Chapter 3

After the conversation at lunch, Gar felt like his little group of friends were bonding very quickly. It bothered him knowing Kori was being bullied by her own sister. He'll talk it over with Vic later and maybe they can toss around ideas of how to help. It would probably be best if they all got together and talked about it, but he wasn't sure if Richard would immediately leave once school was over like he did yesterday. Then again, he seemed pretty upset at what Kori told them. He might actually go out of his way to help. He seems the type.

Gar broke out of his deep thoughts when he realized he was going the wrong way. He quickly moved down the hall to his fourth class. As he entered, he saw only half of the students were in their seats, the other half straggling outside the door. He walked in the direction of the seat he claimed the previous day and noticed someone he didn't recognize at the desk next to his. He could have sworn someone else had been there yesterday. At least, he didn't think it was the same person. It was kinda hard to tell when they were wearing a hood over their head. Despite the fact that the hair covering most of their face left ambiguity, he was pretty sure it was a girl. Plus the jacket was open and the shirt was pretty form fitting. Gar grinned and sat in his seat. He casually glanced over again, trying to take advantage of the better angle. She was resting her head in her hand and reading a book that lay on her desk. Her hand blocked her face, so he decided on a more direct approach.

"Hey there! I don't remember seeing you yesterday! Or any other day, now that I think about it. Are you new here?" Gar offered her the most charming smile he could muster. He knew he was attractive; girls would giggle at him fairly often. At least he hopes that's why they giggle at him. He was a total flirt and Vic got onto him a few times for acting like a hound in heat, even though it was mostly teasing. They both knew that he wanted a loving, faithful relationship with a 'dream girl'. However, that didn't stop him from attempting to pursue every cute girl he saw in the meantime. The fact that many of them seemed interested fueled his self esteem.

He waited for her answer, but no giggle replied back to him, nor did the girl look up. 'Maybe she's just really focused on her book,' Gar thought. He wondered if trying again would be too annoying before he realized he didn't really care. "Hi, I'm Gar. What's your name?" He asked a little louder. Still nothing. Maybe she was deaf? Gar was about to reach out to her and get her attention via touch when the bell rang and all of the other students had taken out their textbook. He quickly grabbed his book, flustered that he didn't notice the rest of the class had arrived. He looked over to the girl and saw she had already opened her textbook while he was still digging for his own in his bag. 'Oh,' Gar realized, 'She's not deaf. She was just ignoring me.' He looked to the front of the class, a little embarrassed. The teacher started going over their philosophy book by asking some students to read out loud. Gar tried to shrink in his seat to avoid being picked. Someone at the front was chosen instead. After a few minutes of reading the teacher handed a student a packet of papers and asked him to pass them around.

Once Gar was handed his, he quickly scanned the paper. "I'd like everyone to turn to their neighbor and discuss the questions on the sheet I gave you. Be sure to write your answers down," the teacher instructed. Gar tried, and failed, to resist the mischievous grin that broke out on his face. What a perfect opportunity to talk with her! He smirked as he turned to the girl and cheekily attempted to start the conversation again. "Ok, so before we start, I'd like to get your name." Instead of responding she quietly began filling out her own paper. "Uh, hey, we're supposed to, ya know, discuss these?" Gar frowned as she continued to ignore him. "Well at least let me see what you're writing so we have the same answers!" The girl had already finished the fifth question and placed the finished paper on his desk, all without looking at him. Gar was quickly becoming agitated, but glumly decided to copy her answers. As he was looking at the first question, he had an epiphany and moved his eyes to rest at the top of the paper and next to the word 'name'. Written neatly on the line was 'Raven'.

