Of Misdemeanors and ***

I was grinning to myself, picturing the look on Irwin’s face when I had gotten past the trapdoors first. Walking with Damion, Leon and Hayden as they joked loudly with one another was calming for me. It made everything seem normal for me, like I belonged there, even if just to listen to them act the way they did.

“What’s so funny?” Hayden asked from behind me, breaking away from the other two.

“Hmm? Oh nothing. Just thinking about how awesome I am. And how Irwin’s glasses almost melted off of his face in an indignant rage when I figured out the initials thing first,” I replied with a laugh. The content smile on my lips said otherwise, but I erased it and sent him a sheepish chuckle. He didn’t need to know I was reveling in the simplicity of existing around him.

“Right,” Hayden sounded unconvinced, but didn’t pursue the topic. His eyes flicking down the hall, he caught sight of something that made him grin. Wheeling backward away from me, he nudged Damion hard in the ribs, causing him to glare. Damion’s anger was short-lived, since he too looked down the hall and grinned, slapping Leon’s arm and nodding forward. Leon, in the middle of explaining something, abandoned the task and followed the other two boys’ gazes. A lazy, cat-like grin crept onto his face. I narrowed my eyes and whipped around to see what they thought was so funny.

As I did so, it was Leon’s voice that reached across the hall in a column shaking boom, “Aaron, run! It’s Hitler! He’s back from the dead!” His voice was a convincing shriek of alarm.

Standing almost directly in front of me was an average looking boy looking to be the same age as me, if not a year or so younger. Tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. He blinked at Leon who was gesturing for him to turn and run screaming down the hall. His eyes flicked to Damion and Hayden who were howling with laughter. And then his gaze landed on me, then, more specifically, to the black blob of my remaining Hitler mustache just beneath my nose. A lopsided smile cracked across his features. “Good one,” he said, chuckling appreciatively as he continued past me, my face redder than a beet. I couldn't even bring myself to say anything to the boy who had gone past me. The only thing I could manage to think of were numerous swear words and there was only one person I wanted to direct them at.

“Leon…” I trailed off, my voice hovering lethally at a low volume.

“Raven…?” he responded, stifling his laughing long enough to stare at my back. “No hard feelings…right?” Leon inquired, his tone uncertain, his gaze fleeting backward for an escape route, in case I sprang on him like an angry cat. Which was tempting. But I refrained.

“Just curious…how tall are you?”

He hesitated. “Uh, six foot two and a half…” he replied, waited a moment then added tentatively, “Why do you ask…?”

“Just wondering how tall your coffin would have to be. ‘Cause I’m going to kill you,” I snarled, whipping around and charging at him. But he was already sprinting in the opposite direction. Hayden’s arm was outstretched to stop me, I ducked under the barrier and shoved his arm up and away from me, my eyes set on Leon’s retreating form. Damion’s arms caught me around the waist after only a few steps in my desired direction.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me go,” I snapped without looking at him, leaning away, ready to sprint once he released me.

“Well. Are you going to play nice?” Damion retorted in a mocking tone that made me want to punch him. Since I wasn’t facing him, however, I settled for a foot stomp which left him howling with pain, releasing me in the process. I launched myself forward, catching sight of Leon retreating around a corner. I would have some catching up to do, but he was big and not so aerodynamic as me. He had endurance for running, but I could move so much faster than him it didn’t even matter, once I caught up it didn’t matter how long he ran ‘cause I would be taking him out.

____________________________

Hayden’s Point of View

I sighed audibly. Dame was sitting on the ground nursing his foot with nimble fingers. “Looks like they’re gone,” I commented casually, though I hadn’t put much of an effort into trying to stop them. Raven could use the exercise anyhow.

“Yeah. I wonder how far they’ll get before one of them gives up,” Dame said, lurching to his feet again.

I shrugged. “Hard to tell.” I considered the likelihood of Raven giving up, which inadvertently resulted in a snort of incredulity. “Lee will probably end up losing that battle,” I decided, giving Dame a sideways glance.

A thin smile crept onto his face. “Yeah, probably.”

A tense silence passed between us, springing me out of my good mood. “Well…see you tomorrow,” I offered offhandedly.

“Yeah,” Dame replied, “see you.” He lifted his hand once in a wave and disappeared into his room, closing the door without looking back at me.

