Breathe

four

[ nora's pov ]

I scan the lunchroom, desperately searching for a place to sit.

Of all the first days of school I've been through, this has by far been the worst.

I had chosen to walk this morning because it had seemed so nice outside. Besides, I happen to love both mornings and the outdoors very much.

However, to my dismay, a sudden downpour occurred and I became drenched.

Not that I'm afraid of getting a little wet. Rain is one of my favorite things. It just kind of hurt when a rude boy called me a rat and the entire class laughed.

Then later, my favorite lime green pencil broke.

I know it seems insignificant, but that exact pencil had gotten me through some of my hardest tests.

Plus, it had seemed to be my only friend of the day.

Usually, I can at least meet one nice person, but apparently this isn't the place to find them.

No matter how ridiculous it sounds, I was hoping I could at least be friends with Cole, the first person I had met in this strange place.

But that obviously wasn't the case.

I've never seen her in my life.

I shouldn't of expected anything other than that response.

After all, he's a super popular, basic teenage boy.

He's everyone's super hero and I'm the gum on the bottom of a shoe.

He's the definition of high school bliss and I'm just Nora.

Unwillingly, my eyes find him among the sea of people.

How could I ever think that a stereotypical looking boy would actually have a golden heart?

He flips his hair, and I find myself cringing.

I've always thought boys (and girls) overused the hair flipping thing.

I would much rather see someone brush through their awkward tangles like it's a habit they never could seem to break.

His eyes raise to meet mine and I stop breathing.

His face remains unchanging, and I count the seconds he stares.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

He quickly shakes his head and pretends as if I was never there in the first place.

With all of my being, I want to march over there and tell him that I was most certainly there and he is the perfect example of rudeness, but I don't.

Instead, I push back the aching feeling and find a seat at an isolated table.

Every now and then, my eyes find his.

And every single time, I regret it.

I'm sure I look like a complete freak, practically playing with my food and staring at a boy who I don't even really know.

It's just that, the whole world around me is blurry and the jerk is the only thing that seems to be clear.

Which I hate, I really do.

"Well, hello there." An annoying voice pipes up.

I look at the girl in front of me. She's tiny and she looks bold, but not nearly as threatening as the girl behind her.

That girl has bright red hair and even brighter green eyes. Her face shines with intimidation and I'm positive that those striking eyes will do most of the talking.

"Hi." I try to keep my face down, avoiding their unfriendly looks.

"Oh, don't be shy." The first girl waves her hands in the air and they both place their trays of food in front of me but don't sit down.

"So I'm Sierra and this is Tiffany," the girl continues to speak, "and well, we kind of noticed something."

I give them a grin, somehow knowing that whatever is coming won't be good.

"Did you notice that I was all alone so you decided to come sit with me?"

I sound sarcastic and even though I'm smiling, I know that that wasn't their intent at all.

They both give me harsh looks.

"Hm, well, not exactly." Sierra leans in closer.

"We just saw that you were having an awfully fun time staring at that boy over there." She points at Cole. "He's completely unavailable to talk to or even look at because he belongs to Tiffany."

Her head bobs toward the red head, who I assume must be Tiffany.

Then she smiles and clasps her hands together, looking triumphant.

"Besides," she adds, "he wouldn't ever want to be with someone like you."

My feelings are deeply hurt and the only way I know how to fight past the pain is to talk.

"If he's Tiffany's boyfriend, then why isn't she the one talking?"

I instantly regret saying it as I get some deeply furious stares.

"Look," Sierra gets a little louder, "we just wanted to wish you a happy first day." She smiles and shoves her open coke bottle at me, the contents bursting out and spilling all over my clothes.

I gasp and instantly stand, reaching out for napkins to dry myself with.

Tiffany's hand comes out first, though. She picks up my stack of napkins and glares at me with her icy eyes.

Turning on her heels, she carries all of my chances of mopping the coke off away.

Sierra, picking up both of their trays, follows right behind her.

I accidentally glance over their shoulders and see him.

He sees me, and he knows what happened.

I can tell by his eyes, which seem to be drooping.

But he doesn't get up.

He doesn't come to my rescue.

He may be everyone else's high school hero, but he certainly isn't mine.

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[A/N]

this is the first Nora chapter, so how do you think it went?
can you tell there is a difference between Cole and Nora and what they sound like?
or at least, do they sound like two different characters instead of a crazy girl writing in the same pattern for all of her characters?

also, I just wrote this so I didn't proof read (but wanted to post it anyway oops) so if there is any errors or any places it doesn't flow smoothly, I'll try to change it sometime.

thanks for reading!!