Excerpted from The Dream Travellers by Sherry Ashworth. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.
It began when Sam Williams decided to stay awake all night. This wasn’t something he’d have thought of doing if he had been on his own. But Hannah, Amy and Dean were there too. They were fed up with watching TV and were in the mood for a challenge. Hannah started it. She began by wondering what would happen if they didn’t sleep at all. “You’d probably get tired and then reach a point where you didn’t get any more tired, and then you’d begin to wake up.” Hannah always sounded as if she knew everything, and Sam, Dean and Amy thought she probably did. Her nose was always in a book and they all reckoned her thick glasses came from too much reading. Plus both of Hannah’s parents were teachers. Sam, Dean and Amy privately felt very sorry for her. “I bet you couldn’t stay up all night,” Dean challenged her. Hannah glanced at him contemptuously and helped herself to some more crisps from the bowl on the floor. Amy did the same. “I bet you couldn’t,” Hannah said. It was enough. Within a few moments all four of them had decided not to go to sleep. There was no point telling Sam’s mum, as naturally they were going to keep very quiet, have the telly on low and surprise her in the morning. They didn’t want to disturb her because she had been working hard all day, getting ready for the new lodger, who was due to arrive soon. When Sam thought back, he remembered little of that night, except it was much less fun than he thought it would be. They talked for some time about school, about kids they knew, about this and that. Hannah got into her lecturing mode and explained why it was they were all friends. “Because nobody else likes us. We don’t fit in. People call me bossy even though I’m only trying to help. Dean can’t stay still –“ “Yes, I can!” Dean shouted, and froze like a statue for a second or so. “Amy won’t speak to anyone except us, and as for you – you’re too nice for a boy, Sam.”
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