Silent World

by Natalie Warren

  "You need a key to open it from the inside too?" Raven grumbled and the black haired boy looked triumphant. "This isn't fair. I'm being held hostage by my own-" she stopped herself abruptly and Jason's triumphant face disappeared.

  "Your own what?" he blinked.

  "I'm sorry," she ducked her head and stared down at her shoes.

  Jason put a CD into the stereo in let it play a sweet melodic tune that Raven had never heard before. She guessed it was ballroom music but she didn't ask as Jason walked over to her and gently took her hand from the doorknob. Her cheeks burned and she felt the air suddenly become tense with awkwardness.

  "Raven," Jason said quietly. "Look at me." Raven struggled to breathe as she slowly looked up at him, forgetting how to breathe when she looked into his emerald eyes. His eyes didn't show any emotion but they scanned the blonde's face for any kind of answer. "What were you going to say?"

  "Boyfriend…" she whispered, her voice cracking as she hoped he didn't hear it.

  Jason was silent and Raven was aware of his hand lightly tightening over hers. The subject had become very awkward to talk about. Jason avoided the subject as much as he could and Raven tried not to bring it up. She silently cursed herself for bringing it up. She still couldn't understand why, even after they talked about the fact they weren't going out, he still didn't want to talk about it. Did he really not want to call her his girlfriend?

  Instead, he smiled. "I need to teach you how to dance so I hope you don't have two left feet," he pulled her away from the door and took both of her hands, raising them up and putting them on his shoulders. He took her waist and she soon found herself stumbling around in circles, trying to keep up with him.

  He was always like this, Raven thought. Whenever the 'boyfriend, girlfriend' subject popped up he always acted as if it was never mentioned. Raven didn't understand and she wanted answers but she was too scared to try and ask him in case he ended up telling her he didn't want her. She didn't want to hear that. For the first time in her life she actually had a guy that cared about her and didn't want to use her for sex. He wanted to protect her and be around her and she didn't want to lose the bond she had with Jason. She didn't want to be left behind, so why did she have the fear that she would? As soon as Jason's time at White Grass was up… was he just going to leave her without saying anything? Just sneak away in the middle of the night?

  "Relax," he murmured. "Just forget about everything and follow me. You'll get it."

  Raven forced all of her thoughts away and she looked down at her feet as she tried to follow his steps. "This is really difficult," she mumbled.

  He didn't miss a beat as he picked her up and let her stand on his feet. She felt tingles spread through her body as she held his shoulders and he continued taking sure steps to the beat of the music. She closed her eyes for a moment as she was forced to step with him and she slowly figured out the rhythm. When she was sure she could handle it, she stepped off his feet and followed him, clumsy at first but then her steps smoothed out.

  "Do you get it now?" Jason chuckled.

  "Yes," she nodded, not looking up at him. "Thanks for teaching me."

  "You're welcome," he answered and they danced around the room a couple of times until Raven was positive that she would be able to dance in heels. Jason was proud, but Raven wasn't able to stop herself from returning to her previous thoughts.

  Jason picked up on it at once.

  Neither of them had a chance to speak when a loud knock came at the door. Jason snatched the key from beside the stereo and went to the door, unlocking it. When he opened it, he was faced with Storm and Der, both breathing heavily.

  "What's wrong?" the green eyed boy demanded.

  "Your brother is watching the border," Storm informed him, not forgetting to shook a hostile glare in Raven's direction.

  Jason snarled at him. "Go tell the headmaster. Der, I want you to take Raven back to her dorm. I'll go deal with Boulder."

  Raven didn't have any opportunities to protest as Storm took off one way and Jason abandoned her to tackle his brother in the forest. She looked up at Der who shot a sympathetic glance at her and inclined his head for her to follow. She nodded and walked out of the dorm, shutting the door behind her. She silently walked down the halls with Der beside her and she couldn't help but feel that she was being cut off from Jason. Was he telling himself that maybe it was a bad idea for a human girl to be caught in the life of werewolves? Did he think it was too dangerous to have her around? Did he not want to be dragged down by the responsibility of protecting her forever?

  "Go easy on him," Der spoke up as they walked. "He's distracted."

  "Nice excuse," Raven retorted a little rudely. "He only seems 'distracted' when anyone talks about our relationship. Not that I can really call it that."

  "Give him a chance, Raven," Der exasperated. "You're the first girl that he's had the chance to be with. Did you ever stop to think that maybe he's scared?"

  That hit Raven like a club to the head. She fell silent again and threw herself back into the depths of her thoughts. Jason? Scared? She had to admit that Der had a point; maybe he was scared. But scared of what?

  "He might be scared to take things too far, too quickly," the blonde boy went on. "You've been worried that he might not want you, but you haven't considered how he must be thinking about this."

  "I'm sorry," Raven whispered, looking at the floor again. "I didn't mean to make anything more stressful. I'm scared too."

  "We know," Der put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay. Just calm down and stop worrying so much. Jason just needs to let things wrap around his head as well."

