Lights, Camera, …What?!? Book 1 Chapters 24 and 25 by Sofia Hammerstein

Connor Slane has grown up to be one of the brightest kids in his dimension and one of the most ambitious computer science majors at his top university. Now, thanks to an exchange program between his university and his mother’s alma mater, Emerson University in another dimension. Connor has the chance to forge his own path in computers and his other love, filmmaking. Having seen still images of their amazing holographic films, he hopes go to Emerson, and then return to build his own empire - and maybe even find his true self, as his mother did.

Beth Sylvester is a Tweener herself and another child of influential parents in the other dimension. Her wealthy Big mom is the daughter of a disgraced former CEO, and her dad is the first and only Tweener to serve on the Supreme Court. Connor’s mom and Beth’s dad were good friends while she was in the dimension, and they’ll quickly discover that they enjoy hanging out with each other. They’ll also discover that if either is going to survive to the end of the semester academically or as mature adults, they’ll need to help each other out. If not, Connor could quickly find himself on the one-way road to being adopted by some Big, and Beth might not be far from that fate either…

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The Legal Stuff: Lights, Camera, …What?!? By Sofia Hammerstein
 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Copyright © 2023-2026 Sofia Hammerstein.
 

 
 

Chapter 24: Stories and Truths
 

I SAT CURIOUSLY as Aunt Bella took a drink of something from a sippy cup, smiled, and said, “Okay… This is kind of a long story.”

I nodded, “Not like I have anywhere to be?”

She smiled, “Okay… the story starts about four years after your mom left. Mommy needed somewhere else to keep me during the day, so she ended up taking me to the same daycare that Meggy went to, Little Roo’s.”

I grimaced at the thought of having to go to daycare, and she noticed.

With a laugh, “There are plenty of bad daycares, but Little Roo’s was really pretty good. Littles were less forcibly regressed there, especially since much as most of them chose to be adopted like Meggy. It made it kind of fun to go each day, even though it was weird to see the ‘cool kids’ be the ones who were willing to act the most babyish.”

“That’s weird, Mom,” Ryan said.

“Well, hopefully, you never end up adopted, Ryan, but trust me when I say there are some pretty great lengths that many go to keep their sanity.”

“Weird,” Shelby agreed with her brother, “but I guess I can see it.”

“So, daycare?” I asked, trying to move the story along.

“Yeah, so I was at LittleRoo’s for a couple years when this new boy was brought in, Jackson. He was only four feet six inches tall, so while he towered over me, he was actually one of the shorter guys I’d met in a while. He had this beautiful blonde curly hair his mommy insisted on keeping just long enough to have curls in it.” She sighed, “I think she was going for that pre-first haircut look…?” She shrugged, “Anyway, he was gorgeous! As he came in, it just had to be when Miss Bea came by and pulled my dress up, pulled the back of my diaper, and said, ‘Aww, I found a poopy baby!’”

She shuddered, “In ten seconds, I fell in love and was mooning the love of my life with a poopy butt!”

Everyone at the table, including me, laughed at that.

“A few minutes later, when Miss Bea was done changing me, I walked over to where he looked lost at a bookshelf.”

“Hi, I’m Bella!” she told him.

“Umm… I’m Jackson, I guess…?”

“You guess?”

“Well, my name used to be Mike?”

Bella made a face, “Jackson is better,” she smiled.

He looked embarrassed and awkward before saying, “Okay, you can call me Jackson.”

“Just adopted?” Bella asked him.

“Obvious, huh?”

“Kind of…”

“Does it ever get easier?”

Bella made a face, “Well, I’m probably the wrong person to ask. I had some pretty horrible things that led me to being adopted, kidnapped, and other things before my sister found me again.”

“Sounds like a story?”

“One, I won’t tell… it was pretty dark,” she told him. Then, she grabbed a set of blocks from the shelf and said, “Here, build things with me.”

He smiled, and they started building towers of blocks together that soon came crashing down with her friends that came racing by.

“That’s sweet,” I said. “Even though it’s also horrible?”

She shrugged, “Little Roo’s was really a pretty good place to be until Mommy brought home Tessa.”

“Tessa is here?” I asked, surprised.

