Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. But I own this bag of Twizzlers (don't own the company, though xD) and they're REALLY addicting.
Dedication: Kaleena, for explaining what happens at a funeral to me.
The room was completely silent as the announcement continued, and nobody moved a muscle. Everyone had stopped dead in their tracks immediately after hearing the word "dead". I had an arm wrapped around Kori as she cried silently on my shoulder. I tried not to look at her, it was saddening. Instead I looked down at my feet as I listened to the principal announce the fate of my friend.
"Tara Markov, a sophomore, was walking downtown before school, and was shot. According to witnesses, she was just walking innocently out of a Starbucks. Two robbers were being chased by Police, and had guns that they were shooting the police vehicles with. Due to bad aim, Tara was killed."
A few people went back to running, but most just stood there, shocked. Victor walked over slowly, not sure of if he had heard correctly. "…Gar can't be taking this very well," he muttered, and I nodded in agreement. Gar and Tara had always been real close, like brother and sister.
The three of us sat down on the floor, sitting in silence as we waited for the bell to ring. When it did about ten minutes later, Victor got up and muttered "We gotta find Gar." I got up and help a hand out to Kori, who took it, and I pulled her up. The three of us began walking to Garfield's locker. When we got there, Raven was standing there next to him.
"Garfield, calm down. Everyone's time comes eventually. It's fate. We can't always have everything the way we want them to be," Raven said to him, frowning. He was leaning on his locker, his blonde hair blocking his face from view, but you could tell he was crying. Raven walked up to us and sighed. "He won't listen to me."
"I don't blame him. When…my parents died, I wouldn't talk to anyone either," I muttered. Kori looked at me, sadness in her eyes.
"That sounds most saddening," she whispered. I nodded and looked back towards Raven and Gar. She had walked back over next to him.
"Garfield…I'm going to miss her, too. I know what it feels like to lose someone. When my father died, I cried for a long time, even though we never really got along. I know it hurts, but…you just have to except it," Raven told him. Gar turned around to face her, tear stains on his face. He threw his arms around her, and she didn't seem to mind much. Normally, she'd shove him off, but due to the current situation, she hugged him back.
"Don't die, Raven. Not for a long time," he whispered. Raven sighed.
"I won't, Garfield," she replied. And suddenly, for some reason, she leaned in and kissed him. His eyes went wide and a blush began creeping across his face. She quickly pulled away, her face red.
Garfield stared at her for a moment, and then smiled. Raven smiled back, and they just stood there hugging for a while.
"Ahem," Victor coughed. The two looked at him, Kori, and I still standing ten feet away and they blushed. "I know you're having a moment here, but it's already…2:50. Shouldn't we go home? I'd be you rather be somewhere besides a hallway for all your romantic crap, anyway."
The day after Thanksgiving, was the day of Tara's funeral. Kori and I sat in the second row, Mr. Wilson, Garfield, Raven, Victor, and Tara's half-brother Brion in front of us. A couple other kids from her grade were also there, but nobody else from Tara's family. A few people went up and talked about Tara, including Mr. Wilson, Garfield, Brion, and Raven. Afterwards, Kori, who was the best singer there, sung Amazing Grace. I always hated that song. Not because it was a bad song, but it was sung at my parent's funeral. It brings bad memories.
Then, they loaded the casket up into a car, and we all followed. When we got to the grave, we all stood quietly as the casket was lowered, Garfield crying again. Kori started crying too, and I wrapped an arm around her, whispering in her ear to calm her down.
"Kori, stop," I whispered. She looked up at me with her sad eyes, and I wiped the tears away from her face with the back of my hand. She smiled slightly and buried her head into my shoulder, crying even more now. "Kori, don't cry." I began to stroke her back softly. "It's just like Raven said; we can't always have things the way we want."
After the grave was buried, most people had left. Alfred had come by with the limo to pick us up, and Victor, Raven, and Garfield were inside already.
