Over the next few weeks, Rachel seemed to be true to her word on trying her best to be willing and reasonable on the same page as Luke. There was a bit of a struggle and it didn't mean there wasn't an argument now and then, but the two tried to remember to keep discussions at a minimal and out of earshot of Shelby. Which speaking of, Luke did notice Shelby was constantly looking over whenever the two were talking. Even if it was a harmless tease towards her dad, she was quick to jump in and protect him. It wasn't like Shelby didn't know the difference because Lorelai and Rory still picked on the guy and Shelby quietly giggled right along.
There were still a few mistakes here and there that Luke pointed out. The Saturday of Shelby's third t-ball game, Rachel took her for the rest of the afternoon to spend some quality time. As long as Rachel had Shelby home at a reasonable hour and didn't give her a lot of sugar or did not push Shelby into doing something she didn't want to do, Luke was fine with whatever the two did during their time. That particular Saturday evening, he was a little disappointed.
Shelby came rushing into the diner all excited and holding a brand new video game for her Nintendo 64, coming around the counter to show him.
"Kiddo, you know we talked about this," he reminded her. "Unless it's your birthday or Christmas, you have to earn the money for a video game."
Her head dropped in discouragement. "I sorry," she whispered softly.
Rachel came over shortly after Shelby. She had heard Luke remind Shelby of their rule. "It's not Shelby's fault, Luke," she told him. "We stopped by this electronic store and I let Shelby look at the games."
"Did she ask for a game?"
"No, we were just looking. It was actually not even eye level to her. I saw it." Rachel then explained what the game was and how it played. It was a game that combined both Shelby's favorite cartoon and hobby, and one of Rachel's favorite hobbies, photography. So she figured it could be fun to play together, and for Rachel to help teach Shelby about the art of taking pictures.
Shelby was just excited it was another Pokemon game and liked getting everyone involved with things she liked. She even tried getting Jess to play with her on the game she had picked out when Luke finally took her to get her Nintendo 64. It was basically a 3D version of her Gameboy game, minus the reading and walking around, but had mini games included.
Jess watched a few times. Pokemon was just too "kiddie" for his taste and suggested the next game she pick be a shooting or fighting game or something more mature. Luke automatically said no to games directed towards those a lot older than Shelby, even though she was starting to get into stuff like that since she got the super-soaker for her birthday and started playing war with the twins. In fact, he even caught Shelby making a gun out of Legos and using it to shoot pretend "bad guys". Luke wasn't sure about letting Shelby play with pretend guns and asked Lorelai for her opinion.
"Well, as long as Shelby has the concept of knowing what's pretend and what's real, I don't see a problem with her wanting to shoot pretend bad guys," she had told him.
Rachel was nervous about the issue, too. With Shelby being such a sweetheart, Lorelai reassured both of them she didn't think they needed to worry too much. Besides, Ethan and Alan's parents had rules with the toys guns, including not to shoot each other in the face and not up close either. Their father was once in the army so they taught their kids the reality of guns and that it was all in good fun as long as it was pretend with toy Nerf guns. The twins had even let Shelby have one of theirs since the boys had so many. Though, now there were several ammo darts stuck to the ceiling of the apartment, waiting until the suction cups released. One finally came unstuck and fell right into Jess' food, which he looked straight at his cousin.
Picking it up, he dropped it beside Shelby's plate. "You mind not shooting these above the table?"
Shelby just responded by sticking her tongue out.
"Shelby," Luke then warned at that point, looking up from his own plate. "What have I said about sticking your tongue out at others?"
Shelby went back to eating, herself.
"Hey," Jess got her attention again.
She looked up at him.
"Want a hurt's donut?"
Thinking her cousin was referring to an actual donut, she nodded. Luke tried to put a stop to it before the literal punch line came, but Jess was too quick and punched her in the arm. Shelby grabbed onto where he punched her, rubbing it as tears appeared in her eyes.
"Hurts, don't it?" Jess smirked.
"Jess," Luke scolded, firmly.
"What?" he asked. "It's not like I hit her that hard... Ahh!" Jess reached under the table where Shelby had given him a swift kick to the shin. "Son of a bitch, that hurt a lot more."
