Okay… so I'm back. And unfortunately the poll kind of back fired on me (it was tied between Me or Her and Coping…) So I kind of used it as an excuse to stall updating either story…. BUT as it seems right now, the story I will be updating is Coping. I'll of course try my best to work on both, but as I previously stated I have been experiencing a downward spiral that never seems to end.

But here I am once more

I do not and never will own the teen titans

Garfield became more and more nervous as he approached school the next morning. He knew the chance of Raven agreeing to dinner with his parents was slim, even if they seemed to be growing closer. And would she be distant from him after last night? He certainly hoped not. Gar definitely didn't want anything to change—no he wanted change, but the change he wanted involved Raven and him partaking in some sort of romantic exchange, not for her to distance herself from him.

He parked his car and looked to his right, noticing Vic's parking spot was still empty. Steve had decided to give him his keys that morning, for the sole purpose of getting to school and back. Gar had made the argument that Raven didn't have a car and it would be easier is he could just drive the both of them to his house after to school. Rita sided with Gar, forcing Steve to concede even just a little. Though, he made Gar promise to give his keys right back after Raven left.

Weird, Garfield thought, Vic's always here by now.

But as fate seems to enjoy toying with the minds of the living, Victor pulled into the school parking lot with a petit violet eyed girl in the passenger seat.

Gar's heart wrenched at the sight. He couldn't blame her, though. If he had been in her position, Gar knew he'd be quicker to ask Vic for a ride than himself.

Victor pulled into his parking spot next to Gar and gave him a nervous smile. Garfield returned a possibly more nervous smile of his own. Garfield peeked in the window and noticed Raven had her hood up, looking out her window to avoid eye contact. But, feeling Victor's nervousness, she snapped her head to the side and made eye contact with the green eyed boy.

Raven rolled her eyes at the immaturity of the two boys and retreated from the car, making her way to the dumbfounded boy.

"What?" She snapped, breaking the two morons out of their trance.

"I-Uh-um-I… Hey Rae," Gar choked out rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Why are you guys acting so weird?" Raven questioned still annoyed by the resonating nervousness from the two teens.

"Well since you asked Vic for a ride instead of me, we figured—" Gar started, but Raven interrupted him.

"I did ask you for a ride. But you never responded so I asked Victor instead. It's no big deal." Raven explained, as Gar checked his phone and saw that there indeed was a text from Raven requesting a ride.

"Sorr—"

"It's no big deal. Besides Victor lives closer to me anyway, you would have been out of your way and probably late picking me up."

Garfield's nerves were eased by her reasoning, but only slightly, for he still had to ask her to have dinner with him and his parents.

Lunch was, to say the least, only mildly awkward. Garfield pretended he didn't notice the way Raven made the effort to keep her sleeves from riding up. Raven pretended she didn't notice that he was watching. Kori and Richard pretended that their feelings weren't obvious, and Victor pretended that he didn't find the whole situation hilarious.

"New Friend Raven—"

"Star, don't you think that Raven's been around long enough to stop calling her new," Richard chuckled noticing the slight frown on Raven's face.

Kori blushed, both at her nickname on Richard's tongue and her lack of ability to read social cues.

"Oh! Friend Raven I am so sorry if I have done the offending of you!" Kori rushed to apologize in fear of losing Raven as a friend.

Before Raven could assure Kori that she wasn't angry, the same guy that ripped Raven's bag out of her hands, causing her secrets to be literally spilled in front of Gar.

"Sup goth freak. How about you and your hot little ass come with me," Adonis, the school's self-proclaimed "sex god" (even though he was anything but), snarled to Raven.

Raven just rolled her eyes, while Gar's grip on his tofu sandwich tightened incredibly.

"I'd rather not" Raven said simply, not giving him the time of day.

Adonis looked at her astonished. How dare she refuse him in such a blatant and monotone manner? So, to show his own disregard for the pale beauty, he grasped some random nerd's bowl of Surprise Soup, and poured its contents onto Raven's purple clad head, causing a gasp to retreat from her lips. It also sent Gar into attack mode, instantly tackling Adonis to the ground. Richard tore the green eyed boy off of Adonis and gave him a stern look.

Annoyed that Richard wasn't going to let him defend Raven, he sat back at the table, noticing Rae's shocked appearance. He noticed the way her makeup dripped off her face revealed a deep blue bruise on the left side of her jaw. Her eyes followed his and immediately stuck her hand up to cover the bruise. It was then he also noticed the cuts around her lip and her fading but still obvious black eye.

"Rae"

Raven bolted out of her seat and ran out of the cafeteria. Without any hesitation, Gar ran out after her.

He saw her sitting against his locker, tears readily streaming down her face.

"Raven, are you okay?"

Raven snapped her head to him and rolled her eyes.

"Look at me! Do I fucking look like I'm okay? Dammit Gar," Raven cried grabbing onto Gar and pushing her face into his chest.

"Do you want to come over tonight? Just hang out, do homework, escape for a little while," Gar whispered, rubbing circles on Raven's back.

"Okay"

If Gar thought he was nervous before, it was nothing compare to how he felt now. He couldn't help but think that he took advantage of Raven asking her to come over while she was completely breaking down. But, at the same time he hoped that this might help in some way. Plus he really needed to ask about those bruises.

When Raven returned to Gar's car at the end of the day, her makeup was fixed and her bruises were nowhere to be found. Gar almost thought that he imagined them in the first place. But, he was smarter than that, so he decided he'd confront her later. He didn't want to ruin the evening before it even started.

On the way to Gar's house, Raven simply stared out the passenger side window. She loved looking out of cars, but she hated driving them. She knew that if given such control she probably wouldn't make it out alive.

Gar on the other hand loved to drive. He loved the freedom of the wind in his hair. He loved that at any given time he could just go. He could leave everything behind. Not that he ever would. As much as a hard ass as Steve was, he loved the guy and Rita, he loved as if she was his birth mother.

When the two pulled into the driveway, Raven noticed two cars in the drive way and lights shining through the windows. She looked at Gar suspiciously as he said,

"Oh, heh, did I forget to mention my parents are home..?"

Welp there it is. I'll update as soon as possible. Review blahblhblhablahblah

DFTBA!