Learning To Love Him

Five

Isaac's POV
I've managed to find a couple of cheerleaders that are already swooning over me. Good. But for some reason I don't want them to swoon over me I want Nora to do it. I don't know how to describe my need to have her. I don't even know why I want her.

I can hear laughing coming across the lot, I turn and see my sister with her friends and they look like their having the time of their lives. Pathetic isn't it? The blonde cheerleader steals my attention back, I think she said her name was Rhiannon. I just can't focus on her so I just wonder off toward where my sister is with Nora.

"Hey Victoria." I say.

"Sexually harass any girls lately?" One of the boys says to me I bloody can't tell them apart. It has to be the one that saved Nora yesterday.

"Oh you're hilarious." I fire back sarcastically.

"Don't antagonise him Jay." Nora says.

"It's true though isn't it Eastern?" Jayden says.

Before I can gain control of myself I punch him straight in the jaw. He stumbles back into his brother.

"Oh my god Jayden!" Nora's panic distorts her almost prefect features.

"Get out of here!" Victoria yells angry at Isaac.

Half an hour later I'm in principal's office getting chewed out about violence never being the answer and all that shit.

There's a knock on the door. The principal stares me down. "I know exactly your type Isaac and if you think you can drag all that East L.A behaviour into my school you are mistaken. But on this occasion considering you home situation back home, I will give you one more chance, and only one." 

There's a soft knock on the door, she looks up, "Who is it?"

I hear the door open but not all the way, "Oh um I'll come back later Miss."

"Nora, how's Jayden?" She asks.

"It's not broken and he just has a sore head."

The door closes and shortly after I get dismissed. I walk down the corridor quietly, the second day and I bashed someone up, what is my problem. Now Victoria's just going to hate me more. I look at my timetable and realise I don't actually know where my classes are. I stop and stare at it as if it will magically guide me there.

"I'm thinking maybe we might have got off on the wrong foot yesterday."

I whip around and her features are stunned at my sudden movement. Nora stands before me and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

"No we didn't what you see is what you get." I snap then mentally scold myself straight away.

"Ok. Well when you get that stick out of your ass you know where to find me."
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It's now been weeks since I punched Jayden and for all of those weeks I hadn't changed a bit.

She was under my skin though almost like a faraway chance at redemption. Nora Jones, she's so self righteous and smart. She hasn't spoken to me since that day but her words have stuck in my brain like a dead bug on your windshield. I spend most lunch breaks snogging that cheerleader slut Rhiannon, she'll do anything to have me acknowledge her existence. After all that time I still think about Nora, what she said that day. There was a stick up my ass and today I was going to pull it out a little and try not to be a dick.

I walk into English and sit right behind her. I watch the way her hair floats down her back, her slim form only adds to her beauty. I mentally vomit at my own thoughts what the hell is wrong with me? I give up on the not being a dick it's too hard. Instead I sit behind her and text my upstate friends for the whole lesson.

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Nora's POV
I know he's sitting behind me but I won't acknowledge it. The ball is in his court if he wants to be nice ok if he doesn't, well I really don't care.

Mrs Montague is rambling on about Shakespeare's Macbeth and I watch her enthusiasm reach beyond what I could ever reach myself. I look at Victoria and she mimics shooting herself in the head.

There's knock on the door about halfway through the lesson. Miss Jackson, the principal appears her face colourless and utters the words that no kid wants to hear. Their name. The other students whip their heads around to stare at me after Miss Jackson ushers the words "Nora Jones" the world around me catapults to a shuddering halt. I rise and walk out into the hall half closing the door of room 3118 behind me.

Two police officers stand beside Miss Jackson and I feel my stomach churn with the sensation of butterflies threatening to make me sick. The officers reach up and remove their hats, one of them male and the other a female. When police remove their hats it's never good news.

"Nora we're very sorry, but your father was killed in a car accident this afternoon. We are sorry for your loss, it's never easy-" the female officers voice trails into the background and I fall down onto my knees. He's gone. My dad. Hot tears roll down my cheeks and the hysteria is already like nothing I have ever felt before.

"I'll grab her stuff." I hear Miss Jackson's voice faintly over the ringing in my ears. Someone tried to help me up but I pull away and run I don't know where I'm going but I just run.

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Victoria's POV
I never, in all the years I'd know her, seen Nora on her knees crying like the world was going to end. I spend the rest of the class fretting about not knowing what was wrong.

After class I head straight home maybe mum will know. I notice all the way home that Isaac's car is right behind mine. Upon arrival at my house Nora's mother's car sits in the driveway. I rush inside and hear sobbing instantly. Mrs Jones is on the couch with mum but she's crying.

"Mum-" I say but I don't really know what else to add. I can feel Isaac's presence behind me.

"Nora's gone. I don't know where she is or what's going on!" I gush, I'm afraid. I see an iPhone on the coffee table in a purple case, it's Nora's.

"We don't know where she is." Mum answers me. "There was an accident."

I feel the blood drain from my face 'accident' never means a good thing. No one ever accidentally wins the lottery or accidentally gets a promotion or something.

"What happened?" Isaac's voice comes from behind me but it's not the usual 'up yourself' voice he uses. Maybe he actually has a soul inside that ice cold corpse that is his body.

"Real smooth. Subtle as a sledgehammer." I say rolling my eyes.

Mrs Jones speaks for the first time since we had arrived, "Thomas is dead." It comes out dry and in a strangled voice.

Nora's father. I stumble back and hit the wall, hanging my head. I don't know what to say to that. I don't know what to think. Isaac is silent, the room is silent and I can hear his breathing and my own.

"We have to find her." He says after a moment.

"Since when do you even care?" I demand, I recall a few weeks ago he called her ugly.

"Since she could be anywhere." He says dryly.

I'm waiting for mum to tell us to stop fighting, but she doesn't. She just hugs Nora's mum, and says, "Find Nora, Lacey needs her."

I nod and spin around, walking straight past Isaac and back out the door, there's no time to waste.