"Raven, huh?" Gar asked smugly, as though he had just cracked an infamous mystery case that no one was able to solve for years. She didn't react to hearing her name. 'Wait a minute. Raven? Where have I heard that name before?' Gar struggled to find the memory in his brain before it slammed into him on its own. "Oh! You're Raven Roth aren't you?" She was the one that hadn't made it to any of the classes they shared yesterday. "Hang on," Gar paused, "I'm pretty sure we have a class together in the second period too. I didn't see you there. Where were you?" She continued reading. '….Maybe she's mute,' Gar mentally rationalized. Oh well, years of him being himself taught him the best way to get people to acknowledge him. His impish grin returned and he quickly snatched her book. His grin widened in victory as she spun in her seat to face him and he finally got a good look at her. 'Whoa! Super cute! Is that eye color real?' He was so fixated on her appearance that he only now noticed her very cold and pissed off expression.

Gar was momentarily stunned, never having seen someone wear such an expression before. After a moment of his stares meeting her glares, he finally laughs and nervously scratches the back of his neck. "Uh, sorry, I just didn't want to have a one-way conversation, you know?" "Then don't talk." He was, again, caught off guard by her voice. It was very monotone, but had a hard edge. "Uh..let's start over," he chuckled. "I'm Gar-" "I know," she interrupted, "now stop bothering me." He visibly deflated from the blatant rejection. Gar noticed she had her book back, probably grabbed it while he was staring at her. Before he could try to smooth over this disaster of an introduction the teacher spoke up. "I hope everyone is done with the paper. Please pass them to the front." Gar squeaked in panic. He'd been so caught up in trying to talk to 'Grumpy' over here he forgot to actually write down her answers! He looked down and saw her paper was still on his desk. As she reached over to take it from him he quickly pulled it away and sloppily wrote his name down next to hers. Assuming she would want to erase it, he immediately passed it to the student in front of him, who then continued to pass it forward, oblivious to the exchange behind him. Gar tried to not look at Raven as he could feel her glare on him. As the teacher retrieved the assignments, she paused and did a double take on the two names sharing a paper. Upon seeing Gar's sheepish grin, she shook her head, but accepted the assignment.

The bell rang, rather suddenly in Gar's opinion, and everyone began exiting out the door. His eyes widened as he spun to look at Raven, determined to fix the less than great interaction between them, but she was already gone. 'What the hell? When did she get up?' Defeated, Gar rose from his seat and made his way to his next class, taking comfort in knowing both Vic and Kori would be there. He was already thinking about how he was going to start his tirade of complaints against this 'Raven' and her stubborn refusal to talk to him.

Vic sat next to Kori, making sure to save a chair for Gar. "How's it goin', Kori?" "The day has been most agreeable since lunch, my friend!" She replied with a smile. It seemed she was in much better spirits. "That's good to hear. I hate seeing friends upset. Did you have any plans after school?" Vic asked. "W-well, I was hoping to do the hanging out with you and Gar?" She hesitantly admitted. "Well that's alway fine with us!" Vic reassured, "Maybe we can get Richard to come with us this time." Her eyes brightened at the idea, "That would be most splendid!" Vic chuckled. He wasn't into paying too much attention when it came to other people's love life, but when it came to friends he could spot it pretty easily. Even if the two had yet to see it themselves.

He got out his zoology book and placed it in front of him. This is Gar's favorite class. The guy was an absolute animal lover. Vic looked at the door, waiting to see Gar excitedly strolling in. After a while, he was surprised to see him come in with a sour look on his face. Anything other than happy was strange enough, but arriving that way to his favorite class? Vic immediately had questions. "Hey, man, what's got you in a bad mood?" He asked while Gar plopped down next to him. Gar practically growled his response, "This girl last period wouldn't talk to me!" Both Vic and Kori gave him a blank look, before Vic started laughing. "You're mad because a girl won't talk to you? That doesn't sound like you at all. Well, maybe it does, considering you act like you're trapped in solitary confinement if you don't have a girlfriend", he teased. "That's not what I meant! I was trying to introduce myself and she wouldn't even look at me! We even had an assignment where we had to talk to each other to get answers and she just filled out her paper on her own and I had to copy it!" Gar exclaimed. "Maybe you came on a little strong," Vic suggested, "You do tend to do that." Gar shook his head with a frown, "No way, dude. I was as polite as possible. She didn't even give me her name, I had to look at her paper to get it. And then, when I saw it wasn't going well, I tried to start over and she basically just told me to jump off a cliff!" He finished with a pout. Vic glanced at Kori, who had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well…there's always the next girl," he said lamely. He wasn't too sure how to console people with these kinds of things. "I wasn't trying to flirt with her," Gar argued, "…Well, maybe a little, but I didn't even get to try any pickup lines because she wouldn't say anything to me. I thought she was deaf or mute!" The bell rang and Gar grumbled as he got out his book. 'Maybe the topic of animals will cheer the little guy up,' Vic hoped.

