A seventeen-year-old, blonde-haired boy hopped onto one of the tables in a coffee shop. He brandished his drink above his head as he made his announcement. "A toast!" he began. "To all of us cool people who will rule the high school senior year, which begins TOMORROW!"
His friends, about ten of them and gathered around the table, cheered and raised their glasses. Fifteen feet away the noise reached the ears of one of the coffee shop employees; she grudgingly swiped a cleaning rag across the countertop, muttering to herself. It was the last day of summer vacation, which luckily meant the last day of her summer job. Today had been a quite slow day, excepting the crowd of older teenagers that had leeched in through the glass doors to celebrate their newfound supremacy. All of the other customers had politely left before it became overcrowded. Now, no one was entering the shop, so the two workers holding out behind the counter could relax.
The female employee went by the name of Raven Roth. She wasn't necessarily a people-person, excepting the times when she was with her closest friends. Raven undid the large barrette that clasped her purple tresses together at the back of her head, allowing her hair to fall just above her shoulders. "What time is it?" she asked her colleague dully.
"About two-thirty." Richard Grayson, one of her friends from school and neighbor, replied. "Don't worry, our shift will be over soon enough." He ran a hand through his already mussed black hair; on any normal occasion he would wear gloves, but now he wasn't to wear them because of the dress code. "Why are you always so eager to get out of here, anyway?"
Raven nodded towards the soon-to-be high school seniors. They were still whooping and cheering, trying to liven up their last day of freedom. "They're here almost every day, celebrating. It annoys me to no end."
Richard eyed the aforementioned crowd. "Nearly everything annoys you these days. Seriously, you can't seem to talk to other people without snapping at them."
"Which is why you do all the smiling and I make the drinks," Raven pointed out.
"You've been like this since ever since Kori left," Richard continued. He paused and looked at his purple-haired friend, raising an eyebrow. "Gosh, Raven…you couldn't be pining, could you?"
He caught a cleaning rag with his face.
"You know I'm not that kind of person."
"Heh. It was just a suggestion. And even if you are pining, Kori comes home today anyway." Richard wadded up the rag and tossed it playfully back at Raven, who let it fall on the floor. "It's probably good that she went to visit her relatives this summer. When she came to school last year she was given hell."
"Yeah," Raven agreed, reflecting on their freshman year. Kori Anders had come from Europe and tended to talk with a more formal manner than most others, which made her the victim of many practical jokes. Raven was glad that by now Kori had adjusted to her new environment quite well, and that the jokes had ceased.
"Hey, freshies!"
Raven and Richard turned to see one of the soon-to-be female seniors on the other side of the counter. "We're not freshmen," Richard retorted.
"Whatever, you were last year," she said, uncaring. "Hey, my friends and I were wondering…" She snickered. "…what's it like to be losers?"
"Funny. That's just what I was going to ask you," Raven answered without missing a beat. The senior sneered and slouched back to her table, upset that she had failed to achieve harassment.
Richard pretended to sigh in despair. "Raven, Raven, Raven. I just don't know what to do with you. Raven, Raven, Raven…"
"Dick, Dick, Dick…" Raven received a light-hearted swat over the head.
"You know, I have absolutely no problem with calling you 'Ray'."
"Whatever. It's not nearly as horrible as 'Dick'."
A shrill ding rang through the shop as a bell announced someone's entry through the door. "Wonderful," Raven sighed. "Another customer."
"Yeah…" Richard smirked and pointed over her shoulder. "But you might want to see who it is."
Raven turned around and nearly jumped. Striding towards the two of them was Kori Anders, clad in a large purple hoodie and matching mid-thigh skirt. She was slightly more tanned than usual, but looked as cheerful as ever. "My friends!" she swooned, not noticing the seniors watching her carefully. "I have missed the both of you!" Her long red hair swished around her as she bounded around the counter to greet her friends. She swept Richard and Raven into an embrace and planted a light kiss on each of their foreheads.
"How was Europe, Kori?" Raven asked as soon as the redhead let her go.
"Quite wonderful," Kori replied. "I had a fabulous reunion with my grandparents. Though, I couldn't wait to return home! How have you two been doing?"
"Oh, you know, Richard here got us hired to work at an extremely popular coffee shop all summer. Other than that it hasn't been going too well, I'm afraid." Raven earned a quick glare from Richard, while Kori giggled.
"We're glad you're back," Richard added. "It's nice to have someone optimistic around here."
"Hey, whom exactly was that comment directed at?"
The teenaged boy smirked at Raven and looked at the clock. Three o'clock—their shift was over. "We should spend our last hours of vacation together. How about we head over to my house?" he inquired, untying his apron. The girls nodded, and Raven followed suit; she and Richard turned in their aprons, and set off out of the shop and down the sidewalk with Kori. Kori and Richard practically bounced all the way, laughing and trying to get Raven to join in; the purple-haired girl tried to suppress a smile and resisted her friends' antics…before they each grabbed one of her arms and ran the rest of the way.
XXXXXA/N: This is just something that I've been considering for a while. Yep, finally jumping on the bandwagon and writing an AU fic…well, it was bound to happen, wasn't it? Again, when my computer access is restricted to weekends, I might be a tad bit slow when it comes to updates…but with enough encouragement I will continue. So, please tell me what you think.