Rough rough draft: chapter 5 Raven

Chapter 5

The first day of school is always the most boring, yet the most exciting. Teachers spend the class period introducing them selves their classroom policies, and grading systems. But despite that it’s always exciting finding out who is in your classes, seeing how everyone has changed, and listen to stories about romance, adventure, and randomness that happened.
Kate held her schedule in hand and it read:

Crossland, Katelynn Grade: 12
Period Class Teacher Room number
1 Physics Cliff, E 332A
2 English McClain, A 126A
3 Gym/Health Evans, C 212C/208D
4 History Grassy, B 456C
5 Drama Paler, F 337B
6 Lunch Monitors Cafeteria
7 Sign Language Vague, D 175B
8 Math 12 Judge, G 275B
9 Psychology Large, F 386B

Kate knew who some of the teachers were already, most were teachers that had taught different grades in different periods. The only teachers Kate had not seen before were Vague and McClain.
Kate was waiting in the student commons for Jack and Cammi, so they could see if they had any classes together. Two blonde heads bobbed in the sea of students. Cammi and Jack spotted her and came over.
“Your hair looks really long, did you straighten it?” Cammi asked. Kate had straightened her normally wavy hair so it appeared longer. Kate had chosen to wear a black spaghetti strap shirt with a brown shrug over it. Kate wore her favorite black sneakers and a pair of olive green cargos. She never dressed up to much but was much more so than Cammi, she looked like she had thrown on a random softball T-shirt and shorts. She probably had just randomly picked it. Jack though did put some effort in and looked really relaxed in his long sleeved surfer shirt with baggy-ish jeans.
“Hmm, you have English with me, History, Drama, Sign language, and psychology with Jack” Cammi frowned, “We all only have three classes with all of us, Physics, and gym and health”.
“That’s crud” Jack said, Cammi nodded.
The bell rang, signaling the first class of the school year. “Vamos” Cammi said, using what little Spanish she had retained from last year.
The physics room was plain looking, with white washed walls, desk graffiti from last year, and an ordinary balding teacher.
“Welcome to physics, this year we will explore the vast and entertaining world of physics. Can a penny really kill someone from a skyscraper? Will a feather and 20 lb weight reach the ground at the same time? We will find out this year….” No one really paid any mind to the balding man, with a voice as enthusiastic as a child going to the doctor for shots. Whether or not he realized everyone was ignoring him, Kate was uncertain. If he did notice, he obviously didn’t care.
“I’m so glad the school year has begun, this year the girl’s soccer team will definitely make it to state. How’s your team holding up?” Cammi asked Jack. He coughed and then answered, “I’m not on the soccer team this year…” Cammi was silent and then, “WHAT?!” Jack sighed and Kate watched, shocked.
“Listen this year I want to take a break from sports, I do sports every year, and I’ll do soccer again next year” Jack explained.
“Why do you need a break from sports?” she asked.
“Probably because I’m going to be captain”, they all looked up to see Lucas standing in front of them. He settled in the desk behind Cammi and next to Jack.
“Hey Lucas, that’s awesome that you’re in our class!” Cammi gushed.
“Just wonderful,” Jack muttered. Mr. Cliff, the teacher, seemed to realize that it was bad his students were talking and rapped a ruler on Kate’s desk.
“I’d appreciate if you saved the chit-chat for after class,” the teacher said, Kate and Cammi turned around and looked down at their desks.
“Thank you,” he said and went back to the front of the room. A note flopped onto Kate’s desk; she picked it up and unfolded it under her desk “Lunch Together?” Kate glanced behind her, Lucas was watching her, and winked coyly. Kate sighed and watched the teacher for the rest of the period.
After class Kate waited for Cammi to get her papers together while Jack left for his next class. She had been happy to find that Lucas had left early.
“Ready?” Kate asked as Cammi shoved her last paper into her bag. “Yep”, they hurried out of the room. As soon as Kate stepped out of the room someone almost knocked into Kate forcing her to fall back onto the ground. Hearing some laughs Kate kept her head down. A hand reached out and Kate looked up, it was Lucas. Cammi watched on with a funny expression as Lucas helped Kate up from the ground. She expected Lucas to say “Have a nice trip?” or “See you next fall”, but instead he looked concerned.
“Are you alright?” he asked, Kate felt a stinging sensation on her elbow and could see some blood. She must have hit her elbow on the doorway.
