Chapter 27
Raven cautiously walked into school, looking around nervously as she made her way to her locker. Shaking off the remaining drops of water from her umbrella, she sighed. It was really coming down outside, the perfect setting for a day like today….the worst day ever.
Today was the day that Rocky and his gang came back to school and she was sure that whatever was going on in her vision would happen some time in the next couple of hours. It was a sinking feeling she had all morning. Rocky and crew weren't anywhere in sight at the moment and after a few more hallway scans, Raven decided it was safe.
She normally wouldn't be too afraid of Rocky, but her vision was frightening. Whatever it was that he was going to do, it was going to draw blood; yes, it was blood on her fingers that she saw, she was sure of it. Blood meant pain…blood was very, very scary.
Thunder cracked through the sky outside and made Raven inadvertently jump. She looked over to Chelsea's locker; Chelsea hadn't come to school yet. It was getting close to first period; maybe Chelsea was smart and took a day off. Raven couldn't afford to, having a few too many sick days under her belt already.
Raven was shaking more water from the umbrella and getting read to wrap the tie around it when a voice called out from behind her, making her scream.
"Hey Rae!"
Raven turned and accidentally pushed the button on the handle, opening up the umbrella, hitting and wetting whoever it was that called out. Closing the umbrella, Raven winced in regret as a now wet and irritated Eddie glared at her, wiping his shirt. "I'm so sorry." Raven said breathlessly. "I'm just a little jumpy today."
Eddie sighed. "It's all right. Today's the day…I'd be scared too."
"You know, I almost wish that Rocky would just do whatever it is he's planning to do so I can move on."
"Raven, you know that's not gonna happen. I won't let that happen." Eddie said, standing up straighter, trying to make himself look tough. "If I have to…" Eddie trailed off, and his body began to deflate as fear crept up on him. "I'll…fight Rocky."
Raven laughed a little, rolling her eyes. "Eddie, come on, when's the last time you fought somebody? Come to think of it, when have you ever fought anyone?"
"Jimmy Bruno." Eddie said, raising his chin high in victory.
Raven closed her locker and gave Eddie that are-you-serious look. "That was in the third grade and if I remember it correctly…he kicked your butt."
The bell rang, and they started for class.
Eddie slouched down again, shrugging. "I tried."
"It's a really sweet offer, thanks." Raven smiled, patting Eddie on the back. If nothing else, he knew how to cheer her up.
Raven was nearly sleeping as Mr. Donavon droned on and on about some place, somewhere, way back when in history. She thought her arm was about to give out from underneath her chin and her head was going to hit the desk when the classroom door opened and a mildly soaked Chelsea entered. Raven perked up almost immediately; happy to see Chelsea, but the girl didn't look too happy to be there.
Mr. Donavon turned around and sighed. "You're late Ms. Daniels. You've missed almost half of the class."
"I know and I'm very sorry about that sir. I promise that it won't happen again." Chelsea said as she rushed over to her seat and sat down immediately. Mr. Donavon, however, wasn't finished with her just yet.
"You're right Ms. Daniels, it won't happen again, because detention this afternoon will give you some time to think about ways in which you can get to school on time."
"What?" Chelsea whined. "No offense sir, but this is the first time I've been late this year!"
Mr. Donavon sighed. "I know. It's the new school policy; we're trying to crack down on tardiness by stopping it before it gets out of control." He smiled obnoxiously. "Congratulations Ms. Daniels, you are the very first victim of this policy." Mr. Donavon then continued with his lesson.
"I'm honored." Chelsea muttered almost inaudibly, taking her notebook out, plopping it on the desk and sighing. It wasn't even the middle of the morning and her day had gone from just plain bad to downright horrible.
Raven looked at Chelsea, wrinkling her forehead in sympathy and concern. Chelsea finally looked her way, giving Raven the best smile she could muster at the moment. "You okay?" Raven mouthed, resting her head on her chin.
Chelsea nodded and shrugged, her wet hair falling around her face. "After." She mouthed back and Raven blew her a kiss. She smiled a little easier, winking at Raven.
Then, both girls turned their attentions to Mr. Donavon…well, the most attention they could give a history teacher.
"Well, I hope these last two weeks have been somewhat of a wake-up call for all of you. I know that it's certainly help me realize some things." Mr. Lawler said, sitting back in his leather chair. "For one thing, I learned that when you four aren't around, my blood pressure drops significantly."