I frowned to myself, shifting toward my own room and turning the doorknob with exaggerated slowness as I thought. Dame was still acting a little strangely. There was no easiness to hanging out with him anymore. He didn’t joke as much, he brooded when there was a silence to fill with thoughts, initiating a friendly punching match with him just felt out of the question. But there were bright moments when it felt like he was reverting back to his old self. I could only hope that he’d snap out of his sullen infatuation with Raven. Anyone could have spotted it from a mile away. Raven was the clueless beauty, and Dame was the unfortunately persistent love struck idiot. The fact that she had obviously showed no interest in him whatsoever didn’t seem to deter him.

Most of me wanted him to forget about Raven, to treat her like he had before he knew that she was a girl, just like any other idiotic friend. I wanted him to be like he always had been since I had known him, I wanted him to be my best friend again. Not the brooding little bitch that he insisted on being. Then there was the other half of me that felt the need to compete with him. He wanted Raven; I wanted Raven, only one of us could end up winning. And best friend or not, I wasn’t going to just sit on my thumb and spin while he walked over me.

With a scowl, I shoved the door open and walked inside. I was tired from classes, and my bleak thought process hadn’t done anything to lighten my exhaustion. Without flicking the light on, I crashed onto the nearest bed, vaguely aware that Raven’s bed was the one closest to the door.

__________________________

Raven’s Point Of View

Leon shoved me against a wall, pinning my arm behind my back. “You douche!” I exclaimed fervently.

“Okay. Say ‘uncle’ and I’ll let you up and forgive you for that attempted nut shot,” Leon laughed in my ear.

I couldn’t believe I had let the monstrous boy get me pinned so easily. I knew the repercussions of my allowing of such a thing to happen. Which meant that I wasn’t going to get free until I appeased him. Or, of course, I suddenly found the strength of a she-hulk and used it against him. However, I could only think of a single thing that I wanted to tell him, and I doubted that I’d win my freedom by saying it. I thrashed my shoulders all of three seconds, got away from the wall briefly and then was slammed back against it. “Oww!” I cried out, anger edging my voice. “I will not say uncle. And I’m definitely not sorry I tried to kick you,” I snarled in frustration.

“Well you did just technically say ‘uncle’…” Leon trailed off, laughing again and then leaning away from me, jerking backward when I spun to swing at him with a closed fist. He was right though, I had said the single damn word he had asked me to. “Easy there, Tiger,” Leon taunted, an obnoxiously superior glint in his eyes. All the fury and irritation drained from my expression when I stared at him then. The patronizing turn of his mouth and the taunting set of his shoulders reminded me so much of Raymond, that I completely forgot that I had recently been trying to land a hit on Leon’s jaw.

Only when his delight died away and a frown overtook his expression, did I realize I had stared at him for far too long. “What’s up, Raven?” he asked in a perplexed tone.

Oh. Nothing, you just reminded me of my dead brother. Yeah, that was exactly what I wanted to tell him. I wiped the startled look from my face and managed to dredge a smile from somewhere. “Nothing. I just remembered something. It’s getting late, eh? We should probably head back to the dorms, ya know?” My tone was exactly how I wanted it to sound, indifferent, normal, without any breaks or uneasiness.

“Yeah. Okay, sure.” Leon hesitated, giving me a final once over as if looking for a tear in my sudden guarded expression then he grinned at me, seemingly believing my change of tone. Instantly, he shoved me against the wall with one of his broad shoulders, startling a cry of surprise from me. “Raceyouthere!” he called over his shoulder, combining the three words into one giant mess of syllables.

“Cheater!” I called after him, laughing as I jogged slightly in a vacant attempt to keep up with him. He disappeared around the corner and I stumbled to a heavy-footed trudge, shaking my head with a indistinguishable smile on my lips. That guy had boundless energy, it was ridiculous. I stared at the ground as I walked, wondering silently what sort of mischief my friends and I could get into over the upcoming weekend.

Leon’s head suddenly poked from around the corner again, his expression clearly vexed. “You know Raven…” he called from down the hall, “there really isn’t much point to a race if you’re not gonna run.”

I grinned at him. “Well, you were running. So technically it was a race, and if you would have kept running you definitely would have won,” I pointed out logically.

He scowled at me. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Leon came around the corner again, waiting for me to fall in step beside him. His head lifted abruptly, and when I glanced at him I saw his mood brighten inexplicably. “Oh! Hey, guess what?” he turned his attention on me, as if expecting me to actually take a guess at what he was thinking.

