How to get a 6 year old to apologize

Hello all. I'm a step-mom to a 6 year old. We live together the three of us: me, her dad, and her.She has a little problem: she refuses to apologize when she does something wrong.An example from today:This morning her dad told her to clean her room. She asked "how can I fold this blanket" and I told her "here, I'll help you"I grabbed one end of the blanket and told her "ok you grab the other end"she said "No! You do it!" and I replied "No, I won't do it for you but I will help you. Here, grab that end"Again she said "No!" and then she said "fine, one second!!!!" in a huffy tone as she took her sweet time slowly making her bed.I nicely said "Ok, if you don't want my help..." and I put down my end of the blanket.She immediately ran to her dad and said "Dad!!! Jess threw the blanket onto the ground!!!" and I was right there and said "hey that's not very nice. I was trying to help you" and then I went to my bedroom and overheard this:Dad: Is that true? Did Jess throw the blanket on the ground?Child: Yes!Dad: Are you sure? 100% sure that's the truth?Child: Yes, 100% sure!Dad: That's not very nice of you. She was trying to help you with your chore. She also spent all morning playing computer games with you. I think you should say you're sorry.Then she started getting really upset and crying and saying she was "too scared" to come and say she's sorry to me. Her dad was trying to calm her down and tell her it wasn't a big deal at all, that all she had to do was say sorry and he'd even go with her and help her, but she just kept crying and saying "no i'm scared"Eventually her dad carried her in his arms and brought her in to try and help her apologize. She refused to apologize and just buried her head in his arms. I told her "you don't have to be scared, I'm not angry at you, but I would appreciate a little apology" and her dad said "this is such a little thing but you're turning into a big awkward and dramatic deal" but still nothing.Well, that was it. Her dad built her a blanket fort, now she's watching cartoons.Her dad told her she "still needs to apologize" but she hasn't yet. At this point I guess I'll just tell her the same. If she asks me to play or something I'll say "Yes I'd love to play but you need to apologize first :)"This is the 2nd time in about a year that something like this happened: she was rude or lied about something or whatever and then when she had to apologize she started crying and acting "super scared" in order to manipulate the situation and make US start trying to earn HER love back. I'm 99% sure that's what she's doing as neither of us have ever yelled at her or done anything to make her scared. She's very rarely in trouble. I think she just knows that if she cries then she will get her way.What is the right way to handle a situation like this? Force an apology? Give a time out instead? Just tell her why it was rude and then forget about it?Thanks for any help via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2jg8plp