October 10th: Ravensway High.
               Karsten Biggs

Red hair that was a whirl of curls and a million freckles dotted across a too pretty face.
Eyes that were the color of arctic ice, a weird shade that edged on the border of blue and gray.
  Very short and very fine boned.

"Class, this is Opal Avery. She is touring our school today." Superintendent Clary says and the class mutters a couple of hellos.
I don't bother opening my mouth. I don't need a voice to make her glance my way. She's doing that all on her own.
Her arctic eyes are searching mine and I smirk at her before directing my attention back to the Superintendent.
  "Good to see you this morning, Mrs.Clary. I trust you're having a fabulous day?"
  She smiles at me, "Good to see you as well Mr. Biggs. I am indeed having a good day, you as well?"
  I nod and then turn around to face Jay Harling.
Jay was quarterback on the football team and he had quite the gift at hockey too. Definitely the athletic type of guy. Definitely the type of guy that has all types of girls swooning over him. With his blonde hair and dark blue eyes, he was a model of perfection in everyone's eyes, almost everyone's.
Jay and I have been best buds for as long as I can remember but him and I don't see eye to eye on lots of things.
Charlotte Foyd for one.
Jesse Monroe for two.
Treating people with respect for number three and maybe not being a complete jerk to everyone he comes in contact with for number four.
  The superintendent keeps talking but I ignore her, she could talk to Mr.Harrison for as long as she likes, especially if it means he doesn't have the time to give us calculus homework.
  "What is it?" Jay asks and I blink.
"Huh?"
"You're staring, I assume it's because you need something and if you don't need anything than may I suggest you turning around and leaving me alone?" He doesn't lift his head to look at me, he's still trying to solve some dumb calculus problem.
"Just wondering if you know the new girl." Because if anyone knew her, it would be Jay.
He looks up then, a small smile creeping onto his face as he glances in their direction.
"I don't, she's not my type." But he's staring at her like a nine year on Christmas who has just gotten the puppy of their dreams.
I roll my eyes, "I didn't realize you had a type." Because Jay doesnt have a type. It doesn't matter if you're blonde or brunette, short or tall, single or taken.
  Yeah, that last one hits everyone hard.
"I've always had a type, Kars, and don't embarrass me by saying that type of stuff again." He glares at me and I have the audacity to smile.
  To smile at Jay when he's angry.Something that is unheard of at Ravensway High.
Good thing Jay and I are pals.
Good thing our mothers were best friends all through out high school and into adulthood.
Good thing Jays dad puts up with my dad and good thing that I have enough self control to not give Jay a piece of my mind when he does something stupid. Otherwise this friendship wouldn't be a friendship.
"Say what's on your mind Kars or turn around, you're distracting me."
"I think the red head is doing that." I retort.
It's Jays turn to roll his eyes and that's exactly what he does.
"Mr.Biggs would you like to share what you and Mr. Harling are discussing?"Mr.Harrison asks and I know he doesn't really expect me to answer which is exactly why I do.
  "We were discussing our ability to get distracted by anyone and anything that interrupts our calculus class."
Jay smirks as if this was the truth, I know I'll hear all about it later from him. He's a sucker for complaining.
  "Thank you, Mr.Karsten." Mr.Harrison says.
I glance at the door and the figure retreating out it.
Someone taps my shoulder and I turn around to face Jay again. He hands me a folded piece of paper and then shrugs as he glances back at his homework.

  Keep your eyes in your head,Kars.
       Meet Brendan and I at my house tonight, @5. Don't be late, tell Jay he has to come too.
                                                                   ~Laura.

I glance to the corner in the left to see Laura smacking her gum. She doesn't look any less goth than she did yesterday.
Black hair that has random streaks of blue through it, black eyeliner and dark lipstick on a way too pale face. A nose ring and ears with nine piercings each, her long black fingernails tap an impatient rhythm on her desktop.
Yeah, Laura was definitely the example of a goth girl if I have seen one.
She catches my eye and lifts a ravens black eyebrow.
I nod my head and turn back around just as Mr.Harrison dismisses the class.
I zip up from my sit and throw my backpack over my shoulder.
"We're meeting at Laura's at five tonight, I don't think she'll appreciate any uninvited guests so I'd watch myself if I were you." I say to Jay.
Knowing Jay he would invite his girlfriend of the day, we would all love her and then, of course, she's gone the next day. Replaced by a new girl.
As the day's go on, Jays girlfriends just get more and more unlikeable which is ironic because Jay gets more and more unlikeable everytime he switches girls up.
Laura falls in love with every single girl Jay brings home, personally, Jesse Monroe was my favorite. Too bad Jay messed it up.

