A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Considering this is a crossover, I was expecting six reviews after the first four chapters, but I got that much with only one. TYSM! I hope you guys keep leaving me great feedback! Well, here's the second chapter. Hope you like it! xoxoxoxo
Raven
The Queen household was a wreck. A total, utter wreck.
Although they'd just moved into their new house a little less than a week ago, everything was still so disorderly. Most of the furniture was still plastic-wrapped and overturned in random rooms, the boxes were stacked feet high and extremely unorganized. And to add on to that, Mrs. Queen had been severely irritable. She was in the process of setting up a new laboratory downtown and she insisted her cosmetic chemists were being "difficult fools" again, so the move was just adding on to her burdens and making things run slower. Not only that, but Mr. Queen was also busy with his new medical practice, plus the girls were in the middle of being processed into the local high school for the new school year, so the Queens just had a whole bunch of stuff going on.
That's why it was a relief to finally get out the house for some fresh air. The Queen girls, excluding Darcy who'd decided to stay home, were taking a walk down Princevalle Trail headed towards town. Honestly, Raven liked their new neighborhood. Every house seemed to have its own unique feel that tied the neighborhood together, made it feel enchanted in some way. Plus, there was a Starbucks around the corner. That sealed the deal.
The girls entered the coffee shop, immediately greeted by the smell of coffee beans and a long line. Like their mother, Icy and Stormy were abnormally impatient, so Raven had to endure their murmurs of complaint until it was their turn to order. Afterwards, Raven's sisters had to go visit the ladies' room (most likely to check their makeup. They didn't believe in using public toilets), leaving Raven to look after their stuff.
Ugh. They always sued Raven like this. Sometimes she—
"Uh, excuse me," went an unsteady voice.
Noticing she was standing in the way, Raven whirled around. "Oh, sorry about that—" She felt a wave embarrassment washing over her as she recognized the guy to be "Shirtless Muscles" from across the street. Oh boy. This was so awkward. Thanks to Darcy's stunt, he thought Raven was the one who'd called him "hot stuff". Raven had been hoping she wouldn't have to interact with him for a few months (or at least until he forgot about the whole incident) but now that they were face-to-face not even a week later, Raven was cornered.
"Uh, hey…neighbor." Raven gave a nervous smile, inwardly scolding herself. Ugh! Why did she have to call him that? If there was any chance he had forgotten about what happened last week, he certainly remembered now.
The guy gave a weird grin in return. "Uh…hey. Um, are-aren't you the cute girl—I mean, the girl with the cute sweater." He laughed nervously. "Aren't you the girl with the cute sweater who moved in across the street a couple of days ago?"
He could be referring to any one of the Queen sisters, but Raven had a strong feeling he was talking about her. "Yeah. Well, at least one of them. I have three sisters. You've probably seen one of them."
He adjusted his glasses, studying her closely. Now that Raven was up close, he really was nerdy. But in a good way! There was nothing wrong with being nerdy! "I'm not sure but I've seen you."
Raven gulped. He totally recognized her! She was so screwed! "Uh, I…don't think I've seen you around," she lied, trying hard not to look…weird. Which she was totally being. Why am I making myself look like such a fool?! she thought.
"No, I've definitely seen you. You, uh, called out to me the other day." The guy was sweating intensely. Great! Now Raven was probably making him uncomfortable.
"It wasn't me!" she accidently blurted. The guy looked startled. "I mean, I wasn't the one who called you hot," she explained quickly. Realizing how rude that sounded, she added, "I'm not saying you're not hot, but it was one of my sisters who said you were that day. She, er, walked away from the window before you turned around and I happened to be coincidentally standing right there so I thought that you thought I was the one who called out to you." She sighed, facepalming. '"Sorry, I sound extremely weird right now. I just…I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea, you know? I'm new here and I didn't want to start out on a bad note."
The guy looked taken aback. And then he looked disappointed for a split second. "Oh. Yeah. I understand. I can be a bit socially conscious too. A little too much at times." He grinned goofily, making Raven notice the twinkling pair of blue eyes begin his glasses. "I'm Dexterous by the way. But you can just call me Dexter. Or Dex."
Relived that he wasn't marking her as The Weird Girl Who Stalks Me from Her Bedroom Window, Raven offered a hand. "I'm Raven Queen. It's nice to meet you, Dexter. I hope we can become friends." They shared a hand shake, in which Raven tried not to notice Dexter's sweaty grip.