Rocky sighed from his chair in front of Lawler's desk, nodding. "We've had some time to think things over too. Right guys?"
Michael, who was sitting next to Rocky in the other chair, his chin resting on his chest as he slouched, grunted. Tyrone nodded and Deckland said, "'at's right."
"That's good." Lawler said, seeing right through all four of them. He sat up. "Well, then I guess you all know why you're here today."
"Actually, we don't sir…and we got class." Rocky answered calmly, his usually raspy voice coming out smoother.
"Don't worry; you all are excused from your first period class. If what you say is true, Mr. Collera, then there shouldn't be any problems, but for everyone's sake here this morning, a warning to all of you. If I see or hear of any one of you harassing Miss Baxter or Miss Daniels, you will be expelled. Understand?"
Mr. Lawler sat tensely in his chair, waiting for a response. There were several moments of silence that did not sit well with him at all. Finally, Rocky spoke up. "Understood sir."
The rest of the gang agreed in one form or another, but that didn't satisfy Lawler in the least. What else could he do though? He warned them and he would keep an eye on them, but there were other duties that had to be fulfilled, other demands that had to be met. It would have to do for now. He eyed each and every one of them individually before sitting back in his chair. "That'll be all then. Good day boys."
"As always, it's been a blast." Rocky quipped, standing up and going to leave.
The four delinquents left the office. They had ten minutes before class would end and the hallways would fill.
"Well, that it for all that." Michael sighed; trying to sound disappointed, but was really relieved.
"Whaddaya mean?" Rocky hissed as they walked toward the school entrance.
"You heard Lawler, he'll expel us. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be expelled man." Michael said, walking ahead of Rocky.
Rocky sped up. "Whoa man, chill. We ain't gonna get expelled."
"How do you know?"
"Because we ain't gonna get caught…and they won't say a word."
"You don't know that Rock."
"Ya worry too much Mike." Deckland said from behind him and Michael turned. "If Rock says we ain't getten caught, we ain't getten caught."
Tyrone nodded silently. Michael looked at each of them but still shook his head. "Why wouldn't they tell on us?"
"Don't worry about it Mikey. We got them. Those dykes ain't gonna know what hit 'em." Rocky hissed, rubbing his hands together menacingly.
"So, what happened?" Raven asked Chelsea as they walked toward their lockers.
"First, I my alarm didn't go off, so I got up late. Then, when I was running around, trying to get ready and get all my stuff together, I lost my English report, so I had to print out another one. I didn't even eat breakfast cause I was rushing out of the house…and on the way to school my umbrella broke so I got wet." Chelsea whined. "And now I have detention. Can this day get any worse?"
Raven wrapped her arm around Chelsea and gave her a tight but comforting squeeze.
Out of the corner of her eye, Chelsea saw them. All four boys standing across the hall, leaning up against some lockers. She groaned, looking up at the ceiling and then at Raven. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"
"Yep." Raven exhaled, linking arms with Chelsea as they walked. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't take her eyes off of Rocky, who hadn't seen them yet. "They're back."
"Why did I get out of bed this morning?"
"Because you wanted to see me." Raven answered, resting her head on Chelsea's shoulder, trying to make Chelsea feel even a little bit better.
Chelsea didn't answer. She was thinking about Ben's vision. Should she tell Raven? Rocky and his gang could be the cause of all the trouble. Maybe she should say something, just to warn Raven…no. She couldn't really be sure that Ben's vision had anything to do with Rocky. Until it was certain, she wouldn't say anything.
"…okay?"
"What?" Chelsea said, snapping her head toward Raven, who was looking at her with concern.
"Are you okay? You zoned out."
"I'm sorry." Chelsea sighed, opening her locker. "It's just a really bad day."
Raven nodded, opening her locker and grabbing the stuff she needed. She didn't take her eyes off of Chelsea the whole time. Should she tell Chelsea about her vision? Chelsea was already having a bad day. Whatever Rocky was going to do would make it worse. If she could avoid it though, the vision wouldn't come true. Raven decided she wouldn't tell Chelsea until it was absolutely necessary.
At Lunch, Raven skipped over to Chelsea, Eddie and Chantel, who were already sitting at a table, waiting for her. "Guess whose got detention!" She practically sang.
