Of Thieves And Do Gooders

Hayden’s Point Of View

“Raymond…? No, not my--Who?”

I sighed quietly, waiting for a moment before glancing at the clock: midnight exactly.

Silence.

I closed my eyes again and tried to go back to sleep, but Raven made a quiet whimpering sound.

“Not my--not me…I didn’t mean to…” she muttered quietly.

She was talking in her sleep. Again.

It had woken me up the last few nights, but half the time I had no idea what she was saying. Apparently her dream was a bit more vivid tonight, because she was saying words at least.

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling, listening absently as she tossed and turned in her bed, muttering incoherently again. Then, a little more loudly she said, “Mom and Dad gone…all I have left…Just a name…” she whimpered again and I clenched my teeth.

Hearing Raven making any noise that made her seem weak was infuriating. I wasn’t quite sure why, maybe because she never seemed weak before, she never backed down and was completely independent.

She was quiet again, but I wasn’t sure for how long. I was trying to ignore her, trying to distance myself from her, that way when she left it wouldn’t be such a hard hit. I would still have Damion and Leon, they were always going to be around. But Raven seemed like an unstable person, she would move around a lot, it was just a matter of her getting bored with the school, then she would be gone.

Raven laughed suddenly and I jumped, sitting up in my bed, although I only stared at the wall in front of me as she murmured, “Hayden…” The hair on the back of my neck rose when she said my name.

“Yeah?” I asked, still looking straight ahead of me.

No answer.

“Raven?” I asked, turning reluctantly to see if she was sitting up or something. Raven wasn’t sitting up but she was on her side facing me and her eyes were open, which was creepy as all hell.

She sat up carefully, her eyes wandering along the floor until she reached the wall and she looked at the wall, then the ceiling a wary look in her eyes and then she frowned and settled back into her bed. It was like I wasn’t even there. As if the room we were in didn’t really exist in her eyes, maybe she was seeing something else? She must have still been asleep.

Raven was silent for another minute, but I hadn’t laid back down, I couldn’t force myself to ignore her at that moment. She was saying my name in her sleep. The thought was exciting, for some reason. It made me wonder what she was dreaming about.

“Raven? You awake?” I asked, almost certain she wouldn’t answer me.

“Hayden…? Where’re Damion and Leon…?” she paused for a moment and her forehead wrinkled in thought, possibly. “No…no…can’t swim…don’t…stop!” she almost shouted and I jumped out of bed instantly and clapped a hand over her mouth as she started shouting.

“Hey, Raven, Raven. Calm down, it’s me, Hayden, shh, it’s just a dream,” I assured her as she thrashed in her bed, trying to pull my hand away from her mouth.

She hesitated, contemplating my sentence before it looked like she was actually awake again. Her face turned a bright shade of red and I realized that I wasn’t dressed in anything but boxers. Of course, I would have at least had pants on if Raven hadn’t stolen my pajamas. However, I didn’t want to draw attention to the fact, so I asked quietly, “If I take my hand away, are you going to yell?”

Raven shook her head and I removed my hand away from her mouth. “Sorry,” she said instantly, but in a low whisper.

“Don’t worry about it,” I muttered, eyeing her skeptically. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” even in the dark I could see the lines at the corner of her eyes reveal themselves. Otherwise, she would have been a convincing liar.

I sighed and stood up, walking back to my own bed and getting under the covers. “Didn’t sound like you were ‘fine’,” I pointed out, rolling so that I wasn’t facing her.

Raven snorted. “Well you were trying to drown me,” she stated matter-of-factly.

I stiffened at that bit of information, so she was having dreams about me drowning her? When had I ever attempted to drown her? In fact I had even saved her from drowning. “Raven, I wouldn’t drown you,” I said seriously, a little disappointed that I was the wake-up-screaming nightmare for her.

Raven was quiet for a minute. “I know, but still…you were so cheery about it, like I actually knew how to swim and was just lying about it,” she sounded thoughtful, then she asked, “Do you think I lie to you a lot?”

I frowned, how was I supposed to answer that? I swallowed hard and tried to come up with an answer that wasn’t a complete lie. “Well, I don’t think you tell me everything about yourself.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know much about you either,” Raven murmured back, sounding wide awake, probably not wanting to go back to sleep after that nightmare.

I thought about that for a moment and replied, “My middle name’s William.”

Raven was silent for a long moment and then she stuttered, “W-what?”

“I said, ‘my middle name is William’,” I repeated like she was slow in the head. “Now you know one more thing about me, more than I know about you,” I said matter-of-factly.

She was quiet for another minute and then she said, “Mine’s Elizabeth, after my great grandmother.”

