One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1) by Danielle Dickson

prove that I could do anything I put my mind to.
    If Tommy was looking down on me in any way, I wanted to make him proud. Thinking about Tommy made the familiar ache creep back and I felt this pull towards the dock that I couldn’t explain.
    I finished sweeping the floor and locked up.
    The walk down there was beautiful, the air was warm and the sun was still up in the sky giving off the dusky pinks it normally did at this time of day. I stopped as I got to the middle of the park, looking at Old Oak where me and my old best friend used to frequent. Sighing, I looked away, it brought up too many emotions from a past life I’d rather forget.
    I carried on walking towards the beach, taking in every sound, scent and sight. Speaking of sights, as I made my way across the beach, there standing at the end of the dock was a beautiful man. I stopped short, he had his back turned away from me but I could tell he was as handsome as I pictured him to be. Tattoos covered his muscled forearms and I watched them tense as he ran his hands through his hair. It made me want to move closer so I stepped forward. No one had ever made me feel the way he did, I never found anyone attractive. Well, not since him.
    I shook my head as I got closer, sure that I was imagining things but then it made sense, why I felt this way just from looking at him. I gritted my teeth as a thousand thoughts ran through my head.
    He turned slightly, letting me see half of his face and I couldn’t help but call out to him “Connor?”

Walking through my new school halls, I realized how out of place I was. We lived out in the sticks now and judging by all the stares I was getting; they didn’t get many new kids here.
    I hated being the centre of attention and right now, I was just that. Following a random students’ directions to the main office, I found it in no time, it wasn’t as if the school was that big anyway. I’m just glad my mom finally gave in and let me come in alone. I was big enough to come in by myself, I didn’t want to be seen being walked through the halls by her.
    Another group turned around to stare at me and my stomach clenched, being the new kid would die down soon enough. I hoped.
    Arriving at the main office, I was given my timetable and was told to wait for my ‘buddy’, I couldn’t think of anything worse than following around a goody goody all day. I just wanted to keep myself to myself, this wasn’t going along with my plan to keep my head down. I wasn’t a quiet kid by any means but I also didn’t like to get too involved with the other kids just in case they wanted to come around my house.
    Squeaking my sneaker over the tiles in frustration, I turned at the sound of the door opening and in walked a girl with flaming red hair and bright green eyes, she was beautiful.
    “Connor Hartley, this is Samantha Reynolds. She’s in the majority of your classes today so she will show you around. The first stop his locker please, Samantha. Here’s the combination, Connor. Have a great first day and welcome to Little Hollow.”
    Samantha rolled her eyes and finally looked at me, I could’ve sworn her eyes widened a little. “Well come on then, don’t just stand there staring.”
    As I followed her out of the door, she threw over her shoulder that she hated being called Samantha and that I should call her Sammy. She seemed to be a little closed off, just like me, and I instantly wanted to know her.
    “So, how long have you lived here for?” We stopped dead at a locker and she pointed at the padlock.
    “You know how to use this?” she mumbled in a bored tone and I decided not to take up any more of her apparent precious time.
    “Look, if you’ve got better things to do than to show me around, just point me in the direction of my home room and I can find my way from there.”
    She looked at me a little startled and I felt bad for being so abrupt. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound…”
    “No, no, you’re right. I’m sorry,