Suddenly a holographic woman appeared, “Why yes, Connor, I am. I was waiting for a moment to come say ‘hi.’ I love your mom dearly!”

“Umm… Hi,” I said nervously.

“We’ll let you two talk more later, Tessa. Can you just ensure everything is nice and locked up tight around the property?” Amanda asked her.

“Certainly, Doctor Westerfield,” she said and disappeared.

“She always has a knack for interrupting stories,” Shelby complained.

“She’s really cool, though,” I told them.

“You’ll get tired of her pretty quickly,” Ryan assured me. “She can get a bit Nanny’ish at times.”

I wondered what he meant but decided to prompt Aunt Bella, “So what happened next?”

“Well, Jackson and I started hanging out together pretty much all the time at daycare. Soon, our mommies set up playdates in the evenings and on the weekends. So we were here one afternoon and left alone in the playroom. One thing led to another, and soon we started helping each other remove our diapers and did some things that led to Ryan here.”

I smirked at the red face Ryan had then.

“How does that even work with a Little having a baby? Are there rules against it at all?”

Grandma shook her head, “No, it’s perfectly legal as long as the girl’s parents don’t press charges. To us, it had been long apparent that they were in love, but Jackson’s mommy didn’t understand that her baby boy wasn’t only a baby.”

“How did she react when she found out Bella was pregnant?”

“It wasn’t hard to hide because Jackson’s mommy pulled him from Little Roo’s before Bella even started showing.”

“It was devastating; I didn’t know what happened to him,” Aunt Bella said. “About eight months after he disappeared, I had Ryan.”

“How does something like that work legally? Are you his mom at that point? You’re still adopted, right?”

“Right, and as far as the state is concerned, I’m still their babied Little,” she told me.

“But, it’s kind of like a teen pregnancy; Bella’s name is on the birth certificate as the mother. In her case, though, as ‘grandparents,’ we technically were given custody of both of them at that point,” Grandpa said.

“And raising him?”

“Bella moved out of a crib and into your mom’s big girl bed. We put Ryan’s crib in her room, and she cared for him just like a normal mom. The only difference was when we went anywhere, they were both in diapers and both being taken care of. People thought he was just her realistic-looking baby doll for a while.” Amanda shook her head.

“So, a single mother with grandparents helping out?” I surmised.

“And Aunty and cousin!” she smiled. “Meg and Meggy were here so often after he was born that I wondered if they wouldn’t just move in!”

“And Shelby?”

“Well, Mommy and Daddy looked around for any information about Jackson and couldn’t find anything for a long time. Finally, about Ryan’s first birthday, they found a bulletin about an escaped Little.” She smirked, “Not often it happens, but it seemed like Jackson made a clean getaway! I was happy for him!” Her face turned grave though, “Unfortunately, he ran to the wrong state, and when he was captured in Jacinto. There they had no problems following the stupid Little Fugitive Act laws!”

“Fugitive Act?” I asked.

“Your mom once compared them to some slavery acts which were abolished in your dimension?”

My stomach turned, “If they’re like that… are they still on the books?”

“For now, we’re hoping this session with the Supreme Court will finally abolish them,” Fred said. “Beth’s dad is a big part of that hope.”

I nodded, “So what happened when they brought him back?”

My tiny aunt shuddered, “Well, he suddenly showed up one day at Little Roo’s, and Meggy told me about it that night. I insisted Mommy take me there the next day, and I was so happy to see him when he was carried through the door!”

“Jackson!!!!!” I practically cried as I saw the only love of my life carried through the door.

“Well, someone is happy to see you!” his mommy said. “Why don’t you enjoy your last day of big-boy thoughts with your old friend there.”

Bella’s stomach turned at that, ‘Last day of big boy thoughts…?’

Jackson had been able to walk the last time she had seen him, but that day she saw him struggle to stand before giving up and crawling toward her. They embraced, “What happened?” Bella asked him.

“I managed to go south, and I enjoyed a few years of living on my own,” he told her. “I never stopped thinking about you, though. I thought about trying to get you to come with me when I left, but my contact could only get me out… you seemed happy with your family too.”

Bella blushed, “I knew you weren’t happy, so I don’t blame you. How are you back?”

