Raven and Octavia were on a back road that they'd discovered was faster than the highway between their neighborhood and Rosewood.
"Serpentine belt," Raven muttered. She didn't realize she had said it out loud until Octavia said "Dashboard."
Raven looked at her. "Oh, I thought we were just naming parts of a car," said Octavia. "I was pretty much done after 'dashboard.'"
"Abby's car," said Raven. "I think she needs to replace her serpentine belt. Didn't you hear the way it was squealing?"
Octavia snorted. "You want to be squealing."
"That doesn't even make any sense," said Raven. Octavia smirked. Raven changed the subject. "So, what's with you and the new boy toy?"
Octavia shrugged noncommittally, but Raven thought she saw her blush a little. "Caleb's okay," she said. "He doesn't talk too much, and he's nice, and I get the feeling he's done some stuff in the past that wasn't strictly legal."
Raven grinned at her. "Well, two out of three ain't bad. And I'm sure after he spends some more time with you, he'll get over the being-nice thing." Octavia glared at her. "Seriously though, I'm glad there are some people worth talking to at the new school. I don't think I could stand being around all those Rosewood kids."
They both fell silent then. Raven assumed Octavia was thinking about her floppy-haired new guy.
She started thinking about the damn serpentine belt again. And that made her think she should tell Abby about it, maybe tomorrow when she dropped the girls off at school. And that made her think about how Abby might flash one of those tight little smiles of hers, and that made her think about the moment when Raven had made an ass out of herself in the coffee shop.
She groaned inwardly (not out loud, this time – she shot a quick glance at Octavia to double-check). That had to rank up there as one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Oh hey, Abby, let me just slam into you and almost knock you down and then grab you by your arms and press you tight against me, she thought. Because that's a thing that actually happens to people. And then, hey, why not awkwardly keep holding onto you, mortified and yet loving the feel of your body pressed against mine? So that you actually have to tell me to let go of you? Christ, Raven, who does that?
She slammed her head lightly against the head rest behind her. Octavia looked over. "Hey – you okay?" she said.
"Yeah, yeah – I'm fine," said Raven. "Just – it's been a stupid day."
"Is it…the Abby thing?" Octavia asked, oddly hesitant for her.
"God, Octavia, why do you keep bringing up Clarke's mom?" Raven snapped. "Yes, I tripped in the coffee shop or whatever, but that's not the only crappy thing that happened today. Which you would know if anyone ever asked me about my day, instead of all your high school drama!"
It was an unfortunate moment to be pulling into Octavia's driveway. She got out of the car and yelled back, "Thanks for the ride, asshole!" as she slammed the door and stormed inside.
Raven peeled out, feeling irritated and a little guilty for snapping at O like that.
Her night didn't get any better from there. She was late to work at the bar again, her boss picked a fight with her, and Raven ended up yelling at him and quitting.
She lay in bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep.
Her apartment was lonely. Her life was pathetic. She'd just lost a job she'd hated anyway, she had no future prospects, she spent her mornings and afternoons shuttling around her friends who were still in high school, she had no love life… "Argh!" Raven growled, punching her fist out to the side. It connected with the lamp on her makeshift bedside table, and the lamp shattered.
Raven sat up. "Goddammit." She went into the bathroom and flicked on the light, surveying the damage to her hand. It was bleeding, of course. Perfect end to a perfect day. She wrapped it up in a towel and went back to bed.
In the morning, she woke up after a fitful night's sleep and ate some cereal (dry – she was out of milk again).
Normally, she picked up Octavia first, since they lived so close, but she didn't think she could stand to be in the car just the two of them. So she left a little earlier than usual for Clarke's house.
When she got there, Raven sat in the car for a minute. Usually she just honked until Clarke came out, but today some force compelled her to go up and knock on the door.
Clarke answered it, her hair still damp from the shower. "Hey, Raven!" she said, looking a little surprised. She looked around Raven at her empty car. "Where's Octavia?"
Raven rolled her eyes. "Ugh, we had a fight last night, so I didn't want to be alone with her."
"Come on in," said Clarke, opening the door. "I'm just finishing up, shouldn't be more than 5 minutes. My mom just left, so make yourself at home." She ran upstairs to finish getting ready.
Raven looked around. There were dishes stacked neatly in the sink – she smelled maple syrup, so the Griffins must have had pancakes or waffles for breakfast. She walked around and looked at the bookshelves. It had been a long time since she'd actually been in Clarke's house – the girls usually preferred to hang out at Raven's place or out somewhere.
A photo on one of the shelves caught her eye, and she picked it up. In it, Clarke's dad was swinging her around by her arms. Clarke must have been about 6 when the picture was taken, her hair white-blonde and gleaming in the sun. She and her dad were both laughing.
Then Raven's eye fell on the third person in the picture, and suddenly she couldn't breathe. She'd never seen Abby Griffin smile like that, her entire face open and laughing and beautifully lit by the sun. Raven thought she looked like an angel.
