Save Me

Chapter 3

Jordan ran inside the house. The ringing of our new dogs tags hitting each other, rang in my ears like a famous song. I laugh a little at my little brothers excitement. He ran through the door, and I walk behind him.
   "Mom?" I shouted.
   "In the kitchen sweetie!" I heard my mom shout back. I walked to kitchen with Jordan. She turned, gasped, and squatted down. She smiles with utter joy.
   "Oh my goodness, look at her. She's beautiful" my mother says as she runs her fingers through the new member of the family.
   "Her name is Ruby" my brother said in excitement. I smile.
   "Hello Ruby, your just a cutie aren't you? Yes you are" my mom said in her baby voice. I roll my eyes.
   "Oh god, leave the little girl alone. She's already suffocated" I say to her jokingly. My mom looks up, and smirks.
   "You and Jordan turned out fine" she says joking back. I laugh slightly, my smile slowly fading. Yeah, sure we did!
   "Norah?"
   "Yes Jordan?"
   "Are you going to talk to Brandon?" He asks me softly. I look at him, confused.
   "Yeah, are you? I think he might have a little crush on you" my mom says to me, smiling like I should if I was in love. I shake my head.
   "We just met, how can someone fall for another in a matter of twenty minutes?" I said to my mom, crossing my arms against my chest like I was trying to defend myself from the obnoxious, ridiculous assumptions that she was making. My mom shakes her head at me.
   "It's the truth, now if you both excuse me, I would like to go to bed. I have a presentation to do tomorrow" I said to them. My voice was soft. I pick up my little brother, and give him a hug. He wraps his arms around my neck, hugging me back. He smelt like baby lotion, and his brown hair nicely cut. I pulled away from him, and looked at him. I put my fingers in his hair, and started messing it up.
   "Norah! Stop it!" He shouted, annoyed. I smile, and stopped. I put him down, and start walking up the stairs.
   "Goodnight sweetheart"
   "Goodnight Norah"
   I walked up the stairs at a steady pace. I go to my room, and closed the door behind me. I sat down on my bed. Brandon? Having a crush on me? That's ridiculous. Why me? Cause he feels pity for me? He can keep it. I don't need anyone feeling pity for me.
  I get up, take off my sneakers and unbutton my jeans. I sit down in my bed, and lay down. I pull the covers up to my neck. It felt warm against my skin. It was soothing, comforting. I reach my arm out and turn off my light. I look at my phone, and see I have a 100% battery. I lay it on my nightstand, and turn away. I slowly close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.
                                    ***
   I walk into class with my bag hanging off my shoulder. I sit down in my usual seat in the back, and wait for class to start. I take out my laptop, and start fixing any errors there was in my presentation.
   "Ladies and gentleman, seems like we have a new student in our class. His name is Brandon, and he will be joining us for the remainder of course." I freeze in my seat. I slowly look up, and see Brandon. He was looking around the classroom. He turn his head in my direction, and I look down quickly at my laptop. My hair covered my face, as I continued to work on my presentation, and continuing to avoid making eye contact with him. You can't be serious right now? God why?
   "So, Brandon, you may take a seat wherever you like. Norah? Are you ready to present? Or would you like Samantha to go first?" My professor asked me. I look up slowly, looking at my professor. I clear my throat.
   "Samantha can go first. I need to fix a little mistake in my slide Professor" I said quietly. My professor nodded his head.
   "Very well, Samantha please come up and start your presentation" I looked over at Samantha, and she stood up. She walked towards the board, as Brandon started walking in my direction. I looked at him, as he continued to walk to me. He gets to my side, and points to the desk next to me. I shrugged. He sits down, and smiles at me. I smile a little back, and continue working on my slides.
   "So, remember Samantha, your slides must show why your small business is a good buy okay?" He said, sitting down in his desk in the corner of the room. She nodded. The light went off, and she started speaking. I started to type softly but fast to fix the grammar mistakes that was in my slides.
   "What's your presentation on?" He whispers to me. I look at him, staying quiet. He looks at me innocently. I sigh softly.
   "I made a business that does a program for kids to join who love to be creative. So like an after school program for the arts"  I whisper back. He smiles softly.
   "That's really cool, I think it's a great idea" I smile shyly, and look back at my computer. I begin to type again.
   "Okay Samantha, I say your business is good but it's missing something, like I need something to capture and keep my attention fully" my professor said. Samantha looks down, and nods her head in disappointment.
   "You get an A-, great job Samantha"
   Samantha logged out her email, and walked back with her head down to her desk.
   "Alright Norah, your up" my professors says to me. I press save on the power point, and close my laptop. I look at Brandon and he smiles at me.
   "You'll do great. Good luck" he says softly to me. I smile slightly, and I got up out of my seat. I felt the nerves in my body grow as I walked to the front of the computer.
   "Your presentation shall be only five minutes Norah, no longer" he says to me, looking at me with stern eyes. I nod, and roll my eyes while looking down. I type in my email, and pull up my presentation. I felt my body begin to shake. The nerves was getting to me.
   "Children in today's generation are becoming more and more creative. They are born writers, musical artist, and so on and so fourth. However, I feel personally, that we do not have enough creative programs around our area" I said out loud. My nerves were not settling, I kept talking, feeling I was rambling for years and years, like an annoying record that was stuck on repeat that no one wanted to hear. I look around the room as I spoke, and my eyes went to him. My eyes stood there, memorized. He smiled at me, nodding at me to continue. I kept on speaking through it my presentation, looking at him. I didn't feel anxious or nervous. It all disappeared, I didn't understand why.
   "Norah, this is fantastic. I really am interested in your program. I think you could make this a reality someday. Excellent job" my professor said. I smile politely, and nodded. I sign out of my account, as the class clapped. I walk to my seat, and sat down. Brandon looked at me, and whispered, "that was really good, congrats on your presentation." I smile softly, the darkness of the room, hiding the redness in my face.
   "Thank you, I appreciate it" I said softly. I put my hands on my stomach, as I feel it start to grumble for food. I hold my breath. Stop it, you can't eat.
   "Okay class, that ends our day, please remember that some of you haven't presented yet, so please continue to edit and practice your slides" the professor said loudly. I got up and put my laptop in my backpack. Brandon got up as well, and stood next to me. I could see his black leather jacket from the corner of my eye. I look at him.
   "What?" I said confused.
   "Would it be weird if I asked you, if you could show me around campus and around the area?" He asked. I could hear hope in his voice. I arch my eyebrow up, confused on why he would ask me. Don't be stupid, your the only person he probably knows. I nodded slowly after a moment.
   "Sure, I guess. I mean, I'm done for the day. Are you?" I said trying to control the shyness from my tone. He smiled and nodded. I nod in agreement and bit my lip in nervousness. I put my denim jacket on and put my pony to the side, and put my backpack on my back. I looked at him.
   "After you Norah" he said gesturing his hand to the side. I begin to walk, trying to figure out how to be a normal girl walking with a guy who is completely out of her league.