Chapter 2

Saturday, August 25

1:00 PM

Logan and Victor are sitting on the couch playing video games. Kori is watching them play while Dick is reading the newspaper. Raven is in her room reading a book.

"Eat my dust, Roboman," Logan says to Victor as his car passes Vic's.

"No way, Grass stain," Vic replies. When they are close to the finish line, Vic knocks Logan's car off the course and crosses the finish line. "Booyah!"

"Dude, no fair."

"Deal with it, man. I won, you lost. Like usual." Logan slumps on the couch and crosses his arms. Vic turns off the game as Dick folds up the newspaper.

Dick says to the group, "It's not as hot today. Do you guys want to do something outside?" Vic and Logan look at each other as big grins spread across their faces.

"Dodgeball!" they both yell.

"How about we play that with water balloons?" Dick suggests.

"I'm good with that," Vic says.

"Me too," says Logan.

"Okay, Kori and I will go fill up the water balloons," Dick says.

"Vic and I will get Raven," Logan says while walking toward the hallway.

"But friend Raven does not like to play dodgeball," Kori says.

Logan waves her off. "She can be referee then. Or just watch." Logan and Victor walk out of the room to Raven's room. Logan knocks on her door.

Raven's concentration on her book is broken when she hears loud knocking on her door. She then hears Victor yell, "Yo Raven!" followed by Logan shouting, "Open up!" She closes her book and walks over to the door. She opens her door.

"What?" Raven says, annoyed.

"We're all gonna play dodgeball with water balloons. Wanna play?" Logan says.

"No," replies Raven.

Logan persists, "Wanna be referee?"

"Go away." Raven closes the door but Logan holds it open several inches.

"But pleeeeeease?" Logan begs.

Victor gets involved with the conversation. "Everybody loves a good game of dodgeball."

"You can just watch," Logan adds.

"No." Raven pushes Logan away from her door and closes it.

"Aww Raven, come on. Why can't you just have fun like normal people? Why are you always locked in your dark room reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?" Logan complains.

Victor tries to calm him down. "Forget it, man. Leave her alone." They both walk away.

Raven hugs her book to her chest. "I'm not creepy. I'm just different." She walks over to her bed and sits on it. "And I wish there was someone around here that understood that. Someone I could talk to. Someone more like me." A few minutes later, she receives a text message.

TEXT: "Hey Raven. It's Malcolm. Sorry I havent talked to u lately. How are u?"

Raven smiles and replies, "Ive been better. Needing some1 to talk to."

Malcolm responds quickly: "Sry to hear u aren't doing well. U can always talk to me."

They text for the rest of the night, talking about different things. Around midnight, Raven is finding it hard to stay awake. She sends another text to Malcolm.

"Sry but I'm rele tired & I'm almost falling asleep," she texts.

Malcolm replies, "Dont be sry. I completely understand. It's late & u should rest."

Raven responds, "Can we Skype tomorrow? I'd rather talk than text."

Malcolm texts back, "Of course. What time?"

Raven thinks for a little bit then types, "9 AM?"

Malcolm replies, "Sounds good. Until tomorrow then."

Raven texts, "Good night."

Malcolm types, "Sweet dreams Raven." Raven reads the text and smiles. She puts her phone on her night stand and quickly falls asleep.

Sunday August 26

11:45 AM

Dick and Kori are in the kitchen making lunch for everyone. Victor and Logan are watching TV in the living room.

"It's ready," Dick calls from the kitchen. Vic and Logan both get up and walk to the kitchen.

"Where is friend Raven?" Kori asks, not seeing her.

"I haven't seen her all day. Have you guys?" Dick says to Logan and Vic.

"She's probably in her room, like usual," Logan says.

Vic turns to him. "You should go get her and apologize to her."

Dick looks at Vic. "What's he done this time to upset her?"

"I didn't do anything," Logan says.

"He called her creepy," Vic states.

Dick looks at Logan. "Go apologize to her. Now."

"Fine," Logan says while getting up. He walks to Raven's room. He knocks on the door. "Hey Raaaven. Umm, it's like almost noon and you haven't come out of your room. So just in case you're mad, I'm gonna go ahead and say sorry I called you creepy last night. And lunch is ready." He waits for a few moments but doesn't hear an answer. "Raven?" He puts his ear to the door.

"Perhaps if we're quiet he'll just go away," says a voice Logan doesn't recognize. After this person speaks, he hears Raven laugh. He calls out, shocked, "Umm Raven, is everything—"He is cut off by Raven's door opening a few inches. Raven is standing in the opening with her hood up. "Hi. Umm, you were laughing. And I thought I heard…is someone in there?" He tries looking past her into her dark room to see another person.

Raven replies monotonously, "Just me. And my computer."

Logan responds, "Oh. Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Better than okay. Way better," She says before closing the door. Logan hears her through the closed door. "Sorry Malcolm. He won't bother us again."

"Malcolm? Who's Malcolm?" Logan wonders as he walks back to the kitchen alone.

Two hours later, Raven is still Skyping with Malcolm. She looks at the clock and notices it is 2:00 PM. She looks back at Malcolm.

"I should probably leave my room so my friends don't worry about me too much," she says, not wanting to stop talking to him.

"Probably. I really enjoy talking to you. You're the best thing to happen to me since I moved here," Malcolm says.

"Then you don't think I'm creepy?" Raven says looking away.

Malcolm responds, "Certainly not. You are dark, and darkness is often misunderstood. But I feel like I understand you."

Raven smiles. "I feel that way too." She looks at the clock again. "I should go."

"Go spend time with your friends."

"Do you promise we'll see each other tomorrow?"

"I promise." Raven ends the video call and turns off her computer. She goes out to the living room where her friends are. They all talk and play Monopoly. At 5:30, they go out for pizza. When they get back, Logan goes to his room to do his homework that he has put off. Vic goes to the garage to work on his car. Dick and Kori watch a movie in Dick's room, and Raven goes to her room to read. The rest of the night is uneventful and they all, excluding Vic, have school in the morning.