Hogarth spotted a girl his age with harvest blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a spray of freckles on her nose and cheeks. The girl wore a orange- ted sweater with a white button up shirt underneath, a darker red skirt, white knee socks and black Mary Jane shoes. Her long hair was tied back with a red piece of ribbon and flowing down her back. She was helping her father bring in boxes from the trailer, followed behind on her heels by a golden retriever.

The girl has to be Mr. Franklin's daughter, Deidre. But All Hogarth could do was stare at the girl, mesmerized, blue eyes wide with wonder, his mouth hung slightly open. He couldn't help but think that the girl looked very pretty. Prettier than any other girl he saw in Rockwell, or probably ever.

A huge warmth flooded into his body, it feeling hottest at the face, and he could feel something like butterflies fluttering rapidly in his stomach. Never in his whole life had he felt a feeling like this, so it was a very new and slightly uncomfortable feeling to him.

He was speechless for quite some time, before he mumbled out something without thinking,

"Whoah, she's Pretty.."

Hogarth slapped a hand to his mouth, shocked at his own words words that he blurted out loud. It was a good thing that Deidre couldn't hear him because if she heard him, he'd be the most embarrassed he felt in his life. Hogarth wanted to sneak away quickly without Deidre or her dad noticing, but he seemed to be stuck in place, not able to take his eyes off the young girl.

He was there for a while. Deidre went in and out carrying boxes and other items in side the house. Eventually everything seemed to be inside, and the girl then sat down against a tree and drew in a sketchbook, quiet and content. Her puppy was wandering around the yard, his nose to the ground sniffing. It wasn't long before he came near the fence where Hogarth was hiding behind. The puppy sniffed near the fence until he suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. He turned in circle to try and secrecy the smell and he stopped right in front of Hogarth.

He must have caught his scent, Hogarth thought. He hoped that the puppy won't go looking for him further and give him away, and wished for the puppy to turn the other direction. But he didn't. The puppy started to budge his head against the fence and a small bottom piece of a board flipped up, with the puppy's head sticking out the other side.

Almost right away, the puppy spotted Hogarth, who held his breath and stood still. He stared at the boy with gleaming brown eyes before he tapped a loud, friendly greeting.

"Shhh! No, stop! Go away! Stop barking!" Hogarth frantically try to shoo the puppy away, but the puppy stayed where he was and happily barked at him, thinking he had found a new friend.

It wasn't long before Deidre heard her puppy barking.

"Huck?", Hogarth heard her say. "What are you barking at outside that fence? Is it another squirrel again?" Deidre started to walk towards Huck to investigate. Hogarth desperately tried and tried to get Huck to go away. He then got out a Twinkie from his pocket as a last resort.

"Here, boy! You can have this, just stop barking and go away. please!"

The puppy finally stopped barking and paused looking at Twinkie. Then he happily snatched it out of his hand and barked a thank you, ducking back into the other side.

Hogarth sighed and relief. Deidre made it to where Huck was at and noticed that he was eating a Twinkie.

"So that's what you were barking about. Did somebody from the other side give you that Twinkie? Let me check."

Hogarth gasped and quickly fled behind a bush near the fence, taking his bike with him. Deidre stuck her head through the opening of the fence, scanning the area to stop anyone's presence. Hogarth hid quietly behind the bush, holding his breath, and hoping not to be detected by the girl.

Deidre then found no one and pulled her head back to the other side.

"Well, no one's there as far as I know. But where did you get that Twinkie from?"

She paused in thought for a moment before concluding with a shrug,

"Hmm, probably someone just tossed it there carelessly. Come on, Huck. Let's head inside." With that, Deidre picked up her puppy and headed inside. Hogarth peered thought the fence hole and watched her until she was out of side and inside her house. He then slid down against the fence and sighed deeply.

. Never had he blushed so hard before, never did his stomach flutter so rapidly on the inside. He knew he had to head out of there, so he got on his bike and rode down hickory lane and towards home.

Along the way, all that was in his head was the image of Deidre; The blueness and vividness of her eyes. Her quiet yet high headed posture that shows a strong hint of self confidence (the non cocky kind, of course) and bright hopefulness. The sweet, gentle voice that sounded almost music like. The slender build of her small body that swayed gracefully when she walked. Hogarth just couldn't stop thinking about her.

This continued when he got home, as he went inside the house (which was empty since his mom was working her shift at the chat and chew and Dean was working in his scrapyard), as he entered his bedroom, kicked off his shoes, and flung himself onto his bed. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to think of anything els other than Deidre, and it was driving him crazy!

"Oh, God! What is happening to me?", Hogarth groaned. "Why can't I stop thinking about her? I barley even know her! How am I going to tell Mom and Dean about this, it'll be so embarrassing."

Hogarth sighed and looked at a picture of him and the Iron giant at Dean's scrapyard.

"I wish Giant was here. It would be better telling him about it. He'd try and understand." Hogarth gazed longingly at the picture, as if the iron giant could pop out of there and into his house. He thought about the good times they had with each other, and just couldn't wait to make new ones with him.

But maybe, he would be able to tell Dean or his Mom. I'm sure they would understand. Just now at the moment. Eventually, Horgarth fell asleep.