“Can we go to the tunnel?” He asked, motioning to a plastic play tunnel that the ‘kids’ knew was a private spot that daycare workers left alone.

“Sure, you get a headstart; I’m going to get Meggy to run interference for us.”

Bella ran over to Meggy, “I don’t like what his mommy said when she dropped him off,” Meggy told her.

“I know… Can you keep Miss Bea and the other workers away for a while?”

“What are you up to?” She asked with a smirk.

“Really just wanting to talk..?”

“Talk, huh?” Meggy joked with her. “Talking like caused Ryan?”

“Best thing in my life,” Bella told her.

“Mine too; he is precious! Okay, I’ll do what I can.” Meggy stopped for a moment and pulled something out of her overalls, “You might need this.”

Bella blushed when she realized it was a barrette with a sharp edge hidden along one tiny edge. The intention of getting access to diapers was clear!

“What happened?” She asked as she sat inside the plastic tunnel holding Jackson tightly.

“I was free and clear, but for some reason, when I went to work one day, ten uniformed people came into our office building. It turns out they were LPS workers with a tip about fugitive Littles working there. Turns out I wasn’t the only one with a chip still in me, and before I knew it, I was diapered and strapped into an infant carrier that they didn’t let me out of for the entire time to come here.”

“That’s horrible!”

“It was; I mean, I guess at least they changed the diaper… but I only had formula for food, and they talked about modifying me before finally shipping me off back here to ‘mommy.’”

“Why can’t you walk?” Bell asked.

“Apparently, the first thing they do to you if you run… My mommy took me to a clinic as soon as she was there to pick me up, and they implanted something in my head. It’s not that my legs don’t work, but I have no equilibrium if I’m standing. At best, it’s like I’ve drank an entire bottle of rum…?”

Bella squeezed him in a hug, feeling tears going down her face. “What did she mean your last day?”

Jackson shuddered, “She’s taking me to get a regression treatment this afternoon… It’ll leave me the abilities of an infant.”

Bella felt more tears fall as she hugged him. “I have something to tell you,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Not long after you left, I discovered I was pregnant.”

“Really? I have a kid?”

“A beautiful baby boy; he just turned four yesterday.”

“I have a boy?” He was crying then, “I so want to meet him!”

“I asked Mommy to bring him when she picks me up later. So, hopefully, you can.”

They hugged and cuddled for a while before Bella asked, “Do you want to go out with a bang before you go?”

“Huh?” Jackson asked.

“Eew… I was conceived in a daycare play tunnel?!?” Shelby said.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve heard this story, is it?” I asked her.

“No, but Mom never put that part in there.”

“More like you never understood that before,” her mom laughed.

“What happened after that?” I asked.

“Well, Miss Bea was perplexed about how we got out of our diapers. We both ended up in the corner for that, but a little while later, Mommy came with Ryan, and they were able to meet. Mommy even took a picture of the three of us together,” Bella smiled.

“Then?” I asked gently.

“Well, we ran into them in the mall a week later… Ryan was asleep in the stroller behind me, so thankfully, he didn’t see his daddy all bundled up in his mommy’s arms. We tried to talk to them for a moment, but it was clear there was nothing left of Jackson then.” Aunt Bella had tears rolling down her face, and I was wiping at my own. “A little over nine months later, Ryan had a baby sister,” Aunt Bella said. “That part of Jackson was at least allowed to go on,” she said with a smile.
 

BETH AND LIVY had separated from the other two, and Beth was now on her way to Livy’s room upstairs with a bag with pajamas and Rings stuffed inside it. She’d also thrown a fluffy blanket inside and some of her junk food stash.

Inside the room, Livy had set up a small blow-up loveseat.

“I thought those weren’t allowed?” Beth asked.

“It’s technically okay because it’s got a fabric cover. I checked with Penelope and have it in writing,” she assured her. “It was a Christmas present.”

“Well, cool!” Beth said. She had a holo-screen setup on the opposite wall, and she was sure they would be coming to watch movies in her room at some point. So Beth sat on one end of the sofa, and Livy sat on the other.

“So, what is up with you, Beth?” she asked after a while. “That comment about coming back here earlier?”

