School was over.' Thank God ', thought Raven as she was making her way out of school, minding her own damn businessas everyone should.

  Sadly, they never did, but nevertheless, it was nothing she couldn't handle—well, she had to.

  Besides, they were all too scared to actually do something worthwhile, except for that one group.

  The fanatics, as she liked to call them, were quite hilarious if one were to consider they all claimed they loved her and wanted to take revenge for her, but the majority of their little actions weren't even worth acknowledging.

  This spoke louder than any slander or little petty act they did; in other words, they were weak and sloppy.

  At the rate this was folding he would kill her before they actually lay a finger on her— inflict any real damage.

  Not like she let him or them do that easily on her watch.

  Besides, this wasn't even a remarkable feat considering how bad his control had gotten over the last few months .

  Walking further, she saw a group of teens that were blocking her way through the entrance.

  The teens looked like they were in her grade.

  They were loud and quite rowdy, not caring who they disturbed or how they blocked the way.

  ' Typical jocks. But I am the tactless one. Oh, the irony.'

  She was just about to change her direction and take a different path ; it would certainly take longer, but she was in no mood for a confrontation.

  A fun fact: she nowadays was never, but trouble always seemed to find her.

  All this contributed to her already bad reputation sinking to rock bottom.

  In the past, she was already known for being a little troublemaker who did things her way, a little loner,

  nevertheless, admired by many for her free and strong spirit.

  After all, they claimed that they had loved Raven, but when things got rough and they were put between the choice of one of them, she won.

  She always did.

  It was the unwritten law of their lives.

  Even now she took the easy route, but then again, if the tides were turned, would the situation get so bad? No matter how funny this made her feel, she knew she didn't have to state it.

  She ironically already knew the answer.

  It would be a lie if she said she didn't envy her, but then again, it was never supposed to be hers,

  so how could Raven desire something that was never meant to be hers in the first place? Wouldn't that make her a hypocrite?

  In her mind, yes, it would.

  Even though knowing these facts didn't stop these thoughts, it made it bearable.

  ' Not that this had any worth anymore; anyway, whatever happens, nothing can change the inevitable.'

  As if life were trying to prove her right, she got pulled over to the group, collapsing straight into their seemingly tallest one and hands down the rowdiest of the teens.

  Without looking, she knew who it was. There was just one group of people who did this kind of petty action, and they had only one leader.

  Like minions, almost always with a crowd and never acting on their own accord, 'Brainless fools.'

  them actively acting meant one thing: Derik, the leader of the crazy fans of her, obsessed with the idea that all of this was Raven's grand plan to take her place in the world, had some business with Raven.

  They actually, funnily, blamed her and associated her with all the bad in the world.

  Reasoning that if she were capable of murdering her own kin at such a tender age, she would grow to be a monster.

  No, they believed she was a monster who deserved to be hurt and isolated, so she should never have the ability to grow or evolve.

  And the best of it all was no one stopped them.

  They were actually encouraged and celebrated by the people around her to go even further, as most of them hadn't had the guts to do so themselves.

  For the others you don't need to be loud or actively to leave an impact.

  Silence and ignorance was loud and clear if you were at the receiving end.

  And who knew, maybe she was the one lurking in the darkness under their bed when they were children threatening to eat them if they misbehave instead of sleeping.

  'As if I would stay at free will in their vicinity. Even presumed monster have their limits. ' mused Raven in disdain .

  'Fuck' mourning, she broke off her thoughts , turned sharp and fast to look at Derik with bored, cold eyes, not showing any sign of her exhaustion, daring Derik to try it.

  One thing Raven could never actually really let go of was certain character traits.

  One of them being that she didn't start fights, but she was always down for it.

  For example, she knew she would get hurt no matter what, so it was going to be on her terms.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The problem with this was that even if she would never willingly acknowledge that aloud, she didn't despise these fights as much as she should.

  These short moments were one of the rare moments where she felt like she had some control, like she was alive, finally breathing, and not suffocating in her world full of pretense, as she knew what to do and what to say to get them to do what she wanted without having to completely hold back all the time.

  Did this make her a manipulative bitch? Maybe.

  Did she care? No.

  In these moments, she could choose to attack back and not just take it because otherwise the consequences would be too severe.

  This feeling was like a drug, making her starve for it,

  no more than she craved it, like a hungry animal, treading between the lines of being suicidal and trying to live.

  This was a dangerous game she was willing to play. After all, everything came with a price tag.

  Derik, as a response, tightened his grip on her and pulled her away from the door, through the halls with his friends into an empty corridor.

  She didn't show any sign of struggle because, one, it would only make it worse.