"Y-yeah." Dexter turned bright red. "Me-me too." Before things could get more awkward than what they already were, a girl with platinum blond hair called out to Dexter from the exit. "Oh, uh, sorry but I have to go," said Dexter quickly, "I'm out with my sister and—"
"No, I totally get it. I am too. Well, two of them. I'll see you later?"
Dexter smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that."
Raven watched as Dexter and his sister pressed through the glass doors, disappearing down the street. Phew. At least that was taken care of. Just when she was relaxing, she startled when Icy suddenly cleared her throat. Raven whirled around to see Stormy and Icy standing by the condiment bar. "How long have you guys been standing there?" frowned Raven.
Icy yawned. "Long enough to see you holding hands with the gross nerd from across the street."
Stormy looked disgusted. "We didn't want to be seen with someone like that, so we stayed over here. Ugh, now I don't wanna be seen with you. If Darcy were here, she'd be rolling her eyes right now. You have bad taste in guys, Raven."
"Okay, for one, Dexter's not gross. Second, I don't see what the problem is. Darcy was the one who called him hot," pointed out Raven, folding her arms across her chest.
"Yeah, beforeshe witnessed the rest of him," said Stormy, wrinkling her nose as the girls exited the establishment with their coffees.
"He's not all bad. Get rid of the glasses, then you'd have something to work with," insisted Icy as they crossed the street.
"You guys are so hopeless," groaned Raven. She was kinda glad Dexter hadn't met them first. They'd definitely scare him off. Plus they'd give him the wrong impression about her. No lie, Raven wanted to be friends with Dexter. Being the new kid on the block, she didn't have any friends, so it would be nice to have someone other than her sisters to talk to. Who knew? Maybe the two would become good friends in the future. Raven would like that.
Raven would like that a lot.
oOo
The house next door to Raven's was like some kind of swan sanctuary; there were always swans in the yard, perched on the front porch, chilling in the shade under the oak tree at the front of the house. No matter what time of day, at least one swan was always accounted for. However, the afternoon was usually when most of them showed up, especially between the hours of two and four. At times, you couldn't even see the front lawn because there were that many swans flocking about. Mr. Queen said whoever lived there was probably feeding them, thus the reason the swans kept coming.
That was why as the girls strolled down Princevalle Trail toward their house they could see all the swan clustering together in the yard next door, greedily pecking at the ground. A few were even wandering in the Queens' yard.
The girls paused on the sidewalk the second they saw their yard. Icy scowled at all the swan droppings. "Oh, c'mon," she hissed, stomping her foot.
Stormy gagged. "No way I'm picking that up."
"Mom's gonna be mad…" trailed off Raven, shuddering at the very thought.
The girls' heads snapped toward the neighbor's house as the front door screeched open and a tall teenage girl with olive skin and side-swept black, white, and mauve-streaked hair walked out onto the front porch.
Icy didn't waste any time. "Hey!" she called out nastily, "keep your little vermin and their waste in your own yard!
The olive-skinned girl walked down her front steps in her pumps, scowling at them. "Oh, hush up. They're not hurting you. And they're swans, braniac."
Oh boy. Raven sucked in her breath. You did not sass one of her sisters and expect to get away with it.
"They could care less about your little vermin, honey. But last time I checked, this isn't your property and if you don't do something about these winged menaces, I'm calling animal control," snapped Icy, glaring ice at their neighbor. One thing that went for all of Raven's sisters: they weren't animal lovers. At all. And the same went tenfold for Mrs. Queen.
"Tch, I don't care," scoffed their teenage neighbor, walking down her driveway and onto the sidewalk. "They can't do anything either. Besides, I'm not afraid of them." She paused on the concrete, smirking at Icy. "Do you even know how many times the other annoying neighbors did the same thing? And guess what? The swans keep coming back. So it really doesn't matter what you do. The swans are here to stay."
At this point, Stormy had already lost interest in the situation and gone inside while Raven just watched from their own driveway, keeping her distance from their soiled lawn. She found it best to let Icy do her own thing, especially when she was ticked off like the way she was now.
"Well, I got some news for you, swan girl." Icy's voice was low and threatening. "I'm not like the other neighbors. If I want something, I get it. And you can't do anything about it. Point blank. So if I want these feathery pests out of my yard, you better believe they're keeping their beaked butts out of my yard."
The neighbor, "Swan Girl", just made a "pfft" sound. "Whatever. Call who you want, but you're not laying a finger on my swans. They're here to stay so get used to it."
