1x01 - Pilot
Raven's POV:
My name is Raven Longo but I go by Rae most of the time. I attend Grant High School just recently as my dad; Joe Longo, was involved in a ponzi scheme and lost everything. My mum is even divorcing him because of that. Until the final hearing of the divorce I am living with my dad. Mum wants me and so does dad. I hate having divorced parents.
I am 15 years old and best friend Lennox and Ryder who are both brother and sister and the children of Lewis Scanlon who ruined my dad's life. I think I'm developing a crush on Ryder but the only person who knows is Lennox.
Currently, I am hanging out with Lennox. It's like 7:30pm I think? We were watching the TV when the news came on and we saw Mel on the screen.
"How's living here?" I asked my new best friend
"Well the only good thing is you and I see my aunt alot but I do miss my old school" Lennox said
"I miss mine too" I said
"Why'd you leave yours? Sounds like you went to an expensive school too" Lennox asked.
"My dad lost all his money" I said
"Oh. Well I'm glad your at Grant or otherwise I'd be so lonley" Lennox said as a voice brought me to look at the TV. My dad's voice.
"Oh no" I said
"What's wrong?" Lennox asked as my attention was still on the TV.
"You know how you've never met my dad?" I asked
"Yeah..." Lennox said slowly
"Lennox. Meet Joe Longo... my dad" I said pointing to the TV just as my dad spoke up.
"Now where the hell's the money your brother in law stole from me?!" dad yelled on the TV
"What my sister and my brother in law did was wrong" Mel said on TV.
"So my dad ruined your dad's life?" Lennox asked softly
"Yeah" I said turning the TV and looked at her
"And you still wanna be friends with me and Ryder after everything that happened?" Lennox asked
"Of course. You didn't do that" I said "I'm so sorry though" Lennox said.
We gave each other a big hug but there was a sound of crashing outside. Turns out it was another guy throwing rubbish at the front door so Lennox and I decided to ask her aunt Mel why they were doing that cause not only was it annoying but it began smelling like a rotting corpse, even though I don't know what that smells like. We each took a bag and walked into her Aunt Mel's room.
"I think you put this whole trash issue to bed" I heard Mel's friend and co-worker Rhonda say from inside Mel's room. Lennox opened the door and we walked in
"Aunt Mel, why are angry white guys throwing trash at our front door?" Lennox asked Mel as we both held up the one trash bag currently in our hands.
"There is a political debate in the community in which the majority feels as this-"Rhonda said.
"This is getting heavy" Lennox said holding further away from her
"And really smelly" I added wafting the smell away with my free hand.
"We're just going to leave this for you Aunt Mel" Lennox said as we placed the bags down
"Yeah Miss Burke, there are at least 10 more out on the porch" I added
"Come on Rae" Lennox said as we began to head out her aunt's bedroom door
"Lennox, Lennox. Um, did you see the uh dresser I put in your room?" Mel asked catching up with her niece while putting a shoe on.
"Yeah, yeah it's really cute but I'm ok. I've got suitcases" Lennox said as we left Mel's room.
"You could be a bit nicer to your aunt. She is trying her best" I said as we made our way to her room to get away from the smell
"Yeah but I'm still not use to it. Besides mum will be out soon" she said.
We changed the subject to the poem she wrote. Once we stepped foot in her room, she then recited the poem about our Principal, Miss Lunt. Lennox rhymed her name with, well you can pretty much guess what the word was.
"You can't just call her that!" I said laughing so hard as we sat on her bed. I was currently lying on my stomach messaging my dad as he let me know he was on his way to come get me.
"Well she is, I didn't do anything wrong and she told me off. Also I was angry so I let it out" Lennox said
"True you were angry but you didn't need to call our principal a- you know" I said.
"You found it funny" Lennox said chuckling
"Yeah and you do know that you're aunt will find out" I said.
"Hey Lennox and Raven" I heard Mel speak as she opened the door and Lennox looked up from her laptop and I turned around
"Hi Miss Burke" I said.
"You know you can call me Mel" she said with a kind smile.
"I'll remember that" I said
"Remember you and me at the Fall Out Boy concert, I just found this old picture" Mel said
"Oh you mean the one that was hanging obviously in the hallway outside the door" Lennox said jokingly.
"Not obviously. Affectionately, that was some night huh? Fall Out Boy, WooHoo" Mel said trying to get along with her niece
"Woah, you went to Fall Out Boy?" I asked shocked and Lennox nodded.
"Where are you going with this?" Lennox asked her aunt looking back at her
"I was just remembering the good times you know? When we share. Told each other things, important things that happened... today... oh come on you don't think 'I got suspended'was something you might share?" Mel said.
"Ok I will share this: Miss Lunt is a fascist" Lennox said
"Why couldn't you have called her that? Instead of- you know" Mel said avoiding saying what Lennox actually called the principal.
