Even those with the most energy crashed eventually. Case in point, Nora and Bonnie had passed out side by side on the couch, while some late-night reality tv show softly played in the background. My mom had gone to bed almost as soon as she came back inside, and I carried Bonnie to her bed already. I had draped a blanket over Nora, but now I was facing a predicament. I was tired and needed to figure out what to do with her. It wouldn’t hurt her to sleep on the couch for a night. Yet, that didn’t sit right with me. Which meant she would be getting the same treatment Bonnie received.

She seemed to be a heavy sleeper like my sister, and that theory held when I picked her up and she only reacted with a loud snore. I held back a chuckle, and pulled her closer to my chest, careful to avoid bumping her into the railing as we went up the stairs. The girl wasn’t much heavier than Bonnie, and we soon arrived at our destination. We hadn’t set up the futon in my sister’s room, so the only free bed was my own. Glad for once that I decided to forgo making my bed, I laid her on the bed and pulled the covers under her chin.

Rolling onto her side, she turned toward me. Her sleeping face was peaceful; the furrow in her brow that would appear when she got worked up had vanished. She almost reminded me of a life-size doll, especially with how long her hair had grown. When I met her at the beginning of the school year, it was hardly past her ears. Now, it was almost shoulder length. Her bangs were longer too, falling past her eyes as she slept.

Of course, I would be keeping all of this to myself. It was merely an observation and a comparison that I meant to be complimentary. It was doubtful she would take it that way though. First of all, I was literally watching her sleep. That was enough for me to take a step away, a squeaky floorboard creaking under my weight. There was also likely a creepy connotation about being compared to a doll thanks to a certain group of people. Still, I suppose all I meant was that I had forgotten how pretty Nora really was.

I took another step back, managing to once more cause the floorboard to creak. She stirred and rolled onto her back, her bangs falling over her closed eyes. Quickly stepping forward, I brushed them to the side and backed away.

“Good night,” I whispered, leaving my room in a hurry.

The couch would have to be enough for me tonight.

____________

It was always difficult for me to come back to school after a long break. I would get used to lazing around the house and have no desire to get back into the routine of studying. All good things came to an end I suppose. I had been looking forward to an easy day too since most of the teachers had lowered their expectations for us on the Monday after winter break. And, to be fair, every lesson had been pretty relaxed overall.

Then, the real dilemma had to be Nora calling in her little favor.

I ran a hand through my hair, still conflicted about the whole thing. “Nora, I’ve never done anything like this before. Are you sure you’re ok with me?”

“Relax, it’s not like anyone else will be around to see us do it.”

We went into the stairwell, the window casting rays of light on us as we climbed the stairs. We reached the top and pushed open the double door that was no longer chained or blocked by a group of desks. Over the break, the school had finished the renovations, freeing up some of the classrooms on the upper floor for use.

“But just a guy and a girl all alone?”

“That’s all you need to do it. What’s gotten into you? The guys in the play would be excited to do this with me.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I wasn’t so certain about that. Sure it wasn’t a particularly difficult task, but it was nothing to brag to all your friends about or anything. Best to get it over with and be done. Hopefully, I won't be too tired afterward.

The two of us headed into the art room, where an incredible sight awaited us. The four long tables in the room were already cluttered with an unbelievable amount of paintings, pottery, and some sort of strange project involving wire. There was no way this room could have been in such disarray after a single day, so I assumed people had been quick to begin to move their crafts from storage into here.

We were essentially the first ones here today, so the tables would remain like this until some other students arrived. It would have been nice to have a little more warning about the room’s disastrous state, but such was our luck. I sighed and hung my bag on the closest chair, turning to face Nora. She was already hurrying across the art room and dropped to her knees in front of a large mural resting near the wall. “Let’s get started right away. Give it to me.”

“You’re so impatient.” I sighed, heading over to her. “But if you’re that sure you want this.”

“I am, so hurry up!”

I stood over her and she stared up at me with expectant eyes. It felt good to have the power for once, but I wondered why she couldn’t do this by herself if she was so eager. Although I suppose it would take longer to do by herself. Not wanting to keep her waiting any longer, I grabbed two large paintbrushes and the can of paint from the table before kneeling next to her.

“We just have to get this piece painted?”

“Yep, and the other two as well,” she said, beginning to lay newspapers around the props.

I glanced along the wall until I noticed the other two stage props. One was a cutout of a castle and the other was a cloud. Meaning this was going to take a lot longer than I thought it would. With a grumble of complaint, I set to work on painting the moon in front of me. It was easy enough to laver the yellow paint across the prop, but I wondered whether there was an important scene about a full moon in Romeo and Juliet. There certainly wasn’t a scene that stood out in my mind involving a starry sky and a moon. Then again, I hadn’t paid full attention to the play when we were learning about it in class. It was a classic, but I struggled to get behind it because the entire concept seemed silly to me.

People didn’t fall in love that quick. It was through constant exposure to and going through experiences together with someone that feelings of love developed.

Nora had no concerns about any of my pointless musings. She slapped layer upon layer of paint on it, getting about as much on the moon as she did on her own clothing.

“You should use a smock.”

“I’m not worried about it. I wore old clothes today, so it’s fine if I make a mess.”

Putting the finishing touches on the prop, we moved on to painting the cloud. I had to grab a can of white paint from the storage room, but then we were all set. Of course, Nora splattered the paint into her hair, but it was sort of adorable how excited she was about everything, so I kept any snide comments to myself. She had even placed it upon herself to help out the stage crew with this task since they were a skeleton crew. Who knew that our theater department had such a hard time attracting interested students?

My phone vibrated, and I dipped my paintbrush into the can before fishing it out of my pocket. See I had a text from Rika, I opened it with bated breath, trying to not outwardly display my apprehension to Nora.

Rika: Hey, can we meet up for a little bit?

I shot a quick text back saying that we could talk tomorrow because I was busy today. I didn’t want her to think that I was avoiding her, but I also didn’t want to meet today. Couldn't bring myself to. I needed her to think that I was busy with other things because otherwise, I knew that she would try to read between the lines and realize that I just didn’t want to meet up. I returned to painting the cloud, trying to keep my mind busy with something other than theorizing what she wanted to talk about.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief when Nora began talking about the rehearsals that she had been a part of in the past. They weren’t exactly the most interesting topic of conversation, but they proved to be a good distraction. I soon found myself talking about the plays that me and Ethan had been forced into when we were younger, how we both faked being sick, and how upset our moms were with us.

While Nora laughed at my past misery, my hand kept reaching for my phone, waiting for Rika’s response. I supposed I was less distracted than I hoped. Instead, I was even more worried than before. Each passing moment set me more on edge until finally, my screen lit up.

Rika: I'll meet you in the courtyard after school