NORA
Nora leaned against Mouse's island counter, sipping on a glass of apple juice and listening to Keitan over the phone as he told her some wild story that involved a girl, the ocean, and several stray surfboards. Nora had stopped listening after Keitan's head had, apparently, nearly been sliced open with the girl's surfboard fin.
The front door to the apartment opened and Nora looked up as Mouse stepped inside, conversing with Maxi and Harrison. Nora picked up her phone and said, "Hey, Keitan, I gotta go."
"Oh, okay. I'll have to tell you the rest later."
"Yeah, do that," She replied absentmindedly, "Bye."
"Bye."
Nora hung up the phone and turned to her foreign exchange host, who offered her a wink as he continued his conversation with Maxi.
Nora slipped off of the bar stool and put her empty cup in the dishwasher, before washing her hands at the sink. She dried them on the newly replaced kitchen towel and then glanced outside at the patio, where the sun was just starting to set over the ocean. It was a beautiful sight.
Nora was used to the sight of beautiful sunsets. In Iowa, the sunsets were legendary. It was well worth it to sit out and watch the glowing ball of fire as it sank lower and lower in the sky, especially in midsummer when the corn was taller than Nora's head and bright green with yellow tassels.
But the ocean sunrises and sunsets were certainly something of another world. Well, if Nora was totally honest with herself, the ocean was something from another world. She still wasn't used to looking outside and seeing the vast expanse of sparkling blue right at her doorstep. Two months ago, she'd only ever seen it in pictures and hadn't even dreamed of ever laying her own two eyes on it.
She walked over to the patio door and was just about to open it when Mouse called her name.
"Yeah?" Nora turned half toward him.
"How was your day? Did you find out if you made the swim team? I hear you have a test in math, too. Do you need me to help you study? What about your other classes, I haven't gotten any other emails yet, so is there anything else that I can help you with?" Mouse peppered Nora with questions.
Nora laughed at his mother-henning and said, "My day was good. I did make the swim team, and practice starts tomorrow. I have a test in math on next Thursday, though I'm not quite sure how you know that, and it's over a concept that I learned earlier last year, so I should be fine.
"English is going well. We're doing freestyle poetry, which is a strong suit of mine. Spanish is good, too. Cultural studies is a bit confusing, but I'll pick up on it soon, I think. I still can't believe you guys had two wars against emus and lost both of them, by the way. Oh, and I got the solo for choir yesterday."
Mouse grinned at Nora, "That's great, sweetheart! Congratulations on your solo. We'll look at your cultural studies after dinner. Maybe I can help you."
"Thanks, Mouse."
"Of course. You can ask any of us whenever you need help with schoolwork, although I should warn you that it's probably a bad idea for Maxi to teach you math, and I have the grammar of a five year old."
Nora laughed again as Maxi gave Mouse a slightly offended look, "My math isn't that bad," He protested.
Mouse raised an eyebrow at him and then turned to Nora again, "Anyway, I shouldn't keep you from watching the sunset. I ordered pizza, and it'll be here in thirty."
"Okay, thanks."
"Yup. Now shoo!"
Nora headed out the patio door, hiding her smile behind her turned back. She curled up on the patio chairs and called Keitan again, intent on hearing the rest of his story as she watched the light fade from the sky.
--
Mouse came outside with several slices of pizza about thirty minutes later. He handed a plate to Nora, who was just about to hang up with Keitan, but Mouse held up a hand to stop her.
"Hey there," Mouse said, peering at the phone to make sure that it was on speaker.
"Uh, hi?" Keitan's confused voice sounded on the other end.
"I'm Nora's guardian, Mouse. And you must be...," Mouse paused and looked at Nora, who mouthed Keitan. "You must be Curtain?" He continued.
There was a pause on the other end of the line as Nora stuffed her fist into her mouth to muffle her bubbles of laughter.
Finally, Keitan said, "...Close enough. Anyway, nice to meet you, Mouse."
"You too. But I'd like to meet you in person. This Friday night. Invite your other friends, and Nora will text you the address. That work for you?" Mouse asked.
"Sure does. Thanks, Mouse. I'll see you tomorrow, then," Keitan replied.
"Yes you sure will, Curtain. Bye," Mouse hung up the phone and turned to Nora, who was in peels of laughter as tears streamed down her face. "What?" he asked.
She held up a hand. She was too busy trying not to choke on the single bite of food that she'd eaten to answer.
It took her a while to gain enough composure to swallow, but she eventually was settled down enough to answer Mouse, "His name is Keitan, not Curtain."
"Whoops."
Mouse didn't seem all too perturbed.
"Mouse!"
"Sorry, Nora."
Nora groaned as she realized what was going to happen, "You're not going to stop calling him 'Curtain' anymore, are you?"
"No way."
"Oh, golly."
The next morning after her math class, Nora was sitting in English, listening to Mrs. Sketcher drone on about how free verse was supposed to be a beautiful expression of oneself, and no one had shown any effort in their poems. Mrs. Sketcher was clearly mad about it, but Nora couldn't bring herself to care all that much in that moment. She didn't know what to write about to make her poems more meaningful.
Mrs. Sketcher, despite teaching one of Nora's all time favorite classes, was a horrible teacher. She was old, and probably should have retired long, long ago. Mrs. Sketcher was a short, thin lady with thin gray hair and glasses with lenses as magnified as Professor Trelawny's from Harry Potter. She tottered around the class with a cane, staring down at students as they worked.
But, despite that, she really wasn't the best sort of teacher. Nora didn't enjoy listening to her high pitched, old voice as she talked about diagramming sentences and such. It was boooorriiiinnnnggg.
The bell rang to end the class, and Nora was one of the first to register it and start shoving her stuff in her bag, which she had now chosen to carry along with her, since it was allowed. The other students slowly began to wake up to the sound of the ringing.
"Homework for this weekend," Mrs. Sketcher called as everyone let out a synchronized groan, "You are to write an at least five verse poem about something that is very important to you, understood? It is to display a powerful emotion, such as anger, happiness, dread, sadness, anything you like. But it must inflict an emotion on the reader."
Nora groaned internally again. That would be a hard assignment.
Adam, who was sitting beside Nora in the class, offered her a reassuring look. "I can't believe she still reads our assignments," He told Nora as they walked out of the room.
His voice was louder than Nora thought was necessary, and she widened her eyes at him and put a finger to her lips to indicate to be quieter.
Adam laughed, "That old hag couldn't hear a freight train with dynamite rolling right past her classroom window. We're fine."
Nora rolled her eyes at him.