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

got a strapping young man in the bed beside you.” The teasing in her voice made me stifle a laugh.
    “Ha-ha, but I could do with a little lie down.” I heard footsteps come closer and I shut my eyes pretending to be asleep, I didn’t want them to think I was eavesdropping.
    “Oh, is Connor okay?” I heard her ask. Was that worry in her voice? No, it couldn’t be.
    “He’s fine, darlin’, just fine.” She said the last two words a little louder than was necessary, leading me to think she knew I wasn’t really unwell. I heard a bed move and I tried to stay as still as possible.
    “You can open your eyes now, she’s gone,” Sammy whispered, I jumped and she laughed.
    “How did you know I wasn’t asleep?” I asked as she looked me over.
    “Lew text me and told me you looked spooked, logic told me you’d come here. Everything okay?” Not wanting to divulge the real reason why I ran out the locker room like a chick, I laughed and said I just didn’t feel like gym today.
    She wasn’t buying it one bit by the look on her face. Just as she was about to reply, we both turned at the sound of footsteps moving towards us. Sammy flipped onto her stomach and pretended to be asleep and I lay back down putting the wash cloth back over my head again.
    “Guys? Connor, Sammy. I’ve just spoken with the principal, she’s given you both permission to take next period in here as long as you grab notes off a buddy. Don’t make me regret it, I want you both to get some rest.” She eyed us and Sammy smiled at her before shutting her eyes.
    It was silent for a couple of minutes until Sammy cleared her throat. “So, Connor, you never did tell me where you were from.”
    Confused, I turned on my side. “Yeah I did.” Raising an eyebrow, she continued to look at me.
    “You don’t seem to have your practiced story down as much as you think you do.” She squinted her eyes at me in suspicion.
    I started feeling a little defensive. “I don’t have a practiced story. It’s kinda none of your business either,” I retorted and her eyes widened.
    “I’m sorry, Connor, I wasn’t calling you a liar or anything. I just thought you, you know, might like to talk.”
    I had to stop snapping like that.
    “No, that’s okay, I’m just not used to people actually being interested in hearing what I have to say.” I expected sympathy off her which I hated but a look of empathy crossed her face instead.
    “Yeah, you can say that again.”
    Another couple of minutes passed in silence before I asked, “Who’s Tommy?”
    She straightened and look me over, not knowing what was going to come out of her mouth, I just stared at her. “He’s my brother,” that’s all she said.
    I got the distinct impression she wasn’t going to say anything else. “You should probably get some sleep.” I changed the subject. Looking up at the clock, we still had an hour until we had to go back to class.
    “Yeah, probably, but I think I can hold out. I’m feeling great now. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” She smirked. “So it looks like we’re stuck with each other.” She chuckled and I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, it kind of felt like butterflies were flapping around in there, I’d never get enough of hearing her laugh.

I looked down at the time on my cell, it wasn’t like Sammy to be late. Just as I was about to call her, I heard someone shout my name. I braced myself as I felt them hop onto my back and put their hands over my eyes. “Guess who,” they sung.
    “Oh, that’s a hard one. Would it happen to be a certain red headed troublemaker with my birthday present?”
    Climbing down, I heard her click her tongue. “Well aren’t we a spoil sport today, but open it!” she squealed.
    Unwrapping the badly wrapped green package, I smiled at the contents. “You remembered?”
    She squinted her emerald green eyes at me. “Connor Michael Hartley, you’ve talked about this non-stop for the past six months,