"Well I never got in trouble at my old school" Lennox said.
If I'm honest, it feels like I have known them for longer even if we've only been friends for not very long.
"That's because your parents bought the indoor pool" Mel pointed out.
"It didn't even have a spa. Like what's up with that?" Lennox said
"Schools aren't meant to have spa's" I point out
"Look, Miss Lunt is expecting an apology, you and I have an appointment down at her office at 3:00 tomorrow" Mel informed her
"Great, you let me know how that goes" Lennox said before opening her laptop again but Mel shut it
"Lennox, until you talk to her you can't go back to school" Mel said.
Not a good thing to say to a teen as we don't like school.
"Oh well guess I'm not going back to school" Lennox said with a smirk on her face as if she had out smarted her own aunt.
"Of course you are this is your education nothing is more important" Mel said but got cut off by the sound of the doorbell
"Oooh it's my date, uh I have more to say you just stay right there. Stay" and just like that Mel was out the door.
I looked at my phone as it went off. My dad sent me a message saying he was here.
"I gotta go, my dad's here" I said grabbing my bag from her bedroom floor
"Awww. Well come over tomorrow" Lennox said
"Will do. See you tomorrow" I said waving goodbye leaving her room.
I walked downstairs and saw Mel at the door with my dad.
"Bye Mel thanks for having me" I said politley
"Aww no worries, always welcome" Mel said with a smile
"Ready to go?" dad asked
"Whoa! You're her dad?" Mel asked.
"Yeah. Anyway goodbye" Dad said as we left Mel's porch.
The next day dad drove me to the Burke household so I could catch a ride with Lennox and Ryder to school. I asked to be here early because I wanna hang out with Ryder before school because if I know Lennox, I will be mostly hanging out with Lennox at school and saying hi to Ryder but I wanna hang with Ryder. Dad also wanted to see Mel and ask if she can get him a job. Dad rang the doorbell. Mel opened the door
"Oh dear god" Mel said noticing dad at her front door.
"Hi Mel" I said polietly
"Hey Raven, Ryder is out back and Lennox is in her room" she told me
"Alright, I'll head out back" I said smiling
"Have fun sweetie" dad said kissing my cheek
"Bye dad" I said as I went through the door.
I went to the door which leads to the backyard and saw Ryder, playing basketball. He had just shot the ball into the hoop.
"Hey Ryder" I said once I got outside, closing the door behind me. I took my bag off and put it on the ground by the door.
"Hey Raven. Lennox is in her room" Ryder told me as he bounced the ball on the spot
"I'm here to hang out with you, dude" I told him as I made my way over to him
"Really?" Ryder asked.
"Yeah and I promise not to go off with Lennox if she asks me to hang out with her" I said
"Cool" Ryder said with a smile
"Come on. Pass the ball" I said holding out my hands to catch the ball which Ryder passed to me.
We ended up playing basketball for at least a few minutes then we grabbed our bags and went to go catch the bus for school. When we got to the bus stop, there was a poster on the side of the bus shelter informing everyone that the busses weren't running.
"The bus isn't running" I said as I read the information poster
"Why?" Ryder said
"I don't know. Just says something about a protest. I'm guessing it's the garbage protest" I said turning to face the street and saw a whole lot of people.
"Well let's go back to my house and see if Aunt Mel can give us a ride to school" Ryder said.
We walked all the way back to his Aunt Mel's house which lucky for us was 5 minutes away, so it wasn't a long walk. Ryder opened the door to see my dad talking to Mel. Still?! I mean you probably started talking to her the time I walked inside, I played basketball with Ryder for I don't know 2 minutes, walked 5 minutes to the bus stop and then had to walk 5 minutes back to the house, how can you still be talking to her? She probably didn't even want to hear what he had to say.
"You know that school bus? Not running today. Jackson Street blocked because of some kind of uh garbage protest" Ryder told his aunt
"Crap, Crap, Crap, Crap" Mel said stamping her feet. Ryder and I just looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Oh I mean golly tough break. Um ok I'll take you. I'll just miss my meeting. I mean, it's not like we need the police department" Mel said.
"No, no, no. You'll make your meeting. I'll take them" Dad said to Mel calming her down.
"Hey, I'm Joe" dad said turning to Ryder and holding his hand out to shake Ryder's hand
"Hi" Ryder said shaking dad's hand.
"See that Porche out there? Yeah, it's mine" Dad asked Ryder as he opened the door
"For 10 more days" I added
"Sweet" Ryder said as we walked with dad to the car
"Uh I don't know if- oh screw it Buckle up" I heard Mel say.
We were not even a minute into the 20 minute drive to school when Ryder was looking through his bag making sure he had everything.
"Oh no" he said
"What's up?" I asked him
"I left my history paper at home" Ryder said
"It's ok we'll go home and get it" Dad said as he indicated and turned around and headed home.
