s i x ;

They made it back just in time for dinner at the garden, but both of them were so tired that Raven walked Roseanne to her dorm and said his goodbyes. Roseanne changed into something more comfortable for the night and went to sleep. It was around ten at night when she heard the door to her dorm open and someone stepped inside. It was her room mate Scarlet, who tiptoed into the room, set her bag down by her bed and used her holo phone flashlight to go into the bathroom. Roseanne heard the sink turn on and before she knew it, her room mate emerged from the bathroom ready for bed. She didn't even check to see if Roseanne was awake. She merely climbed into her bed and fell asleep, snoring lightly almost instantly.

The next morning, Scarlet was already gone when Roseanne woke up. It was five on the dot when Roseanne's alarm rang and she grabbed her things to get in the shower. Scarlet had probably showered in the communal bathrooms that morning to avoid running into her room mate for as long as possible, especially after what she and the others did. Roseanne didn't really mind it anymore. She had a good time with Raven and that was all that mattered to her. 

She took her shower and was ready to go out into the cafeteria for lunch as the clock his six in the morning. As she entered the eating area, she saw kids, teens, and adults from other groups sitting together with her friends. Roseanne got her breakfast, a blueberry muffin and a milk box, looked around the room towards her usual table where she saw with the others, and then found Raven sitting at his usual table alone. Mauve, Seville, Ciel, and Scarlet didn't look at her and tried not to meet her eyes when they saw her coming. But she altogether ignored their existence and headed towards the table where Raven was sitting. She stopped without sitting down and he looked up at her with a shy smile that held a hint of confusion in it. "Hi, good morning." He said to her.

She smiled nervously. "Good morning. Can I sit here?"

He nodded his head, and she sat by his side. He immediately looked toward the table with their other group members and saw they held their heads low and were trying hard not to look across the room at them. They were clearly ashamed of what they did and were trying not to be confronted for as long as possible.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked her, just to make some conversation after she sat down and said nothing. She was merely looking down at her muffin and poking at it mindlessly. She wasn't at all hungry yet, but she knew she had to eat, otherwise the next time she'd get to have a meal was around noon. That was a whole six hours later. 

As she opened her mouth to speak, one of their instructors came by with something in her hand. It was a gift box with a bright red ribbon on it. On her other hand was a chocolate cupcake with black frosting and a candle on top. She stopped at Raven and Roseanne's table and said to her favorite student cheerfully. "I hope you enjoyed your birthday weekend, Black! Nineteen years old. I have a little present for you, my top student in group 12191, right along with our darling little Pink." 

Raven held his head down in embarrassment, but nodded politely in appreciation as their instructor placed the cupcake down in front of him as well as the present. Roseanne watched him with surprise as he sat there wanting to disappear. The instructor patted him on the shoulder and went off to enjoy the rest of her breakfast. As she walked away, Roseanne said something to Raven. "I didn't know it was your birthday this weekend. Why didn't you say anything?"

He couldn't even look at her from the way he was embarrassed about the whole ordeal. "I don't like getting special attention. It stresses me when people make a big deal about something small like that."

At that moment, she felt even worse about the fact that the other crew members had ditched him. He said he didn't like getting attention from others, but it would have still been nice to go out as a group on his birthday. Roseanne was more upset at them now because she felt like they had ruined his weekend for him. She had no way of knowing that he had an even better time than she thought because he was alone with her, and he didn't like hanging around with too many people anyway. She looked their way with a glare, but she thought that she would do something nice for Raven, something subtle since he said he didn't like the attention and it seemed like he meant it.

During her free period that day, she put together a little gift basket for him with pink ribbons and all kinds of snack. She got the stuff from the book store they had in the garden which sold learning supplies and snacks. Then she went to one of the private study rooms to work on her gift, since she didn't want to run into Scarlet at the moment. She even wrote him a note which she put inside the basket for him. She wished him a happy birthday and wrote him a nice little note. She placed it right outside his dorm door so that he could find it on his way out to dinner after free period. He saw her sit at his table for dinner and he gave her a shy thank you.

"I really liked the present, and the note you wrote for me was cute." He told her with a blush. 

Roseanne felt her heart beating madly against her chest like a drum. Looking down at her dinner shyly, she said to him. "I'm glad you liked it."

-

She and Raven did their two hours of work out together before heading to one of the study rooms to do homework for the night. He dropped her off at her room and when she entered, she was ready to confront the person who called herself her best friend. Scarlet looked up from the homework she was doing at her desk when she heard the door open and she saw Roseanne enter the room. 

Roseanne sucked in a breath and began to speak. "Do you think we can talk?"

"About what?" Scarlet tried to play dumb at first. 

