OK, this has absolutely nothing to do with the story, but I was looking at a names site to try and find a name for a new character, and found out that Arella means Angel in Hebrew. I thought that was pretty cool. Anyway… onto the story!
Raven looked around room 63 uncomfortably. She and Gar were sitting in two chairs close together, and his arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulders. The rest of their friends were all spaced around the room, talking.
The members of the group had all come in one by one, and every one had at first asked Raven what was wrong. She had had Jinx tell everyone that she would tell them all once everyone was there.
Now that everyone was there, Raven was feeling nervous. If it had been hard telling Gar, it was nothing to how she was feeling now. She took a deep breath and nodded to Jinx.
Jinx got everyone to listen, and Raven turned away as she told them what had happened. Gar noticed this action, and he pulled her closer, putting both arms around her and holding her supportively.
Raven did not listen as Jinx told everyone what had happened. She had had to relive it enough in her dreams, and the last thing she wanted to do was relive it here in school. She looked back towards Jinx when the bell that Raven called the 'Get-Your-Butt-Movin' Bell' rang.
Raven gently pulled herself free of Gar's embrace, and headed for the door, pausing only to pick up her notebook. She did not want anyone to say anything about what her father had done. She just wanted to go to her classes and forget everything.
With a jolt of unease, Raven remembered that her first period class was Chorus.
'Great way to start the day,' she thought sarcastically. 'More than any other class, chorus involves singing. And I can't sing. Great.'
Someone grabbed her elbow, and she turned to see Jinx.
"I guess I'll see you next period," Jinx had a small smile on her face. "We have gym today, right?"
Raven nodded. Jinx waved, and turned down the hallway that led to her English class. Raven kept walking straight; chorus was all the way at the other end of the school.
She reached the classroom earlier than she had wanted or expected to. Only half the class had arrived, and Raven put her pile of books down with a thud by her seat. She sat down, and began searching through her binder for the note her mother had given her.
Finding it, she walked over to Mrs. Pontire with her notebook and pencil, and handed her the note. Mrs. Pontire read it quickly, and Raven watched with unease as her expression softened into one of pity.
"Would you like to go down to the cafeteria for a study hall?" Mrs. Pontire asked as she looked up from the note. "That might be easier for you."
'No thanks,' Raven wrote. 'I really should be working on the music, even if I can't sing, since our concert's soon.'
"Well, in all my years, never have I met such a dedicated student," Mrs. Pontire smiled. "You may stay, but please let me know if you feel uncomfortable." Raven nodded, and walked back to her seat.
Raven sat next to her friend Toni in Chorus. (I will give anyone who guesses who Toni is a cookie. Don't ask how; I'll find a way.) Toni had dubbed herself and Raven 'chorus buddies,' since chorus was one of the few classes they had together.
"What's wrong?" Toni asked as Raven sat down. Raven hastily scribbled down what had happened to her in her notebook and passed it to Toni.
Toni read what Raven had written quickly, her eyes widening the more she read. When she finished, she looked up and pulled Raven into a hug. Though surprised by this, Raven hugged her back.
"I'm so sorry, Raven," she said when she had released her.
'It's not that bad,' Raven wrote. 'I mean, it does suck to not be able to talk, but now I have an excuse to sleep in class.' Toni smiled when she read this, but, seemingly struck by a sudden thought, her smile turned down into a frown.
"But what about chorus?" she asked. "I mean, we sing in here. And that's pretty much all we do."
Raven shrugged before writing, 'Mrs. Pontire understands, so it doesn't matter if I don't sing. I mean, it'll definitely feel weird not singing, but I'll live.'
Toni smiled again before she had to face the piano and sing warm ups.
'This is when I love sitting farthest from the piano,' Raven thought as everyone else began singing. 'No one can see me.' She felt her eyes grow watery, and she blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the tears.
- - - -
Garfield couldn't help but feel shaken as he walked into his chemistry class. Everything that he had found out in the last half hour had chilled him to the bone, almost like a horror movie. But this was worse. A horror movie could be switched off if it got too scary; this was real.