"That's one of my favorites," said Clarke. Raven quickly put the picture back, feeling guilty. But Clarke was smiling. "Do you remember him?"
"A little," said Raven. "He died the year I met you, your freshman year of high school – right?" Clarke nodded. "So I only started hanging out with you a few months before –" She trailed off. "I remember his smile, and his laugh. He was always the happiest guy in the room, and he had this way of making everyone else feel happy too."
She looked at Clarke, leaning against the doorway with her bag slung over one arm. There was a single tear on her cheek. "Aw, kiddo," Raven mumbled. "Come here." She gave Clarke a tight hug (but a quick one – Raven wasn't much of a hugger, and to be honest neither was Clarke). "It sucks, doesn't it?"
Clarke nodded. "We should probably go get the angry little one now," she said.
"Do we have to?" said Raven. Clarke shot her a look. "Come on, Reyes, woman up," she said, and they went out to the car.
The drive to school wasn't as bad as it could have been. Octavia was pretty pissed when they got there, but she could never stay mad at Raven for long, and as she got out she smacked the back of Raven's seat and said "Thanks for the ride, asshole" – but this time, with a grin.
Raven drove aimlessly through downtown Rosewood, which didn't take long. She thought about her friendship with Clarke and Octavia. She'd met Clarke in Clarke's freshman year of high school, Raven's (second) junior year. They were on the field hockey team together and instantly hit it off.
The next year, when Raven was a senior, Octavia was a freshman and had instantly made a name for herself as a force to be reckoned with on the field. She quickly became the third member of their little gang. The three of them were inseparable – even when Clarke dated Raven's ex, Finn, she checked with Raven first to make sure it was okay, and oddly enough it actually was. Or the time Raven hooked up with O's big brother, and that should have been super weird, but they got through it.
Raven didn't know what made the three of them click so well, despite the differences in their ages that during high school had seemed so vast. The age thing had never mattered to them; they were all old souls – and, Raven mused, they'd all been through a ton of shit in their short lives. That was probably what brought them together.
Suddenly, a sign caught her eye: there was a "Now Hiring" sign in the window of the Hollis Bar & Grill. Well, it's worth a try, she thought, and she started looking for a parking spot.
Ten minutes later, she was walking out the door with a new job – and they wanted her to start tonight! Today was definitely shaping up to be better than yesterday.
Then Raven remembered another stop she'd meant to make, and she headed back to the high school.
She parked in visitor parking and got out of her car. She pushed her sunglasses up on her head, took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. This is not a big deal, she told herself. You're just being a nice person. And she made her way up the steps into Rosewood High.
It was pretty easy to find the office, and Raven walked in a little timidly. "Um…is Principal Griffin here?" she said to the lady behind the desk. "She is. Do you have an appointment?" the lady asked.
"No, that's okay," said Raven, and she was turning to go when – "Raven?" said Abby, coming out of her office. "Are you here to see Clarke? Is everything okay?"
Raven turned to face Abby then, and saw genuine concern in her eyes. "Everything's fine." She swallowed. "Actually, I'm here to see you." Abby looked surprised for a second but quickly recovered, gesturing Raven into her office and closing the door behind them.
Abby's office, thought Raven. Her mind was racing, and she worried that her face was betraying her as she bit her lip, trying to avoid the thoughts she was having. Pushing Abby against the closed door and kissing her breathless…sweeping everything off her desk and kissing her on top of it…get a grip, Reyes! she told herself fiercely. Meanwhile, Abby just looked at her, waiting to hear why she was there.
"Serpentine belt!" blurted Raven suddenly, remembering. Abby didn't seem to know how to respond to that. Raven sighed. "Your car. How long has it been making that squealing sound?"
"I don't know," said Abby. "A couple of weeks, maybe?"
"A couple of weeks?" Raven said. "Let me guess: the sound gets worse when the A/C is on?"
Abby said, "Well, yes. But I mean, it's fall, so I haven't had the A/C on as much, and I've been so busy with the new job…"
"Girl, you gotta get that thing checked out," said Raven. She saw Abby grin at that. "I mean…Principal Griffin, you should tend to your automobile," said Raven cheekily.
"Thanks," said Abby. "I do so prefer it when people talk to me like they're from the 1920s." They both laughed at that, then grew silent.
"So, what are you up to these days?" said Abby, breaking the silence.
"Not much," said Raven, shuffling her feet a little and trying to stick her hands in her pockets. She was never sure what to do with them around Abby. "I quit my job at the bar last night."
"Raven!" said Abby. (Raven thought she might melt at the sound of her name in that raspy voice.) "You still live alone, right? How are you going to make rent?"
"Yes, I still live alone," said Raven, bristling a little. "And I'm fine – I already got another job."
