𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐃

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Seventeen

    Now that Nora and Edison were going to prom together, Nora had some form of thinking that things would sort of magically piece together for them. However, now things were almost weirder than they had been before. Edison rarely talked to her at school, but at least they were texting and hanging out. Although, it only seemed to be at odd hours of the night. Nora was beginning to feel like a secret; even worse, something Edison was ashamed of. Maybe she was overthinking it, but she just couldn't get rid of that odd, sinking feeling every time the two of them were hiding away from the world.

    Nora had always been used to definition. With her and Mason, they went on one or two dates after knowing each other for years and he asked her to be his girlfriend. With any crushes she had before that, it either never amounted to anything or it became something. However, whatever she had going on with Edison was so notably undefined and Nora was fairly sure it was driving her insane. However, she had been getting used to her life being more out of her control than she planned.

    Something she didn't plan that still bothered her was the fact that Eloise barely spoke to her since the incident a week prior. She had since returned to Oregon due to the end of her spring break and wasn't going to be back until the summer. That was if she came back; Nora remembered her mentioning a few friends renting an apartment together and staying in the city over the summer. The thought hurt, but Eloise had every right to be angry at Nora. She had tried to apologize, but it fell right onto El's cold shoulder and the two simply... weren't the same. It was lonely, having her gone again. Like the week hadn't even happened, they were strangers again and she hated it. As if she needed another hole in her heart. This one couldn't be filled by a pretty girl, unfortunately. Nothing would ever replace the relationship she shared with her sister.

    Nora was not used to all of these feelings inside of her. She never thought much about how she felt before everything happened. Let alone thought so much that she was unable to sleep. Even when she stayed in her bed all she did was lie awake and stare at the ceiling. Under the stars, though, she found herself at peace with things. At least she was loosening her grip on the things she had tried to plan meticulously even though life was going to be quite the opposite of what she thought it was going to be.

    Maybe one day she could let go completely and simply let things be the way they were meant to be, but that was not going to be today.

    Today, or tonight rather, was for missing her sister.

    However, the attitude changed when her phone buzzed next to her, interrupting the serene nighttime ambiance.

    Surprisingly, it was Kristen. The text read, why the HELL did i have to find out you were going to prom with EDISON through NRHSGOSSIP! WHAT WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN??

    Knowing Kristen was definitely being overdramatic on purpose, Nora laughed out loud to herself as she read the text before sending back her own response, one where I am a sucky friend who makes impulse decisions and is scared of your reactions to them

    Okay that took a turn ma'am, was the response, once again making her giggle. Nora was always thankful for Kristen. The text was shortly followed by: i trust you, but please don't let her break your heart

    She has reasons for the things she does as I've learned, Nora defended, her heart saddening as she remembered the story from That Night (as Nora liked to refer to it as in her head) in the car. I trust her.

    Then i GUESS i can trust her too. Nora was thankful for this sort of response, but she knew Kristen only wanted her to be safe because getting your heart broken royally sucks and no one wants to ever watch their best friend go through that. At least, that's what she hoped her best friend's motivations were. Before Nora could finish typing out her response, another text came through, also i told amarie too so expect a text from her too hehe sorry in advance.

    Nora laughed rambunctiously at that, already looking forward to the conversations she was going to be having with them the following day. Speaking of the following day, Nora actually found herself becoming tired. It had been a while since she felt genuinely tired enough to sleep, so she welcomed the feeling with open arms as she began to climb down her ladder.

    As she crawled back into her window, something on her wall caught her eye. It was her May calendar, with her work schedule on it and a big red circle that was about two and a half weeks from now that read "ESSAY DUE!" in all caps as it was the utmost important thing. If she didn't do well on that essay, she would definitely fail second semester English which of course would stop her from getting valedictorian and then her life would fall apart and not in a good way. Nora could give up control of some things, but throwing away her academic achievements was not going to be one of them and it never would be no matter what.

    Speaking of academic achievement, that gave Nora an idea. Energy raced through her as she grabbed her laptop and opened up the blank document. As if on autopilot, words coursed through her fingertips and onto the screen in front of her as she was finally able to get a halfway-decent idea for this potentially life-ruining essay. By the time she snapped herself out of her writing daze, she had an intro paragraph.

    "Yes!" she exclaimed to herself, leaning back in the desk chair and pumping her fist in the air, "Yes, yes, yes! Finally! I've got something!"

    She was also happy to see that it was barely past eleven meaning maybe there was a chance her sleep schedule would get back on track. Maybe this was a good sign; maybe something within her was unblocking. Instructions for life may not be included, but she was starting to figure out what went where and that meant everything to her. All she needed was a baby step in the right direction and this felt like just that.

    For the first time in far, far too long, Nora slept easy.