Author's Notes: As you all know(or most of you know) this used to be my first fic. I deleted the last one because... well how do I put this nicely... I can't; it stunk. A few people faved it, but I still felt as though it was horrible. This new Normality, I wanted to make longer and more detailed. So to all of you that liked the old version, I hope you like this version more. I'm setting a goal to get at least 100 reviews(I don't know how many chapters are gonna be in this version) and to get on at least 15 favorite lists. For all of you who read and/or reviewed the old version... PLEASE review again! Like I said I'm gonna make the chapters longer and more detailed. So... without further adeiu... The New and Improved Normality!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. If I did, the series wouldn't be ending.
((Somewhere in the Surburbs of Jump City))
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP
A long, skinny, arm reached from under a large comforter, the person not even bothering to come up from under the covers. The hand found its why to the nightstand and blindly smashed the OFF button on the digital clock. After the beeping ceased, the person from under the covers started to raised up from thier slumber and pulled the blanket off of their head. A girl with violet hair blinked her eyes repeatedly while getting adjusted to the sunlight. Her right arm raised to her face and rubbed her eye. Finally, both her eyes opened fully.
Raven Roth, age 15, sat up and stretched while yawning tiredly. She hesitantly pushed the covers of her slim body that was only clad in a simple black nightshirt and ran over to her door across the room. Speeding out to the hallway she flew into the bathroom and locked her door. After brushing her teeth, taking a quick shower, and applying some dark eyeliner, she emerged from the bathroom. Only clad in a faded blue towel, she ran back to her room. Once in her room, she went to the closet facing her. As she slid it open slowly she stared back at the clock.
7:17 A.M
She sighed wearily. Jump City High School started at 8:10, and here she was still getting dressed when she had to get outside to start walking at 7:30. She looked back at her now fully open closet and stared at her wardrobe. Raven didn't really have a big sense of style or fashion like most teenage girls, and dressed as simply as she could. Her wardrobe was nothing but dark-colored hoodies, turtlenecks, sweat shirts, and few pairs of denim jeans. The dark girl pulled out a simple navy hoodie, a pair of dark almost black jeans, and a pair of navy hightops. After slipping her clothes on she ran to the side of her bed where her dresser mirror lay. She picked up a comb and ran its teeth through her short violet locks for a few seconds.
As she combed her hair, Raven took the time to look at the image the mirror reflected. Big, doe, amethyst eyes stared back at her. Pale, almost gray skin met her eyes as her gaze lowered. Two thin lips that were a darker shade than the rest of her face stood between a small button nose, and a slighty pointy chin. Raven never thought of herself as attractive and never really considered it for a while. She tossed the comb back into the top drawer of her dresser and grabbed her bookbag that was on the side of her bed.
What am I thinking?she montonously thought to herself Why should I worry if a boy finds me unattractive? I mean, it's urtterly pointless.
The semi-goth, slowly opened her door one last time, and peeked out into the hallway. She stared down the hall to her right. Her father's room. Trigon Roth was soundly snoring at the moment and wasn't acknowledging his daughter leaving... at least, not yet. Raven sighed a relived sigh and continued to walk out of her room, slowly lifting up her high tops, being careful not to wake her father. She trotted down the staircase one at a time, each time turning a different way trying to prevent a noise coming from her sneakers. After a few minutes of uncomfortable twisting and turning, she reached the front door and twisted the door knob.
Finally she silently thought. As her left foot stepped out the front door, upstairs a pair of yellow eyes snapped open and Trigon growled.
Raven inhaled a long breath of fresh air and breathed out slowly. Her senses adapted to the cool October air around her as she walked out to the driveway. The calm girl stared down at her father's red sport car and sighed for the hundreth time that morning. Her father was a very successful business man and had even landed a section in the front of the newspaper bcause of his success. But all that wealth went to himself. Trigon wasn't exactly the freindliest man in the world. In fact, it would be rare to even say 'freindly' or 'kind' in the same sentence with 'Trigon Roth'.
Raven turned to her left, following the sidewalk to her high school. While doing so, she pulled out a book from her black bookbag titled 'The Raven & other classic works of Edgar Allen Poe', her favorite book. Not only was Edgar Allen Poe her favorite author because of his morbid writing(trust me, I read the story 'The Pit & the Pendulum'... man that guy was depressed), but she also loved it because of who gave it to her. She opened up to the title page and smiled. On it was a phrase in cursive writing that read 'To my favorite bird, Love Ms. Azar'. Her smile soon disappeared as she began to read the first page:
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary;
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore;
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping;
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door;
"'Tis some visitor", I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this, and nothing more."
