The next year Raven and Justin both walked into Ather High together. They were both terrified of being in another new school, but at least they were there together. They had different breaks, but the same lunch and algebra class. They did have little makeout sessions every now and then, but Raven met a new dude from her health class. His name was Riley. Raven seemed to like him and he seemed to like her. They started dating, but only saw each other in their health class. Riley and Justin had the same break. Justin never liked him, since Raven wasn’t allowed to be alone with Justin or go to his house. Riley thought she’d cheat. Justin hated it and always wished he could punch RIley. He never did. Then he saw Riley with a different girl at break. He saw them kissing and Riley’s hands were roaming. So Justin took a few pictures an at lunch he showed Raven. She had health after lunch, so Raven said she wanted to see him after school.
Justin went with her to make sure Riley didn’t try anything. Raven brought it up and he instantly started denying it. Justin pulled out the picture and when Riley pulled back his arm to swing at Justin, Raven stepped in front of him. “Out of the way, whore!”, Riley slapped Raven and shoved her out of the way. Justin instantly decked Riley in the jaw and pushed him backwards. Riley was shoved into a rock wall, but got back up, “You’re weak.” “Says the one that’s against a wall.”, Justin walked towards him. “If you wanna be tough, meet me on the top of Mickey’s. There’s a ladder on the back wall. Don’t bring anyone else.” Justin nodded, “Get there at 6. Just us.”
He helped Raven up and carried her to the nurse to get a bandaid. She asked what him and Riley were saying and he told her not to worry about it. She asked him for a bit, before giving up. When Justin arrived home, he set aside old clothes, a beanie, and gloves for the fight he was to be involved in later.
At 5:30 he started walking to Mickey’s. Mickey’s was a very popular bar. It was 5 stories tall and if you wanted to rent it out, you’d have to rent out a whole story and a single hour would cost you 100 dollars. When Justin got there, he headed to the back of the building and started climbing up. When he reached the top, he noticed that Riley wasn’t even there yet.
Soon enough Riley arrived at 7:30. “Someone’s late.”, Justin was standing up. “Had to wait, until I could sneak out. Let’s get this over with yeah? I gotta go deal with another idiot.” “Sneak out? Someone's gonna get in trouble.”, Justin mocked him, “But as you wish.” Riley shrugged and put up his fists. Justin did the same. RIley threw the first punch and was dodging all of Justin’s punches. Soon enough, Justin was knocked backwards and was on the ground and He saw riley pull a six inch blade out of his belt. Justin picked up a rock next to himself and threw it at Riley’s face.
He was better at dodging fists than he was at dodging rocks. The rock hit him square in the jaw and he stumbled backwards, dropping the knife. Justin launched forward and picked it up, using his hoodie sleeve. Riley saw and stopped holding his bleeding mouth. He grabbed Justin and started pulling him towards the edge of the building. Riley pulled Justin off the ground and Justin knew what he was trying to do. A fall from this height would either kill you on impact or break every bone in your body. Justin panicked and managed to dive under Riley’s legs before turning around, stabbing the blade into the side of his torso, cutting upwards, and throwing him off the building.
“Crap. Crap. Crap. What did I just do?”, Justin threw the knife off the building and took his hoodie off. It was covered in blood. He was completely covered in blood. He looked over the edge of the building and saw Riley’s body. It looked small from this high up, but soon enough someone would notice. He took his hoodie and started climbing down the building. His tears washing the blood off of his face. If he had gone home, his parents would’ve seen him and he’d be turned in. Luckily for him, Raven’s father had the night shift and most of Raven’s clothes were oversized and baggy on her. He ran to her house, which took an hour, since he had to hide from people.
When he got there he knocked on her door and when she opened it her jaw dropped, “What’d you do?” “Ri-Riley.”, Justin said in between crying. “What the hell happened?”, She walked into the front yard and looked at his whole body. “I’m standing outside my best friend’s house covered in blood. Holy crap. I’m going to jail forever and I’m gonna be shanked and die.”, Justin was hyperventilating. “Okay! Okay! You’re not going to jail, but we do have to clean you off…”, She paused. “Go into the backyard, take off your clothes, and put them on the fire pit.”
Justin did as he was told and then was sprayed with a hose, unexpectedly. Raven had taken his phone before hand and texted his mom asking if he could stay the night at her house. She had said yes, but knew nothing about why her son couldn’t come home. After he was sprayed down and naked in his friend’s backyard, he went inside to shower. When he came back outside he was in raven’s clothes and she had a lighter. She covered the clothes in lighter fluid and lit them on fire. They both sat there and watched and Justin explained what had happened. Raven helped calm him down. After all, it was either Justin or Riley and she prefered this outcome over the other option. They kissed again for the first time in months and in a way it made Justin feel safer. They slept in the same bed and got up, before Raven’s dad got home from work.
They went to Justin’s house to get his bag and change and they started on their walk to school. Raven started talking about her mother. She was going to be picked up by her that day and stay with her for a few days. She had been released from rehab, but Raven was scared. She didn’t want to be hit again, but luckily she wasn’t. Justin had nightmares for months and got into his first official relationship. Him and Raven had finally gotten together, but their relationship was mostly kissing. No romantic gestures.
Raven’s life had changed and Justin’s had changed way more. The way Riley was fighting wasn’t how normal people fight. Normal people don’t bring knives to fist fights. When the news report was released the public found out about a gang member in the ninth grade. They assumed he was killed in a gang related incident and Justin knew that he’d be dead if they found out the truth, so he started exercising and getting stronger. He even included willow in his running exercises.
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Tenth grade was nothing special for Justin and Raven. Raven had brought Justin to her mom’s house and they got along and she gave Justin life lesson talks and he was never caught for what happened to RIley. Raven wanted more romance. Justin didn’t. They went back to being friends who just kissed every now and then.
About halfway through tenth grade Justin and Raven were at her mom’s house and headed out to the store to get snacks. They were going to spend the night there and they wanted popcorn and such. They left and came back an hour later and set their bags on the counter. Raven called out for her mom a few times, but her mom never responded. Raven went to look for her, while Justin got their stuff situated. Raven screamed and Justin ran over. Her mother was on the floor of the bathroom surrounded by needles and empty bags. Her chest was still and her face was pale.
Justin called for medical services and Raven’s dad. They both got there at the same time and all three of them went to the hospital. About two weeks later they all stood at the funeral and said their goodbyes. Raven stayed with her father all the time now and Justin was there very often to help Raven mourn.
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