The new week didn’t wash over Raven like always—it was more like drizzle.

  Each small droplet seeped deeper into her, leaving patches of stain all over her.

  The week started like always. The late weekend events sat heavy in each bone of hers.

  It started with English Lit, taught by Mrs. Lessly in Room 105. The rooms at West Carmel High could bring a renowned tech company to shame.

  The equipment resembled more of a researcher’s wet dream than that of a public school.

  Everything was carefully chosen to appease the young, bright minds—and the egos of their parents.

  Raven was trying to sit comfortably at her desk, which should have been an easy task. Nothing new—nothing unusual.

  The spot Raven chose to sit in was always not too close to the majority of the students in class but not too far away either, near an exit or a window.

  A place where she could notice all, but nobody could notice her without intent.

  So why did Raven have to shift around what felt like a hundred times on her chair?

  And no, it wasn’t the dead weight of her legs that made her change position.

  No, it was more like the looks the new boy was giving her.

  The boy she had almost successfully forgotten.

  The first time she noticed him was when he walked into her Government class.

  His strides were even and calm, accompanied by a confidence that seemed like he could back it up.

  His posture was upright and forward. His skin seemed naturally kissed by the sun. The tan was subtle—not too dark or strangely earned.

  His laugh sounded free and unrestrained, followed by other laughs from his companions.

  Just then, she noticed who he was with.

  Derick and Joselyn were the faces she recognized first. Then came the others.

  All in pristine posture and with a walk that was close to Adrien’s but not quite the same. Their clothes and smiles were without blemish.

  They were surely from a high-end brand and probably never worn more than once—unlike Raven’s, whose clothes even had to be stitched.

  There was a time when she was one of them—too many clothes and not many worries.

  But she had to sell what she could to be able to open up her eyes after every fight—night.

  These people made high school their kingdom, and the students, as well as teachers, their subjects.

  On top of all sat Joselyn Ming, youngest daughter of the Mayor.

  The new self-proclaimed Queen Bee, her golden throne built on fear, tears, and games—crowned on the day she was dethroned.

  The little devil that wore Prada with manicured nails.

  These nails were currently trying to wrap one arm around Adrien’s, who seemed too polite and avoided her invasion into his personal space, consoling her with a fleeting grin.

  ‘Oh, pretty boy has fangs.’

  It was typical for Joselyn to mark her next prey—anyone she deemed worthy enough to stand beside her, them.

  And Adrien did look perfectly right together with them.

  It was like a picture sprung out of a typical American high school movie in the early 2000s. White teeth and sparkling eyes.

  Actions and movements that were carried more by the weight of their charm than the act itself.

  So why did he steal glances at her the whole lesson while he sat with them? The first few times, Raven thought she was reading too much into it.

  But when their eyes met, the only thing she wanted to do was shrink even deeper into her chair.

  After that, she avoided peeking in their direction.

  The stare itself wasn’t a problem—it was who and what this would mean for her.

  Adrien… he was—she could feel it—the eyes, the air—it was bad news.

  If people started to notice the unnecessary attention he gave her, there would be talk. Talk that would implicate them.

  Raven still felt Adrien’s gaze very vividly, like a birdwatcher observing various behaviors of the breed.

  Which made her already tense muscles harden under his eyes. So Raven made herself smaller, quieter—more unnoticeable.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  ‘WOW. This must be a dream coming true.’

  The thought didn’t contain an ounce of hope in it.

  However, it lingered like a bad omen over her the whole day.

  Making Raven want to vanish under Adrien’s unwelcome light, trying to illuminate her cloaked shadows.

  Tuesday wasn’t any better for Raven.

  By now, he started sitting near her in most of their classes, if somebody else didn’t get a hold of him before. It started in Calculus.

  Raven was already sitting in her usual spot—she was a few minutes early before class started—but there were already a few students in the room, some of them being part of Derick’s minions, when he walked in.

  At first, it looked like he was trying to walk towards her, but then a boy called out his name, and he made a swift, short half-turn—like it never happened.

  She could hear muffled voices that asked, “Bro, where were you off to? You walked right past us.”

  “Man, I don’t know, I was searching for a quiet place.”

  His eyes were distant, shaking his head, which made his hair fall wildly around him, hiding his expression for a short second—set somewhat in her direction—before he smirked at them.

