This is a new interpretation of the 3 "Hey's" in Next to Normal. It's just a fun little thing. Please rate and review.
And I do not own Next to Normal…But a girl can dream!
Henry stands anxiously at his locker. He hasn't talked to Natalie since that morning when her mom was coming back from the hospital. For two weeks, he'd been calling her and trying to get her attention at school. She seemed to be ignoring him. Henry had no idea why. After all, he wanted to help her.
Finally he sees her rushing down the hallway. Her hair is pulled back, wispy pieces hanging everywhere. She's wearing leggings and an over-sized sweatshirt: not the typical Natalie outfit. They still have five minutes before the first period bell. Henry makes his move.
"Hey," he calls when he's a few feet away.
Her head snaps up from her cell phone. Henry wonders whose text she could have been reading. Natalie tries to get away, but Henry grabs her by the elbow. Reluctantly, she turns to face him.
"Hey," he repeats.
"Hey," she says flatly.
"What's going on with you? I thought you'd maybe at least call. It's been weeks, Nat."
"I've been crazed." She starts getting some books together for their first class, Chemistry.
"Have you been partying hard? Because you look like a mess," Henry says, then immediately regrets opening his mouth. Natalie's eyes blaze.
"Thanks," she spits.
"Natalie, please. At least, are you clean?"
She laughs pretty loudly. "Well, coming from you."
"I don't do what you do."
Again she laughs. "Well, then how did it start?" she asks.
"You're the one who took it too far. You did the stuff that I wasn't into, remember?" he reminds her.
She turns away from him, leaning up against the lockers. "Please, Henry," she whispers. "Don't do this to me."
"So does this mean we're over?" Henry asks slowly, gently putting a hand on her back. "Please don't say that we're over."
She turns around to face him. Henry is startled by the speed of this move. "Don't you want us to be?"
"No. I want who I knew. She's somewhere in you. I know she is."
Natalie rolls her eyes and goes back to preparing her books. But she doesn't tell him to leave. Henry hopes this means she doesn't want him to. He gathers all his courage and prepares to fix things.
"So, um, hey will you come to this dance?" he asks.
She looks at him, confused. "What?"
"It's some spring formal thing. It's March first, and it's total cheese. But, hey, it's fun and it's free." He flashes a smile and pulls the tickets from his pocket, holding them in front of her.
"I don't do dances," Natalie says.
He reaches for her hands. "Do this dance with me."
She pulls back from him. The bell rings. "Goodbye, Henry." And she walks away.
February 28. Henry stands outside the Goodman's side door. Now he suddenly doesn't understand why he came. Natalie obviously wasn't interested anymore. But Henry would not give up. He loved her so much. He had for years. He was not giving up this easily.
He reaches for the handle of the door and steps inside. There stands Mrs. Goodman right in front of him. She tilts her head. She looks like maybe she could have been crying.
"Oh, hey Mrs. Goodman," Henry says quickly. "Is Natalie home? I just had a question for her. A homework question…" Her eyes look totally spaced out. "Mrs. Goodman?"
"What's your name?" she asks him.
"Uh, Henry," he answers; he was sure he had told her many times before. "Why?"
She seems to snap back into reality, and she even manages a little laugh. "No reason. You just reminded me of someone. Natalie's in her room." Then she walks away from him. Henry shrugs and hurries up the back stairs.
Natalie's door is open. He goes right inside. "Hey," he says.
She's sitting on the floor, doing some homework. She looks up at him startled. Once she realizes it's just him, she relaxes a bit. Was that a good sign? "Hey," she says back.
"Um, yeah, so tomorrow's the dance. It's annoying, I know. But please, just come with me."
"Not a chance." She starts to stand and put all her books and things back into her book bag.
"Come on, Nat, let me know you again," he pleads.
"Not right now."
"Okay, when? Say wait and I'll wait."
"It's already too late," she says, throwing her bag onto her bed.
"Please, Natalie," Henry says, moving closer. "There's no way it's too late. Why do I keep getting denied?"
"Because you remind me of me, and how messed up I can be." She storms over to the window. Henry slowly walked over to her. He knew she was upset, so he wasn't going to push, but he needed to keep talking. He intelligently kept his distance though.
"Okay, so let's just start over, clean slate," he said. "I'll be here tomorrow night at eight. If you want to go, we will. If you don't, well, we'll see."
Natalie turned. "You just don't give up."
He held out a ticket to her. "So don't give up on me."
She took the ticket, her face expressionless. "Goodbye, Henry."
Henry stood by an empty table in the school gym as an old song from the 80s blasted. A bunch of couples were dancing around. Henry felt kind of like an idiot since he was alone.
That night he went to pick up Natalie. She was dressed and ready to go. They even kissed. He was pretty sure they'd made up. But then Mrs. Goodman needed a ride to the doctor. Henry wanted to go to, he wanted to help, but Natalie wouldn't let him. So he was waiting for her.
Just when he thought she wouldn't come, he felt a tap on his shoulder. There she stood, looking totally gorgeous in a dark blue dress. Her makeup was done, her smile was white. She was everything Henry ever wanted.
"Hey," he said, his goofy grin surfacing.
"Hey," she replied, also smiling.
"You look amazing."
"Oh, thanks."
"You look like a star."
"I do?"
"You are." Natalie's grin kept on smiling, but it faltered for a split second. "So you came," Henry said to break the silence.
"I said that I would," she answered.
"Actually you said that you might." They both laughed at that one. "I thought we were through."
"Not tonight," she said firmly.
"So how's your mom? Is she going to be okay?"
"Well, she might be someday."
"So, I mean, now, everything's fine?"
"Actually, she's still on my mind." She started to look around before finally heading for the door. Henry followed swiftly after her.
"Can't you just leave that behind?" he called after her. He caught her by the elbow in the hallway. "Stay. Let's talk." He turned her to face him and was surprised to see her in tears. "Nat, what's wrong?"
"Am I crazy?" she asked. "I think I might end up crazy."
"Well, you know I'll be here for you."
"Oh, come on. I mean, you say that right here. But what about in a year? How about ten years? I could end up your wife, talking to walls, screaming, throwing things, freaking out at the store, running naked down the block, bleeding out in the bath—"
Henry grips her forearms so tightly. He puts a finger to her lips. "I will be perfect for you. So what if you go crazy. I could go crazy, it's true. You know something, Nat? Sometimes life itself is crazy. But I know I can do crazy, because crazy is perfect. So I will be perfect—"
"Perfect," she repeated. And then slowly their lips began to touch. It was then Henry knew that everything was okay.