Unfinished Business: Book 2

"And...Snap."

Throughout the rest of the day, Nora avoided running into Billy, not only because she didn't want a repeat of what happened last night in the record store but mainly because she was not in the mood to deal with his ignorant ass. Of course, that didn't stop Billy from whistling at her whenever he spotted her in the hallway, which only made Nora flip him off every single fucking time. "You only have to ask, Doll!" He would yell, which would be in time for Eddie to join Nora's side at her locker. Eddie shot him a glare before turning his attention to Nora. She had her beautiful emerald eyes closed as her right hand was shaking on the door. Eddie gently places his hand on Nora's, which makes her stop, and she looks at him, "Princess, are you okay?" He asks, and Nora gives a forced smile and nods, "Yeah, I'm fine." She lies, and Eddie knows she is but doesn't say anything. He sighs before rubbing her cheek, "I love you, beautiful." He whispers, and Nora smiles, and this time it's the real one, "I love you too, baby," She replies before leaning over to kiss Eddie, "I'll see you after class." She says as they break away from the quick kiss, then heads to her free period class with Nancy and Jonathan.

Even though she lied to Eddie about being okay, Nora knew that Eddie could tell she wasn't. In truth, she was kicking herself for not taking Eddie's offer to skip school today. Damn her moral compass. The more Nora thought about it, the more it sounded like she was running away from her problems, and that's not something she does. Nora faces them head-on, so why is she letting it stop her now? Nora shakes her head before sitting in her chair to work on Steve's essay while listening to Nancy tell her about her and Steve's Halloween costumes, and Jonathan is showing Nancy some of the new photographs. Nora had been working on the essay nonstop before finally taking a break because her right hand was cramping. Nancy notices Nora's quiet demeanor and tilts her head at her, "Nor, you okay?" She asks, and Nora nods, "Yeah, just taking a break from writing." She answers before crossing her arms over her chest. Nancy and Jonathan share a look before leaning closer to Nora, "Nor, talk to us. What's wrong?" Nancy asks, and Nora bites her lip, one of her nervous ticks, "I'm just worried about tomorrow, Nance. What if it doesn't happen?" She questions as her hand goes to the musical note around her neck, "You remember how long it took for the adoption to go through because Nathaniel and Jessica wanted to be fucking assholes about it since that's all they have been for most of my life. What if this is the same thing?" She asks.

Nancy and Jonathan share another look because they both know how this past year has been for Nora. However, Nancy was the only one that knew what Nora meant and agreed with her because she was right. The lengthening process of Hopper adopting Nora and changing her name took a long time. Even though Hopper and Nora had everything on the table that proved Nathaniel and Jessica as unfit, those two still found a way to make it unbearable for Nora to be free of them. Of course, it was because of their power with the government. At least, with more effort by Hopper and the rest of the friends and family for Nora, it finally was accepted for Hopper to adopt Nora and change her last name. Now with Nora expressing her fears of history repeating itself, they made need it again so Nora can have her house back and not live in the record store for the rest of her life.

Although Nora loves living there, Nancy knows she is ready to have more space. Nancy grabs Nora's hand and squeezes it, "Nora, listen to me. Everything will work out tomorrow. You'll see. Trust me." She whispers, and Jonathan nods, "Yeah, whatever this big secret is will work. Plus, when have you let anything stop you?" He asks while raising a brow, and Nora chuckles, "You have a point, JJ. Thanks, guys. I needed this," She admits, then clears her throat, "Here, I did the best I could for Steve. I'll let you be the judge on how it looks now." She explains while handing the new essay to Nancy. As Nancy reads it, she compares Steve's old one to the new one and is shocked by how fast Nora managed to fix it, "Wow, Nora. This one looks amazing." She compliments, and Nora shrugs, "Eh, I just moved things around and changed the wording. It's not that big of a deal." Nora says while flipping out her hair.