Beth sighed, “I was hoping no one would notice that once I said it?”

“So… what are you hiding, Beth?” She asked, “This secret seems to be eating at you?”

“Ugh!!!” Beth said, “Promise me you won’t decide I’m some sort of freak you never want to talk to again?”

“I promise, although if you’ve murdered someone, it might get a little uncomfortable?” she joked.

Beth sighed, “Closer to I was the murdered one.”

“Huh?”

“Here, hand me my bag; I need Rings for this.”

Livy read her body language well and locked the deadbolt while she was up. Handing Beth Rings, she also gave her a bottle of water she pulled from the mini-fridge. She sat down on the couch and watched as Beth opened her own and took a drink.

“Okay, other than my parents and siblings, you are the only one I’ve ever talked to about this.”

“Wow, this must be some deep dark secret?”

“It is… Livy, I have two birthdays. Once is May 18th of the same year as you. The other was thirty years before that.”

“No way!” She said, “How?!?”

“Well, it really all goes back to my dad… He and I actually grew up as neighbors, attended the same high school, and came to Emerson together.”

“But he’s like…”

“Old?” Beth giggled, “Yes, I guess he is now. Anyway, I don’t remember any of that at this point. But, from what he told me back during the first week of school, I got poisoned and had an accident in the cafeteria without any protection.”

“No…” she said.

“Yeah, apparently, I was too stupid to at least wear a Pull-Up! But also, the rules were even stricter back then. I was one credit from demeriting out, so I offered myself up to student services.”

“You were adopted?” She asked. “Wait, were you a Little?”

Beth nodded, “One stupid inch… I was five foot eleven!”

“That sucks…” She said, and moved closer to give her a hug, “So what happened? How did you get away from your adopted parents?”

“I didn’t… well, it’s more than that. Apparently, my birth dad was a pretty big donor to the university, so he was able to pull some strings, and he adopted me. He had to divorce my mom since she was a Betweener, but he was able to bring me home.”

“And you just went back to living like you did in high school?” She asked.

Beth shook her head, “No, the court only let me go to him if I was altered.”

She gasped, “No!”

“Yeah, it was about as bad as it gets… The judge wanted to make sure my ‘maturosis’ was treated. So they took away my ability to control my potty training. I couldn’t walk, my teeth were pulled and replaced with one of those old gum implants, and I was limited to essentially the life of a six-month baby.”

“That’s horrible!” Livy said, and Beth saw tears on her face to match hers.

“It was,” Beth said simply.

“But…?” She asked.

“But my real dad played the game with the courts until they finally stopped monitoring us a couple years later. After that, he was able to start helping me get back the skills that had been lost then. Eventually, we moved to New Albany, and I was able to complete a community college degree and get my emancipation approved by the courts there.”

“That’s awesome… but…”

“Okay, so you know how my Dad… like current dad was the same age?” She nodded, “Well, we were in love… we were going to get married as he finished law school.”

“You were going to get married to your dad?!?”

“He wasn’t my dad then,” Beth said, “But I get it; I think if I actually remembered any of this myself, I would consider it worse… as it is, it nearly broke me when they told me the truth.”

“So it sounds like things were going well then? What happened?”

“Well, my mom and dad, birth ones, had gotten back together in New Albany, and we were living together. My mom was looking for work and came across a thing where you try products and get paid for it.”

“Oh…” Livy said.

“Yeah, we apparently were the guinea pigs for some regression cream. Mom and I were both completely lights out from then on. She passed away actually like that,” Beth didn’t remember her but felt tears.

“That’s horrible… So like, how?”

Beth told the rest of the story of how her current dad fought for her and her mom, and eventually, her mom came up with the idea to do the Premature Birth option. “They really did that to you?!?” Livy asked.

Beth nodded, “They hoped it would restart everything with my body…? And to Mom’s credit, it did. As a result, I’m almost three feet taller than I was the first time around. And I was able to learn and everything all over again.”

“Yeah… so you don’t remember anything?” She asked.

Beth shrugged, “The only thing that’s ever seemed familiar was this piece of stone on a wooden base that supposedly I made for my Dad with a poem on it.”

“Oh? What did it say?” Livy asked. “Do you remember?”