We were back at his house and luckily Mel wasn't here since she left after us. Dad, Ryder and I walked up the driveway, unlocked the door and Ryder ran to his room. 5 minutes later, by this time we were at least 3 minutes late to school Ryder finally came back down the stairs.
"Find it?" I asked him
"I just remembered that I didn't write it" Ryder said
"Well we can stay here and you can finish it. But no snacks until you finish" dad said to Ryder. Ryder nodded and ran back upstairs to his room
"Hey, how come he gets to stay here and write it but I couldn't do that when I forgot my Biology paper?" I asked dad
"You are my child, not him" Dad said.
1 hour or so later I was helping my dad with the laundry
"Hello" dad said to Mel
"Hi Mel" I said as I place the second basket next to dad's basket
"Ugh hold on a sec. Hi Raven" Mel groaned than changed to her bright self
"If I can call you Mel, you can call me Rae" I said smiling at her
"Awww" Mel said smiling and gave me a hug
"Hey let me ask you something. When is the last time anybody did any laundry in the household? You people live like pigs" Dad said as Mel walked over to us.
"These are my delicates. How did you get my delicates? Where you in my room?" Mel asked digging through the basket and finding a pair of her underwear. Dad was chuckling a little.
"Yep" dad said finishing chuckling and we began folding clothes.
"Pull the trigger" Mel said into the phone
"What are you doing not at school" Mel asked me. I have the perfect lie.
"Uh time of the month, yeah it hit me before we left" I said
"Awww you ok?" Mel asked me, rubbing my shoulder
"I'll be fine, thank you" I said.
"Hey Joe you were right, I should have that sandwich now. Hey Mel" Ryder said before ascending upstairs
"Alright get back up there" dad said just as Ryder turned the corner.
"What is he doing home in the middle of the day? And you don't really have your time of the month do you?" Mel asked me. I pulled out my phone and checked my calendar
"Well... not for 2 more days" I said grabbing my phone, opening my calendar and I show her my phone
"Nice, show me how to do that" she said pointing to our phones
"His History paper" Dad answered
"What?!" Mel yelled at dad.
"Wow ok alright pack the veins back into your forehead. Took the kids to school right and he tells me he doesn't have his history, so we drive back here to get it and then he tells me he didn't exactly write it and I said 'you better exactly write it cause it's due today', so he's up there writing it now" Dad said as he walks into the kitchen to make Ryder a sandwich.
"And he hasn't come out until it's done, now that's uh- that's nannying" dad said as he opened and closed the fridge.
"You brought him home? You don't bring a kid home who hasn't done his work, you leave him at school to get yelled at which is what he's got coming" Mel explained
"I know right he didn't let me stay home cause I didn't do my Biology paper" I muttered
"What kinda rules are those?" Dad said
"Did you not hear what your daughter said? And they're rules that everybody knows" Mel said
"I've never heard of them" dad said and Mel just walked to the stairs and called for Lennox
"Lennox, you ready? It's time to go" Mel yelled to upstairs from her spot downstairs
"She's not here" dad said
"Where- where is she? You were supposed to watch her" Mel said to dad
"You never said that" dad said.
"Because it's obvious! The girl got suspended. She's gone she's ditched the meeting" Mel said as she got to the door which lead to the living room
"You know what? Your right" dad said. Mel looked at him angrily. As if she was about to Hulk smash his head into his body.
"I just said that you were right, that was a compliment" dad exclaimed and Mel walked through the door.
"Ok she has 3 places she usually goes to after school, I'll- I'll just start there" Mel said picking up her bag and keys while I sat on the couch.
"You want me to help you?" dad asked her
"Yes please do... nothing" she said before walking out the door and tripping over the bags outside.
"I'm ok!" she yelled.
Lennox's laptop that was in front of me on the couch made a sound. The sound of the notification
"Dad. Lennox just posted something" I said to dad as I showed him the laptop which was on Lennox's page and she wrote
LENNOX SCANLON: is ditching a meeting with Emperor Lunt! Hiding on the roof!
"I can work with this kid. Come on Rae" dad said and we went upstairs and to the roof.
We got to Lennox's room and openeded the window and saw Lennox on the roof.
"Wow. Is this where you come for your adolescent brooding?" dad asked as he poked his head out the window, than climbed out with me following behind him
"You come up here to turn me in?" Lennox asked dad and I
"It's not really my style" dad said as we walks closer to Lennox, dad's hands in his pockets and me walking next to her, preparing to sit down.
"I wouldn't do that to you. Well it depends on what ya did" I said chuckling a little as I sat down next to her. My joke made her laugh.
"I know. What is your style?" Lennox said softly to me and gave me a quick hug than asked dad.
