paulson one shots

Cafeteria // hotgomery (pt. 1)

Nora hummed as she skipped into the cafeteria, hoping to strike up some sort of trouble with an off duty lunch lady before they clocked out and left for the day. She opened the swinging cafeteria doors and the creaked and croaked as she slipped through. The school was nearly 200 years old with large (and old, obviously) wooden doors abridging every room in the facility. But the cafeteria doors were ginormous, and made lots of noise when opened so Nora silently hoped for the best as she tip toed through the dimly lit hallway that led to the open cafeteria floor.

As she slipped through the open doorway into the actual cafeteria, she heard a loud crash in the kitchen that was through another giant swinging door. Nora froze as she waited for the door to swing open, but it never did. So she raced over and peered through the dirty window adorned in the wooden planks the door was crafted from. As she peered on her tip toes she saw a mop of blonde hair, and a small girl attached to it. Nora quickly bent down again, out of sight, and thought about what she would do next. She let herself slide from her crouched position, into one where her back lay pressed against the doorway and her feet out in front of her.

Nora listened as she assumed the blonde was picking up her mess, she hadn't really seen the mess she had heard. She contemplated asking the girl if she needed help, but she didn't want to scare her away. After a few minutes of quite clanking from the opposite side of the door, Nora stood up and decided to help the girl. She quickly opened the swinging door and slipped inside, shutting the door just as quick behind her before starting her prepared speech, "Please don't run!" the words fell quickly from her mouth and the mop headed blonde froze in her place, unsure of what to do. "I want to help."

The blonde's face softened slightly, not enough for her guard to go down, but enough that Nora knew she wouldn't run away. "I'm Nora, how'd this happen?" Nora looked around the room and saw crates of food fallen and crashed to the floor. "No wonder it was such a loud crash," Nora thought. "I, uh.. I'm Billie..." so the blonde had a name.

"Nice to meet you Billie, can I help?" Nora rocked
in place, "I, sure, yeah you can help..." Billie finally unfroze herself and began picking up again, watching Nora help from her peripheral vision. "Why are you in the kitchen? Shouldn't you be home or something by now?" Nora asked nonchalantly as she put a crate full of rolls back onto a shelf. Billie was quite for a moment before answering, "Can I be honest with you?" Nora was caught off guard by the question, "I, sure of course."

"I was trying to get some food." Billie nearly whispered, obviously ashamed of her actions. "Like, steal it?" Nora asked, more curious than judgmental.
"Um, well, yeah. Steal it." Billie said back, confused on why Nora was still helping her, not dragging her to the principals office or calling the police. "Why are you helping me instead of calling the police or something?"

"I don't know," Nora said truthfully. "I'm bored." Billie was throughly confused at this point. "You're very confusing, Nora." Nora just laughed, "Well you're the one trying to steal food. If you needed food, why didn't you just ask?" Nora questioned. "It's not really that simple..." Billie quieted down again. "I'm sorry, i'm not sure to be judgmental, I know that everyone isn't as, well, lucky, as I am." Nora said thoughtfully. Sure, she was bitchy and mean and an overall awful person during school hours, but that wasn't really her. She had a reputation to upkeep, her father owned the school, she couldn't be anything but perfect, and with perfect comes popularity, cheerleading, straight A's, a jock boyfriend that she really didn't want. The list goes on.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Billie questioned as she turned to face Nora for the first time after putting the last crate on the shelf. "Am I not allowed to be nice?" Nora questioned Billie right back, crossing her arms in defense. "I, you, y-you are." Billie stammered, unaware until now how beautiful Nora was. "You're staring at me." Nora commented. "I- I'm sorry." Billie looked at the ground. "I should go now." She turned to walk away and Nora grabbed her arm. "Let me get you some good first, please?" Nora looked hopefully at Billie, something sparking in her that she hadn't ever felt before. She simply ignored the feeling and shook her head.

"You'd do that?" Billie was shocked. "Of course, come on." Nora kept hold of Billie's arm as she walked her through the kitchen, compiling different food items into a bag for her new friend. As they finished their tour de kitchen, Nora let go of Billie's arm with a smile. "If you ever need anything, please ask me. I'll do my best to help."

"I... I can't thank you enough." Billie was speechless, she hadn't ever thought that his was the way her day would end up. "Do you have a ride home? Where'd do you live?" Nora questioned Billie, ignoring her thank yous. "Oh, well, I usually walk." Billie answered truthfully. "How far is your home from the school?" Nora was curious, "Um, a good ways." Billie rocked on her heels, impatient to get away from her kind friend, this situation was turning into a conversation she didn't want to have. "Let me get my driver to give you a lift." Nora went to pull her cellphone from her pocket but Billie grabbed her arm, "No! No, no it's okay. I'll walk, really." Billie panicked and Nora stood wide eyed at the outburst.

"Only if you're certain, I guess." She complied. "Yes, i'll walk." Billie shook her head. "Okay then. Well, I'll see you around then? Billie you said?" Nora bid a goodbye to her new friend. "Yeah, Billie. It was nice to meet you Nora." Billie smiled and Nora smiled right back, "Nice to meet you as well. Bye Billie." Nora waved as she skipped back to the doorway and slipped back into the hallway, heading somewhere else to try and cause trouble.

Billie sighed and turned the opposite way, headed toward a back exit she'd use every day since sneaking food from the kitchen.She had no idea how she'd gotten so lucky as to get caught by Nora, of all people. She assumed Nora would immediately call her father, or even the police, when she bursted through the door as she did. She hadn't meant to cause an entire rack of goods to fall to the floor, she just wasn't as careful today as she usually was. She wouldn't make that mistake again. She wasn't sure if she really was going to get to talk to Nora again, but she kind of hoped she would.

a/n

so... this is gonna be a few parts long! it's a cute little hotgomery storyline i came up with last night at like 3 am and as usual, it's unedited, but i hope you still enjoyed! i hope wherever you are in the world you're having a good day, or night! <3