Luke shrugged, scooping up a bite of food. "Hey, I'm letting that one slide. You asked for it, Jess." He turned to Shelby, though. "You, on the other hand, don't do it again. That is just a one-time thing since he hit you." He also told Jess not to pull something like that again either. Being overprotective, Luke wanted to see the damage of her arm, checking for any bruising. Shelby apologized to both of them.
Jess at least apologized to her.
After Shelby helped her dad with the dishes and cleaning up, Luke headed downstairs to double check everything was locked up and turned off. When he returned upstairs, Luke couldn't help put his ear to the door, overhearing Jess giving Shelby a pep talk on standing her ground and not letting anyone mess with her. It seemed even with help, the boy, Toby, was still bullying the other kids, including Shelby and her friends. Nothing was even wrong at home. The kid was just mean-spirited and enjoyed picking on others. Luke still hadn't told Rachel about Shelby getting into a fight, and it seemed like she hadn't learned from elsewhere, either.
As for the discussion of the video game Rachel bought for Shelby, Luke let it slide this time since it was already done and over with, letting it be a one-time thing since Rachel didn't know. Now, whenever Shelby goes to her mom's, she brings her Nintendo 64 along.
As October rolled in and the weather grew chilly once again, Luke got the notice, parent/teacher conferences were happening. It would be his second since he met with Darla last spring. The conference was back while Shelby was still in the cupboard and still fairly new to the school so nothing could really be said. This year, Shelby wasn't hiding and actually participating in class. Well, sort of. More than she was last year.
Luke invited Rachel to come along this time since she was around and met at the school. Since it was a half day for the elementary school, the students had already been dismissed a couple hours ago. Rachel was waiting outside the classroom door, looking at the artwork on the wall where the kids decorated their own jack-o'-lanterns using only construction paper.
When they were close, Shelby ran the rest of the way.
Rachel kneeled to her level to hug the kid. "Hey, peanut. I was just looking for your jack-o'-lantern. Could you show me which one is yours?"
Shelby nodded and turned her attention to the art wall in front of them. Luke stood behind them, looking himself. Scanning the many jack-o'-lanterns, she eventually pointed hers out, center left. It was just low enough Shelby could put her finger on the bottom of the black construction paper background. All the backgrounds were blank except for Shelby's, who had taken a white crayon and drew hers sitting on a wall near a house.
"That looks really good, peanut," Rachel praised her. "Isn't it, Luke?"
"Oh yeah, of course. Everything she does is really good," he agreed. In reality, Shelby could just draw a line, whether it's straight or shaped, or whatever, and it would be really good in Luke's eyes. He looked over at the classroom door before looking back at Rachel. "Can we go in or do we...?" Luke asked in confusion.
She glanced at the door. "Uh, no. There's still a conference going on." Rachel pointed at a sign on the door which Luke hadn't really noticed.
Luke took in a deep breath, letting it out. Just to tease her, he asked Shelby if there was anything she needed to own up to before going in and talking with her teacher, like setting randoms fires or eating paste. Shelby just silently giggled, shaking her head.
After another five minutes, Mrs. Avery came out with one of Shelby's classmates and her parents. Luke recognized the kid as a classmate from the previous year. They were just sharing some last minutes thoughts before they said their good-byes and went their separate ways. The girl said hi to Shelby as she walked by, which she returned with just a silent wave. The parents exchanged a quick hello to Luke, who he had also seen come through the diner frequently.
"Well," Mrs. Avery smiled, turning her attention to Luke and Rachel. "You ready?" she asked, smiling politely at them. They followed her inside the classroom and over to a horseshoe-shaped table where Mrs. Avery offered them a seat across from the inside of the table. Luke was glad the hard, plastic chairs were regular size and not just made for kids like Darla only had. It was quite uncomfortable for a guy like him to sit on, that was for sure. Shelby sat between her parents, staring at the table as she held onto the bottom part of the chair.
Mrs. Avery looked through a hanging folder bin, scanning a bunch of folders until she pulled out Shelby's. She opened it up as she began. "Thank you both for coming, and thank you, Shelby," she acknowledged the little girl, to include her. "I love when the kids come along so they can hear all the good things I have to say about them."
Luke smiled at Shelby, who had turned her hat around at the sudden attention. He reached over and rubbed a hand along the back of her head, to help ease some anxiousness.
"That's actually one of the concerns I have," Mrs. Avery said to both him and Rachel. "Shelby is an excellent student, works really hard on most of her work," she explained, holding her arms on the table. Mrs. Avery turned a piece of paper around that was on top of the pile. "This is her latest progress report. Shelby is barely meeting expectations, but she does need improvement."