"Outlaw. Cast out by the power brokers. Forced to live life in the shadows" Dad answered as if he was Batman
"Oh kinda like Batman, if had been demoted to a nanny" Lennox said to dad
"Nice" dad said as he sat down on the other side of Lennox.
"I was thinking you were being Batman" I said nodding to dad, knowing I was correct.
"Ah aren't you supposed to be at a meeting at your principal's office right now?" Dad asked her
"Yeah she is" I said looking at Lennox
"Why should I? Crap goes on there all the time. Miss Lunt fires the music teacher, completely gets read of the band and everybody's afraid to talk about it. I'm tired of life being unfair. How about for once it just be fair" Lennox said.
"I'd be upset to if my mum and dad bailed on me" dad said
"I'm talking about Miss Lunt" Lennox directed at dad
"If you say so" dad said
"You don't know anything about me" Lennox said.
"You're right I don't, well except for your name I got that from Rae. What I really don't know about you is why are you taking this all out on your aunt, because she is the 2nd person to not bail on you. Look I know she can get a little stizy at times" dad said making Lennox and I look at him with a raised eyebrow
"All times. But since we're talking about fair, do you really think it's fair that she has to go down to your school all alone and eat your big bowl of stink, for something she didn't even do" dad said
"Big bowl of stink? What is that?" Lennox asked dad
"Oh, you'll know" I said patting her shoulder.
Lennox finally went down to the school. Well after dad payed her $50. So right now I was outback with Dad and Ryder and dad was helping Ryder with Basketball.
"Alright let's see what you got" dad said as Ryder threw the ball but it missed the hoop but he tried again and still missed.
"Here's a thought, my hip young brother man: Try loosen up your knees a little bit" Dad said and Ryder did just that and got it well it hit the backboard but still got it in
"You're Welcome" dad said as he threw the ball to Ryder
"Hey I heard about all the crap you've been going through. You know with your wife, going broke, losing your car, your condo. I mean how can you even walk" Ryder said making me hold in a laughter
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" Ryder apologised.
"Nah it's ok it's alright I'm aware that my life is in a bis of inky black despair. Thanks for the pep talk" dad said as Ryder passed him the ball and he did this awesome as trick
"Hey, could you show me how to do that?" Ryder asked dad when dad got in the door
"Only if you taped it. I have no idea" dad said which cause Ryder to smile a cute smile
"Ryder! Joe! Raven!" I heard Mel said.
"Your mum's home" dad said. Ryder looked around with hope filled in his eyes. Aww, he thought his real mum was back.
"I'm sorry. Your- your aunt. I mean your aunt" dad said before walking in the door. I went up to Ryder and put my hand on his shoulder
"You ok?" I asked
"Yeah why wouldn't I be?" Ryder asked me, brushing off what just happened between him and dad.
"Because when my dad said your mum you look sad when you looked around looking for her" I said
"Wait Joe's your dad?" Ryder asked me
"Yep" I said with a smile.
"Well I'm fine. Let's go inside" Ryder said as we walked inside.
"Ugh I'm going to brush my teeth now" Lennox said before walking upstairs
"She ate a big bowl of stink? Didn't she?" I asked him
"Yeah and went back for seconds. Ah hands" dad said to Ryder and I.
"It was you. You talked her into going down there. How did you talk her into going down there?" Mel asked dad while Ryder and I washed our hands and sat at the table
"People like me" dad answered simply
"No really?" Mel insisted which made me laugh and dad to just look at me, ceasing my laughter.
"I paid her 50 bucks" dad said as he walked over to Ryder and I with 2 plates full of amazing food. My dad is a good cook.
"A bribe, that's terrible not only is that wrong that's horrible parenting" Mel said
"Well I'm a parent and I parent my way and you're not" Dad said as he placed the plates on Ryder's placemat and mine.
"Can I have $50?" Ryder and I asked the adults.
"No" they both said.
"Relax alright I wrote Lennox a personal check. Boing! Another very valuable life lesson" Dad said to Mel as he walked back to the kitchen counter.
"So is this how you ran your Youth Centre right out of college" Mel said.
I looked at my dad with confusion. What freakin Youth Centre? He's looked after me my whole life. Mum did too but I feel like he looked after me more than she did. But I guess that's just me.
"Oh please. There was no Youth Centre" dad said scoffing
"Can I speak to you in the other room?" Mel said with gritted teeth and a death glare. He's a dead man.
"Nice known ya" Ryder said
"Yeah I'll say nice things during your eulogy" I said
"I'll be fine" dad said walking past Ryder and I as he headed into the other room.
When dad came back in the kitchen I was scrapping left over food into the bin. "Dad?" I asked. He looked at me than back at the door "Is she gonna give you the job?" I asked "Yeah. We don't have to live in the car anymore" dad said with a smile.
Hope you enjoy the first chapter of my Ryder Scanlon fanfic
This is based off season one of a ABC Family show called Melissa & Joey.
-amber sixx