Her breakthrough

Meeting her

Raven couldn't take his eyes off his seat mate.

She was so beautiful.

She had bright emerald eyes which shone so bright whenever she smiled. Even though she rarely smiled, her dimples always stood out when she did.

He realized she only laughs in the library while she reads. Once she's out of the library, she always kept her head down.

Although to him there was no use doing that because her beautiful messy curly bun always stood out.

Her hair was black but it was always shining like she put glitters in her hair.

He had noticed her since he stepped into the class but she always seemed to be in another world.

He was popular in his former school so he read part of her behavior. He knew from the way other people treated her here, she was an outcast.

He wondered why because if she was in his former school, she would be a queen bee. But then not everyone recognizes beauty…

He was glad he found her hiding place by accident three days earlier when he first arrived and was doing his registration.

He was avoiding talking to people. Fake conversations really annoyed him.

It was time for lunch and Anastasia quickly stood up, like she had an emergency. Raven stood in front of her like a flash which made Anastasia stumble back a little.

"Oh I'm sorry for startling you. I wanted to ask if we could have lunch together."

On one side of Raven's mind he knew Anastasia would decline and go to the library. On the other hand, he wanted to find out why she didn't have lunch in school and hopefully help her out in any way.

Anastasia looked surprised at his offer and wanted to turn him down. But she quickly decided the earlier he saw her being bullied, the earlier he would stay away from her.

"Sure , no problem," she told him and quickly added in one breath, "I'm not sure you'll want to go have lunch with me though, why? You would ask, don't worry, you'll know soon."

Raven nodded, smiling mentally preparing himself. After all , it couldn't be worse than what happened at his former school which made him transfer here.

They got to the cafeteria, got their food and Anastasia sat at her usual spot.

She was really nervous and embarrassed in advance.

After a minute, she decided to eat her food so she'll have some energy to stomach the future embarrassment.

She began to imagine how Raven would avoid her after Marina comes. She was lost in her imagination that she didn't hear Raven talking to her.

She felt a small tap on her hand and she immediately jumped. She looked up immediately thinking it was Marina but saw only Raven.

"Yes.., I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What were you saying?."

'Why did she look so scared? What's going on?' Raven asked himself.

"Oh I was only asking if you liked the potatoes. You've been picking on it." Raven said as he pointed the fork he was holding towards her plate.

Anastasia immediately looked at her plate, just comprehending what she had been doing.

She smiled at Raven and began to properly eat her food.

Surprisingly, they finished their food but there was no sign of Marina or her friends.

Anastasia wondered if they were close by and were keeping an eye on her instead. Waiting for the right moment to attack her, probably when she felt too relaxed.

"So what do you do after school," Raven asked, trying to alleviate the invisible tension.

"Uhmm.. I work at a restaurant."

"Oh that's nice. Where is the restaurant? Maybe I can drop by after school one day."

Anastasia wasn't sure of anything but she knew she didn't want anyone from her school coming to her workplace.

She especially didn't want Raven there paraventure, they fell out in the nearest future.

"Uhm , I'm sorry but I don't really want to disclose that."

"Oh that's fine. I'm sorry if I was prying too much."

"Oh that's fine, it's just personal issues." 'Which you might find out soon,' she added in her mind.

Raven tapped the table not sure of what to say next. After a few seconds of thinking, he asked, "Do you like reading?"

"It depends on what you meant by reading," Anastasia answered, letting out a short giggle before adding, "I mean there are novels, documentaries, newspapers. And there are also study books and textbooks like calculus. So if you're talking about novels, then yes I like reading. Do I like reading though? Not really. That's more of a survival thing."

'Her voice is so beautiful. She really should talk more.' Raven thought to himself.

"I completely agree. In this world I think only about two percent actually enjoy studying and dare I say even those two would be in our older generation..."

"And I hope that's not an excuse for you not to pass any of your subjects Mr Raven." Miss Donna suddenly chipped in.

Raven and Anastasia immediately looked up as Miss Donna reached their table.

"And Miss Anastasia, I hope you won't reduce your reading in order to please him."

They both grabbed on to the fact that Miss Donna was teasing them and they laughed.