The class did indeed cheer him up. Once the projector showed a collage of animals to the class, Gar's interest overshadowed his annoyance and the encounter was soon forgotten. "Now, I know it's very early in the year," the teacher started, "But I'm going to go ahead and give everyone the instructions for the group project. Since we have eighteen students you will all be put into groups of three." The teacher barely got the words out before students immediately ran to their friends and huddled together. She rolled her eyes before finishing, "You're lucky I was going to let you choose your partners anyway, but please let me finish before you run to each other like that." Vic was already sitting with Gar and Kori so they weren't among the stampede, but they did immediately scoot their chairs closer to each other amidst the chaos. He was the only one in the group with the decency to look somewhat sheepish. Gar grinned unashamedly and Kori giggled like they had just exchanged secret crushes. "The project is all about a specific animal that isn't well known. Your group will tell me what you choose so there's no overlapping. I want you to research everything about the animal. Find out about their diet, habitat, behavior, how they interact with everything, and how important they are to the ecosystem. Once you have all of your information I want you to make a trifold display so we can show everyone at the end of the year. You'll need to get as detailed as you possibly can, so be sure to split the work evenly with each other. I don't tolerate freeloaders!" She finished with a warning. "You can use the rest of the class to talk it over with your partners."

"Dude, this is gonna be so great!" Gar was practically jumping in his seat. Normally, projects were the bane of his existence, but in this case it was something he did for fun anyway. "An animal not well known," Vic mused, "I wonder what it should be…" Gar's mind was racing with possibilities. Before he could suggest one, Kori spoke up. "Perhaps we can try one native to Tamaran? They are usually unique to the land there and it is unlikely to be known here." "Ooh, good idea!" Gar agreed. As Kori began to list names of animals (names that didn't even sound like real words to him), Vic watched as Gar grasped onto everything she said. His normally short attention span was no match for his passion in the subject. 'Yep,' he thought to himself, 'He's definitely an animal lover.'

—

Richard was used to being the first one to arrive to his class. His punctuality only increases when the class subject is something he finds interesting. Psychology isn't as exciting as his final class, forensic science, but he still looked forward to it. This class was one of the recommendations Bruce made when they talked about his major. Jump High offered many prerequisite college classes for students who wanted to decrease their time spent in a university. The professors teaching them normally worked at colleges, so only certain years offered specific courses. Richard took as many as he could alongside the remaining required classes to pass high school. Much to his annoyance, art was one of them. The school required all students to take at least one creative class. He tried to avoid taking any as he saw it as a waste of time, but the principle was very firm in the matter. He claimed that if it were up to him he would take the requirement away, but some laws someone else made stated that students should be exposed to all types of possible careers or hobbies. Richard ended up picking art because the only other basic options were drama and choir. No damn way he would be forced to sing or play dress up. Bruce suggested drama may help him with his acting skills in future, real life scenarios, but Richard immediately said no. At least in art you could work alone. Besides, once the class is over for the day then that's it. The drama class was notorious for having events outside school hours. He also found out yesterday that Gar and Kori would be there. He didn't know if they would be too distracting or not, especially Gar, but since it's the class after psychology, he won't have to wonder for long.

