BTR

Chpt.1-Being Born



Ava was born to rule, but to know her you must first know her story and to know her story you must first read this chapter and know her mother, Nora. At 17 she was 118 pounds and in her mother’s opinion pretty underweight. Nora had smooth flowing hair that she did nothing with and clear green eyes that she constantly hid under a hat, to her peers she was the girl who could have been hot but was definitely not. To adults she was that boyish girl that skateboarded all the time and to her friends she was Nora the great, had she had friends at that time. Little did she know though that somewhere out there, but not to far away there was someone who did think of her as Nora the great, but not just Nora the great, but Nora the sweet, Nora the passionate, and Nora the clever. Desmond Virgil had Nora on his mind and always has since the 6th grade. Middle school crushes don’t tend to last very long, in fact they dissipate in a matter of months, but Desmond’s crush only intensified. So much so that it’s brought him to randomly put flowers in her locker in hopes to brighten up her day.(except it didn’t usually work; she either got more annoyed and threw them away or shrugged them off and start eating the petals)Though considerable time has passed Desmond ‘s feelings have never died down. But looking at him you would never know; if you were to observe Desmond Virgil all day you would never think that he liked anyone. And if he did like someone you would never guess it was Nora Way, he was very good at hiding it. It wasn’t because he was ashamed of her or ashamed at liking her, but it was because he was afraid that his feelings were unrequited.

In fact he knew for sure his feelings were unrequited because he knew Nora. She wasn’t into the kind of guy he was, not then and definitely not now. Desmond Virgil was a classic good boy, every one around him thought of him as the “first rate” golden boy. He was in NHS (National honors society), he played lacrosse and basket ball (not very well, but enough to keep him on the team);his family were a white ,well off ,suburban couple who had a daughter named Jenny along with him; he was pretty good looking, timid, and respectful which made him pretty popular in school. There were many girls in his school who would go for a guy like him, but never in a million years would Nora go for someone like that. She was every thing he wasn’t and that’s why he pined for her. Little did he know though that every thing would change and it would all start with Ms. Riesman’s English class. They had to do a collage about them selves and how there lives relate to literature (for ex. My Life-like a midsummer’s nights dream), and while this would seem like very creative way to spend class time most of the class thought it was pretty lame. This included Desmond, who was sitting in the back with his friend, Ron and helping him do work from another class. Ms Riesman had the class write their names on paper and put it a black baseball cap. She swayed the hat as if to show she was mixing the names up and then she said “Group 1 Alice and frank” As soon as she said that a blond girl with a red collared shirt that said in white letters, class of 87 and a guy with three piercing on his face got up and when to sit together in the front. Ms. Riesman called out again “group 2 Andrew and Ron” Ron grunted and got up from his seat to sit with Andrew, glasses seemed to be slipping off his face. Ms. Riesman fished around again, then looked up as someone called her from the hall. She walked over to the door to talk to the person, but looked at the class and said “get quiet and stay quiet please.” Just then Rebecca Anderson started to whisper to Alice and they both giggled. This was a usual occurrence in Ms.Riesman’s class and Desmond wouldn’t have thought anything of it until both girls back at him and giggled again. Desmond looked down and blushed, he hoped to god they weren’t looking at him, but when he looked at again they were looking straight at him. Rebecca looked down a little and said “hope we get to be partners Desmond.” Alice looked at Desmond then Rebecca and said “Yeah, you two are like made for each other” This made Desmond blush even more, he glanced over at Nora who was rolling her eyes and said “um yeah, that would be cool” Lie- he didn’t think that would cool, or great, or enjoyable, he didn’t like Rebecca Anderson, she was one of the most stuck up girls he knew in this school. Granted she was good looking and kind of popular, but she was basically neck and neck with other girls for gold medal of bitchiness. If he were to be partnered with someone else though, someone who sits two seats in front and one seat across, no he couldn’t allow himself jinx it, there was no way he would be partnered with her, of all the odds in the world what chance would that ever have of happening, the world has a better chance at world peace. Desmond was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear Ms.Riesman’s fish two names from her hat and call out the names “Desmond and Nora”. The class all looked back at Desmond, including Nora. Ron looked like he was holding back laughter, Rebecca looked angry and a little mortified, and Nora’s face was blank except for mild surprise. Desmond got up and went to sit in the front next to Nora, she smelled like lavender and erasers, she looked over at Desmond and then looked away; she seemed to doodling something in her note book , she rested her head on her hand and continued to draw, facing away from Desmond. After Ms. Riesman partnered everyone up she addressed the class “ok every one lets start by making a list of interest, I want to you to jot down a list of ten things that you are interested in.” Ok Desmond thought this is easy; just think…what am I interested in?

Wait how could I forget what I’m interested in? He looked over at Nora who was almost done with her list, wow he thought, I better hurry up. As he was jotting down things he couldn’t help but look over at Nora’s list. AC/DC, leg warmers, mustangs, skateboards, cassette players, records, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, chocolate ice-cream, Madonna, and converses. Converses?  He thought, why? There just shoes. He was continued to analyze Nora’s list until Nora looked up and met his gaze. She frowned, “what? You never saw someone do their own work before?” Desmond frowned what’s that suppose to mean? “No I was just looking at your list”. She rolled her eyes, and for a moment he thought she was going to tell him off, but instead she smiled and snatched his list from his desk. “Hey!” he said even though he wasn’t really annoyed, in fact he wanted her to look at his list. “hhmmm….jean jackets, cars, stereos …lacrosse” at this she rolled her eyes again “night rider, Oreos…writing” She sounded impressed. She looked up at him and said “Very commendable Des” how did she know my name? thought Desmond, another part of him thought who cares! She continually looked down the list and out of hesitation he said “I kinda have more than ten sorry” knowing she didn’t care, and she probably didn’t even here him. All of a sudden Nora stop short on the list and made a face. It was an- are you crazy? – face, she looked up at him and said “New kids on the block? New kids on the block! SERIOUSLY? Desmond seemed a little embarrassed “what’s wrong with New Kids on the Block?” She looked at him as if the answer was obvious “besides the fact that they are the lamest band in existence? They totally copied off New Edition” Now Desmond was the one making the face “What? Come on that’s not true, I think their pretty good” Nora looked down at her list and said “believe me there are MUCH better bands than them” Desmond scoffed and said “oh yeah like who?” Nora away like she was thinking then all of a sudden she started rattling off bands “The Cure, AC/DC, Rolling stones, Beatles, Madonna, the Bangles ,Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, the Bee Gees, Peter Gabriel , Guns and roses, Eddie money, the Go Gos,  Duran Duran, Michael Jackson ,and Janet Jackson.” She was about to say more, but Des interjected “wow that’s, a lot of bands that are better than New Kids on the Block” he meant that as a joke, but was kind of serious. “I like Duran Duran and The Cure even Michael Jackson but…” She looked at him confused “but what?” He looked at her smiling “Janet Jackson?” he was almost laughing. She flushed and rolled her eyes “yes Janet Jackson, I maybe be white, but I think I’m capable of liking other things besides Michael Jackson and rock, besides she’s really good” Des looked down at his desk “yeah, your right” This made Nora smile, really sincerely smile “you know your cooler than I expected you to be, but I guess that makes me a bad judge of character.” Desmond, still looking down at his desk laughed “thanks, you’re just as cool as I thought you were so I guess I’m a pretty good at judging people.” Nora laughed and said “awww that’s sweet des, thanks.” She got up to throw out some paper and was met with an evil gaze from Rebecca Anderson. Alice mimicked her disgust and looked over to Des, who was nervously looking over from Nora to Rebecca, hoping nothing would go down. Alice leaned over toward Des and said “It must be hard on you having to work with someone like that.” Des frowned as he stared at Alice incredulously. “What do you mean?” She smiled smugly “you know….a delinquent”  Nora heard this and looked over at Alice furiously, but before she could say anything Des interjected angrily “She’s not a delinquent!” Rebecca smiled and said “but she sure is a loser”. Nora was really angry now, and was about to storm over to Rebecca to shut her up, but just then Des got up and tried to hold her back. Ron, who was watching the whole thing laughed at Des. “Oh so now your standing up for ‘Punky Brewster’, huh Des?” Normally Des would be incredibly embarrassed at this point and right now he was fighting the urge to say “ no I’m not standing up for her, why would I stand up for her?!” But Des new that he would stand up for her and since the day he met her he would’ve have always stood up for her, and for the first time in Demond’s whole life something happened that  he never thought he would ever occur, he didn’t care what anyone thought. He looked straight at Ron and said “Yes I’m standing up for her, cause you know what I like her, I like her a lot; I like her more than you and Alice” he looked over at Rebecca and pointed to her “I like her definitely more than I like you.”  He looked over at Nora who was looking at him like he just had a mental breakdown, but he smiled at her anyway and said “let’s go Nora” he took her hand and walked out of the class room. He could still hear some people laughing or gasping and he could still see Rebecca out the corner of his eye still rippling with anger and shock. He and Nora walked out all the way to the stair well and stopped. Nora looked at him and looked down, but she wasn’t smiling. Des picked up on it and blushed remorsefully “sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Nora looked up “Believe me it takes a lot more to embarrass me than that.” She looked down again then away “it’s just that” Desmond tried to search her face “what?” She looked up and stared at him “you don’t have to do me any favors...I never asked to be saved.” Des seemed surprised to hear her say this; it also made him feel a little guilty too. “What are you taking about?” Nora rolled her eyes “Desmond! I know you ok , you’re the ‘wholesome’ guy, you always have to do the right thing, you saw people making fun of me and you had to stand up for me, its not like you meant any of those things.” Des felt guiltier now, he did mean all those things and he thought that if he public announced it she would be happy, but she wasn’t. “Nora , I wasn’t trying to play hero or anything like that , I did mean the things I said, I do like you , and I was just tired of pretending that I didn’t and besides I’m not as whole some as you think.” Nora was about to reply when a teacher walked by them and stared at them like they were caught doing something they shouldn’t. At this Desmond got nervous, but the teacher just simply walked away and he breathed a sigh of relief. Nora sighed too and rolled her eyes again “so what, you’re just this closet bad guy who pining for me forever, but has kept it all one big secret.” It was Desmond’s turn to look down “well actually …yes, wait except for the closet bad guy stuff.” Nora looked at him, stared right in his eyes for what seemed like an hour , but was actually a few seconds, then she burst out into laughter “ your really serious huh?” she stopped laughing and said “ Why? I mean why me? There’s a ton of girls in this school to choose from, and some of them who actually want you, I mean what about Rebecca?” Des looked at her and smiled “I told you, I don’t want Rebecca, I want you” She looked down again and laughed, Des laughed too and said “Hey! I’m serious” She looked up at him and said “I know you are.” Then she did something he would never expect a girl like Nora would do to a guy like Desmond, she kissed him. Desmond felt all the emotions he had for Nora since the sixth grade rush up back, and melted euphorically around his body. Basically he was happy, he was so happy though, he didn’t even notice the kiss was over and that Nora was talking to him again. “We should get back, cause I think were in trouble.” Desmond stared at Nora confused as to what she meant, and then it all came back to him and he realized that they had not only did they cut class, but they walked out in the middle of it. He was too rapped up in everybody else to realize that Ms. Riesman not only watched them walk out, but was yelling at them too , she was shouting something in between “what the hell are you doing?!” and “get back in here!” Des looked at the direction of the room “oh crap.” He looked at Nora “were screwed.” She nodded in agreement and they walked toward the class room, and as they walked to meet the scolding of Ms.Riesman in their ears, Desmond couldn’t help, but smile, because he was holding Nora’s hand.



You could say that the rest was history after that, because it kind of was, but you know that it would be too cheesy to describe Desmond and Nora. And since this was Ava’s story its only fair that she soon be introduced.

It was 1989 and Nora was almost 18, and if you had known her from a stranger’s stand point you would say that for an 18 year old girl this was not exactly the place she should be at in her life. She didn’t want to admit it to her parents (especially her mother), she didn’t want to admit it to her peers, and she didn’t even want to admit it to Desmond. But she the only person she couldn’t hide it from the only person that she to tell the truth to was herself. She was pregnant and no amount of denial was going to make that fact go away.

What the hell am I going to do? She thought to herself, there was no way her parents would let her keep it, well that’s after they finish dying of shock. Even if I could keep , I wouldn’t  she thought to her self, I’d be a horrible mother , and that’s not what a new born baby needs. She turned a corner and was only a few blocks away from school when she got a strange sensation, she was familiar with it, but she didn’t realize what it was until she read was two blocks away from school ….it was nausea. She immediately went to around a back alley of a convenience store and threw up. It didn’t help thought she still felt sick, I knew I should have stayed home today, she thought, but she knew that if she tried to stay home, her disorganized, but always worried mother would get worried and try to take her to the emergency room. She couldn’t have her mother finding out at least not now, she had enough problems. Nora’s mother was one of the only un-married women in their entire neighborhood, thus she was treated as a pariah toward the other neighborhood women, as if being single was crime, I thought this was the 80s not the 60s, her mother once said to Nora. It wasn’t her fault her husband left her; there was truly nothing that could be done about it.

But Nora thought it was ok that her mother was a pariah, it just meant that they were definitely alike, two pariahs.

Nora came home nauseas. All through school she felt sick, even through lunch (although I her school it would be no different than any other lunch). She flopped down on her bed, feeling like her stomach was just going to spill over. She looked up at her ceiling and gazed upon all the magazine articles she stuck up there. Most of them were cover stories about singers in rolling stone, and always had a singer’s face in it. Madonna, Billy Joel, Michal Jackson (before he was white) then, she looked at a picture that was an article and wasn’t a singer. It was a picture of Desmond she took one day. It was in the park and even though she wanted to sneak up on him and take a random surprise shot, he somehow knew she was there and smiled wide for her camera. She like it anyway and pasted it up on her ceiling to look at. She stared up at it now, his wide white teeth smile, so loving and innocent and she started to cry. Tears were rolling down her as she looked away from the picture and face her pillow. “What’s wrong, why are you crying?” said a voice that startled her, almost out of her bed. She looked and saw Desmond, his face a mixture of worry and frustration. She got out of bed as she wiped her face, Desmond was still looking at her “And why have you been avoiding me?” he looked down “what did I do wrong?” She felt guilty by this “I wasn’t avoiding you” she retorted “I love you” He looked at her again “Yes you have, every time I see you, you always run away.”  “Over the past seven days, we only talked once and that one was just a ‘hey how are you talk’”

He was right, she thought, I have been avoiding him, then she felt guilty for a moment, but it wasn’t for avoiding him it was for something else, he needs to know, she thought.

He deserves to know. “Ok Desmond I have to tell you something.” Desmond looked at her wide eyed “You called by my full name, you never do that, is something wrong? What happened, tell me!” Nora raised up her hand and Desmond stop shouting “ Look its nothing bad, …well it depends on your point of view I guess, but now that I think of it this kind of bad .” Desmond sat down “Nora what is it, tell me please.”  Nora stayed standing and looked him in the eyes “Desmond I’m pregnant.” At that moment Desmond looked up and met her eyes. He searched her face for any hint of humor, but she looked completely serious, he became wide eyed again “Oh my god Nora …this is something.”

Nora looked ashamed and crumpled on her bed “a bad something” Desmond went to lay next her “no not bad, this is good, in a way” He looked over to Nora who raised her head and looked at Desmond with shock and anger “how is this a good something!” “This is horrible; it’s like the worse thing that ever happened to me!” Desmond raised his head “how could you say that, this is the miracle of life, granted it’s not the time we expected to have a baby, but we would have had one some day.”  Nora raised her eyebrow “are you kidding, I never planned on having babies.”  Desmond looked confused “what? Why not? You’re so good with kids.” Nora sighed and flopped back down on the bed “yea I’m good with other kids, kids who aren’t mine; I’d be a horrible mother.” “You know how many times I said I hate you to my mother, I don’t want my kid to say that to me.”

He looked at her thoughtfully and reached out to touch her chin. He stroked it and lifted her head up slightly, but she bent her head down “I’m serious Des; I may be ok now, but I wasn’t always such a nice person, in fact I was a terrible person and I feel…. I feel like I’m just not capable of bringing another good person into the world.”  Desmond lifted her head up again only this time he kissed her on her forehead and then on her lips. “Nora doesn’t ever say that, if anything, you’re not capable of bringing anything but good things into the world, great things, amazing things!” Nora was tearing a little now, but also laughing. “Wait and see Nora, well have this baby together and it will be wonderful, it will be like a little genius, a mother Teresa, the pope, like a frickin prodigy!” Nora laughed again, but this time they were both laughing, together. That was their relationship, Nora and Desmond; always laughing together forever and never again.