Chapter Two

Sparks?

I got to school the next day just before class started and found my way to my seat. Setting my stuff down, I noticed who was going to be my neighbour and was slightly surprised. It was the goth girl who had stopped Adam yesterday. She wore a red tank top with a red choker and black jeans, with the same make-up on and dark red lipstick. As I sat down, the motion drew her attention and she smiled when she saw me.

"Hi there, Jason."

"Hey Raven," I returned the smile. "Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other, huh?"

"Guess so. Don't worry, though... I'm sure it won't hurt your rep."

I raised my eyebrow slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"You're normal. I'm a freak," She said, shrugging. "We're not exactly supposed to get along."

"Yeah?Well, I happen to think goths are pretty cool." I tried to sound as convincingly as I could.

"Oh, really?," This time she raised an eyebrow. "You're into goth stuff, huh?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Name one goth band." She challenged me.

I tried to think of something, and I must've looked pretty stupid as I slowly thought of random words. "Uh... The Death... Skull... Death faces?" I said reluctantly.

" 'The Deathskull Deathfaces'? Seriously? That's the best you've got?" She said flatly, her eyebrow still raised.

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, so I don't know much about goth music.."

"I'm just teasing you," She smiled at me. "It's cute that you made the effort... Most jocks wouldn't have even bothered. Look, if you wanna check out the goth scene, there's going to be an awesome show this Saturday. 'Blood Baby' is playing down at the Deathshadow Lounge. They're one of my favorite bands... You might get a kick out of them."

"I'll think it over, okay?" I said, as I wondered what a goth music show would be like.

Before long, the bell rung for lunch. I got up, gathered my things and headed to the cafeteria with the rest of the students. After getting my food, I walked to the table where Howard was sitting.

"Hey, Jason, did you see the Homecoming flyers?" He asked as I sat beside him.

"Homecoming? Isn't it kinda early for that?"

"Here, check this out!"

He showed me the flyer, which announced the Homecoming Dance was in seven weeks, right after the big game against Wilson High and that tickets were on sale now.

"I see.."

"Man..,"Howard smiled. "It would be so awesome to be Homecoming King... There are the ladies... And the prestige... and the ladies! What do you think, Jason?"

"Yea, it would be cool."

"I knew I wasn't the only one who cared about popularity!"He beamed. "I mean... It's not just about becoming Homecoming King... It's about how people treat you in general! When you're popular, kids are just nicer to you. It's no fun going through life having everyone treat you like a loser.."

I layed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I guess you've got a point there... But how am I supposed to get popular?"

Howard grinned. "Well, I'll tell you my method... Watching a bunch of TV! That way, you can keep up on current events... Plus you'll know all the latest shows!"

"So... I just watch a bunch of TV and suddenly that makes me become popular?"

"Well... Watching TV helps, but you've also just got to be a cool guy in general. Help people out, be nice and prove your awesomeness!"

I grinned with him. "Well... I'm not sure I'm ever going to care as much as you, but I'll see what I can do."

We finished eating and made our way to our next class, which neither of us had never even heard of.

" 'Unsupervised study'?What the heck is this?" I asked out loud as I walked into the classroom. Noticing not many kids were in there and the few that were there were just talking with each other. There wasn't a teacher either. Howard scratched his head as he came in behind me.

"Yeah... They didn't have this at my old school."

A guy with blonde hair, shiny from hair jell, in a purple t-shirt approached us and smiled. I recognized him as being one of the guys that was with Adam at lunch yesterday.

"It's the best thing to happen to this school since they started letting girls wear short-shorts!" He said.

"Huh?" I simply blinked.

A girl with pale hair and purple glasses spoke from her desk. "Due to the latest budget crisis, they're letting us go home early to study on Wednesday afternoons."

"For real?"It sounded good to me.

"For real," The blonde haired guy spoke. "This is your chance to do whatever you want."

"Some people actually do go study, Jacob."The girl retorted.

The guy, Jacob, simply brushed her off. "But most of us just watch TV or play sports."

"Nice! I'm heading home. Give me a call if you want to throw the ball around or something." Howard said as he pretty much darted out of the room.

I grinned at the thought of the idea and nodded my head in approval. Unsupervised study.. I'm beginning to like the sound of this. I didn't stick around too long after Howard left, heading home about fifteen minutes later. Once there, I told my parents about the class and though they didn't seem to like it a lot, they let me off to do whatever I wanted. In my room, I laid on my bed and pondered what to do for the day. I could do my homework, watch some TV or if I wanted, go to the gym right down the street. Thinking about try-outs on Friday, I decided to hit the weights.

