Disclaimer: For the love of God, I don't own anything that has to do with "That's So Raven!"

Chapter 14

At about noon, Raven took out her denim fabric from her closet and set it by her sewing machine. She had nothing else to do, so she decided to start working on the new jacket she had just designed.

Nobody else was home. Cory was at school, Tanya had a class and Victor was still trying to train the apparently untrainable waitress.

As she started up the sewing machine, Raven thought about what to tell Chelsea. No plausable excuses besides the truth or claiming temporary insanity were good enough.

"You gotta think of something Baxter...or it's over." She said aloud. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Maybe the insanity excuse would work...

Then, the front door slammed.

Raven shot up from her chair and ran into bed. Throwing the covers over herself, Raven wondered who it could be. Maybe her mother's class was cancelled, or her father got off from work early.

She heard excited footsteps climbing the stairs and approaching the bedroom door. For a second, Raven became frightened. Why were they in such a hurry to get to her room?

The door opened, there was a flash of copper hair, and Raven felt her stomach drop. It was Chelsea. A very, very upset Chelsea.

"Chelsea what are you doing here?"

Chelsea paced around the room nervously, shaking her hands in anxiety. "I left. I left school. I cut class. I didn't even make it to first period. Because-because I need to know what's wrong with you."

"What?"

"I left school before class and-and...I didn't know what to do. I thought about running to your house, but I was scared to, so I walked around San Fransico, wracking my brain, trying to think of...of any reason why you're acting so weird. I asked Eddie..."

Raven's heart lept up in her throat. Had he told?

"...but he kept your precious little secret. Yes secret. You've got a secret."

Chelsea raved on and on, gesturing wildly. Raven threw her covers off and slowly sat up in the bed, never taking her eyes off of Chelsea.

"You've got a secret and you're not telling me. That's fine, because I don't want to know anyway. I don't want to know why you've been acting so weird and avoiding me and...and..."

And then Chelsea started crying.

"Chelsea..." Raven said, standing up and going to hug her friend, but Chelsea shied away.

"No. No. What is it Raven? Why can't you tell me? Do you want to stop being friends?"

Raven shook her head wildly. "No girl. No." She was becoming very agitated herself. This was it. D-day. Zero hour.

"Then what is it because I'm going crazy here and I don't think I can take any more--"

"Chelsea, I love you!"

Chelsea stopped pacing and snapped her head toward Raven. "What?"

Not being able to control herself any longer, Raven grabbed Chelsea's arm and pulled her close, making her lips meet Chelsea's in a hard, passionate kiss.

Chelsea's free arm went up immediately like a red flag. Shaking her mouth free, she pulled her other arm from Raven's grasp and pushed herself away, losing her balance and falling on Raven's bed.

Raven put a hand to her mouth, squeezing her lips between her thumb and the middle of her bent forefinger. She looked at Chelsea's face and was surprised (and totally relieved) that disgust wasn't there. But her reaction wasn't positive.

Shock was there. Complete and total shock. Chelsea had paled considerably, almost to the point of translucence and her mouth was open just a little.

"I'm sorry Chelsea. I didn't mean to..." Raven took a step toward the bed and Chelsea leaned back. Raven stopped moving, afraid that Chelsea was going to scream.

Chelsea stood up slowly and started to back away from Raven toward the door.

"Chelsea just let me explain." Raven begged, but Chelsea kept backing away. Just like in her dream. Raven felt like she was stuck to her bedroom floor. She wanted to run to Chelsea, grab her, hold her, and never let go...but her legs weren't working.

Finally finding her voice, Chelsea said, "I...go." Then, she ran from the bedroom and out of the house.

Raven's legs started to work when she heard the front door slam and she ran down the stairs as fast as she could, almost tripping and falling twice. She scrambled for the front door and yanked it open, running out and looking around.

Chelsea was already gone.

Raven stood outside on her porch for a few more minutes, looking up and down her block just to make sure. When she was sure Chelsea was gone, Raven shuffled back inside and closed the front door. She staggered toward the couch, but her legs folded under and her knees hit the living room floor with a thud. She ran both of her shaky hands through her hair, pressing her temples a little. Another bout of fresh tears covered her eyes, but didn't spill over on to her cheeks.

What was she thinking, kissing Chelsea like that? What had she done? Chelsea apparently didn't want that, since it took her less than ten seconds to push Raven off of her. And her face...her shocked, pale face would be burned in Raven's brain forever.

"You'll never have me."

She bent foreward until her forehead touched the hardwood floor. The unshed tears collecting in her eyes fell, creating a strange pattern of droplets on the floor. Raven let her body fall on its side and she wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling herself into the fetal position.

And she stayed there.

Chelsea ran all the way to her house from Raven's, not stopping until she was sliding down her bedroom door to the soft carpet below, gasping for air. She thought she would faint from lack of oxygen, and that would be okay, because then should wouldn't have to think about what just happened.

She leaned her head back against the door, looking up at the ceiling. One, two, three...twenty-two. Twenty two stars. She closed her eyes, thinking about the camping trip that she dragged Raven on.

"There's so many."

"Yeah well, you can't really see them in the city, with all the lights from the buildings."

"I'm sorry I never gave this place a chance."

Chelsea looked at Raven, staring up at the sky, and saw the stars dancing in her eyes. She looked beaut--

Chelsea snapped her eyes open just in time to see another plastic star fall from her ceiling. It floated a little, turning a few times before it hit the carpet.

Author's Note: Just wanted to tell you all that I took those lines from the TSR episode "Skunk'd." I'm not sure they're the exact lines, but that's where they came from. Well, execpt for the part where Chelsea sees the stars dancing in Raven's eyes...I made that up myself. lol.