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The first bell rang and the hallways began to flood with movement of students rushing to class. Lingering in the hall Astrid and Lucas continued chatting, delaying the inevitable split for their respective class. Jonah began nudging Lucas to get moving along.
“Brilliant way to start avoiding summer school,” he balked sarcastically.
“Summer what?” Astrid quizzed.
Looking flustered and agitated, “Nothing,” Lucas affirmed, “see ya fifth period.”
“And that is our cue”, Raven observed, as she rushed Astrid down the hall.
Astrid made it into her English class with time to spare, but Raven still had to make it up to the second floor for physics. Just as she arrived st the door the second bell rang.
“Oh no,” Raven thought to herself.
Raven knew she could not afford to be late again for Mr. Pritchard’s class this week. She quietly muttered a few words under her breath as the door to class began to close. Her teacher took a sweep of the room with his eyes and did not know how Raven got into her seat so quickly, when he could swear he had seen her outside the door a moment ago.
“Hmm...It must have been my eyes,” he pondered, “maybe a reflection in the glass.”
It was not the first time that he felt surprised by Raven Salome. He had been teaching at the high school for nearly twenty years. He knew that Raven was able to grasp the science of physics with ease; especially showing marked advancement in practical use of the subject in her labs. Returning to the front of the class and he commenced the review for finals.
By the time fourth period rolled around, the faculty and students were sweltering in the old high school building. No air conditioning was proving difficult for everyone to focus and nearly impossible to tolerate.
“Attention students and faculty,” the announcement croaked from speakers on the wall, “Due to extreme heat the school administration has determined to have early dismissal today...” The students cheering and revelry made it hard to hear the rest.
“Again, faculty and students, today there will be an early dismissal beginning at twelve noon,” Ms. Baker, the principal, repeated on the loudspeaker. Continuing the broadcast, “Parents have been notified and buses will be available, all after school activities have been cancelled.”
Raven couldn’t believe her luck; tonight she had to help her family with an important celebration. When class was dismissed she dashed to her locker.
“No point in going to the cafeteria to be dismissed”, she believed.
Next to her locker she could see Autumm Goodwynne, Astrid’s twin.
“Hey, can you believe the school finally got something right” she said facetiously.
“I know”, Autumm agreed, “at least now we have time to get ready for tonight!” The two girls could hear the laughter from Astrid coming down the hall piggybacked on Lucas.
“Sheesh Lucas, aren’t you too hot for that?” Raven indicated.
“Never too hot or too tired!” he answered with a sly smile.
The final bell rang and students scrambled for their lockers and the doors.
“Thank you for the lift kind sir,” Astrid said with a giggle as she got down.
They continued to flirt and tease each other when Jonah approached them. He grabbed his belongings out of the locker, relieved to have a longer weekend. While chatting with Lucas, he took notice of the girls who were nodding and carrying on a conversation in silence.
Raven, Autumm and Astrid began what the boys called their head speak. It was one thing for the twins to be able to communicate with one another without many words, but for Raven to be able to join in made him feel a little uneasy. It was another check on the list of bizarre things regarding Raven.
“So what are you ladies planning on doing with all this free time?” Lucas asked as the group was making their way to the doors.
“Well...” Autumm, the more responsible of the twins spoke first, “as much fun as I’m sure you boys can provide, I think we should head home.”
“Oh come on!” Lucas objected, “you can’t be serious, we weren’t even suppose to be out yet!”
“Seriously,” Astrid quipped, “I’d rather just hang out, maybe go to the lake!”
Cooling off by the lake did sound like a good idea to everyone. Upon entering the parking lot, Jonah bumped into Brent. A stereotypical popular guy in their high school, a senior quarterback dating the head cheerleader Celeste MacGregor.
Walking past, glances were exchanged between Jonah and Brent. Jonah was not a part of his clique and Brent gave him a disapproving look for the group he kept. That is when Raven could hear Celeste calling out to boyfriend. Celeste’s voice grated her nerves and she really did not feel like having to deal with her at the moment. Shortly after deducing the possibility of facing her nemesis, Celeste and her friends pulled up in a shiny bright read sports car. Raven knew anything spoken would be simply to get under her skin.
“Nice outfit Raven,” Celeste sneered.
“Nice face,” Raven retorted.
“Still shopping at the Bargain Bin?” Celeste taunted.
Halfheartedly clapping Raven snapped back, “Did you rehearse that one? Cause we all know you aren’t that smart.”
Lucas uttered a yowl, similar to that of an aggressive feline in a battle.
“Cat fight!” he declared. Astrid swiftly punched him in the arm.
“Jealous much?” Celeste cackled as she drove off.
Although the ancestors of the Goodwynne’s, Salome’s and MacGregor’s were part of the original thirteen founders of Hallowed Hills, there existed a great divide amongst them. To outsiders, one would have thought it was a question of the MacGregor’s wealth, but Jonah could sense it was somehow deeper. Besides, he had seen Mrs. MacGregor at the Salome home many times in the past. Raven rolled her eyes in disgust knowing she had to hold her temper.
“Let’s go,” she uttered. There were things Raven could envy of course, like the fact that MacGregor’s had money or that on the hottest day of the year their house had air-conditioning and Celeste had a car to drive home in. These things however were not on Raven’s list of things to covet in others well, maybe the air-conditioning.
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