Cold Blooded Prologue

Instructions

Prologue: I rolled my eyes as the teacher kept babbling about why I really need to know the pythagorean theorem (whatever that is). My best friend was doodling in her notebook and I was staring at a wall. I don't remember the thoughts in my mind, but it was probably something like “oh wow, this wall is very interesting,” or “I’m hungry.” I don’t know. But I do know that the teacher was actively calling my name. “Raven, Raven Hope. Earth to Raven,” Ms. Kovsky repeated. I slowly turned my head to her and shrugged. Ms. Kovsky sighed and asked a quiet kid. She answered immediately, as if she didn’t want to speak. She probably didn’t. “Raven!” My best friend whisper-yelled in my ear. “Robin, you have to stop doing that.” Raven and Robin. Both birds. We have been called sisters before, but we aren’t. We met in the second grade and have been friends ever since. Now we are both stuck in tenth grade learning about geometry and random numbers that make zero sense. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you want to go to my house after school? It’s a three-day weekend!” She seemed excited about it. “Sure. I’ll walk home with you, if my parents say yes.” What I didn’t say was that my parents were out of town and I was stuck with my older brother. I’m sure he wouldn’t care, though. Hopefully. I could do with some girl time. Robin excitedly wiggled in her seat for the rest of the class. The bell rang, and I practically ran out of class to my last period, band. I play the clarinet, but I also play the flute, saxophone, and various percussion instruments. Most of them were just extras I learned on my own, my main one was clarinet. I also play guitar, but just barely. We had just gotten through playing “As Rain Falls” for our assessment, when someone barged through the double doors. He was breathing heavily and was sweating. It was Mr. Brown, who teaches ninth grade English. I had him for a teacher; great class. “We need to evacuate! Immediately!” Mr. Brown yelled to my band director. She nodded and told us to leave our stuff and go to our designated spot for evacuations. We all weren’t worried about it, but Mr. Brown was. He ran outside and we quietly followed him. There were no other classes in the hallway. When we got outside, every class was out there and we were the last ones. “Roll call!” Mrs. Chai, my band director, yelled. She called us one by one, and everyone was there. We sat out there for a good twenty minutes, waiting for something to happen. Finally our principal came out of nowhere and told us to go back inside. He didn’t tell us what happened. We resumed eighth period like usual, and we dismissed like usual. It was only when I was waiting for Robin that something was off. She came from a different direction than she usually does, and I didn’t think much about it until I saw the person next to her. I gasped, and she snapped her gaze to me and gave me her “sorry” face.