Raven's POV
Monday
"Rave!" I hear my brother from the other side of my bathroom door.
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna go to work, breakfast is on the table, and don't be late for school." I hear him shut my bedroom door.
I quickly get out of the shower and pat myself dry before wrapping my hair up with the towel. Looking through my walk-in closet, I decided to just go with black skinny jeans, a loose white shirt, and Chuck Taylor sneakers. I let my hair out of the towel, brush it, and let it air dry. I unplug my phone and the charger from the nightstand beside my bed and check the time. 7:00 Am. Class starts in 30 minutes and the drive takes about 10 minutes. I can still make it.
I head out of my room and head towards the kitchen. I'll just eat my breakfast during class since I sit at the back. I take out my red Tupperware and put eggs, bacon, pancakes, and fruits inside before snapping the cover on top and putting it inside my backpack. Grabbing the keys to my '70 Plymouth, I head outside and drive to school.
Making it to Redwood High with 20 minutes left, I get out of my car, lock it, and head towards the school. Walking across the parking lot, some dumbass almost run me over with their motorcycle. It's a nice bike for sure, guessing it's a Yamaha R1.
"Watch where you're driving, ass wipe!" I took out my phone and continue walking to the building. Once inside the building, I go straight to my locker and take out my books for History 12, along with the notebook I bought just for it. I always make sure I have 2 notebooks – I have 2 more back-ups at home just in case the 2 main ones go missing – for each subject, one for school, and one for me to take home. Also because I know that someone in our class might need to borrow my notes.
"Hey Raven." a voice behind the locker gives me a scare, I end up shutting my locker way too loud that the halls went silent.
"Nothing to see here, guys." I smile at everyone passing by and turn to see the one and only Jackson Sinclair. "Maybe next time, just tap my shoulder or something?" he laughs at what I said and I stare at him like there's something wrong with him.
"Ass wipe? Really?" he smirks down at me and I see the motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.
"Excuse me, you almost ran me over." glaring even harder now.
"I swear I didn't see you." Jackson holds his hands up trying to look innocent. "You came out from the side of the car and I couldn't stop. I'm sorry, little bird."
"What?" Did he just…? I smile at the nickname my family gave me.
"I said I'm sorry for almost running you over with my bike. You're just really tiny and it's pretty hard to miss." I want to slap that cute smirk – I meant ugly smirk…soooo not cute at all – off his face.
"You called me little bird…"
"I'm so sorry, Raven. It just came out. I wasn't think-" I laugh at his reaction and his tense body relaxes.
"It's fine." I pat his abdomen, "Let's get to class before the bell rings." walking away knowing full well that Jackson's right behind me.
"So…you're not mad that I called you by a name that only family can call you?"
"Nope." popping the 'p' at the end. "The only people I allow to call me little bird are my parents, Sean, my best friend, and her brother, and now…you." I look up at him before opening the back door of our history class.
Jackson and I sit next to each other near the window and wait for class to start. Other students start coming in and take a seat right when the bell rings. Our history teacher comes in and we start the lesson. I took as many notes as I can because I know that Jackson is going to ask if he can borrow them after school. If you're wondering what the school prince is doing, 1. He keeps staring at me or maybe he's staring out the window. 2. Fooling around with this dude that's sitting on his right side. And last, eating my breakfast I packed. He got hungry so I told him to have some of the breakfast I packed in my backpack. The rest of our morning classes went by smoothly and Jackson decided to pay attention (it was just during P.E.).
Jackson and I are on our way to get lunch off campus just a few minutes away from school. He said that his best friend Atlas was going to be the one to take us out since he brought his bike and he didn't want me driving because he said and I quote, "you're just going to waste gas". Just when we reach the outside of our campus a black Ram 2500 pulls up and the passenger's window slides down.
"Hey. Let's go?" I'm too short to see whose talking.
"Yea, I invited Raven."
"Aight. The more the merrier, right Jackie boy?" from the tone in his voice, I can tell he's smirking at Jackson.
"Unlock the door already, Atlas." Jackson retorted back. "I'm getting hungry and so is Raven." I hear the car door unlock and look up at Jackson.
"Do you mind helping me up?" He nods his head and chuckles. After Jackson opens the door, he hoists me up so I can get in. "Thank you," I tell him once he gets into the passenger seat.
