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Chapter 3: Life

"Perhaps that is why I am his anger target. My resemblance of my mother? I don't know and I guess I shouldn't dwell on it. She's gone and our life is the way it is." Ravyn, a 17 year old girl, lives with her father who turned abusive shortly after her mother died while Ravyn was still a child. One day things with her father go too far. Ravyn runs into the woods where she meets Adian. After this night things for Ravyn will never be the same again as she finds that the world is a very different place from what she had originally thought, as creatures only believed to be fantesy are very real.

Part I:

It was dark by the time I left and even later when I made it back to my “home”. Ana forged a note excusing me from missing class today. She knew that my dad wouldn’t do it if I asked. The white piece of paper was folded neatly in my pocket.

Walking to my tent is a little treacherous, for the only light I have is from the moon and the trees keep blocking that out. I keep jumping at shadows thinking things are there that aren’t. I am able to make it back in one piece with few battle wounds.

I crawl into the tent and barely remember to set my alarm before drifting off to sleep.

The shrill noise of my alarm clock wakes me. I let out a sigh and stretch my arms above my head, having to keep them bent at the elbows in order not to hit the cloth above me. Arching my back, I loosen then muscles there and in my legs as well. I wrap the blankets tighter around me. It’s so warm here, nestled between the covers. The air is chilly causing goose bumps to have blossomed on my skin.

Slowly, I felt myself start to drift off again. Shaking my head, I sit up before I fall asleep again. Reluctantly, I throw the covers off and crawl outside into the cool morning air. It is still dark out; a slick sheet of dew covers the grass making it slippery. Walking round to the water’s edge, I fish my food out of the pond. It was a lot heavier now that the shirt had soaked up as much water as it could—I wring it out some. On unwrapping everything, I saw that some water did find its way inside. The meat, bread, and carrots were fine, for they were in their own bag, but the apples were now all mushy. A little upset, I toss the ruined fruit toward the tree line.

Taking out the bread and meat next, I make a sandwich. This will be my lunch for the day. After the sandwich is put away, I open the carrots and grab a handful of them. Setting them in my lap, I rewrap my preservations. It was considerably lighter now that the apples were gone and the shirt was almost waterless.

Once everything was put back in the water, I rearranged the rocks holding the branch up; they had shifted and weren’t giving good support anymore. Making my way back to my temporary residence, I grabbed some fresh clothes and went to take a bath—the water is a little cool but durable as I step into it.

I washed quickly, eager to get dressed and make my way back to civilization. It’s not that I mind being alone—it’s been that way most of my life—but I am getting lonely with nothing but trees to keep me company.

I throw on the jeans and white tee I grabbed, after using older clothes to dry again. I finish up my carrots, get my school books as well as the small purse I carry utensils in, and I am on my way to school.

I shift my course to the left about 30 degrees—this should lead me to the park near my house. I figured it’d be less conspicuous for a teenage girl to walk out of a park at this time in the morning rather than the woods.

The trees grow thinner and are soon gone. It seemed to take a short amount of time to make it out of the green and to more reddish colors. The sun was already making its way to the sky. I started to panic just a little.

I hadn’t checked the time before I left and my watch was laying somewhere with dead batteries.

I quicken my pace, eager not to be late. I know that it’s summer soon and the sun is coming out earlier than in winter, but it can’t be by that much.

I spot the parking lot a little ways ahead of me. There aren’t that many cars at the school yet, so I must not be running as later as I thought. But that doesn’t make me slow my pace; many of the students like to show up just before the bell rings.

Quickly taking in the cars there already, I notice that Claudia’s Pontiac wasn’t there. She always arrived early and never misses a day. As if waiting for me, I spot here driving to her usual spot. She noticed me watching and waved me over. I got to her car as she struggled to get her tennis racket out from underneath the passenger’s seat. After an epic battle with it, Claudia was able to yank it free and almost wack me in the process.

“Jeez Claud, how’d you make it onto the team if you aiming at the other players.”

“Haha. I happen to be a very good tennis player, for your information. That’s how I made it on to the team,” she straightened up, racket in hand.

She’s the only girl in the school who’s taller than me, plus she’s the one all the other girls envy. Claudia is 6 foot even with a body that I would die for, has long blonde hair and bright blue eyes along with perfect skin, the smallest amount of freckles cover her nose and under her eyes. On days she wears make up, like today, you can’t even tell see them.

