IX. Innocent Seduction

It was test week, one of the worst times for Raven, most especially that year.

Usually, the library was near empty, a particularly appealing sight for Raven who loved time away from the rest of the school body, well.......except Hayden.

However, when test week rolled in, you'd find more students crowding the library, trying to get several weeks of information into their brain in hours, it was almost painful to watch.

The downside to the test-induced streak of studiousness was the discomfort it caused Raven. From having her safe space become.....well, not so safe, to having the books she would usually read taken, everything about test week infuriated the green-eyed girl.

The only upside to test week was that Raven was exempted from it.

At the beginning of each semester, after she represented the school in their annual international competition, she would have the principal run the curriculum for the semester by her.

He would set a comprehensive test for her based on all the materials that would be taken that semester, which would replace every other test and exam she would have been required to take.

'Special student privileges and all o' that' Raven thought, smiling.

She glanced at her watch, tapping her fingers impatiently against the dark wood of the table.

Hayden was late.

It had been days since she last saw him. The last she did, he'd had a large stack of books in front of him, focused on the splotches of blank inked letters against the paper.

Raven had never wanted to be a book more than she did then.

She didn't know what exactly it was, but since the moment she'd had with Hayden in the library the previous week, she'd found her thoughts becoming more...... provocative, for lack of a better term.

Her thoughts had become so unhinged that she wished herself to turn into a book, just because she wanted Hayden to look at her as intensely as he looked at the book, to touch her with as gentle a touch as that he used to turn the pages of the book, to be as focused on her as he did when he read!

She really had lost her idiomatic marbles.

Unfortunately for her, Hayden didn't share her perverted thoughts. In fact, Raven kept thinking to herself if what had happened in the library had been a figment of her imagination.

She wouldn't be surprised if it was, given how perverse she had become.

But then again, she could still feel the raging emotions in her when the thought came to mind, an almost tingling sensation that sent her heart into overdrive.

Feelings only Hayden could cause!

Somewhere in her, she knew she couldn't possibly be wrong, Hayden had transformed that day, into a man that knew what he wanted, how he did and had the courage to do whatever he would to get it.

He'd done a great job hiding it though. Because he'd gone back to the Hayden before that incident.

When his nose wasn't stuck in a book, he was back to his shy, dimpled smiles, with that vulnerability to him that made Raven go mad.

Her heart had already been in danger when he'd been adorable, nerve-wrackingly naive Hayden. And now, with this new side to him, this bold, equally as charming rogue, Raven hoped she hadn't signed a one way ticket to heart attack.

Admist her thoughts, Raven hadn't noticed the overly tall frame of Hayden walk in through the double doors, until he was near their table.

'Speaking of the devil-angel'

"Hey" Hayden said, smiling as he walked up to Raven.

"Hey" She answered, smiling back.

Hayden's expression turned nervous for a moment, like he was struggling to say what he needed to.

"What's it?" Raven asked.

"The thing is, I came with some of my friends. You know Hilda, Connor and the gang right?"

Raven nodded, understanding what he wanted to say.

"You don't want to ditch them right?" She asked, thoughtful before smiling at him, "and you don't want to ditch me too".

Hayden looked away from her gaze for the briefest second, he never could handle it when she teased him, it made him feel too much.

Raven had a tender smile on her face as she watched him looking flustered, it made her feel good, knowing she wasn't the only one loosing her wits over him, that she had an effect, no matter how little, on him too.

" You can bring them here" She said after a while.

Hayden looked shocked for a good minute, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"You sure? I could make them understand that I was meant to meet up with you here?"

Raven smiled at him, reassuringly.

She didn't want him to choose between ditching his friends and cancelling their plans, not when they were the only group of people he'd befriended in the school.

"It's fine. I promise", she said, feeling shy when he smiled back at her, holding her gaze boldly with an expression she'd never seen before.

" You're a pretty amazing girl, Raven Stone" He said lowly, his voice carrying a husk that she'd heard, only once before, on that day.

Nostalgia hit Raven as she watched Hayden walk towards a group of familiar faces.

She saw him say something she couldn't quite hear to them before he motioned towards the back of the library where their seat was.

Five pairs of eyes darted to where she was, and it was almost comical to see how surprised they looked before they turned back to Hayden.

After a while, the group started walking towards her.

"Hey" She said, waving at them. She tried to ignore how out of place she felt, she didn't know how to act around people so she just usually kept silent.

Thanks to that, she'd been dubbed the ice queen, an unoriginal title that had spread at the time she moved to West hill.

"Hey" The group of them answered back, still looking at her in surprise.

She saw one boy lean into Hayden, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"No wonder you've been spending so much time in the library".

His whisper wasn't as quiet as he'd hoped, because everyone heard him. However, they didn't make any comments.

From their expressions, Raven could tell they felt the same thing.

Raven could feel her skin tingle. There was an unorthodox pleasure she got from hearing Matt's words.

"I'm sure we're intruding into your space, we'll just sit someplace else", the person who had talked was Hilda.

But for words as polite as those, her expression was one that held hostility.

Raven saw the girl try to hold Hayden's arm as she spoke, to steer them, probably, to another place.

Not going to happen, Sister!

" It's just one day, there's no problem. Plus, it'll be nice to have some company for a change" Raven said, even though she was quite content when it was only herself and Hayden at the table.

Padma and Parvati, who had been staring at Raven in awe since they got to the table finally spoke, in that weird synchronized manner.

"Come on, Hilda", Padma said, tugging at Hilda's sleeves subtly. " Let's just seat here" they both said, pulling some chairs from the desk behind them to add to Raven's.

