"I don't care. There's no fighting. Understood?"
"Yeah, right."
She watched David stomp away and then helped Wendell up. He came up only to her armpits despite they were about the same age. Between that and his skinniness, he found himself the target of even the younger boys. She brushed some of the dust off his clothes and then looked him in the eye. "Wendell, you know better than to fight, don't you?"
"Yes, ma'am," he muttered. "I won't do it again."
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, Wendell, you can tell me. We're friends, aren't we?"
"We are?"
"Of course. Now-" Wendell interrupted her by getting on his toes to kiss her on the lips. She cuffed him on the side of the head hard enough to stagger him. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"
He began to cry, but when she tried to touch him, he stepped away. "I thought you said we were friends?"
"We are."
"Then why can't I kiss you? That's what boyfriends and girlfriends do."
"Who told you that?"
"David. He says when girls get boobies then you're supposed to kiss and hug them."
Samantha noticed Wendell's eyes focusing on her chest as he said this. She put an arm over the bumps on her chest. "Well, he's wrong," she said.
"You're just saying that because you don't really like me. You like him."
"Wendell, no. I like you both, but not like that. These things don't make anything different."
"Why not?"
"Look, I'm not any different now than I was last year. Not on the inside."
"But you're so pretty now."
This froze Samantha for a moment. "I am?"
He nodded to her. "You're even prettier than Miss Brigham."
"Oh, well, that's very sweet of you."
"Does that mean I can be your boyfriend?"
"What? No. I…I have to go," Samantha said and then took off running.
***
In lieu of finishing her rounds, Samantha went the one place no one would look for her: the cave with the Fountain of Youth inside. She had been in the cave only a few times since Reverend Crane and Pryde had both drowned in the fountain. Those times she had always come with Prudence or Miss Brigham to fetch some water for emergencies.
Samantha avoided going to that place alone; the cave had too many bad memories for her. Whenever she went there, she could feel Reverend Crane and Mr. Pryde's presences there, despite that she knew they were dead. Today she sat alone by the fountain, staring down at her reflections.
In the water she saw not her current hideous form, but herself as a little girl, a toddler, and a baby. She couldn't help noting how much happier all three faces looked. They were blissfully unaware of how deformed she would become. "It's not fair," she muttered. "I didn't ask for this to happen."