Upon entering the room Richard found it to be empty. Not surprising. The hallway was noisy with students so he closed the door and chose a random seat. The teacher told them that since the first day was going over the syllabus, they could sit where they wanted, but that they would have a seating chart starting the next day. He didn't see anyone he cared to sit next to so he didn't really care, unlike the rest of the class, who let out disappointed groans. Richard heard the door open and assumed it would be the teacher, Mr. Adam. Most students waited as late as they could before walking in. He glanced up, expecting to see a thin, older man in business casual attire. Instead, his eyes widened when he saw the girl that caught him spying earlier that morning. He raised a brow as he watched her look to the teacher's desk, then walked to a nearby seat. '…She wasn't here yesterday,' Richard mused to himself. He thought back to the roll call the previous day and remembered rolling his eyes when someone didn't respond to their name, marking them absent. 'That must have been her,' he thought to himself while watching her pull out a book and start to read. Should he mention the seating chart? …No, there's no reason to. She'll find out about it as soon as the class starts.

His struggle to decide if he should help or mind his own business was cut short when the door opened again. This time it was the teacher. As he walked in he noticed Richard. "Hello, Mr. Grayson, how has your day been so far?" This wasn't the first time he's had a class with Mr. Adam as Richard had taken two other psychology classes with him. The class they were in was an advanced psychology course, one of the electives, and after having Richard for two years already Mr. Adam had gotten to know him well. Richard was one of the few students who took his class seriously and would frequently ask questions. They found themselves conversing outside of class a few times and Richard appreciated how Mr. Adam didn't look down on him for being younger like so many other adults did. He offered the teacher a rare smile. "It's been fine so far. Day's been going pretty slow though." Mr. Adam chuckled, "Well hopefully I can make it a bit more exciting today." As the teacher continued to his desk he spotted the other inhabitant in the room. After studying the distracted form for a few seconds he finally addressed her. "Excuse me, miss, are you Raven Roth? You weren't here yesterday so I assume you're the absent student on the list." The girl looked up briefly and answered with a dull, "yeah" before looking back down at her book. "Ok good, I hope you read the syllabus yesterday since you couldn't make it, miss Roth. We also have a seating arrangement that will be decided today so please wait for everyone else to come before unpacking anything." He received a monotone sound of acknowledgment from her with nothing else. Mr. Adam didn't seem bothered by her response, having grown used to Richard, and settled down at his desk preparing for the class.

Richard wasn't the most social person around and he knew how often he had given similar responses to teachers, but seeing his favorite teacher be treated with little to no respect irked him. The annoyed glance he threw at her was repeatedly interrupted by the remaining students flowing into the room. Since this was an advanced course the class was fairly small, only totaling ten students. Richard preferred it this way since it was less distracting and gave him more chances to talk to the teacher. As soon as the bell rang Mr. Adam stood up and exchanged pleasantries with the students before pulling out a piece of paper. "Well, we may as well get the seating chart out of the way. Since there are way more seats than students this hour, I want to make sure the back row isn't fully packed," he chuckled. A few students chuckled back as they wore a mild 'drat, foiled again' expression. Once the chart was projected onto the whiteboard everyone got up and walked to their respective seats. Much to Richard's delight, Mr. Adam had put a seat between everyone, so he didn't have to deal with a noisy neighbor. It was probably to prevent chatter and unwanted collaboration during lectures. The unique shape of the room had led to the desks being set up in a slight 'U' shape. He was in the last seat at one end. He looked across the room and saw the new student, Raven, was on the opposite end. She looked bored while waiting for the remaining classmates to finish finding their seats.

