Lance. She was numb with rage at him for nominating her from homecoming queen. The
thought made her stomach boil. She finally found him, sitting with the usual crowd. Raven
felt a triumphant smirk cross her features. Well his usual crowd, minus Amber. Ever since
the fall of her reign as the future Mrs. Bass, she had gone AWOL. Raven could care less
but she guessed Amber had taken this opportunity of sudden misery to shop away her
woes.
She glanced at Lance, who was sitting on the side of table that was facing her. She felt
more enraged at the site of his expression, which was completely relaxed, like the earlier
broadcast had never happened.
The whole table was roaring with laughter at a joke Chris had said but as soon as Raven
approached the table, with a pure tempestuous look on her face, everyone stopped, as if
an unknown force had pulled the plug to their voices. A sly smirk appeared on Justin's face
but went unnoticed.
Raven cleared her throat, glaring at Lance. Lance gave a nervous chuckle and arose from
his seat.
"Can you guys excuse me for a minute?" he apologetically announced. Everyone nodded
their heads in response, speechless that the Angel of Death would conduct such a flagrant
exploit by daring to show her face among the princes and princesses of the school.
Lance walked over to Raven and she immediately latched onto his arm and dragged him
out the cafeteria door, down the deserted hallway and out the front door, to the parking
lot. She wanted to make sure no one would interrupt on their soon-to-be conversation.
"What the hell are you trying to pull?! Do you think this is some kind of game?!" Raven
screeched as soon as they had come to a stop standing behind Lance's car.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lance demanded, irritated. Raven fixed another
ruthless gaze on him. If looks could kill, Lance would have no doubt been a dead man
walking.
"Damnit Lance! I don't have time for this! WHY did you nominate ME for
HOMECOMING QUEEN!?" Raven shouted, her patience clearly vanished. Lance stared
at her, the confusion and annoyance replaced with realization.
He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair and if they had been in another situation,
Raven wouldn't have scolded herself for becoming weak in the knees and impulsively
kissed him. But right now, she was way past mad at him; more like beyond furious.
"Oh. That", he simply replied. Raven bit down on her bottom lip, feeling that she could
tear her hair out, strand by strand.
"Oh. That", she mocked, in an overly clueless voice. "Yes, that. What other nomination
did you think I was talking about; Girl's Name Who Most Sounds Like A Bird?!" she
cried, throwing her hands up in frustration.
Lance cracked a half-smile, then turned serious once again.
"Baby, I swear to you, I wasn't the one that nominated you. I know how you don't like
school dances that much, so give me one good reason why I'd nominate you for something
you absolutely despise?" Lance argued.
The raging fire in her eyes seemed to die down to a toasty flame, but nevertheless, she still
was somewhat angry with him. Why did he feel the need to flaunt her like some trophy?
She hated that guys like that and most of the popular guys were known for boasting the
beauty of their cheerleader girlfriends; competing with each other like it was all one, big,
never-ending contest. She did not want to be another one of Lance's "accomplishments" or
prize on the shelf.
She crossed her arms over her chest, looking squarely at him as if he was a pebble in her
shoe.
"I don't know, you tell me", she icily snapped.
"I didn't fuckin nominate you! Can't you get it through your stubborn head?! Don't you
trust me not to do something like that?" Lance questioned. Raven shrugged. She did trust
him but...sometimes didn't trust herself. Lance shook his head, his eyes boring holes into
her face.
"Or wait, better yet YOU don't trust yourself. You're thinking that what I feel for you is
too good to be true, so you're looking for a flaw; anything that'll give you an opportunity
to have a logical reason to get out of the relationship while you can. So you can end it
before you get hurt", Lance reasoned, with a penetrating stare.
Raven stood there, speechless.
{Was it really what I had been truly thinking, all along? Did I know I had a crush on him,
which caused me to continuously push him away? I was afraid that if I let him in, I would
never be able to let him go? Was I afraid to fall in love with him because I thought that
one way or another, I'd eventually get hurt?}
She pondered the thought a little more and the more she thought about it, the more it
made sense. Trusting Lance would be like walking in the dark, blindfolded. You had no
idea what to expect. Her arms flopped to her sides. Yet again, he had seemed to break the
shell she had so worked so hardly to build.
Raven rolled her eyes.
"Whatever Lance. All I know is, if you weren't the one who nominated me, like you claim,
then who the hell did?"
*~*~*~*
The question still lingered in his mind as Lance strolled down the hallway to his next class,
advanced chemistry. He walked past the crowds of people, saying an occasional hello or
what's up to an admirer but not really paying attention to what was going on around him.
Who did nominate Raven? And why?
He was about to walk past Mr. Ryder's empty english class room, when a familiar voice
stopped him. He stood beside the doorframe, out of plain sight, secretly listening to the
conversation taking place.
"Here's the thirty I owe you for getting my nomination for that freak in the final running
for queen", a male voice replied.
A girl's voice giggled. Lance recognized the owner of the voice as the bubbly brunette
named Stacey Hunter, the senior class president.
{Stacey's the class president; in charge of all the social events. Of course she'd be the first
person to run to about homecoming nominations}, Lance thought.
"Oh, it was no problem. But can I ask why you wanted to nominate her in the first place?"
Stacey curiously asked. The male voice laughed.
"You know about the little bet between Lance and I, right?"
"Yeah", Stacey replied.
"Well, I could already tell that loser would get all upset about her nomination. So, of
course she'd think Lance had been the one who nominated her and she'd get all pissed off,
leaving Lance girlfriendless, dateless and I the new owner of his Benz", the guy smugly
explained.
Lance felt his blood begin to boil with rage at the realization of who the guy in the
classroom was. Stacey gave another giggle.
"That's brilliant."
"Yeah, what would you expect from a guy like me?" he arrogantly replied.
"Nothing less", Stacey answered, clearly ready to swoon at being in the presence of one of
the hottest and most popular guys in the school.
"I'd better get going. Class, you know."
"Ok. I'll see ya around", Stacey replied with disappointment.
"Yeah. Thanks again for all your help, Stace", he called over his shoulder. He sauntered
out of the classroom and was immediately greeted by the furious face of Lance.
"JUSTIN? What the fuck is your problem?!"
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