“Oh wait, I bet I know this…you’re finally coming out of the closet? Right? I knew you had some hidden homosexual tendencies--I mean I know every guy is concerned about his physical fitness, but I saw how you looked at that Shake Weight commercial and I must tell you I was not--”

Leon clapped a hand over my mouth, ceasing my speaking endeavor. “Har, har,” he deadpanned, although a smirk was still curled onto his mouth. “First of all, that commercial is hilarious, who wouldn’t want to watch it? Second of all, I don’t think that commercial is about being gay whatsoever. Third of all, you’re wrong, I’m not coming out of the closet.”

I listened to his little speech and then promptly stuck my tongue out and drooled all over his palm. Leon shouted and jerked his hand away from me, instantly wiping the spit on my shoulder with a grimace. “That was sick,” he muttered woefully.

“Well next time maybe you should think twice before you try and shut me up,” I replied smugly, finding my tactic rather effective, and not “sick” as he so gracefully put it. “What were you going to say by the way?” I steered the conversation backward with ease.

“Oh, yeah.” His face lit up again. “My sister is gonna start attending Shadowstep soon.” The words burst out of him so fast that I was shocked I even caught the general idea of what he was saying.

I paused and gave him a sideways glance. “Wait…you have a sister?”

Leon chuckled. “Yeah, guess I forgot to mention that at some point, huh?”

“Well how old is she?” I asked impatiently eager to gain details about a secret sibling that I hadn’t been informed of.

“Easy there captain lesbo. I know you’re eager to find a life partner, but she’s, unfortunately straight,” Leon teased, dodging away from me when I moved to ram him with my shoulder. “Seriously though? She’s sixteen,” he offered with a chuckle.

I nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the information. So she was only two years younger than Leon. Which meant I most likely wouldn’t be seeing her around too often. Unless she was in a remedial mathematics class, of course. “I’d like to meet her sometime,” I said after a seemingly long, contemplative silence. I was curious to see what any sibling of Leon’s would be like; exactly like him physically and mentally; his polar opposite? I could practically picture a hulked out mini version of Leon with long hair walking around. Somehow I managed to suppress the giggle that had built up in the back of my throat.

Leon smiled briefly. “Yeah. I’ll introduce you when she gets here,” he replied.

Glancing up from the floor, I realized we had arrived at the hall that had both of our rooms. It was strange to think that I was the only girl that was obligated to go to the boys dormitory wing every single night. Pushing that thought aside, my eyes fell to the crack just beneath the door where a dim light should have been shining. Instead, it was completely dark. Which could only mean that Hayden had gone to sleep while I had been gone.

I muttered a good night to Leon and watched as he retreated into his own dorm room, banging the door open loud enough to warrant a shout of protest from Damion. Smiling dimly, I turned the doorknob and crept into the room as silently as I could, closing the door soundlessly behind me. Everything was shapeless shadows and warped silhouettes. Biting my lip in concentration, I stalked over to my bed without turning on the light. I could hear the sounds of Hayden’s soft breathing throughout the room. Which, in all honesty, was kind of creeping me out as the only sound in the room. I felt like I should have been planning to murder him in his sleep. I considered holding a pillow over his face, just to see how long it took him to react; deciding against it when I visualized a violent response to my attempt at smothering him.

I kicked off my shoes and nudged them out of my path before heading toward my bed again. One of my palms was pressed against the bedspread in a half-crawl when I suddenly halted. I drew in a nearly inaudible gasp, recognizing the silhouette of a hunched form collapsed on top of my bed. My face flushed a shade of inevitable red as I threw myself backwards, suddenly hyper-aware of how loud Hayden’s breathing seemed to be at that proximity.

Calm down, I ordered myself, silently willing my heart to stop throbbing so insanely inside my chest. So there was an extremely hot guy in my bed who I might have crawled on top of if I wasn’t incredibly observant. That wasn’t a big deal, right? It was a normal occurrence I was almost certain. Everyone had to deal with something like this at some point right? Right. I swallowed past the lump in my throat and considered what I would do.

There was the obvious and oddly unappealing thing I could do: I could wake him up and ask him to move. Talk about awkward on both sides there. Another option, but highly unlikely to happen, was that I could share the bed with him. Which, wouldn’t even happen in his dreams let alone in reality. The last thing I could think of to do, was to simply take his bed for the night. It was the most innocent and non-confrontational thing I could think of.