Once everyone was settled, Mr. Adam pulled up a new slide on the projector. "Since this is an advanced course there will be more hands on experience than simply listening to my rambling. I'd like to put students with different personalities and beliefs together for some discussions so that you can learn about your own way of thinking. My goal is to encourage you to become more introspective and less confident in what you believe to be fact." "You want us to be less confident?" A student toward the center asked. "Not in yourselves," Mr. Adam clarified, "In your certainty of things that are by no means certain." Richard spoke up this time, "This kind of sounds like philosophy." Mr. Adam smiled, "You're not wrong, however, there are many ways one can focus on one topic. You may see this through a philosophical lens, in fact that may help you, but I'd like you to focus more on the way you and the other person react to your discussions. Learning about how others think and see the world can not only help you spread your world view, but it can teach you quite a bit about yourself. The way you react to hearing these will teach you a lot about your own mind. Now, I may know most of you, but I'd like to be more sure of who I put together. Since this would normally take a while, I've prepared a personality test for you all. Don't think this is like one of those you find online for fun. This is used by professionals every day and requires a certified psychologist to review and interpret the results. It gets very in depth and so it would be best if you answered truthfully and not ideally. I would also like for everyone to take it again at the end of the year so we can compare your results and see if any of the lessons have shaken the way you think. Don't worry about privacy, I will keep confidentiality unless you specifically say otherwise."

Most students looked excited at the idea, despite being told about the difference between this test and the ones found online. Richard didn't really care. He looked around the room, trying to find someone who was most opposite to him. There were a few extroverted people, some nervous ones, and some more relaxed. A few people definitely didn't qualify as his opposite, including Raven, who never looked up from her book the entire explanation. Mr. Adam began handing out the tests. "Don't try to rush these, but also don't over think them. If you don't finish them in class you can bring the finished copy to me tomorrow morning." Richard looked over the paper and saw there were 100 questions. 'Damn, that's a lot of questions. Better get to work.' Everyone worked silently for the rest of the class. Richard was the first one to finish. He walked up to the teacher and handed him the test. Mr. Adam smiled and took the test, placing it onto an empty spot on his desk. As Richard turned around he saw a few more students get up and walk toward the desk. He walked back to his own and got ready to pack up since the test had taken the majority of the class. After a few more minutes and the remaining copies being turned in, everyone got up at the sound of the bell and walked out. As the students around him began to separate to their own class he noticed Raven was still following him. In fact, they were the only ones left in this hallway. Was she following him? Richard almost rolled his eyes at himself. That's such an extreme assumption to make. Where else was she supposed to go? She probably had a class down here too. Maybe he was slightly paranoid after all. He continued to walk down the hallway. The art room was through the last door. She was still there. Richard almost turned to address her before she suddenly stopped and turned to a locker. 'Oh,' he thought, 'She just has her locker over here'. Maybe that morning had him more jumpy than usual. He gave up on keeping an eye on her and focused on reaching his destination.

Upon entering the room he saw that Kori and Gar weren't at his table yet. Like his previous class, art also had assigned seating. He sat with both his new companions as well as a fourth who was absent yesterday. 'Wait…absent?' Richard narrowed his eyes at the suspicion, 'Is it her again?' He quickly sat down and looked up to watch the door. Sure enough, Raven walked in looking disgruntled. 'Probably sees this class as a waste of time like me,' He mused. The art teacher stops Raven and shows her the seating chart. Raven looked at the chart, glanced over at Richard's table, rolled her eyes, and walked over. She sat diagonally from him and got out a book. Something told him she did this often. He didn't say anything to her and simply waited for his other two companions to arrive. After a few minutes he hears familiar laughter. Kori walked in first, followed closely by Gar. They immediately approached the table. Raven, having been seated facing away from the door, was oblivious to who was approaching. Kori sat next to Richard and Gar took the remaining seat. Both had zeroed in on Richard so it took them a moment to realize there was someone new at the table. When they were about to greet them, however, both Kori and Gar suddenly widened their eyes as they both exclaimed, "It's you!" Richard quirked a brow, "You guys know each other?"

—-

Kori was trying to think about how to explain that this was who told Koma off that morning without making it sound like she was a gossip when Gar beat her to it. "Yeah, it's Miss Grumpy from my philosophy class." He half joked. Richard and Kori looked between the two of them, one of which was completely ignoring the other. 'So I was right!' Kori thought, 'I knew the dismissive behavior sounded familiar.' Much like with Kori, Raven hadn't acknowledged Gar, or anyone at the table. She did look slightly irate, though. Maybe she should try to calm the table before anything happens. "Thank you again for getting Koma to leave me alone." Hopefully this would calm everyone down enough to ignore any negative personal experience with her. "What?" Gar paused. "Wait, this is who you were talking about this morning?" If Kori wasn't so patient she may have glared at him with exasperation. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid! She quickly tried to clarify to the other girl, "I was simply telling them about my sister and you helping me!"

