Twenty-Five

The one thing Nora never expected to happen on the night of her senior prom was for her to be crying on a sidewalk with her two best friends by her side. The three were on the edge of the curb, all their heels placed beside them for the sake of comfort, as they waited for Kristen's mom to pick them up. Nora had debated calling her own mother, but she had to admit she was embarrassed. This whole thing was just embarrassing. The chill of shame caused goosebumps to rise on her fair skin while both of her best friends wrapped their arms around her.

"How could I have been so stupid?" she remarked through her tears. She was fully aware that her makeup was absolutely ruined, but that was a trivial thing to worry about in a moment like this. Triviality seemed to be the only thing Nora could only hold onto in times like these. Speaking of simple matters, Nora reached into her clutch and pulled out two ten dollar bills and handed them to Kristen. The redhead scoffed, but took the money anyway. High school tragedy aside, a bet is a bet.

Amarie sighed, "You weren't stupid, no one saw this coming."

"I did, though, we talked about it. Neither of us really felt like we deserved each other, I just didn't realize she felt so strongly about it," she sniffled, bringing her hand up to wipe her eyes. "I wanna hate her, but I can't. All I want is for her to be mine, I've always wanted that. I just... I don't know if I'll be getting what I want."

"Remember when I told you," Kristen began and Nora had a feeling she knew exactly where the girl was going with this, "that you needed to ask yourself if everything you have with Edison is worth it?" Nora nodded. "I need you to answer that question now. Is this all worth it?"

With no hesitation, Nora knew the answer. She had always known the answer. "It's worth it. I know it is."

With those words, Kristen's mom pulled up to the curb and the three girls helped each other to their feet and got in. The ride home was quiet and thankfully, her mom didn't pry.

"I can't believe I won prom queen just to get dumped immediately after. Kind of bittersweet," Nora sighed as the three of them walked into the house and settled onto Kristen's bed. This kind of moment, of course, called for an emergency sleepover. The three of them had so many emergency sleepovers in their time, they all had their own toothbrushes at each others' houses. "Well, there goes senior prom."

"I mean, if you really think about it, the dance doesn't mean much. All we need to remember is that no matter what, we made it," Amarie mused as the three of them, still in their prom dresses, laid down on Kristen's bed with their eyes trained on the ceiling. "We are going to finish high school in two weeks and nothing is gonna change that. Four years of rollercoasters, of girlfriends and boyfriends, of stupid cheer injuries, of drama, whatever it was. It's gonna be over and we got through it. This dance is just a symbol of that, just because part of it sucked doesn't change that."

"High school feels like a fever dream and I haven't even finished it yet," Nora sighed, attempting to rub her runny makeup off with her hand to no avail. "I just want this phase of my life to be over."

"Including Edison?" Amarie asked, looking over at her best friend.

"Not including Edison. But that includes the part of my life everyone thought was perfect. I'm tired of being seen like some one-dimensional mary sue. From here on out, this stupid perfect life is not going to be mine because it hasn't been perfect in a long time," she mouthed off. She had no idea how deep or how long these feelings had been buried, but now they were spilling out like a tap left running and spilling over.

"Woah," was all Kristen said at first, but soon she realized what was going on with her friend, "This... this has been something you've been feeling for a while now, hasn't it?"

Nora nodded, "Yeah, yeah it really has been. I didn't realize it until Mason cheated on me. So, I guess I get to thank him for that. I thought he ruined everything, but in high school, there's not much to ruin because everything was just kind of... never good in the first place. I mean, things weren't bad, but they weren't everything I'm going to be. This feeling sucks."

"But it's good that you're feeling," the curly-haired girl offered, "It's better to feel everything too much than to feel nothing at all. Trust me."

Kristen cleared her throat, getting both girls' attention as she sat up on the bed, "I think that while this little therapy session is very important, there are two weeks of high school left and Nora, I am not going to let you graduate before you get the girl."

Nora never expected the turnaround considering her stance when she first told the girls about her thing with Edison. However, she was thankful for it because there was nothing she could do without her best friends by her side. Lucking out in the friend department didn't even begin to describe it. She owed everything to her best friends, they were probably the only reason she hadn't entirely lost it already.

"I know there are more important things to worry about," she continued, "but this girl makes you happy and I saw you guys together, you make her happy, too, so I don't know what self-sabotaging she's got going on, but we're gonna snap her out of it if it's the last thing I do!"

"I'm pretty sure this isn't going to kill you, babe," Amarie said with a laugh, "but I agree, we're gonna get you your girl. Any ideas, ladies?"