I turn to look at who this Atlas dude is and he was the guy that Jackson kept messing around with during our morning classes. Now getting a closer look at him, he's pretty good-looking but not as much as Jackso- NOPE! RAVEN, NO! Remember, JUST FRIENDS.
Atlas has ear-length wavy black hair, round hazel green eyes, thick curved eyebrows, a chiseled jaw with little stubble outlining it, pink thin lips, and a long defined nose.
"So, you must be the infamous Raven?" I look at him through the rearview mirror.
"Uh, yea." I give him a small tight-lipped smile. "And you're…Atlas?"
"The one and only, gorgeous." he gives me a wink just before Jackson ends up slapping him behind the head, making Atlas laugh.
After a 5 minute drive, we park right in front of Redwood Hills Diner and get out, more like hop out for me. Once inside, Atlas and Jackson race straight for the corner booth on the right side of the diner. I make my way over and slide in next to Jackson. A waiter comes by to take our order – 5 burgers, a bowl of fries, a milkshake, and 2 sodas.
"So Raven," I look at Atlas, "tell me a little bit about yourself."
"Well, what do you wanna know?" I clasp my hands together and rest my chin on it.
"Hmmm," Atlas scratches his non-existent beard and Jackson rolls his eyes. "Let's start with the basics. How old are you?" he says giving me a toothy grin. I feel like I'm at an interview.
"I'm 17. How 'bout you?"
"Just turned 18 during the summer before senior year. Are you single?" Atlas turns to look at Jackson with a smirk and Jackson looks like he's about to shit his pants. Weird.
"I've never had a boyfriend…" Jackson's body relaxes and Atlas' face looks surprised. "I've only had crushes and flings…and every single one ended up with me getting my heartbroken." A small frown replaces Atlas' surprised look, while Jackson looks like he's ready to beat someone up.
Jackson was about to say something when the waiter came and gave us our food. We eat in silence and Atlas stands up to pay for the food while Jackson and I clean the table and put the plates together so it'll be a quick clean-up for the waiter.
The car is silent on the way back. When we reach the school, the three of us make our way to our afternoon classes. During the free period, Jackson, Atlas, and I went to the English room and sat at our table at the back. I gave my notebooks to the two boys so they could copy them.
"So…Raven," I hum to Jackson in response, he was still writing my notes in his notebook, "about the topic we had earlier at the diner…" Jackson and Atlas stop writing and look at me.
"Yea? What about it?" I furrow my brows in confusion.
"Would you still…after those heartbreaks…would you…" Atlas decides to cut in, "would you ever date someone again? Like for example, would you date Sin?"
My eyes widen a little bit, surprised at the question. I clear my throat, "um…dating? Well, for now…I don't think I'm ready for that." they both nod slowly at my response. "I'm still giving some time for myself and at the same time I'm just waiting for the universe to give me my Mr. Right." Jackson and Atlas look at each other and smile.
"Uhhh, guys…? You good?" they snap their heads towards me and just nod with an innocent smile.
They both go back to copying my notes until the bell rings and we all get ready to go home. Jackson said he would walk me to my car – as a way of saying sorry for almost hitting me with his motorcycle this morning – while Atlas waited for him in the gym since they had basketball practice today. I said my thanks to Jackson and told him to also give my thanks to Atlas. We talked for a couple of minutes – telling him how I enjoyed hanging out with him and Atlas – before Atlas started spamming him with text messages.
"Oh, before I forget," I opened the driver's side to my car and threw my backpack onto the passenger seat before turning to look at Jackson.
"Yea, what's up?"
"I was wondering if I could get your number…?" It's pretty cute seeing a 6'0 dude get all nervous over a phone number.
"Sure. Let's switch phones." we both exchange phone numbers before giving back our phones to each other. I look at the name he gave himself in his contact info, "Raven's Sin."
"Really?" I shake my head while letting out a little laugh.
"What?" Jackson says while smirking at me.
"Raven's Sin?"
"Well, I am yours."
I tilt my head confused at what he said. "What?"
"Like, I am your friend." The smirk on his face was now replaced with a smile that little kids give you when they try to look innocent.
"Uh-huh," now it was my turn to smirk at him.
"Anyways," Jackson rolls his eyes and looks back down at me, "do you like my little name for you?" He shows me my contact name and it says, "Jackson's Little Bird". "I had to change it since the one you gave yourself was too boring."