Once at the gym, I began by lifting fifteen pound barbells for a few hours until I got pretty tired and couldn't do it anymore. Noticing that I had spent a lot of time at the gym, I drove home just in time for dinner.

The next day at lunch, while I ate with Howard like usual, three girls walked up and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see one with burgundy hair combed over one eye wearing a purple blouse in front of the others.

"So... You're the new kid who Adam roughed up. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Paula, and these are my associates Taylor and Amanda."

The girl Taylor, I recognized from that time with Chuck. "I've seen you around.."

Amanda had long red hair and an orange blouse on. She had an unusually large smile. "You smell like soap!"

"Quiet, Amanda!"Paula snapped. "Anyway, I heard you might be trying out for the football team tomorrow... Which means you might be cool. Maybe even cool enough to hang out with us." She smiled seductively.

"Uh.."I simply stared at the three, not really sure what to say. Paula continued regardless.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we'll be watching."With that, she turned and walked off.

"See you later, Jason..." Taylor smiled and followed Paula out. Amanda simply waved franticly and ran out as well. Once they were gone, I simply looked at Howard who just shrugged and without any more thoughts on the event, we continued eating.

Try-outs were today. School past by quickly as I was only concerned with how I was going to pass. After the final bell rung, me and Howard met up and headed to the field together. There weren't that many other students there, but I recognized a few such as Jacob, Chuck, Bryce and unfortunately, Adam. The coach walked over and stood in front of everyone.

"Hello, gentlemen, and welcome to the worst two weeks of your life. If you don't make the cut, you can always try for cheerleading. The rest of you, though, will be a team. My team. The Fighting Lizards."

Adam walked up to me with a grin on his face. "Sounds tough, meat. You sure you're up for this?"

I simply scowled at him as he left. For the next hour, we ran a series of intense drills, sprints, and other exercises that violated basic human decency. I looked over at Howard who seemed to be struggling.

"Can't... go... on.." He wheezed.

"Quit.. complaining... Coach is heading this way!"I said. On que, the man approached us and pointed at me.

"You there! Rookie! What position are you trying out for?"

"Quarterback." I reply.

"Is that so?Well, well, Adam. Looks like you've got a little competition!"

Adam frowned at the remark. "Competition, huh? Let's see you compete with this," He picked up a football. "Go long, Chuck!"

Chuck sprinted all the way down to the end zone and Adam through a long pass right to him, landing perfectly in his hands. I swallowed at the very sight of a football being thrown that distance. The coach grinned.

"Nicely done, Adam. See that, rookie?That's what a starting quarterback looks like... Of course, we do still have to figure out Adam's backup. You're up, kid! Show me what you got."

I grabbed a football and watched as Howard sprinted into the end zone. Mustering all my strength into my right arm, I wound back and shot the ball to him. Thankfully, It flew straight and true, right into Howard's arms. I let out a sigh of relief as the coach nodded.

"Not bad... Not bad. You're no Adam... But you might make a nice backup."

Adam scowled at the idea. "That was a lucky throw!Bryce, show 'em what you've got."

"Done." Bryce grabbed a ball and threw it to the exact same place without much effort. The coach nodded at his throw as well.

"Hmmm... This is a tough decision. Either one of you could make a good fit for the team... Bryce was a solid backup for us last year... But Jason might have more upside... So here's what we're going to do. I am making an executive coaching decision! I'll let the two of you decide the backup quarterback position... By scrimmaging for it next week!"

I blinked in disbelief. "Scrimmaging?"

"Exactly!We'll play a practice game right after school next Friday!Jason and Bryce can each be quarterback for opposite teams. And whoever wins is Adam's backup. And whoever loses... You'll be out."

"What?" I looked at Bryce, who simply grinned.

"I'll see you next week, Jason..."

Adam, Bryce and the coach walked off, allowing Howard to step forward. "Whoa... That was pretty intense..."

"And I guess it's not over yet." I sighed in exhaustion.

That Saturday, I say in my room pondering what to do for the day. I went to the gym last time, and since my parents were watching TV, I decided to just do my homework. It took me about an hour to finish it all and I was relieved when I answered my last question. With all of that out of the way, my night was free. I remembered my options. Beth invited me to that beach party with her and her friends, and Raven also invited me to that concert with her. Then again, I could just stay home. Which were pretty much my only three options. I thought about it for half an hour and made my decision.

