The next day was gorgeous at least in Nora's eyes. She had kissed Stan; her first kiss. And it was his, too, she believed. Never had she expected to ever be kissed even if it was just by accident.

Mo matter how great it felt she knew better. Love was for fools. From personal experience, she knew that once two people fell in love it was over. Being only 13 didn't help much either. What 13 year old knew anything about true love?

Enough of that crap.

She likes Stan. If this only happened to be a short lived relationship, she could find a way to deal with it.

Then again, they only kissed. An accidental one...

Making her hair as nice as she could, putting her black shirt and her gray shorts on, she decided she could go around barefoot. It was summer. Nobody expected her anywhere nor did she feel like going anywhere fancy. What was the point of trying to look fancy if she, herself wasn't as attractive as say, Marsh?

That was another thing. Nora always considered the fact that she didn't like most girls. And Marsh was one of them. The way she parades the fact that she is a slut around. How self centered could someone be?

But if Nora believed this why did she think about defending Marsh against Bowers? Based on the rumors, the two of them banged. But the way Bowers talked about her made Nora angry. Why?

As she stepped out the front door, she tried to stop thinking about it. Instead, she planned on going to one of her friends house before meeting up with Stan, Ben and the others. Mike's face immediately seemed so vivid in her mind. His brown eyes, dimples that popped up whenever he smiled, the strange way that his dark skin shone whenever the sun hit him.

Passing by Main Street made Nora smile. She remembered how kind he was. Not necessarily during their first brief meeting, but afterwards. When the two of them spent only three or four hours together. But to her, it could have been an entire day. That's what struck her as bizarre: how comfortable she felt when she was with Mike. Even though they had met only a few days ago, she felt like she knew him much longer. And when they talked, Nora wasn't afraid to tell him anything. With Stan she still felt like she could be herself, but she still wasn't sure she was good enough.

Her head would explode dealing with all these emotions.

Nora finally made it to Mike's. He looked up and waved. Smiling as he walked towards her, pulling his bike beside him. Packs of meat in the basket.

"Hey, Speedo", she said happily. "Back to the Deli?"

"Yeah", he said as the two of them made their way through the wooded path. "Weird seeing you again."

"Why?"

"Just figured you wouldn't want to be seen with me after, you know", he said seriously. He didn't have to say it. Nora knew he was talking about that incident with Bowers.

She nudged him. "Now who's stupid", she said playfully.

"I'm just saying. If you want to stay out of trouble, you shouldn't be seen hanging around me. For your own good." Mike stared at her with a sudden look of concern.

This made Nora blush. She hoped he wouldn't see. For the longest time, she had never known anybody truly caring for her well being. Granted, Stan had saved her. But this was different. Her parents most of the time, pretended she wasn't around; they ignored her. The bastards. A brief wave of anger filled her. A random memory popped in her head: Her parents only had one picture of her. This picture was old. Nora hasn't had another decent picture of herself since she was able to walk. Richie claimed he cared about her, but she doubted it. "I hang out with who I want to. I don't care what Bowers thinks. Neither should you, Mike", she said placing a hand on his. She felt him tense up at her touch.

Now he was blushing.

After Mike had dropped off most of the packages, he offered to show Nora a place he went to be alone. She agreed.

The two reached the end of a barely deserted street with a sign that stated: Dead End.

He tried to prop his bike up, but it ended up falling. They laughed.

There was a small, narrow path that apparently led to a clearing under the railroad tracks. It was steep. Mike went first, taking Nora's hand to guide her so she could avoid thorns and poison ivy.

Making it to the clearing, they crossed the river and sat down on the gravel, making sure the ground was dry. Both sat down, facing the direction they had come from. It was a nice view. Some flowers resting against the waters edge. The train tracks above shielding them from the sunlight.

They were silent for a few minutes before Nora sat a little closer to him so the sides of their hips were touching.

Nora thought maybe it was time to tell someone what she had seen in the woods. What was it even? A dead body? A zombie? Oh, of course not. There's no such thing...

"Mike?"

"Yeah?", he asked as he looked at her.

She hesitated. "I- I just wanted to tell you...", she couldn't do it. "That, you should meet my friends. I think they'd like you, too", she said, annoyed with herself. She wanted to tell him what she saw, but he was her first real friend. She couldn't have him think she was crazy.

"Uh, sure", he said. Nora could've sworn he looked disappointed. Was it something she said? Or maybe it was something she didn't say.

Just then, the sunlight had peeked through the tracks and shone right in their faces.

She stared at Mike, smirking. He did the same.

"What is it?", he asked, fully aware of how close they were.

"Nothing. It's just your eyes really are beautiful", she said. Sometimes she spoke immediately without thinking. She hated that about herself. Turning her head away, hoping he wouldn't see her blush again.

"Thanks", said Mike quietly. "And you're b-"

"Broken", thought Nora.

"-beautiful."

Nora raised her eyebrows, not sure if she heard right. She turned to correct him. But couldn't get a word in because he pressed his lips against hers.