  Raven nodded. "Thanks, Derrick."

  "You're welcome," he replied and they walked the rest of the way in silence. He left her at her door and she walked in, seeing Elaise practicing her dance in front of Speed.

  "Raven?" Elaise blinked, stopping her dance to blink at the blonde. "I thought Jason stole you for the night…"

  "Boulder's hanging around so Jason thought it best if I came back here where it's safe," Raven shrugged. "Good timing I guess."

  "Why?" Elaise frowned. "What's wrong?"

  "The subject came up again."

  "Oh," Elaise chewed her lip and Raven sat down on the couch. "Well it's not the end of the world. Jason will get over it."

  That was true. Jason would let it go and not let it bother him. Raven wasn't able to do that. She had never been scared of possibly losing a guy and now she was terrified of losing Jason. Maybe Der was right and Jason was just as scared. Both of them were new at relationships so maybe they just needed a little bit more time to adjust to it before making it official. Maybe.

  "Reckon you can live through another couple of dances?" Elaise smiled. "I really want to make sure I get this perfect."

  "I'll manage," Raven giggled and made herself comfortable on the couch. She knew she should keep studying for her exams but she had been doing so much of it that she thought her brains were going to burst out of her head and run away from all the information she was trying to memorize. She would have been fine with studying if it was just for one subject, but for every subject she was learning and having to take tests one after the other. She really hoped she wasn't going to crack under the pressure.

  Elaise restarted her song and begun her dance. Raven watched as her brunette friend danced around in front of the couch, the coffee table moved out of the way. Raven tried to stop thinking about Jason but it was hard. It got easier as Speed shuffled across the couch to sit beside her and raised his hand, gently patting her head. He had been given his dose of cocaine today but his sleep obviously hadn't shaken it off yet.

  "You'll do find in your exams," Speed mumbled. "And tomorrow I can try and help you with your last minute studying."

  "That would be great," Raven smiled. "Thanks, Speed. It's really fun having you around."

  "I know," he grinned childishly. "It's fun being here. And I hope you pass your t
ests. I know how much they mean to you."

  Raven sighed deeply and picked up her own hand, ruffling the little vampire's hair. "I'll be okay. I just need to focus and I'll pass the tests easily."

  Don't Freak Out

  The alarm clock rang loudly and Raven was snapped out of her dream. She sat up with a startled yelp and lost her balance, rolling and falling off the couch only to land on her face.

  "Okay," she muffled through the floor as her pillow fell on her head. "I'm awake…"

  Elaise's door burst open and Raven slowly raised her head to see her brunette friend wide awake with a huge smile on her face. "Time for breakfast!" she walked over to Raven and turned the alarm off. "You ready for today?"

  "I can see you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," the blonde muttered. "Why are you so cheerful?"

  Elaise blinked at her a couple of times and Raven wondered why her friend was so happy. "You've forgotten about our mid-terms already?"

  Raven leaped off the floor with a small scream and her hands held her head as a headache kicked in. "Oh shit! The exams are today? I'm going to fail so badly!"

  "Calm down," Elaise frowned. "You've studied hard. You'll be okay."

  That didn't reassure Raven. The blonde felt her heart racing while her head pulsed with pain. Her mind went completely blank and she tried to remember everything she had worked so hard to soak into her memory over the past two weeks. The day had finally come that they would have to take their mid-term exams and Raven couldn't remember anything!

  "Take it easy," Elaise sighed. "Let's go get something to eat, calm down, and get ready for the day."

  Raven took a few deep breaths and nodded, walking to her room and changing into a pair of blue jeans and a red singlet shirt. She pulled on a pair of sneakers and brushed her hair, fixing up her eyeliner and walking out of her room again. She was met by Elaise and the brunette was wearing black shorts with a lime green shirt, just like her new dress.

  "You okay now?" Elaise asked. Raven nodded. "Good. God will watch over both of us today so we have no need to worry."

  They headed for the door but stopped when they spotted an envelope that had been slipped under the door. Raven bent to pick it up and she saw her name written on it in writing she knew all too well. Jason had avoided her completely the day before and she hadn't seen him at breakfast, dinner or even any of their classes together. What had he gotten for her this time?

  She ripped the envelope open and pulled out the letter in it. "He says 'Good luck today, I know you'll do well and I'll see you in last class'. He really does have a funny way of showing his affection."

  "What else is in it?" Elaise leaned her head over to try and get a look at what else was inside the envelope.

  Raven pulled out the chain and looked at the cross charms all over it. Jason really got it for her? "Why would he get me something like this after avoiding me all of yesterday?" she mumbled half to herself.

  "Let it go," the Christian girl sighed and took the bracelet, putting it around Raven's right wrist. "Maybe he's distracted."

  Everybody kept saying that! Raven thought with frustration and felt the new weight of Jason's third gift. Why did everyone always have to say he was distracted by something? For once couldn't they all just tell her he was angry with something or upset with someone? Couldn't someone tell her the truth?

