Sorry about the wait, but I'm back, and with 3 handy-dandy reasons:

1)Writer's Block: We all get it, we all hate it. I erased the whole chapter about seventeen times before I found something that worked.

2)Sinus Infection: I was sick, and missed three days of school, but felt too lousy to get out of bed, so I spent all three days watching movies. I watched Fantasitc 4 three times, In Her Shoes twice, and then Princess Mononoke, the second Harry Potter movie, and National Treasure all once. I was bored.

3)Video Game Distraction: When cleaning my room, I found The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker under this huge pile of crap, so I was all, "Oh, what the heck," only I didn't actullay say that, that was just my general atitude, so then I spent the next 17 days beating it, which took a lot less time than I'd expected it would. So yeah. All my time was devoted to that for a while.

And now I guess I'll get on with the chapter you've been waiting so long for.

And thank you very much to the three people who reviewed.

Chpt 3: Of Marching Band and Young Love

"No one will win the battle of the sexes; there's too much fraternizing with the enemy."

– Henry Kissinger

It was approximately 1:30 AM ( 1:32 to be exact) and Kori was excited.

Even though it was past midnight, it was raining like no tomorrow outside, and Kori had about five hours until her alarm went off, she felt like she could run a marathon. She could lift a small planet. She could single-handedly win every Olympic event known to man, beast, and thirty seven different typed of sea-algae.

Well, maybe not that last one.

From across the room, Kori watched as Raven rolled over in her sleep and Terra muttered a few words in what resembled Latin. With a sigh of contentment, Kori pulled her long legs out of the covers and hugged her knees against her chest. With one finger she traced the pinstripes on her red Hollister pajama pants. Her body was here, in Room 201 on the second floor of the girls' dormitory building at Gotham Preparatory Boarding Academy, but her mind was elsewhere.

Rob Grayson had asked her out. Rob Grayson had asked her out. Rob Grayson had asked her out! As in, Rob Grayson was Kori's boyfriend. Oh, yes.

As much as she hated to admit it. Rob really was her first real boyfriend. Sure, she'd had crushes and been to the movies with boys and even once had kissed one (Daniel Pruett, second grade, underneath the slide on the playground at school), but a real boyfriend, especially one so handsome, was an intimidating thought for Kori. He was a real, live boy. And he happened to be the real, live boy whom Kori had liked (maybe more than liked) since the first fateful day of sixth grade.

So in the cramped dorm room, with her thoughts slowly dying down, Kori fell asleep, her knees pulled to her body, and a smile on her lips.

"What's wrong with Kori?"

It was Wednesday morning, and Kori was still out of it, in a rather dreamy way. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and despite the improved weather conditions (It was no longer raining, yet still soggy), Kori was still wearing her New Balance shoes, this time with mismatched socks.

Now, Terra was questioning her mental state, and with good reason.

"I think she's delirious," answered Raven, waving a pale hand in front of Kori's face, with no avail.

The three girl's were making their way to the cafeteria for breakfast, quite slowly in Kori's case.

"I am so not ready for that English quiz," said Terra, changing the subject. She ran her hand nervously through her hair and picked at the ragged ends of her French tips. It was only the third day of school, and Ms. Anstett had already scheduled a quiz over literary terms. As usual, Terra had freaked out and forgotten to study. Quite contrarily, Raven had scanned her notes the night before, and now felt completely prepared. It was a cruel fact of life that she could do that, while Terra had to slave over her messily scribbled notes with the concentration of someone decoding hieroglyphics for at least an hour to even retain a single fact.

"Quiz me," begged Terra, her eyes meeting Raven's.

" Okay," Raven paused as she thought up a question. "What is the term for 'sequence of events'?" Terra's expression became that of a person who has been faced with a life changing decision. Her eyebrows slanted, and her nose twitched a little.

"…I don't know," was the result of at least a minute and a half of deep thought. "What is it?"

Raven shook her head. "Plot, Terra. It's plot." Terra sent Raven a patented "I knew that" look, and nodded, satisfied.

"I think I got it," she replied, ending the brief study session. Yes, that was Terra. IQ of a genius, work ethic of a pilgrim.

Kori spoke for the first time that day as the three girls took their seats at the breakfast table. Her eyes averted to Rob as he sauntered in moments later.