Abby shook her head, smiling affectionately. "Of course you did." She looked up at Raven. "You never cease to amaze me."
Raven felt her ears getting hot. She couldn't break Abby's gaze. She swallowed, hard, for what felt like the 40th time since she'd been in this office.
Suddenly, Abby said "Oh!" She hurried behind her desk, opened the top drawer and rummaged through it. "When we were talking about my car earlier, I remembered – I actually have a friend who owns a garage." She found a business card and held it up, triumphantly.
"Good," said Raven, regaining the ability to speak. "Now you have to take your squealing car and actually drive it there and have him fix it."
"No," said Abby. "I mean – yes, I will – but I meant that maybe you could talk to him about a job there, or something."
"I have a job," Raven said flatly.
Abby came around the desk and handed the card to Raven, who took it reflexively. Sinclair's Garage, it said. She stuffed it in her back pocket.
Abby was still standing close to her. She put a hand on Raven's forearm, and Raven tensed. "I seem to remember that you liked fixing things," she said quietly. "Maybe that's something you could get back into."
"What's the point?" said Raven before she could stop herself. "Maybe some things are just meant to stay broken." She pulled away and turned to open the door. "Oh – and I start tonight, so can you make sure O and Clarke know they need to catch a ride with you?"
"Sure," said Abby. "Raven –" But Raven was already out the door.
Raven drove home, showered, watched some TV for a while, then changed for her first shift at the Hollis Bar & Grill. She wasn't sure why she'd applied for a job in Rosewood, but it was too late to rethink it now.
The bar was pretty quiet, about what you'd expect on a Wednesday evening in a sleepy college town. There were the usual crowd, the interchangeable locals you could find day-drinking in any dive bar across the country, but there was one couple that drew Raven's eye.
They were sitting at one of the tables in the corner, completely wrapped up in one another and oblivious to the world around them. The girl looked familiar. She was tiny like Octavia, but with paler skin. She had enormous eyes and brown hair and Raven guessed you could define her style as "quirky." Raven couldn't place her face, though.
The guy was equally adorable, in a little-boy sort of way. Raven guessed that despite his looks, he had to be about five years older than the girl. She heard the girl call him "Ezra" at one point, and the old-fashioned name caught her attention.
Raven's shift passed without incident. She didn't get any crazy drink requests, mostly beer and the occasional G&T. Maybe the college kids weren't back for the semester yet. But it seemed like a decent place to spend her evenings, serving drinks and people-watching and making enough cash to keep her apartment.
Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Clarke, congratulating her on the new job and asking if she'd be taking them to school in the morning. Raven smiled and texted back Wouldn't miss it.
She slept better that night than she had in weeks.
The next morning, as she was dropping her friends off at school, she saw the brown-haired girl from the bar. "Hey – who is that?" she asked. "That's Aria," said Clarke. "She's good friends with Spencer and Emily."
"So she's in high school?" Raven asked. "What the hell was she doing in a bar last night?"
"Eating food?" Octavia guessed.
"Maybe," Raven said. "Actually – do you guys know someone named Ezra? A guy who goes here?"
They shook their heads. Then Clarke said, "Oh, wait! I did hear about an Ezra Fitz. He was the English teacher last year, but I think now he's teaching at Hollis. Is that who you're thinking of?"
Raven pulled into a parking space, surprising Clarke and Octavia. "I need to talk to her," she said, turning off her car and getting out. Clarke and Octavia shrugged – they were used to Raven's weird moods – and went on into the school.
"Hey!" said Raven, approaching the girl – Aria. She looked up. "Hi," she said, smiling. "Wait, weren't you working at the restaurant last night?"
"Yeah," said Raven. "I saw you there too." Aria blanched a little. "I was there with a friend," she said, a bit defensively.
"Riiiiight," said Raven. "A real good friend."
Aria started to leave, but Raven grabbed her arm. "Wait – I need your help." Aria looked at her, curious.
Raven sighed and let go of her arm. "I need to know…how it all started. With you and Ezra, I mean. Or maybe, how you make it work?"
Aria looked at her intently. "Why are you asking?" Raven looked down at the ground, sheepishly.
Just then, the bell rang. "Girls! Get to class!" they heard a voice call from the front entrance.
They both looked up. "Oh…hi, Raven," Abby said from the doors. "Aria – class."
Yep, thought Raven. That seems about right. She felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks. Aria was looking at her knowingly. "Oh. My. God." she said.
"Keep it to yourself," Raven hissed. She could feel Abby's eyes on her as she spun and practically race-walked to her car, her ears burning.
On her seat was the card for Sinclair's Garage. Must have fallen out of my pocket, she thought.
Raven picked up the card and looked at it for a minute. It brought a smile to her face as she drove away.
Next chapter: Emily! (I was going to do Bellamy's chapter next, but it seems like I've spent a lot more time on The 100 characters than PLL characters lately.)