After a moment of silence Gar speaks up again. "Well if you helped our friend out then I guess you're cool," he said with a grin. Kori was surprised with how quickly he seemed to be able to forgive. Raven continued to not acknowledge either of them and instead kept looking at her book. Kori and Gar turned at the sound of Richard clearing his throat. "How was your last class?" Noticing his attempt to release awkwardness from the table, Kori enthusiastically recalled their group project and how she would be joining Gar and Vic after school to work on it. Gar was quick to add to her enthusiasm and began listing off the possible topics they considered choosing. Kori nearly sighed in relief when she saw Raven's frown lessen, albeit slightly.

Their conversation was cut short when the art teacher addressed everyone. Since this was a simple, entry level class, the lectures and assignments would be very basic. Their first lesson was about the color wheel. Eventually, everyone was given paper and paint along with some brushes. "Alright, keeping in mind what we just went over, make your own color wheel. You don't have to make it squares or circles if you don't want to. I've had students make hexagons or even butterfly shapes. The only thing that is required is for you to get the colors right and to position them correctly in relation to the others." With that, the teacher sat back down and the class got to work.

The nice thing about art classes is that students were allowed to talk to each other at their table. Everyone took advantage of this freedom, including Kori's group. "Was your previous class also eventful, Richard?" She asked. Richard grunted his thoughts, "It wasn't bad. Still in the beginning phase. We had to take a personality test so that Mr. Adam can put specific people together for discussions." "Dude, Mr. Adam? You have a psychology class? That sounds hard!" Gar commented as he drew a bunch of little bees in a circular formation. Richard glanced up at him, "Didn't you say you had a philosophy class? Wouldn't that also be difficult?" "Nah, dude, I just have to say something wise or whatever and BS my way through the year." "I don't think that's the point of philosophy," Richard argued. Gar countered his retort with a wave of his hand, "It doesn't really matter. Besides, if I think about it too much my brain will hurt."

Kori noticed Raven throwing Gar a dirty look in the corner of her eye. "Do you have any interesting classes, Raven?" The boys at the table shot their eyes to Kori, not expecting her boldness. It was clear Raven didn't plan on responding so Gar filled in the silence for her. "Well I know she has philosophy with me. I think we have literature class second period too. I don't know for sure, though, because she wasn't there this morning or yesterday. So, where were you, Raven?" No one really expected her to respond, so he didn't wait long to continue. "That's ok, I bet I can guess!" Gar smirked, fully aware that he was poking the bear. A twitch of her eye was his only reaction.

"Hmm….maybe a doctor's appointment? Nah, too boring. Maybe you got in trouble with the principal for being absent yesterday…" That made the most sense to Richard after remembering what he saw that morning. "Maybe you have a secret side job like a librarian… or a spy! You're definitely quiet enough for it! Maybe you got kidnapped on the job! Or abducted by aliens! Or a cult! Or-!" "Do you ever stop talking?" Her interruption sounded more like a demand to shut up than a question. Gar kept his grin, "Well now that you seem to be in a talking mood, how about you just tell us!" "That's none of your concern." "Oooh, going the mystery route are you? Well I bet-" "That's enough, Gar," Richard interrupted. "She doesn't want to talk, don't force her to." Gar pouted, seeing he was the only one trying to get a reaction out of her. "I was just curious," he muttered. He continued his work on the color wheel, now looking like a kicked puppy.