Luke looked down at the progress report in front of them, with several needs improvement next to each subject. This was a shock to him. "I make sure Shelby does her homework every night and try to help where I can," he pointed out.
"And whenever Shelby comes over to our home, I make sure she does her homework."
"Yes," she nodded, "I have noticed Shelby does well on her homework. But when it comes to classwork, there's been times she has turned in half done work."
Luke looked over at Shelby. Placing an arm around her, he lowered his head to ask, "How come you're not finishing your work, kiddo?"
Shelby just shrugged one shoulder.
"Is it because the work is too hard?" Rachel also asked, concerned.
She nodded.
"That's what I figured," Mrs. Avery said. "Of course, I encourage the students to ask me for help when they don't understand an assignment or a direction I have given, but Shelby has yet to raise her hand or approach my desk with questions. Does she speak at home at all?" She looked between him and Rachel.
"Yes, she does," Rachel answered, first. "Shelby's not as chatty as she is with her dad, but we have had our conversations."
"She stopped for a while there while she was adjusting around her cousin who's staying with us, but Shelby has started speaking again," Luke also explained.
"So, she is able to speak?"
"Yes," both he and Rachel replied.
"The fact Shelby doesn't speak here, at school, is very concerning and is interfering with her work. There is another little girl in the class who is also shy, but she has shown improvement with opening up to her classmates and to me. Shelby, however, has shown no progress in opening up, and I have the class turn to their neighbor and have discussions about what we are learning. That's why I have the desks in groups of two," Mrs. Avery pointed a hand towards the desks. "I recall you didn't interact much when I had you, Luke."
Luke smiled at that memory, but it quickly vanished as she continued.
"You would speak when spoken to, though."
"Shelby uses head motions, though, right?" Rachel asked. "That's how she communicated with me when we first met."
"Yes," she nodded. "There have been a few occasions where Shelby would nod or shake her head, or shrug her shoulders. Very rarely does she look up or show us her face as she still hides behind her hat." Mrs. Avery turned back to Luke, "I know you said, she'll remove it once she is comfortable, but it's been two, almost three months since the school year has started and the hat's still on. I'm very confused and, as I said, concerned."
"She was doing very well with her work last year," Luke pointed out. "In fact, I thought Shelby would be gifted. She seemed to excel faster than we thought she would."
"First grade is a little different from kindergarten, what with adding and subtracting numbers larger than ten, and working on word problems." She quickly added, "Don't get me, wrong, once Shelby understands the material, she's fine. I see that in her classwork versus her homework, as I'm sure she's asking for help at home. Unfortunately, her grades aren't just from homework, it's class assignments and also class participation."
Mrs. Avery pulled out a few sheets of papers. "There are areas Shelby is excelling in."
Relief washed over Luke to hear Shelby was excelling in something. The whole time Mrs. Avery was explaining the struggles Shelby was having, anxious thoughts whizzed through his mind that freaked the guy out.
"Aside from her spelling that could also use some work, Shelby is very good at coming up with very entertaining stories." On top was a storybook stapled together with a title that was typed except for the word, Dad. Dad was written in Shelby's handwriting on a typed line. It read, My Dad's Job. "I had the children write a story about what their parents or a relative did as a job, so Shelby wrote about you, Luke, and how you run your diner. Shelby, would you like to share your story with your mom and dad?"
Shelby didn't respond, not even to look up. Sometimes, someone would forget the rule of the hat.
Luke lowered his head towards her, to suggest softly, "You can read it in my ear if you want. I'd like to hear your book." Shelby leaned over and buried her face into his side, grabbing a handful of his shirt.
He rubbed her arm with one hand. "It's okay, kiddo." So they moved on.
"I thought it was really good if you want to read through it yourself." Mrs. Avery pushed it closer to Luke. Under the title was a picture of him, surrounded by several shapes and lines that were supposed to be the diner. He was even wearing his backwards baseball cap, colored with a blue crayon.
