Can You Not?

Chapter 18

It was nine days before Christmas. Norah got a call in the middle of class that was hid from the teacher by being on silent. When she saw that it was her mother, she asked to be excused and quickly left the class. She called back in the bathroom.

"Mom?"

"Norah, sweetie," her mother said, straight to business. "Your dad and I won't be home tonight. Grandpa had an accident and we're flying down right now."

"Oh. Is he okay?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," she said. It sounded like she was packing. "Listen, will you be fine being alone for a few days? Dad should be back sooner than me."

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"If you need anything you can go next door. I've asked Ellis' parents to keep an eye out while we're gone."

"I'll be fine, mom. Don't worry," Norah told her. "Just make sure Grandpa's okay and let me know as soon as you get there."

"Will do," she said. "Love you."

"Love you too." 

"My mom sent me a text," Ellis said as he sat next to her at lunch. "She said your parents are going out of town and that I should invite you to dinner."

"Okay. That's nice of her. Thank you."

Norah looked across the cafeteria to where Jena and Colleen were still in line. Buzz was with them, standing awfully close to Jena. They were talking and smiling and laughing. They made an adorable pair. Even when they sat down, they were very close to each other. Is that what she and Ellis looked like to other people? They were always close to. Right now their knees were touching. She looked at him. His hair was tousled and there was some sauce from his hamburger next to his lips. It sort of made her want to kiss him, but she didn't. She waited for him to stop eating before she pointed it out. 

During study hall, Norah went to the library. There were a few other people, some of them actually studying. The rest were quietly hanging out or using the school's Wi-fi to go on Facebook. Norah sat down at one of the old computers and logged into her email. There was the usual spam and updates from social media accounts, but one email stood out from the rest. It was from someone named Bobbi Taylor and the subject line read 'Arts and Illustration Expo - Webcomic Panel Invitation'. Her fingers stilled. She couldn't move. It was like all the fluid in her body froze and she was an ice sculpture on the inside. The email looked so official. Just the professional way the subject was worded made her feel horribly small and inadequate. Finally she found the will to move again and clicked on it. 

Dear Miss Parrish,

My name is Bobbi Taylor and I am the event coordinator for the Arts and Illustration Expo taking place in Denver, Colorado on January 12th. 

Your webcomic has garnered a lot of popularity among online readers and has come to be the fifth most popular comic of the year on The Webcomic Emporium's annual Top Ten list.

We'd like to invite you to be part of the Webcomic Panel at two o' clock on the date of the expo to answer some industry specific questions about how you go about making your comic and what you use to do it.

To ensure your spot on the panel, you would need to reply to this email at least by the end of December.

Thank you very much for your time.

Events Coordinator,

Bobbi Taylor

Norah felt like she fell through a wormhole into a dimension where everyone was happy all the time. Her head was swimming and she felt a little dizzy, but it was all good. She was excited. Being in a library, she couldn't even celebrate by shouting, so she did a little fist bump and whispered a 'Yes'. She desperately needed to tell someone the good news. She would just have to wait until school was over.