A Secret on Raven Block - Raven City Part Two

13

The rest of July flew by and then it was August, which meant school was starting back up again. Kendall was excited to be going back to Raven City High School and she went with Jade, Hannah, and Stephanie to pick up their schedules on registration day.

Kendall felt a huge wave of nostalgia as she got ready that morning. She remembered meeting Hannah and Stephane at RCHS to get their schedules at the beginning of their sophomore year. She smiled as she remembered how Hannah complained about school starting when she'd been grounded all summer for dying her hair blue and Stephanie had been excited to finally be a sophomore. Now she was a junior and she couldn't believe her high school experience would be over soon. She couldn't believe how much had changed in one year. She was excited but nervous to be a junior but was relieved to be going back to RCHS, where she knew she would be able to fit right back in.

That morning, they met up at Kendall's house and they got in Kendall's car and she drove them to RCHS. The process of registration was the same as every year: going through the long, seemingly endless line (even though they got there early), finally making it up to the station to sign up and get their schedule, and saying hello to the teachers that we're handing out schedules, then went outside and waited for the others to finish up.

Kendall, Hannah, and Jade got registered and waited in the courtyard for Stephanie to get her schedule. They sat at one of the tables and Hannah and Kendall compared schedules first. They were relieved when they saw that they had most of the same classes together but Kendall groaned when she saw who her English teacher was.

"Mr. Hawthorne? Seriously?" she said as she stared at her schedule.

"Damn," Hannah said with a grimace. "He's the worst."

"I know right?" Mr. Hawthorne taught sophomore and junior English and he was an asshole. He was the only teacher in RCHS that Kendall completely disliked because he was rude, he wasn't willing to help other students, he was an unpleasant guy to deal with, and he always made a student feel worse about themselves. He was like Ms. Wilkins and she hoped and prayed she wouldn't have him. All the teachers at RCHS were outstanding except for him and after dealing with Ms. Wilkins she didn't know how she was going to deal with a douche like Hawthorne.

Jade placed a sympathetic hand on Kendall's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I was in his class last year."

"How would that make me feel better?"

Jade shrugged. "I don't know, but. . ." Her eyes widened and she quickly looked down at her schedule. "Crap. . ."

"What?"

"I'll be right back." She got up and ran inside the school.

Kendall looked over at Hannah. "What was that all about?"

Hannah shrugged. "I've no idea."

"Ban supernaturals! Ban supernaturals! Ban supernaturals!"

They looked over and saw a group of protestors had formed across the street and were holding signs that read, 'Ban supernaturals!' 'Don't let supernaturals go to school with our kids!' 'We're all in danger b/c of supernaturals!' and continued to chant nonstop. Many of the students milling around the campus paused and looked over at the protestors and conversations started happening all over them.

Kendall noticed how uncomfortable some of the students were and noticed that students she hadn't realized were friends or knew each other were standing close together and glaring at the protestors.

She noticed Kameron there and saw he was standing near the group of students and appeared nervous. She had wondered if she would see him during registration and had thought about saying hello to him and introducing him to her friends, but she could tell it wasn't a good time.

"Ridiculous," she heard Hannah mutter and turned to see her glaring at the protestors. "Why can't those assholes get a life already?"

Kendall didn't say anything, her attention divided between the protestors and Kameron.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jade and Stephanie walk out of the building. Hannah waved them over and Stephanie immediately made her way over to them but Jade, to Kendall's surprise, walked over to where Kameron and the other students were sitting.

She watched with intrigue and curiosity as she said something to them. She was too far away to hear what Jade was saying to them but whatever she said, it caused Kameron to smile at her and nod. She offered him a small smile in return and walked over to their table.

"What was that all about?" Kendall asked when she approached.

"Nothing," Jade said with a small smile. Kendall knew Jade was lying but she saw sadness in her friend's eyes and decided that it wasn't worth pushing.

They compared schedules again and she noticed Jade just read off her classes and didn't show them. She was curious but knew now wasn't the right time to ask.

The four of them at least had a lot of the same classes as each other and Kendall was relieved that she would have her friends by her side, even if she had to be in Hawthorne's class.

They went back to Kendall's house and hung out for a while before the others had to go home. After everyone left she sat outside on her porch, listening to music on her phone, thinking about what this upcoming school year was going to be like.

She sat there for two hours and then started to go inside but paused when she noticed a car pulling into Patterson's driveway. She watched as Kameron quickly got out of his car and walked into his house, a strange expression on his face.

She thought about the look on his face when he saw the protesters at the school and she wondered if he was supernatural. With the proof that kept coming out, she was starting to believe that supernaturals were real after all slowly. Of course, she didn't want to assume anything without proof but - ah, hell, why did she care? It was none of her business anyway.

She gave her head a slight shake at all the weirdness that was going on and walked inside her house. This was going to be an interesting year.