I walked up toward the gravestone and sighed. On it read "Tara Markov: November 20th 1990-November 20th 2006". Kori came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you coming?" she questioned, a sad tone in her voice. I looked at her face, she had stopped crying by now, but the stains were still on her cheeks (and the mascara stains, too)
"Yeah," I replied. I took one last glance at her grave, and dropped the rose in my hand in front of it. "Goodbye, Tara." And as the two of us walked away, a strong wind blew by, making the bitter November weather even colder. Leaves rusted on the ground and flew through the air, but the rose still stayed it's in place where it belonged.
The freezing winds of November were nothing compared to the light December snowfalls. The powdery snow did not stick to the ground very well, so the wind just blew it all over the place. Even though it wasn't heavy snow, it was hard to see because once it would almost reach the ground, it would blow back up.
It was a week after Tara's funeral, December 1st, and we had come to accept what had happened, even though we didn't like it much. Tara had always liked the snow, so walking in it was saddening.
"You are most lucky that this snow it not very deep. Back in Europe, the snow began to fall in October, and lasted until March. It was always very thick and hard to see through. We would get blizzards a lot. It was also about 30 degrees colder than it is here," Kori informed me as we were walking home from school. We passed Ms. Rouge's house, and I took a glance at her thermometer, which read "30 Fahrenheit". I stuffed my gloved hands into the pockets of my black jacket. It wasn't usually this cold around here.
"So, I'm guessing you're used to the cold?" I asked. I looked at her as she walked alongside me in her light pink jacket, which wasn't even zipped up all off the way. Underneath it she was wearing a seafoam t-shirt with a pair of ice blue, ripped jeans and a pale purple skirt over it. She had on a fuzzy, white hat, too, but her hands were bare.
"Yes, I am very resistant to extreme temperatures," she replied, catching a handful of snow in her hand. It seeped through her fingers and fell to the ground soon after. "The snow here is so soft and light. I'm used to it being hard, almost like hail."
"There was hail here once. I think I was nine. Raven, Victor, and I were at the park, and out of nowhere a chunk of hail just hit Raven in the head. It was hilarious. But then more hail started coming down and hit me and Victor in the head, too. So then we all went to my house and had hot chocolate," I laughed. Raven had the funniest look on her face when that had happened.
"That sounds painful," Kori murmured. I nodded.
"It was." I reached up and rubbed the spot on my head where I had been hit. There was still a small bump there. We finally reached Kori's house, and before we could open the door, two boys had ran out bundled up in layers of clothing, shouting "snow!" at the top of their lungs. Kori giggled at them and watched as they threw snowballs at each other, half of which weren't packed good enough.
"Don't track in any snow when you come in later, all right, Ryan?" she told one of the boys. He nodded and threw a snowball at her, but it flopped onto the ground.
"As long as you and your boyfriend there don't start making out up there!" he agreed. She laughed and I just rolled my eyes. 'How many people are going to think that we're together?' Kori grasped my wrist and pulled me inside, shutting the door behind us.
"Who was that?" I asked as I took of my jacket and hung it on her coat rack.
"My little brother and his friend. They're in fourth grade. They have no clue what they're talking about," she replied. I laughed. 'Obviously…' The two of us walked over toward her elevator, and she pressed the button to go up. The doors soon opened and we walked in, the annoying elevator music filling our ears. Kori quickly pressed the button marked "5" for the fifth floor. The elevator moved up slowly, and a "ding!" sounded as we reached our destination. The doors opened, and we stepped into the violet room, my feet sinking into the lavender carpet.
I walked over to her large bed, covered in a white blanket with light purple and green stripes, and sat on it. It was…comfy. Kori walked over towards her strange land and turned it on, the green light filling the room, before lying down next to me. I poked her in the side to get her attention, but she swatted her hand at mine and told me she wasn't getting up. I shrugged and pulled the star-shaped pillow out from under her head, and her eyes opened, glaring. "Give me that," she muttered. I grinned like a little kid.
"You've gotta get if from me," I taunted her. She grumbled and sat up, reaching her hand out for the pillow. I pulled it away before she could get it.
"Richard, just give me the pillow," she sighed. I smirked.
"Nope. You've got to work for it," I protested.
"Please," she pleaded. I shook my head. "Fine, then." She lunged at me, us both toppling onto the floor, with her on top, the pillow in her hand. We both laughed at how childish we were being.
