Injecting Music Into Your Veins

Light leaked through the shutters, and my eyes fluttered open. Last night, I somehow managed to drag myself out of the bathroom, and cover my bare body with a jacket I found on the ground,

I looked to the tiny alarm clock that lie on the floor.

"Fuck!"
I'm gonna be late for the first day of school. Again.

After undergarments were applied, I ran over to the thin pile of clothes in the corner of the room and yanked out black skinnies, and a Misfit's t-shirt. I didn't seem to blink as I shoved the clothes onto my, now aching, body.

I slipped my converse on, and didn't bother to finish lacing them before I grabbed my sketch book, stuffed it in my messenger bag, and ran toward the door.

Wait! I yelled at myself the second my fingertips touched the doorknob.

I ran back into the bathroom. I got to my knees and lifted a loose tile, revealing the small black cross my mum gave me. A tear trickled down my cheek as I picked it up. I put it on, tucked it under my shirt, and glanced at myself in the mirror once more. My green eyes had black circles all around them. I look like shit. I look dead. I feel dead.

I grabbed my jacket and left.

Alex was knocked out on the couch when I passed him, stray whiskey bottles covering the room. I sighed and opened the front door.

The icy wind struck my pale face, and I made my way to school.

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My gay friend. My only friend. My best friend, I guess. Danny was the only one smiling at me when I walked into the classroom. I gave him a weak smile back,

"Nice way to start the year, Raven."
The teachers love mocking the freaky kids. I walked to the back of the room, sat next to Danny, and hell began.

Lunch finally came around, and when I sat down with no food, Danny gave me one of his famous "looks".

"I don't feel good." Which is true. I feel like if anything goes near my stomach, much less in it, I am going to explode massive quantities of blood.

"You look tired, Raven." he frowned.

Danny had huge, brown, puppy-dog eyes and shaggy black hair. Any girl should be attracted to him. Any girl decides to call him a fag.
I managed to fake a smile.

"I was up all night making a plan to murder the president, and be the worlds' next greatest dictator."

He laughed, so I figured that my lie worked. Danny knows Alex beats me. Well, he knew. He figured it out on his own. I told him a few months ago that he's stopped.

"So, have your eyes on any hott guys this summer?" He batted his eyelashes, and I couldn't help but grin.

"You were with me the whole time asshole. And anyway, you're the one with the 'major flirting skills' you talk about so much." I wasn't ready to tell him about the boy I saw last night.

"Well, actually I haven't been able to put my skills to work yet. If there was a good-looking gay dude within a 50-mile radius, he would already be under my trance, babe." He made his 'I can be sassy' face, like he does when he's serious. I laughed again.

"But--"

I stopped. I froze. It was like my entire brain was completely erased. My heart was the only thing attached to me that was moving.

"Hello? Earth to Raven?" Danny waved his hand in front of my face. I still didn't move. I tried, but gravity wouldn't let me.

"What the hell are you looking at woman?!" He put his head in the same position as mine to try and catch what I was seeing. The amazing and terrifying thing I was seeing.

It was him. Hazel eyes and all. He was with four other guys. Weird ones. I had never seen any of them before.

"Raven!" Danny's voice whined in my ear.

"I--I--him...saw him." I croaked it out as best as my tongue would let me.

"Who?!" He bumped his head into mine, knocking me out of my stiff position. My eyes lingered on him for another moment before I spoke.

"That...that boy with the black hair, was on the ground outside the club last night." I pointed.

Danny squinted, and suddenly his eyes grew wider than I had ever seen them get before.

The five guys were in the farthest corner of the lunchroom. One had an enormous sandy-colored afro, the one next to him had a lip ring and bug blue eyes. Then sat Hazel-Eyes, and next to him was a twiggy boy with black and white rimmed glasses. The fifth one was doing something weird--he looked like he was demonstrating how to ride a horse or something--he looked like a puppy, and had a lip and nose ring. One strange-ass group.

"Who are they!?" Danny asked, clearly excited.

"I don--"

"He's so cute!" His cheeks turned pink, and I realized that he was looking at the Horse-Impersonator.

"Oh, Jesus Danny!" I punched his arm and laughed.

"What?" He looks like... a puppy."

I laughed out loud. LOUDLY.

Horse-Impersonator looked up,and saw Danny and I staring. I froze again.

"Shit, Raven!" He looked away quickly, mumbling something about "how cute puppies look in the form of humans"...And I couldn't seem to move.

Horse-Impersonator pointed in my direction with a hug grin, and the four weird-ones turned around simultaneously. I am sure I died on the inside right then.

The boy with the hazel eyes looked shocked when he saw me. I didn't know what to do.

The bell rang. I ran.I didn't feel my feet as they moved. I didn't look back.