“So where were you yesterday?” she asks, as we make our way inside. I gave her the same answer that I gave Ana. “Too bad… you missed Justin getting hit in the place where no one should ever go yesterday during gym. I hope he didn’t plan on having kids someday.”

“Youch, who’s the one that hit him?” A part of me felt bad for him, but the majority of me didn’t care; Justin’s a jerk.

“Um, Mark, I think?” She had finally gotten everything out of her car so we are now heading towards the school.

“Isn’t Mark on the tennis team?”

“Yes, which leads to me believe that it was intentionally. Don’t forget, Justin broke Mark’s little sister’s heart a few months ago.”

“Lauren or Jean?”

“Jean.”

“Wow. I didn’t know he was a cradle robber.”

Mark’s two sisters are in school with us as well. Lauren is a junior and Jean is a freshman. He is very protective of the two of them, so I can’t really blame him for getting a shot off.

“How did you not know about that? That was the main source of conversation for a week.” Claudia stared at me in disbelief, as we arrived at my locker.

“I don’t really pay attention to the gossip at this school; it always starts more drama.” My lock is at war with me, I always seem to be redoing the combination. With success, I get the annoying piece of junk unlocked.

“Okay, Rave. I’ll catch you at lunch,” she announces as she walks further down the hall to where her locker’s located.

“Later!” I call after her retreating form. After putting my books away, I head toward the office to drop off my excuse for yesterday. Matt Pagan was in there talking to the secretary, so I put the slip on the counter and left. The halls were a little more congested at this time. Going to the cafeteria, I plop down into a seat and listen to the CD player that’s always kept in my locker along with a pack of batteries. The disk in there is one of my favorite bands. I mouth the words as Amy Lee’s voice fills my ears.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later, I faintly hear the bell ring. Turning off my CD player, I put it in my purse before gathering my things and heading to class.

Walking into Spanish, I looked for Seňora Rodriguez, but she wasn’t in the room. I wanted to get what they did yesterday from her. If I tried to get it from one of the other students, I doubt I’d find anything out. No one knows what is going in this class; everything is in espaňol and it’s like we’re expected to be able to speak it fluently—like that’s gonna happen.

I was one of the first ones in class. Not many people took Spanish there senior year anyways. Taking a seat, I put my head down until the final bell rand. After roll call, I was able to make it to her desk and ask about yesterday. All I needed to make up were a couple worksheets; easy enough. I might get someone else’s.

Today’s class wasn’t much different. We went over new vocab—mostly verbs that weren’t used much but good to know. We also did a worksheet that involved completing sentences with those verbs.

The class dragged on slowly. I was relieved to be doing something worthwhile to preoccupy my time, but this is one class that I would prefer to skip, well, this and history.

I finished the worksheet about five minutes before the bell rang. Everyone else was pretty much done as well. Flipping to a random page in my notebook, I start doodling. By the time the bell rang, I had drawn a pair of dark eyes on the page. I close my notebook and gather my things before heading out the door. Making my way to my locker, I grab my Trig. Book and rush to class hoping to get a few minutes of studying in.

I don’t mind having math in the morning and I usually have a harder time functioning than this. It might be because I got up almost an hour earlier than normal and the walk woke my body up. But I completely forgot that Ana said we had a review yesterday, which means a test today.

My book was open as soon as I was in my seat as I started looking over formulas and try to memorize what they go to. I was able to get a couple minutes of studying in before Ana pranced over to me.

I attempted to ignore her, but it didn’t faze the brunette. No sooner had she sat down and she was already going on about something. I remained dutiful to my notes.

“Ravyn… Ravyn! Are you even listening to me?” I look up from the papers in front of me to look at Ana.

“You do know we have a test today, right?” I said, attempting to divert her attention away from me.

“Well, duh! I was the one who told you. Anyways, I was thinking that for prom we should—hey, Matt!” Her affections were quickly diverted when a certain blonde stepped into the room. I watched as she practically threw himself at him.

The fact that she can have her attention completely changed when a boy walks into the room is kinda sad if you ask me.

Mr. Ramano was attempting to quiet the class down so he could pass out the tests. Sighing, I close my binder and shove it underneath my chair along with my book.