"Hey, Kori," he said, winking. It wasn't a normal wink, either. It was slow and purposeful, seeming to take at least three decades rather than three seconds.

"Hi, Rob," replied Kori. She silently cursed herself. Her voice had come out squeaky and high-pitched, though she had been going for calm and collected. Was there a trick to this? Were there clinics, or possibly books? Kori could see it now: "Talking to Your Boyfriend for Dummies".

Kori had been so deep in thought that she hadn't noticed the ongoing argument beside her at the table.

"C'mon, Gar!" Terra was whining. "Come back to band! We need you!"

"I've been gone for two years. You never needed me then," replied Gar, narrowing his eyes at Terra. Beside the two, Raven seemed to be devoting as much whole-hearted interest to her Frosted Flakes as anyone could muster.

"We could use you on drumline," argued Terra. "Couldn't we, Rae?"

"Mmm-hmm," answered Raven without looking up at Terra or Gar.

Ever since the start of the school year a couple of says ago, Terra, and in a couple of rare cases, Raven, had been trying to convince Gar to return to band. Gar had it on his schedule already, but due to an unfortunate incident involving several dozen chickens and a wheelbarrow full of spicy mustard (the stench was awful), the sixth period band students had spend the period in the library the past two days chewing gum, drumming on the tables, and pantsing each other. Well, this was mostly the guys and a tiny, insane, and completely perverted eighth grade girl named Fizzy.

"I don't think I really… fit in," responded Gar, taking a moment to search for the right word.

"Oh, sure you do!" Terra was quick to respond. "You're weird like them, you're perverted like them, you-"

"Pull people's pants down like them?" Gar's hands flew protectively to the waist of his navy khakis.

"Gosh, you baby," said Terra. "Fizzy didn't pull your pants down. She just tried to. And the only people who saw were me, Rae," Raven blushed, "and Mack." Joseph Mack, called Mack, was the drum major in the Gotham Prep marching band. He was notorious for streaking, pretending to be gay, locking people in the drum closet together, and stuffing people into the large trashcan just inside the door of the band room. Terra was sure that she'd gotten her butt stuck in that thing about as many times as a diabetic gets blood drawn.

" Okay," said Gar at last. "I'll come to band. Just protect me from them. Please. I beg of you." Little did he know what things would go on in that room during sixth period.

"What's that smell?" Gar's nose wrinkled as he walked warily into the band room.

"You mean the mustard?"

It was sixth period, and Terra, Raven, and Gar were headed into the chamber of insanity known as band. Fortunately, the room had been rid of any visible evidence of the Mustard Incident™, but the smell still lingered like a blanket of tangy fog.

"Hey, Gar!" said a sudden voice from the right as a tiny girl with her red hair in two braids catapulted herself over the arm of a ratty sofa and directly into Gar's line of movement. This was the dreaded Fizzy, and she was accompanied by her cronies: a taller, black-haired girl with moderate acne and a baseball cap that read, "Kiss Me, I'm Not Irish", and an extremely skinny, bleach blonde girl with the mother lode of braces.

"Uhhh…" Gar looked nervously at Terra, as if in search of an answer.

What happened next was so incredibly bizarre that Gar was not sure if he had witnessed the chain of events correctly. Terra opened her mouth to say something to Fizzy, but was interrupted when the door to a closet across the room swung open, and out came a short, stocky boy with a buzz cut, followed by a tall and rather hot boy with long, brown hair and who was wearing nothing from the waist down but a pair of skintight, white boxer shorts. As in, the kind of underwear where you can see everything underneath them. Gar felt faintly scarred.

"Mack pantsed me!" The latter of the two whined just as a shriek came from outside in the hallway, followed by a cry of, "You are gonna give me that machete back in 5…4…3…2…". The countdown was cut off when the supposed holder of the machete, a short boy with auburn hair and a camo jacket, charged into the room, machete in hand, whacking away at thin air. He was followed by a redhead whom Gar recognized as Edmund Wymark, called Dash.

Gar felt something heavy hit his knees, and blacked out for a moment. When he regained full eyesight, he was somehow lodged in the trash can. How it happened, no one would ever know.

"C'mon, let's get you out of there," said Terra, knocking the trash can onto the floor so Gar could wriggle his way out. Fortunately, he was both skinny and a guy (It was near impossible to find a guy with a big enough butt to get stuck in the trash can. But girls, who were more gifted in the hind regions, like Raven for example, had many a time been known to get their butts lodged in various objects in the band room), so it was fairly easy to get him out.