"Of course not Miss Donna. Instead I would increase my reading capacity."

"And I would definitely pass all my subjects, most importantly biology," Raven added.

"Oh but you shouldn't only pass biology, you should endeavor to pass all subjects . After all, you can't get accepted into college with only biology."

"That's true Miss Donna. I would ensure to have high grades Miss Donna." Raven told her, smiling.

"Oh and I also." Anastasia added.

"I'll leave you two to enjoy the rest of your lunch break."

Miss Donna walked away leaving the atmosphere lighter for them.

"So what do you do in your spare time?" Anastasia asked out of the blue.

Raven , caught off guard, wasn't sure if to tell her. He had flashes from that day before blinking profusely to clear his mind.

"Uhm , I'm not sure you really want to know that."

"Oh I do want to know. Don't worry, you can tell me , I don't judge." Anastasia pushed.

"I race."

"Race? Like car racing?"

"Close. Bike racing."

Anastasia's eyes widened and her mouth opened wide on its own. "That's really really dangerous. How do you do it?"

"You're not disappointed?" Raven asked curious. He knew most girls would like him being a bike racer but Anastasia didn't seem like the type of girl to like such.

Anastasia let out a short beautiful laugh asking, "Please tell me why I should be disappointed."

"Well you just didn't seem like the type of person who would like bike racers."

"Oh you mean I should start to protect my heart hm,"Anastasia teased.

"Well even though I race fast, I'm actually really careful with a lady's heart. I protect it like an egg."

"Oh that's nice. You seem to have protected a lot of eggs."

"Oh no, except I would count my sister and mom, not really."

At the mention of 'mom' , Anastasia's smile immediately faded. Raven noticed her smile reduced but didn't know or understand why.

"You must be really close to your mom." Anastasia said as she smiled sadly.

"Yeah.. we're quite close." Raven told her slowly, not sure if he should be talking about his mother. He just felt it deep down she wasn't happy about it and he decided to talk about something else.

Just as he was about to ask her to take a stroll with him, the bell signifying the end of lunch break rang.

"Well it seems class is calling once again." Raven jokes.

Anastasia laughed, nodding.

They both walked back to class together. After their last class ended, Raven moved his chair to Anastasia, sitting on it in the opposite way and resting his hands on the back rest.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow." Raven said with a smile so bright reaching his eyes.

"Yeah sure." Anastasia felt so shy but extremely glad.

There was finally someone who wanted to see her the next day in school. She was finally having a friend!. She bid him farewell and went to work . She hummed all through her working period making her colleague ask her if she had gotten a boyfriend due to her happy mood.

On her way home she kept thinking about Raven as she walked. She suddenly stopped in her tracks as a thought came to mind.

’What if Raven was sent by Marina? What if it was a cruel prank they were pulling on her? What if they just wanted her to feel how it was to have a friend before snatching the happiness away from her?." She shaked the thoughts from her head wanting to stay positive.

She kept walking but stopped again after a few steps.

"But why didn't they come to bully me today at lunch? I didn't even see them around. It was like they completely avoided the cafeteria. How else would it have been possible if not that they are on it together? I mean it's not like I have that much luck in this world to be that lucky." Anastasia kept muttering to herself.

She resumed walking as she talked to herself till she got home.

She saw her dad wasn't sitting outside and wondered if everything was okay. She quickly went in and met him asleep on the couch hugging himself.

She warmly smiled before she moved to wake him. As she neared him, she saw him shiver a little. Her brows knitted with worry as she felt his head.

His forehead was very cold!

She quickly fixed him a hot cup of tea and added a few drops of honey. She placed it on the table and sat beside him before waking him up gently.

Frederick slowly opened his eyes to see who was waking him and immediately sat up as he saw his daughter.

"Hey pumpkin, you're back." He drew her in for a hug for a couple of seconds before releasing her.

"Yes daddy. I got back a few minutes ago. But before you ask me anything, you need to drink this cup of tea. You're having a cold temperature."

She carries the cup from the table , bringing it closer to him.

"But I want to hear about your day instead." Frederick whined.

"I'll tell you about my day as you drink papa. Deal?"

"Deal." Frederick answered with a wide grin as he accepted the cup of tea.