Henry had been trying to shake Nora awake for the last ten minutes and it was going from adorable to just plain ridiculous.
"Nora, you have to get up." Nora draws her eyebrows together as she moans trying to push Henry's hands away.
"Whhhyyyyy?" She asks sleepily as the birds chirp, the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. There was no denying it, Nora was certainly adorable when she first woke up in the morning... Or at least Henry thought so. With her messy hair, wide confused eyes, and pouted lips, she was a vision.
"Emma enrolled you in School here remember?" Nora moans again this time fully awake and she drops back down onto the couch.
"Nooooo, let's just stay home and cuddle." She says reaching up from him, hoping he'll join her in her cocoon of blankets.
"We have to, Nor." He laughs at her as grabs her hands and pulls her up off the couch, the blankets bunching at her feet. She collapses onto Henry, arms wrapped around his neck and head nuzzled into the crook of his neck. He stumbles back a step and laughs, his arms going around her waist to hold her up. "Nora." He said firmer this time. She groans and stands up straight, rubbing her eyes.
"The sun isn't even up yet." She notes and she goes to grab clothes.
"Yea well that's what happens when you have to get up early." Nora pouts as she pads over to the bathroom to change.
"Yea well mornings are silly." She says before shutting the door behind her.
She reemerges a little more alive. Her hair down and loose, in its natural wavy state. Since they hadn't found time in between disasters to buy her a school uniform she was going to stick out even more in her ripped jeans and frilly sea foam green top. And you can't forget her boots, and matching leather jacket. As always she looks beautiful, Henry thinks as he smiles at her from across the room. She catches his gaze and smiles back, filled with anxiety. This wasn't a mission from Zelena, this was real school that she would have to participate in and talk to her peers. She knew she would be behind in her studies and was afraid the others would think of her as stupid. And what if everyone was mean like in Manhattan? Henry already had friends there, she'd just be that weird girl again. Henry could practically feel the nerves coming off her in waves as she sat down at the island across from him.
"Would you relax? You'll be just fine, and I'll be there the whole time." Henry tells her as he slides a bowl of cereal and a spoon across to her. Nora lets out a breath and nods her head.
"Yea you're right. I just need to-" Henry smiles as he chews his own cereal.
"Eat." He finishes for her as she laughs and does what Heney suggested. Even with Henry at her side she knew she would be nervous. She couldn't help it. People just didn't like her no matter how badly she wanted them to.
"Nora-" Henry says as she looks up at him through her long lashes.
"What?" She asks innocently as she eats another spoonful of cereal.
"I promise you, that you'll be fine." Nora sighs and shakes her head.
"But what if everyone hates me? What is I fail every test? What is I blow up the school on accident? What if I-" Nora rambles, as all the worst case scenarios she can think of fly out of her mouth.
"Nora!" Henry laughs walking around the island to stand in front of her, gently grabbing her cheeks in the palms of his hands. With the touch of his skin to hers she called down a tick, her mouth falling shut and her eyes opening wider. "If I told you once, I'll tell you a thousand times. I'll be by your side always, and together we can withstand anything. That includes school." Nora giggles as he kisses her forehead.
"Well when you put it like that-" She grins as he lets her go and she hops off her stool, putting both their dishes in the sink. Henry watches her with a smile as he grabs his book bag. That's yet another thing they'll have to get her. She rises out the bowls in a slightly better mood. Henry was right. What was she worrying for? Everything would work out just fine! Henry glances up at the clock and curses, his eyes wide.
"We're late!" He says loudly as Nora fumbles and the bowl clatters back into the sink with a crash. Nora jumps, scaring herself as her curses echo Henry's.
"Crap." Nora mutters to her water splashes shirt, as she turns off the faucet. "Okay let's go, let's go." Nora says as she dries her hands with a hand towel and throws it on the island, walking towards where Henry stands at the open door.
"Only you would be late on your first day, Nora." Nora scoffs at him as he speed walk down the street.
"Yea well, I'm never really on time for anything now am I?" She asks playfully as she starts running down the street. She hears Henry laughs behind her and start running as well. They weren't officially late yet, they were just going to be if they didn't hurry. So now the pair of them run down the street towards school, wind whipping around them as passerbyers smiled happily at them. It was moments like these that made Storybrooke seem like the perfect small town, but we all very well know that is untrue. After a few more minutes of running, they came to a stop at the from of the school, both gasping for breath.
"I win." Nora says cheekily as Henry points to the door they need to go in.
"Yeah, well you carry a backpack next time." Nora laughs as shakes her head, kissing Henry's cheek.