  “I heard this class is hard, and I can’t afford to slack off, man. I already came way too late into the semester.”

  The others tried to follow his gaze, but he quickly looked back at them before they could figure out the exact position.

  Their eyes roamed aimlessly through the area before he curled his lips—brief yet bright.

  “But guys, I would never abandon my friends like that.”

  The guys laughed, their stance faltering slightly.

  Raven had observed the whole ordeal through the peripheral part of her eye.

  Rubbing her eyes in circles, attempting to silence the faint stinging, Raven huffed softly.

  ‘Great. Just great.’ She almost let out an emotionless, stifled laugh. ‘This is just amazing.’

  A few minutes later, the rest of their gang came that shared this class—just a few of Joselyn’s girls.

  As the lesson was in full swing, she felt something heavy on her shoulders.

  The next lesson she had with him, he ended up being her lab partner for the rest of the year.

  The reason was simple—he was new, and she was the only one without any. So he became automatically her permanent seatmate for Biology.

  This was totally plausible. The fact that made her skin prickle was that he was already sitting at her table alone, waiting like he knew it was hers.

  ‘ How? And why? ‘ Were the thoughts that cursed through her.

  When the class started to fill in, they got a few questioning gapes, which Adrien expertly shook off, while Raven acted like she didn’t notice them—or Adrien, for that fact.

  Suddenly, the squirrel that was running around outside was really interesting.

  Adrien didn’t seem to care that she was ignoring him again. He simply smiled at her once in a while; otherwise, he focused on the lesson.

  And somehow, this made her stomach churn.

  ‘I must have eaten something bad!’

  That’s what she told herself, as there couldn’t be any other reason. At least, not that she knew of.

  The turning moment came in the last 10 to 15 minutes of their class when Raven’s pencil fell down.

  Just when she bent down and was about to grab it, it seemed like Adrien had the same idea, and their fingertips grazed each other.

  Shivers ran down her spine, starting at the tips of her fingers, shooting directly into her brain.

  The unexpected touch made Raven’s head shoot up, banging her head against the underside of the table, leaving her skin burning.

  She bit her tongue to stop the scream that crawled up her throat, threatening to escape her.

  ‘This is embarrassing enough!’ exhaled Raven through her pain, trying to rein it in.

  When she felt like she had a little better control over herself, she finally looked at Adrien, who looked like he was trying to figure something out—

  his gaze flickered between something dangerously close to concern, yet wrapped in curiosity that seemed to spill out of his blue orbs.

  Before the boy could even get the idea to speak to her—to ask her—she pulled herself up.

  And just then, she noticed the lingering stare of some of her classmates.

  Raven puffed out a breath. ‘Damn. At least Joselyn and her troop aren’t in this class.’

  When Adrien came seconds later up, the eyes that seemed to follow her finally lowered.

  Raven, though, still spared him no attention, and Adrien appeared like he got the message.

  After the lesson ended, Raven vanished within the crowd and tried to distance herself the best she could from Adrien.

  Her pencil long forgotten on the ground.

  Even though in Government he gave off the impression that he wanted to sit again near her, he stopped himself as he saw how Raven sucked in her breath.

  Raven didn’t know if he really cared or simply realized today was taxing enough.

  But she knew that the moment he sat near Derick and Joselyn, she released the soft tissue of skin she had been biting on.

  The next day, Raven already mentally prepared herself for Adrien’s annoying sea-blue orbs on her.

  But what she didn’t anticipate was that he changed his approach and started talking to her.

  The first time, she thought he was talking to someone else in the gym—to her disappointment, he wasn’t.

  Which slightly threw Raven off.

  She couldn’t think of any moment, any situation that gave him the hint she wanted to talk to him.

  Raven had to admit—she didn’t know how to react to that, so she shut down.

  Although her face was masked in stone, her eyes, however, seemed to roam around the room, unsure where to land.

  Which didn’t really work out in her favor, as he didn’t get it at all.

  After that, he tried many other times in the lesson, like when they were playing basketball in small groups of five.

  Or when they were getting warmed up and running in rounds.

  It didn’t matter which pace. She had tried running—speed walking—faster, her scratches warming against the material of her jogger.

  She tried cooling her scratches, giving them time to breathe in between her marches, yet wherever she was, he was too.

  What he said to her in these interactions covered quite the range:

  it varied from questions to statements, from hobbies to dislikes.

