Kori had taken to waking up with the sunrise. By half past seven she was already preparing her lunch for that afternoon. She folded thin slices of ham and placed them on a toasted piece of bread, and then dived into the refrigerator to search for her favorite sandwich toppings.
"Kori? What're you doing up so early?"
She turned to see her younger brother, slumping against the kitchen doorframe and still clad in his plaid pajama pants and oversized nightshirt. "What do you mean?" Kori answered coolly. "School starts in twenty minutes, Ryan." She checked the shelves on the inside of the refrigerator door. "Now, whatever could you have done with the mustard?"
Ryan blinked tiredly. "Uhhh…I recall putting it behind the red cabbage and tempeh, Kori." He looked down to examine his attire. "Perhaps I should change?"
"Perhaps you should, little brother." As Ryan ducked back into the hall she pushed aside the cabbage and tempeh to reach for the desired condiment.
XXXXXFive minutes later Kori set out for school. Having a fondness for purple, she had dressed in a cheerful purple t-shirt and poncho with a modest pair of blue jeans. She met with Raven and Richard at the crosswalk at the corner across from Jump City High. Raven donned a large, navy blue hoodie and black jeans. She wore her hood up, despite the pleasantly warm weather, and the hem shaded her eyes and cast a shadow over her face. Robin had taken a cheerier approach to back-to-school wear; he was adorned in a green polo shirt and baggy blue jeans, with a pair of bright green gloves on his hands.
"Kori!" Richard waved for her to hurry up and join them. Next to him Raven slid her hands into her sweatshirt pocket. Kori ran the rest of the way, grinning widely.
"Hello, loves!" she giggled. The phrase that she had so-often used back when she visited her family earned her some odd looks from the passersby, though this didn't faze her in the least. "Raven, why is your hood up? Aren't you warm?"
"I like it that way," Raven replied. "Besides, this sweatshirt's a back-to-school present from Wallace. I might as well put it to good use, or else risk hurting his feelings." She rolled her eyes playfully at the mention of her adoptive brother.
"Of course," Richard said, smirking. "But at least let us see your face!" With that he whipped the hood back off her head, exposing her bright purple hair and large, dark eyes. The said eyes widened in surprise at the boy's sudden action.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Raven," Kori chuckled. She placed a finger under the shorter girl's chin and tilted Raven's head up to look at her. "That purple hair of yours is quite a sight to behold," she added.
Raven narrowed her eyes and stepped away, though she neglected to raise her hood again. When the traffic signals changed appropriately the trio crossed the street and were on school campus. They maneuvered their way through the crowds of students until they reached the office, where they got their schedules for the semester. Richard led the way outside, where they compared schedules.
"We all have French together," Kori pointed out. Raven nodded as she examined her agenda:
1st: History, r. 33
2nd: Algebra II, r. 17
3rd: French II, r. 4
break
4th: Poetry Workshop, r. 19
5th: English, r. 40
break
6th: PE, 48 (locker room)
7th: Music Theory, r. 42
She noticed that she was also in the same class as Richard for History and English, and was with Kori for Music Theory. Richard and Kori were in the same math class for fourth period.
"This is great," Richard concluded. "Most of my classes are with you guys." Though he didn't like to admit it, he wasn't too fond of being alone.
The bell rang. "See you later, Kori!" Richard said. Kori grinned, and gave one last wave of her hand before she departed for her first class. Richard and Raven walked to room 33 together, quickly so as to beat the rush of students and so that they could sit next to each other in the back of the room.
Fortunately, they made it just in time, and as soon as they were seated the other students began to pour into the room. A boy with a mop of thick white hair sat directly in front of Raven. Richard looked at the large pile of books on the teacher's desk, just waiting to be passed out, and sighed.
Before long the teacher strode into the room. She looked as if to be in her mid-thirties; her hair was wound into a tight bun at the back of her head and she wore a black suit with a matching skirt. "Welcome, class," she began, standing in front of her desk, "to the tenth grade. My name is Mrs. Lenard."
She paused, as if she thought she was going to see some kind of reaction. Seeing none whatsoever, she continued.
"I've seen most of you around school last year, so I do not see that a tour is in order today. However, I need to spend this period passing out your books and locker numbers, which you will be using all year. Now, when I call your name, please come up to the front of the room and accept both of these items…" Mrs. Lenard proceeded to call the students up to the front of the room alphabetically.
When Richard returned to his seat with his book and locker number he turned to Raven. "What do you think about this teacher?" he asked.
"She wants us to love her, no doubt," Raven scoffed.
"Heh. Think that she'll send you to see the counselor this year?"
"I wouldn't be at all surprised."
"Raven?" Lenard's voice rang from the front of the room. "Raven Roth?"
Raven sighed, and slid out of her chair to retrieve her things.
