Chapter 1: The Return

“Raven, come on, it’s time for school! Your gonna make me late!” My annoying little sister Annie yelled, waking me. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes.

“I’m not going.” I murmured, pulling the covers back over my head and rolling over so my back was to her. Blocking out her insistent screeching, I closed my eyes, hoping for sleep. But of course, with my luck, my sister chose today to be the responsible one.

“Raven, you need to get over him and go to school. You’ve been absent for nearly a week, that’s not good. And besides, you’ve got plenty of friends who will make sure he leaves you alone.” I had to admit that she made sense. I’d been gone since Friday and now it was Thursday.

“I know.” I whispered, trying my hardest to be brave and to not cry. Throwing off my covers, I hurried to get ready before I could change my mind. I pulled on a simple pair of faded blue jeans and a black T-Shirt, pulling my hair into a ponytail and grabbing my phone as I hurried downstairs. My ever so caring little sister Annie stood by the door tapping her too-high heels to the beat of whatever song she was listening to.

Wordlessly, we both headed to the car, locking the front door in the process. No words were exchanged as I drove to school, we just sat there, each in our own separate worlds, thinking about who knows what. As I pulled into the parking lot, I glanced towards the front doors of the school, checking to see if he was there. Thankfully, he was nowhere to be seen and I hurriedly locked the car and walked to my locker, being careful to keep my eyes downcast.

I thought I was safe, and that I had avoided him effectively, until I heard a male voice shout above the large mass of students. “Hey Ben!” The guy shouted. “Over here!” Cursing, I tried to get out of the crowd, seeing as the male voice had been very close. Then I heard his voice, sounding amused as he walked closer.

“Dude, you don’t need to shout.” Ben laughed, his eyes dancing with humor as I watched him walk closer. Ten feet, nine feet, eight feet. My thoughts were a jumbled mess, watching the guy that had broken my heart walk closer and closer. One foot. I couldn’t move, I was frozen in place, just waiting for something to happen. Then as he was about to brush past me, he looked at me. Looking shocked for a moment, he stood there, just staring at me. Ignoring the lump in my throat and the tears pricking at the corners of my eyes, I shoved past him, making sure to give him a good shove as I passed. I heard him stumble, and I couldn’t stop the tears.

I ran down the less crowded hallways and into the closest girls bathroom, locking myself in a stall and crumpling to the floor. I could feel the hot, angry tears flowing from my already red eyes, and I did nothing to stop them. Pulling my knees up, I cried into my hands, feeling like my heart was breaking all over again. The loneliness was unexpected though. It seemed to come out of nowhere and hit me like a 2 by 4.

After a while, I heard someone enter the bathroom. I could see them pause outside of my stall, they’re neon green sneakers sticking out against the blue floor. The person knocked quietly, and spoke. “Raven? Is that you?” The voice was quiet and shaky, trembling as the girl spoke.

I gulped, pulling myself together. “Ya.” I whispered, hoping they could hear. Brushing off the front of my jeans, I stood up and unlocked the door, stepping out.

A girl with dark, chocolaty brown hair stood before me. Her eyes automatically snapped to my face, no doubt noticing my red, puffy eyes. “You didn’t show up for advisory, and Ethan said he saw you run in here. I came to see if you were all right. What happened?” She seemed nice enough, but I really felt no need to tell her about Ben. So I shook my head and slung my backpack over my shoulder, heading to class.

When I walked in, Mr. Barnes glanced up from his paper work and, probably noticing my eyes too, motioned for me to take my seat. Too bad my seat is right next to Ben’s. ‘Why did I even come to this class?’ I wondered, dumbfounded at my stupidity.

Quickly taking my seat, avoiding Ben’s eyes, I pulled my backpack towards me, setting it at my feet. I refused, through out the entire class, to look in his direction. I knew that if I did, all of my self-control would crumble in an instant and I would have to run from the room, the tears falling yet again. I sat stiffly, waiting through out the entire class for the bell to ring and to be able to head to English.

The class droned on, seeming much too long, and when the bell finally rang I grabbed my bag and hurried to get out of the classroom. But just as I stood up, I noticed too late that my bag was upside down, and the contents spilled out on the floor. I sank to the ground and cried, picking up everything as quickly as possible. I felt a warm hand tap me on the shoulder as I stood up. Turning around I noticed Ethan, holding up my purple highlighter. I wordlessly grabbed it and shoved it into my bag, walking out of the classroom, my tears still falling.

