Let It Be

Chapter 19

I stood at my locker, staring into it stupidly before school, completely dazed. I hadn't been sleeping all that well lately, and I couldn't figure out why. Plus the fact that I hung out with Sam every evening until late didn't really help. In combination with school, volleyball, and running around with the boys? It was easy to get exhausted. Futons for beds don't help, either.

I jumped when Sam suddenly appeared next to me. "Crap, Sam," I said, whacking him on the arm. "Don't sneak up on me like that." Especially when I'm half asleep standing at my locker.

"I am sorry. But you like children, correct?"

This confused me. How random. "Yeah, why?"

"Emile and I are having an old friend stay with us for a while that I would like to introduce you to."

"How old is old?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. I was always looking for hints to Sam's background.

"She's nine."

"Meaning, she's really...?"

"Sixty, give or take a few years. But she is nine."

"How do you know her?"

Sam sighed sadly, crouching to pick up a slew of papers that had fallen out of my locker and onto the floor. "It is a long story. Paula got mixed up in the stream after her parents died. Like with other family-less children, she bounced around with other immortals for a bit while the Council found a volunteer to be her guardian. A woman named Loraine volunteered to take Paula in and be her official guardian. But Paula is used to being passed around a lot, so she likes to visit various people she knows. Including Emile and I." He smiled a sweet smile. "She is rather fond of Emile."

I took a minute to wrap my mind around this new immortal development. And to stop thinking how nice Sam's adoring smile was. It wasn't one I'd really seen before. "When I thought about immortals," I said, shoving the stack of papers back into my locker, "I never thought of children getting mixed up in it."

Sam sighed again, darker this time. "Yeah."

Geez, how terrible. "Do they... I mean, what happens to them? Where are they maturity-wise?"

"They stay pretty true to their age. I mean, an individual has to gain some sort of wisdom over all those years, but for the most part, they stay as they are. Thankfully, Paula was right before the age of really comprehending the world, and the whole immortality situation. She did not lose her innocence."

"She's still a child," I threw out, understanding.

"Yes. It is the young teenagers that have such a terrible time of it," he explained as he ran his fingers over the cold metal of my locker, thinking.

I ached at the thought. "Oh man. I can't imagine. I hated middle school, I just wanted to grow up. And to be immortal, and know that you'll be a teenager for like, forever... Gosh, Sam, how terrible!"

"See, immortality is not a fantastic, fairytale thing," he said darkly.

"I never said that."

"And now you never will."

We stood in silence a while, contemplating. "How long will Paula be with you?" I finally asked quietly.

"We will see how long she wants to stay. Probably a few months to a year."

"That's a long time."

"Not when it comes to eternity," he said with a smile.

Very true.

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I immediately liked Paula. With a pale purple aura, she was assertive, quick, and not afraid of speaking her mind. I guess spending sixty years with immortal adults would do that to you. She was playing chess with Emile when I came in, throwing M&M's into the air and catching them in her mouth, receiving and giving playful taunts with Emile about their game.