  Two, it wasn't like anybody else cared, not even the majority of the teachers. Some tried to hide it, but she knew that even they blamed her. Hell, she did it.

  As funny as it seemed, it was always the ones that were supposed to protect her that failed and tried to break her till she was nothing but dust, but somehow she was the failure.

  ' Oh, the sweet twist. As sweet as lemon slices.'

  So she let herself be quietly dragged hoping it would make it all end faster; it would only end in some short argument resulting in some minor injuries while she had at least some fun with them, even if this meant some scars, but in moderation.

  After all, she wasn't a masochist and actually quite favored the fact of not adding any unnecessary injuries in her current state.

  Derik stopped like he read her mind, but before he could even utter a word, the silence was broken.

  "Derik," she took a breather , her eyes and tone taking a sickly sweet edge yet her face reflecting emptiness.

  " As you can see, I followed you with no resistance. but as dreadful it will be, I have to cut our horrid enchanting date short "

  she dropped her pupils as if it truly saddened her.

  " would you kindly state your complaint of the day and take yourself and your lovely band of Neanderthals onto your merry way."

  " After all a girl got things to do,

  do — you —un—der— stand sweetheart ? "

  The last words, carrying a subtle hint of ridicule pronouncing it syllable for syllable as if she was explaining it to a toddler.

  If one heard Raven here, you'd think she was talkative but she was closer to a selective talker than talker.

  But a chance to outlet and freely rage bait with barely consequent was hard to pass.

  —and before Raven could sate in the bright feeling of success as she saw Derik's nostrils flare in anger accompanied by barely contained huffs.

  She was released from his hold and thrown against the wall.

  For a moment she saw stars blending her eyesight as she sunk down, but as soon as it came, it went away. Now there was only a static humming ringing in her ear.

  'Fuck fuck fuck, this just had to happen today, as if I didn't have enough to handle already.' Cursed Raven inside , shaking her head, trying to obtain a clear head and peace.

  Her vision came back slightly hazy but enough for her to notice a half-ring as it formed around her, enclosing her, making her notice she had no way of escaping without fighting.

  She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall for support, trying to regain some energy just in case.

  Suddenly, a sudden pain forced her to open her eyes sooner, as she wanted her half-relaxing face to turn stone cold.

  While her eyes were shooting up and searching for the culprit, a boy spoke up.

  "Damn Derik, this was pure cinematic, If her head wasn't attached it would have rollen off. "

  His voice full of respect. Staring down at her , snickering.

  ' fucking sadist .' Cursed through her as she prepared to return the favor, mouth ready to respond.

  But Derik cut her off. " shut . It. Daren."

  Shooting a brief hardened look at him before returning his attention back to her .

  " And know to you" squinted down, finger pointing into her Chest, eyes full of hate . " tell me where she is and all this will stop."

  Pushing his finger deeper in that would leave a bruise for sure .

  " Surely, I can't stop them from talking about you, you know, but at least your ugly face and worthless body is getting spared, so what do you think?"

  A small smirk was forming on her face as she continued to think. So this is what they wanted. They wanted to see her. So it was that time again.

  These fanatics only came in groups for 3 reasons according to her: to release some anger in the name of justice and revenge, but in her opinion it was just for themselves, usually the most popular reason.

  ' Spineless pricks.'

  The other one was more of an ego push; knowing they could beat her with no real consequences made them feel just different.

  In her eyes, they were just egomaniac bastards. With big bodies and tiny brains.

  Last but not least, it was the reason she often got more injuries than she needed. But fortunately, the rarest one: it was to know where she was lying, but too bad she would never let these pigs near her.

  Sure, she had some unresolved feelings against her, but these guys didn't even deserve to be in the same area as her.

  As pathetic as the reasons sounded to her, they just didn't stop. They were like freaking roaches.

  "What are you thinking so deeply, speak up. bitch."

  Each second un responded seem to aggravate him more his voice slightly rising, the words at the end spit out as if it was dirt.

  As he stood up, taking a few steps back to probably gather himself and put some dimension between them.

  His tall stature looking down on her barely sitting, down stature.

  "Tell me before the slap is the least of your worries."

  At this point, she again shifted her hollow eyes from the loud guy to him, her smirk widening, malice spreading inside her.

  "Derik, it's the same answer as always. At this point it's getting embarrassing for all of us, do you maybe have Alzheimer? "

  Raven sighed as if it was really troubling her .

  " The answer is the same as always."

  Taking a pause as if this was taxing.

  " I . Don't . Know. "

  voice dripping with fake concern poorly concealing the boredom— skillfully displayed fake boredom to be exact.