"Uhh…what's going on in here?" a voice came from the other side of the room. We both looked toward the elevator doors, where Kimi was standing. The two of us blushed, and Kori quickly got up, holding the pillow.
"Nothing," she replied quickly. Kimi laughed at us.
"Eh, I don't care. I just need to know what you want for dinner. Mom said to cook some chicken, but I don't feel like making anything. She's not home, anyway. Ryan said he wants Chinese. You ok with that?" she asked.
"That sounds wondrous. Chinese food is most delicious!" Kori exclaimed. Kimi smiled.
"Good. Now I don't have to cook," she laughed. "Oh, and Ryan's friend is staying for dinner. You want to, Richard?"
"Sure. Alfred won't mind. He won't have to cook then, either," I replied. Kimi turned around, and went back into the elevator, muttering a quick "ok", before disappearing behind the doors. "How old is your sister?"
"Kimi's 19. She normally stays at her dorm in the college, except on weekends, but my parents went on a trip, and don't want me and Ryan to be home alone," Kori answered. I raised my eyebrow at her.
"But you're 16. Don't they trust you?" I asked. Kori looked away and sighed.
"It is not me they do not trust…it is you," she said, not making eye contact.
"What?"
"My parents, they are not exactly the friendliest people. They don't really like me being with other people. They're kind of…overprotective. Especially if I'm with you, because well…you're…a guy. And they don't want me to…" She trailed off, looking down at her feet.
"You don't have to finish. I know what you're saying," I muttered. I got up off of the floor, and sat next to her. We sat there silently, not really wanting to talk about any of what she had just told me. After a few minutes, Kimi came back in again.
"Food's here," she announced. Kori and I got up and followed her into the elevator. When we got out, she led us down a hall, through a large living room, and into the kitchen. Ryan and his friend were already there, stuffing their faces with food.
"Ew! The lovebirds are here!" Ryan exclaimed, gagging. I rolled my eyes and Kori kicked his chair as the two of us walked over to the other side of the table and sat in the chairs. "Somebody's PMSing…" I heard him mutter, and his friend started cracking up. Kori groaned and reached over to grab some Lo Mein, dumping it on her plate. I began piling a bunch of rice, chicken, shrimp, and vegetables on my plate, which were soon devoured.
After we finished eating, we got out of there as soon as possible. The two of us had gone down to the beach, even though it was freezing. "I don't want to do home for a little while," Kori groaned. She rolled over to face me (we were laying on the ground) and sighed. "We don't…act like that, do we?"
"We kinda do a little bit," I admitted, blushing. Kori started blushing, too. "And those times we kissed don't help stop suspicions…"
"But nobody even knows of that except for Garfield, Victor, and Raven," she said.
"You expect them to keep their mouths shut? And, we're almost always together. And we've held hands, and we hug a lot and—" Kori put a finger to my lips, cutting me off.
"I get your point," she murmured. The snow was falling much heavier than it was before, but there was no more wind, so the snow was sticking to the ground. Flakes were all in Kori's hair, making it look sparkly. A small flake landed on Kori's nose, and she let out a small "eep!" I smiled and let out a small laugh, resulting in her throwing a snowball at me.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, brushing the snow out of my dark hair. Kori giggled and got another snowball, throwing it right at my face. I wiped it off and tackled her, the two of us rolling down the sand dunes and into the freezing pacific.
"O-ok, I'm c-c-cold n-now," Kori complained through chattering teeth. We quickly scrambled to the shore, huddling together for warmth. We both blushed at our actions and Kori laughed. "I guess we do act like that…" she whispered. But I heard her anyway. And she was right.
2,508 (or 2,511, I don't know. Word and FanFiction are saying different things) words here. That's pretty long for me. And I got a lot done here. Gar and Rae are together. Tara's been voted off xD (You could say that) Ryan's been introduced. We find out Kori's parents hate Richard (pfft, he's too sexy for them) And mindless fluff! Yay xD;
Oh, and a question for all you "medical geniuses" : How long does it take for a broken arm and a broken nose to heal?
Update Status: Chapter 13- Untitled as of now: April 24th
