I look down at my schedule, peering at first hour. Math. Great, I have to start the day with the worst subject everyday! I let out a groan in frustration as I switch my eyes over to the room number. Room 213. I look up to realize that I am standing in the middle of the hallway in front of the staircase and people are bustling all around me. I can feel the slight brush of arms as others struggle to pass by. I start to walk down the hallway looking at the numbers painted onto the doors of the classrooms. 

201, 203, 205...

Most people are walking in the same direction as me causing the hall to look more like a mad rushing river rather than a hall of students hurrying to class. As I peer to the sides of the halls I can see a few students struggling to move in the opposite direction of the current, grasping hold at the red, peeling locker handles to pull themselves forward in the direction of the staircase. I can't help but feel bad for them as they will probably get trampled and not make it to class on time. 

I peel my eyes away from them and return my attention to the room numbers.

209, 211, 213.

I stop in front of a large oak door held open by a small plump lady. Her nose is curved upwards, holding her tear-shaped glasses at the tip of her nose. Her rough fawn hair is tightly pulled back into a bun sitting on the top of her head. As I approach her (I have to push past a few people to escape the mad rush of my peers), she looks at me with squinting eyes and says,

"Name?"

"Um, Luna," I stutter. She looks into my eyes and I feel as if she is judging every action I have done and every secret I have ever kept. She finally tears her eyes from my soul and shuffles through the papers stacked on the clipboard in her right hand. She stops somewhere in the middle of the stack, pulls the sheet out, and thrusts it in my direction.

"Here. Find your seat inside, it has your name on it." Her raspy voice makes my stomach tighten as I take the paper from her and hurry inside the class. I scan the classroom briefly, noticing the wooden desks arranged in neat rows, "inspirational" posters lining the walls of the room, and several people already sitting in their seats, talking in low voices to the people around them. I start to walk around the desks, searching for my name on one of the note cards taped to the corner of the desk. It doesn't take me long to find the familiar "Luna Jones" scribbled onto one of the cards. Just to my luck, my desk is placed in the front row, the second to last desk in the line.

"Oh great," I mumble as I hang my backpack over the chair and slide into the desk, taking my seat. I place my right elbow on the desk and lean into my hand, watching as the room slowly fills with more and more students. Some of the students I don't recognize, probably from the other middle schools. Most of the kids I do know, but no one too terrible, so that's a plus.

Once everyone has taken their seat, the stout teacher comes into the room, silencing the class instantly. They must have gotten the same impression of her as I did, as they all look at eachother with worried glances when she reaches the board. She picks up a long piece of white chalk and starts to scratch letters onto the faded green board. Once she finishes, she steps to the side, revealing what she has written. 

"My name is Miss Schmidt." Ms. Schmidt points to her name written on the board. "As I understand it, you are all Freshmen, new to the school, fresh minds for molding." Her lips curve upwards slightly as she says this, giving me shivers of terror. She goes on telling us what we will be learning throughout the year and starting us out with practice math equations. The clock seems to be moving in slow motion and the room is filled with an eerie gloom. 

This is going to be a long year. 

After what feels like two hours, the bell finally rings for second period and we all instantly stand up, eager to finally leave the dungeon-like class.

"Don't forget to finish those practice problems for tomorrow!" She screeches from behind us as we all push out of the room. I let out a deep breath as soon as I have escaped, once again part of the madness outside the classrooms.

The next three hours go by quickly. First art class, a nice teacher with a sing-song voice and many quiet, shy students ready to learn art. Then was science, the teacher very plain with a monotone voice and many horrible students acting up frequently, disrupting the class. Finally history, a very young, enthusiastic teacher, ready for any challenge, and a class full of people sleeping on desks and zoning out, not paying attention.

During history, as I listen to what Mrs. Holt is saying, I can hear a faint tapping of a pencil on the desk behind me. I turn around slightly to see who is creating the drumming noise and find myself staring at a very attractive boy with short, dark brown hair, small light freckles, and a beautiful bright smile. I can't help but blush a little when his brown eyes lock with mine and he shows a small smile.

"Um hi, I'm Lucas," he whispers, holding out his hand.

"I'm Luna." I put my hand in his and shake it slowly, becoming aware of how sweaty my hand must be and quickly pulling away. "Sorry, I-" I am suddenly cut off as Mrs. Holt.