"I think that may have been my fault," said Dash from his position near the sofa. He was now holding Machete Boy in a death grip, and the latter was struggling to get free. "Sorry." Dash was a fairly good looking boy, but he talked really fast and seemed to be buzzing with caffeine. Gar vaguely wondered how many cups of coffee Dash drank daily.

This is going to be a long day, thought Gar.

Actually, the day wasn't nearly as long as Gar had anticipated, thanks to an incident in which Machete Boy (whose name turned out to really be Jordan) escaped from the band room and began a rampage down the hallway and out of the Fine Arts building, and several able-bodied members of the Gotham Prep marching band had to proceed in hunting him down. They found him hacking away at a manhole across campus with his blade.

Back in the band room, during the twenty minute period of the search for Jordan, the remaining members of band managed to get Gar stuck in the trash can a total of three more times, as well as get Terra's sandal lodged in one of the foam ceiling tiles, and lock Raven in the drum closet with Dash for fifteen minutes. It would have been much shorter, but after a long decision, Mack now carried the key to the closet with him, and he was one of the able-bodied boys tracking down Jordan. Quite unfortunately for Raven, this meant that she had to stay in the closet until they found and brought back Jordan. While Dash seemed to enjoy this, Raven was in the borderline of stabbing him with a snare drum stand.

When Mack returned later, Jordan draped over his shoulder and the machete nowhere to be seen, the key was immediately retrieved and used to let the captives out of the closet. The two appeared in the doorway in a matter of seconds, and while Raven looked rather red-faced and angry, Dash took a more casual approach, and jokingly pretended to be pulling on his pants as he stepped into the room. This brought a few unneeded remarks from fellow band-goers, and a few choice words from Raven.

Unfortunately, Gar missed the entire event, as he had not only been stuffed into the trash can this time, but also rolled out into the hallway in his new plastic cocoon. No one saw this happen, and therefore had no idea where he was for several minutes. They discovered him around the end of class when Scott Russell, the hot streaking guy from before, somehow managed to get a ninja star lodged in the band room door. He went to retrieve it, and henceforth spotted Gar rolling around like a worm on the tile floor, shouting like no tomorrow. It was determined that they had not heard him yelling thanks to the Destiny's Child CD blasting from the stereo inside the room, courtesy of Fizzy.

"Why do I get the strong feeling that everyone in that class is insane?"

It was after sixth period, and Terra, Raven, and Gar were leaving band through the large double doors in the front of the Fine Arts building and heading back to the general direction of their dorms.

"Because they are," said Terra, answering Gar's question. Beside the blonde, Raven was busy attempting to remove uncooked pasta (long story) from her Birkenstocks. To do so, she was hopping on her right foot so not to get her socked left foot wet. However, she promptly lost balance and toppled over, landing squarely on top of Gar with a squeak.

"Beautiful," commented Terra, looking down at her two best friends, who now more resembled a tangle of limbs than actual people. Band could make even the most collected person clumsy and vague, as could be seen here.

"Sorry," said Raven with a blush as she pulled herself off of Gar. Her skirt was twisted and her shoe had somehow ended up several yards away.

"No problem," replied Gar in a dreamy voice, combing his fingers through his light brown hair. "No problem…"

It was then that Terra's scheming mind began to formulate a plan. Kori had eagerly told the entire story of how Vick bet that Rob and Kori would end up together, and Terra was getting an idea.

"You two are pathetic," she began, crossing her fingers mentally that this would go swimmingly.

"What do you mean?" replied Raven. Mega-pathetic.

"Really," continued Terra. "Just look at Kori and Rob." Raven and Gar both stopped in their tracks at his remark. "They've had crushes on each other for years, and this year they finally realized it." The two didn't like where this was going.

"I don't know what you're-" Raven was cut off by Terra.

"Don't act like you two don't know what I mean," said Terra. "I mean, you're always around each other. And Rae, you always look happiest around Gar. Don't deny it. You're practically giddy compared to how you were last year-"

It was now that Raven grabbed Terra's wrist. Gar kept walking, oblivious to the fact that Raven now held Terra in a death grip several feet behind.

