Walking through school was never one of her favorite activities, but walking through school while everyone was whispering and looking at you with nasty or curious glances made it far worse.

  Sure, it wasn't new since that accident happened; it was basically her daily routine, but something seemed off.

  The students were more jumpy around her. It seemed as if there was something happening around her that everyone knew about besides her.

  It seemed like this wasn't the usual gossip; it wasn't the usual made-up stuff. She didn't like that.

  Sure, she was an outcast in her school, but that didn't mean she was not up-to-date.

  Being innocent is a virtue, but ignorance is your doom.

  Another fact was that she generally doesn't need surprises.

  She just got back into her routine; she had no patience for that.

  So she may be freaking out a little, but she appeared as cold as ever, her aura resembling more a murderous one than normal.

  This was making the people around her uncomfortable, resulting in them stepping a little away from her as she was walking nonchalantly and head up high through school towards her next lesson.

  This was truly a terrifying sight, so it was no wonder they didn't dare to hold her stare.

  But no one knew that she was just overthinking and annoyed. The ironic part about that was that the cause herself was only oblivious to her effect.

  Nevertheless, she made it back to her homeroom.

  Today was Friday, which meant she had survived almost the whole week avoiding him.

  The same old tiring routine of hiding, pretending, but more importantly, surviving. He was acting a little stranger than normal.

  But she just brushed it off for now, leaving it to be an issue in the future. To think and analyze about.

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  This may seem reckless, but actually it was the best she could do in the moment, as each of her steps had to be strictly calculated.

  Being spontaneous was a luxury for the living; she was barely surviving, so stressing and overanalyzing everything would get

  her nowhere.

  Rather than taking notice of something, waiting, watching it, and paying mind to it.

  This would lead to rational and logical results, so if it was not an emergency, she would take her necessary time to calculate and observe, as her life was not only hers.

  This way of acting was presumed to be the ideal and worked for most of the time, but at the end of the day she was just a human, so slip-ups were bound to happen even if she regretted every second of it.

  So even if she hated this fact, she knew that it was an undeniable one, as proved by numerous situations.

  After all, acting emotionless and rational almost all the time and actually being that were two different sides of a coin.

  But back to the point, it was almost the weekend, so for most people, it would be something they look forward to and are excited about.

  It was all about hanging out and enjoying their teens.

  Away from the establishment where every action got judged, you got put on a pedestal and put in a category you either hated, could live with, or loved.

  Last but not least, you were away from fake people and expectations.

  The definition of high school is the finest.

  A place where the heavy amount of stress the students and teachers experienced there was as normal as ice being cold.

  But for Raven, the weekend only meant one thing: safety—an escape from reality.

  Sure, she still had to go back on Sunday, but that was life—nothing good lasts.

  Being so lost in her thoughts, she almost missed that the whole class got silent.

  When the teacher walked into the class, she was followed by a somewhat familiar boy who was confidently making his way to her as if he were coming there to reclaim what was rightfully his, unbothered by the staring of his fellow classmates.

  Their eyes were following every movement he made.

  They were patiently awaiting the evolution of the situation. like hungry hyenas watching their prey.

  The way he moved brought a sudden shift in the air of the classroom climate. The fact that he sat right beside her as if he belonged right there only fueled their interest.

  She could see that they were expecting a reaction out of her, but she knew better than to feed hungry Hayens.

  So she exactly gave them nothing.

  As he settled himself beside her, the teacher settled into his chair before his desk, facing the students with an expressionless face.

  Still in a little haze, Raven barely minded the whole ordeal, as it all seemed vague.

  He seemed kind of familiar, but she couldn't make out his exact features.

  She stopped watching before he got into the range where her eyes could make out his clear features.

  Looking at him seemed to make her eyes hurt, as she was forcing them to focus outside the range they could comfortably do it.

  So she surely had to misinterpret the situation. She still had to be partly daydreaming, as she didn't put on her glasses.

  So her eyes must have seen it wrong, as there could be no way that she got it right.

  It wouldn't make any sense now, would it?

  He couldn't be back, but there was only one person who acted like that, who thrived on being in the sole spotlight and acted as if the world were at his mercy.

  A true menace.

  So even after all these years, she still remembers the little troublemaker who no longer was there, even if just in bits.

  The reminiscing of that young boy brought a ghost smile on her face that vanished as soon as it came.

  She was now shaking her head, trying to clear it. These thoughts were distracting.

  Her mind has to be playing tricks with her. There was just no way.

  Dead people didn't come back to life.

  She stared with a new sudden burst of energy at the front blackboard, not even acknowledging her unexpected new neighbor, with her new and suddenly fueled focus directed to the front.