ReCAP: A NORMAL Novella Read Online Free

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problems I feel confident that she's got the material down.
    "Where's Ms. Pitser?" she asks. I'm
distracted, looking over the last problem, and I don't understand
why she cares where the librarian is.
    "Hmm?" I glance at her before returning my
attention to her work. "What time is it?" I ask.
    "Almost seven."
    Oh. Well then she's gone for the day, and I
tell Rory that I'm pretty sure Ms. Pitser leaves at six.
    Suddenly her chair is scraping roughly
against the floor and I look up in time to see her shoot out of her
chair like the building is on fire. I watch her inquisitively,
trying to gauge what the hell is going on, but there's no sign of
what's rattled her.
    I see her entire demeanor change in an
instant, and I feel dread unfurl in my gut. She flushes, first her
cheeks then all of the skin visible around her plain black tee
shirt, her breathing grows shallow and quick - too quick. She moves
backward, away from me, as if I'm some predator waiting to pounce,
and I can't understand what has changed, but I'm worried for
her.
    "Rory? You okay?" I ask her, trying to keep
my voice calm and level.
    "You- you said the library's open 'til
seven," she chokes out. I hate the way her voice sounds - utterly
terrified.
    I stand slowly, not wanting to startle her,
but needing to figure out what the fuck is going on. Why the fuck
is she worried about the library being closed when it's clearly
still open?
    "It is," I remind her.
    "But the librarian left!"
she shouts.
    I walk toward her carefully, and she takes
an equal step back.
    "You knew she was
leavin'!" she accuses me. I flinch. I'm transported back to that
first night at Andy's -- when she'd thought I'd been luring her
away from the party to hook up. But that was before we were friends
-- before she told me about the men who all hurt or abandoned her,
before I told her about Bits. It stings, seeing her look at me like
that again. God ,
does it sting.
    "She leaves at six, but the library stays
open 'til seven. See? The lights are on, the doors aren't locked,"
I remind her, desperate to make her see sense, to see that just
because Pitser left doesn't mean she's not safe. That I'm here,
that I'll keep her safe. But I'm the one she's afraid of, and it
feels all wrong.
    Suddenly she snatches her backpack from the
floor and reaches for her calc book, and I take another step toward
her, desperate to remind her that I'm not her enemy, that I'm her
friend. But she backs away from me again, and her eyes fill with
fucking tears, and it rips my chest right open, twisting my heart
painfully.
    Fuck . It's unbearable - seeing the terror in her eyes, having it
aimed right at me. I would never hurt her, how does she not know I would never
fucking hurt her?!
    "Calculus!" she sobs, and it completely guts me. That was
supposed to be our safe word – so she could feel comfortable in our
friendship, not so she can prevent me from... what? Beating her?
    Shit . I haven't even actually done anything and I fucking hate
myself right now.
    I'm desperate. I need to fix this. I need to
help her. And I don't know what the fuck to do!
    "Oh, God, Rory. Don't cry.
Everything's fine. We're fine, okay?" Please, please believe me , I
silently beg.
    The honor I felt when she showed trust in me
has been shaken and turned upside down. I am murderously angry at
whoever hurt her so badly that she thinks it's what every guy would
do. I am ashamed of myself for not having the foresight to prevent
this situation. And I am completely devastated at seeing her so
helpless, so afraid.
    I reach for her arm, needing to comfort her
and not knowing what else to do, and she shakes so violently that
I'm almost starting to feel as frightened as she does.
    "Please!" she begs. But
what she's begging me for, I don't know, because I swear to fucking
God, if I did, I would give it to her. Right now I would give
fucking anything to take away her pain, her fear.
    Before I know what I'm
doing, I pull her into my arms. She tries to push me