Just a Little Embrace by Tracie Puckett Page B

After the shadowing was over, would I ever see him again? Would he ever want to see me again? How would I make it through each day kn owing I wouldn’t get to see him, if only for a moment? It killed me to know that Luke and I were so close to slipping through each other’s fingers.
    I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t breaking my heart.
    “Ladies and gentlem en,” Mrs. Brown said, standing in front of the class. “I’d like to introduce you to our newest addition.” Standing in the front of the room next to our teacher was a small, petite redhead with eyes of emerald stones. She watched over the class with a frec kled smile, somewhat mischievous, and somewhat familiar . “This is Hannah Jones .”
    Hannah, the red head, nodded to the class before her gaze fell on Matt. The two of them stared at one another for what seemed like forever, but Mrs. Brown finally spoke up, assigning Hannah to the empty desk in the back of the room.
    By the end of the class period, Mrs. Brown had explained our latest current events project and assigned two-person teams across the board, but Hannah’s addition brought about an odd number. And while Mrs. Brown didn’t think it would be fair to let the new girl work alone, she gave her the opportunity to pick which group she’d like to work wi th. Of course, given her glazed- over staring match with Matt earlier , she chose to work in our group—making us the only three- partner team in c lass.
    The rest of the day went as smooth ly as any other, and after school , Matt and I met up with Hannah at her locker as promised.
    “Thanks again for letting me join you,” Hannah said, looking past me and at Matt.
    Matt grinned sheepishly. He was never one to get nervous around a girl, especially since he spent his days f ighting flocks of potential suitors, but Hannah seemed to affect him in ways even I couldn’t understand.
    “I’m sure you’re still busy with the move and getting settled in, so we completely understand if you aren’t able to start working right away,” I said, making my presence known.
    “Oh no,” she said, wearing her mischievous smile. “I think it’s best that we get started right away. What do you say, Matt?”
    “I’m with Hannah,” Matt said, turning back to me. “We should put in as much time as we can as soon as possible. It’s always smart to stay ahead of the curve.”
    Fortunately for them, I hadn’t scheduled any shadowing hours for this evening. That 4am run this morning was all the Luke I could handle for one day; at least in that capacity.
     

 
    Chapter Two
    Wednesday September 12
    “This is where you live?” Hannah asked, assessing the two - story brick house on the corner of Linden and Main.
    Matt smiled proudly and nodded. “Home sweet home.”
    Hannah turned and pointed to the neighboring house. “Then I guess we’re neighbors,” she said. “My brother and I just moved in next door.”
    I stared at Hannah , realizing that she was indeed the same girl who’d watched me this morning as I set off for my run . An eerie chill ran up my spine as I looked at her and then back to her house; s omething about Hannah Jones didn’t rub me the right way.
    Once inside the house, Matt and Hannah spread this morning’s newspaper across the dining room table and began assessing the latest articles. As I struggled to fit between them in order to contribute to the assignment, Hannah moved back and looked at me straight on.
    “Julie,” she said with an edge to her voice . “Two newspapers are better than one, wouldn’t you say?”
    I nodded as if the a nswer should have been obvious.
    “We don’t use our paper next door,” she said. “It might be easier if you just run over and get it from the driveway. That way we’ll have two.”
    “Good idea, Hannah,” Matt said, putting an arm across her shoulders. “Isn’t that a good idea, Julie?”
    I rolled my eyes at how quickly he’d taken to her and turned on my heel.
    “I’ll be back,”