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she replied.
    “I’m Connor,” he said.
    Hanna smiled. Her eyes quickly darted away from Connor—too anxious to maintain eye contact for too long. It took her a moment to realize Connor had extended his hand for a shake.
    “Nice to meet you,” Connor said, shaking the shy young girl’s hand.
    Hanna looked back up into Connor’s eyes. She forced a smile and nodded.
    “You’re welcome to come sit with us—we can squeeze together and pull up another chair.”
    Hanna looked over at the table, which already looked overly-crammed as it was. As Hanna looked over, Brittany quickly looked away.
    “Um—I might just take off here soon,” Hanna said.
    “Are you sure?” Connor asked. “You should stay and hang out—Just for a bit.”
    “I have to be up early, so I probably shouldn’t stay out too late.”
    Connor walked around Hanna and pulled up a chair. Hanna suddenly felt tense—uncomfortable with Connor’s persistence.
    “Mind if I ask why you’re retaking English?” Connor asked as he scooted in closer to the anxious girl.
    “I never took it in high school.”
    “Why not?” Connor asked.
    “I dropped out.”
    “Really? Why?” Connor asked.
    Hanna didn’t respond as she fondled her finger along the rim of her glass.
    “Sorry—that was a personal question. Are you trying to get into University?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    Hanna looked up at the television.
    “Just keeping doors open?” Connor asked.
    “I guess,” Hanna said.
    Connor wasn’t getting much out of the quiet girl. He looked up to see what Hanna was watching. “Do you like hockey?” he asked.
    “Huh?”
    “Hockey—Do you like it?”
    “Um, I don’t know. I don’t really know much about it.”
    “I used to play,” Connor said.
    “Oh—Cool,” Hanna said.
    “I was first line centre, triple A.”
    Hanna smiled. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what that means.”
    “Do you skate?” Connor asked.
    “No.”
    “You should learn. I could teach you.”
    Hanna looked over Connor’s shoulder. She could see Brittany staring, with an unimpressed look on her face.
    “You seem like a really cool person, Hanna.”
    “Huh?” Hanna replied.
    “You seem cool—We should hang out some time. Maybe grab a drink or something—Just me and you.”
    Hanna’s mind began to spin. Her body continued to tense up and her anxiety level rose even higher. “I should probably go,” Hanna said as she stood up from her bar stool.
    “Really?” Connor asked.
    “Yeah. It was nice talking to you.”
    “Likewise—I’ll see you at school tomorrow,” Connor said. “If you want, I’ll walk you home—You probably shouldn’t walk alone with all of that snow, and with that lunatic running around.”
    “Thanks—I’ll be okay. I don’t live far. Bye,” Hanna said
    Hanna quickly put her coat on and left Connor sitting alone at the bar.
    “Bye,” Connor replied.
    Hanna left the bar, into the cold snowy night. She made her way down the snow-covered sidewalks, across campus and into the lower-class end of town.
    Her house was old and, from the outside, you would think that it was long abandoned. The windows were mostly broken—covered up with old sheets of plywood. The green paint on the walls had mostly peeled off, revealing the grungy cement stucco underneath.
    Hanna walked up the un-shovelled yard, and she opened up her decrepit door, which hung onto the wall by a single rusted hinge.
    The inside of her house was cold, and empty. Very few of the lights worked, and the ones that did work were foggy and dim.
    Aside from the mattress in Hanna’s bedroom, there was no furniture in the whole house. Every second floorboard squeaked and the walls constantly moaned and groaned as the old house begged to be put out of its misery.
    The only source of entertainment in the house was an old radio that sat on the floor next to Hanna’s old mattress. As Hanna walked into her bedroom, she turned the radio on, and then she lay down in her bed. She stared