“Okay, people… you know the drill. Pencils only, I don’t care if the word pen is in it; that goes for you Mr. Levingston.”

An “Aye, aye sir” came from the back of the room where Paul Levingston was situated. He earned a chuckle throughout the class for that one.

“Okay, haha, now quiet down and get started.”

I pick up the packet that was deposited onto my desk. Four pages… this wasn’t going to be pretty.

Ninety minutes later, I was turning in my papers, gathering my books, and heading out the door. The test wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but I don’t think I managed an A on it. Oh well, that shouldn’t hurt my grade too much.

In no rush, I headed to the second floor for my history class. The only upside to this class is that my desk is in the back, next to the window, so I can stare outside while Mr. Kois babbles on about God knows what. Taking my seat, I watch a couple holding hands walk down the street.

The class started, but I wasn’t paying any attention; my mind was elsewhere. I can’t keep my living accommodations as they are. They’re fine for the time being, but soon it’s going to be too much of a hassle. I’m too far away from people. If I’m ever in trouble, no one will be able to assist me. Also, my provisions will run out soon. I have enough for another week tops.

I don’t know what else I can do. I’m not old enough to get my own place and even if I was, I don’t have the money for one. That job I’ve been searching for would be very useful about now.

I was brought back to the present by the annoying tapping of chalk on the chalkboard. Mr. Kois was putting up notes for the new section. Reluctantly, I pull out my text book and turn to the page we’re on before. I opened my notebook and copied down the notes.

History went by rather slowly—as usual. I was more than happy when the bell rang. I quickly gathered my things and went to my locker to deposit them, grab my lunch, and head to the cafeteria.

Claudia was already there, along with Lee, Summer, Jess, and John. Lee and Summer are an item. They’ve been together since sophomore year. They broke up this past summer for about a month—it was over something stupid too. Lee was getting very jealous over guys who were hitting on Summer and he started getting controlling because of it. So, Summer broke up with him. After weeks of apologizing, she finally took Lee back and they’ve been inseparable since. I, personally, expect them to get married soon after we graduate. They are such the perfect couple that it’s depressing. Even now, as I sit across from them, whispering to each other, with huge smiles on their faces.

Breaking my gaze away from them, I go to get a bottle of water. As I head over to the vending machine, I spot Ana and Matt walk into the cafeteria. Mark was also with them. He and Matt were talking and Ana was, surprisingly, not trying to steal his attention away. She just walked quietly by his side.

My water dropped into the vending machine tray and I went to sit back down between Ana and John. I twisted off the lid and took a drink, before nudging the girl next to me. “What’s with you?”

That took her out of whatever daze she was in. She took a quick glance around the table before answering me. “Taylor Clark asked on a date for this Saturday.”

“That’s great.” Taylor was one of the better looking boys at our school. “What did you tell him?”

“That I’d think about it.” She stopped picking at her bagel and took a bite.

“What? Why?”

“Because I don’t want to start something with someone in case Matt finally realizes that we’re meant for each other.” I had to roll my eyes at her answer.

“You are totally hopeless, you know that.” I took a bite out of my sandwich.

“But it’s true.”

“Yeah, okay.” We let the subject drop and moved on to another topic. On my way to the gym, I saw her dodge Taylor in the hall by running into the girl’s restroom. Like I said, hopeless.

Today in phys. Ed we were playing basketball, students choose teams. I was one of the first ones picked. We broke off into our separate groups and started playing.

I took position as forward and was jumping for the ball. I was able to hit it first and knock it to Alexa who took it down to our hoop. I ran down and took my place under the basket. Alexa passed it to Cody who passed it back to Alexa. She took the shot and made it.

The final score was 17 to 23, my team won. I scored 3 of the points.

I took a shower in the locker room—loving running water. All too soon, I had to get out and put my clothes back on. Fifteen minutes later, I was walking out the school doors.

Yay another chapter done!! I know I took forever in putting it up so I made it a little longer because of the delay.

As I announced above, this will be my last update unless I get reviews. The only reason I even put this chapter up was because people were still adding it to their alerts, So I know people are reading it, but I would very much appreciate your feed back. I'm sure many of you are authors yourselves, so you understand where I'm coming from.