I inched around the foot of my bed, glancing nervously at the lump that I knew was Hayden. Then I froze. He hadn’t even gotten under the covers, I noticed absently. I frowned as it occurred to me that he hadn’t even taken off his shoes before collapsing on a bed that didn’t even belong to him. More importantly, one of his sneaker-clad feet had made its way on to the bedspread and left a darker streak among the shadowed cover. My lips twitched in a suppressed urge to yell at him for his completely thoughtless actions.

Instead, I willed my mouth to stay shut and continued my trek toward Hayden’s bed. I sat on the edge of the bed nervously, my mouth twisted into an uncertain frown. I glanced back at my own bed, wishing that Hayden wasn’t in such a deep sleep that he hadn’t even stirred when I had entered the room. Taking a breath to steady myself, I crawled closer to the center of the bed, flung the covers back and rolled into the center, flinging the blankets back over myself. I went completely still as the smells washed over me. Mostly, I smelled laundry detergent, the faint stench of body odor, some spicy smell that might have been Hayden’s deodorant or aftershave. There was an overlying stench that any boy on the planet managed to pull off, slightly peppered with the unique scent of Hayden himself; which was a bizarre mixture of his hair-care products and deodorant.

Trying not to think about the smell of Hayden invading my nostrils, I took shallow breaths as if to take in as little of the scents as possible. I rolled in the opposite direction of my own bed, my face red with embarrassment as my mind wandered to how Hayden’s scent wasn’t that bad.

Distracting? Yes.

Unpleasant? Far from it.

I closed my eyes eventually, though I couldn’t have been sure how long I laid awake in Hayden’s bed, waiting for him to spring awake and demand why I had invaded his bed. I had several come backs placing the blame entirely on him. However, I didn’t seem to need any of them, since I fell asleep at some point and didn’t wake up until morning came around.

I woke up before Hayden, rolling to one side and gazing over at my own bed as I registered why exactly I was sleeping in a different bed. Pushing past the sleepy fog engulfing my mind, I rolled out of bed and stalked silently over to the bathroom. I showered, shaved, put on deodorant, brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, took an extra moment to triumphantly scrub away the last persistent smudges of my Sharpie mustache and then I emerged from the bathroom again. Hayden still hadn't woken up, even as the alarm clock shrieked insistently beside his head. I strolled over and hit the "snooze" button and silenced the mechanical abomination. Hayden didn't even twitch, his face was buried in my pillow, the covers were strewn over one side of the bed, only half covering his legs and nothing else. However, he had evidently taken his shoes off at some point, leaving them half-way beneath the bed.

Which led me to my newest conclusion: boys couldn't stay cleanly unless they made a conscious effort.

Gingerly, I used my thumb and forefinger to pinch Hayden's nose shut. He twitched slightly, his eyebrows lowering thoughtfully. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. His eyes snapped open and focused on me. Hayden lurched into a seated position and smacked my hand away at the same time. "Bitch," he gasped, putting his breathing pattern back in order. "What was that for?"

I tried to keep my laugh passive, but it came out in a rushed cackle. "Next time stay out of my bed," I told him by way of explanation.

Hayden frowned in thought, then glanced to the side at his own bed. "Oh. Sorry," he muttered, climbing out of my bed.

"You owe me clean sheets," I grumbled at him on his way to the bathroom.

He waved me off and slammed the bathroom door in my face.

I smiled to myself as I stared at the black screen of the TV stuffed into the corner of the room. Beneath it sat an Xbox 360 on a shelf where it seemed to be gathering dust. I couldn't remember any point in time when I had seen the TV being used. I frowned and wandered over to the TV, investigating whether or not the power button worked. The blank screen blinked to life, revealing a newscaster with orderly hair and a nice suit. He was smiling too wide and talking too slowly, but I left the station where it was, staring at the picture hovering above the man's head. It showed an image of a dingy looking alley way where a discarded gun lay beside a dumpster. Above the image was a heading that read: GANG ACTIVITY AT ITS PEAK.

I snorted. Gang activity was always on the news. They were always bitching about three things; a war somewhere, gang activity, or something involving the economy. They really needed to start finding new material.

Hayden emerged from the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel as he walked. "TV? What the hell are you watching that for?" he inquired absently.

He hurtled the towel at me and I managed to catch it in a vice grip against my chest. "I dunno," I responded, flicking the TV off again and dropping the soaked towel onto Hayden's bed. "You ready?" I asked, gesturing toward the door.

He tugged a shirt over his head and applied some deodorant and then nodded. "Yep. Let's get outta here." Hayden stuffed his feet into some shoes and yanked the door open before entering the hallway without waiting for me. I scrambled after him and pulled the door shut on my way out.