    Laura taps my shoulder and I glance down at her. "I'll give you a ride to my place, Jay can find his own way. I'm not in the mood to ride with idiots."

  I roll my eyes and glance back at Jay,"We will see you later."

He just shrugs in normal Jay fashion, his attention on a girl whose name is Jennifer or Janette or something with an J.

    Laura huffs and grunts as she swings her backpack over her shoulder as we head down the hallway of Ravensway High. She probably drove her beautiful Jeep Compass today, or maybe it would be her Kia Sole. Either way I'm happy to not be driving dads old beat up Camry which smells of cigarettes and beer.

  I'm fairly positive that Laura knows this, which is probably the only reason she wants to give me a ride to her place. I don't really fit in with our friend group, not from the outside anyways. My dad doesn't make six figures a year, he's not some fancy doctor or lawyer. He's not even a school teacher. The fact that he works at an outdated Bar known as Charlis, had definitely hindered kids from befriending me. All kids except Jay and Laura, Jay mainly because our moms had been best friends. Jays mom had stepped in when my mom and sister died, when my dad fell off the deep end and forgot that he still did have a son to live for.
On the inside we're all pretty much the same, good kids with good hearts. With the exception of Jay.
I can hear Laura saying the words even though she's never actually voiced them. Rumor has it that Jay and Laura had secretly had a relationship going on and that Jay most likely screwed it up. Which I really shouldn't be all that surprised about. There has been no solid proof of this theory of course, Laura won't talk about it. She won't talk about Jay period.
Off limits.
And even if I did ask Jay about it he would probably just shrug and smirk not actually say anything.
I open the door to Laura's Compass and set my backpack on the floor by my feet, Laura just throws hers over the seat, along with four soda cans and an empty bag of chips.
She starts the car and shoots me a grin, "There's chips and candy in the console, you can probably find some pop laying around somewhere in here." She puts the Jeep in drive and pulls out of the parking lot way too fast.
I keep my mouth shut and don't criticize her driving skills, Laura was capable of getting us to her house in one piece, I hope anyways.
"Not going to grab a snack? You and I both know that once we get to my place everyone else is going to eat all the food. And-." She shoots me a horrified glance, "You definitely need the carbs so-." She taps a dark blue nail on the console, "-eat up."
I open the console, not because I'm hungry but because I know that if I don't do it, Laura will throw a fit and will drive around for hours until I do grab a snack out of it. I rummage around before grabbing out two packages of fruit snacks.
"You could own a supermarket with all these snacks." I shut the console and grin at her.
"A girl can never be too prepared." She flips her dark hair over her shoulder.
"Makes sense." I pop a blue fruit snack into my mouth.
"What do you think about the new kid?"
I turn around to face her again, "Opal?"
She shrugs her slim shoulders and then moves her hooped nose ring, "Maybe? I don't know, the red head that came in with the superintendent today."
"Opal." I nod, "I don't know her well enough to really say anything about her."
She shoots me a disapproving look, "I know that you're thinking something so spit it out or I'll drive all around this town until you get sick of the scenery."
There it is.
Laura's lovely way of getting what she wants.
"I'm already sick of this towns scenery." Which is pretty much just dark alleys and disgusting, old and abandoned tunnels.
"Cut to the chase, Karsten." She takes a quick left and my shoulder slams into the door.
"Watch it, Laura." I mutter.
She's driving up the long paved driveway to her three story house which probably cost five times as much as the house that my dad and I live in.
I sound jealous, maybe I am a little bit jealous.. a little bit jealous that no one in our friend group had a mother that died when they were only ten, no one had a little sister that they had to take care of everyday for years because she was too sick to take care of herself. No one had to watch their sister slowly fade away and die too. No one had to live with an alcoholic father that got a little too mean a little too fast. No one had to grow up and become an adult at the age of eight.
"You still with me?" Laura's voice breaks through my thoughts and I turn away from the pine trees that are flashing in the window and I glance at her.
"What did you say?"
