VI
Meeting Her
~~~

"Raven?"

"Gar..." Her voice was so quiet, almost inaudible. Was she that shocked to see him?

It may have been quiet, but it was still audible. Barely. And when she said his name all of the negative thoughts he was having that were lingering from before were lost to his mind. They never existed.

Woah... He thought looking at her. It was her eyes. Her purple eyes were her identifier. Had she not had those,Gar almost might not have recognized her.

He's here... This is Kori's little "suprise" then. She thought remembering Kori's text from earlier.

"What?? They know eachother?!" A girl said.

"No way! That's impossible!" The girl next to her  exclaimed.

"Raven knows the Beast?? How??"

Gar handed her her stuff and they stood up. Neither of them knew what to say. Each of them looked so different from what the other remembered.

They kept staring at eachother until the bell rang and everyone rushed to their classes. But they still stood there.

Realizing he wasn't moving, Raven spoke. "Where's your next class?"

"With you." He states automatically. Raven blinked a few times, then grabbed his wrist with her free hand and led him into their class. They were standing right in front of the door.

Both still in shock, they walked in together, and of course, all eyes were on them.

"Hey isn't that the Beast?"

"Oh my god I think it is!"

"What is he doing with Raven?"

"Do they know eachother?!"

"Ah! You must be Garfield!" The teacher stated from behind his desk. He nods. "I'm Dr. Xander Ross, but Dr. Ross is fine. Sit wherever you want, we're starting a new unit today so you came on the perfect day."

"Thank you." He says. Raven walks over to her seat and he follows her. She sits next to Kori and he sits next to her.

"Hi Gar!" Kori whispered happily.

"Hey Kor."

"I see you two met in the hall!"

"Hehe, yeah, I kinda ran into her. Literally." Gar admitted sheepishly. "Sorry, again."

"It's ok Gar. Sorry I yelled at you. I've been having issues lately."

"Yeah, I know. I've heard." He gave her a look of understanding, and she knew exactly what he meant.

She's...damn she doesn't look how I expected at all. She cut her hair short and it's dyed purple. And she's not wearing anything close to what I imagined.

Instead of the blue dress he had invisioned, Raven was doning a purple crop top, black jeans, tall black combat boots and a black beanie on her head.

I thought he'd look more...I don't know. Just not like that. His style is similar to mine now actually... she snuck another glance at him. His hair is so different. He grew it out and dyed his bangs. I didn't even know he could grow bangs. Why did I expect he wouldn't change?

Gar was wearing his favorite black leather jacket, a dark purple t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and Tims.

Neither of them could really focus well. Kori had to get Raven's attention every once in a while.

"Raven?"

"Huh??" Dr. Ross called on her.

"Somebody's distaaaacctteeeeed." Ross teased. His teasing threw Gar back into reality as well. Some people in the class snickered.

"What? I– no..." he chuckled.

"Then if you were paying attention, you should know what chemical compounds change the color of fire?" He says pointing to the slideshow behind him.

"Uh..." She looks at her notes that she was mindlessly taking. "Strontium chloride makes fire red, sodium chloride makes it orange, borax makes it light green, copper sulfate or alum makes fire dark green, copper or calcium chloride makes it blue, potassium chloride makes it purple, lithium chloride makes it pink, and... I didn't get the last one."

"Magnesium sulfate. It makes fire white." Gar finishes.

"At least you two were paying attention. I thought all of you were ignoring the lesson entirely." The class broke out into a bunch of "Whaaat? Noooo!"'s

"Good. Because this is on your finals. So you should probably pay attention. Unless you want to get your asses handed to you by a test. Then you should keep on ignoring me." And with that people picked up their pencils and started writing down what Raven and Gar had said. "See, like I said before: I'm not telling you what to do, I'm forcefully suggesting things for you to do with a severe punishment involved." Gar held in a laugh.

"Is he always like this?" He whispers to Raven.

"Pretty much. Word of the wise though, please don't piss him off." He began to speak, but Raven cut him off. "Don't ask why." And he shut up.

They were whispering to each other the entire period. Making jokes about people in the class and reminiscing. Until they just devolved into passing notes even though they were right next to each other.

Although he's been gone for more than half a decade, for her at least, it was like he never left.

Why did the gamer not do anything on Valentine's Day?

He was playing with his ex...BOX.

"You're such an idiot." She said before playfully pushing him into the lockers on their way to period 4.

"That was all you were passing notes about?" Kori asked. "Horrible puns?"

"You know they're shit puns when Kori says there horrible." Raven says.

"Hey!"

"I shall see you later friends! Enjoy study hall!" She separates from them and jogs down the math hallway.

"Wait do you have Study hall too?" He nods. "You have it with me don't you?" He nods again with a toothy grin.