"Besides me?" Chelsea asked flatly.
"Me!" Raven squealed, sitting next to the redhead.
"What?" Eddie said, shaking his head. "How did you get detention?"
"Well, I didn't get dressed for gym and apparently, doing that more than two times gets me detention!" Raven exclaimed like she had just gotten an 'A' on a test or won a shopping spree.
"Great, now we both have detention." Chelsea said, a little less thrilled about the whole thing.
"Yeah, but we'll be together."
"That's true." Chelsea nodded, smiling a little and planting a kiss on Raven's lips. "Thank you."
Eddie silently cursed, shaking his head. How was he supposed to watch out for Raven and Chelsea if they were both in detention? He would just have to get detention too.
Then, Ben arrived, plopping down at the table. "Hey guys."
"Hey Ben, what's up?" Chelsea asked and Ben frowned. Chelsea gave him subtle wide eyes, signaling that he shouldn't go into anything that has to do with visions.
"I have to stay after school today."
"No way!" Raven nearly shouted. "You got detention too?"
Ben shook his head slowly. "No, I'm a tutor."
"Since when?" Chelsea scoffed.
"Since my teacher asked me to do it."
"What subject?" Eddie asked.
"Physics. This girl in my class needs some help and since I'm doing so good, Mr. Jones said I should tutor; that it would look good for college."
A light bulb went off in Eddie's head. "Hey, you think you could help me out too?"
"Eddie, I thought you were doing good in Physics?" Chantel muffled, her mouth full of food.
"I'm doing okay, I could do better." Eddie looked at Ben. "So, how about it?"
"Sure."
"Great! So then, we can all meet up after detention."
"Whose got detention?" Ben asked.
"Me and Rae."
"Why?"
"Well, I was late to class and Raven didn't get dressed for gym again."
Ben shook his head. "Seems like the only person free to do anything after school is Chantel."
Chantel shook her head. "No, I have to baby-sit for my next door neighbor."
The teens ate in silence after that, but Eddie kept looking over at Ben, who kept looking over at Chelsea for some strange reason. 'He better not want to get back together with her.' Eddie thought suspiciously. 'We don't need any of that right now. I'll just have to talk to him after school.'
Ben glanced at Chelsea again, who hadn't really looked his way since he sat down. 'Today may be when my vision happens.' He thought miserably. 'At least I'll be here if they need me.'
'Aye Rock, guess what I 'eard." Deckland whispered to Rocky as he sat down at their lunch table.
"What?" Rocky asked, paying more attention to his lunch than to Deckland.
"Da two lovebirds are caged afta school."
"What the hell are you goin on about?"
"Ya girls…dey got detention!"
Michael rolled his eyes. 'Here we go.' He thought angrily.
Rocky finally turned his head toward Deckland, smiling. "No way."
"I swear on me Mudder's life."
"You don't even know your mother." Michael chimed in and Deckland smacked him in the back of the head.
"Shut yer trap." Then, Deckland turned back to Rocky. "How is that fer luck! We don even hafta search for 'em!"
"They're right over there." Rocky said, slightly nudging his head in their direction. "I've been seein them all day."
Michael turned around and Rocky hit him. "Ouch! What the fu--"
"Forget about Lawler! He's right there man!" Rocky hissed and Michael looked to his left. Principal Lawler was slowly walking up and down the cafeteria, meeting Michael's gaze with his own. Michael turned back to his food.
"If you care about him that much, why do you have to go through with your plan?"
"He ain't gonna be here after school. We're fine by then."
Michael nearly groaned. Rocky, having been dealt many hours of detention, knew that Lawler stayed for half an hour after school and then left. Detention lasted forty-five minutes. They had a fifteen minute window for anything unexpected. Michael really didn't want to go through with the plan. Just thinking about it made his stomach turn.
As Rocky, Deckland and Tyrone celebrated, Michael threw down his sandwich. He was completely torn; he didn't want to do anything to the girls, but if he didn't, he would lose the only friends he had in the world.
Life just wasn't fair.
Author's Note: Sorry once again that it's taken me so long, but this chapter is longer than most. The next few chapters should be exciting, if some of you are still willing to wait it out. Thanks again to all who reviewed and for the, "get well" wishes. :)