Body Talk - Foxes

Chapter Two: Conversations

My best friend Sam was gay. This didn't make me hate him or love him any less. He wasn't the overly obnoxiously gay and he wasn't into manly stuff like sports or cars either. He wasn't even the type that you didn't even know was gay. Everyone knew. The whole school knew. But he wasn't the type to go around flaunting it like it was some sort of gift or something. He just went about his life like it was nothing. He was very unique in the sense that he didn't fit into a category. Sam was his own category.

He smiled at me as I walked into my chemistry class. He was seated at the far back next to the window where he usually just text on his phone or doodled. The asshole doesn't even need to pay attention to the teacher. If he reads the material, he immediately knows it. He's a certified genius in my book (except when it came to Algebra).

"Nora the Nerd, huh? Which part of Hell froze over to make that happen?" He wiggled his thick eyebrows as I took my seat next to him.

"News travels fast," I groaned. "It was obviously a joke. Yelchin wanted to push my buttons and humiliate me in front of the entire school-"

"Yes. That's totally what he had in mind." Sam opened his notebook with a snort. He was just as sarcastic as I was, if not a little more. "It's only for one project, Lane. It's not like you have to get married and start a family with her."

"If I do will you donate your sperm?"

"Where else is your baby going to get their good looks from?"

I laughed and swat him with my folder just as our chemistry teacher, Ms. Royce, stepped into the room. She wasted no time writing a chemical formula on the board and asked us to simplify it.

"What book are you guys going to do?" Sam whispered as he copied down the equation.

"No idea. She wants to meet me during lunch so we can decide," I whispered back. "She's so cheery. It's disturbing."

"You're just so used to channeling your inner Grumpy Cat. You don't know how to be cheerful. When's the last time you skipped down the hallway or whistled a merry tune?" He snickered as I sent him the death glare. "Relax. I'm sure it's all a front. Maybe she's just as miserable as you are."

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't miserable. Sam just liked taking a jab at the fact I love anything punk. Gore. Horror. That kind of stuff. He still doesn't realize it's not the same as being goth. "When's the last time you and the band got a gig?"

He cringed. "Ouch. That one hurt. And for your information, we have a gig coming up on Saturday. At Tacos and Stuff."

I accidentally snorted out loud, causing everyone to glance in my direction. "The taco truck in the mall parking lot? That's hardly a gig. That's more like playing for cash with your guitar case open at your feet."

He flipped me the finger. "We'd be getting better gigs if you came back to the band. The guys would love to have you again."

I had formed a band with Sam back in our freshman year, thinking it would cool and we'd make some money and friends that way. But due to an argument I had with my dad, I had to quit the band. Sam has been devastated ever since. No one knew how to play bass like I did.

"If I come back-"

"When you come back," he corrected.

"If I come back, you need to change the band name-"

Someone cleared their throat. Ms. Royce was looking in our direction with a cold expression on her old face.

"Do you two have something you want to discuss with the rest of the class?" Her voice grated. She was a walking nails on a chalkboard.

"There is actually," I said just as same was about to say no. "We need a new band name. So if anyone has suggestions for a cool name for a band, drop your ideas off at locker 227. The new name will be announced at Tacos and Stuff this Saturday."

The class laughed and a weight lifted off my shoulders. For a moment, they completely forgot I had been paired with Nora for a project and things felt normal again.

Ms. Royce rolled her eyes and called upon one of my classmates to go up to the board and solve the equation. This gave me an opportunity to whisper to Sam again.

"I thought you held auditions for a new bassist?"

He shook his head. "Nope. We've been holding your spot in case you wanted to come back. Seems like you do, judging from the look on your face."

I stuck out my tongue. "I'll think about it and let you know before Saturday."

"You're going to learn the songs on Saturday?" He pretended to be writing in his notebook. I did the same.

"You want a bass player or not?"

He shrugged. "We only have three songs anyway. I'm sure you'll learn them in record time."

The bell rang 45 minutes later for lunch and the halls were filled again with students as I made my way to my locker, earning stares and whispers once again. Someone even threw a piece of pepperoni at me. Just to spite them, I peeled it off my sleeve and ate it. Not going to let a piece of meat go to waste like that. It'd be a biblical sin.

After I grabbed my lunch, I headed to the dugout. To my surprise, Nora was already sitting down on the bench with her own lunch on her lap. When she saw me, her face lit up and she waved me over. I sighed. Here goes nothing I suppose....

"Hi! I had a free period earlier so I just left early to save our seats out here. Not that anyone ever sits out here during lunch," she laughed as I sat beside her, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders. "What's for lunch today?"

I paused from opening my paper bag. "Huh?"

"Your lunch," she pointed to the bag in my hands. "What do you have today?"

I looked inside. Usually I made my own lunch but my brother is home visiting with his wife and kid so he made my lunch today. "Looks like a ham and cheese sandwich with an apple and pudding for dessert."

Nora beamed. "That sounds delicious. I have quiche and a fruit salad with some jam to dip the fruit in. My dad works at a local restaurant here so he knows how to make all kinds of stuff. Last night he made quiche so I took some leftovers with me today."

She was so unusually perky. She smiled and laughed at almost everything either she said or I said and it was unnerving. I wasn't funny. So what the hell was she laughing at?

"So I brought some books from the library that we could sort through and decide which one of them we could do for our project." She wiped her fingers off in a wet wipe before reaching into her backpack and taking out a stack of books.

