Garfield ran down the stairs as fast as he could, cutting through the thickening crowds of High School Freshmen and lingering Upperclassmen. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he could feel his feet pulling him there, he just knew he had to find her.

He rounded the corner near the quad area of Cardinal Valley High School and cut through the lunchroom; getting some strange looks. Yeah, he should’ve been in class, but how could he worry about class when there was something wrong, especially something wrong with her.

Garfield heard numerous cries of “hey” and “What’s up?” as he half-ran through the school. He expected it, he was pretty popular, but he didn’t really have time for it. He slid through the back door of the Art Wing before coming upon a darkened hallway that had only abandoned classrooms in it.

A single light bulb hung loosely in the middle of the hallway, leaving the windowless area poorly lit and downright spooky. At the end of the hall was a figure.

The figure was a female, a female wearing thick black boots and all black clothing. Her “Goth” style was part of her trademark at school, and with good reason. With all the symptoms of the average “Gothic” person, she was the epitome of everything preppy kids hated and skaters wanted to be yet were too lazy to go the full mile.

She was Raven, and to Garfield, the most beautiful girl in the world. The most beautiful girl in the world was standing in the poorly lit, creepy looking hallway by herself, but still; the most beautiful.

“Rae-” Garfield started, but the girl didn’t need to respond for him to realize it was futile. There were some things that just couldn’t be fixed by words and he was pretty sure what this one was. Garfield started down the hallway, walking purposefully toward Raven.

He got close to her and noticed her posture. She was facing the wall, her arms clutching her shoulders as if preparing herself to be mummified and her face completely the opposite direction of Garfield. She didn’t even acknowledge him when he approached, she was just off in her own little world.

Garfield didn’t know exactly what to do, he never really dealt with emotional people that often. Well, not quite emotional, because Raven’s Gothic, tough girl routine allowed anything but emotions, but he just hadn’t been in this situation before.

“So-” He started, hoping he wouldn’t have to continue. She he give his condolences? Was he supposed to assume that Roxanne had finally stopped breathing? That the heart monitor Raven’s family had been watching for weeks finally stopped beeping and that was why he overheard a group of girls talking about her breaking down in class.

And that was why he skipped his class to come and comfort her.

Raven turned toward him, her dark brown eyes staring blankly into his. Her eyelids, usually covered in black makeup and maintaining the most gorgeous appeal were currently reddish in color and abnormally puffy. He nose was red from pressure, and her mouth was contorted into a thick frown.

“You followed me here. I don’t like people bothering me; you know that.” She said simply. Her voices’ normal monotonous sound void and replaced with a more faked one. She couldn’t pull of Cold-Hearted Ice Queen today, there was too much hurt.

“I know, but I thought you might want-” Garfield started, but she cut him off. He red lipstick colored lips plumped up and down as she began to talk; Garfield tuning it all out of course. He was too focused on the beauty in front of his eyes. He dark black mound of hair which stretched to her mid back. The way it was perfectly straight at the top and loop into long dangling curls slowly and elegantly. Or maybe it was her big brown eyes and the way her dark eye shadow and eye liner accentuated them. Maybe it was her smile, which though she was far from wearing now, was actually spectacular when viewed.

“Garfield, you should be in Calculus right now. Besides, you don’t want any of your friends to see you with the Goth loser okay?” She said, hiding her pain. Garfield wanted to know, he needed to hear it from her mouth. Did Roxanne die?

Roxanne was Raven’s Grandmother, and a good one at that. Garfield had only know the girl for a few months, but in that few months time he’d grown attracted to her strongly. They went from ignoring each other in the hallways to talking on the phone in their spare time, at least the spare time they did get.

Garfield met Raven at a museum of all places. He’d been there with is mom, who was the leading scientist when it came to Insect Biology in the country. Raven happened to just be at the museum and eventually they ran into each other.

Or rather she fell into him; hard; knocking over his juice. After getting up she apologized and he had recognized her; she went to his school. Raven walked around with Garfield and his mom, learning about various scientific things and the two just formed a friendship from there. Being popular didn’t really help, because all of Garfield’s friends thought she was just the weird Goth girl.

But that’s not the point. The point was that right now Garfield had to think of a way to get this beautiful wonderful girl in front of him to open up.

“Don’t worry about them Rae, their opinions don’t matter to me; yours it’s the only one that does. And believe me, I think you’re beautiful.” Garfield said, smiling as the corners of Raven’s lips tinged upward.

“It doesn’t matter.” She said simply, her eyes downcast. Garfield placed his hand beneath her chin and gently pushed it upward, moving until her eyes were staring into his deep green ones.

“Shh, don’t worry about anything right now okay?” He said gently, “I’m here, no matter what I’m here.” He said.

She tore her head away from him quickly, taking a deep breath. Words weren’t said, but Garfield knew what it meant. It meant that she didn’t need him, that she didn’t need anyone. She was always like that; Miss Independent. She didn’t need anyone, anything or any help.

Garfield didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know how to remedy the situation. Right now he was at a loss as to what to do, should he take her home? Did she really need to be home right now? Carefully he stepped closer to the girl, his arms spread out as if to hug her, though never actually making contact. The words seemed to just pour out.

“Did you know Butterflies cry?” He said gently. He knew Raven liked butterflies, albeit, black gothic looking butterflies, she drew them all the time.

“No they don’t.” She said roughly, he could tell she was wondering where he was going. Truth be told however, he didn’t know himself. He just felt like this was the right thing to do, and as if these were the right things to say. Something stronger was leading him along, maybe it was his heart. Did his concern for the girl trump everything else. He wasn’t sure, but something, no some force was leading him throughout his message.

“What makes you think they can’t? ‘Cause you can’t see them?” He said, his voice using a little more force. He didn’t want to upset her, but it was part of his plan. Well, the plan that was forming as he opened his mouth.

The girl didn’t reply, but Garfield continued as if she agreed with him.

“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.” He said, enclosing his arms around her. She stiffened, but Garfield didn’t release his grip. Raven turned toward him, leaving their faces merely millimeters apart.

“My mom always said when you feel like you don’t have any tears left, just find a shoulder to lean your head on . . . “ He pulled her closer to him, leaning slightly to the side so that her head was on his shoulder. He felt her hands wrap around him and close tighter, and though he couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the girl, he knew she was on edge.

“ . . .and cry Butterfly Tears.” He finished his sentence. And though there was no sobbing, so saltwater tears striping down Raven’s cheeks, Garfield knew she was crying. He just held her, and nothing was going to stop him from being there for her.