Chapter 2

Raven

I walk through the hallway with my head low and my eyes fixed on the floor. I was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing the tears in my eyes. High school was a prison, run by those who prey on the weak and I didn’t need to let them see any weakness that I have.

My feet carried me out the back doors of the school and to the tree line behind the school. I always come here when I need an escape from everyone. I had hoped that after being at this school for two months I could slip between the cracks and just be invisible, but my bright red hair makes that impossible.

I walk over to one of the trees with a low hanging branch and smoothly pull myself up on to it. This was my escape from the world. I pull my bag off my back and take out my sketch pad and pencils, flipping to one of the blank pages I start to draw. My mind wanders and I mull over the events of these past two months. I don’t remember much before waking up in a hospital, just that my name is Raven and that I have no family left. Even that information was told to me though.

Someone near clearing their throat pulls me from my thoughts and I look up from my sketch pad. Austin is leaning against a tree not too far from mine and he is looking up at me.

“What did they do this time?” He asks with a slight smirk.

Austin has been the one person that has kept me sane for the last two months. His smirk slightly falls as a tear slips down my cheek.

“What do they always do? I can’t help that I am basically having to relearn everything. I am so far behind because of my memory loss and it gives them ammo to attack me with.”

My voice cracks as I let the tears flow. I never wanted to go back to school, the only good thing out of all of this is that I am able to learn fast and hopefully I’ll remember everything and work on getting out of this hell. Austin pushes himself off of the tree and walks towards me. He pulls himself up onto the branch. He pulls me close to him. I cry into his shoulder as I let the frustration of my situation spill over me.

That’s the good thing about Austin, he just lets me get my emotion out and never judges me. As I calm down I can feel Austin rubbing my back softly and he is humming. I look up at him and smile. He pushes some of the hair out of my face before he fixes my glasses.

“Come on nerd, we need to get back for lunch. You skipped fourth period,” he states before he hops off the tree. I shake my head and follow suit.

“Where are your glasses?” I ask as I finally notice that they are not on his face. He reaches into his pocket and holds out the remains of his glasses.

“They got trapped between the pavement and Derek’s cleats,” he states nonchalantly. I shake my head slightly as I take the pieces from him. I guess I’m not the only one getting bullied, but I am the only one crying about it.

“I don’t think I can fix them this time,” I say as I inspect the pieces.

He groans and runs a hand through his short dark hair making it stand on end. I hand the pieces back to him as we enter the school and head to the cafeteria.

“It was worth a shot, my mother is going to kill me,” he groans as he shoves the pieces in his pocket. This had to be the third pair of glasses that he has had to have replaced in the past two months that I have known him.

“I wonder what Derek has against glasses,” I ponder out loud as I get my food.

“He is probably just jealous that he doesn’t look as good as me.”

I scoff at his retort and head over to a table in the back of the cafeteria. Everyone in the school knew that Derek is obsessed with his looks. I put my tray down and turn to look at Austin. Looking him over I ponder his statement.

Austin wasn’t unattractive in any way. He has a strong jawline, dark hair that makes his bright blue eyes shine and at 6’2 he has his height as an advantage. But he always wears long-sleeved shirts that are a bit big for him so he seems like he may be on the scrawny side.

“If you wore clothes that fit you may be,” I say as I pick at the hem of his shirt.

“Nah. Gotta make them underestimate you,” he says as he pulls his shirt out of my reach. He grins as he sits at the table and motioned for me to sit down. I chuckle and sit down and start to pick at my food. I never like the food here, it’s always bland and never seems to get any better.

“Remind me again why I don’t pack my lunch?” I say as I pick up the so-called pizza that is for lunch today.

“Because you can’t cook,” he says.

“I can cook!”

“Then maybe because you love your sleep.”

I shrug at that response. He isn’t wrong about that. I quickly eat as much of the food as I can before I can’t stand the lack of flavor anymore. I look up from my plate to see Austin watching me with a grin on his face.

“What?” I question him

He shakes his head and laughs softly. “You say you hate the food, yet you shove your face.”

“I’m hungry and there is nothing else to eat,” I say as I wrinkle my nose at him. He likes to tease me about these trivial things, though I’m not sure why he does.

As we are leaving the cafeteria Jessica, the head cheerleader manages to “accidentally” dump the remainder of her tray on my head.

“Oops, my bad. I thought you were the trash,” she says with a giggle as she twirls a blond lock around her finger.

Without thinking I turned on her and raise my hand to slap her. Before I made contact Austin grabs my wrist and pulls me away.

“You can’t afford to get in trouble,” he whispers in my ear as he turns me to face him.

Anger is coiling at the pit of my stomach like a snake ready to strike. I don’t want to be the better person, I am tired of walking away from these situations. I pull my hand from his grip and glare at him before walking away. Why does he always stop me from fighting back? My anger only builds as I stalk towards the nearest bathroom. One of these days Austin won’t fast enough and I will get a hit or two in on the b***h.

I slam open the door to the bathroom and head to the sinks. I am a mess. Corn and bits of cheese are stuck in my hair and I probably stink. I sigh softly as I pull a brush out of my bag. I brush out my red curls and pick out the bits of food. Soon the controlled curls that once dawned my head turned wild. Frowning at my hair I attempt to tame it with little success. I give up and pull off my sweater, leaving me in a tight black T-shirt and my jeans.

I shove my sweater in the bottom of my bag and head out of the bathroom. This day was already a cluster f**k, and I just wanted to go home. I toss the idea of heading home around in my mind for a bit before I settle on leaving. I could still feel my anger coiling in my stomach and I don’t want to deal with Jessica any more today. I turn towards the back of the school and start walking.