“Lucas, take Kate to the nurse to get a band-aid, I’ll tell the teacher why you’re late,” Cammi told them. Lucas thanked her and steered Kate to the nearest stairwell.
“Jeez, klutz are you accident prone or something? Maybe I should be your bodyguard,” he joked. Kate pursed her lips, and he smirked. They walked on in silence then Kate spoke.
“Why do you do that?” Lucas looked surprised.
“Do what?”
“You seem really nice and caring one second and then you go and say something obnoxious” Lucas was quiet. They got to the nurse and she gave Kate a band-aid which Lucas helped her put on. After Lucas received a pass from the nurse he and Kate were about to part ways and then he said her name. She turned around and so did he.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to act that way but that’s not an excuse. I never really used to be around kids my age so I don’t know when to stop joking around. Anyways I’m sorry,” He rushed off and Kate stood there thinking about what he said. She smiled to herself and walked to class.
In English the teacher was much stricter about talking than Mr. Cliff had been, but she was still very nice. After English Kate and Cammi went to gym, the class was in the auditorium for the first day. Jack found them and sat with them, Lucas had that class too and Cammi waved him over. Unlike the rest of the classes Kate, Cammi, and Jack all paid attention to the teachers, as well as all the other students that had gone to that school last year.
“This year the first class scheduled is square dancing, you will pick your other classes after square dancing, and older grades will have first choice” everyone but freshmen and new students cheered when they heard square dancing was first. Although square dancing sounded boring and embarrassing was actually a lot of fun. The teachers would bring out this old record player and play songs that were fun and goofy. The class was a lot of fun if you were in a group with your friends. The group was composed of 8 people and 4 couples.
“What’s the big deal about square dancing?” Lucas asked.
“It’s a lot of fun, probably the best thing we get to do in gym” Cammi told him.
“Would you want to…” Kate started.
“Want to what?” Lucas asked.
“Be in our group?” Kate blushed. Lucas smiled and nodded. Jack crossed his arms, but kept silent.
The students listened patiently and then went off to their other classes. Kate had a nice History teacher called Mr. Grassy, but she couldn’t wait for the period to be over so she could go to drama. Once the bell rang, she high-tailed out of there and went to the drama room that was nestled in a corner next to a stairwell and hallway to the C building.
The room was large and had a small stage; the room was all carpeted and had lots of windows that overlooked the school courtyard. The stage walls were all painted black and there were various articles of furniture, a table, chairs, a trunk full of clothes and wigs, etc. on the normal walls was a scene painted from Shakespeare’s play midsummer night’s dream. There were no desks, just chairs, all against the walls rather than in rows.
“How was your summer Kate?” a familiar voice drifted over from the teacher desk, Mr. P was in a swivel chair. Kate smiled at the sight of her favorite teacher. Mr. P was unique looking, not in a bad way though, his head was shaved, and he was very tan, stemming from his Puerto Rican roots, he had dark eyebrows and dark eyes. He always dressed less formal than other teachers, occasionally he’d wear a tie but not often, he was stylish but not overly so and no description could do him justice. Anyone who had ever had him as a teacher would say that he was their favorite teacher. He wasn’t judgmental about anyone and was a moral center for the students. He showed them the right and wrong of arguments, and constructed his own opinions.
“It was good, kind of boring though” Kate shrugged.
“Have you seen your father?” he asked gently, he was the only person besides the Andrews who really knew anything about the situation with her father. He had been the only one Kate had trusted to tell.
“No” she shook her head, he nodded his knowingly.
“Hey, you beat me here” Kate turned when she heard Jack’s voice.
“M’hmm, you’re too slow” she taunted, Jack feigned hurt. More students filed in, the same ones that had taken drama with them every year.
“Well, we all know each other here so no introduction is really needed, this year we will do various activities, today we will start off with an improv. activity” Mr. P said to them all.
“three students will go up on stage, one can say anything they want, while the other two will only be able to say one of two lines” he explained. Three students quickly scrambled onstage and started the fun activity, everyone heaved laughter over it. After they were done Mr. P started picking more people to go up, he chose Kate and Jack, while picking another person the door to the class opened. Lucas peeked in, seeing Kate and Jack he walked in.
“Hello you must be the new student to this class, Lucas right? Why don’t you join Kate and Jack onstage” Mr. P said. All eyes in the classroom were trained on Lucas as he made his way to the stage. He smiled at them and looked at Mr. P.