"No talking in my class please, Luna and Lucas. That brings me to my next point..." As she continues talking, I quickly smile at Lucas halfheartedly before turning around to listen to Mrs. Holt jabber on about classroom rules.

As soon the bell rings, I quickly pull my backpack over my shoulder, determined to get to lunch to tell Ashley about Lucas. I practically skip down the steps of the main stairwell to get to the cafeteria. Once my dark blue sneakers reach the floor of the lunchroom, I look around in search of my friends. I squeeze through crowds of people, looking at each table carefully, examining the people sitting at each one. Most of the people in the area near the front of the room are upperclassmen. Compared to me, they look like giants, practically fully grown adults already with full grown beards and mustaches. I start to head to the back of the the room, where I begin to recognize the people in my grade. I scan the area once again and my face lights up when I spot Ethan and Ashley waving in the far back corner at a round table that they obviously have already claimed.

I run over to them and take my place at the table excitedly. I rummage through my bag to find a black lunch box crammed at the bottom of the backpack. Pulling it out, I plop it on the table and unzip the bag to reveal its contents. At the top of the food pile, is a slightly crushed turkey sandwich which I take out happily and start to munch on.

"Well someone's excited to eat," Ashley comments laughing, as I take another big bite into my sandwich.

"I'm hungry!" I defend, food still stuffed inside my mouth.

"Dude, keep your mouth closed, we don't want to see that crap!" Ethan complains. I shoot him an evil glare, continuing to chew the food.

"Anyways, how was your guys' first few hours of school?" Ashley inquires, pulling out a bag of carrots, munching on them quietly.

I am about to tell her all about Lucas, but I realize food is still crammed inside my mouth, so I let Ethan answer.

"It was pretty good, but did either of you have that evil teacher that looked like she wanted to kill us at any moment?"

I quickly gulp down the sandwich in my mouth before answering, "Yeah! It was like she was looking straight through to our soul whenever she looked at you!"

"I know right! That class wasn't all that bad though, as there was a really cute guy sitting next to me! I think he likes me!" Ashley proclaims excitedly. I glance at her wearily. Could the guy she is talking about be Lucas? I thought he liked me, not Ashley! Maybe he just makes everyone think he likes them. Maybe it's not even him at all and I'm overreacting.

"Ugh, why do you have to talk about boys when I'm here?" Ethan whines.

Completely ignoring him, I inquire further about this guy. "So what's his name?"

"I think it was something like Luke or-"

"Lucas?"

"Yeah I think that's it. How did you know?" Ashley asks curiously.

"Um, he was in my history class and I just, um, remember his name for some reason," I spit out quickly.

"Oh, um, cool," she responds, looking at me concerned.

Soon the conversation drifts off to something about a TV Show of some sort that I couldn't care less about. I drift my gaze away from the table and observe others in the room engaged in their own conversations. I switch my gaze from one group to the other and let out a small gasp as I see Lucas standing by some other guys, laughing at a joke he must've told. Afraid he might notice me staring, I turn my head to the far side of the room and see a girl I've never seen before, staring right at me.

Maybe she's just observing other people like me. Or maybe she's actually looking at someone or something behind me or maybe she is just staring off into space and doesn't realize she's staring right at me.

As I am thinking of reasons she might be looking at me, I can't help but gape at her beauty. I can only see parts of her face because the black hoodie she is wearing is pulled mostly over her eyes, but I can see enough of them to know she is watching me. Her skin is pale and smooth and her lips are soft and pink. Her nose is small and dainty and is placed perfectly in the middle of her slightly rosy cheeks. Tumbling down her hoodie is her wavy jet black hair, shining from the brightly lit room. Her legs are pulled to her chest and are covered in black ripped skinny jeans tucked into black laced boots. 

I suddenly realize that I have been staring at her for slightly too long, but I guess it's fine because she has been staring at me the whole time as well. I feel the urge to talk to her and learn more about her, but I don't think right now would be the best time. I turn back around to my friends and continue to eat while talking about high school and what's going to happen next in the whole story of our lives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you go! Chapter 2 of "Raven" is finally written. I hope you guys liked the chapter and like the book so far! Sorry this chapter is slightly longer than the first one and it may not be all that interesting yet, but it will be better soon! I promise. In the next chapter, maybe you will see more of this mysterious girl and maybe you will finally know her name...Guess you will have to read to find out. Have a great rest of your day! Bye! :)