He sat down in his seat near the back, and it wasn't very long after that Kori came in and took her seat next to his.
"How're you doing?" she asked him kindly as she sat down.
He turned to look at her, prepared to put on a smile and say, "Fine," but the words wouldn't come out.
"I have no idea," he said, though this wasn't exactly true.
"Yes you do," Kori squeezed his lower arm, which was lying on the desk.
"Guilty," he let his head, which suddenly felt too heavy for his shoulders, fall onto his arms.
"Gar," Kori placed her hand supportively on his shoulder, "don't blame yourself. There's nothing you could have done."
Gar jerked his head up, this sudden movement making Kori's hand fall off his shoulder.
"But what if –" Gar started, but Kori cut him off.
"'But what if' what?" she asked calmly. "There was nothing you could have done. You weren't even in the neighborhood when it happened. There was no way you could have done anything."
"I know," Gar let his head fall again. "I just can't stop thinking up of what I could have done to make sure nothing happened."
"And they all involve you knowing something you know now that you didn't know then, don't they?" Kori asked. "The same questions just started going around in my head. And I was actually in the neighborhood when it happened." She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "But nothing is going to change what did happen. Sure, I could have remembered to set the alarm in my watch. I could have insisted that we all go to sleep instead of talking. But why would I?"
"What?" Gar turned his head so he could look at Star. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, why would I stop everyone from having fun and insist we go to sleep? Why would I set my alarm when it didn't matter what time I got up? I had no reason to do these things. The only way I would have done them is if I had known what could have happened the next morning."
Gar straightened up as the bell rang that signaled the beginning of class. The chemistry teacher walked into the room from the laboratory, and began trying to catch everyone's attention.
"Thanks, Kori," he whispered, realizing she had a point. Maybe what she had said would help him through the day.
"Anytime you need me, I'm here for you," she said in an equally quiet voice, smiling before turning her attention to the front of the classroom.
- - - -
'I hope Raven's all right,' Jinx thought as she took her seat in English. 'I mean, she has chorus this period. She won't be able to sing, unless some miracle happens.'
She watched, bored, as Terra flounced into the room. She was all smiles, and she winked at several people before taking her seat.
'Well, the witch is back to being a hypocrite,' Jinx thought. 'Any other newsflashes?' She frowned as Terra took her seat next to Vic and said, "Hey, Vic!" in a cheerful voice.
Jinx was heartened by the fact that Vic did not say anything to Terra. He simply turned the other way, and, seeing her, smiled.
Jinx smiled back at him, and waved.
'Terra has some nerve,' Jinx thought, frowning, as Vic turned back the other way and Terra tried to talk to him again. 'After ditching Gar on Saturday, she thinks she can just pop right back into our lives as if nothing's happened? It makes me wonder if she has any common sense at all!'
Their English teacher, Mrs. Talhok, walked into the classroom. The bell rang a second after she put her papers down on the teacher's desk, and everyone looked up at her.
"We're getting new seats today," Mrs. Talhok said cheerfully. She whipped a piece of paper out of one of her folders. "You all know the drill!"
As one, the class picked up their backpacks, left their seats, and walked to stand along the walls. Mrs. Talhok began walking around the classroom and reading out names.
It took a very short time to get new seats, even though the class was rather large. Jinx was now sitting next to the window and a boy named Fernando. Terra sat in front of her, much to Jinx's disappointment, but Vic sat on the other side of Fernando. (Yes, I am going somewhere with this Fernando guy, I promise!!)
Fernando, who was very tall and dressed like he lived in the sixties, smiled at Jinx.
"Hey," he said. "You're Jen, right?"
Even though she had never spoken to Fernando before, Jinx smiled politely and said, "Well, I kind of prefer Jinx, but yeah. And you're Ferna–"
"Yeah," Fernando cut her off. "But, like you, I prefer a different name. Call me Fang." (Oooooo, you didn't see that one coming, did you???)