Ray and I were walking down the pathway to go meet up with the rest of my friends. Ray has one of those kinds of vibes that makes him serious and solemn, but at the same time bubbly, friendly, and funny. Somehow, I knew I could trust him with all of this.

Ray told me to be how I was a day ago, which was pretty much sad and distant, and I guess somehow he thought I could pull it off really well (which I can, thank you very much) because of the fact that I'm a soon-to-be actress. It's not that special, and I'm not famous or anything, but my group of friends know me well enough that they also know I'm into the arts.

Anyways, I did manage to pull off that depressed kind of attitude before we reached the group. I pretty much looked at my feet the whole time, but I guess it was really convincing, because Iris looked at me and said;

"Still down in the dumps, eh, Violet?" I gave a small nod, then took a quick glance at my friends. They were all looking at me (except for Ray, of course) with very worried expressions on their faces.

"Y-You know you can tell us anything if you need to, right, Violet?" Astrid said quietly. "We're here for you."

Not as much as Ray was 10 minutes ago... I thought. I nodded anyways.

"T-Thanks-s, g-guys..." I said, making sure to stutter a bit. I'm so lucky I'm good at acting...

Ace turned to Ray with a smug look on his face. Oh no, I thought, Here we go. Don't ruin it, Ray.

"So Ray," Ace said, "What were you doing with Violet while we were out here waiting patiently for her?"

In that exact moment, everyone turned to Ray, waiting for his response. Now or never, Ray. Don't mess this up, or I'll be done for. We'll both be done for.

Ray looked at me, then looked at everyone else, then back to Ace.

"Well you see, Violet said she wasn't feeling well throughout the whole day, so when I went to the washroom at the end of the day, everyone was gone but her. She was at her locker, just getting her things, when she said she started having cramps. Then she dropped to the ground and said she hurt a lot, so I took her to the girl's bathroom and--"

"Wait," Astrid interrupted, "You went into the girls BATHROOM??"

Ray chuckled. "No, no. I waited outside for her, checking on her every five minutes or so." Astrid nodded in response. 

Oh my gosh they're buying it! I can't believe it! I thought.

Ray continued with his tale. "Then she came out of the bathroom, saying she had a headache. I happened to have some Tylenol in my backpack--" He took out the bottle and showed it. "So I gave her one and I helped her walk to her locker because she felt as if she were to faint - and I didn't want that happening - So I helped her get her stuff and we walked outside the school."

I peeked up at everyone, making sure to stay in character. Everyone looked at Ray for a moment, then looked at me. I got ready for the massive wave of comments that was about to come. Instead, everyone sighed, and Ace nodded and slapped Ray on the back.

"Gentleman," Ace said as he laughed at Ray.

Jeez, I would've never expected that... He's such a good liar! I thought to myself, feeling mostly surprised.

Seeing how the girls were still looking at me and Ray suspiciously, I piped up.

"W-What were-e y-ou guys-s h-hoping for?" I asked innocently. I already knew what they were thinking without having to read their minds.

Astrid and Iris both looked at me and smirked. They took me aside, as if they both knew what the other was thinking.

"Are you sure you didn't do anything ELSE, Violet?" Astrid nudged me.

"Yeah, maybe a little bit of... kissing action?" Iris said. They giggled. I stuck my tongue out at them.

"No wa-ay, guys. You-u know a-already that I-I'm n-not looking f-for a BF a-anymore..."

They sighed. It's like they want me to get a boyfriend so they can tease me about it. That's just great. They use me as something to tease about.

And then we kept walking like nothing ever happened. Everything was pretty much the same except for the fact that Ray was walking beside me the whole way instead of being up front with Ace like how he usually is.

I raised an eyebrow when he came to walk beside me, not sure what he was doing or why he was doing it. This is so unlike him! He's totally had a change of attitude... or maybe a change of heart.

Was I the cause for that change?

Ray's POV

She told me not to tell anyone about what happened back at school. I get that she's worried. I mean, who wouldn't be after experiencing something like THAT? Somehow I can feel that she trusts me to keep her secret, so I want to keep that bond between us. Honestly, I don't want to let her down. She's been so kind to me in the past hour and told me everything.

This "Shink Shank" thing or whatever she calls it - Shaft. She calls it the Shaft. - I want to visit it one day. 

Violet told me that there are all sorts of secret rooms and secret hallways and entrances and stuff, like an anti-gravity room and whatnot, and all the people who are there have all sorts of powers! Of course it sounds stupid, but I believe her now more than ever because of her... wings... that I saw earlier on.

But then there's one problem with all of this: Only people who are superhuman get to go into the Shaft... So how am I supposed to get in?

We walked out of the school doors.

"You can talk to Professor H!" Violet exclaimed. "He can probably get you in, and I can help with convincing him!"

I looked at her. "Are you sure that would work out? Cause I kinda don't want to get laserbeamed in the face, here." She threw her head back and laughed. 

"Don't worry! I'm the one with the super powers here!!" She pointed to her back, referencing to earlier.

To be honest, it's nice to finally get some quality time with Violet. I found out things that I never would've even thought existed... And this is just the beginning.

Maybe she can get me into the Shaft!