Page 42 of Hunting Little Hope
“Ooo! We could put googly eyes on everything!”
I snorted before I could stop myself. “Everything?”
“Yes,” the girl with the pink braids said solemnly. “Everything deserves eyes.”
Hope’s shoulders shook beside me, and there it was. The most beautiful sound in the world. Her carefree giggles.
Hope might be struggling with her Little side, but she was definitely feeling comfortable enough to let her out a bit more.
Sadie tapped her chin dramatically. “Okay, okay, we need something harmless. Mildly inconvenient and slightly dramatic. Nothing in the cafeteria or kitchen because I can still remember the spanking I got from the last time we messed with Chef Conner. And nothing so bad that would get Hope intoserioustrouble if we were caught.”
Sadie’s eyes lit up slowly.
“What about,” she said, lowering her voice until everyone at the table leaned in instinctively, “a delayed reaction prank.”
Pink Braids gasped. “Ooooh.”
I perked up immediately. “Tell me more.”
Sadie tapped the table once. “There’s one of the playrooms booked for tomorrow’s rope play workshop, right?”
A couple Littles nodded.
“Well,” she continued carefully, “what if that room… happened to receive a very enthusiastic glitter blessing tonight?”
The table went silent.
Then—
“You mean glitter bomb it?” someone whispered.
Sadie didn’t answer. Her beaming smile was answer enough.
“Like,” I said slowly, already picturing it, “in the air vents?”
“No, no,” someone on the farthest edge of the table cut in. “That’s too destructive. We’re not heathens.”
“How about a bucket over the door frame?” someone else suggested. “So when they open it—boom.”
Hope shifted beside me.
I leaned closer to her. “We’re just planning,” I murmured. “No actual glitter deployed.”
Yet.
She huffed out a soft breath. “Do you have any idea how long glitter lasts?”
“Forever,” I admitted.
She turned to look at me fully. “Exactly.”
There was something different in her expression now. Not anxious.
Thinking.
Then she took a slow breath and looked back at the table.
“Can you guys get into the playroom after they set up for the workshop but before the actual workshop starts?”