“I’m Mr. Paler but everyone calls me Mr. P” He explained the improv. game to Lucas, after it was explained Mr. P gave Lucas the freedom to say what he wanted, while Kate and Jack were to have two lines.
“What lines should Kate have?” Mr. P asked the class. Random phrases were shouted out until two were chosen, “Dude, where’s my car?” and “I’d love to, dear”. Jack’s lines were “I’m captain Jack Sparrow” and “I look pretty in pink”.
“Ok, the setting is at a beach, you are there on spring break” Mr. P said and sat in a chair.
The conversation went:
L: I bet the sunset here is cool
K: Dude, where’s my car?
L: Hey you, have you seen her car?
J: I’m captain Jack Sparrow
L: Oh, ok
L: Do you want to go look for your car?
K: I’d love to, dear
L: How about you?
J: I’m captain Jack Sparrow
L: Yes… Captain Jack Sparrow, do you want to look for her car?
K: Dude, where’s my car?
L: I don’t know, I don’t see it anywhere
J: I’m captain jack sparrow
L: Yes, I believe we covered that…
K: Dude, where’s my car?
L: Let’s forget about your car, do you want to go out with me?
K: I…um
Mr. P: Kate, stay in character
L: (expectantly) Well? will you go out with me?
K: I-I’d love…
J: (interrupting) I look pretty in pink!
L: I’m sure you do
Mr. P: end scene.
Everyone was laughing and Kate gave a weak smile. Had Lucas really meant that? He had looked so serious, but then they were supposed to be acting… Everyone gave Lucas high-fives and welcomed him to the class.
Kate and Jack took seats and watched the other improv. acts, Jack still looked tense. Kate watched half-heartedly and sung Paramore songs in her head; ‘Let the flames begin’ seemed to stick the most at the moment.
After class they went to their lockers and met up in the student commons.
“You took forever Kate! Lucas and Jack were here like 5 minutes before you! Come on I’m starving” Cammi scolded, had Kate been purposely dragging her feet downstairs hoping they’d go on ahead of her? No, of course she hadn’t.
“Yeah, shames on you, making the garbage disposal wait” Jack fake scolded, Cammi rolled her eyes, not denying it. Cammi was notorious for eating anything and everything, with all the sports she did and her fast metabolism, the girl burned calories up faster then a paper to flame. Yet that wasn’t the odd part, what was odd was what she ate. She hardly ever ate anything without hot sauce, including sweets. At Kate’s last birthday Cammi had brought her own bottle of Tabasco to lather on the cake, making Kate and anyone who watched Cammi eat, queasy.
The line was short so the four of them quickly scooted into it and separated to get their own meals.
Kate was the first out, she had just gotten a sandwich, and she wasn’t too hungry. Jack joined her next with a piece of pizza and fries.
“yum, fries” Kate looked at Jack’s tray. He smiled and offered her some, which she gratefully took. Cammi emerged from the line with a tray loaded with tons of food. Pizza, fries, salad, chicken tenders, jell-o, ice cream, PB & J sandwich, a slushie, two cartons of milk, cola, hot peppers, fried clam strips. The pile was enormous.
“Hungry?” Kate admonished. Cammi glared at her for a moment and then put the hot peppers on her PB& J sandwich. Kate looked away and could see Lucas coming out of the line, she gasped. Cammi and Jack turned and saw what was surprising. Lucas’s tray was obnoxiously engorged with food, much more so than Cammi.
He settled down and smiled.
“Wow, that’s a lot of food there” Kate said. He shrugged “Yeah, I have an unusually high metabolism, plus with sports…”
“You’re my hero” Cammi said after gulping down some chocolate milk mixed with cola. Kate and Jack shuddered. Kate’s phone vibrated and so she excused herself.
Kate went outside the nearest door and pressed herself against the wall.
“Hello?”
“Raven, this is emerald, we found something out about the diary. Are you able to come in now?” Emerald’s soft voice asked. Kate bit her lip and thought for a moment.
“Is there any way it could wait till later? I’m busy right now…”
“Well I suppose I could send Rose to go investigate this, I just thought you might like to”
“Okay I’ll be there within the hour” Kate gave up.
“Alright, ciao” Kate leaned against the wall and moaned. It was her first day and she was going to miss half of it. She’d have to make up a good excuse for the group. When Kate got back to the table she coughed up a storm.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked.
