Read Coming of Age for Free Online

office, bracing herself for the worst.
    And was pleasantly surprised. “Ah; Lisa,” Gavra smiled as the preteen knocked tentatively at the open door. “Come in—you’re up earlier than I’d expected. I wondered if you’d help me welcome a new child this morning. She’s coming in with her parents about eight.”
    Relief washed through Lisa. It was still over half an hour before eight, and it could easily cost the rest of the morning to check a newcomer into the hive, especially if she was as scared as children often were about leaving their parents. But when she compared the task to the fate she’d been contemplating, Lisa couldn’t help but feel she’d been let off easily. “Sure, I’d be happy to. Main entrance?”
    â€œYes,” Gavra nodded. “Thanks very much—and sorry about the short notice.”
    Half an hour wasn’t really long enough to do anything worthwhile, but the hive game rooms were always a good place to kill a little time, so Lisa wandered down to see what was going on there. She arrived to find a scene of barely controlled pandemonium, with a group of Sevens having taken over the center of the main gym room for an exuberant game of spinwheel, while some Fives and Sixes cheered from the sidelines and tried to imitate the intricate motions with their own toys. The two preteens in charge—Tens, by their obvious inexperience—seemed to have conceded the center to the Sevens and were instead concentrating on making sure the younger kids didn’t get run down or otherwise hurt. They looked so helpless—and so relieved that assistance had arrived—that Lisa changed her original plans and spent the entire half hour helping to calm the boisterous Sevens and restore order. Overseeing Saturday morning happy hole is not one of the things I’m going to miss about the hive, she thought wryly as she hurried through the halls toward the front entrance. She hoped the new girl’s family was late; she’d cut her time a little too closely.
    They weren’t late, as it happened, but since Gavra was still welcoming them as Lisa arrived, they apparently hadn’t been too far ahead of her. “Ah, here she is,” Gavra said as Lisa tried to trot up with dignity. “This is Lisa Duncan, one of our preteens. Lisa, this is Jessy Larz and her parents.”
    â€œPleased to meet you,” Lisa nodded to the adults as she dropped into a crouch to put herself at the child’s eye level. “Hi, Jessy. How are you?”
    The little girl didn’t answer. Tightening her grip on her mother’s hand, she regarded Lisa with wide, unblinking eyes. “My name’s Lisa,” the preteen went on cheerfully, ignoring the other’s silence. “Is Jessy short for Jessica?”
    â€œCan you say yes, Jessy?” her mother murmured.
    â€œUh-huh,” Jessy said reluctantly.
    â€œThat’s a nice name,” Lisa said, smiling her best. “And you’re a very pretty girl; did you know that?”
    â€œUh-huh,” she said, sounding more confident this time.
    The adults chuckled, and Lisa sensed a slight lowering of the child’s barriers. Gavra apparently saw it, too, and moved quickly to take advantage of the thaw. “Why don’t we all go to the testing room now?” she suggested. “After that we’ll show you some of the facilities Dayspring has to offer.”
    â€œOh, that’ll be fun!” Lisa exclaimed to Jessy. “We’ve got a lot of neat toys and games here to play with.” She stood up and offered her hand to the child. With only a brief hesitation she took it; and although she also kept a firm grip on her mother’s hand during the short walk, Lisa decided to consider it a victory.
    When they reached the testing room, however, all remaining resistance crumbled. For a moment Jessy stared in amazement at the array of toys set out there; then,