  "Let's go," Raven gave up and led her friend out of the dorm. They made their way to the dining hall and found it surprisingly quiet. People were eating, but they weren't being loud. Raven looked around and saw that almost all of them had their noses stuck in their text books, reading over as much as they could. They all looked as panicked as the blonde felt. "They're all trying to get last minute studying done before the tests…"

  "If we tried that, our heads would explode," Elaise tried to joke as they went and picked out a couple of slices of raisin toast with a bunch of grapes each. Instead of going over to the werewolves, the two girls sat alone at a table and started to eat.

  Raven didn't feel very hungry but she knew she had to eat something to keep her brain functioning all day. If she didn't fill her stomach, she would be even worse in her exams with no concentration or energy to do anything. The class she was stressing about the most was Home Economics. If she couldn't cook the Black Forest Trifles right then she would feel like a complete failure. She was never too good at desserts and now she was going to have to prove that she was able to cook a top-quality dish as best she could.

  She couldn't help but glance over to her lycan friends and wasn't surprised when she didn't see Jason. Der was with Eliza, Jake and the others… but no Jason. Surely he'd be starving if he hadn't shown up for breakfast twice in a row now whilst skipping dinner the night before as well. What had he eaten to keep his strength up? How long could a werewolf go without food?

  She shrugged the thoughts away and tried to focus on her exams. She had to stay in the game otherwise she would lose before she even left the starting line. She took a bite out of her raisin toast and thought it through. She had English first with Jason, then History with Der, Math with Jason again. She had recess after that, then Music with Lupo, Science with Elaise and Art alone. Another break after that and she had Physical Education with her friends and Home Economics with Jason. If she focused on her first set of classes, she could do a quick bit of extra studying for the middle section, and prepare herself at lunch for the home stretch.

  Now that I think about it, I might just be able to pull this off, she told herself. I just have to do this right.

  As soon as breakfast was over, Raven and Elaise went back to their dorm. Raven brushed her teeth whilst doing a bit more revision and she packed her bag, hoping she was ready. If she wasn't, then she knew how horrible she would feel.

  When the bell rang, the two girls went their separate ways to their Homerooms. The students were freaking out and Raven felt it shaking her own nerves again. If even the best students were worried then what did that mean for her?

  She shook her head roughly. Get it in gear, Raven! she growled to herself. If you panic you're bound to fail! Elaise was right; we've studied as hard as we could to prepare ourselves for this and if it's not enough then at least we tried. We're not going to be the best students in a couple of months so cool your jets.

  "Good luck today, everyone," the Homeroom teacher smiled. "Give it your best and have fun."

  Have fun? Raven thought as the bell rang and she made her way to English. How could anyone have fun on a day of endless exams? This school really was weird.

  Her heart skipped a beat when she walked into English and saw Jason sitting at his desk with a couple of other kids taking their seats around him. The blonde turned her gaze away when his head perked up as if he noticed her. She felt his eyes trained on her as she took her seat and looked down at her desk, tracing her finger over a groove in the table. She wanted to know what was on the green-eyed boy's mind but she didn't think she was brave enough just yet. After what Der told her, maybe it was good to put some distance between them for a bit. Though she knew she would have to talk to him in her last class when they worked together to make the dish the teacher assigned for them.

  The teacher walked in with his arms full of paper and he smiled at the students. "Good morning, everyone. I hope you're all ready to begin your testing. Remember, no cheating, and no cheat sheets. You all should have studied enough and now you have to prove how much you know."

  He began handing out the test sheets and when the booklet was put in front of Raven, she looked at the first question and felt her gut twist in many more ways than one. She didn't want to do this!

  The teacher finished handing out booklets and Raven took a pen from her bag, her hand quivering as she stared at the first set of questions. She told herself she would have been happier dealing with Math!

  "You can start," came the last three words before the room was thrown into silence. The small sound of pens scraping on paper was the only sound as everyone began their tests. Raven
took a few quick breaths before tackling her exam and could only pray that she was doing the right thing.

  The last part of the exam was to write a short story and the blonde struggled. She was relieved when time was up and the tests were collected. The students received a five minute break before the bell rang and they had to move on to their next class. Raven saw Jason leave the room and she wondered what kind of test he would have to do in his Martial Arts class. Would he have to beat his teacher? She shrugged it off and focused on her History class. She did her best to remember everything she had studied with Der and she made her way to her classroom. Der gave her a boost of encouragement with his cheesy grin and the test went smoother than expected; Raven found that her History test was a lot easier than English had been.

  She regretted thinking she would have preferred Math when she finally got to it. Again she avoided Jason's gaze but she couldn't help but play with her new bracelet as the class started the tests. Raven's head spun as she tried to remember trigonometry, the Pythagoras theorem, mapping and much more. The equations were almost too difficult and she couldn't remember doing some of them in every day class. Was Mr. McDowell just being rude and trying to trick them into getting bad grades? Raven didn't doubt it considering how rude the older man was to everyone. She hadn't liked him from the start after he caught her and Jason in the pool on her second night.