"And we have the same free period."

Yes!! She screams in her mind.

"Cool."

They walk into the cafeteria and Mrs. Schultz is sitting at the table in the front of the room.

"Hi again Mrs. Schultz!" With Gar's enthusiastic greeting, some people looked up and saw the two together, and obviously the same response and the previous times was garnered.

"I heard about it but I never thought I'd see it!"

"Woah what's the Beast doing with Raven?"

"He's way too good for her. She should go back to Adam." Raven heard that one clear as crystal and shot a menacing glare in the direction she heard it from.

"Hi Garfield." She says with a happy smile. "Hi Raven."

"Morning."

"In here we sit by alphabetical order but after I take attendance you can sit wherever you want. Let's see, Logan... you sit next to Melanie. Melanie can you raise your hand!" A girl with dark blue eyes, glasses, and brown hair pops her head up from her work and raises her hand. "You'll sit over there. Raven, you know where to go." They both nod and take their seats.

Gar sat next to Melanie and Raven sat 2 tables behind him.

After Mrs. Schultz took roll everyone got up and did their own thing. Gar looked back at Raven and headed to her seat.

"Finally we can talk a little." He says as everyone else begins to talk.

"Yeah." She sighs. "I'm so glad you're back."

"Me too. I got really lucky though. What's the chances of winning a 3 million dollar jackpot from the lottery anyway?"

"Very small. Wait you won the lottery?" He nods excitedly.

"Yeah! I couldn't believe that either. I got sooo lucky."

"Ha. There's no such thing as luck Gar. Everything happens for a reason. Even if it doesn't seem like it."

"Really?" She nods. He thinks about it for a second. Everything happens for a reason huh? A few minutes went by and he struck up another conversation.

"Raven?"

"Yeah?" She looks up from her papers.

"Ok this might sound a little rude but–"

"I know. I look a bit different than you expected."

"Well no, I was going to ask if you had any money for lunch. But that too!" She shook her head with a small smile on her face. She then props her head up with her hand and her elbow resting on the table. "How did you know?"

"Because I was thinking the same about you."

"Really? I don't think I look too different."

"Seriously Gar? I didn't even know you could grow bangs. And I never thought in a million years you'd dye them. And last time I checked you wore T-shirts with puppies on them. Not leather jackets."

"Are you kidding me? I love leather jackets. And you wanna talk about dying hair? Dude how did you even get your hair that color? Your hair is naturally like pitch black."

"I have no idea but they did it. And got my whole head."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you dye your hair?" He clarifies.

"Why did you?"

"You can't answer a question with a question Rave."

"Didn't I tell you that?"

"Ironic isn't it?" She groans.

"I dyed it for the same reason I cut it. That's all you need to know." She replies.

"Alright that's good enough I guess."

"Will you stop probing me now?" She asks.

"Hmm, for now... until I find something else to ask about."

...
...
...
...

"Hey! Your clothes!"

"What about them?"

"We talked about mine."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." She said throwing her head back. He gave her that toothy smile again and she lightly shoved him.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"You're doing that thing again."

"What? Smiling?" She doesn't answer but her face says enough.

"Aww am I embarrassming?" He says in a patronizing way.

"No, it's just," she laughs. "Your smile makes me smile..." She says with a blush growing on her cheeks.

"I've been told I have that effect on people." He says flipping his bangs flamboyantly.

"Such a drama queen. Just like Kori."

"Stop avoiding the subject!"

"Fiiinnnee."

"Do you still wear dresses?" He asks eagerly.

"I mean, I'll wear them if I absolutely have to, but I'd rather not."

"What about skirts?"

"I kid you not the last time someone put me in a skirt I almost punched them into next week."

"So you're ok with dresses but despise skirts?" He asked skeptically.

"Look not all changes were good changes ok? I dress nice enough to keep up my image so that's enough for me."

"Oh yeah, speaking of your image," Crap why did I bring that up? She thought. "Why does everyone look so shocked whenever I do anything with you? When I knocked you over everyone acted like I just punched Ms. Lhorwik."

"That's because of an old relationship. That and I've just asserted myself and shown people I'm not to be messed with."

"Asserted yourself? How?"

"I've gotten into a few fights, and won them. I get good grades too."

"So people are afraid of you?"

"Some are. Others just know not to piss me off."

"And an old boyfriend?"

"I'll tell you later. You'll probably see him during lunch anyway. He's always trying to talk to me and get my attention." She says. He looks at her wearily. "I know what you're thinking. He's not like that. He's just an asshole." She explains.

"That's fine. I can deal with assholes." He says a little too excitedly, finishing with a wide smile.

"I know you can."

His looks may have changed a lot, but he's still an idiot. Just like I remember...

