Disclaimer: So, I don't own the Teen Titans, or any of the other characters, so… yeah. You understand my point.

Raven looked up at the giant building in front of her. Jump City High School. Her new school, since she'd been kicked out of the last one. That hadn't been her fault, but she could hardly explain that to anyone. No one would understand.

Adjusting her bag on her back, she walked through the front gate. Self-consciously, she tucked a strand of short violet hair behind her ear. Raven watched the students slowly making their way to the building and entered to find the main office. Unfortunately, she had no idea where it was.

She needed help, and she knew it. But she doubted that anyone was going to help her. For one, she was the new girl. Everyone always seemed to avoid the new girl. And two, she dressed like a Goth. She didn't go with the make-up and such, but she liked the clothing style and the dark poetry. But that basically put her in a position of social rejects. She usually didn't mind, but this was a special case.

"Are you lost?" a voice asked behind her. She turned to see a boy with spiky black hair and blue eyes looking at her.

"Yeah, I'm looking for the main office," she said, surprised that anyone had come to talk to her. Especially this very normal looking boy.

"Come on, I'll show you." He started walking, and she followed. "I haven't seen you around here, are you new?"

"Yeah," the pale girl replied. "I'm Raven. Raven Roth."

"Nice to meet you, Raven," the boy said. "I'm Dick Grayson."

"Yo, Dick, where ya going?" they both heard from behind them, and they turned to see a muscular African-American with a shaved head and blue eyes, closely followed by a tan girl with long red hair and bright green eyes.

"I'm helping Raven find the office," Dick said. "She's new." She turned to the girl in question. "Raven, this is my best friend, Victor Stone."

"Hey," Victor said.

"And this is my girlfriend, Kory Anders."

"Hello, Raven. I hope that we may become good friends," Kory said with a bright smile. Raven raised an eyebrow at her odd wording.

"She's foreign," Dick explained. "And here's the office. Maybe we'll see you again, later, alright?"

"Uh, yeah…" she said quietly. "Sure…" She watched as the three walked away, stunned. No one had ever really done anything nice for her, and now, here were three people she barely knew, showing her to the office and even offering to be her friends. She shook her head slightly. She'd have time to think about that later. For now, she'd have to pick up her schedule and suffer through her first day at a new school.

One of the women at the desk looked up as she approached. "Oh, you must be Raven Roth, right?" the woman asked.

"That's me," Raven replied with a fake smile.

"Here's your schedule, locker number, and locker combo," the woman said, handing her a sheet of paper. "I'd hurry up if I were you. Don't want to be late to your first class on your first day!"

"Right," the purple-haired teen muttered as she exited the office. "Wouldn't want that…"

She looked down at the piece of paper she'd been handed. Apparently, her locker was number 2584, meaning she had to find a set of stairs. She hoped she ran into Dick, Victor, and Kory again. They would make this a lot easier, and a lot less embarrassing.

Suddenly, a flash of green flew across the ceiling. Raven looked up to identify the source, but it was gone. Glancing around, she saw that no one else seemed to notice. There were two possible explanations: either she was just imagining things, or it was just something normal here. No… there was a third option, one she didn't like thinking about. It could have also been a ghost.

Raven really disliked ghosts. There were so many times when they had gotten her into a lot of trouble. When she was little, she constantly forgot that no one else could see them. Thus, when she tried to blame something on them, she would get into even more trouble. In third grade, one of her teachers had actually gone so far as to try to suggest to Raven's parents that she be committed to an institution. Needless to say, she changed schools.

She really hoped it wasn't a ghost.

She groaned when another flash of green flew across the ceiling. It was just a streak of color. She could tell now that it was a ghost, but what kind of ghost, she had no idea. She found herself looking in the direction the flash had gone. "Well, what do you know…?" she whispered as she headed for the stairs ahead. Luckily, the stairs had placed her close enough to her locker. She'd just managed to put her stuff in when the bell rang. Slamming her locker shut in annoyance, she saw that everyone else was gone, already in their classrooms.

"So…" she said out loud, keeping her voice soft enough that she wouldn't be heard inside the classrooms. "Can you tell me how to get to B40?" She felt slightly stupid. She didn't know this ghost. It could have just been a coincidence that it led her to the stairs. It might have had no intention of helping her at all. But if there was still a chance…

She wasn't disappointed. The green color on the ceiling dripped down to form a small orb of green light, about the size of a softball. It bobbed up and down. It made Raven wonder just how long this ghost had been dead. How long it had been since anyone could see it…

That was the worst part about being able to see ghosts. As soon as they knew she could see them, they flocked toward her. They were practically starved of attention, having gone unseen and unheard for many, many years. And then, along came a person who noticed them. But, this ghost seemed to just want to help her, so she was okay with it.

For now.

X

Thanks to the apparently helpful ghost, Raven was only a minute or two late to class, which the teacher excused, as it was her first day. "It won't happen again," she muttered before ducking into an empty seat in the back of the room, hoping that the teacher wouldn't ask her to go up in front of the class and introduce herself.

"Everyone," the teacher, Mr. Wayne began, "That was Raven Roth, our new student. I hope all of you will try to make her feel welcome." He sent pointed looks to a group of kids in the back corner on the other side of the room. Raven glanced over to see a pink haired girl, a small bald kid, and a large, red haired male, presumably on the football team. Something told Raven that these kids were bad news.

The first ten minutes of class went by fairly uneventful. Of course, Raven should have known that that wasn't going to last long. She just happened to glance over at the door, just in time to see the now familiar green orb float through. It paused for a moment, and Raven immediately leaned back in her seat, trying to blend into the shadows. Hopefully, it wouldn't spot her.