  “Hi Raven, I already asked around. I hope that’s not so bad,” started Adrien, running a hand through his hair.

  “I’m no stalker. Really,” he added, raising both hands slightly in defense.

  He laughed in between to fill the silence Raven left, scratching the back of his head once in a while.

  A matter of fact, he was actually touching his hair quite a lot. Or when he asked her:

  “What’s your favorite color? I like brown,” while running beside her, smirking slightly, trying to catch her eyes that somehow couldn’t focus anymore.

  Raven really wanted this to be over, but the only indication she gave away were the slight twitches of her hands, which she had balled into fists, her arms moving in tune with her feet.

  Raven was thankful for any interruption of this monologue—by fellow students or the teacher. Raven took what she could.

  By the end of the lesson, Raven didn’t only feel like her body got run over but her brain too.

  As Raven stepped out of the gym as one of the last people, as she was just going straight home, she met Adrien in the hallway that led outside.

  It was around 3:10 PM.

  The last classes were over, and most students had already left, as class ended at 2:50 PM.

  Raven didn’t see or hear him coming, but somehow he caught up to her and stood before her, trying again to strike up a conversation.

  But this time, there were more people around.

  Raven’s breath hitched—her ears prickled.

  She didn’t like feeling openly like the center of attention—especially when the picture they presented seemed straight out of a romance sitcom.

  She felt herself heating up; heat crept up her spine, moving forward to her neck and settling over her face.

  These were the kind of moments where she was extra thankful that she was Black. So the heat wasn’t visible—which didn’t make it any more bearable.

  Somehow, Raven had no idea what Adrien was saying.

  All she could feel were gazes on them, mouths moving—mocking, judging—whispering. She could literally hear what they were saying:

  “Does he really want her?”

  “Do you think she’s threatening him?”

  “How can he want to date her?”

  “Didn’t she, like, murder her whole family—scary.”

  “What, bitch throwing herself on the new one, who is just being nice.”

  “Also, she is kinda dark—dark. Maybe he’s into extra.”

  “It’s like night and day together!”

  “Why her!”

  Logically, she knew it was all in her brain—they probably weren’t this bad, but not unheard of, and they probably still weren’t very nice.

  Or nice at all.

  But her mind and heart didn’t think so.

  She felt it with each grueling second that passed, and his mouth still moved. It moved like the air around them was shrinking.

  Her head was restlessly chasing after a fast rhythm, rotating to a missing beat while the world was slowing down on her.

  She needed air. Space. Breath. Air. Anything. And nothing. She wanted—needed silence.

  Raven knew the longer she stayed, the less she could rationally think. She needed to leave before the ground swallowed her, before it suffocated her.

  She tried looking away and concentrating on him, but she just couldn’t.

  The only thing coursing through her was heat that seemed to only increase, and eerie, haunting thoughts—

  ‘Was everyone always this blurry?’

  ‘Why is everything so dull?’

  ‘Why is the earth shaking?’

  ‘Where am I?’

  ‘Can’t remember!’

  She tried viewing through her memories. The only thing she saw were flashes of pitch black.

  No color. No human—absolutely nothing, just void and voices—fiction in reality.

  Raven was lost between the realities.

  If Adrien’s touch hadn’t felt like electricity—who knew how long she would have maintained this state of shock.

  It tingled where he touched her, and this little sensation brought back some grounding.

  Feather-light pricks of needles—sharp yet steady.

  As he was about to touch her again, Raven stumbled back and took off with the leftover energy she had.

  Spiraling precision laced in every step.

  Raven had used the moment of confusion to slip away.

  Once she started moving, she never looked back or at anyone else.

  She couldn’t stay anymore. She felt her body giving out. She needed to leave. She needed to protect. She needed to save herself—she must.

  She wouldn’t break here, yet her breathing was rigid. Her walk lacked the usual power. And her only drive was ego and survival instinct.

  At home, Raven couldn’t remember the details of how she got there, or where her father was—probably not here. Or being at home wouldn’t be any better than school.

  All she knew was that she was at home in her room.

  Screaming hundreds of unheard screams,

  spilling thousands of dried tears—

  for who she was, who she became,

  and for who she was to become—until sleep silently wrapped itself around her.

  do want to leave a comment, favorite, or rating, it would mean a lot, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

  Teaser:

  “You reap what you sow, pretty boy.”