NORA
"And she just attacked you?" Keitan asked in surprise.
It was lunch on Monday, the day after Nora's little 'fight' with Olivia Bell, and word had gotten around the school. She was in the middle of telling her friends about the excursion.
"Yeah, well I did call her a tryhard," Nora pointed out.
Xander snorted, "Well she is," He retorted, "And for the record, we don't pity you. We actually, genuinely enjoy your company. Otherwise I don't think we would have passed Mouse's test."
"Fair enough," Nora agreed.
"So what happened next?" Adam asked, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand.
"Harries came out of absolutely nowhere and said that he saw the whole fight, and Olivia ran off," Nora said, shrugging.
"Interesting," Adam observed.
"Yeah, I know right?"
"Did Harries go after Olivia?" Xander asked.
"He was about to, but I stopped him. I didn't want to cause extra problems, and I figured that Harrison would be wondering where I was. But I didn't get my poem done and Mrs. Sketcher gave a me a lecture in front of the whole class because of it."
"Whoops," Keitan said, sounding unconcerned.
"It was a pretty violent lecture," Xander agreed. He was the only other one in her literature class.
"It'll probably be fine if you get it done tonight," Adam reassured her, "And you always have that backup one about Mouse's socks."
"That's true," Nora said.
Keitan opened his mouth to say something more, but the bell rang right then and all three of them jumped from their seats. Choir practice had been going better and better as the first performance was nearing. Nora wasn't used to starting school in January, so she still found it odd that no one else was panicking yet about the upcoming concert. Her old school would have their own performance in a week's time.
"What are you going to do after school, Nora?" Xander asked.
"I'm going to go and see Rosie, since I haven't done that yet this week," She replied.
"You two must be close."
"Yeah."
Nora's phone buzzed and she glanced down at it. Talia was texting her. She and Talia hadn't hung out in several weeks, since the start of school, because both of them were extremely busy.
"Who's that?"
"Talia."
"Wait, Talia Klein?"
Nora looked up when Keitan said Talia's name. "Yeah," She replied, "Talia Klein."
"Really?" Xander responded. He, Keitan, and Adam had stopped and were staring at Nora incredulously.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because she's the other friend in our group!"
"You have another friend in your group?"
"Yeah but since she's homeschooled now, we hardly ever hang out," Keitan explained.
Nora laughed, "Why did I not suspect that?" She asked, "You guys know everybody."
"We're just that awesome."
(}--|#!#|--{)
After her swim practice, Nora stopped by the apartment for a change of clothes and shoes, and then walked over a block to Rosie's house.
Predictably, Rosie was outside gardening when Nora arrived. She looked up and smiled, "Hello my girl!" She called out.
"Hi Rosie!" Nora waved and walked up the sidewalk, "What are you planting today?"
"I'm just pulling up some dead flowers to make room for more next year, but I was about to go downstairs and start setting up my greenhouse."
"Oh, really? Can I help?"
Rosie smiled at Nora, "You're just such a wonderful dear, aren't you? Let's go."
Nora followed Rosie down into the cellar, which was surprisingly clean compared to most cellars that Rosie had been in.
Rosie turned a light on to reveal walls held up by painted gray bricks and a plywood floor. Four raised garden beds sat in the center, with special lights over the top of them. The dirt in the beds looked old, and the plants were long dead.
"We have to clear out the old dirt from these beds and the old plants. Then we're going to replace the dirt and start planting," Rosie told Nora. She crossed to a corner and pulled out two shovels with most of their handles chopped off and several buckets.
"How are we going to get it out of the cellar?" Nora asked.
Rosie grinned, "That, my young girl, is a problem solved by my ingenious brain."
Nora watched as Rosie walked to the cellar stairs and showed Nora a pulley system that she hadn't noticed earlier.
"We can fill the buckets as much as we can physically take, and then pull the buckets up with the pulleys," Rosie explained.
"Okay," Nora agreed, hefting one of the huge buckets and short shovels.
"Start at that one over there, and I'll start at this one," Rosie pointed to the one farthest from the door, and Nora agreed.
She walked to the pile of dirt and began scooping some into the bucket. It was hard because the dirt was old and the roots of the dead plants still held fast. Nora struggled to get the first scoop, but eventually it got easier when she got underneath the hard surface.
She filled the bucket a little under halfway and grunted as she hauled it to the pulley system. Rosie had hauled hers up only a moment earlier, and Nora figured that they could carry about the same amount of weight.
--
Nora hadn't realized just how much time had passed until heavy footsteps sounded outside, and then Mouse called, "NORA?!"
"Oops!" Nora exchanged a sheepish look with Rosie and then turned and raced up the stairs.
"I'm here, Mouse!" She poked her head out of the cellar and smiled at the man as he looked around frantically.
Mouse heaved a sigh and said, "You've been gone for hours, Nora. It's nearly nine!"
"Whoops, I guess I've been busy!"
"What have you been doing? You're covered in dirt," Mouse asked curiously, his earlier frantic mood forgotten in the moment.
"Come on down," Nora gestured for him to follow her and trotted down the stairs.
Mouse followed her down the steps and into the cellar, where two of the gardening beds had already been emptied and the other two were in the process. Rosie was working hard at her own bed, just slightly ahead of Nora. The two had turned it into a competition of who could get it done first.
"Hi there," Mouse said as he looked around.
Rosie popped her head up and smiled, "Michael!" She exclaimed, giving him a big hug, "Welcome! Have you come to help?"
"It's nine o'clock and Nora has school in the morning, I need to take her home," Mouse told Rosie.
Rosie smiled at him, but to Nora, she looked very sad. The whole time they'd been working, she'd told Nora story after story about her past, and Nora was sad to go as well.
"I'll come back tomorrow, after my swim practice," She promised instantly, "And then we can finish digging the dirt out and haul new soil in!"
Instantly, the elderly lady looked a lot more cheerful. "That sounds excellent," She said, "Thank you, Nora."
Nora smiled at Rosie and gave the old woman a hug. "No, thank you, Rosie," She said, "And who knows? Maybe we can convince Mouse and his guy friends to help us haul the soil down."
"Why don't we talk more about that tomorrow? It really is late. Have a good night, Rosie," Mouse led Nora out of the basement. Nora waved goodbye and trotted slightly to keep pace with Mouse.
Nora and him walked across the sidewalk and Nora realized just how dark the sky was. "Sorry, I didn't realize I was out so late," She told Mouse apologetically.
"You worried the crap out of me and Maxi and Harrison," Mouse scolded her, his voice sharp.
Nora winced, "I didn't mean to, I just lost track of time," She replied.
Mouse heaved a heavy sigh, "What's done is done, and it was an honest mistake. Next time be a bit more vigilant, please."
"Okay."
--
Hi guys! Sorry this has taken me so long to get out! I'm working on (yet) more projects right now so updates might be a bit slower until May 10, when I finish something special. Anyway, thanks so much for your patience and I really appreciate the votes and comments!
Have a great day/night!
-- That_Fanfic_Kid