Soon, everyone was seated, with Hayden at his usual spot next to Raven, Hilda by his right.

To Raven's right was Matt, blushing, glass-eyed Matt.

And across them, the Desi twins sat, facing Raven and Hayden, and Connor facing Hilda beside them.

"The best way to cover everything here effectively is to read individually and then ask when you come across a difficult question or you see something that might possibly come out on the test tomorrow" Matt said, opening the book in front of him.

The rest of them seemed to agree with him, each person opening the book in front of them.

Raven turned to see that Hayden wasn't reading. Confused, she leaned into him, "You aren't reading?"

Hayden looked quite flustered when he looked down to see her face so close, dragging his gaze to the ground before he replied, "I'm done".

Raven smiled a little when she saw Hayden so flustered. He made her want to tease him, see the cute, heartwarming reactions he had towards her presence, see how uncomfortable he looked even while holding that intensity in his eyes.

He had been the one doing the teasing for a while, making Raven feel destructive things in the pit of her stomach. And though every second of his teasing brought her an unparalleled, unprecedented amount of ecstasy, she wanted to see him as unhinged as she'd felt.

" I had no idea you guys were friends" Padma said, looking up from her book.

With the way her twin sister looked up at the same time, Hayden could tell they hadn't been focused on reading. They'd told him how much they liked Raven before, he could guess how much torture it had been for them, experts at everything gossip, to be seated across her without asking anything.

However, the question they'd asked was a bit........

Hayden knew by now that Raven didn't hate him, and he knew she wasn't taking pity on him. But he also knew how popular she was in West hill.

If people found out that she became friends with him, he didn't know what would happen to her. The memory of how mean that girl had been to her in the Cafeteria wasn't lost on him, and then, they weren't even acquainted!.

The thought of how much more of those harsh comments could be directed at Raven because of him left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

He couldn't let her go through that, and especially, not because of him, a poorly-dressed, socially awkward guy that just happened to have feelings for a girl way above his league.

"No, we aren't really friends. Raven just lets me sit at her table occasionally" Hayden said.

Something heavy dropped in Raven's gut at his words, and for a brief moment, unnoticed but significant, she let her expression slip, hurt slipping through.

Hilda, on the other hand, looked quite smug, smiling sweetly as she flipped the pages on her book.

Connor looked at her for a moment before abruptly deciding he needed to use the washroom.

Matt kept reading, glancing once in Raven's direction before he went back to his book. The twins, thirst finally quenched, turned to their books, looking very satisfied indeed.

Hayden felt his stomach churn, a vile feeling coming over him.

He felt worthless.

If only he wasn't a loser, if only he wasn't poor....

Maybe... Just...maybe,... He wouldn't be so pathetic that he'd have to deny having as casual a relationship as friendship with the girl he felt everything for.

Next to him, he noticed that Raven was even more silent than usual, an unusually dull aura coming from where used to be, a mischievous silence.

He turned to her.

"Hey", he whispered lowly, leaning to whisper in her ears worriedly.

Her eyes turned to meet his, and Hayden didn't know what it was, but his heart tightened painfully.

He didn't know what those intense green eyes conveyed, Raven's blank expression giving him nothing to work with, but he felt an overwhelming amount of sadness coming off her and into him.

His brows furrowed even more, " You okay?"

Raven looked at Hayden, seeing the tenderness in those eyes, the worry in them......

She didn't know how to feel.

He was capable of making her feel cared for, his eyes holding a gentleness that soothed her. And in the same way, with just a few words, he could make her feel an unprecedented sadness.

Raven didn't know how to answer him, so she just kept silent, leading Hayden to worry even more.

Had his words offended her?

Hayden was besides himself with worry, afraid that he'd managed to ruin everything with his words.

He watched Raven turn away from him, expressionless as she picked up a book from the table.

Hayden didn't know what to do, not even in the slightest.

But he knew he had to do something!

Under the table, his hands twitched as he struggled to make a decision.

After a while however, he sighed inaudibly, letting his hands find Raven's under the table.

Raven gasped slightly at the feeling of warmth that surrounded her fingers, a pleasing sensation that had her heart picking up speed.

She looked around the table, wondering if anyone else was looking at Hayden's display, but they were all focused on their books.

She turned to Hayden, slowly.

The boy's eyes were glued to his book, looking innocent like he wasn't causing havoc in her!

But once she looked closely, she could see a small smile of mischief playing on his lips.

She stared at him for a few moments, unblinking, before he looked at her.

Raven couldn't cope.

Her heart quickly accelerated, picking up velocity at an alarming rate.

There was that roguish gaze again, the intensity in his eyes as he looked at her with an air of untamed wildness, but his smile remained playfully innocent, whites peeking from the curtain of fleshy lips.

What was this?....This shameless seduction?!

Raven could cry right then.

Raven looked back at this gaze that had captured the most endearing essence of the innocent Hayden and the roguish Hayden.

A gaze that would pull you in with it's innocence only to drive you mad with it's wildness when your bearings where then.

Hayden's gaze was deliberate, meaningful as he watched Raven, leaning in to whisper again.

"Are you okay?" His breath was warm, his tone low as his lips just barely grazed Raven's hair.

She shuddered.

Where did innocent Hayden go to and who brought in this master of innocent seduction?.

Raven was stunned for a moment, before she nodded, her face flaming.

As she turned to her book in an attempt to avoid his dangerous gaze, she thought he heard Hayden chuckle a little.

And just like that, she felt a smile creep across her lips.

A raven smile.

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