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Sam knew she couldn't stay here forever. She couldn't really be happy like this. So she pictured Tracy's face in her mind to give her strength, and she walked over to the swings. They weren't normal swings. They weren't attached to anything. The seats just hung there in the air as if by magic. Sam sat down next to a girl she'd seen before. "Hi," Sam said. "Hi. I'm Tasha. You're new, right?" "Yeah. I've only had one… charge." The word was still difficult to say. "Ah, I remember what that was like." Tasha smiled and Sam could see she was remembering something. "For me it was Emily. She was the youngest of five kids, and the only girl. That's why she needed me. We had tea parties and pajama parties. We painted each other's toenails. I never thought I'd get over losing her. I came here and watched the others get called off by new friends. And before I knew it, I wanted the same to thing to happen to me. I wanted to have what I had with Emily again." "Did you get it?" Sam asked. Tasha shook her head. "No. Every charge is different. They need us for different reasons so the relationship is never really the same. And of course, your first charge is always special since that's the friend who created you.
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