XXXXXFirst and second period went without much of a hitch for the three friends. They met the hallway and continued toward their French class, Kori and Richard barely listening to Raven's complaints about the Algebra II curriculum.
Richard noticed something on the opposite end of the hall and swiftly cut Raven off. "Hey, who's that?" Kori and Raven looked to see a small figure darting clumsily towards them; it was a freshman boy, with pale skin and a shock of bright green hair. Swinging his book bag behind him, he ran directly at the trio and surprised them by ducking behind Raven. "Please! Help me!" he squeaked.
"What are you hiding from?" Richard asked bemusedly.
"Quick! They're coming!"
The boy let out a short squeal of pain as Raven sharply backed into a wall. "Keep quiet," she hissed. Three large junior year boys lumbered down the hall.
"Freshie!" one of them called. "Freshie, get back here! You didn't let me finish what I had to say, you wuss…" They turned the corner; Raven took a step away from the wall and the boy she had been hiding stumbled forward, gasping for breath but at the same time looking quite relieved.
"Thank you!" he wheezed. "Thank you SO much…"
"What had you done to them?" Kori questioned worriedly.
"I, uh, kind of was in a hurry," the boy explained uneasily. "And, well, I was running and knocked into him and he dropped his books. Guess that kind of made him mad, huh?" He chuckled weakly, and turned to see that they were in front of room 4. "Ah! This is my next class."
"You're in French II?" Richard looked doubtful.
"Er, yeah. I started French in the seventh grade," the boy informed Richard sheepishly. "My name's Garfield. Garfield Logan. Are you guys in this class?"
"Yes, we are! You are welcome to sit by us if you wish," Kori giggled, reaching out a hand and ruffling Garfield's green hair. Garfield's face flushed.
"Uh, thanks," he said gratefully, and allowed Kori to grab his wrist and pull him into the French room so they could find a place to sit. Richard looked at Raven and grinned.
"It sure was nice of you to protect him," he said, smirking. "Could you possibly be in a good mood today?"
"How dare you accuse me of such a thing? He's just a kid…what else should I had done?"
Richard laughed lightly. "Come on, Raven. French class awaits." He held the door open for her and the two of them entered the room, finding places to sit by Kori and Garfield.
XXXXXTheir lunch break arrived rather quickly; Kori and Richard reported that their geometry class was very much boring, while Raven seemed rather pleased with Poetry Workshop. The three of them found a table in the cafeteria that was remote from the other tables, caught sight of Garfield, and beckoned him over to join them. Kori found Garfield's presence absolutely delightful, because she could sit next to him and play with his green locks as much as she wanted.
"What's that?" Garfield pointed to the thermos that Raven was withdrawing from her backpack.
"Herbal tea." She poured some of the steaming liquid into her cup.
"Hey, can I try some of it?"
Raven paused for a second, then held out the cup for him to take. "Go ahead. This could be terribly amusing."
Grinning, Garfield held the cup up to his lips and tipped the liquid into his mouth…and promptly handed the cup back to its owner, letting out a squeaky squeal of pain. "Ack! It's freaking hot!" He winced as he waited for the pain to pass. Meanwhile, Richard cackled loudly at the whole ordeal and Raven wore a winner's smirk. Kori handed Garfield the water bottle that he had gotten in the cafeteria line.
"Are you alright, Gar?" she asked. "Would you like some of my sandwich?" Kori took the said sandwich out of her lunch bag and presented it to the younger teenager, who saw the ham and politely declined.
"No thanks," Garfield said. "I'm a vegetarian." He eyed the other members of the group and waited for any of them to ask him why. When no one did, he decided to explain anyway. "I used to live in the country. My parents were really into horseback riding, so when I was little my dad would let me sit on his saddle with him and we would ride into the forest. Then, this one time, we stopped on this one trail to rest. I went to play and ran into this rattlesnake. But before it could bite me, my dad's horse came and kicked it away." He took another sip of water. "It wouldn't feel right to eat an animal if one had saved my life before."
"That makes plenty of sense," Kori said sympathetically, putting the sandwich away.
XXXXXThe school day ended at about four o'clock. Kori and Garfield went their separate ways home, while Richard and Raven walked back to their neighborhood. "We have nearly two hundred more days like this," Raven groaned.
"Today wasn't so bad," Richard insisted. "We're in some classes together…and my PE elective is pretty cool." He smiled at the mention of that particular class, where he had signed up for karate.
"It'll still be nice when we get it over with," Raven replied. They came to her house and she began to walk up the driveway. "See you in the morning, Richard."
"Bye, Raven."
XXXXXA/N: I know that I didn't make Garfield have green skin, and I changed his story a bit. But alas, this is an AU fic, so I had to alter his story and looks a bit because in this story they are normal high school teenagers. I apologize if this disappoints anyone.