"Owie," Norah gasped as I kicked her in the toes. "You've hurt me so much these days." Does that sentence have a hidden meaning? I wondered.
"Norah, is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her warm shoulders.
"Uh..no." She said, poking herself in the eye. "See I do this sometimes because my eyeballs squeak." as if that was a good explanation for her strange behavior. I arched an eyebrow.
"How do you do that?" She asked, proceeding to move her eyes and jaw around spasmatically. I pondered momentarily if it would be wise of me to go fetch a tranquilizer from the clinic for her. I turned the music up, and looked over at Norah. She was now licking her teeth, her mouth gaping open like a black abyss. She pointed out that it was amost 11:11, then proceeded to try and show me two students who she is sure have a 'Thing'.
I hummed along with the song as Norah squirmed next to me.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked.
"I think I should be one of those people that they like strap to a wheelchair so that I can't move, except then I wouldn't know what to do with my hands so I'd like eat my arm or something.." I tuned out as she continued to describe how she would throw her mom in the water and then move on with me. I danced a bit in my seat to the music and ignored her questions on how hearing aids worked.
"Were you really listening to that story?" She asked.
"Nope. " I said, still dancing and typing vigorously. Norah busied herself by flipping through a journal she had found on the desk. She eventually put the journal down and tapped the desk. Then a miracle happened: Norah was still. The moment was fleeting, though, and she soon picked the journal up again, and looked at me. Her wide brown eyes gleamed with mischief.
What is she up to now? I wondered.
"I want to lick this journal." She proclaimed.
"I'm pretty sure thats not a good idea." I said. I went back to what I was doing on the computer. Suddenly I felt Norah twitching and writhing in her chair. She reached across my body, pointing at the clock. I glanced over at the glowing red numbers, which had arranged themselves to say 11:11. I wished, as I always did at this time. As the clock flipped over to 11:12, Norah launched into a monolouge about the two students that she had said had a 'thing'.
"He's going to beat her." She exclainmed. "See, she cant defend herself."
"I see." I said. Suddenly Mr. Snelling was standing in front of the computer
"What are you writing about?" he demanded. Norah and I began cowering in fear.
"Norah." I squeaked.
"Are you writing about how great she is?" he asked, glaring down on me.
"Actually I'm writing about what spaz she is." I said.
"Oh." Snelling said. He bent over and began scrutinizing my article, pointing out every run-on sentence and incorrect punctionation point.
"I'm writing this all as it happens, so its difficult to keep up." I justified.
"Shut it. Count to twenty to yourself." Snelling snapped. I began counting, and Norah crossed her legs on her chair and began to meditate.
Snelling muttered some uncomrehendable words and walked away. Suddenly I had a splittng headache. I looked at the clock. 11:25. Five more minutes of this. If there is one thing I have learned in my friendship with Norah, it is that she handles herself a lot better when not confined to a desk. She then stood up, patting my head.
"I'm going to get some paper from the printer." she said.
"Okay." I said.
"I'll see you in an hour." she exclaimed. She came back in about thirty seconds later, sighing.
"I couldn't find any paper." She said. She began describing her pe class. I soon noticced that everyone was leaving the room.
"We have one minute." Norah pointed out. I nodded. By now she was talking about a teen pregnancy documentary she had seen last night. I glanced desperatley at the clock. Suddenly it changed to 11:30, tiggering the ringing of the bell. Never before had I been so happy to hear that bell. I saved what I had been working on and got up, happily leaving another day in publications.