Into The Vale of Shadows // Max Mayfield

xviii. just as long as you stand by me

chapter eighteen
just as long as you stand by me

     A WEEK HAS passed and it's already that time. The Snow Ball. Raven now sat in front of a mirror inside her parent's room, sitting irritated as her mother puffed her hair with Farrah Fawcett, brushing both sides of her hair and letting her bangs curl sideways over her forehead, Robin stood in the corner, watching between the two and chuckling as she watched the scene before her.

     "Mom, that's too much hair spray!" Raven complained, covering her head with her arms to protect it from the hair spray. "This feels unhealthy!"

     "Stop . . . moving." Her mother pushed her arms away, spraying more amount than recommended. "A little more and we're done."

     "Mom, you're close to finishing the whole can!"

     "No, mom, add more!" Robin suggested.

     "No, don't listen to her!"

     "Okay, okay!" Her mother chuckled, brushing Raven's shoulders for nonexistent dust. "Now go check yourself out in the mirror and tell me what you think."

     Raven stood from where she was seated, standing before a full body mirror. She looked neater that how she'd usually look, wearing her mother's old fancy looking clothes, consisting of a cream color bootcut trousers, white polo that rested fancily under her sweater vest, and a brown blazer coat above all of them, she looked like a person fresh from the 70s.

    
     You look sharp. Her hand moved by itself, tugging on the hems of her coat.

     "You ready to go?" her father's head poked by the door, car keys in hand as she looked at her daughter from afar.

     "I think so, yeah." Raven smiled nervously.

     "Great." Her father tossed the keys to Robin's direction, the teen was quick to catch it, giving her father a questioning look. "You guys should go now, you're running a bit late."

     "What?"

     "I'm letting you drive your sister to school like you wanted. Now get going before I change my mind."

    Robin smiled and ran to Raven, taking her hand to pull her out.

     The drive was filled with a one sided conversation, Robin's voice came muffled to Raven's ears, nervousness taking over her body that her knees started bouncing up and down, anxiously rubbing her lap up and down, heart beating to her ribs, threatening to fall out. The closer they got to the school, the more nervous she got.

     "Hey?" The car came to a halt just by the ball entrance, Raven facing Robin who've been trying to talk to her the whole time, now looking at her with face full of concern and comfort. "It's alright, there's nothing to be nervous about . . . it's just some stupid ball."

     Raven chuckled, "Wha? Me? Nervous? Ye—yeah right, I—I—I'm not nervous." She let her hand run through the side of her hair, dusting off her coat and trying to straighten it. "It's ju—ju—just a stupid b—b—ball."

     A lie.

     "Oh no," Robin mumbled.

     "Wha—what?"