“Yes, I memorized it years ago when I tried to deal with what they told me had been done to me?”

“Go on?”

Beth took a breath, “Inches. Growing up, we found ourselves to be like, two peas in a pod. Together we grew to find that life was not to be alike. Inches, mere inches kept us from a view. A dream to grow, a dream to be together. Inches, just inches, sent our paths askew. May this be a token and a tether, For our memories of love, in inches?”

Beth’s face was filled with tears as Livy said, “Oh my God, that is like the most beautiful thing ever!”

The two friends hugged, “Thanks for telling me, Beth.”
 
 

Chapter 25: Phones
 

I HAD HUNG out in the living room talking with Shelby and Ryan for a while after dinner before they went ‘home’ with their mom to the ‘playhouse’ next door. “When Meggy gets here tomorrow, we should hang out together,” she told me.

“Sure,” I’d said with a shrug.

Grandma watched them walk across the yard before she turned back to me. “You seemed to hit it off well with Shelby?”

I smiled, “She reminds me of Riley a little bit. It’s almost like having my sisters here with her. They would get along really well.”

She smiled at that, “I’m glad to hear that. Want to go play with your new toys now?”

I saw a clock on the wall, “Maybe just for a little bit? Even without the forced bedtime from Mackenzie, it’s been a long day.”

“That’s probably a good decision. Let’s go up to your room, and I’ll show you how to use the phone and goggles.”

I stood up and walked to follow her to the stairs. She stopped there, “Want a ride?”

I blushed, “Please!”

She smiled and reached down to pick me up, holding me underneath securely, and I found myself leaning into her warm body. Then, she gave me a gentle squeeze in my room and said, “Go hit the potty; I’m going to go get the toys!”

I smiled, but as much as I turned red, I was glad for the chance to go. I once again climbed the stairs in front of the potty seat and sat down to go. By the time I’d washed my hands, Grandma was back in the room, sitting on the floor. “Come on over,” she said with a smile.

I started to sit across from her, but she quickly pulled me over to sit on her lap instead. “What…?” I began to say.

“Hush, you’re my grandbaby I’ve never gotten to hold before a couple days ago. I won’t apologize about the fact you and I are certainly going to make up for missed cuddling!” She squeezed me tightly in a hug even as I turned bright red.

I sighed, ‘Grandma’s mothering instincts must be going crazy…?’

“Okay, here’s the phone first,” she said, holding out the thin device. “You’ll turn it on like this,” she said to me, pressing on a corner of the screen. It lit up, showing a MelonCorp logo, before displaying a screen resembling our phones back home. “This is your home screen,” she said.

“Looks like my phone back home,” I told her.

“Probably does; it’s sad, but UI really hasn’t changed for phones much in the last thirty years,” she lamented.

“Do you all even interact with devices like that much?”

“Some things, like phones,” she smiled. “Let’s make sure you have my phone number, Grandpa’s number, and a few others.” When she was done, I had theirs, plus Megan, Meggy, Ryan, and Shelby, and somehow she’d gotten Beth’s number too! I noticed her dad was put under Justice Cameron Sylvester.

“Why’d you put him in?”

“You never know when you’ll need a friend,” Grandma said. “Hopefully, you won’t need it!”

I nodded.

“Okay, so I think you should be good with the phone. Let’s take a look at the goggles!” She said with a smile.

She had already pulled them out of the packaging, “I ran a check and had Tessa check too that there’s nothing on here that shouldn’t be. These are the standard goggles just sized down,” she told me. “All you need to do is put them on, and you can start putting your account and avatar together.”

I put them on, and she said, “Why don’t you play for a half-hour? Then I’ll come to make sure you’re doing okay and send you to bed?”

I looked at her, surprised I could still see her through the goggles. “Sounds good!” I said.

I used my hand to interact with a virtual button to start things and found myself suddenly in the middle of a completely white space. “Whoa, this looks realistic!” I said.

Suddenly a figure appeared in front of me that looked like a variation of the woman that Luxuria looked like. “Good evening, welcome to the EdgeSphere Universe!”

She looked amazingly realistic, so I said, “Hi,” nervously.

“May I have your name…?” She asked.

