Schneider noticed Katie staring off into nothingness, "Kathleen, are you okay?"

The question was ignored as Katie had tuned the world out.

Again, Denise asked, "Kathleen, are you okay? Do we have to go to Riverville?"

This time, Katie heard them and said, "Kathleen is not here right now. Please leave a message after the beep. BEEP." After breathing, she continued, "I would rather not be Kathleen right now. That being said, let me answer that as Katie. I am tired and frightened. My arm and shoulders hurt. Tomorrow, I should hopefully be better in both accounts." Again, she continued after a breath, "I know I said I wanted Daddie, but I was promised a sleepover!"

"Sleepover!" Laura said.

"I will be telling Allison and Adam about this day," Mrs. Schneider told the young girl.

"Eep!" Katie exclaimed.

Laura asked, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Ally is going to worry. Daddie will get upset," the regressed girl said.

"Your Daddie will get upset at you?" Laura asked.

Katie shook her head, "Not at me. That lady and maybe the school."

"Oh," Laura said.

Katie looked at her friend, “Your glowing red nose and antlers did cheer me up a bit. I was giggling at them.”

Laura blushed, “I am glad I could help. I will gladly lend them to you.”

“Ummm … Nah, I am good. You can keep them, my friend,” Katie responded.

Lyle Schneider was soon pulling into his driveway. He was ready for this day to be over. It had been an emotional day for their temporary charge, himself, and his wife.

Lyle released the most emotional one from the car. He believed she had every right to be emotional at the moment. His bride took charge once the little extended family was in the house. The girls' jackets were off, and they were ushered to Laura’s bedroom.

Denise started to undress the two princesses in front of her. She began with Katie first because she wanted to do a visual inspection of the girl. When the dress was off, she stared at the two enormous black and blue spots on the girl’s shoulders. She screamed, "Lyle, bring me a camera."

While waiting for a camera, she asked the little girl if the bruises hurt. When Denise touched one, Katie blurted out, “That hurts.”

Mrs. Schneider took pictures of the bruises on both shoulders and the arm before asking Katie to lie down on Laura’s bed. The shoes and tights were removed before the older lady made quick work changing the girl's padding. Katie was soon sitting on the bed dressed in one of Laura’s nighties, watching her friend being dressed for bed. Barely able to close her legs, Katie wondered where Mrs. Schneider got these diapers. They seemed to be twice as thick as her regular diapers.

When both girls were in their nighties, the cover was pulled back, allowing Katie to get in. Laura followed and hugged her friend like a teddy bear. The regressed girl was offered one of Laura’s teddy bears before both of them were tucked in.

Denise Schneider tiptoed out of the room and headed to her computer. She knew she had to inform all three of Katie's guardians. She figured a letter would probably be better than a phone call. In the letter, she could include the photos. It would have to be a long letter to get all the details in. She just hoped that Adam wouldn't be upset with her. Making a lawyer upset was never a bright idea. Denise was under no illusion. Allison and Tiffany were probably just as dangerous as a lawyer. They were over-protective teenagers.

Author's Note:Kudos, Comments, and questions are always welcomed.

I am currently writing chapter 68 of this story.
Surprise Offer 2 is 21 timeline days from completion. -- Thanks Becky