“Well *cough*, I haven’t been feeling so good today *cough* and my lunch *cough* just did not sit well with me *cough* I just made it to the bathroom before it came up from my stomach” Kate coughed.
“That’s slightly more detailed than it needed to be” Lucas looked grossed out, despite the fact he was at the moment eating a combination of pizza, onions, and peanut butter.
“You want me to take you to the nurse?” Cammi asked worried.
“No, I need medicine and the nurses can’t give that out. I think I’ll just go home for the rest of the day”
“If you’re sure… Jack and I will visit you later”
“No” Kate almost shouted, which garnered some looks “I’ll probably just be sleeping, I’m tired. I’ll be fine by tomorrow” she promised.
“I understand” Jack said, and then whispered “I feel sick too after watching these two eat”
Kate lightly laughed and then left.
. . .
“Please tell me this is important” Kate asked as she entered the conference room. Only Emerald was there.
“It is, I figured out from the video what bookstore the diary was at”
“That’s great, what’s it called?”
“The River Bookstore, I digitally poked at the video till I was able to see the name in the window sill. The bookstore owner owns the whole building and lives in an apartment above the bookstore”
“Who’s the owner?”
“An elderly man, Mr. Browning, you’re going to have to be careful though when you visit him he probably won’t find the sight of Raven very comforting. After all he didn’t want anyone to know the book was taking from his store or who he is” Emerald handed her a picture of the man. Raven nodded, and looked at the kinds old man pictured.
“When do you want me to go?”
“How about now?” Raven did a double take after hearing that.
“Huh? Now?!” Raven was bewildered “It’s still daylight”
“Yes, but sadly the bookstore is quite far away, but by the time you reach there it will be dark” she smiled sympathetically. Raven sighed and left to prepare.
As Raven gathered various objects into a bag Emerald came to her and held out her hand.
“I had researchers work to upgrade these to be better than Sparrow’s even” in her hand were two raven feathers. Raven nodded gratefully.
“Be careful you are deliberately coming into contact with someone as Raven unlike any other job you have had, and you succeeding may affect the future of The Company” Emerald warned.
“But no pressure right?” Raven joked. Emerald said nothing but smiled grievously which gave Raven shivers.
Emerald had been right about it taking a long time to get to the city where the book store was, it was dusk when she finally pulled to a curb near an abandoned building. When leaving HQ she had to use another disguise so people wouldn’t see Raven driving around. She now had an auburn colored wig, green eyes, and her own freckles showing. After using her compact, which besides being an x-ray and thermal detector, was able to pick up the electronic waves of security devices and tell when there was none around. The building was at a rather run down part of the city and at least seemed stable. The inside was littered with broken glass and trash. She found the stairs and went up five flights.
After changing back into Raven she reached into her back to pull out the feathers. She was happily surprised to find that they grew to full size in less than 3 seconds. She pulled her long Raven colored hair into a hair-tie and ascended to the sky. Lucky for her it was dark and cloudy so if she flew high enough, within the oxygen limits, anyone who saw her would just think she was a bird. Her compact showed her where to go (what could it not do?) and blipped incessantly, louder as she came closer to the bookstore.
It was a brick building with a navy banner that said ‘The River Bookstore’. Raven landed carefully on the top of the building. She plucked out the feathers which hurt considerably less than usual. Raven took out a small dart gun, she never used force, but if he became out of control she’d have to sedate him. Raven pulled her gloves on and quickly cleaned any dirt or mud from her non-print shoes. She slipped onto the fire escape and crept to a window and peeked in. It contained worn yet nice furniture, it was a living room. The room was cozy with a tartan rug on the wooden floor. A cream colored couch and white washed walls with framed pictures.
Raven ducked when she was alerted to someone entering the room, she pressed herself against the wall and pulled out the picture Emerald had given her earlier. She held it up and looked in at the man. It was him. She watched as he shuffled around the room and turned the lights off, he then left the room. Kate pulled out a knife and took the storm screen off the window. She had to work fast, then she slid the knife into the crack, the knife split into and became a jack and lifted the window. She slid in through the window and crept to the side of the doorway the man had gone through. She could see it was a hallway. She kept her eyes trained to it for the slightest movement. She turned to look down the other end of the hallway and…BAM!