What'd he expect? Raven is my name.
We both laugh at the nicknames we have for each other but it was cut short when Atlas called Jackson telling him that their coach was getting impatient. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The whole drive home, I had a huge smile on my face and my cheeks were still blushing from thinking a lot about what just happened between Jackson and me in the parking lot. I park my car in the driveway next to the car – Black Fortuner G 2012 – which my brother uses when he's at work.
"Sean?" I call out to my brother once I was inside and locked the door.
"Kitchen, little bird!" as I got closer, I could hear people talking and laughing. Once I turned the corner I was immediately attacked with a hug.
"Unicorn shit biscuits!"
"RAVEN!!"
"Unicorn shit biscuits? Really?" Scarlett lets me out of her bear hug and was now leaning against the kitchen island laughing her ass off.
"You came out of nowhere and attacked me, Scar" my hand was still over my chest, trying to calm it down. Sean and Ronan were now laughing with Scarlett.
"Ok, that's enough. Hardy har har. So funny." I cross my arms over my chest and playfully roll my eyes at the three of them.
"Man, I should've recorded that," Ronan says after calming down. The three finally come down from their laughing high and I make my way over to the kitchen island and sit on top of the counter.
"It's so good to see you guys." Scarlett sits right next to me and puts her arm over my shoulders.
"We missed you guys." Ronan looks at me and gives me a sweet smile.
"When'd you guys get here?"
"Right after Sean and Ronan finished work around 4:30, they came to get me from school, and then we came straight here," Scarlett says while swinging her legs like a little kid.
"Ohhh, so that's why your work car was here." I look at Sean and he gives me a toothy grin while nodding his head.
"We also have some news to tell you." Scarlett hops off the counter and stands in front of me with a wide grin.
"Ok?" I look at the three people now in front of me. "Y'all not gonna kill me right?"
Scarlett rolls her eyes at me while the two boys chuckle. "No Raven, we were thinking of turning you into a Unicorn's shit biscuit."
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, "ha ha ha very funny. Change the subject, what were you guys gonna tell me?"
"Well… you see…" Scarlett started doing that finger fumbling thing she did when she was trying to contain her excitement.
"Well, what?" Scarlett looks over at her brother and then at mine. "OH MY- for the love of Jollibee, TUBAGA!" (answer)
Ronan answers knowing when I start speaking in Cebuano, it means I'm getting impatient. "Scarlett is –"
"I'M START SCHOOL TOMORROW AT REDWOOD HIGH!" Scarlett squeals, interrupting her brother.
"Really Scar?" Ronan rolls his eyes but smiles down at his little sister.
"You were taking too long" Scarlett retorts giving him that annoying little sister attitude.
"You were taking too long," Ronan says mimicking Scarlett in a high-pitched voice.
For the rest of the night, the four of us talked and caught up with what was going on with our lives. Around 10 pm, Scarlett and Ronan had to go home so that they can wake up early and move into their new house which was a few minutes away from mine. After they left, Sean and I cleaned up the kitchen and went into our rooms after hugging each other and saying good night. I went into my connected bathroom did my business, brushed my teeth, then washed my face. When I was done, I turned off the bathroom light, closed the door, headed into my walk-in closet, and put on my pyjamas – an oversized plain black shirt and some seamless nude underwear. I plugged my charger and phone into the outlet that was behind my nightstand and slide into bed. Staring up at the ceiling, my phone pinged signaling I received a message.
Raven's Sin sent a text message.
I opened the message and read it, "Hey. You asleep?"
Me: nope
Me: not yet
Me: what's up?
Raven's Sin: just checking up on you…
Me: oh, I'm doing ok.
Me: was that all you were gonna do?
Raven's Sin: I just wanted to say that I also had a great time hanging out with you…
Me: I had a great time too
Raven's Sin: I was wondering…
…
Raven's Sin: if we could hang out this weekend.
Me: sure. I'd be happy to
Raven's Sin: awesome. I'll let you go now so you can get some sleep.
Raven's Sin: I'll see you tmrw little bird
Me: see you tmrw, my Sin
I turn off my phone, put it back on the nightstand, and went to sleep with Jackson on my mind. I know I shouldn't feel like this because he's just a friend, no matter how many times I tell myself that…what is happening to me…
His little bird. My Sin.