Then again, Raven Roth had never been a lucky person, and apparently that wasn't going to start tonight. The orb seemed to hone in on her before speeding in her direction, stopping in front of her desk. It appeared to stare at her for a second before landing innocently on top of her desk. She tried to ignore it, but once it realized this, it started moving around. Raven rolled her eyes. "Not cute," she muttered as quietly as she could, shooing the orb away under the guise of brushing eraser shavings off the desk.

At her words, the orb stopped and almost seemed to sag in disappointment. She raised an eyebrow at its behavior as it slowly floated down through the desk. This ghost must have been dead for quite a while if it was acting this much like a child. She almost – almost – felt bad for ignoring it. But she had to focus, and being in a school, it should have understood that.

The rest of the class was boring, and as she gathered her things for her next class, a pale hand slammed down on her desk. Glancing up, she saw the three kids that Mr. Wayne had been warning about. "What do you want?" She asked, irritated. She really didn't want to make enemies here, especially on her first day. If they found out about the ghost thing and spread it to everyone else… Well, it would be 'goodbye Jump City High'.

"So, you're the new kid," the girl said, studying her.

"Yeah," Raven deadpanned. "Did you figure that out all by yourself?"

The girl tried to keep her face uninterested, but it was clear that she was already hitting a nerve. Great. If only she could just keep her mouth shut… "If you think you can talk to me like that, you're sadly mistaken," the girl hissed. "I've got fingers in enough pies here to make you miserable."

"Show some respect," the bald kid added, a little too fiercely for his size.

"Whatever," Raven muttered, standing and pushing past them. The apparent football player made a grab for her arm, but the violet haired girl dodged out of the way. Being as slender as she was, she was able to move quickly enough to avoid 'capture'.

As soon as she left the room, she really hoped she didn't have any classes with them.

X

"Late, Miss Roth," the man at the desk said.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I got lost. I'm new."

"I guess I can forgive you this time, then," he said with a small smile. The plate on his desk said Mr. Queen. "Take a seat."

Raven nodded softly before looking around the classroom. Each desk had four chairs, and only one table had an open spot. It was her second lucky break of the day. The other three at the table were Kory, Dick, and Victor. She walked over and set her stuff down.

"Hey," she said.

"Friend Raven!" Kory said with a huge smile. "It is good to see you again!"

"Uh… nice to see you, too?" the Goth said, slightly glad that the open seat had been next to Victor instead of Kory.

"Alright, everyone, today, you can continue working on your projects. Dick, Victor, Kory, why don't you fill her in?"

"I shall do so gladly, Mr. Queen," Kory said with a nod. Turning back to Raven, she said, "We have been reading some poetry by Edgar Allen Poe. Mr. Queen wants us to create a poster depicting the meaning behind one or more of the poems we studied."

"Know any Poe?" Victor asked.

"I could write a book on him," Raven responded confidently. "Did you guys pick a poem yet?"

Dick smiled, almost laughing. "Yeah," he said. "We picked The Raven."

The violet haired Goth smiled and shook her head. "You picked the easiest Poe work there is." She paused. "Except maybe the Telltale Heart. But that's a short story."

"So, what class did you have first period?" Victor asked.

"Um, math with Mr. Wayne," Raven replied.

"No way," the African-American said with a grin. "Hear that, Dick? She's got math with your old man."

"Mr. Wayne is your dad?" the new girl asked.

"Adopted," Dick replied. "And yeah, he is."

"Has anyone given you trouble, friend Raven?" Kory asked.

Raven shrugged. "Just these three kids." She decided not to mention her new ghost 'friend'. "But it's no big deal."

"Three kids?" Victor asked. "They wouldn't happen to be a pink haired chick, a bald kid, and a football player, would they?"

So he was a football player, she thought. "Um, yeah. Why? Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh, man…" Dick groaned, putting a hand over his face. "Your first day, and you made enemies with Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth?"

"Who, who, and who?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow at the weird names.

"They're nicknames people came up with over time," Victor explained. "I don't think anyone here even knows their real names anymore."

"And… why are they nicknamed those?" the pale teen inquired. "I understand Mammoth, but Jinx and Gizmo?"

"Gizmo is very skilled with anything electronic," Kory reported. "And it is said that bad things happen when Jinx is around."

"I… see…" Raven said, processing the information. Great. First day, and she pissed off a bad-luck kid and probably scared off one of the only things here willing to help her and able to all day. She briefly wondered what that ghost must have been doing now. Usually, she didn't bother, but for it to give up so easily… She couldn't help but wonder…

X

He watched her from the corner of the ceiling. 'Raven' as he had learned she was called in Mr. Wayne's class. It was clear that she didn't like him, but he really wanted her to. She was the only one who could see him, meaning that she was the only one who might talk to him. He'd been here for over twenty years, all alone, every day. And suddenly, here she was, a girl who could see him. Of course, he couldn't manifest to her as much more than a little orb, but he would try to do better. Right now, he couldn't even talk to her, and he wanted to so badly. He wanted to know what was going on in the outside world. There must have been so many things that he missed after he… died.

He would have kicked himself if he could. He probably annoyed her a lot during math. But could anyone really blame him? The first person he could interact with in years, it was expected that he wouldn't leave her alone… right? Then again, she must get that a lot from other spirits. He was probably just one of the annoying many. He doubted his presence even meant anything to her. He looked down at her again.

He would have to change that.

Alright, there you have it, folks, the first chapter of High School Can Be Murder. I warn you, I will update very inconsistently, as I have so many other things going on that I just can't get to this on a regular schedule. So it may be months before the next chapter, maybe even years. But, barring any unfortunate, unforeseen accident, it will be finished. Someday.