“Raven Elizabeth Frost,” I said out loud and nodded to myself. “Pretty,” I complimented, wondering if she would even remember anything about tonight in the morning.

“Thanks…” she muttered, sounding groggy suddenly.

“Hey, before you fall back asleep,” I said quickly, turning to look at her now, “What were you dreaming about? You know, before I was drowning you,” I tried to sound nonchalant.

Raven seemed to have fallen back asleep, but she opened her eyes, cocking her head to the side, “Why? Did I say something?”

I nodded and her mouth formed a firm line of indifference before she said, “My brother died when I was sixteen. He went to the store to get something and I waited at home, he’d asked if I’d wanted to go, but there was something on TV that I wanted to watch…I can’t remember what it was.” She shuffled the blankets over her. “On his way back, some guys jumped him, tried to take his wallet, but it had…something in it that he didn’t want taken, so he fought back,” Raven’s voice cracked slightly as she continued, “Fucking cowards beat the shit out him, broke a bunch of his ribs, bloodied up his face and shot him when they got bored.”

Was that what she was dreaming about? Or did the dream just remind of her that?

What was I supposed to say about that? Maybe I shouldn’t have asked in the first place. Suddenly it felt like I knew more about Raven than she knew about me. I finally settled for, “I’m sorry.” It was a crude version of comfort, but it was all I could think of.

“Don’t worry about it,” she murmured and closed her eyes again. “It was two years ago, it’s not that hard to talk about,” Raven’s voice was quiet, almost below a whisper. “After that is when I became a thief, didn’t even stick around to see if the police caught the bastards. They might still be out there somewhere…It bugs me sometimes,” she admitted through clenched teeth.

I thought about that for a moment, if it ever bugged her I couldn’t see when, she was always a little bitter and sarcastic, but she never seemed vengeful or depressed. But damn, she had good reason to be. “I’m sure they caught them,” I assured her, even if it was an empty assurance.

“Thanks, it’s a nice thought,” Raven murmured as she seemed to drift out of the conversation.

Humph. I guess I won’t find out what her dream was about, but I could take a wild guess.

I rolled over, Raven’s story still prodding my mind like a hot fire poker. Damn, now I probably wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Or I’d have some weird version of Raven’s nightmare. Fucking great.

_____________________________________________

Raven’s Point Of View

The next morning my dream hit me like a truck. Since when were dreams so surreal? It even made a lot more sense then most of my usual dreams. Not to mention I actually remembered it. It made me miss the dreams where I rode cross country through Canada on an oversized rabbit.

However, my dreams consisted of more normal scenes. First Hayden had chucked me into a river with the evil line, “sink or swim” hot on his lips, then he watched me while I thrashed my way to a watery doom. Then I dreamed that I “woke up” and he was half-naked, trying to keep me from waking up the rest of the school. However, considering he was pretty normal about being virtually naked in front of me, I knew it was just a dream. After I had calmed down from my nightmare, I told him how my brother died.

Was that a sign or something? Was I supposed to tell him about that?

…

Pfft. Yeah, Right. And have that stupid awkward air about him that practically screams “aww poor Raven lost her brother, I should feel bad for her”. I think not. I don’t take pity well. It was better act normal and keep that sort of stuff to myself, besides, I’d only know Hayden while I was as Shadowstep Academy. I didn’t need anyone knowing about me once I was on my own.

But, damn, I’m not sure if it was just my imagination at work, but Hayden had a nice body in my dream.

On a more realistic topic, I glanced toward Hayden’s bed and saw that he was still, sleeping, which meant alarm clocks had yet to go off. I yawned slightly and stumbled into the bathroom with an armful of clothes that were baggy enough to hide my obvious feminine features without binding my chest again.

I finished with all of my morning boringness and emerged from the bathroom frowning at my reflection in the mirror on my way out. My hair was way too short, it was a look that only a select few guys should pull off, one of them being Channing Tatum. Not me. I would just have to complain to Hayden about his haircutting skills and grow it out a bit more, maybe more around Damion’s hair length. It was to the point where I could still look like a guy but also have my ears pretty much buried under hair.

As I thought about my hairdo, I heard Hayden shuffling about the room and found him sitting at the computer beside his bed. Shirtless. However, unlike in my dream, he had pants on rather than just boxers.

“Hey Bashful, you sure you don’t want to put a shirt on? I am in the room after all,” I joked, sitting on my bed and reaching under my pillow absently in search of something. My hands brushed over a papery surface and I retracted my hand, content.

Hayden rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” not looking away from the computer screen.