"I will, and I'll still win." She says cockily as Henry pulls open the door of her to walk through. Storybrooke's school is just like Storybrooke in that small town charm kind of way. All grades Pre-K through twelfth went here and there still were not many students. The halls were covered in children's works of art, and smelled of children and paint. People still lingered in the hallways by the lockers, were the older kids classrooms are. Nora felt uneasy as she walked down the hallway next to Henry, the playful air of a few moments ago completely evaporated. People looked at the girl they hadnt met before and whispered. After all Storybrooke was a small town and if small towns are known for anything, magical or not, it was gossip. And it didn't help that Nora had the pleasure of encountering Lucy White, the town gossip. Unlike Nora, Henry wasn't nervous at all. He had grown up here and knew all the kids and who to steer Nora away from and who too not. Though he too hear the whispers, catching words like .
"New girl."
"Where did she even come from?"
"She doesn't even go here."
"Why is she with Henry?"
"Why doesn't she have a uniform? Is she trying to get attention?"
"She needs to back away from my man."
"How did she get to Storybrooke?"
"Is she Henry's girlfriend? Are the rumors true?"
"Is she like one of those rebels that like, smokes?"
"Who is she related to?"
"Does she have powers?"
Not only was Nora getting annoyed with all the chatter, so was Henry. For such a small school they all had really big mouths. There was no need for a schedule because the class was so small, they all just had the same classes at the same time. Goodie. Nora thinks, there is no breathing room. Henry threads his fingers through her's as she tore her gaze from directly in front of her to Henry, her hard features softening.
"Relax." He says lowly with a smile as he leads her over to his locker. There were fewer people in the halls now, but the few who were still lingering voices rose. Henry unlocks his locker as he begins to grab books and put others up.
"So this is it?" Nora asks, leaning against the locker next to him. "I think I may be able to stomach this." She says, talking herself up as Henry chuckles.
"I never doubted you." He replies back, kissing her forehead, after shutting his locker and taking her hand in his again.
"So what's first up this lovely morning?" Nora asks, popping up from the locker and walking beside him down the hallway.
"Literature." He says with a side smirk. Nora couldn't help but let her smile widen.
"Hmm sounds terrible." Nora says sarcastically, but maybe this was a sign her day wouldn't be complete crap.
"I thought you would say that." Henry jokes back as they reach the classroom, and Henry being the gentlemen he is, pushes the door open for her.
The class room goes silent when they walk in, Nora first, followed closely by Henry. There are ten people already in the room, none of them particularly striking, meaning she hadn't seen any of them before. The man at the front of the room, dressed in a light blue button down and black slacks smiles at the two of them.
"Welcome back Henry, and you must be the new student." He says to them, Nora takes in his young appearance. Dirty blonde hair, tan, and soft amber eyes. What story was he from? Nora caught herself thinking. He had to be a prince of some kind.
"Hey, Mr. Rennolls!" Henry says reluctantly leaving Nora at the front of the classroom, to go take his seat in between a raven haired girl with electric blue eyes and warm sunkissed skin, who immediately greets him with an equally as warm smile, and a rounder boy with a dark complexion, thick rimmed glasses, and caramel eyes. Nora goes to sit in the open seat, even if it was on the opposite side of the room as Henry, anything to escape the dreaded-
"No so fast." Mr. Rennolls says stopped Nora in her tracks. All eyes are on her as she looks back up, and swivels around to look at the teacher, a pleasant, yet forced, smile on her face. "Why don't you introduce yourself. Tell us a little about yourself." Nora internally groans. This. She wanted to avoid this. She turns to look at the eleven teenagers looking at her with varying levels of interest. Henry nods his head encouragingly at her as she pulls in a breath.
"Well for starters, My name is Nora Wilson." She says rocking back on her heels slightly, pushing her hair over her shoulder as she speaks. "Uhh I used to live in Manhattan." Nora continues, tip toeing around anything to do with missing years or her time with Zelena. Mr. Rennolls interrupts her with another prompt.
"Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do?" Nora refrains from making a twenty one questions joke as she nods her head.
"I uh like to cook..." Nora says taking in all the faces in front of her, letting her gaze linger over a smiling Henry. The girl next to him, tears away her gaze from Henry as she looks back at the new girl. "And I'm good at-" At this exact moment Nora noticed how little she'd actually done with her life. Cooking? Thats all she could think off? She knew she couldn't sing, her dancing was erratic, her drawing left something to be desired, and she had never had a chance to learn an instrument. Nora wrote some times but it was just mediocre, and she didn't play any sports. She had nothing to say. "-Baking... and I like to read." Nora adds hurriedly. Is punching a talent? She thinks as a nervous sweat breaks out at her brow. She's pretty good at that at least. Oh if only getting into sticky situations was a talent. Henry looks at Nora worriedly as her composer falters for a moment. What could she be thinking about? Mr. Rennolls butts in again.
