Believe (1) - The beginning....

You step out of the car and flip your bag onto your shoulders, you glance over to Raven who shoots you a grin as he slips his own bag onto his back and moved over to you.

"Well Rune, are you ready?" He asks as he locks the car, clearly oblivious to the stares he is gaining from the girls in the carpark, both for the car, you doubt that many people here have even seen a real Jag before, and for his looks. He really is cute you realise, looking up at him, especially compared to the grade of male which inhabits Rigel High.

Raven gives a sigh, running a hand nervously through his short brown-black hair, "Why am I nervous?" He asks you softly and you grin.

"You have every right to be... Welcome to hell." You muter

"I've already been there." Raven whispers darkly before he takes a sep forward, looking back to you, "Coming? I think I need to go to the office first to get my timetable."

You give a nod and fall in beside him, taking the lead as you move through the familiar corridors and between buildings you have been forced to haunt for the last five years. Raven asks questions as you walk, asking you to point out what different buildings and classrooms are, he seems not to have noticed the heads that turn as he passes and the dark glares that seem to come your way. He walks close to you, not touching you but close, close enough for you to brush against him if you chose.... But you don't and the two of you soon reach the office, it takes at least ten minutes for Mrs Decron to notice you and when she does it is only because you grew tired of waiting and gave a loud cough.

"Oh, you must be Raven, the new student." She says and Raven gives a nod, stepping up to the desk.

"That's right." He says with a charming smile, "I need my timetable."

She hands him a sheet of paper and a school diary, "Do you want a map as well?"

He shakes his head, "No thank you, Rune will look after me."

"Alright, have a nice first day." She mutters before returning to her computer and giggling constantly about some email or other she was reading.

Raven walks back over to you and the two of you leave the office, "Can you show me how to read this?" Raven asks, holding the timetable out to you.

You take it and scan over it, your eyebrows rising in amusement as you notice something very familiar about it....

"You did this on purpose, right?" You ask, handing it back
"Did what?" Raven asks innocently

"You are in every single one of my classes. All of them. How did you manage that?"

Raven gives a laugh, "Well, it would defeat my purpose for being here, was I not in your classes."

"Come on...." You mutter, "We'd best get to homeroom before Mrs Nickleson eats us...."

Raven grins and slips his timetable into his diary, "Lead the way."

Homeroom was no real challenge, Raven was simply accepted into 12W without any trouble. You did have to explain to him that there are six houses at Rigel high; Eagle, Wolf, Fox, Tiger, Heron and Bear. Eagle was by far the best sporting house, with Bear the next best, whereas Fox was the best academically, Heron ran a close second though. Tiger and Wolf were both tied for the most artistically gifted house, musicians, artists, authors, Wolf and Tiger produced the best by far.

******

You are amazed at just how swiftly the day seemed to fly as you walk out to the car at the end of period six. Raven did well, all things considered, he had very little idea about maths, Mrs Forward, your maths teacher, was forced to explain things you had never really thought about before, like why use 'X' and 'Y' and why not 'G' and 'I' for algebra. Thankfully you only had one lesson of maths today and the quizzing soon ended. Raven blew your mind in ancient history, he could recite dates and great battles and small events with such clarity it seemed that he must have actually been present, which he may well have been. By the end of the class you were convinced that your teacher, Mrs Preston, wants to marry Raven… which is quite unnerving considering her age and that she can pass for two people with little effort. Biology was easy enough, Raven had read and memorised most of the textbook and could answer any question Mrs Phillips asked of him, Mrs Phillips is an awesome teacher who has the habit of relating everything you did back to sex… she believes that it helps the boys remember better, which it does. Religion was…. interesting, Raven could barely stop himself from snickering as Mrs Ellis, your very very very over zealous teacher, attempted to explain the origins of the world. You slept through most of Chemistry, so you really don't remember how that went. English was last and you were reading King Lear, Raven sat through the lesson with a small smile on his face.

"I saw the original." He whispered to you as you left the room and you were quite inclined to believe him...

But of course, things can not move smoothly for the entire day and you can't suppress a groan as you spot a group of five guys walking towards you. It's Damon and his cronies… The idiots who make your life here a hell…

Raven notices your distress, "Do you wish to go?" his eyes moving to the boys as they march towards you.

You are about to nod when Damon gives a laugh.

"Oy! Koa!" He calls out and you mutter a small curse, there is no way you're getting out of here now… he is after you and has made it obvious.

Raven looks to you, "Rune, who are they?" He asks curiously

"Trouble… He's the captain of the football team and a complete jerk." You reply softly

Damon and his bunch, Cient, Smaett, Stiffy and Alco, or that was what everyone called them anyway, had arrived by now and another soft curse escapes you.

