The Raven

This sucks.

Part 2: The Raven

"Good shit Ray." Ray Mond beamed at the rare compliment. She hadn't known him for long but she knew that Jaylen wasn't the type to throw out meaningless praise unless he really meant it. Ray was thrilled to know that she'd done something right.

"Alright guys it's time for me to go home. Lamp you can give me my cut later." The short teen announced as he stood up with a stretch.

"What, your mommy's going to ground you if you get back late? Did you miss din-din?" Jaylen mocked. Ray couldn't help but to give a small smile at the Street Team members banter.

"My mum can't cook for shit but yes, I need to go home and shower and then I have an assignment due." Bleach said nonchalantly as he threw his sweaty military print hat at Jaylen. The trio waved goodbye as the kid left the cold cubby through the small gate. Ray wanted to ask if they should check to see if he'd make it home but Jaylen had reassured her that the boy would be fine despite the late hour.

Jaylen's dismissal of her worries and Bleach's comment left her thoughtful. It was a bit of a shock to see how someone so young felt so comfortable on the streets that most adults wouldn't walk at night.

Other than the boy's questionable hygiene it wasn't easy to see that Bleach was just a teenager in high school. At his young age he was already deep into the gang life. Rae figured that he must have started out even younger because he had somehow made his mark as one of the leaders of Street team and he was their best hacker. A part of her felt bad that he felt the needed to resort to a life of crime but the more curious part of her was intrigued by the smelly boy's progression.

Thanks to Jaylen, Ray was informed about how she was closer in age to lil bleach than she was to most members of CG.

Ray briefly wondered if she'd ever met the boy's mother. During their trip the young hacker had been rambling on and on about how his parents had decided to stay over at his place and had shared how he'd been thrilled to see that neither his parents had been on the phone. Ray didn't even know he had a family. She had thought that it was weird that his parents didn't even live with him but she didn't want to pry and ask him questions in case he got offended.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and helped the three to sort out their money. "You're a natural at this." Novah said softly after a few moments of silence. "We need to work on how you move the stash but I'm impressed with how well you handle theramite." Jaylen added as he used his mask to wipe off the sweat from his forehead.

Another new development. Ray didn't want to stare and make them uncomfortable but she knew that it was a huge deal for Novah and Jaylen to have their mask off around someone who wasn't in their close circle.

They had only hung out for three days but they'd seemingly deemed her trustworthy enough to take off the masks around her. The Raven felt a wave of relief at the change. Mealtimes were considerably less awkward now that Novah felt comfortable enough to eat freely. Before, the woman couldn't help but stare whenever Novah attempted to take a clean bite without making a mess or showing her face. She allowed herself to smile as she basked in the compliment and the fact that she was finally considered to be a part of their very small circle.

"Next you need to learn how to hack. The gang only has two hackers, three if you count Lil Bleach, and even then he can't do it all like Randy and Ramee." The teen had offered to teach Ray how to hack and was grateful for the offer.

Asking Randy to teach her had always been a pain because he was always so busy. While the Enforcer may have been a decent teacher when it came to driving but when it came to hacking... his explanations were downright awful. It was difficult to follow along with his words with all the Godzilla references and the slang. Bleach sounded like he could've been from the UK as well but at least it would be easier to tell him to slow down.