Icy pressed her lips together. "Oh yeah? Just watch me." Without any hesitation, Icy started for the lone swan hanging out by their shrubs. Just as she was reaching out to snatch up the bird by surprise, the winged animal turned around and charged at her. Icy let out a yelp, whirling around and running away as the swan chased after her, hissing and flapping its wings madly.
"Icy!" yelped Raven, hurrying over to help. Unfortunately, the vicious swan wasn't having it so it steered away from Icy and charged at Raven. Raven shrieked, making a break for it. While Mean Swan pursed Raven, one of his buddies decided to fly over and help out by attacking Icy.
While the birds gave chase to the sisters, Stormy, who had decided to watch from the safety of Raven's window, laughed heartily as the swans pecked and hissed at her sisters. Screaming, Raven and Icy folded their arms over their heads as protection as the swans rose into the air a few times in an attempt to bite at their ears.
Panicked, Icy and Raven charged up the front stairs, jumping onto the porch. Icy tried opening the front door, but it wouldn't budge. Icy pulled on the handles harder. "What the—? It's locked? STORMY!"And speaking of their younger sister, Stormy's laughter drifted down from Raven's window.
"Stormy, so help me, if you don't open this door!" shouted Raven, pounding on it as the two swans slowly approached the porch, readying to attack again.
Stormy just laughed harder.
"Oh, forget this," growled Icy, aiming a bolt of magic at the handles. They heard the door unlock and the girls burst inside, slamming the door shut behind them. Breathing heavily, the two girls let themselves fall back onto the doors, sliding down onto a sitting position on the hardwood.
"Ew," winced Raven, taking off a flip-flop and lifting it up to see swan poop smeared all over the sole. She winced again to see both she and Icy had tracked it into the foyer. "Mom's gonna kill us," she groaned.
"But not before I kill those birds first," assured Icy, rising to her feet and kicking off her ruined shoes. "They and that girl are gonna pay. Where's the phonebook?" she fumed, disappearing into the back of the house. "I'm calling animal control, the pound, pest control, wildlife removal, anyone who can get rid of those geese."
"Swans," corrected Raven, abandoning her own shoes and following Icy into the kitchen. She went into the cabinets under the sink, grabbing a bottle of Lysol.
"I don't care! If I have to, I'll curse that whole house," said Icy in her you better believe it voice, going through the drawers in desperate search for the yellow pages.
Stormy appeared in the archway, still chuckling to herself. "What you did back there was so not cool, Stormy," said Raven thinly, narrowing her eyes at her sister as she passed by on her way to the foyer.
She drenched the floor with Lysol and wiped up all the disgusting swan poop with some paper towel. Someone had to clean up the mess, especially before their parents—specifically their mom— got back. That someone was always Raven since Stormy thought she was too good to clean, Darcy was somewhere else doing her own thing, and Icy was too busy planning her revenge on some geese—swans.
Raven startled when she heard a sudden tapping sound. She looked up to see one of the swans pecking furiously on the other side of the sidelight. She rushed into the office and peered through the blinds at the front yard. The other mean swan was at the bottom of the porch steps honking madly.
Raven groaned. These things were so relentless.
"Oh, whatever. It was funny," yawned Stormy. "You guys looked like fools. And you were loud. I bet Darcy and that guy heard—"
"Guy? What guy?" demanded Icy and Raven simultaneously.
Stormy shrugged. "The guy she's with in the back."
Raven and Icy were heading for the back doors within a millisecond. Icy, who had apparently forgotten about her vendetta, swung the door open and stepped out onto the deck. Sure enough, Darcy was lounging on the furniture with a spiky-haired guy around their age.
"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here." Icy grinned. "Hey, Darcy, remember that rule Mom and Dad gave us? No boys allowed while they're gone."
Darcy, who had taken off her glasses, just rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Icy."
Icy shot a look at the guy. "Who are you anyway?"
He snorted. "None of your business."
Darcy sighed as if they were hopeless. "Riven, these are my sisters. Just ignore them."
Icy's grin immediately faded away. "Wait. You're serious about this? This is the best you could do?" She seemed genuinely surprised. Usually, Darcy was never serious about her boyfriends. She only saw them as entertainment. And once they got old, they were out the door.
Riven growled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Icy glared at him. "You're not good enough."
"Icy." Raven frowned. Her sisters were so harsh.
"What? I'm just saying," insisted Icy innocently, "we've met guys who look way more promising than this. Ugh, first Raven and now Darcy. What does this guy even have to offer?"
