Ch. 3: Shopping For The Devil's Daughter

After that news, I couldn't help but keep my powers under control. Still, as I walked to and from school, I couldn't help but rotate pebbles in my palm in order to calm myself. It was all I had to take my mind of this tragedy, simply rolling them around in my hand every time I passed a car or someone. It was that Wednesday when Star as Kori and Bumble Bee under the name Karen, called me up and asked me to go shopping at the mall.

Apparently, Raven's birthday was coming up and since there happened to be such contrast in taste, Kori could use all the help she could get. I had a ball being with Kori and Karen bonding with me as quick as they come. We talked about all girls do: the hottest clothes, best diet foods (some of Kori's were out there, but that was to be expected), which celeb should be with whom, what boys we thought were cute (Kori, of course had eyes only for Rich, but surprisingly Karen was extremely fond of Victor!), same old, same old.

Among us we had picked a variety of clothes we each assumed Raven would like, all dark colors or some sort of blue. The two girls, with the bags I carried, flew back to the tower after our eventful day of shopping. I waved goodbye to them and then head home. They had told me that BB had yet to awake and that Raven had yet to leave his side. So the worry I had been carrying the last few days was relieved. I was happy that I could contribute to Raven's gift, and my pleasantness followed me throughout the week: I found a lost wallet and received a 50 dollar reward, aced three test in my worst classes, and help win county's with my school's volleyball team.

And then things got….different again. I had been checking out the magazine racks my favorite bookstore, when a familiar laugh rang through my ears. Curiosity got the best of me, as I went around the corner to the comics section to investigate. Unconsciously I uttered, "BB?" only to have boy standing before me look up. I was so sure that it was him, but upon a closer look I knew it wasn't.

First and foremost was the difference in height and the definition of his muscle that gave him a Richard-like build (who had changed his codename to Nightwing). Another thing that I noticed was his attire: short sleeved white button up, dark green muscle shirt, and badge cargo shorts with surfer's sandals.

The second thing that alarmed me of my mistake was the extreme difference in skin tone and hair: instead of his forest green hair, lime green skin and pointed ears, the teen had a very nice dark tan with rounded ears, cute freckles, and sandy blond hair. The only that was similar was his emerald green eyes, which seem to darken in sadness. Then they instantly brightened and the kid smiled, his grin reminding me of my dear friend.

When he spoke, I felt my eyes widen at how deep it was despite looking very young. "BB? You wouldn't happen to be talking about the Titan Beast Boy? As much as there's a resemblance, and as often as I get that, I'm not that grass stain. Not that it wouldn't be cool to be him, so you can lower the fist please?" I had clenched my hand into the fists after he called BB a 'grass stain', only to release the tension and relaxing when I realized it was more of a compliment than an insult.

After I withdrew a calming breath, he lowered his hands that he had put up in mock defense. He was about to say something else with his smile returning, when a calming and soft voice came from behind me. "You'll have to excuse him for any idiocy his spills out-he has a habit of not thinking before speaking." Walking past me was a Raven-haired teen girl, with a bag full of books weighting comfortably on her pale arm. With a polite 'excuse me' she cut in-between us, and even she was the shortest of the three, she glared up at the boy menacingly. He flinched slightly, sheepishly putting a hand behind his head.

"What did I tell you, Gar? Always think before you spout off your opinions of people! Now I want you to apologize for whatever it is you said to get-" She paused, turning around to get my name. I smiled awkwardly as I caught her eyes widen in astonishment (Did she know me? And did her eyes just flash red?), a deeper blue than my own. Whatever the reason she was startled to see me faded away instantly, as she tucked a rouge strand of hair behind her ear. "It's Tara."

She turned to away from me and back to her-was he her boyfriend? Best friend?-accomplice, waiting for him to correct his mistake. "Oh, come on Rae, I was kidding-!" The icy look she gave him sent shivers down my spine and could have probably killed him if he wasn't probably used to it. Somehow Gar seemed to shrink under Rae, as if she was looking down at him despite being so adorably short.

"1) My name is Rachel, not Rae. And 2) How many times have I had to save you because of your mouth." Gar took a moment and smiled, "I can't count that high." At this she smiled back and shook her head in mock shame. She then turned back to me, "Since my fool of a boyfriend can't seem say it, I'm sorry if he said something to offend you, Tara. He has knack for say things without much thought and inadvertently hurting people, even if he means well."

I accepted her apology, saying how I was just going through something and recently a friend of mine that Beast Boy had saved was really distraught during the accident. I didn't need to say that it was me, of course, and I didn't have to. In one quick motion, Rachel grabbed Gar by his collar and pulled him down to my height. He apologized with an embarrassing blush gracing his cheeks. Despite myself, I giggled at how out of place the sight seemed. You could tell who wore the pants in that relationship.

To get know them a little better, I offered to buy them something at the bookstore's café. They obliged without a single look of apprehension, and we quickly found a table for the three of us. As we talked, I discovered that Rachel loved all types of literature-ranging from long epic poems to short collection of love stories-and that Garfield loved videogames (wow. that was definitely a shocker) but enjoyed taking long walks through the park to clear his mind. As I took in more about them, I noticed their contrasting attitudes that made them so different, but seemed to complement each other perfectly.

Rachel didn't say much, choosing which questions to answer very carefully. She was like a hard puzzle that wanted to be solved. Garfield, on the other hand, was open and wore his emotions on his sleeve with his extremely big heart. He talked with his hands as he explained his theories on various things, from politics to why the sky was blue. I couldn't help at smile-they acted so much like Raven and BB, with a smiling Rachel cracking open her book as Garfield explained the many uses of tofu as an energy source and survival tool in the wilderness.

Eventually, we separated from our little discussion and had to part ways. They had to go meet up their other friends for their weekly movie night (apparently it was a ritual sort of thing among their close group). I nodded, sending them off on their way, as my mind reeled back to two things about our meeting: First Rachel, despite reading her book, couldn't take her eyes off of me. The second thing was how she was wearing an outfit that I gotten Raven not only the week before….