In second grade Nora's reading gets better and she starts to read more, Harry Potter specifically because Ren likes to tell her about it, even though he's read all seven books so many times that he can basically recite them to her. She likes them, but she tells Ren that she honestly likes them better when he's telling them to her, because he tells stories really, really well.
He's surprised but it also makes him grin, and she pokes him on the nose.
Ren still has days where he doesn't want to talk, but that's okay because the teacher is cool and decides this is a good opportunity to teach the class sign language, though she says it's not actually related. The other kids in the class want to whisper about Ren, because he's quiet and spends most of his time small and in corners but Nora shouts a lot and eventually they stop bothering him, and the two of them are left alone.
That isn't so bad, they're best friends. Ren isn't really afraid that Nora will stop talking to him, because even though she's better at talking to people than he is he always goes and sits with him by the sand pits for recess, even when she's invited to play games with the other second graders.