“What’re you doing?” I asked, although honestly didn’t care.

“Myspace,” he replied absently, clicking on something.

“Oh, my God!” Hayden jumped and glared at my loud interruption of his silence. “You are a Myspace whore?” I asked incredulously and Hayden’s glare deepened.

“Shut up,” he ordered, turning his attention back to the screen.

“Ohhh, defensive I see. So you’re a closet Myspace whore, I see how it is.” I nodded to myself as if I had heard the excuse before.

“Shut up Ray, I’m trying to concentrate here,” Hayden growled, now typing something.

“Do you have a future girlfriend on there or something? ‘Cause ‘she’ is probably a four hundred pound guy who bathes in food and lives in his parents basement,” I replied, smiling as Hayden glared at me again.

“You like ruining things don’t you?” he asked absently as he continued typing.

“Yup, my favorite pastime,” I agreed, falling back on my pillow and fiddling with the seem of the pillowcase, then I asked, “How’re you feeling?”

Hayden looked away from the computer screen for a moment, contemplating something and then he seemed to understand what I meant and nodded. “Fine, my ribs are still a little sore, but I have a couple of weeks of that to look forward to.”

I nodded in understanding. “So, are you excused from combat training or something?” I wondered aloud.

“Yep, I get to sit and observe instead, which ought to be interesting. That way I can watch all of the bruises Leon gives you start to form.” He grinned at me as I glared at him.

“Haha. You’re hilarious,” I deadpanned as I rolled over to look at the clock: eight thirty.

“So…you had anymore troubles with Derek?” Hayden asked, trying to sound casual and failing.

“Even if I was, I wouldn’t tell you. You might end up fighting with him twice as much,” I commented blandly and Hayden looked at me with an appalled look on his face. “What? Do you think I’m stupid? Or, I suppose you, Damion and Leon all fall down the same flight of stairs at the exact same time every few days after I get new bruises?”

Hayden thought about that for a moment and smirked, “There are some pretty tricky stairs ‘round this school…” He turned and closed his page on the computer.

I felt my heart skip precisely two beats as he stood up and his abs made themselves apparent, I very obviously turned to look at the suddenly fascinating wall and then realized that I couldn’t stare at it for long, so I brushed an invisible piece of fuzz off of my shoulder.

“Hey Bashful, you sure you don’t want me to put a shirt on?” Hayden threw my words back in my face and I scowled at my bedspread, realizing he had caught me in a moment of embarrassment.

“Shut up, it’s cold in here, I just don’t want you to poke my eye out with one of those things,” I gestured to his chest just as he pulled a shirt over his head and rolled his eyes in response.

___________________________________________

Just when I thought I hadn’t seen Derek in awhile, all my dreams came true and I somehow managed to be his partner during combat training. I was just thinking recently, “You know what? I don’t have enough bruises.” So, luck was on my side.

…You are finding out that all of that up there was sarcasm, right? Because not one thing up there was meant to be taken seriously.

“Raymond, since Hayden can’t practice today, why don’t you spar with Derek? He’s closer to your size,” Mr. Jager said absently as everyone collected our new practice weapons--as of today we were learning to use daggers. Even if the daggers we were using were blunt, it would still be annoying, painful and downright unpleasant to be stabbed by one.

I thought I heard Leon growl next to me, but he refrained from saying anything.

“Ah, but, uh, I’m already used to sparring…with…You’re not listening…” I muttered dejectedly and my shoulders slumped forward. As is suspected from a pessimistic person such as myself, I don’t have much confidence in my abilities. So, sparring with someone who hated my guts and was undoubtedly trying to injure me, was disheartening to say the least.

I twisted my practice dagger nimbly between my fingers, it was an absent movement, I hadn’t had any practice with daggers, but I did play around with kitchen knives a bit too often when I had been off on my own. At least I was more comfortable with a smaller weapon. It was easier to handle and, if I needed to, I could wield more than one without being hindered. I didn’t take much notice as Leon patted my shoulder sympathetically.

“Hello Raymond,” Derek said with mock formality in his husky voice as he smiled in what seemed to be a good-natured way, only as long as Mr. Jager was looking though. “How lucky that we’re partners, now you can’t run away like a pussy.” He grinned evilly as I glared at him. What a dick. Yeah, so I ran away like a pussy, that’s what I got for having one, I suppose.

I didn’t have a snide remark for that one. It was true, I did run if I had the chance to. I knew I didn’t have much of a chance against Derek in a fight, since it was all about brawns and guys were ultimately superior strength-wise compared to girls.