Nora's brain thought for a moment before she remembered her essay. She could easily make a few changes and assure it fell into the right hands. Would it be enough? She sure as hell hoped so.

Looking around at her friends, she remarked, "I think I've got something. Kristen, can I borrow your laptop?"

"What's mine is yours for whatever you've got planned, girl," her friend laughed as she stood up and grabbed her computer, handing it to the girl, "but I don't know about you, I need to get out of this dress and a hot shower. You guys need towels?"

"Yes, please," Amarie asked. Kristen left the room while Nora was able to pull up her essay on her friend's laptop. "So, what's your plan?"

"Well, I'm not quite sure, but this better get me an A," she huffed as she went to work on her essay. She had thought it was done, but in reality, there was so much more she had to say. Where these words were coming from, she didn't know. Really she was just doing her best to pour her heart onto the pages in front of her in the hopes that Edison would see it. Strangely enough, this plan relied heavily on Mrs. Dotes.

Everything she had been feeling lately, and she means everything, poured itself onto the page as she couldn't stop herself from saying everything she needed to say. She was almost there; this had to work. It had to. If this wouldn't convince Edison the two of them had something there, something important, then nothing could.

When she was finished, she noticed both Kristen and Amarie were looking at her in awe.

"What?" she asked as she looked up at both of them. Nora hadn't realized she was crying again until a tear fell onto the computer in front of her. Somewhere in her madness, both Kristen and Amarie had found time to shower and Nora was bewildered as she wondered how much time had actually passed. She had been lost in her haze of pouring emotion onto a page.

Amarie looked at her as though she was waiting for something. Motioning to the computer, she questioned, "Well? Read it to us!"

Nora sighed as she looked back at the words she had written. Taking a deep breath, she began to recite, "Although high school has felt like a fever dream for most of the time, there is one lesson I learned my freshman year that has carried me through these four years. I learned not to be what people expect from me. This was learned freshman year by watching my two best friends come out and start dating each other and they are still as in love as they were then. I relearned this my senior year by letting my life fall apart and piece itself back together again.

My best friends and I were always a trio. Amarie and I were holding pom-poms and cheering together since we could walk and our duo became a trio when we met Kristen in sixth grade. We were cheerleaders, we were meant to date football players for the rest of our lives. Turns out, I was the only one who followed through with this narrative because, at some point when no one was looking, these two cheerleaders only had eyes for each other. No one expected this, not even me and I knew them better than anyone. This was the first time I realized that I wrote my own path. I didn't have to be what people thought I was. I didn't have to be the cheerleader dating the star quarterback.

I forgot this lesson and dated the quarterback anyway, but that bit me in the end. Fast forward to senior year, my life was undoubtedly 'perfect.' I had a good family life, a boyfriend who loved me, and not to mention an acceptance to the college of my dreams. Everything was falling into place, I just needed to realize that it was the wrong place. Then came my worst nightmare, this perfect picture had a crack in the canvas right between me and my 'loving' boyfriend. I'd say this is where I became disillusioned, but my disillusionment came in the form of Carolina Edison. She was there for me at my lowest points and she helped me figure out something huge: I like girls and boys. So far, I've only liked one girl, but this one girl has changed my life for the better. She thrives off of becoming the unexpected and defying other people's standards for being who she was meant to be and I can only hope to follow in her footsteps. She taught me to see beauty in the stars and to see the beauty in secret corners of the universe. Edison has taught me to throw away the so-called 'perfect' and simply become who I want to be not who others want to see. This is one of the reasons I am falling in love with Carolina Edison.

The truth is, high school didn't teach me much (Sorry, Mrs. Dotes), but it was the people that taught me the important things. I got to find love in the most unexpected people around me and watch it flourish. I learned to take everyone's idea of myself being perfect and throw it out the window because I am not some Mary Sue and I never will be. From here on out, perfection is not included and I plan on carrying that mentality with me for the rest of my life."

"Nora..." Kristen began, but her voice drifted off.

"That was beautiful," Amarie finished the thought as she ran over and gave her best friend a hug which Kristen joined in on shortly.

"If Edison doesn't confess her love for you, then I will, oh my God," the redhead teased, causing laughter to ripple through all three girls. "Now, I'm tired and it has been an incredibly long day so let's get some sleep and we can worry about girl problems tomorrow."

Nora laughed as she nodded her head, saying, "Yeah, I need to get the hell out of this dress."