Stranger

Lin

Truthfully, I was hoping Nora wouldn't decide to go visit her mother. I had a feeling it would just be painful, and I was right. My heart broke when I saw her come down that hallway. She was shattered, and there was nothing she could do to help her mother. At least something good came out of it. She let me hug her.

I felt we were becoming closer, but the trust still wasn't there 100%. I didn't expect it to be after two weeks. She'd cuddled up to me during Sebastian's story time and had let me console her at prison. I didn't try to push it, though. I wanted her to initiate any physical contact.

The next day after school, Nora walked in with another kid I'd never met before. She was dressed similarly and had a skateboard in her hand. Kindred spirit.

"Hi," I greeted them.

"Hi, Lin," Nora said as they went straight to the refrigerator. "This is Taylor. Taylor, Lin."

"Nice to meet you," I told her and she smiled.

"We're gonna go across the street to the skate park after we have a snack," Nora told me.

I nodded. "Do you have much homework?"

"Nope," she said, chugging down a Gatorade. The girls both grabbed a Gatorade and a snack bar from the pantry and had left as quickly as they had arrived.

After dinner, I asked Nora about her guest. "So, are you friends with Taylor?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"Does she go to Hunter?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Anything else to share about her?"

"She's in 8th grade too. She lives on 169th. She can do a kickflip."

"Cool," I said, even though I had no idea what a kickflip was. I'm sure it was very impressive.

"I noticed your kneepads are getting a little worn," Vanessa chimed in. "We should go get you some new ones this weekend."

"Yeah, that'd be good," she said. "I've had these same ones since I was, like, eight."

After dinner was cleared, Nora set up shop on the couch with her homework and turned on Captain Underpants. She reclined with her notebook and started filling in answers in her notebook, laughing from time to time.

"Are you able to concentrate with that on?" I asked her as I walked over with a glass of wine.

"Yeah," she said dismissively. I glanced over her shoulder at her work.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes!" She complained.

"Well, you've already got two wrong," I pointed out. She sighed and erased the last two answers she'd been working on. "Why don't you turn off the TV until you're done."

"No, I'm fine," she said. "I was just being careless."

I grabbed the remote from the table and turned off the TV.

"Why the hell'd you do that?!" She raised her voice in protest.

"Language, please," I told her. "You'll get done a lot faster if you don't have any distractions."

"My mom let me do homework with the TV on," she told me. I almost pointed out that she was in jail, but decided that wouldn't be a good idea.

"If those are the rules at her house, fine, but here you need to do your homework without distractions."

She grumbled and continued as I sat down and sipped my wine and read a book. After a while, I noticed her mumbling under her breath. It sounded like a beat.