  Raven was the farthest from bored, one could go even as far and say she was thrilled.

  Every nerve , static , coding different word plays— retaliations .

  " you need help my friend at this rate: watching an ant is going to be more interesting than talking to you. Nah, wait, it already is, so could you be so kind — ?"

  Any sense of pity gone.

  And Again, before she could finish, a slap right into her face with so much force slammed that it turned her head, but she showed no sense of remorse or even the slightest pain this time.

  She was rather showing signs of accomplishment.

  This was rewarded with a kick into her stomach.

  One She didn't even try to block, as it would be futile, as that would make them try harder to beat her before she could act.

  Her limit was at physical.

  Word on word she had high chance at winning but muscle on muscle, was a losing battle before she even started.

  He again started to get closer to her, looking at her like she just snapped his last rope to sanity while pulling her from the ground and pushing her against the wall like a rag.

  Before she could sink again, he held her up by closing one hand on her throat and supporting them with his other hand beside her head, leaning on the wall.

  All this was happening really suddenly and fast, resulting in panic clouding her brain, exchange dopamine through pulsing, simmering adrenaline making it even harder for her to think or react rationally.

  This wasn't supposed to go like this.

  She hadn't taken notice how aggravated he actually was today .

  She was too focused on the rush, the little undeniable thrill that soared at the display of his irritation.

  This wasn't the usual ordeal. She knew she had to pay for the slip-up, but she knew better than to let panic completely overtake her.

  ' I won't crumble at this kind of pressure, I can't crumble . '

  like a mantra she kept going .

  ' I got this , I got this , I am. I am. Fine . '

  With this reminder, her mind was finally calming down and thinking clearer.

  She was better than this. This wasn't the way she would end, she won't let her emotions control her —not today.

  She just had to play along and wait. It was easy. She could handle this after all; she wasn't known as a menace for nothing.

  ——

  She had to put honor onto her name.

  She was now back and fully in her element, meaning the fun just started.

  While he was still holding her up, he simultaneously closed her airway, making her squirm in desperation, trying to grasp for air.

  With his sheer strength — not that this was an astonishing accomplishment, as she was underweight, consisting nearly of just bones.

  When he finally spoke up, she was rather a little more than relieved than unsettled.

  It meant he wasn't completely gone, and in all honesty, his silence was by far scarier than his useless speech.

  "Listen here, you little witch; you will answer me, or this won't end up prettyfor you."

  His hand tightening harder at the end of his words putting more pressure on her airway.

  The boys around him started grew visibly agitated.

  They know that he was absolutely ruthless towards her, but they didn't know if he wasn't crazy enough to kill her?

  And who could blame them when every time he acted against her, he was going absolutely ballistic the moment she accidentally angered him a little too much .

  They knew he was a ticking time bomb and bound to go one day too far. She knew they knew, so she didn't know why they stood by him.

  Maybe for the same reason she let him be and still pushed him.

  So yes, to an outsider or people who don't observe his actions, he may seem like a reckless fool who knows no boundaries, but she knew better— well hoped she did— and good for her, they didn't.

  So yes, they wanted to hurt her, but killing her was way too much for them to handle. After all, her father was in the police.

  And as if they were sharing each other's thoughts, they started to panic spread even further and they lost their form, forming cracks in the formation.

  Raven's eyes widened for a second. This was the moment she was waiting for. She pushed her body to stop squirming and calm down.

  She wasn't dying even if the lack of air told her otherwise.

  Steadying her eyes, calculating her next moves.

  If this went on, she would not have more or less than 40 seconds max before she passed out, so this was her only chance.

  With this calculation, she started to let the adrenaline she pushed down to rationalize and let her survival mechanism kick in, spurts of the new energy filling her veins.

  She first tried to calm herself from the height and steadied her glance on Derik, knowing he noticed the change in her ways, but before he could act, she spit on him and kicked him right into his genitals, hoping she did some damage to his future generations, and slipped right through the cracks, making a fast, safe distance between her and the group in the commotion.

  She may not be strong when it came to punching but she had the agility and speed of an athlete.

  The commotion started with his fall, and with one last glance that landed straight on Derik, she gave him one knowing look and smirked, knowing fully what effect it had on him.

  With the wisdom, she had his full attention. Her lips formed this word: "weak," knowing he got the message. She winked, signaling the end of their little interaction.

  His eyes were following every one of her moves attentively, never leaving her.

  With that, she just turned her head without seeing his reaction, but hearing his loud curses, a smile slung onto her like a little child on Christmas,sprinting out of scholl with the last energy she had.