So Luke read it out loud so Rachel could hear, too. It was a bit difficult deciphering some misspelled words, but they managed to understand what Shelby meant for the most part. "My dad has his own diner. He... cooks food for lots of... people. Some come... every day. Like Lorelai and Rory. My dad... makes the... best coffee. ...Caesar works there, too. My... cousin, Jess and I do, too. Not like Caesar because we go to... school. My grandpa owned it first. He sold tools. Dad wanted to make food. He... kept the... old sign for Grandpa...though. We spend lots of time in the diner. I no-...don't care. My dad has the best job. The end." It took longer than it should have, but he read through his daughter's story.
"It's not often when a story is that detailed, even though I don't set a word limit," she explained as Luke looked through it again, to look at the pictures on each page Shelby had drawn in crayon. "In fact, Shelby can get very detailed in her stories she writes."
"What do you mean?" Rachel was the one to ask.
"Anytime I have the children share something, even if it's a paragraph or a couple sentences, she'll start on the lines provided, but then will draw an arrow pointing towards the back of the paper and continue on the back. Shelby shares stories about what she does over the weekend, about you," Mrs. Avery pointed a hand between the two. "About her cousin, something random she finds funny. By the way, I have to ask since they are written just as much as you are, Luke. Who are Lorelai and Rory? Is that the lady who runs the Independence Inn?"
"Yeah, they're friends of ours. Shelby loves them," said Luke.
Mrs. Avery chuckled. "I can see that in her writing."
"Shelby also tells me stories while we're in the car," Rachel pointed out, smiling at the little girl, glancing between Shelby and her teacher. "She'll tell me about something funny her dad did, or something Lorelai said, or what happened on her video game."
"That's something else Shelby writes about. I assume that's where they're from, anyway." Mrs. Avery looked through the pile of assignments in front of her until she found another story with a picture of the main characters from Pokemon drawn on the front, which Luke pointed out it looked like the cartoon, not the video game. It terrified him he even knew that by this point. Never in a million years would Luke have thought he'd know anything about cartoons and video games, thanks to this kid.
"So, is writing the only thing Shelby is excelling in?" asked Rachel.
"No, actually." Pulling out the progress report again, Mrs. Avery pointed at science. "So far, she seems to do well in science and can write down her observations whenever we do little experiments. Reading seems fairly well, but I can't really say as she hasn't read aloud to me, yet. A part of first grade is learning the sounds letters make in a word, like how the O in fox makes the ah sound. For the most part, Shelby seems to grasp some sounds as seen in her writing. I can't make a full judgment since Shelby doesn't speak up in class. I've even pulled her from the class, one on one. She just refuses and I can't help her if she doesn't speak to me."
"It's not that Shelby is refusing," Luke explained. "She can't. It's hard for Shelby to speak in uncomfortable situations."
"Well then, it sounds like we're gonna have to get our speech and language pathologist involved."
"What's that?" he asked, confused.
"She works with the students who normally have difficulty producing the right sounds and can even help Shelby be able to speak in class," she explained.
"Really? She can do that?"
Mrs. Avery nodded. "Possibly."
Rachel perked up, sounding relieved. "That sounds very promising." She turned to Luke. "Doesn't it?"
"I mean, sure, but Shelby gets super anxious when somebody forces her to speak. She shuts down whenever her dad is around," he pointed over at Rachel with his thumb.
"I'm sure nothing is really forced. I've only had students with speech issues but could speak, so I don't know what she can do. We can continue with a follow-up meeting and bring her in, see if this is something that we can do to help Shelby."
"I'll be willing to try it," Rachel shrugged and looked over at Luke.
Luke looked between them before looking at Shelby, who had been holding her head and arms on his right leg as if it were a pillow. She never spoke to the guidance counselor, but she did eventually speak to him and Lorelai, and he remembered she had opened up to Rory first. Luke sure wished Shelby had some kind of help, not only with being able to speak up, but speak right. Neither he nor Jess seemed to accomplish anything. Maybe bringing in a professional would work better.
Finally, he looked up. "Yeah, sounds good," he agreed. "If you think it'll help Shelby."
"Alright then. I will," Mrs. Avery made a note, "contact Miss Kelly and set up a meeting together." With that said, she moved on to socializing inside and outside the classroom. "As I said, Shelby communicates through body language. Nodding or shaking her head, shrugging her shoulders. She hasn't really made any friends, at least not in our class. I do notice she still plays with those boys from the other class."
"Those are her best friends," he told her. "We had hoped they would be in the same class again. Shelby was sad when they weren't."
"Is there any way the boys could be moved to this class or Shelby could be moved to their class?" asked Rachel. "Maybe if they were in the same class, Shelby will be more comfortable."
