The Next Person You Meet in Heaven(22)

“We walked away from everything.”

“Well, not everything.”

They dropped lower to see Lorraine behind the wheel, Annie asleep in the seat next to her.

“Not each other,” Lorraine said.





Annie Makes a Mistake


She is fourteen. Paulo’s family is about to move to Italy.

Annie has been dreading this day. She and Paulo eat lunch together now. They meet between classes. She has come to think of him as more than a friend, as someone to really like or, in her young way, to love. Not that she does anything about it. First loves often remain in the heart, like plants that cannot grow in sunlight.

But she pictures Paulo every day. She imagines them holding hands, nudging against each other at the zoo or the mall. Only now he is leaving and Annie isn’t just losing her friend (and whatever else he has yet to become) but also her shield from the other girls in school.

The morning of Paulo’s last day, Annie stands by her locker, retrieving her books. Megan, one of the popular girls who never talks to her, approaches and says, “Hey,” and Annie, taken aback, says, “Hey,” and Megan says, “I bet you’re going to miss Paulo,” and Annie blushes, but Megan says, “No, seriously. He’s cute. I would miss him if he noticed me like he notices you.”

Annie is surprised by her words and tone. She is swept up in the possibility of a new friend. Megan smiles and Annie has an urge to please her.

“Look,” Annie says, flipping open a notebook. It is a pencil drawing she made of Paulo during classes when she was bored. Annie is a good artist and the rendering is large, with Paulo’s eyes big and emphasized.

“Oh, my God, that is so good,” Megan says. “I have to take a picture.” She pulls out a small phone, and before Annie can object, she presses a button. Annie has never seen a phone that is a camera.

“It’s new,” Megan says, flipping it Annie’s way. “So cool, right?”

She shows Annie other photos of her friends preening for the lens. Annie feels like she is inside a special circle.

The bell rings.

“Bye,” Megan says.

Annie watches her rush off. Maybe Paulo’s leaving won’t be the end, she thinks. Maybe she can talk about him with Megan—and other things the popular girls talk about. It is a new feeling for Annie and she lets it wash over her, brightening her mood.

At the end of the school day, she walks towards Paulo’s locker, where she usually meets him. She has a plan. They will talk like they normally do, maybe extra-long this time. She wants to give him the picture she drew. She wants to tell him to write from Italy and she will write back. Mostly she wants to kiss him. It wouldn’t seem too weird, she figures, since he is leaving. People kiss, right? A peck on the cheek? Or maybe on the lips? She has been thinking about it all day. Actually, for many days.

She turns down the hallway.

She freezes.

A group of students is gathered around Paulo’s locker. Paulo is in the middle. They are all laughing, girls and boys, and some of the boys are slapping Paulo on the back. Megan is in the middle. She is showing everyone her phone.

“Dude, it really looks like you!” a boy yells.

“She’s your stalker!” yells another.

“She wants to wear your skin as a birthday present!”

Everyone laughs. Annie watches Paulo. He is not saying anything.

Suddenly, one of them spots Annie and says, “Whoa!” and they tap each other and turn her way. It’s like being shot with arrows. She can barely swallow. She sees Megan tucking the phone behind her back.

Normally, Annie would duck and disappear. But something about Paulo standing in their midst. It’s like they’ve taken the last thing she had. With her feet moving as if someone else were operating them, she edges forward, as the other kids peel back like reversed magnets. She is face-to-face with Megan.

Annie swallows hard.

“Can I see, too?” she asks.

Megan rolls her eyes. She holds up the phone. Annie sees the photo of her drawing. Paulo. His big eyes.

“Why would you show that to everybody?” Annie says, her voice shaking. “It’s not yours.”

She turns to Paulo. “It was supposed to be yours.”

Paulo’s mouth drops open. For a moment, all of them are frozen. Then, with Paulo inches away, something releases inside of Annie. It propels her forward. The next thing she knows, she is pressing her lips against his. It lasts a second. She feels tears leaving her eyes.

“Goodbye,” she whispers.

She turns and walks away, fighting her impulse to run. She hears one of the girls say, “Yeah, go on, geek.” She hears someone else say, “Oh … my … God.” When she turns the corner, she no longer holds back. She runs and keeps running, out the back doors and down the street, tears burning her cheeks.

She reaches a park and drops onto a bench, flanked by two blue garbage bins. She doesn’t come home until dark. When she enters, her mother is livid.

“Why are you so late?” she yells.

“Because I felt like it!” Annie yells back.

Lorraine grounds her for a month.

The next day, Paulo is gone.





ALL CHILDREN KEEP SECRETS. All parents do the same. We mold the version we want others to believe, boosting the disguise and tucking away the truth. It is how we can be loved by our closest family members and still, at times, elude them.