"You never answered my question about the new kid but I guess I'll ask it another time." Her mouth drops open and she slams on the brake, "Why is Levi here?"
I swing around to glance out the windshield, taking in the man standing on the white wraparound porch.
Legs that are encased in black skinny jeans, a fitted black T-shirt with a leather jacket over it.
Blonde hair that seems a shade lighter than it had been the last time I saw him, black sunglasses are over his eyes but I know that they're the same baby blue that they had been last summer.
Laura mutters a line of curses as she pulls down the visor and looks in the tiny mirror.
"Why is he even here?"
I don't bother responding, she doesn't actually expect me to say anything anyways. I wave at Levi and he nods his head in response.
"Don't wave at him!" Laura slaps my arm and I bring it down to my side.
"What's so wrong about waving?"
She looks so horrified I almost laugh.
  "It's Levi."
"I know who it is, Laura."
She pulls her black and blue streaked hair into a knot at the back of her head, her style of a bun. Which really is just her twisting it into a knot and calling it a day. She applies some lipgloss and then grabs a chocolate bar from the inside of the door.
"Let's move." She says and then she's out of the Jeep, her combat boot cladded feet pounding on the pavement as she rounds the vehicle.
I take in her outfit and try not to smile.
Ripped black jeans with a black tank top that is covered by a mustard yellow cardigan. A color that the goth Laura would never wear but that she was forced to wear due to dress codes. She has gotten dress coded way too many times. An outfit that I'm sure her mother was horrified of when she saw it this morning, they probably shared a few heated words and Laura left with the outfit anyways.
Levi takes a step off the white washed porch and lifts his sunglasses onto his head.
"Karsten, was it?" He shoots me a look that isn't exactly friendly.
"That's right."'
Laura rolls her eyes and grabs my wrist. I know she's planning an escape but I also know that Levi isn't going to let her get away without talking to him first.
"I see you have only changed in good ways, Laura." His gaze shimmies over her body and unlike most girls, Laura's cheeks don't turn pink. Instead, she drops my wrist and takes a step towards him, her long navy blue nail nearly touching him in the nose.
"If you want to act like a pig, go back to your hometown." With that she walks away, her feet barely making a noise as she moves up the porch stairs.
I nod at Levi and then follow Laura into the house.
"That boy has no class. Can you even believe him?" She's nearly shouting and I know, even without looking, that her mom will be looking over a stack of papers and will be dressed in a lilac colored pant suit.
  "Laura, be nice." She says calmly.
I have to agree with Laura on this one, I never did like Levi. He liked pretty things, pretty trophies to stick on his walls. The fact that he had thought he could get Laura had almost been laughable last year.
It wasn't laughable now, not by a long shot.
"This is harassment." Laura yells and the front door slams shut, I turn around and catch Levi and Mark standing there.
Mark was two years older than Laura but he treated her as if she was still thirteen and he was more than happy to let Levi date his sister.
Laura appears, her hair falling out of the bun it was in. "You are to blame for this." She points a finger in Marks direction and he just shrugs.
"Brendan is here." I say as I see the Range Rover pull into the driveway.
Brendan only drives the vehicle because his parents made him, he had sold his old Range Rover to buy a beat up Chevy pick up. His parents had been so upset about it that he had missed a week of school and we didn't hear from him for three weeks.
Levi smirks at Laura but she's staring out the window, a small smile on her face as Brendan steps out of the vehicle.
  He doesn't bother knocking, just walks in. He looks like he has not slept in days and I wouldn't even be surprised if he hasn't. He's a computer whizz and spends his late nights and early mornings cracking codes that could probably land him in jail.
  "You're late." Laura snaps.
"I'm forty minute early." Brendan says as he pushes his glasses up on his nose.
  "You're usually fifty minutes early which makes you ten minutes late."
  Brendan just lifts a raven black eyebrow and heads up the spiral staircase to the clans normal hang out.
Laura huffs and picks up her laptop and then jogs up the stairs after Brendan.
Levi is standing by the door, his gaze lingering on Laura's fleeting figure.
  I don't know what's up with him or why he's even in Ravenway but I plan to find out.
For Laura's sake and for my own.
My sanity can't handle Levi staying in this town for too long.