Chapter Three: Raven's Step

Chapter Three:

Raven's Step

"Who are you texting?" Raven asks Valerie while trying to take a sneak peek of her phone.

“Is he the one?” Raven teases Valerie by lightly hitting her shoulder with hers.

“Whut whu?” Valerie is taken aback by the sudden touch more than the question.

“ The one who winked a t you yesterday when we were walking down the hall!” Raven exclaims.

“I knew he was different and would definitely catch your eye, ahh at last you have finally found someone. I know you are texting him!” Raven continues to tease Valerie

"Oh no, it’z just sum relative dat am talkin wid, and he wynked at yuu nat meh haha", Valerie said with her usual French accent while keeping her phone aside. The gesture seemed more like she was trying to hide her phone since she didn’t want Raven to know what’s actually is going on.

"Relatives, hmm sure; wonder if I got any..heh heh" Raven sighs as she ignores what Valerie commented about the guy. Deep within it saddened Raven that she didn’t have any relatives, it was kinda oddball since all the other kids seemed to have one or another relative, good or bad ones and they’d talk bout it but when it’d come to Raven she always said it was cool not to have any. She could have faked it but Raven wasn’t that kind of person.

"You ‘ave your sista, she is enuf if yuu ask mi", said Valerie in assurance while seizing the gap between them and making eye contact.

"Otherwise both of us are much more alike, right?" Raven chuckled.

"In whish sense?" Valerie winked without breaking the contact.

"You don't know about your parents and I never get to see my parents" Raven stated the fact with a pinch of disappointment in her eyes. Raven didn’t like the fact that her parents were never around but if they had been then she wouldn’t have all this freedom in the world.

For a moment Raven imagined what if her parents were around? Would they have allowed her to go? Would she throw a tantrum after she would refuse to let her go? It would have felt nice to be able to fight with her parents.

"Let'si make de most out of this trip then!" Valerie marked and let Raven out of the building tension not that Raven hadn’t noticed. Valerie would always try to build up some tension between them, Raven didn’t know if it was intentional or that’s what friends do when they are being a tease to the other.

"Aight, aight", Raven sighed with relief, it felt more like she didn’t want to drag the topic any further.

"So where ah we going", Valerie asked in a cheerful tone.

"I don't know yet", Raven said while shrugging her shoulders a little.

"But yu... haw ah we going?" Valerie asked, perplexed.

"They are going to get us picked up by their staff since they know the best, it’s easy to get lost near the mountains since all of them look alike," Raven stated.

"They?" Valerie asked with a confused look on her face, and slightly drained cheerfulness.

"You know, the people" Raven air quoted.

"De people" Valerie mimicked Raven & rolled her eyes as she got up from the bed.

"Where are you going?!" Raven asked.

"We stayed up ol night chatting and paking, und that is eyur question?" Valerie raised her eyebrows with half a smirk.

"I forgot you were also a caffeine addict", Raven rolled her eyes.

“Ahh, gosh why are you so much like my sister, it hurts my eyes!” Raven said in a dramatic tone as she acts to faint on the bed.

"It's joost som koffee", Valerie stated while holding onto the coffee mug that was on the table since she last had one.

"We are leaving in 15", Raven marked “get your ass with the koffee here by then.”

"I'll get yu som too, miss kool" Valerie chuckled and left.

“Also, don’t mish me much while am gawnne” Valerie’s voice faded as she walked further away.

“I don't understand how Valerie can stand caffeine in her system every day, I mean Starbucks is fine for me once in three days maybe but still. Well, I wonder whom Valerie was texting, I haven't seen her text anyone in a long time. But I wouldn’t know for sure, she has rather been secretive lately. It feels odd.”

Raven lay flat on Valerie's bed in a better pose than before and stared at the neon-starred ceiling as she gave into her thoughts.

For once the thought of checking Valerie's phone did cross her mind but, friends trust each other right? Also Raven did not want to go on a guilt trip for the sake of their friendship after all Valerie is the only one who has always been there for her no matter what, no questions asked. It might scar their friendship if she did, even if Valerie didn’t find it out now or eventually.