"Seriously, Icy. Chill," said Raven. Though he technically wasn't supposed to be here, Icy dint have to be such a jerk to the guy.
"Yeah, Icy. Chill. Riven's not as hopeless as you think." Although clearly annoyed, Darcy stayed calm. She turned back to Riven. "So what about that ride?"
"Ride?" repeated Icy.
"Riven has a motorcycle."
"Really?" gasped Icy with mock surprise. "He has a motorcycle? Raven, hear that? He has a motorcycle! He rides around town on two wheels! How fascinating."
Raven stifled a laugh at Icy's sarcasm. Darcy narrowed her eyes at them both.
"Tch, I don't need this." Raven stood up from the edge of the lounge chair. He was about to cross over into the backyard, but Icy stopped him.
"Why don't you leave through the front door instead?" she suggested with an icy smile, "Dad just started planting flowers and we can't have you stomping on them with those unattractively large feet of yours, now can we?"
Raven made a mental note to never bring a boy home if she valued his self-esteem in the slightest.
When Riven left—Icy had nearly pushed him out—lcy slammed the front door shut and giggled. "Good riddance."
"What's your problem, Icy?" Darcy folded her arms across her chest. "We weren't bothering you."
Icy smirked. "I won't have to worry about that any time soon. You're welcome."
"What're you saying?" Darcy furrowed her brows.
"What I'm saying is that Riven won't be showing up here for a while." Icy chuckled.
"What did you do?" demanded Darcy.
"I didn't do anything! However, what happens to him from this point isn't my fault."
Raven gasped, remembering the swans. So that was why Icy wanted him to go out of the front door! She rushed into the office and looked out the window. Sure enough, Riven was running down the street with the swans snapping at his heels.
Roxy
While most kids spent the last days of their summer vacation watching movies or swimming at the beach, Roxy was stuck operating a cash register. It was late afternoon and the smoothie bar was busy as usual. While friendly Klaus was charming the customers outside again, Roxy and Amaryl were practically running the smoothie bar.
It was no problem, though. The girls had a system. While Amaryl operated the machines, Roxy was in charge of the register. They switched every hour, so now Roxy was handling the register and the customers. And just as Roxy thought they were about to get a break, the bell above the door rang as someone else entered.
"Hi, can I…" Roxy trailed short the second she laid eyes on the young man standing on the other side of the counter. Her body completely froze and she found herself stuttering. She'd never seen anything like him. Long strawberry-blond hair, deep olive-green eyes, fair completion. She was so awestruck by his handsomeness she couldn't even find words. Thankfully, Amaryl could.
"Hi there! Ignore the idiot beside me," she said, nudging gaping Roxy beside. "She's so hopeless." She didn't say it to be mean; just teasing again.
Strawberry (that was what Roxy was calling him now), grinned friendlily. The whole time Amaryl took care of him, Roxy couldn't stop staring. At one point, his eyes actually met hers and she quickly looked down. She didn't want him to think she was a pervert or something.
Amaryl must've noticed how flustered Roxy was because she looked at Strawberry and asked with a wink, "So are you single? Do you live around here? Because I have a friend you could totally hook up with. She'd be perfect for you."
Roxy felt herself turning red and looked away, hoping Strawberry wouldn't see and think Amaryl was talking about her.
Strawberry just laughed. "Yes and yes. I just moved here a few weeks ago. And I doubt that. If all your friends are nearly as pretty as you, they'd be too good for me."
Roxy's heart fell. Was he…flirting with Amaryl?
"Stop it," giggled Amaryl, handing him his smoothie. "Come around again?"
Strawberry winked at Amaryl. "Definitely. Before pushing out of the door and onto the street, he looked over his shoulder and grinned. "I'm Manuel, by the way." And with that, he disappeared.
"What was that?" squeaked Roxy. "Are you into him?"
"No. But you are. You should be thanking me, really," insisted Amaryl, "thanks to me, you not only know his name but you also know he stays somewhere over here. He looks around your age. He could be going to the same school as you next week."
Roxy felt herself brightening up. There was a possibility. Eh, forger summer vacation. Now Roxy couldn't wait to start school. She'd never really been one to be excited about extreme math, terrible cafeteria food, and unattractive gym clothes, but it'd all be worth it if Manuel was there.
Maybe she had a chance with him. He was single after all. And so was Roxy. They could be a couple. Anything was possible.