"Favorite color, food, and book. Then we'll let you sit down." He says kindly. Nora lets out a breath. Finally something she could do.
"My favorite color is-" the shade of purple that the sky is just between dusk and night. Henry answers in his head, a small smirk on his face.
"The shade of purple that the sky is just between dusk and night."Nora answers looking at her peers once again.
"My favorite food is wow uh- probably something chocolate, pasta maybe-" She can't pick. Henry thinks back to the sleep over at her house back in Manhattan. "I just can't pick." She chuckles and shakes her head.
"And Favorite book? That's like asking me to pick a favorite child-" She says with a grin. "Hmm uhhhh maybe Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen or the Arcana Chronicles by Kresley Cole." Nora finishes as she draws in another breath, before hurrying off to the only empty seat in between two taller boys. She could finally breath. She thinks as she sighs. Henry gives her a discreet thumbs up and a wink from across the way and she smiles back, already feel drained.
"So does someone want to tell Nora what we have been studying." Nora looks at the eleven other students. The girl sitting next to Henry is the only one who raises their hand.
"Yes, Bexley?" Mr. Rennolls says as he walks towards the board.
"We are in the middle of reading The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare." Nora lets out another breath she had been holding. She had already read that cover to cover two times.
"Correct, Miss Evergreen!" The teacher says writing the title of the book on the board, as the girl named Bexley smiles, her braces glinting in the light, though they suited her nicely, before turning to look at Nora.
"Are you familiar with this play, Nora?" Mr. Rennolls asks her as she nods her head.
"Oh uh, Yes, I've read it twice already." Nora says glancing at Henry who is currently engaged in a whispered conversation with Bexley.
"Well then you won't have any trouble keeping up." He claps his hands together as he starts going over the scene they just finished. Nora zones out, already knowing what happened in the scene and just tries to match all the faces to names. There is George and Anthony who are the two she sits between. Both of them are very tall, but all so very scrawny. Gorge breaths loud and Anthony always was sniffling, but they were both very nice to Nora. Offering her a piece of paper and a pencil to take notes with. Bexley seemed to be the smarty pants of the class, as well as the female heart throb. Nora had pinned down if she knew either of those things though, so she just assume she did. Most of the boys unabashedly stared at her as she answered countless questions correctly. There was only one other girl in the class besides Nora and Bexley. She was very very quiet, hadn't uttered a word so far. She has short but very thick brown hair, with dark brown eyes that appear black from where Nora sits. Where Bexley is very very skinny, this girl was a bit more rounded. She also wore red cat eyes glasses that Nora envied. She was very retro and Nora likes that. Her name was something like Holly- No Halley! That's it Halley Carpenter. Then you had Jack, Lance, Adam, Leo, Francis, and Ezra who were all their own breed of annoying. Francis and Leo insisted on staring at Nora like she was the latest issue of playboy. Jack and Ezra seemed like the only two besides Bexley, Henry, and Halley who cared about. Lance was sketching in his notebook and Adam... well she's not to sure what Adam is doing besides mumbling to himself under his breath. Nora sighs as she tunes back in, in time to hear Mr. Rennolls say something about partners.
"Now I want you to find a partner, and discuss the scene amongst yourselves. No more than a group of three." He says looking at the students in mock sternness.
"Well go on." He says as the room breaks out in chatter. Nora internally curses and looks up at Henry to see him already being pulled away by that girl named Bexley and Jack. He looks up at her apologetically as she forces a smile and waves it off. She had to make friends eventually. She looks around to see everyone pretty much paired off.
"Hey there, New girl." Nora's head shoots up to see one of the boys that was staring at her, Francis she believes his name is, standing beside her with a smirk on his face.
"Oh- Hi." Nora says with a timid smile.
"Still need a group?" The other boy appears on her other side, Leo. They looked like they would be best friends. Francis with a golden mop of hair on his head and big blue eyes, and Leo with tanned skin hazel hair and wide chocolate eyes. In short they both had a player feel to them.
"Uhh-" She tries to think of an excuse as they smirk down at her, trapping her on either side. She didn't like the vibe they gave off.
"She's already in our group, guys." Anthony says with George at his side. Nora lets out a breath as she scrambles out of her seat to go stand by the quirky ginger boy and her tanned dark haired savor. Francis rolls his eyes and Leo nods his head.
