The take-back of Ravenshire Prep {UNDER REVISION}

chapter 1

Drop.
Plop.
Shake.
Wave.
Cascade.
Smooth.
The water is like a liquid mirror, reflecting its surroundings. I look down at the water. I wave my left hand. Mirror me waves her right. I dip my fingers in the cool water and paint a painting of ripples. A dot there. A line there. A triangle zigzag style there. I paint and paint and paint until my hands belong in the prune aisle. I have painted a beautiful picture that no one but mother nature will ever see. It is perfect in every way possible until I skip my stone, dotting a new canvas. I push back my raven hair(dyed an orange-crimson at the tips) and absorb the quiet. Some quiet is awkward. Like farting in a crowded elevator or swearing in front of your little brother AND mom. But this...I just let myself disappear into the feeling of calm. I hear my small dog trot up to me. I smiled as I turned to see him sit by my side. We got Ollie when we first moved here when it was too late to join school-the first semester had just started so for some dumb reason I needed to wait two weeks before I could go to school. I was bored out of my mind and started begging for a dog. I missed Lucky, that old lady's pomeranian I got to babysit when she was traveling. So I found myself a dog-actually, he found me. I was outside looking at the lake wishing we bought some bugspray because Wisconsin was so fricking buggy at night. I was about to go in when I heard a scuffling sound coming out of the entrance of the wood behind our house. What I thought was a bear cub or a giant squirrel turned out to be a muddy dog. And the rest is history.

I checked the time. "Shoot, I have to go. Sorry Ol. Love you buddy." I kissed him on his scruffy head and he trotted off, his tiny jack russell feet doing a sort of a jog. I got up from the old dock and slid my adidas back on. Ben had insisted we go school shopping today, even though we had plenty of time. Something seemed off... and I was curious to find out what it was. "You're late." I looked at the microwave clock. "Only by-what, two minutes?" My stepfather frowned. "You need to be on time. Come on." I got in his Ford and buckled in the backseat. Even though I was tall enough to sit in the front, he still made me sit in the back. He only listened to smooth jazz on the radio, which was borderline elevator music. No rhythm. I'd rather listen to Alessia Cara or Musical soundtracks. I was tempted to put my own earbuds in but I would still hear the horrible music over the sweet sounds of Avery Lynch.

You have reached your destination, the smarmy-voiced gps sounded. I unbuckled my seatbelt while mocking the voice in my head. Nobody cares. I grabbed a basket and looked at all of the people looking at us. It's not a small town. Just small minded people. Ripped jeans. Freshly ironed trousers. Adidas slides. Penny loafers. Killstar crop top. Pressed button up shirt. Long hooded jean jacket with Rolling Stones patch back. Dry-clean only jacket. Gothic choker. Plain tie. Dove Deodorant. Cheap Costco brand that still didn't cover the sharp smell of cigarettes. Filipino. American. Those were our differences, our only thing in common was that we were around the same height(I was average height for a 9th grader) So I guess from the back, we looked alike. But that isn't counting the color of our skin, my dark tanned skin against his white as white could be.

I looked over all the red and white decorations that were the hallmarks of Target and found the office supply section."We'll need your supply list." I pulled a creased printed list out of my pocket and handed it to him as I scanned the eco- friendly notebook covers. Birds. Forests. Cats in space. The possibilities were endless. I picked out a hummingbird notebook because Ollie was fascinated by them. He loved the way they fluttered their rainbow wings and greeted us by the honeysuckle. As I shuffled through the selection I found one that was a silhouette of a dog in a field. I smiled. Must be a sign or something. I dropped in in my basket with a 3 ring binder, set of store brand #2 pencils, papermate pens, loose leaf paper, pack of highlighters, erasers, you name it. I studied a TXI Multiview calculator wondering why I would need to buy a 20 dollar calculator if I could just use my chromebook when I felt someone staring at me. Sometimes, you can just feel people's eyes boring into your back. I turned to see who exactly was looking at me.

I saw a boy with his sister(must have been twins) and mum who was reading the back of a package of boxers. The boy was my age with amber colored eyes and a smattering of freckles with red hair cut short. The girl stood beside him with the same features but long hair in a cascading ponytail. I wasn't looking at them because they dressed weird or had a birth defect or anything. I was looking at them because they were looking at me. We faced each other like wide-eyed does for a moment. Waiting for the next move. When suddenly the mum pulled the boy away and the sister followed after looking back quickly over her shoulder. Interesting.

Very interesting.