Free Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn

about you?”
    He shrugged. “Fine,” he said, his tone not very enthusiastic.
    â€œSchool kind of rough?”
    â€œA little.” He pointed to the left. “Let’s go this way; there’s that little park a couple of blocks down.”
    Lisa nodded her agreement, and for a moment they walked along the sidewalk in silence. The neighborhood had a different feeling than the one near the hive, Lisa decided as she looked around. Lee Intro was closer to shops and Barona’s busier streets than any of the city’s hives were. Because the teens were less mobile than preteens and kids, she wondered?
    â€œHow’re you doing in school?” Daryl asked suddenly.
    â€œI’m still at the hive,” Lisa told him.
    He stopped. “What?”
    She stopped too. “I’m still at the hive,” she repeated, frowning at the look on his face. “I haven’t reached Transition yet.”
    â€œOh. I thought …” Abruptly, he started walking again, and she had to hurry to catch up.
    â€œHey, what’s the matter?” she asked, trying to get a clear look at his face through the bounce of their steps. “Did I say something wrong?”
    â€œI just sort of figured you’d come over from Paris Intro down the street,” he mumbled, nodding back over his shoulder.
    â€œWell … you don’t have to tell your friends I didn’t,” she said, taking a stab at the reason for his reaction. Preteens, too, were sometimes kidded for friendships with much younger kids.
    He threw her a quick look and slowed down to a more reasonable pace. “No, that’s okay. I guess … it’s not easy to lose your teekay and get tossed suddenly into school at the same time, you know.”
    â€œI understand. I’m sorry. Do you want me to go away?” She held her breath, afraid he would say yes, yet feeling intuitively she needed to offer him that choice.
    â€œI guess not,” he said and managed a smile. “You came all the way out here to see me; I guess the least I can do is be civil.”
    She smiled back. “So … tell me about life as a teen.”
    And for the next half hour he did just that. They arrived at the park and sat together on a bench as he poured out the fears and frustrations of his new life. Lisa listened attentively, striving to keep her own feelings in check as his stories seemed to confirm her worst fears about the coming Transition.
    Finally, he ran out of words, and for a few minutes they sat together in silence, watching the rays of the setting sun streaming through cracks in the growing cloud cover. “Thanks for listening,” he said at last, reaching over awkwardly to squeeze her hand. “There isn’t really anyone I can talk to like that at the school.”
    â€œDidn’t some of your friends from the hive go with you?” she asked. “I thought Chase and Hari—”
    Daryl snorted. “Chase is a furhead. Joined some stupid club and now he’s too good to be seen with someone like me. And Hari—” His voice caught. “Hari tried to kill himself a month ago. They took him to a hospital, and I don’t know what’s happened to him since then.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Lisa said softly, feeling a lump in her throat. Hari’d seemed like a nice guy. Something inside her demanded she change the subject, before she could think too much about what that implied about Transition. “Daryl … the main reason I came to see you tonight was to ask you for a favor.”
    His hand, still holding hers, seemed to stiffen a bit. “What kind of favor?” he asked cautiously.
    She took a deep breath and braced herself. “I’d like you to teach me reading.”
    â€œMe?” He made a sound that was half snort and half laugh. “You gotta be kidding. I’m barely keeping up with that myself.”
    â€œBut you could teach me the