"Koa. Where the hell've you been?" Damon asks with a slow drawl

"What's it to you, Damon?" You snap

"Oh, she's gotta mouth on 'er now! Looks like dat yellow-eyed freak makes you'to a wimp." Damon says, drawing a laugh from his cronies.

You feel Raven stiffen next to you, but you're not really paying attention to him, "Leave James out of this." You snarl

Damon grins, seeing he has touched on a sensitive point, "What'd the freak think now? You with another guy?"

You are just about to snap something back with Raven places a hand on your shoulder, "Rune, don't give him an answer, he does not deserve your time."

Your eyes widen, as does the eyes of everyone around you, heads turn and one girl drops her books. No one speaks back to Damon. No one.

Damon's eyes are the only ones which do not widen; they narrow dangerously. "What'd you just say ta me?" He asks sharply

Raven gives a sigh, "I advise you to back down, I have no quarrel with you at the moment but I will have should you choose to pursue this further."

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Wha'ever freak." He muttered, dropping his school pack to the ground and stripping off his jacket, "Keep talkin' and I'll break that perfect nose o' yours."

"I have no wish to fight you." Raven says softly, "It would not be a good thing for me to be caught fighting on my first day." But you can feel his muscles tense and relax as he prepares himself for whatever will come…

"Shudup!" Damon snarls, chucking a punch straight at Raven's face.

Raven seems to sigh before catching the punch easily in his hand, by this time a crowd has formed around the group of you and now cries of surprise go up.

Damon growls and pulls his hand back, "Wise guy eh?" He mutters, "You're goin' down!"

He lunges for Raven who meats his charge with a shoulder straight in Damon's chest, Damon is knocked to the ground and his cronies begin to circle.

Raven reaches into his pocket and pulls out a key, "Rune, get to the car and stay there. I will be there soon, but James would never forgive me if anything happened to you."

But there is no time for you to object, Damon is alright coming in for his next strike, so you follow Raven's orders and turn tail, leaving him to fend off the school football captain alone. You stop at the car, looking back, but the crowd prevents you from seeing Raven's fate. The Jaguar key suddenly seems very heavy in your hand, you can't help but wish you had remained, despite your knowledge of Raven's true self. You give a small grin, actually feeling minutely sorry for Damon, he has no idea who or what he has just challenged. You open the car and hop into the passenger's seat, you slip the key in so you can put down your electric window, before resting your arm on the rest and your head against the seat, looking out the now-open window.

It takes you a few moments to realise that you are being watched. You slowly notice eyes on you and turn your head slightly to see a youth of about 18 or 19 watching you, which in itself is strange, most people are busy watching the fight. He seems to realise that you have noticed him and gives you a small smile. He is tall with strange silver-purple hair and, although he wears the Rigel High uniform you have never seen him before, but what really catches your attention are his eyes, perhaps it is just a trick of the light, but they seem… red. It must be a trick of the light, for he walks towards you and you can clearly see that his eyes are a grey-blue colour not red or anything even close to red.

He gives you a smile, "Hi." He says softly, "I'm new here, today's my first day… can you tell me what the crowd's about? I'm a little nervous to head over there." His voice is soft, gentle and he has a calming smile

"Oh… There's a fight." You say softly, "My friend is in the middle of it… it's his first day as well and he managed to piss of the wrong person."

The teen gives a laugh, "Sounds like he had a far more interesting first day than I did." He holds out his hand to you, "Your name is Rune, right? I heard the teachers calling it in class, I'm in your English class."

You take his hand and shake it, awkwardly considering you are sitting inside a car and you shake through the window.
"I'm sorry, I don't remember your name…" You say as you take you hand back

He blushes a little, "I'm Crusade." He says with a sigh, "Yeah, I know, strange parents…. Everyone just calls me 'Sade'. You can too."

You grin, "I think it's a cool name." You reply, "Crusade…"

Crusade gives you a grin, suddenly his grin drops and he turns, looking over to the group which has dispersed in the time the two of you have been talking, you can see Raven now, picking up his school pack and turning to walk over to you. You look back to Sade, about to say that your friend is coming over now, but he is gone. He hasn't just walked away either, he has completely disappeared…

"Rune!" Raven calls with a smile as he walks over, there's not a scratch on him, unlike Damon and his cronies who you can see limping away, "Sorry about that mess. I apologise. I had no idea what the people here are like…" Raven starts the car and soon the two of you are headed back home.

You give him a small smile, still wondering about Sade, where on earth did he go? And why did he disappear the second Raven began walking over?