"Shut up," hissed Raven in a near-silent whisper. "I'll admit, you know what you're talking about. I don't know how, but you got it right. Now shut up about it." There was an unearthly silence in the parking lot, and Terra was sure she blacked out for a moment. However, when she regained full brain function, Raven was darting across campus, towards the dorms.

"Gee, Terra," said Gar. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing that wasn't true…"

It was Wednesday afternoon, and on the other side of campus from the Fine Arts building, a rarity was occurring, something not recorded yet in the course of history.

Vick Stone was alone.

Since Rob had detention, Kori had a huge load of pre-calculus homework, and the other three in the group were nowhere to be found, Vick was left alone for one afternoon on his life.

This was precisely why he found himself pacing the parking lot to the right of the football field, taking in the afternoon like a sunbather, minus the bikini, thank goodness.

"What am I doing back here?" he asked himself quietly. He really didn't know the answer to that question. The parking lot had just seemed like a quiet place to go and be bored by himself, since he had completed all his homework during class.

Turning his attention towards the football practice field, Vick sighed. He had been hoping to go out for football and make something of his sports obsession, but since being on the football team required getting forms signed by his parents, Vick had a problem: his dad. Mr. Stone had never approved of his son's love for sports, and had often pressured him to pursue the family career and be a doctor. Terry Stone was a doctor, and his wife Nia was a nurse. Even Vick's only brother, Josh (age nine), wanted to be a doctor.

What is the world coming to?, thought Vick, glancing down at the overly green field. There were several figures down there, belonging to what seemed to be girls. Cheerleading tryouts, no doubt. Vick watched with growing disgust as they paraded across the area in their short shorts and tank tops. Normally, he was way into girls of any type, but cheerleaders were the one type he couldn't stand. He would bet his allowance that Katherine Moth was somewhere down among those preppy little-

BAM!

Vick was so lost in thought about his hatred towards cheerleaders that when something ran into him, he hardly noticed until whomever it was started shrieking her head off.

"Gosh," she fumed. "Who do you think you are!"

"Watch where you're goin', why don't you?" Vick said right back at the same time. He looked down at the culprit. She was actually close to his height, which was rare, considering how tall he was. She was dark skinned, and wore black Soffees and a grey hooded sweatshirt. On her feet were tennis shoes, and her black hair was relaxed and put into a high ponytail. Her dark eyes were narrowed at Vick, which surely wasn't a good sign.

"I don't know who you think you are, Sparky," said the girl, with a snort. "But you don't just go running into girls in parking lots without a 'sorry', you hear?"

"Did you just call me 'Sparky'?" Vick's nostrils flared with anger. No one used pet names on him and got away with it. "And it wasn't me who was running. It was you." It was then that they both heard a voice projected through the loudspeaker down on the practice field.

"Cox, Beverly? Are you here? Cox, Beverly?"

"Oh, look what you've done!" said "Cox, Beverly". "You've made me late to cheerleading tryouts!"

Vick couldn't help but snigger. "You're name is Beverly?" he asked with a smirk.

"Cox, Beverly" looked back with a death glare. "It's Bee. Not Beverly," she shouted out. "Bee Cox. And you?"

"Vick Stone," Vick replied with a wink as Bee nodded and ran off to be preppy with her cheerleader friends.

Well, thought Vick as he turned to head up the walkway back to the dorms. Maybe all cheerleaders aren't' too bad.

After fleeing the parking lot outside the Fine Arts building, Raven had run immediately back to the dorms, in high hopes of grabbing some much needed alone time in her room. However, Kori was in there, doing her homework and listening to Vanessa Carlton, so Raven pretended to be stopping by to grab her chapstick (of all things), and promptly ran back out without another word.

Raven ran to the only place she could think of to go and be alone. She ran faster than she ever had before, on legs that no longer felt connected to her body. And when she got to her destination, she broke down and cried.

It was a small clearing off of the nature trail, quite a ways behind the boys' dorm, such that no one could see her out of their back window. The trees were thick, but let in the right amount of sun, filtering through the dusty, green leaves. It reminded her of her home in Ventura. There was a sliver of roof outside her bedroom window where she sat often to watch the waves crash on the nearby beach and be alone.

She had come here often during the past three years, to read, write, or do homework, and occasionally just to think. Now, as she sank down on the deserted bench near the fallen, bug-infested tree that hadn't been there last school year, she didn't need to think. She just wanted to clear her head.