"Well then see you 'round, New Girl." Leo says, his smirk never faltering as he goes off the sit with Francis. Nora turns to look at the ridiculously tall boys she had sat next to all class period.
"Thanks, guys." She says meaning it fully as they both chuckle at her.
"Don't mention it, Nora." George says ruffling her hair. Nora laughs as they plop down on the floor in the corner of the room.
"So we all already know what happens in the chapter right?" Anthony asks with a smile as both George and Nora nod their heads. "So why don't we just tell, New Girl, here all the ins and outs." Nora was going to tell them Henry did- but he really hadn't. He didn't tell her who to talk to and who to stear clear off or which teachers are cool and which are not. So she keeps her mouth shut. George nods his head and nods his hands together.
"Where to start." He says as Anthony subtly nods to Leo and Francis. "Them. Stay away from them." Anthony says as Nora nods her head, pushing hair out of her face as she waits for an explanation. It never comes.
"The rest of us are pretty cool, even Adam over there, don't let this mumbling scare you." He continues pointing out Adam as if she couldnt spot him by said mumbling. George nods his head in agreement.
"And you're Henry's girl right?" She blushes but nods her head once in confirmation.
"Uhh, Yeah I am." Nora says with false confidence.
"Well then you better also look out for Bexley Evergreen." Nora perks up even more alert now.
"May I ask why?" Nora says leaning forward slightly. Gorge replies this time.
"She's been out for Henry since the curse broke. Probably pretty pissed that he just resurfaces after a year with a girlfriend too." Nora can't help but let eyes wonder to their group. Jack was off to the side, obviously trying to talk about the scene they were supposed to be talking about, and Henry was obviously trying to focus as well. But that is kinda hard to do with one of Bexley's delicate sun kissed hands permanently on your shoulder, and the rest of her a joined to you at the hip, her laughter like bells in your ear and her blue eyes twinkling. No baggage or issues to be seen. Nora all of a sudden feels sick to her stomach.
"Oh..." Is all Nora can manage as she looks back at Gorge and Anthony. "Thanks for the uh- heads up." She says with a beautifully crafted fake smile, one form her old days in manhattan when she still had to lie all the time. Who was she kidding, she still had to lie all the time. Anthony and George share an awkward glance before Nora interrupted.
"What about the teachers?" Nora asks the smile still firmly in place. Gorge smiles back, happy to see she isn't bothered, even though she is.
"Well Rennolls is as cool as it gets, I mean Mrs. Nolan is pretty cool to but she makes us do actual work." Gorge shrugs as Nora laughs.
"Yeah I could see that." She replies as the two smile down at her. What, how are these dudes 6'2 at freaking thirteen?
"Oh watch out for Ms. Pincherdson, she's evil. She will send just about anyone to detention or the principal's office for no reason. Also she is super picky about everything. Don't put your name in the right place, F. Don't put a period at the end of a sentence, F. It's ridiculous." George continues and Nora's eyes go wide, maybe she will have to try harder than she thought.
"That's um, rough. How do you even survive her class?" She asks, hoping for some tips.
"Be still, be quiet, and follow directions, specifically." He says with a shrug. Seems simple enough, but knowing her she is bound to screw something up.
"Thanks. Anyone else?" Nora asks.
"Well the only other teacher we have is Coach Burks. He's the gym teacher and he's hardcore, I mean really hardcore, man. No girl push ups in his class." He explains and Nora mentally collapses. Is she suppose to be a star athlete or something? She can barely work out at all, talk about a hardcore workout.
"Greatttt, can I fake an injury?" Nora laughs.
"He can see through that, unless there you have a hospital note." George shakes his head.
"That could be arranged." Nora jokes, even though if she even tried all the hospital workers would shun her away since they basically "hate" her. George just laughs and Anthony grins at her. She was finally starting to be fun.
"And what's your injury of choice?" Anthony asks as Nora pretends to think, a toothy grin coming to her face.
"Maybe a heart murmur or chronic lung contractions." Nora says trying to think of something long term.
"But then you wouldn't be able to pass this year." Anthony laughs as Nora shrugs.
"Good point, but still!" They all chuckle as Mr. Rennolls rains them in.
"Okay class, we ran out of time today or remember what we talked about and I'll see you back here for World History." Right as he says that the bell rings and everyone is out of the door like it's going to close and lock forever in two seconds. Nora rises off the floor, dusts off her jeans, and grabs her loaned pencil and paper. Nora folds up the paper as she thinks about what George and Anthony had told her about Bexley. She shouldn't feel threatened. She's been chasing after him for years and hasn't gotten anywhere, why would she now? But Nora could help but have a sinking feeling in her gut as she walked into the hallway.
♥♥♥