Generation 1, Chapter 8 - Sam

“Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you deal with mean people?”

He blinked, caught off guard by the question staring at him from his phone’s screen. He furrowed his brow, trying to think of an answer.

“Who are you texting?”

He glanced up at his friend Sandi. “My little brother.” He flashed the screen at her, showing her the name at the top.

“And here I thought it was the mystery girl you run off with every night.”

“Nah, I don’t have her number.” He replied to Darlene absent-mindedly as he tried to come up with an answer to Dylan’s question. Then he froze as he processed her statement.

“How do you know about her?”

Darlene laughed. “I wasn’t sure until you confirmed it, but honestly, Sam, you’re terrible at keeping secrets. So who is she?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Please?” Sandi was doing her very best puppy dog eyes.

“Not you too!”

“I’m curious! Do you really blame us for wanting to know this one little secret? I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

 “Maybe you won’t, but I don’t trust little-miss-gossip-blog over there not to plaster it all over the internet.”

Darlene gasped in obviously faked shock. “I would never!”

Sam raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Not if you specifically asked me not to. Honestly, I’m not completely without scruples.”

“You want to be on reality TV.”

She paused a moment, then shrugged. “Fair point.”

Sandi was clearly impatient. “So if Darlene promises not to put it up anywhere, will you tell us who she is?”

Sam sighed. He’d known that he would cave eventually. Darlene was right: he was really terrible at keeping secrets. “Kaylynn Langerak.”

 Both girls gasped, gratifyingly shocked. Darlene spoke first. “But…she’s dating my brother!”

Sandi was next. “What do you do?”

“We’re just friends, Darlene. And she broke up with Arlo last week. Mostly we do street art, Sandi.”

“Street art? Like graffiti? I can’t imagine Kaylynn Langerak doing something like that.”

“People aren’t always the way you think they are.”

“You know what I meant, Sam. And… be careful, okay? We don’t want you getting hurt.”

He laughed. “Street art’s not exactly dangerous.”

Darlene frowned at him, uncharacteristically serious. “She wasn’t talking about the street art.”

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Sam did his best to disregard his friends’ words, but he still found himself hesitating that night when it came time for him to go out. Maybe, just for tonight, he could stay home. Spend some time with his family. He didn’t want to talk to his parents, but he could ask his brother who was being mean to him. He could spend some time with his adorable baby sister. He didn’t always have to escape… but tonight, at least, the urge was too strong.

Kaylynn was already at their usual spot by the time he got there. She began scrambling down when she saw him, but he stopped her. “Maybe tonight, we could just… talk? Is that okay?”

She seemed surprised, but she smiled at him. “Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“What’s your family like?”

She thought about it for a moment before answering. “Complicated. But aren’t all families?”

He laughed. “You can say that again.”

She smiled, more openly this time, but it faded as she spoke. “I live with my parents, my two younger brothers, and my aunt. Honestly, though, they’re all like children. My mom works constantly, and when she’s home she and my dad are all over each other. My aunt constantly throws parties at the house without asking anyone first and has tons of plants that she can’t take care of. My brother William just started school, and dad’s already gotten three calls from the principal about him getting into fights. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only sane person in that house.” She smiled again, but it was obviously forced. “What about you?”

He took a deep breath. “I live with my dad, my step-mother, and my two half-siblings. My dad’s an okay guy, but he doesn’t like me very much. I ruin his image as the ideal family man, especially when people look at us and do the math. My step-mother, Nyx… she’s kind of messed up in the head. She’s super paranoid. Refuses to ever leave the house, and she won’t let us have people over, either. She thinks someone’s after her, although who it could be, I have no idea. She’s just about the most harmless person I can imagine. My half-siblings are alright, I guess, but they’re tiny. Dylan only just started school, and Ayla’s even younger. It’ll be awhile before they pick up on the dysfunction that is our house.”

For a while, they just looked at each other, the air between them heavy with the weight of the secrets they’d just shared. Eventually, Kaylynn spoke. “I won’t tell.”

Sam nodded. “Me neither.”

They sat in peaceful silence. Finally - “Can I tell you something?”

“Anything.”

“I trust you more than anyone else I know.”

Their gazes locked, and Sam could tell - she felt exactly the same way.

Author's Note: This chapter took forever to get pictures for, because all of the pictures were taken while sitting down in places where I couldn't direct conversation. I pretty much just had to sit there and wait for the right expression to come along. Also, Ayla becomes a child next chapter. Since you barely saw her, have some cute sibling interaction pictures.

Sam's plot will be ramping up soon, because he only has a few days until he's a young adult. His plot is still nowhere close to the level of detail the younger kids will get, but I didn't want to completely neglect him. I kind of wish I had more time to spend on his plot, but there are only a couple of chapters until Dylan becomes a teenager, and we have to get back to Nyx at some point. I already have the next chapter done, so it should be posted soon. Join us next time to see what Ayla gets up to once she joins her brother in childhood!