Loving the fat girl [Book 1]

23 - Runaway Baby

Fortunately Sam rolls around at that exact moment. Taking off towards his car, I don't wait for any more of Ethan's remarks. Sam gives me a weird look as I open the door to the passenger seat and is about to say something when Ethan shouts after me. 

"You're lying to yourself!"

I shut the door quickly and buckle up my seat belt. Wordlessly, Sam seems to understand and takes off without any further questions. When I turn my head, his face is slightly reddened and his hands are clutching the steering wheel.

"Thanks," I mumble, knowing that he is probably trying to hold back is protectiveness.

He just nods and lets out a sigh.

As we drive through town on our way home, Sam decides it's a good idea to go out for dinner. Honestly, I'm all for it because drowning myself in dessert sounds really good right about now. Ice cream or cake. Maybe both. 

We reach our destination, a random diner just a few blocks away from school, within five minutes and head in. Sitting down with Sam feels great and the diner has a great atmosphere to it. It's not something too fancy and I can relax here. I let my thoughts drift and stare out of the window until our food arrives. I dig into my dessert while Sam starts to scarf down his huge plate heaped with french fries, a chicken sandwich and a mountain of caesar salad.

Looking back outside again, something suddenly catches my eye. My spoon drops from my head as I keep my eyes focused on the silhouette outside.

"I'll be right back," I say to Sam not ever taking my eyes off the tiny silhouette that has caught my attention.

I try to focus my eyes on it but it only becomes clear when I rush out of the diner. Little Paulina is sitting on the side of the road, crying her eyes out. She is wearing a rainbow colored backpack and her shoes are mismatched and on the wrong feet.

"Paulina?" I say as softly as possible in order not to scare her off but when she looks up at me she just starts to cry even harder.

I sit down next to her on the pavement and put my hand on her little shoulder. "Shh... It's me Arya. Remember? I'm Seth's friend... the one who sold you crayons."

Realizing how stupid that sounds, I want to slap my forehead but she finally seems to recognize me. She sniffs and stops sobbing, rubbing the back of her hand over her face. I caress her back warily and give her a reassuring smile.

"Do you want to tell me what you're doing here? Where's Seth?"

This sets her off again and she sobs out words that sound somewhat like 'parents', 'fight' and 'ran away'. Somewhere between her toddler drawl, sobs and my awkward back patting, Sam comes out of the diner. He comes jogging towards us and stops a few feet away from us. 

"Who is she?" he asks, nodding towards Paulina.

"She's Seth's sister," I tell him in response and can see how hard it is for him to hold back rolling his eyes. "I don't know what happened exactly but I think she ran away from home. Do you think you could watch her for a second while I call Seth?"

He mutters something inaudible and looks extremely helpless but I need to get Paulina off the streets as she is terrified and exhausted. I leave Sam to watch over her and walk across the street to Sam's car. It's unlocked and I fetch my phone from my backpack.

Holding the phone to my ear, I wait for it to ring. As soon as it rings once, Seth picks up the phone.

"Arya, I don't have time for this right now! Poppy is gone and I can't find her anywhere!" He shouts at me, his voice panicky.