What Terra had said back in the parking lot had been mean. Of course, Terra didn't know what she was doing. She had most likely seen what happened with Kori and Rob, and guessed that Raven and Gar would be that easy to get together. The truth was, Raven wanted it as much as anybody. She'd had a huge crush on the skinny, vegetarian since about the end of the sixth grade, and never told anyone. However, now she second guessed her wishes. What if Gar didn't like her that way? What if he found out and shunned her, just when they were getting to be friends after Gar's year-long absence?

And how did Terra find out? Was Raven being that obvious? Or did Terra have some supernatural power that Raven didn't know about?

Raven was so carried away with her thoughts that she didn't even see Kori until the redhead was about two feet away from her and then, she fell off the bench from shock.

"Kori? Wha...what are you doing here?" Raven stuttered, and her voice came out small and high-pitched.

" Never mind that," said Kori with a smile. "Why are you crying? Is something wrong?" Kori helped Raven off of the ground and back onto the bench. Raven's eyes were red, and her hair was frizzy around the hairline and around the elastic holding her hair back it its usual ponytail.

"Just…" Raven almost said, "Just nothing", but something stopped her. Kori was persistent. She wouldn't get bored or frustrated and leave. She would keep on asking until she got the story out of Raven.

"It was something Terra said," answered Raven softly. Kori put her arm around the violet-haired girl.

"What did she say that made you upset?" asked Kori politely, not pushing her friend to answer.

"She…" Raven was having trouble getting this to come out all the way. "She was just talking, not trying to be mean at all," began Raven. "But she was talking about you and Rob, and said… she said that she doesn't see why me and Gar aren't together as well. She says that we are perfect for each other."

Kori nearly squealed with joy. "Are you saying that you have a crush on Gar?" she asked. Kori was beaming, and Raven found it hard to lie. So, the truth came out.

"Yes," she answered in a very small voice. "Yes, Kori. I do."

"You what?" At first, Raven thought that maybe Kori hadn't heard her, but when she was the look in Kori's eyes, she saw otherwise. Kori was trying to get her to say it out loud.

"I just said it," she hissed, suddenly conscious that this clearing might not be so secret after all. She was getting the strange feeling that someone was watching her.

"Well," replied Kori. "Say it again. Just do it."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

"WHY?"

"Because."

It was obvious that Raven wasn't going to win this argument.

"Alright," she said softly. "I like Gar."

"You what?"

This was getting old. "I like Gar," said Raven loudly.

"Then why did Terra's words make you upset?" Raven had thought that this was over and done, so this question caught her off-guard. She had to think for a moment.

"I… I don't want him to know, I guess," she answered vaguely. "I don't want him to know, because I'm afraid he won't feel the same."

Kori giggled knowingly, and it scared Raven. "I'm sure he does, Rae. Why wouldn't he?"

Raven wasn't really sure how to answer this question. In fact, she had never thought about it before. She knew she wasn't the prettiest person alive, but she wasn't ugly, and she knew it as well as anyone.

"So what do I do?" asked Raven. "I'm not good with boys, and you know that." She slumped down on the bench while Kori took a moment to think.

"Wear your hair down tomorrow," answered Kori after a few seconds. "Wear nicer shoes, not those dirty old flats." She motioned to the ancient ballet flats on Raven's feet. "Don't listen to what Terra tells you about him not noticing the little things. And most of all don't worry. Let the future unfold by itself."

Several minutes later, after Kori had left, Raven was still seated on the bench, a smile on her face. With perfect silence, she reached up and took the elastic out of her hair, enjoying the feeling of her violet hair brushing the back of her neck. Maybe things would work out in the end. Maybe it wasn't the end of the world.

This place sure is beautiful, thought Raven, looking up at the sun through the tops of the trees and smiling. Maybe being happy wasn't that hard.

Okay, so please review now. And I'd like to say one thing before you do so: pretty much all events of band were not made up, as in I was speaking from experience. So here are the things in this story so far that are not made up:

1) the catfish thing from the second chapter

2) the machete

3) people asking people out for $10

4) getting things lodged in ceiling, such as shoes

5) the thing with Dash pulling his pants up

6) getting stuck in trash can and rolled into hallway

So yeah. I lead an interesting life, as the above list shows.

Please review, and I'll have the fourth chapter up as soon as I write it.

-Giz