Derek turned when Damion tapped his shoulder, muttered something with a grin as Derek scowled, and stalked away from me to stand in front of a content looking Leon.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking over at Derek who didn’t look like he was coming back.

“Nothin’, just pulled a few strings with Jager. We’re sparring instead, because I’ve been having ‘back problems’ and Leon’s hits might ‘strain my back’.” Damion grinned at the memory of his own lies. “No offense Ray, but you have some pretty weak hits, so, he let me switch,” he added with a lop-sided smile.

I rolled my eyes and twirled my dagger in my hand again, transferring it to my other hand behind my back, “That was when I was using staves, staves suck, I’m much better with daggers,” I said matter-of-factly.

Damion raised his eyebrows, obviously impressed that I hadn’t managed to impale myself on my weapon somehow. “We’ll see about that.”

“Okay, first off--hey, Richard, stop trying to stab Tyler, they’re too blunt anyway.” Mr. Jager cleared his throat, I turned and saw as the two boys looked dejectedly down at the ground, faces red with embarrassment. “As I was saying, first off, blocking with a dagger is much harder, even though it has a hand guard. With a staff you have more of a weapon to block with, where as with this,” he held up his own blunt dagger, “you barely have anything between you and your assailant.”

I saw Irwin’s hand shoot into the air, he seriously had too many questions, Mr. Jager saw this and thought for a moment before asking, “Yes Irwin?”

“Why are we learning to fight with daggers and staves when we’re in the twenty-first century? People have guns now, shouldn’t we be learning to dodge bullets?” he asked, sounding knowledgeable, and, even though I hated the kid, he had a point. Why were we learning to fight with outdated weaponry? No one fought with close-range weapons anymore…unless, of course, you counted shotguns.

Mr. Jager smiled knowingly. “I was wondering when one of you might ask that, and the answer is simple: The Headmaster doesn’t want you students shooting at each other. So, you guys need to learn close-range fighting. This is basically your Phys. Ed. Class, so unless you guys would rather be running…” Mr. Jager trailed off and the students hushed Irwin and scrambled together their words of dismissal. “Alright, that’s what I thought, now, back to the daggers…”

_________________________________________

The day passed quickly and dinner came around at a convenient time for me--I had had to work through lunch on a homework assignment I had put off--since I was absolutely starving, although Leon didn’t believe me. Which I wouldn’t have cared about much, except for I was trying to run to the dining room in my haste for food and he proceeded to grab me around the stomach and force me to walk at a painfully slow pace.

Oh, and the rest of combat training? That was awesome. I completely annihilated Damion in dodging and parrying, he didn’t touch me once with his practice dagger. He, on the other hand, had “died” several times. Of course, “dying” was when someone managed to get their dagger near a vital organ or vein, not actually stab them.

So, during dinner, Damion was a little distant, his pride wasn’t only hurt by the fact that he had been bested by the “new guy” but also the fact that I was a girl. Guys are so predictable.

“Hey, Ray, I saw you completely smoke Dame in practice today,” Hayden commented casually and that completely set Leon off.

“Seriously! I mean, I was knocking Derek over a lot, so I got to see Ray dodging every single hit Damion threw! That was amazing, seriously, Ray, I’m proud of you.” Leon slung an arm around my shoulders and ruffled my hair with his other hand. Not that there was much hair left to mess up anyway.

“Ah, thanks, could you--” I pushed his hand away in mock annoyance, “Quit it will ya?” I said stubbornly, although I allowed his arm to stay around my shoulders. There really was something comforting in having Leon’s arm around me, with his stature it felt like I untouchable. I was surprised Leon didn’t already have a girlfriend. Hell, I was surprised that none of them had girlfriends, I would have been all over Hayden by now…if I was actually being a girl, anyway.

Leon pulled his arm away from me as the headmaster spoke, his voice ringing out over the student body, “Allow me to remind you all that tomorrow class for juniors and seniors will be canceled for preparation of the Etiquette Ball. The Ball shall commence at four in the after noon, be there with your date for the evening and make sure to be in the correct order in line, lest your introductions be ruined.” I could feel the tension well up in the room as juniors and seniors alike realized the importance of the upcoming day. “That will be all,” the headmaster proclaimed and the students continued to eat.

I on the other hand, had lost my once monstrous appetite. He had sucked the hunger right out of me so that the vacant air in my stomach could be replaced with butterflies rather than the food I had desperately needed only moments ago. I was eerily silent throughout dinner, but my three friends didn’t seem to notice, which I was thankful for and disappeared to the dorm room early while they continued to joke over dinner. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about the Ball, but it was making me incredibly nervous. Something bad was going to happen, and I could feel it.