Chapter 3

Raven winced for a moment, but then smiled as she knew it was over. The lady held a mirror up for her and she observed her newly pierced ears. Starfire had watched very curiously and was now overjoyed to see how beautiful Ravens ears looked.

"Oh Raven! Your ears look wonderful!" Starfire clapped.

"I know," said Raven happily. "I've wanted to do that for a long time!"

"Please, did it hurt?" Starfire asked curiously.

"Only for a moment," said Raven, getting out of the chair. "You should get it done."

"Do you think I should?" asked Starfire, her eyes growing big with excitement.

"Definitely!" said Raven plopping her down in the chair. Starfire chose a pair of diamond studs and soon they were injected into her ears.

Once the two girls had their ears pierced and gotten the essential cleaning kit, they headed off to buy clothes. Starfire had never been happier in her whole life. She had begged Raven for years to go to the mall with her to do "the hanging out" and now that she was Starfire was in heaven.

"Friend Raven, do you like this shirt I have tried on?" asked Starfire emerging from her dressing room. She had a pink tank top on that read "2 Cute 2 Care". It was tight on her, especially in the chest region.

"Well it certainly shows off your cleavage," said Raven peaking out of her own dressing room.

"Clea-vage?" asked Starfire tilting her head.

"Your boobs," said Raven opening her door and revealing herself. "What do you think of this skirt? I think it makes my butt look big." Raven was in a very short blue skirt that certainly hugged her behind tightly.

"Oh Raven! You butt looks very… bountiful," said Starfire with a smile. "Shall you be purchasing it?"

"Why would I? I can't go around showing off my big butt," said Raven closing her door. "I need to conceal it."

"I do not understand," said Starfire as she slipped on a pair of jeans. "Do you not want your bottom to look big?"

"No, I don't," said Raven throwing the skirt over the top of her dressing room door.

In the end the two girls each bought two shopping bags full of clothes. After shopping they stopped off at the spa and had full facials, manicures, and pedicures done. Once they were cleansed they headed back to the tower.

Robin and Cyborg were sitting in the surveillance room, going over the all the video that had been taken from the previous night to that morning. They scanned through everything, looking for Raven. They were trying to figure out what had happened to change her.

"Okay, so far we have her leaving the bathroom, holding her head," said Robin. "That must have been after Beast Boy walked in on her."

"And then we have her going to her room," said Cyborg. "Now we can go over the video from the camera in Ravens room, but that's up to you. You're the leader, man."

"I know," said Robin with a sigh. "As much as I hate invading her privacy, we need to see what happened."

"Okay," said Cyborg accessing the footage.

The screen they were watching was filled with the image of Ravens empty room. Cyborg fast forwarded until he saw Raven enter. She was still holding her head and looking a little dizzy. She was also wrapped in a towel and she started to change. Cyborg and Robin looked away and fast forwarded until she was changed into her leotard. They watched as she calmly crawled into bed and went to sleep. They skipped ahead until it was morning and she got up. She stretched, threw her cloak on, and left the room. They went to the video of her leaving her room and walking down the hall, a smile on her face. That was it, they had viewed everything.

"Well that was pointless," said Robin frustrated.

"I don't get it," said Cyborg. "When could she have changed? It must have been when she was in the bathroom, and we are NOT watching that."

"Yeah, that's going too far," said Robin leaning back in his chair. "But how the heck are we going to find out what exactly happened to her?"

"I don't know," said Cyborg. Then his eyes noticed the image from camera 23. "But it looks like she and Starfire are back." Robin looked at the screen and saw the two Titan girls enter the tower, laughing and smiling. The two decided to go and meet the girls in the common room.

"Oh friends!" exclaimed Starfire. "Raven and I have had the most wonderful day. We did the piercing of our ears, the trying on of expensive clothing for no reason, and the washing and cleansing of our skin and the nails of our fingers and toes."

"Sounds like you had fun," said Robin smiling.

"Well sometimes you just need a girls' day out," said Raven dropping her shopping bags. "Star, we have GOT to do that again."

"That would make me most happy," said Starfire with a giggle.

"So, Raven, are you still feeling… great?" asked Cyborg.

"Of course I am," said Raven rolling her eyes and smiling. "Why wouldn't I?"

"No reason," said Cyborg trying to sound normal.

"Friends, where is Beast Boy?" asked Starfire placing her bags down as well.

"I'm not sure," said Robin. "Last time we saw him he was sprawled out on the floor next to the table."

"Perhaps he is in his room?" asked Starfire.

"I'll go look," said Raven. "I need to go put my new stuff away anyway." She picked her bags up cheerfully and headed towards her room, humming to herself.

"Starfire, has she been like this all day?" asked Robin.

"Yes, it has been a glorious experience," said Starfire spinning around. Cyborg and Robin just looked at each other and sighed. They had to find out what was going on.

Raven dropped her bags off in her room and then headed down the hall to Beast Boy's room. She casually knocked on the door and said, "Hey Beast Boy, are you in there?" She didn't hear him answer, so she knocked again. "Hello?" she asked in a high pitched voice. His door slowly opened a few inches and Beast Boy's eyes peered through. She smiled and said, "There you are."

"Uh… hi," he said. "Did… did you want something?"

"Nope, just wondering where you were," she said rocking back and forth on her heals. Suddenly she gasped and pushed the door a little more open. "Oh I just remembered! Do you know what's on tonight?"

"No," he said, stepping back now that the door was open.

"There's a monster movie marathon on tonight," she said with wide, excited eyes. "You want to watch it with me?"

Beast Boy's heart began to race. He didn't know why, it just was. "Sure?" he said unsurely.

"Awesome," she smiled. "If you weren't there I would get so scared. You're lucky you're so brave."

"You…You think I'm… brave?"

"Duh! Why else do you think I asked you to watch it with me?" She laughed and punched him in the arm playfully. He gave a nervous laugh and rubbed his arm. She then raised an eyebrow and said, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh why?" he asked quickly.

"I don't know," she said, looking at him queerly. "You just seem kind of weird today."

"Me?" Beast Boy practically shouted. "I'm only acting weird because you're acting weird."

"I'm not acting weird," she said plainly but then smiled. "I'm just being me."

"Raven, you're not you," Beast Boy said desperately. "You're different and it's really freaking me out. Listen, if this is about me seeing you… naked… I am so so sorry. I didn't mean to do it, really I didn't. And I didn't really see anything. So, if this is your way of punishing me, please just let me know now!"

She stared at him for a moment. "Uh, what're you talking about?" She then smiled a mischievous smile and cocked an eye brow. "When did you see me naked? You weren't spying on me, were you?"

"What? No!" said Beast Boy in a panic. "You were getting out of the shower and I accidentally walked in on you. Don't you remember?"

"Guess not," said Raven shrugging. "I think I would have remembered that. Look, Beast Boy, I'm not sure what's going on with you today, or with anyone else for that matter, but I'm fine. In fact, I have never felt better in my life. So, are we still on for the marathon tonight?"

He thought for a moment but in the end decided he might as well go along with it. "Yeah, sure."

"Great," said Raven and then she skipped off down the hall.

Ravens smile was bittersweet to Beast Boy. He had tried for so long to make her smile, he had dedicated all of his free time to it. But now that she was smiling he couldn't enjoy it. Because it wasn't really her. This wasn't Raven.