(Norman x Emma) I think I know you (TPN)

19

The next day at school was weird.

The entire atmosphere of the place was..off. In class, everyone had been in their respective seats, but nobody was talking like they'd usually be. Emma was almost late that day, but when she had arrived at the last second, instead of being her loud, bubbly self, she instead trudged inside the room and sat down. She hadn't said a word to anyone, and nobody said a word to her, it was obvious that something was wrong, because she was never like this.

Everyone shared concerned looks amongst themselves, but Norman tried to keep his head down. He didn't want to be questioned because, well, he just didn't know the answer either. Class seemed to be way longer than usual, and the silence was more deafening than ever before. Norman could not shake the nervousness that continuously ate at him, he could barely focus or concentrate on anything.

Class eventually ended, and Emma was among the first to leave, by herself. The other four stayed behind, and once she had completely left, they all turned to each other.

"What was that??" Don asked.

"I don't know.. she was okay when I saw her on Saturday.." Gilda added in.

"Usually I'm one to advocate for her silence, but this just felt weird." Ray also added in, sounding genuinely concerned.

Norman stayed silent. He didn't know what to say.

"Wait.. didn't she see you yesterday, Norman?" Gilda asked, "Did anything happen?"

"Oh my god Norman what did you do?" Don asked, earning a glare from Gilda.

Norman just shrugged his shoulders, and continued to look down.

"Well.. was she okay yesterday?"

They had began to leave the room as they kept talking, but Norman stayed quiet for the most part, though most of the questions were directed towards him.

"Hey uh.. we'll catch up with you two later," Ray eventually interjected himself, "I'm gonna talk to him."

Gilda and Don were quite confused, but they complied, and soon left. Gilda knew that Ray would text and update her later on, so she made no fuss.

Once they were out of earshot, Ray turned to Norman, and he put his hand on his shoulder, "Hey, are you good?"

Norman sighed, and looked up at him, and shook his head.

"What happened yesterday? Did you tell her?"

He shook his head once again, "No, I didn't get the chance to."

Ray nodded understandingly, and diverted his gaze, "Did she seem.. okay yesterday?"

"At first, yeah." Norman started, "Things were going well, and I was about to say it, but.. suddenly her attention fell onto something else, and she just left home in the rain."

The raven haired boy looked confused, "Thats.. really un-like her.. She never does that. Maybe something really bothered her?"

This was probably not the best response, because this caused the white haired boy to sigh, "But how could I have bothered her? What did I do?"

Ray noticed that this whole time, Norman had been blaming himself. But he thought about how unlikely that was, because she adored him! He highly doubts he could have messed up that badly, but how could he make him understand this?

"I don't think you did anything, Norman." He said, hoping he'd somehow help the boy feel better.

"But.. I had to have done something wrong, right?" He said, turning back to the other male, "She was completely fine!"

"I.." Ray trailed off, he really had no idea what to tell him, "I'm sorry, I don't think I'm much help with this, but I'm sure she's going to come around and explain whatever it is to you. Just.. maybe she needs time for whatever it is?"

It wasn't a great answer, but it was the only answer they could think of. Norman couldn't help but feel horrible still, and he felt that way all throughout the day.

~

After what felt like an eternity, the school day was over. Usually, all three would walk home together, but today Emma wasn't at the normal meet up spot. Norman didn't feel like going home, so he instead walked with Ray home, and took off on his own.

Norman was never usually out by himself, at least one of the others was usually with him, but not this time. He had no destination in mind, he instead just walked in the opposite direction of his house. His mind had been racing all day, and every thought was centered about the same, redheaded, bubbly girl. The same girl that could never leave his mind, even when he tried to get her out.

Without realizing, he had been walking mindlessly down the same path to the trail that he and Emma had always taken together to get to the park. Without a second thought, however, he decided to turn into the tiny trail and make his way down to the park where he shared so many great memories.

He walked through the tiny path, although it was not so tiny, as he was the only one walking through. Still, it was pretty narrow, and tree branches of course were still blocking his way, he just brushed past them, not caring too much about his surroundings. He walked for a bit, and eventually made it to the park.

Norman stood at the entrance to the park, and he couldn't help but just stare. He thought back to the time he was first introduced to this place, it seemed like just last week. He smiled as he remembered the time she tried to teach him how to use the monkey bars, but ended up falling, he remembers them laying on the grass, and them on the swingset. He could probably have stayed with her here forever, and never once would he complain.

He walked up to the park that stood before him, but the structure seemed to hold more sentimental meaning to him, especially due to how uncertain he was about everything. He didn't know whether he'd ever get to come here with her ever again. He walked up the steps, and stopped at the place where everyone's name was carved. Would he ever even get to see these with her again? Norman tilted his head, and he looked down at the carved in 'Emma' underneath all the others. He traced his hand along the name.

The white haired boy remembered how his name had not been carved yet because they never had anything to use to carve. Without thinking, he got up, and went back down onto the grass, looking for something sharp. He searched for a little while, and eventually came across a rock, but it was pretty wide. He got up, and he went back towards the park, and when he got to the stairs, he threw the rock down, causing it to split into several pieces. He smiled to himself as he picked up the sharpest of the pieces. With that, he went up to the top where the names were engraved.

Norman looked down at Emma's name, and, taking his rock, he slowly carved his name underneath hers. He smiled and nodded, he was kind of proud of his work.

He stayed there for a while, maybe an hour or so. That isn't a lot, but it is kind of a lot when you are by yourself. Ray's words circled through his mind, but he also replayed the previous day's events, and he could not pinpoint what caused things to go wrong. The last thing she mentioned was the necklace.. but what could possibly have come from that?

Not wanting to walk alone in the dark, Norman decided he would leave home before it got dark. The sun was setting, and he also was pretty discouraged from watching it set, as he usually did that with Emma. Leaning against the wall of names, he sighed. He got up and was about to start the journey home, when, on a whim, he turned, grabbed the rock, and added a "+" in between both names.

Emma
+
Norman

It read vertically. He didn't even know if this was a possibility anymore.

And so, he left. The way home took some time, but that was probably because of how unmotivated he was to return home. He didn't have much motivation to do anything, really.

But that changed that night as he lied in bed. He was about to go to sleep, when his phone went off for the first time that day.

Emma: Hey, can you come over tomorrow after school?