unrequited love.

10.

FLASHBACKS.
(note the italics to avoid any confusion)

norah had completely blocked out her surroundings, paralyzed by the big book that was held within her tiny hands.

she didn't have many friends, but she didn't care. despite normally being alone, she never felt lonely. her love for reading kept her occupied as she was able to escape into another world and be someone else -- someone who wasn't alone.

norah sighs as she hears the bell ring in her middle school structure, meaning she was gonna have to hold off her favorite book and head to class.

she dog-eared her page and closed her book before rising from the bleachers and taking a step down only to find out that gravity was working against her as she went tumbling down the stairs of the bleachers. she braced herself to hit the floor, but she never did.

instead, a pair of arms catch her, holding her up from hitting the hard floor. she opens an eye to find a boy with curly hair and warm chocolate brown eyes staring back down at her. in shock, she tries to talk but no words escaped her mouth. he smiles, putting her back on her feet and she glances down to see the laces of her converse had been tied together.

her brows furrow in confusion before looking around to see a group of girls giggling before running off and she turns red from embarrassment.

finally, the boy speaks. "they seem pretty dense. you shouldn't let them get to you like that."

she looks back at him, "thank you," she whispers. the boy then crouches down to untie her tangled shoe laces. "you're the new kid right?"

he answers, "yeah, i just moved here from puerto rico last week." also, no he doesn't have an accent. puerto rico is an island that's owned by the united states. "are you okay?"

she gives him a quizzing look before she noticed his eyes settle on the reds of her arms. not wanting to tell him the truth about her colorist family members, she shrugs, "just had a bad itch this morning." he nods and stands back up after fixing her shoes up. "thanks again," he waves her off with a hand. "what's your name?"

"marco."

"i'm norah." she mentally slaps herself when she realized that he didn't even ask what her name was. before she could make a fool of herself again, she says, "i gotta get to class now." she sulks before walking towards the building.

"wait, norah!" he calls after her, following quickly behind the middle schooler and she stops to wait for him. "we have the same fourth period. i'll come with you."

he hurries to the school, tugging norah with him. she smiled, racing beside him.

norah sniffled, her finger tracing along the old pieces of her worn out book, remembering the day from six years ago.

a whole week had passed since norah ended her friendship with marco. she felt like crap. vanessa tried so hard to get her to go to brunos halloween bash, but she wasn't in the partying mood.

she hasn't been acting like herself for a long time now. especially this week, and it was obvious why. she no longer had the boy who completed her, and she knew how pathetic is sounded, but it was the truth. she's been so reliant on him for years now.

she's been in love before she even knew what love was.

he made her, her. but now she has to figure out who she was without him.

her eyes flicker to the bed where the turquoise dinosaur plushie laid. she released her book, allowing it to stand on her bookshelf before walking towards the stuffed animal and grabbing it.