Raven gained consciousness to find a blaring headache. Raven tried to lift a hand to her head but couldn’t, do to the fact that she was tied down to the same recliner she thought had looked comfy. She regained memory of where she was and looked up sharply. The old man, who looked kind in the picture was seated before her, and looked anything but kind.
“Who are you” his voice was ice cold.
“I think you know who I am” she stopped struggling; he had tied her up too tight to even move her legs let alone her arms.
“Yes you’re right, a better question is what do you want from me? That buddy Sparrow of yours already stole something very important to me” he said bitterly.
“He is not my ‘buddy’; I am in no way associated with him. I just came to ask you some questions. That’s all” she assured him.
“You’re lying, and if you don’t stop I’ll call the cops even sooner, and let them ask you questions” He held up a phone that had been in his lap. Raven glanced at it and looked back at him.
“I’m not lying to you about that, I swear to you I’m not” she promised
“Hah, like your word matters. So if I chose to believe you, what burning questions do you have that you need to break into my house?”
“What was in that book?” she quickly asked.
“Well that…” Raven leaned forward as much as her restraints would allow her “Is none of your business” her head dropped to her chest. She sighed and looked up at him.
“Can you tell me who it was from?” she pursued.
“I can…but I won’t”
“Why did you want me to ask you the questions if you’re not going to answer them?” she was getting irritated.
“I wanted to know what was so important that you had to ask me” he shrugged. “If that was it I guess it’s time to call the police”
“No! Don’t!” her brave face faded, and she knew she looked it. He stopped dialing.
“You’re not as old as you look are you?” he asked. Raven dropped her gaze and shook her head.
“You look like you’re mid-twenties, how old are you really?”
“17” she said quietly. He looked surprised for a moment then sighed.
“You’re just a kid” Raven pursed her lips at that.
“I am not a kid”, she swore she had seen a glimmer of a smile pass over his face.
“If I answer your questions the best that I can, and let you go, will you never come back here? Or any one else like you?” he sighed. Raven took on a serious face.
“I can promise that no one that is associated with me will ever bother you again, but, I govern no control over Sparrow and anyone that is with him” she told him honestly.
“Hmm, well I guess that’s the best I can hope for” he mused. “I will answer your questions; I can’t answer them totally because there are things I will not tell anyone about that book and its owner” he told her.
“That’s fine” she said.
“Well to answer your first question, it was a book of poems that someone close to me had written. The whole book, except one page, was filled with hand written poems”
“What was on the one page?” Raven asked.
“Just a letter, the letter K” he shrugged. “Not very helpful”
“That’s alright, what about the owner?” she asked.
“Ah, a lovely young girl. She came into my book shop one day when it was raining; she had no umbrella so I let her wait out the rain in my store. She told me she never really read a book before, so I showed her one someone of her age might like. She settled down on the floor and started reading, she continued raining even after the rain stop and until it was nearly closing time. I went up to her and said ‘The rain has stopped’ and she looked around as if she hadn’t noticed. She stood up and tried to hand me the book but I told her she could finish it and then bring it back. She smiled at me and the very next day she came in with the book finished. I offered to let her continue borrowing books if she would help tidy the store for me and she accepted. Almost every day she’d come in with a finished book and she’d sweep or put books away and then borrow one. I believe she was in middle school at the time. She continued coming to the shop through out high school till one day she came in and it was raining again. She was wet, probably had walked to here without an umbrella and in her hands she had not one book but two. She tidied the store like usual and then she handed me both books. One of them did not belong to me and I told her so, ‘I wrote it and I want you should have it’ she said. Then she left, she took no book with her, and left. That was the last time I saw her” he finished sadly. “She came, and left, in the rain”.
“Did you learn anything about her? Like her name?”
“Yes, I learned her name and small stuff like where she went to school” he answered.
“What was her name?”
“I can’t tell you” he said simply. Raven was dumbfounded.
“I need to know”
“I’m sorry but that is something I can’t tell you” he stood up and walked over to her. He untied her from the recliner and helped her stand.
“Thank you for what you could tell me” she said.
“You’re welcome, remember what you promised me” he reminded her. She stepped out of the window, “I will”.
“Hey can you really fly?” he asked. She smiled and nodded, the feathers were already in her hand. Once they grew from her back she jumped off the fire escape and flew off.
“Amazing” was the three syllable word that escaped the old man’s mouth.