Just as Raven was about to read the 6th line of the poem she saw a few students in front of her. In just a few short minutes, she would be at Jump City High. She sighed quietly and pulled her hood up as she passed the students. Not really caring about whatever they were saying about her, the dark maiden continued to read her book:
Ah, disctinctly I remember it was the bleak December;
And each seperate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;
Eagerly I wished the morrow--vainly I had tried to borrow;
From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore--
Nameless here for evermore
Raven looked ahead again only to see a pack of loud cheerleaders walking towards the large entrance of the building. Their red and yellow uniform tops were worn tightly against their bodies and the hem of their skirts were extremely short. The plum haired girl rolled her eyes under her hood as she walked in behind them into the large school. She tucked her book back into her knapsack while trying not to bump into others in the crowded main hallway. Finding her way to her locker(that was on the second floor), she turned the combination and opened it. As soon as the door opened it shut again. Not by her, but by a pale hand--paler than hers actually--with black nail polish. She followed the hand up to an arm attached, finally to a pair of icy blue eyes.
Raven scowled. "What do you want?" she asked, obviously irritated.
The boy just smirked. "Dear Raven, why is that you always have a frown on your face when I'm near you?" he asked, pretending to be sad.
Raven just turned her head to her locker getting the necessary supplies to start the school day, ignoring him. The boy just shook his head and pulled out a Kool cigarette from behind his ear that was hidden in his light hair. He rummaged in his pocket for a lighter, but didn't find one. He cursed under his breath. Raven rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Malchior, can't you find some other girl to harass? I'm sort of busy at the moment," she said and started to walk to her class. Malchior tucked the cigarette back behind his ear.
"Raven wait!" Malchior yelled as he pushed a red-haired boy out of his way. Raven began to pick up the pace and scooted past a dark-skinned girl with braids. Malchior growled under his breath and almost ran down the hall to catch up with the dark girl. He pushed more people out of his way and his black boots moved faster against the tile, but that didn't seem to help at all. Raven looked behind her. She couldn't see Malchior thanks to the crowded hall. She smirked and started to walk into her 1st period class.
Outside of the large building a lone girl stood by herself. She sighed and looked back behind her. The Mercedes that dropped her off was long gone now. So here she was, all alone not knowing where to go or who to ask about attending a new school. Her waist-length, red hair flowed silently across her face and her green eyes looked ahead at the large school. Kori Anders, age 15, was a new student attending Jump. She was a foreign exchange student staying there for the rest of the year, but wasn't so happy about it. The tall girl sighed again and started to walk towards the school. Her eyes' gaze momentarily was focused on her pink flip flops and not what was ahead of her. But unknown to her she was getting closer and closer to bumping into someone...
OOF!
Her rear collided with the hard pavement as she looked up. She gasped. Ahead of her was a boy who had spiky black hair with some strands that rested on his forehead. On his nose rested a pair of dark glasses that covered his eyes so much you couldn't see him blink. He was wearing a white shirt covered with a red wind-breaker over it and a pair of khaki cargo pants. He was rubbing his head at the sudden inpact with Kori. He opened his eyes, although Kori couldn't see, and his mouth opened slightly. "Sorry miss," he said standing up, "Didn't mean to knock you down." He smiled sincerely and stuck out his hand to help the girl up. Kori stared at his hand, but accepted.
"Thank You," she replied happily, smiling at him as well.
The ebony-haired boy looked her up and down. She had on a pink midriff top and denim mini-skirt despite the cool weather.
"You must be new," he stated as her pulled her up. She nodded her head vigorously and replied a quiet 'yes'.
"'Name's Richard. You?" he held out his right hand for her to shake. Kori just stared at the hand and looked back up at the boy looking confused.
"My name is Kori, but why do you stick out your hand like that?" she asked pointing her index finger at his hand. Richard anime-sweatdropped.
"Your supposed to do it when you meet people," Richard explained calmly.
"Why?" Kori asked, still confused.
"To be polite."
"Oh, I see!" Kori said excitedly. She took Richard's fingers and shook them violently. Richard couldn't help but laugh at the girl's innocence. Kori found herself giggling as well. She took her hand away.
"You sure have strange ways of greeting people here," she retorted.
"I'm guessing you're not from around here," Dick said trying hard not to laugh.
"No, I have been chosen to be in the program of exchange when I used to live in my homeland." The intellectual nodded his head, actually understanding what she said.
"Well, if your new you probably need a person to show you around?"
"Yes, it is my first day, and I do not wish to get lost."