"About everything that happened this weekend." Roseanne said immediately. She doubted that her room mate didn't know what she was talking about, but she would clarify it anyway. When Scarlet said nothing, she continued. "You said we were all going to the carnival together in Province of Harvest, but then you went out all weekend with Seville, Mauve, and Ciel. Raven and I waited for you for hours and when you didn't show up, we ended up going there alone. If you didn't want to hang out with me and Raven you could have just said so instead of sneaking around like that. That's really shady to me, especially coming from someone who claims to be my best friend." When Roseanne started, it all started pouring out of her like a waterfall until her feelings were all out in the open. She was like that. She liked talking to people one on one about what she was feeling. She liked to be straight up with people.

Scarlet chewed on her lower lip nervously, like she was debating something. Evidently she was debating how to put what she was thinking into words. "It really wasn't about you, I just want you to know that. Its just that the rest of us don't really talk to Raven and we didn't want things to be awkward."

"Well now things are definitely going to be awkward with him because you all ditched us to do something else." Roseanne pointed out.

That was when Scarlet got a bit accusing with what she said next. "You didn't even ask us if we were okay with having Raven there. You just invited him." 

Roseanne could see their side of things, she really could. She understood that maybe things would be awkward and maybe even uncomfortable at first. But it wasn't like they didn't know Raven at all and he wasn't even a terrible person. Mauve knew him too, since they were room mates. Ciel and Seville had trained with him briefly as children. The only one who was a real stranger to him was Scarlet, and that was the main reason why Roseanne invited him in the first place. She wanted the others to get to know him because from what she remembered interacting with him when they were children, Raven was a good kid. He had been rejected by his peers as a child, and was being rejected by his crew as an adult. He didn't deserve that, and it was unfair.

"That was the whole point of inviting him though." Roseanne explained, trying to get her to understand her side. "We're about to spend the next two and a half years training with him and then eight more years in space with him. We have to get to know him. If you had just tried, you would see that he's a good kid."

Scarlet rolled her eyes at Roseanne. "Just because you're in love with him doesn't mean we have to be."

Her words threw Roseanne off guard and they made her go red in the face with a blush. "What? I-I'm not in l-love with him." She stammered nervously. 

For one, she was literally just getting to interact with Raven again after fifteen years and there was nothing whatsoever between them. Then there was also the fact that having romantic relationships in the garden was completely off limits. When Mauve was in love with Roseanne, she talked to him about it and asked him if he would need a transfer out of their group. She didn't want either of them to get in trouble. Roseanne had no romantic feelings towards him, but she didn't want him to have to put up with her indifference. Roseanne on the other hand didn't tell anyone of her feelings for Ciel, and kept them to herself. She had thought about requesting a transfer. But she thought about the fact that she would be put into a new group again with people she didn't know.

If anyone were to hear her saying those things, the administration would pull them in to the office to have a talk with them about it. They would be separated from each other and then forced into avoiding interaction. 

"Ever since he showed up, you've been all over him." Scarlet pointed out bitterly. "You spend all your time with him and you don't hang out with your real friends any more."

"That's not true." Roseanne argued.

"Yes it is." Scarlet insisted. "Mauve thinks so too. You know, he's not over you yet. Maybe you should give him a chance since he's known you longer. Me and the others would definitely keep it secret."

Roseanne gave a shake of her head, fed up with the way her crew mates were behaving. It was childish and it was stupid. "I'm not going to discuss this because we're not even allowed to have any romantic relationships here anyway, so its a waste of time. Raven is our crew member and he's my friend. Either way, you guys are going to have to put up with him for the next ten years so I suggest you and the others start acting like a team with us. You know, there are rumors that our instructors might name him captain."

Scarlet's eyes widened in surprise and a hint of horror. Instead of having her best friend being captain, who she thought deserved it more, there was a chance the newest member of the crew would be leading them in their space mission. She wasn't sure if she could handle something like that. If it came down to it, she was sure she would request for a transfer out of the group. 

"He was sixth to join the team though." She said, outrage dripping off every word. "He doesn't deserve it. You were top pick for captain before he came along. If anything, the rest of us all deserve it more than he does. Our instructors can't do that."

It was merely a rumor at the moment--that Raven and Roseanne were both top pick to be captain and that the next two and a half years would be full of tests to determine who could best be the leader of the mission. Roseanne didn't mind if Raven got picked in the end. She knew she had worked hard for years to be where he was. He had been the runt of his group when he entered the garden and had gone to being one of the top picks for the upcoming mission.

If anything, she thought he deserved it more than she did.

-

another little update today.

its day one of my vacation and i actually really miss work. that's only because i wont get to see my crush for a whole week. i hope he misses me thought. and we're supposedly going drinking again on wednesday so i'll get to see him again.

thank you all loads for reading and supporting this story. next chapter im going to do a bit of a time skip so we'll be even closer to the start of the mission. again, i know it was a lot of filler and exposition to begin with. but this will be important to the story. so bear with me. also, have a wonderful night guys!

-clary