I grabbed my keys and hopped in my car and was soon on my way. Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of a sketchy looking club and felt a tad bit uneasy being the only guy there without fangs and make-up. Most of the goths eyed me as I parked and got out, locked my car and headed to the front door. I spotted Raven near the entrance and she seemed extremely surprised that I was there.

"Jason!You showed up!I sort of figured this wasn't your kind of thing..."

"Are you kidding?,"I grinned. "No way I'd miss this!"

"Oh yeah?You're into 'Blood Baby'?" She asked mockingly.

"Well, no, but...I'll give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?"

"I've got to say, I didn't have you pegged as the adventurous type. I'm impressed!,"Raven smiled. "I ought to warn you though, some of these shows can be pretty intense!"

"Intense?I'm all about intense!"I said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh please..I bet the most intense thing you've ever done was sit around playing 'Madden'!"She mocked.

"Hey, in my defence, those were some pretty intense games of 'Madden'.."I grinned.

"Ha ha. Let's get inside!Don't worry about paying... The bouncer and I go way back."

Raven grabbed me and pulled me into the club. We had to fight our way through the crowd it seemed like, as it was packed like a sardine can with goths in different attire. Some wore capes and fangs, other's had make-up and eye-liner. On stage was a band playing and the musicians looked just like every other goth in the room.

"Man, this place is packed!,"I comment as we push through the crowd. "Think any of these people are vampires?"

"Hmm.. Yeah, maybe, "Raven thoughtfully looked around. "Now that you mention it.."

"... I was joking."

The band started playing a dull, grinding industrial sound while the singer seemed to moan into the microphone. Raven seemed to know the song as she got excited when it started.

"Nice!' Mothgrind'! I love this song!"

I listened for a few minutes, speechless at some of the phrases in the song. Especially one in particular.

"Did he just say he wants to cremate my pets?"

"It's totally a metaphore." Raven smiled.

Instead of listening to the horrible song, I tried to direct my attention to Raven. She was having a blast, jumping and even singing along to the lyrics. To occupy myself, I just gently swayed to the music and eventually, Raven stopped singing and turned to me in between the sets.

"Hey, you sure you're okay? This isn't weirding you out?"

"Well, of course it's weirding me out, "I laugh a bit and smile. "But that's okay. This is different, but it's also kind of cool. I mean, sure, that last song was all about being buried alive... But it still beats half the stuff on the Top 40!"

Raven reached down and took my hand, and I was surprised to find her hands were small and soft compared to mine.

"Thanks for being so open-minded, Jason. That's pretty cool." She smiled and turned away.

"All right, you little vampires...,"The lead singer on stage began. "It's time to speed things up... Who's ready for 'PAIN FRENZY'?"

"Whoo!Yeah!'PAIN FRENZY'!" Is what I heard Raven scream from my side. I on the other hand had no idea what was about to happen. Raven looked at me and grinned. "Remember when I said these things get intense?Brace yourself!"

The band started playing a fast-paced song and the room practically exploded into a furious mosh pit. I was literally shoved and hit from every angle, as the goths seemed to release from their surroundings as they danced without concern for their neighbours. Raven had no trouble blending in, dancing and jumping with the rest, and only she restrained herself from hitting me. Trying not to embarrass myself, I try to keep up with everyone. Luckily, I was able to. I ended up moshing with the best of them, keeping my footing and I actually had fun doing it.

"Whoa.. You really know how to mosh!" Raven said.

"Of course!I'm a football player, aren't I?Watch this!"

I watched a huge bald guy come flying towards Raven, but he didn't make it as I shouldered him out of the way with ease.

"That was awesome!"Raven beamed.

The rest of the night seemed a blurr. We mosh'd and danced until we couldn't mosh or dance anymore. A few hours later, as the show ended and people scattered to their cars, I walked with Raven to hers. It was quiet for a few minutes before she looked up at me while we were walking.

"Hey listen, Jason... I really appreciate you coming out here tonight. You're a pretty cool guy."

"I just braved the world's freakiest mosh pit, and all I am is 'pretty cool'?"I grinned.

"Well... Maybe you're a little bit more than that."

Raven leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Her lips were soft and warm against my skin and I kind of liked it. She backed up to her car and smiled.

"See you around?"

"Absolutely!" I returned the smile and watch her get into her car, start it up and drive away. I stood there for a few more minutes, just thinking about everything that happened. It would surely be a night I would remember for quite awhile.

The next day, I decided to hit the gym and worked out some more. I did the same routine, lifted weights until I was too tired to continue and then went home. Again, I made it just in time for dinner.

End of Chapter Two