I played a lot of games back home, but the setup of my accounts and avatar was never as interactive and… well, perfect? As that next half-hour. I spent time customizing my look, my hair, my eyes, and everything to mostly match my natural body with a few ‘enhancements.’

I was just finishing saving my avatar when I heard, “Come on back, Connor,” from Grandma.

The holo character interacting with me said, “Time is up. It sounds like your progress has been saved, and you can enter the EdgeSphere Universe and play games when you return next.”

“Thanks,” I said and pulled the goggles off.

“Have fun?” Grandma asked.

“Yeah, that’s crazy how detailed everything looks. And I can move around without it seeming like I’m only in this small space!”

She smiled, “It’s pretty cool tech. Now why don’t you hop off to the bathroom, go potty, brush your teeth, put your jammies on, and I’ll tuck you in.”

I blushed but grabbed the pile of clean clothes she handed me. I went to the bathroom and climbed again on the massive potty, used the new u-shaped electric toothbrush she’d bought for me that fit my mouth, and took time to wash my face to avoid any more pimples. ‘They never stop,’ I thought, finding one I needed to pop. ‘Ugh!’

I pulled on the warm fuzzy pajama pants and the long-sleeved pajama top with the Emerson University logo on it and headed out to the room.

Grandma was sitting in a rocking chair that I had a feeling probably remained from when my mom lived here too. She smiled at me as I walked out and stood up. She stretched as she did so, and for the first time, I noticed more of her age showing in her movements. “All good to go?”

“I think so,” I told her.

“You want to change that Pull-Up before you go to bed? You’ve been wearing it all day?”

I noted it looked a little worn in the bathroom, “Umm… I guess it’s not wet or anything?” I told her.

“It’s not really meant for all-day use, though,” she smiled at me. I watched her approach the changing table and pull out a similar Pull-Up. “Here, take off the old one and hand it to me.”

I blushed as I realized she didn’t intend to leave, ‘She’s already wiped your poopy butt once,’ I had to remind myself. With a sigh, I did turn away and pulled my pants and the old Pull-up down. I pulled the new one up as quickly as possible and caught her examining the old one.

“I’m glad to see you’re able to control yourself still at this point,” she said with a smile.

“I hope that lasts…?” I said.

“Don’t be surprised if it doesn’t, Fred did some studying into it at one point, and even if you avoid the hypnosis and tainted foods, it seems like it’s inevitable that portal Littles have accidents like our own.”

I shrugged, “Maybe I’ll be the exception? Doesn’t matter; I won’t be getting a gold potty star anyway,” I smirked.

“Well, good thing they don’t ask about your potty charts back home?” Grandma asked me as she moved to the bed. At the top of the pink bed, she pulled down the slightly more boyish sheets that did nothing to take away from the girly nature of the room. I climbed in and let her pull the blankets up to my chin, and she tucked in the sides some more. To my side, I could see the small rail of bars meant to keep me from falling out.

“Thanks,” I told her.

“Want a bedtime story?” She asked.

I blushed, “Umm… sure?” I paused, “I mean, Mom told me you used to tell the best bedtime stories?”

She smiled, “Be right back with her favorite then!”

‘Her favorite?’ I wondered. Mom had never told us what stories were her favorite, only about being cuddled up with her mommy and enjoying the story.

She returned with a well-worn illustrated children’s book as large as my torso. Little Beauty and the Untamed Beast. She pulled the rocking chair over and began reading, occasionally showing me pictures as the story was similar to the classic Beauty and the Beast tale from back home. It was practically an ancient movie by the time we were kids, but Mom and Mama had insisted we watch it once. Then I was stuck with Riley wanting to watch it on repeat… ‘I never let on that I liked it just as much,’ I thought sadly. I listened to Grandma’s voice tell the story of Belle being a diapered Little who somehow finds herself lost in the woods and comes across the ‘Beast’s’ castle. In this story, the beast was essentially a wolf in human form, and he just about ate her when they met! But, slowly, they fell in love as the beast watched out for her, and in the end, they admitted their love, and both turned into Amazon adults.

“And they lived happily ever after,” was the last thing I heard before I let myself drift off to sleep.
 