Ben stood outside of the classroom, talking to one of the other football players. Yet, as I walked past, his eyes met mine for a brief second, sadness turning his baby blue eyes an icy dark blue. I dropped my gaze quickly and hurried away, wanting to put as much distance between us as possible. But a hand gripped my arm, effectively stopping me from moving. I glanced toward the guy that the arm belonged to and was surprised to see Ethan, concern etched in his expression.

I quickly dropped my head as more tears escaped. I watched as they fell slowly towards the ground, wincing as they hit. “Raven, I don’t think you should stay here. C’mon, I can take you home.” Ethan said, his voice soft, as to not allow anyone to over hear.

I nodded and we walked towards the back doors of the school that led to the parking lot. As I passed Ben for what seemed like the millionth time today, I heard him laugh, turning to a blonde hair blue eyed girl who was obviously telling him something that he thought was insanely funny.

The back doors swinging closed obscured them as I looked over my shoulder; the last thing I saw of them was Ben kissing the blonde on the lips with a big smirk on his face. I felt the loneliness hit me again, my heart no doubt breaking for the millionth time in two weeks, making me cry harder, my whole frame shaking violently.

My knees gave way and I crumpled to the ground, crying loudly, burying my head in my hands. I regretted, again, that I had told Ben that I was in love with him, that I told him my biggest secret, and trusted him. He obviously liked the blonde girl a lot more.

I felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around me and pick me up. I looked up and recognized Ethan’s pitch-black hair. Quickly, I tried to stop my tears, but to no avail. I felt so much safer in Ethan’s arms, probably because I knew I could trust him no matter what. He sat me down in the passenger seat of his car and leaned against the door for a moment.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, sounding like he too was going to cry. I looked up into his green eyes, dark with grief and a small, sad smile found it’s way to my face. He offered a small one in return and walked around to his door, opened it and started the car. As he pulled on his seat belt he glanced over, then fastened my seat belt for me.

I hadn’t noticed I’d forgotten to do it myself, but I was glad that I didn’t need to explain myself. That was one of the things I appreciated about Ethan and my friendship. We could be suffering, or insanely happy, and we didn’t need to tell each other, it was like we automatically knew what the other person was feeling.

He turned on the radio and I turned my face to the window, watching the trees pass by one by one in an almost unidentifiable line of green. As we got closer to my house, Ethan suddenly pulled into the parking of a grocery store. I looked at him, puzzled as to why we were here. “Ice cream.” He murmured. “Be back in a sec, ok?” He quickly took his keys out of the ignition and turned to face me. I nodded and leaned my head on the window.

I heard the door close and I distracted myself by counting the seconds until Ethan got back. At four hundred and six seconds he opened the door, handing me the bag of freezing Ice Cream and putting his seatbelt back on. Putting the keys in the ignition he pulled away from the store. I leaned back into my seat and closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep. My eyes felt sore and my limbs weighted as I stepped out of the car, grabbing all of my stuff and the ice cream as I closed the door. Ethan walked towards me and pulled the Ice Cream out of my hands, which I greatly appreciated, seeing as I could no longer feel them.

He wrapped an arm around me and I leaned against him, pressing my face into his shoulder and hugging him back lightly. We stayed like that for a few minutes, neither of us moving, until I started to shiver from the cold. We hurriedly got inside, hanging our coats up on the coat rack next to the front door. “Thank you.” I whispered, looking up at him.

“Your welcome. I couldn’t take it, seeing you like that.” He murmured, lowering his head.

I held back the tears this time, not giving them a chance to fall. I walked into the kitchen, grabbing two spoons from the dishwasher and carrying them into the living room where Ethan already was. He patted the spot next to him on the couch and I sat down, leaning against his shoulder as whatever movie he’d chosen started playing.

I fell asleep not even five minutes into the movie and I partially woke as Ethan was carrying me to my bed. “Thank you.” I whispered as he set me down and tucked the covers around me, kissing me on the forehead and whispering goodnight.

I barely could make out him walking out of my bedroom, closing the door quietly before sleep overtook me.

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