"Are you even allowed to bring books outside like this?" I asked. The stack was growing dangerously high between us and I was scared they were going to tip over.

"How else do you get them home?" She retorted.

Good point.

"Okay. So these are our options. They're mostly classics and I don't know if you're into the classics or not. You seem more like a comic book fan to me," she smiled and took a bite of her salad.

"I'm not, actually. I don't read." I wasn't ashamed to admit this. Reading wasn't for everyone and it certainly wasn't for me.

Her blues eyes widened even more behind her glasses. "At all?"

"Nope."

".......can you read?"

I snorted. "Yes, I can read. I just choose not to. Books bore me. I'm better with numbers and calculations. Not words and dialogue."

For a moment I thought she was going to explode in anger. I half expected her to anyway. But she nodded calmly and went through the books on the bench, deep in concentration.

"Maybe this project is a good thing. Hopefully I can open your eyes to the world of reading and change your mind about literature." She showed me a book. "How about this one?"

Moby Dick. I shook my head. "Not happening. Next one."

She flashed me another book. "Frankenstein?"

We were like this for the next several minutes, with her showing me a book and me disagreeing on it. Soon enough there were no books left and she'd shown them all to me.

"You're awful picky, I know that much. We just went through all the incredible classics-" She paused, eyes twinkling as she looked over at me. "Unless.....I wonder...."

Oh god. Even as I chewed my sandwich as quickly as I could, I knew exactly what book she was about to whip out next. She didn't even have to tell me or even show it to me. The look in her eyes said it all.

When she turned back around to face me, she held a somewhat thin book in her hands. In big letters at the top of the page, the cover read-

"Harry Potter. Look, I know it's not ideal and this is pretty much what I'm known and bullied for-"

"You know you're bullied?" I cut her off without meaning to. "But you brush it off like its nothing."

Nora shrugged. "I can't let those people bother me. Otherwise I can't enjoy what I love the most."

Huh. Interesting. So she knows she's the laughingstock but yet she chooses to look past it. She's brave, I'll give her that much. I'd be starting fights all the time if I were bullied to the extent that she was.

"So? How about it? Shall we do this book for our project?" Her eyes sparkled as she held the book close to her chest in a hug.

I shrugged. "Eh. Why not. If I'm going to go down in this school's history, might as well go out with a bang."

Nora clapped her hands in delight. "Oh good! I was hoping you'd agree to ol' Harry here. You won't regret this. Trust me. I'm going to go home today and get you a copy of the book-you don't own a copy already do you?"

I shook my head. She forgot that I don't read already.

"That's okay. I have plenty of copies so I'm more than happy to let you borrow one," she giggled and shoved some more fruit into her mouth. "How amazing is this? I have a good feeling about this project. And you too. You have a nice vibe."

"I do?" I threw my crust out to the seagulls, who attacked it like savages.

"Definitely. I always wanted to partner up with you anyway so it worked out really well!"

She always wanted to partner up with me? This was news to me. "What made you want to be my partner? We don't have any other classes together except for English."

She smiled. "Your short film you made for Drama class in freshmen year. About the little girl who floated down the river and came across all kinds of nice monsters?"

She remembered that? I barely even remembered that. That movie won an online award for best animation. That very award rests on my dresser in my room. "Bonnie Floats Down the River. You actually watched that?"

"Of course I did. It was so moving and deep. I especially like that one line the blue monster with the wings said. What was it again?" She rubbed her fingers together and squinted. "The river must end somewhere but the flow never stops. That was my favorite line. I even put it on my wall of quotes!"

I suddenly saw this strange girl in a new light. Sure, she was still odd in a lot of ways but I had a deep, newfound respect for her. She loved my short film. Not one of my classmates (apart from Sam) ever said that they liked it or loved it. It had been nearly three years since someone brought it up in a casual conversation let alone quote a line from the movie itself.

"We should head back inside. The bell is going to ring soon and I have to tinkle so bad," Nora chuckled as she gathered her things and tossed her garbage into the trash bin beside the dugout. "This was fun! I really enjoyed myself today. It's been a while since someone had a conversation with me like this. So thank you."

My heart cracked a little as she smiled at me. "Sure. No problem. We'll be talking a lot more seeing how we have all year to work on this."

Nora laughed. Her laugh was so boisterous that it echoed across the baseball field. "That's true! If this conversation was amazing I can't wait to see what else we talk about!" She grabbed my hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to have you as a partner, Laney Rubia. I can't wait to get started with you."

My body rattled as she continued to shake my hand. "Yeah. Same. You're going to make my food come back up if you keep shaking me like that."

She let go, fixing her glasses on her nose. "Oopsy daisy! Sorry. I got so excited there for a second-" The bell rang to signal that lunch was over. "Oh poo. I still have to pee. So I'm going to end our conversation right here. Should we meet up again soon?"

I shrugged. In case you haven't noticed by now, I was a woman of few words.

Nora wrote something down on a scrap of paper and handed it to me. "That's my number. Give me a text whenever and we can get together sometime. I look forward to it!"

I watched as she skipped away, whistling a merry tune and made a mental note to myself to strangle Sam with one of the strings of my bass guitar later.
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Nora's so pure. I love her to the moon and back. I find when I'm writing her parts listening to the Harry Potter soundtrack really puts me in the mood to write more. The movies were AMAZING, weren't they? The first one came out in 2001 and I was 10 at the time. My mind was blown away by how good it was.

Which was your favourite movie and why? Leave a comment telling me which one you enjoyed. Also drop a vote and share this story with other muggles too!