"Mind if I show you around?" Richard asked as he stuck out a bent arm for Kori to hold onto. Kori giggled and happily acceped his arm. "I do not mind at all."
Green eyes tiredly looked around the scenery. Garfield Logan, age 15, was currently perched on a rock. His arms were under his knees that were bent and pushed against his chest. He stared at he large lawn of the school in front of him. His blonde hair moved across his face as the wind blew. He stared down at his black and white Vans and sighed. He didn't know why he felt this way. He felt... empty some how. His life wasn't exactly going smoothly, but hey, he was the class clown. He couldn't show how sad or depressed he really felt. His thoughts were put on pause as he saw someone motioned towards him.
"'Sup, Vic?" he asked as he and his best friend shared a high five. Victor Stone, age 16, was a junior at Jump. He was a tall African-American with brown eyes and a bald head. He was one of the most popular guys at the high school, being the quarterback of the football team and all. He was a guy with big dreams of hoping to get into the Olympics one day. His chocolate eyes looked down at his troubled freind.
"Are you a'ight, man?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice. Gar looked up at his friend and laughed, trying to make it seem as though everything was great. "Nah, I'm fine, Vic. So what's up with you?"
"Nothin' much, though I'm still tryin'ta beat my one-mile running record in the local gym. All I need to do is lower down at least 20 seconds, and I'd be perfect."
"Victor, don't take this training so seriously. Just lay back and enjoy the view," Gar said, now laying on the rock with both his hands behind his head. Victor rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, man. Just 'cause you got the to easiest life in the world, don't mean everyone else can 'lay back and enjoy the view'," he replied, bunny-earing the last phrase. Gar smiled even though that was the total opposite of the truth.
The truth was, that what Garfield was going through, was anything but easy.
Karen groaned as her short heels hit the pavement. She was tired and didn't want to attend another boring school day. Her and her boyfriend, Mal were having a hard time with thier relationship, and she had it when he called her last night. She was sure she was gonna break up with him before the week ended. She just couldn't take him controlling her anymore. Karen "Bee" Beecher was a girl with attitude and was her own woman. She had dark-skin and thick, short hair that was pulled into two pony tails. She flipped out her iPod, and let Beyonce's strong voice flow into her ears as her hit song "Check On It"(I love that song!) made her body move into various dance moves as she skipped to school. As she danced down the sidewalk, she started to think:
Besides, the quarterback of the football team in my third period is pretty cute, anyway...
The pink-haired girl sighed. She tried to concentrate on her horror book Frankenstein, but couldn't. Troubles just kept coming her way. Jezebel Hecate, 15, was most known as the weird girl of the school. It wasn't because of her hair being died pink. It wasn't about her being a total goth. It was of her luck. Everywhere Jezebel went it seemed that bad luck seemed to rain down. From unexpected leaks from water fountains, or a flood starting in the gym, everyone suspected Jezebel as the starter of it. Of course Jezebel couldn't start it, but it just seemed as though Jezebel was always at the wrong place at the wrong time, which was why people gave her the nickname "Jinx". Jezebel sighed and looked across the gym. No one was around at the moment and she was feeling a bit lonely. She looked back at her book without a burning desire to read.
lore: strange book of enchanted learning.
surcease: end.
A/N: Well there ya have it! My first chapter! I hope you liked it! Those two words above are just footnotes to the 'The Raven' poem. Anyway about the story. I wanted to make the characters like real students at a high school. I also wanted to keep them in character. Also about some of the characters...
Raven: I was gonna make her name Rachel since it was her secret idetentity/undercover name in the comics. Also I called her a semi-goth because I wouldn't think the animated Raven would be a total "eye-liner wearing-dying her hair black-'life is pointless'-" goth. I'd think she would be kinda dark, but not all the way to full blown goth. Sorry if you think she was sorta outa character.
Malchior: In the series he was more of a suave, charming, gentlemen-like guy(well not the dragon, anyway) but I wanted to make him more of a punk-rock/goth person. I think it suits him better.
Bumble-Bee: About Bumblebee's relationship with this mysterious 'Mal'. Mal AKA Herald was Bee's boyfriend/husband in the comics. They didn't really have a bad relationship, but I'm thinking of making a Cy/Bee relationship.
Jinx: I wanted Jinx to have a bad reputation about spreading bad luck. In most AU stories Jinx is more of a bad girl, but hey, she's a good guy now! I'm can't decide if I should make a Cy/Bee/Jinx triangle or a Kid Flash/Jinx relationship. It's all so confoozing! :grr:
Please R&R!