~~~

The bell rang for lunch and Gar stretched.

"Woo! I'm hungry!"

"We'll get lunch here then we can go over to the table." But he had already gotten in line. Raven shook her head and followed him. Gar got a wrap and Raven got a turkey sandwich. They went back to pick up their bags and Gar followed Raven to the table.

When they got there, Terra, Kori, Vic, and Dick were already there. Along with a girl with black-brown hair with dyed mostly pink, and a redheaded guy next to her. The two of them seemed to be in an argument, but when they noticed Gar they stopped.

"Oh my god is that Gar?!" She said standing up from the table.

"Yeah J, I told you he was here." Vic says. He knew it. It was Jinx. The redhead then must be Wally. She still looks to love pink.

"But you didn't tell me he looked like that!" She got up and hugged him.

"Ok ok don't kill him!" Vic tried to get Jinx off him.

"Hi Jinx. What's up Wally?" Gar greets.

"Nothin' much. When did you get back here?" Finally Jinx let him go and sat back down.

"Yesterday actually."

"Wow. You didn't really have time to do much did you?" Dick asks.

"Sorta? I did meet a g–" the two sat next to Dick and Kori, and that's when Kori completely cut him off with a loud gasp.

"Jesus Kori! What is it??" Dick shouts.

"Look at Raven! She is smiling!" Was smiling. As soon as Kori said that Raven's smile dropped and her cheeks were flushed pink.

"Was." Wally said with a laugh.

"The one day I don't wear my hoodie."

"What's with the face Gar?" Jinx asks. He had this look on his face that made him look totally confused and utterly lost.

"What's wrong with her smiling? She's always smiling at me."

"SHHH!!" Raven punched him in the shoulder as everyone had a giggle fit.

"Ow..."

"Sorry..."

"Gar, if there's one thing you need to know about Raven," Dick starts.

"It's that she doesn't smile." They all said in unison. Raven's entire face got pink then.

"Seriously?" Gar looked at her with a skeptical smile. Raven didn't look at him. She just took her beanie and pulled it down as far as it could go. It covered her entire face. If the table wasn't in the way she most likely would've curled up in her seat from embarrassment.

"Tch. Now you're shy?" Wally teases. She pulls up her beanie and looks in the one direction where she can't see any of them.

"Shut up." She said trying to hide her blush as much as possible.

"Actually though, this girl won't smile if her life depended on it. The fact that she smiles with you is a freaking miracle and a half." Vic explains.

"It is true!" Kori exclaims. "She always has a frown, and we always make attempts to persuade her to smile!"

"Looks like we don't need to try anymore. All we need to do is bring her new BF with us." Wally said jabbing a thumb in Gar's direction.

"BF? Boyfriend?! Hey! I just got here!We're not dating!" Raven felt a giant wave of embarrassment barrel over her and now she was drowning in it.

"Thats what they all say." Wally replies. "You realize how it looks when a guy is that close to a girl right?"

"Then what are you and Jinx then huh?" Gar says with crossed arms and a smug face.

A series of "oooohh"'s came from Dick, Vic, and Terra.

"Hey d-don't drag me into this!" Jinx yells defensively.

"Look who's blushing now."

"Oh great." Terra says.

"What?" Gar asks.

"Speaking of boyfriends," She points down the hall behind the tables that they sit at and see a buff guy, about 6'6, clearly making his way to their table. He was wearing a red muscle tee and blue jeans. Obviously trying to impress somebody, yet impressing nobody.

If Raven had rolled her eyes anymore they'd be rolling in the back of her head.

"Damn."

"Who's that?" Gar asks.

"Remember how I mentioned my ex-boyfriend earlier?"

"That's him? He even looks like a douchebag."

"I know."

"YO RAE!!" He shouted through the hallway. His voice was so loud and boisterous that it made him sound like the mix of a sterotypical surfer dude and a really stuck up football player, which he is.

Raven winced when he called her by that name.

"I've told him to stop calling me that." She mumbles to herself. 

"As much as I'd love to see Raven get pissed off, can someone please make him leave?" Terra states.

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Raven's head.

"Guys, I've got an idea."

Word Count: 2705