The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

9. Samantha

The pool was pretty close to the house, so we were there in less than five minutes. Carol found us some lounge chairs and showed me where the showers and change rooms were. I was told we had to have a shower before going in the pool, and that seemed reasonable. I put my insulin pump into my bag and went into the shower room to take a shower. Emma followed me in and glared at me the whole time. Beth came in a minute later and started her shower. Beth didn't seem all that interested in me. She didn't look at me, but she didn't seem to be ignoring me either. She kept shooting looks at Emma, though.

I went back out to the lounge chairs where Carol was sitting with Benji, who was wet from his own shower.

"Samantha, come in the pool with me!" Benji said, standing up. "I can tread water, and I can swim under water. Come see!"

I laughed at his excitement, and watched as he jumped into the shallow part of the pool.

I followed him into the water. It was pretty warm.

"Do you have a pool at your house?" Benji asked, dog paddling up to me.

"I do," I said. "Well, my mom and dad have a pool it's not my pool."

Benji laughed.

"I want to see your house one day. Do you live in a castle?" he asked.

"No," I said. "Why would you think I live in a castle?"

"Emma says your dad is really rich and you don't even have to go to school and you travel all over the world any time you want to. And that you live in a huge house with twenty maids and twenty butlers and you don't even have to dress yourself."

"Emma's lying," I frowned. "We live in a pretty normal house. Maybe it's bigger than some, but it's not a castle. I do have to go to school and I don't travel all over the world. My dad has travelled all over the world, but I've only been to Iceland and England with him. And we don't have any butlers or maids. And I absolutely dress myself."

"I thought she was lying. You're too nice to be stuck up like Emma says you are. You're not stuck up. You're nice. I like you."

I smiled.

"I like you too, Benji," I said.

"Watch me tread water. I can tread for a hundred minutes. Can you count?"

I watched as he treaded water and counted for as long as he could. I got to 100, but it was seconds, not minutes. But I wasn't going to burst the kid's bubble.

"See! I told you I could do it for a hundred minutes!" he cried. I smiled and laughed.

"Yep, you sure did!"

Benji and I had races across the width of the pool, and I could see Carol watching, but she seemed comfortable.

"Hey, Benji, do you mind if we go rest for a bit? It's hot and I'm tired. Let's go sit in the sun for a little. I brought cards. We could play a game."

"Okay!" he said, swimming to the side of the pool and climbing out the ladder. I followed him out and over to our chairs where we wrapped ourselves in towels and sat with a towel spread out and played 'Go Fish', the only card game Benji knew.

"Are you two having fun?" Carol asked.

"Yes, Mummy. I like Samantha! She counted my hundred minutes of treading!"

"Did she?" Carol smiled.

"Yup!"

"And he's not tiring you out?" Carol asked me?

"No. Besides, when I told him I was getting a bit tired from all our races, he was happy to come out with me for a little. We'll go back in in a little while, right Benji?"

He grinned up at me. My phone beeped indicating my sugar was low. I told Carol, and she handed me a small packet of jelly beans.

"Your parents gave us some tips and advice in case your sugar went high or low. So I packed a few sweets in all our bags, just in case."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Mummy," Emma said, coming over to us with Beth. "Beth and I are hungry. Can we go get an ice lolly from the snack bar?"

"We're going to have lunch in a little while, Emma. You can hold on until then."

"Why does she get a snack?" Emma pouted, pointing at me.

"Because, as you know, Samantha has diabetes and her sugar is going low. So she needs to bring it up a bit. It's hardly a snack, Emma. It's five jelly beans."

"Are those my jelly beans?" Emma sneered.

"Emma, they are from the pack of jelly beans we keep in the pantry. They aren't yours."

"But those are the ones I like!" she argued.

"You can spare five jelly beans for your cousin," Carol said, trying to keep her cool. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but you need to tone this down."

Carol spoke in a warning tone that made Benji and I both stop.

Emma looked between me and her mom.

"Ugh, fine," she said, and turned on her heel. Beth looked at Carol and then me, shrugged and followed Emma.

We were playing cards for a little longer when I heard someone scream. I looked up and Beth was at the side of the pool, pointing. I didn't see Emma near her.

"I think Emma's drowning!" I said, getting up and running over to the pool. Where were the lifeguards?

I looked and saw Emma floating on the surface of the pool but not moving. I jumped in and turned her over and swam over to the side of the pool. Just then the lifeguard showed up and pulled her out and then another one pulled me out of the pool. Carol had her hand over her mouth and Benji was crying. Someone wrapped me in a towel while the lifeguards worked on Emma. Beth was blubbering something.

"She wanted to show me she could hold her breath underwater, but then someone jumped in near her and I couldn't see her and then she was just floating like that!" I heard Beth say.

Carol came over and pulled me over to the chairs and asked me to please gather all our belongings, which I did and I got Benji to help to keep him distracted.

"I don't have my car!" Carol said. "I don't have my car!"

She was on her cell phone as well, I think maybe talking to Mark.

I heard Emma sputter and I saw the lifeguards turn her onto her side. I heard an ambulance coming and other sirens.

"Samantha, I'm going to go in the ambulance with Emma. You and Benji, can I think come in a police car. Beth, Beth, are you okay to go home?"

Beth was standing near us, crying.

"Maybe she should come with us? And her mom can come pick her up at the hospital? I don't think she should walk home alone." I suggested.

"Right, yes, okay, sure," Carol said, clearly on autopilot.

The paramedics got Emma onto a stretcher and started wheeling her to the ambulance. A police officer came over to talk to us.

"You three are coming with me, I hear?" she said. "We'll take you to be with your mum and sister."

"She's my cousin," I said, quietly, watching as they loaded Emma into the ambulance.