“Not going to happen.”
“How come?”
“Because I’ve got it locked away safe and sound.”
“Oh.” I snickered then, feeling mischievous. “What about your heart?”
“What about it?”
“What if it gets broken?” I teased. “You can’t fix your own heart, silly.”
“Then you better keep it safe.”
“I will,” I vowed, holding out my pinky finger. “No matter what.”
Sighing heavily, he closed his book and leaned forward to hook his pinky around mine. “You’re a little menace, you know that?”
“How come?”
“Because you’re always distracting me.”
“Hey,youcalled me to come over to play, mister.” Feeling playful, I pounced on his lap and wrestled him onto the floor before attacking him with the tickles. “Besides, it’s bad manners to call your best friend a menace.”
“Ah, mercy, mercy!” he roared through fits of laughter when I got him right under his arms. I knew his weak spot.Ha. “You win, you win, Liz!”
“You scream like a girl,” I snickered, pinning his hands above his head.
“And you wrestle like a boy,” he mused, still chuckling. “So I guess we even each other out, huh?”
Straddling his lap, I kept him pinned beneath me and smiled. “You make me feel good in my belly.”
“That’s the flutter-cups,” he replied with a grin.
It wasn’t the flutter-cups.
It was something else.
It was the other feeling.
The oneheput in me.
“Do you want to know a secret?”
Hugh nodded.
“I know someone with superpowers.”
“What kind of superpowers?” he replied, still smiling up at me.
I wanted to tell him, but I was scared of what would happen if I did. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want him to hurt me. He said he would if I told anyone about the special powers.
“I’m not allowed to say.” I sighed sadly. “It’s a secret.”
“You can tell me,” Hugh replied, brown eyes locked on mine. “I’ll keep your secret, Liz.”
“But it’s not my secret,” I mumbled, feeling confused. “And I might get in trouble.”
“Why would you get in trouble?”