Can You Not?

Chapter 10

A week of suspension was more agonizing than she'd ever imagined. Not only did the disappointed looks from her mother get to her, but so did the crippling boredom. She could only work on her comic for so long before it became tedious. Everything was up to date and everyone was happy. On top of being suspended, her parents also grounded her, so she couldn't even spend the free time out of the house. Not that there was anywhere in particular she would go.

After sitting down at the kitchen counter, she was about to start eating a sandwich when the doorbell rang. That was strange. All her friends were still in school and she wasn't expecting anyone. When she opened the door she was very surprised to find Buzz. 

"Buzz?" she asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too," he said with a sarcastic smile.

"I'm sorry." She smiled back at him. "Do you want to come in?"

"No, it's cool. I only came to drop some stuff off."

He handed her a thin binder. It was filled up with notes from her classes and homework assignments. There was also an envelope with her name on it.

"Jena says that she'll pick up and hand in your assignments for you. Also, the letter's from Ellis."

"I figured." Looking at the envelope she realized that Ellis's penmanship needed some work. Then she also realized that school was currently in session. "Why aren't you in school?"

"I decided to take a personal day," Buzz said as he stuffed his hand in his pockets. "That, and I have a dentist appointment later today."

"So you just decided to take the whole day?"

"Yup."

"Fun," Norah said and stuck the binder under her arm. "Thank you for the delivery."

"You're very welcome." He pretended to tip a hat and turned to leave. "Enjoy your suspension," he threw over his shoulder before she closed the door. 

As soon as he was gone she rushed into the kitchen and opened the letter. 

8 o' clock. Tonight. Your roof. Meet me there.

It was such a big envelope that she expected more, but she couldn't feel disappointed. It was the first time in two days that he'd made contact with her. She'd begun to worry after ten texts and no response. At least now she knew that he was not, in fact, dead. 

When dinner ran late that night, she started feeling edgy, but she tried her best to play it cool so her parents wouldn't get curious. She amped up the performance by pretending to be tired so she could get away with an early bedtime without too many questions.

"Busy day?" her dad asked.

"I guess," she said. 

"What did you do?" Nicole asked.

"I read, I drew, I did some homework Jena sent me..."

Her dad nodded. "That's good. You can't let your grades slip because of a little vacation."

Nicole shot him a sharp look. "Don't encourage her, Martin."

He shrugged and played it off as nothing.

Soon after Norah took the dishes to the kitchen said goodnight and trudged upstairs. Looking in the mirror she saw that there was a pretty big stain on her t-shirt. She quickly looked outside her window. There was no sight of Ellis just yet, so she grabbed a clean t-shirt and pulled off the dirty one. Just as she was about to pull the new shirt over her head she heard something outside and turned around to see Ellis looking at her through the window. When their eyes met he quickly looked away and she put on the shirt, feeling the heat rush to her face.