"We don't usually do something like, not even in special cases such as this. Besides, I'm sure moving Shelby to their class would probably not be the best idea."
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "If you're worried Shelby would then talk during class..."
Mrs. Avery shook her head. She looked between the parents, puzzled. "It actually has been a few days since we noticed anything, but the boy in her friends' class is still bullying the three of them. Remember, when we had to pull Shelby and the boy apart at one point when they fought?"
Rachel shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around what their daughter's teacher was talking about. "What?"
Mrs. Avery looked between the parents. She stopped on Rachel again. "Haven't you heard of the fight the two got into?"
She looked over at Luke. "No." Looking back at Mrs. Avery, Rachel said, "I mean, Luke told me about Shelby lashing out at foster parents or those who had tried to adopt her, but," she looked Luke straight in the eye, "you didn't say she got into full-on fights."
"I guess it slipped my mind." Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah, back when she was still upset with you, Shelby fought back when the kid was bullying her and her friends...after Jess taught her how to fight." In actuality, he didn't forget. Luke already knew Rachel wasn't fond of Jess being around Shelby, in fear of the influence he could have on her. Hearing Jess was teaching Shelby to fight, probably wouldn't have sat well with her either.
"What?" Rachel stared at him. His suspicions were right.
He quickly said, "It's already taken care of and Jess hasn't done it since I explained to both of them, fighting isn't the answer."
She just looked away, shaking her head. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"It's not what you think, Rachel. Shelby's having more of an influence than I thought was possible on Jess." Luke tried his best to remain civil for both Shelby and Mrs. Avery's sake. Rachel just kept shaking her head.
"I don't really know what's going on, but judging from what Shelby writes, I would agree," Mrs. Avery said. "She mentions the things they do and the fun they have."
Shelby perked her head up from her dad's leg as her teacher looked through the pile. Luke noticed her tense up and her chest move like she was getting anxious. Soon, the lip biting started as she watched her teacher search through the pile of papers.
Rachel also noticed. "Shelby? Everything alright, peanut?"
Her eyes never moved as they glossed over with tears.
Luke spoke up. "You know, I think we'll take your word for it," he told Mrs. Avery, stopping her from searching any further.
"Are you sure? I mean, they have to be here... Oh, here they are." She pulled a few papers out, setting them on top. Shelby's chest was heaving heavily by this point. What could be wrong?
"Yeah, I'm sure. I just don't think it was something Shelby intended on sharing with us." Rachel tried to say something, but Luke cut her off, nodding towards Shelby. He lifted Shelby onto his lap and comforted her, helping to ease her sudden anxiety. Thankfully, Rachel backed off, now concerned for their daughter. Luke did mentally make a plan to talk to Shelby about this later, if she wanted to talk about it. If it was something they should be concerned with, Mrs. Avery probably would have mentioned it.
"Does this happen often, the sudden crying?" asked Mrs. Avery.
"Now and then, yeah," he replied, lifting Shelby further onto his shoulder, which she clung to his neck. "Even with me sometimes, it's hard for the words to come out or she gets really anxious about something and she can't speak up."
"I have called on her or asked Shelby to read," she confessed. "I never pushed her, though. Once I saw the tears, I moved on to another student. I have talked to Shelby, one on one, and told her soon she would need to participate with the rest of the class. I'm glad I learned this before something like this happened during class."
"It probably would have been worse, with the other kids watching." Luke didn't even want to think about what would happen if things got cranked up. He kissed Shelby's cheek and rubbed her back, soothing her nerves.
"I'm really not good with that stuff," Rachel admitted. "He's great. Me, on the other hand...I can hug, but Shelby never seems to calm down with me." Luke could see the discouragement in her eyes. Probably not the best time to admit Lorelai can do it even faster than he could.
Mrs. Avery reached across the table and touched her arm. "I'm sure Miss Kelly can help you. The both of you," she looked between the parents, "understand what Shelby is going through, and even show Shelby some coping strategies she can try on her own that will help her speak."
"That would be nice," Rachel said, hopefully.
It would be nice. It was difficult to watch Shelby struggle with something as simple as talking. Sure, there were times he found he couldn't speak, even as a youngster. Luke never remembered it being this bad. This had to be a nightmare for Shelby.
Fingers were crossed this Miss Kelly person could help.