BETH WAS LYING, awake next to Livy as they shared the bed for their sleepover. Since the beds were designed for college-aged Bigs, there was no problem with two Tweeners sharing it. Beth was squeezing Rings tightly as she faced the wall and debated if she’d done the right thing telling Livy the truth about her.

‘What’s the worst that can happen?’ she thought. ‘I’m over six feet tall by more than a foot-and-a-half…?’ She felt her stomach turn as she thought about Nevaeh.

She found herself trying to imagine what her life would have been like if none of the events that happened to her had occurred. Her dad’s life… which was also her former fiancé’s life, would have been so much different too…

She sighed, ‘It’ll all work out… it always has,’ she tried to convince herself.

Sometime after that, she must have managed to sleep but felt completely unrested when she felt Livy wake up. She sat up and watched Livy stretch before being hugged suddenly, “I’m so glad you trusted me enough to tell me, Beth. You don’t have to worry about me telling anyone; my lips are sealed. I think you could tell Cassie, though; she would be fine with it.”

“Not Desiree?” Beth asked.

She shook her head, “Desiree is a nice girl and a good friend, but I don’t think she’d handle this well.”

Beth nodded; there was a reason she hadn’t felt comfortable telling all of them her deepest darkest secret.

The two of them ended up at breakfast fairly early for a Saturday morning and were watching as the Little Nests came in. “There’s more of them today,” Livy noted carefully, not looking too closely.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll see more of everyone today.”

“If I was a Little in those dorms, I wouldn’t come back until as late tomorrow as possible,” she said.

Beth nodded, “Yeah… forced early bedtimes, diapers, and who knows what else…?”

Livy shuddered, and Beth knew they both had a kindred spirit in wanting nothing to do with those dorms. “Where’s your new boyfriend at?” Livy joked as she noticed he was missing.

Beth glared at her, “He’s not my boyfriend…?”

“He should be; you make a cute couple together.”

“He looks like he could be my toddler son!”

Livy laughed, “So? Isn’t your mom like a giant compared to your dad?”

Beth blushed, “Yes…?”

“Worried things won’t go together, right?”

“Livy!” She hissed, wanting to die right then. Her friend was harmless on this, but her dating, or lack thereof, was something she was morbidly embarrassed by.

“You don’t know if you don’t try?” She suggested as she took a bite of fruit.

“You’re incorrigible!” She told her right as her phone vibrated. Beth looked down at it and saw a message from someone not in her contacts. She was about to just put it back down when she read it and realized it was Connor. She blushed deeper red then.

“Oh, who’s the text from?” Livy asked, clearly way too observant.

“Nobody…?” She tried to say.

“I don’t know how he would have gotten a phone, but is it Connor?”

Beth blushed and hid her face behind her hair for a moment. Then, “Stop… yes, it is.”

“Wait? Really? How did he get your number?”

“Probably his grandmother and my dad if I had to guess…” she sighed.

“So where is he?” Livy asked.

“With his grandmother for the weekend.”

“They wouldn’t let him live with her?”

Beth shook her head, “Something about his mom, I think. I guess she caused some rules to be written after she left?”

“But he can go for the weekend?”

“I think his grandmother probably convinced them to let him treat Emerson as a boarding school during the week, and he can go home on the weekends.”

“Huh… How are you going to see your boyfriend on the weekends then?”

“Livy, I’m going to kill you someday,” Beth hissed.

She read Connor’s message, Hi, this is Connor… My grandmother gave me your number on my new phone. I hope that’s okay? I figured just in case I ever use it, I’d make sure you had my number so it wasn’t an unknown number. Thanks for hanging out with me the other day. Hope to see you around classes!

Beth debated about not responding at all thanks to Livy’s razzing but ended up sending, Hi Connor, hope you’re having a good weekend with your family. I enjoyed hanging out with you, too; I hope to see you sometime soon too!

She pressed send before she could talk herself out of it and pushed her phone back into her coat pocket to where she wouldn’t see if he responded or not.

Beth also tried to ignore the grin plastered on Livy’s face!

 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a couple times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. This first full novel is complete (73 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though! I hope to have Book 2 published there in the next few months as well.

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $6.95 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $10.95 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia