For Nevermore Season 1

herself sitting at her desk, still gazing out the window. She was staring at the sky, with thoughts of flight, at first. But then she found her gaze drifting to the truck in front of the house across the street.
    This truck was blue, different from the one from this morning. The family had to be pretty big if it took two giant trucks to move all their stuff. Or they were a small family of very dedicated hoarders that would someday be found buried beneath mounds of old newspapers, magazines, and dead cats.
    Noella laughed at the image, wondering why every single hoarder you saw on TV always had a bunch of cats living in their home.
    Maybe you shouldn’t laugh. That’ll be you in a few years, you freak ... the weird cat lady down the road.
    Noella was about to search for her binoculars to get a closer look when a single booming knock on the door sent a shock through the room. Randy didn’t wait for an answer. He threw the door open and turned his gaze on her.
    Noella sat in her chair as Randy paced her room, delivering Speech #27, the one about personal responsibility.
    “This nonsense has to stop,” he said, waving his hands in the air. “If you want to act like a butthead, well, then your butt will stay locked in your room. You need to get it together, Noella, and you need to get it together now. You’re almost 17, and you’re too old to be getting into fights.”
    “But you told me to fight back!” Noella said.
    “I didn’t mean to literally fight back. I meant to stand up for yourself. Don’t back down. But that didn’t mean I wanted you to throw punches like some sorta barroom hussy.”
    “No, I’m pretty sure you told me to hit them,” Noella said.
    “Girl, don’t tell me what I said. I know what I said, thank you.”
    “But...”
    “No buts, Missy. I don’t wanna hear it.”
    Randy sat on the edge of her bed, and she hoped he wouldn’t leave her faux down comforter reeking of Old Spice.
    “Stupid behavior requires a strong, smart response. You know that, right? We’ve talked about it before.” He looked at Noella like he wanted a response. But Noella knew he didn’t, so she kept her mouth shut.
    “Raising children is tough,” he continued, as if he had the first clue about raising a child, “but we have to get you back on track, Noella. Otherwise it’s back to Dr. Foster’s office. Do you understand?”
    Noella nodded, silently thanking God that the dean didn’t mention what precipitated the argument: the video of Noella having another episode. The dean wouldn’t of left that fact out of the story unless he’d not known it, which meant that neither Coach Carla nor Vicky told the dean. Noella wasn’t sure why nobody said anything, but she was glad. If Randy knew what had happened, she’d be in Dr. Foster’s office tomorrow morning.
    Randy stood, stepped toward the door, then turned back with his hand on the knob. “Cancel all your plans for the next two weeks,” he said. “You’re on full blackout.”
    My date with Sam!
    “But it’s my birthday! I have plans to go to the movies with Sam tomorrow!”
    “You should’ve thought about that before you got into a fistfight,” Randy said. “And besides, when did you start going on dates? I don’t recall us discussing the matter.”
    “It’s not a date. He’s my friend. We’re just friends! ”
    “Well, tell your ‘friend’ you can’t go out tomorrow. And next time you’re sticking up for yourself, try not to ruin my day in the process, eh?” Randy left the room and shut the door behind him.
    Full blackout?
    She couldn’t believe that Randy would be such a jerk on her birthday, of all days! So much for Josie saying things would be okay. Now Noella had to call Sam and tell him the news, and hope he’d still wanna take her out in two weeks.
    She picked up her cell and dialed Sam’s number, waiting for him to pick up, and hoping like hell she wouldn’t melt into tears while giving him the bad news. After four rings, his voicemail message began.
    “Hey, it’s Sam. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you after I get back from Skyrim.”
    She laughed, knowing that the video game had already sucked up 150 hours of his life, if not more since he got it. She loved how sweet he sounded even in something as plain as his voicemail message. She could listen to it a million times and it would bring a smile to her face each and every time.
    She was halfway through leaving a message when Randy burst back into her room