*7 Months Earlier*

Raven woke up to the awful sound of her alarm clock. She groaned as she turned it off. As she forced herself out of bed, tiredness overcame her, but she battled through it just like ever other morning. It was Tuesday morning, and the sleepy teen wanted nothing more than to stay home from school. Her short, burgundy red hair was a tangled mess. She took a second to admire her large, Star Wars poster. So what, I'm a geek.. 

She forced herself downstairs to her kitchen, where he cat, Pickles, meowed furiously. "I know bud, you must be starving." She yawned, pouring some food into his bowl. She popped some bread in the toaster, and ate breakfast. She climbed back upstairs, and brushed out her hair and threw on a yellow top and some jeans. She put on a bit of brown eyeliner, and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Bye mum!" Raven yelled to her mother as she left. "BYE RAY!" Her mom called. 

Raven jumped on her skateboard, heading off to hell, a.k.a school.

"Rave!" A familiar, perky voice shouted. Her head shot up, and she searched the hallway for her friend. "Oh!" She yelped as she bumped into someone. "Gah! Watch where your going!" The girl shot her a dirty look.

Raven was on her butt, her books scattered everywhere. She began picking up the textbooks on the floor. "That girl," someone said as they helped pick up the books. "Is going to be the death of me." 

"Hey Ash." Raven grunted as she stood back up. Ashley was Raven's polar opposite friend. Her long, curly, strawberry blonde hair bounced with ever perky step she took. "I'll see you at lunch." Ashley smiled as Raven continued walking. "See ya."

She continued walking through the crowd of careless teenagers until she reached her English class. As she sat down, the bell rang. "Alright," Ms. Rieg clapped her hands together, snapping many students out of their thoughts. "Today, we'll be reading a poem by Robert Frost." Multiple students groaned, but she fought back a smile. He was her favorite poet. "The poem is called The Road Not Taken. Anyone heard of it?" She asked.She normally would NEVER raise my hand in class. But she had too, she was so excited!

"Wow, someone's feeling confident!" Ms. Rieg teased. Her cheeks burned. She realized she expected her to speak. Oh no, I hadn't thought about that! What was I thinking?!

She opened her mouth and tried to say, "Yes, I er, read it somewhere", but nothing came out. She tried to speak, but her fear left her mouth open with no sound emitting. She finally just spat out a part of the poem. "Two paths diverge in a yellow wood," She glanced around, and people were looking at her with mean expressions. "And I, I took the one less traveled by." She swallowed, prepared to finish. "And that has made all the differ-" She was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek.

Ms. Rieg looked alarmed, and the phone rang. "Ms. Rieg." She answered. Her eyes widened with horror. "Um, what should I tell the students?" 

....

"Okay. I'll be right there." Ms. Rieg ran out of the room, and everyone looked at her. "What, did your dad teach you that one?" Lisa, a terribly mean bully, teased. Everyone laughed. She wanted the floor to swallow her up. "Or maybe, your brother! Before he died, of course." My eyes shot around the room, looking for some way to escape this situation. Her little minion, Sarah, smirked, "No, he was probably too depressed to speak!" Her mouth was dry, and she had no retort even if she could speak. "Maybe you should follow his lead, and kill yourself!" 

Nope, nope, not gonna let her get to me... my brother wouldn't have wanted her to be my downfall. Raven determinedly stared straight ahead, ignoring the class's roaring laughter. A tear was threatening to slip down her cheek at the memory of her brother. She remembers his chocolate brown eyes perfectly.

The bell interrupted her thoughts. Saved by the bell.

She filed through the students piling into the cafeteria. She sat down at her normal spot, next to Ash. "Did you hear the scream?" Ash asked excitedly. Raven nodded. She was still trying to get the image of her brother out of her head. "Honey, what's wrong?" Ash asked warmly. "Lisa." She choked. "She was talking about my brother and father." 

Ashley gave her a tight squeeze. "There was nothing you could do... it was his choice.." She nodded, but she knew that she could of changed what happened if she just could have recognized what had happened. "I'm gonna change the subject now," Ash said happily. "Rumor has it, there was a murder!" She whispered dramatically. "And you believe that?" Raven asked skeptically. "None of the teachers said anything, there was a scream, it was urgent, it makes sense." 

"A murder in broad daylight, in a place full of cameras, does NOT make sense." Raven replied. "Well, that's what you think, but I snuck into the hallway where the teachers went, and the cameras all had gum stuck to them." Ash stated. "How did you get in there unnoticed?" Raven asked. "I was in the bathroom when the scream thing happened." Raven's eyes widened. "What's wrong, Rave?" Ashley asked, completely oblivious. "You don't have an alibi!" Raven nearly yelled. "Cameras." Ash said. "Still! What if they arrest you?!" Raven, again, almost yelled. "So you do think it was a murder!" Ash said smugly. "NO!" Raven insisted. "I just have your best interest in mind." Ashley rolled her eyes. 

Raven couldn't help but continue thinking about that scream. It sounded so.. scary. Like a horror movie. But then again, anything can set off a girl like that these days. There was probably some kind of prank done or something, but that didn't explain the gum...

Could Ashley be right? Was a fellow student... killed?