Kori once again tried to lift the mood at the table. "I like your bee drawings, Gar!" He looked back up with a smile on his face as though it never left. "Thanks! I like your wheel too! What are the worm looking things?" Both boys studied the shapes on her paper. "Oh, they are in the shape of the larva which turn into the giant moths I told you about in the previous class! Isn't it cute?" Kori beamed. Gar almost immediately agreed, while Richard eyed the two with confusion. While they continued to talk about what he assumed to be a foreign bug Richard looked at Raven and saw her wearing a similar expression, in addition to some disgust, but still looking at her book. Either she must have stolen a glance and looked away or something in her book is confusing her. Eitherway, he realized that she hadn't even gotten started yet. "Uh, Raven, are you not going to do the assignment?" Kori and Gar looked at her and saw that she hadn't touched any of the art supplies given to her. "No." "Why not?" Gar asked, "Aren't you afraid of failing?" "No." Richard spoke up again, "I mean, I'm not really a fan of this class either, but won't you get in trouble? Don't you want to make sure you make good grades so you can pass and have a good gpa for college?" For the second time that day Raven looked directly at him before responding. "Even if I fail this class I'm still going to pass the grade. Besides, I'm not going to college so it doesn't matter." She looked back down at her book, seemingly finished with the conversation.

"You're not going to college?" Gar questioned, "Do you not need a degree for what you're gonna do?" "No." He waited for her to elaborate, but the explanation never came. "Well, what are you wanting to do? What kind of job do you plan on getting?" Another moment of silence. Gar saw she was ending the conversation. Not ready to give up on getting her to talk, his stubbornness decided to rear its head and he continued to address everyone. "I want to be someone who works with animals! Or maybe even an actor like my mom! How about you guys?" "…I'm looking to become a detective." Richard was slightly hesitant on answering the question. He didn't want to show all his cards yet, but it wasn't the entire truth. Close enough, though. "A detective? Cool!" "I guess, but it does kind of annoy me that I have to take this class. It's completely useless to me." Kori smiled at his complaint. "Perhaps this class can hone your skills in drawing maps and various plans? Just because many find enjoyment out of it does not mean it does not have its practical uses." Richard thought about what she said and looked at his color wheel. 'What kind of use could something like this have?' Kori continued, "Perhaps you will find yourself in a situation where you will need to know the difference between colors of wire. Maybe you will even need to sketch a suspect or location from memory?" Richard relented, "I guess you may be right. What kind of detective would I be if I couldn't find a use for everything?" "Dude, you could be like one of those movie guys that kills someone with a pencil or something crazy like that!" Gar's eyes shined as he envisioned the various spy shows he had seen. "How about you, Kori?" Richard asked. "Oh, well, um…" The two boys watched Kori shift uncomfortably in her seat. "Actually, once I am finished with my education here, my parents plan on bringing me back home to help them." Gar frowned, "Didn't you say your country was having trouble?" Kori smiled sadly, "Yes. It will be my responsibility to minimize my people's suffering and end the conflict." Richard furrowed his brows in confusion, "Why would that be your responsibility? Isn't that the country's leader's job?" She started to avoid eye contact, "Well, yes, but everyone has some degree of responsibility, you know?" "Uh…Ok," Gar eyed her strangely. That answer wasn't enough for Richard, though, "But what do you want to do? If you ignore all other factors and act like there's no one that stops or influences your future, what do you want to do?" After a moment, her smile became wistful, "I…suppose it would be fun to work with clothing or cooking…" "Like a fashion model or designer? That would fit you so well!" Gar encouraged. Richard nodded, "Sometimes you just have to focus on you. Besides….I, uh…" his face suddenly flushed, "I-I'd be more than willing to uh, help with whatever you decide to do." Gar's smile widened after a chuckle at Richard's expece. "Same here! My job may even take me to other countries! I'd like to keep in touch with friends as much as possible!"

Everyone smiled as the thought of a hopeful future sat in the front of their mind. Everyone except for Raven who had stopped reading during the conversation. She just stared blankly at her book, as though there were no words on it. When the bell finally rang and everyone turned in their color wheel at the teacher's desk, Gar noticed her leaving without turning anything in and walking out of the room with an unreadable expression.