The ceiling fades in front of Raven’s eyes, she couldn’t think anymore or maybe she was thinking too many thoughts at once to focus onto just one. She was falling into a deep slumber.

“Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit?” Raven asks herself for permission. But before she could utter another word, she was knocked out on sweet Valerie’s bed. The taste of the morning coffee was sweet, she feels it as the last taste on her taste buds...

-- vehicle engine roars loudly--

Raven tries to open her eyes which felt as if they were glued shut. The roar of the engine was loud enough to wake her up this time, almost with a startle or more of a shock.

Her eyes - now half open, the last thing she remembers was falling asleep in Valerie’s room after she went to get her another cup of coffee.

"Wh..where are we goin?" Raven attempts to wake herself up & asks Valerie - who was now on the wheel.

"The kampz", Valerie answers confidently without taking her eyes off the road.

"But...bu.. when did we even leave?" Raven asks in confusion while rubbing her eyes, still feeling a little drowsy, she couldn’t figure out why.

"Yu don'te ‘emember? Yu fell asleep afta we gout into the jeep" Valerie stated with her eyes fixed on the road.

“Huh? What are you talking about? Ahh my head” Raven questioned again as she held her head and closed her eyes thinking the pain would disappear if she blinks.

“I must have slept too much, my head hurts,” she thinks to herself, “but why can I not remember anything?” weird she thought to herself.

“And how do you even know the directions?" Raven - now yawning and stretching her arms a bit - preparing herself for what’s ahead.

"uff...What is w’ong with yuu garl? I see the caffeine gout to yu head. Remembe yu gout a kal fom the kamp und they sent wus the jeep; but the driva dropped it off cauze he doesn’t know the way and then the kamp emailed yu diections!??" Valerie tries to help Raven recall what exactly happened - or what she wanted Raven to believe had happened.

"Oh, heh...is that so? Is that okay though?" Raven answers, still unsure about what is going on; she couldn’t put the picture together in her head - it was as if the pieces of the picture didn’t even exist to begin with.

“Whut do yu mean? It is alright!! I am driving perfectly faine and vie even hafe the map, sou vie jest follow it”, Valerie replies again with complete confidence.

“Well, if you say so...”, there was a slight disagreement in her tone this time.

**Silence**

The more confident Valerie sounded - the less confident Raven became with each word she swallowed. It was unbelievable what had happened to Raven. But since Valerie was her best friend she couldn’t put a doubt on her, could she?

"Where's my phone?" Raven asks while emptying her pockets.

Chapstick, handkerchief, nothing, nothing...

"It wus wit yu, I ‘ave no idea", Valerie answers with a cold expression.

Raven tries to look for her phone every possible place, in her bag, front deck, the back-seat. Unable to find it anywhere on board she throws her hands up in the air. It wasn’t that she was addicted to her phone or something but she wanted to check how guilty she made Roxie feel after what happened.

"Urgh!! Nevermind, I'll take another nap my head hurts so much; you keep your eyes on the road aight" Raven smirks while looking the other way since Valerie wasn’t really in a mood to check on Raven.

“How can I be so careless, where did I keep it? Why can’t I remember?” She murmurs to herself as she prepares herself to take another nap or pretend to at least. At this point she wanted to avoid starting any other conversation with Valerie in any possible way.

"Yus, Madame" Valerie let out a chuckle.

**Awkward silence**

"Btw yu can't ead a map" Valerie tried to piss Raven.

"Even if I could, now I wouldn't; do it yourself " Raven responds annoyed while closing her eyes shut for another nap. She wished she wouldn’t wake up elsewhere this time.

It felt as if the journey to the camp would be a long way to go, Raven could feel the heat of the scorching sun, it would be summer soon. She could see the trees carefully planted on the side of the road leaving the least amount of space possible to walk. Who would walk anyways? Raven wasn’t a fan of nature; she found the idea as cliché.

The trees were successful in hypnotizing Raven to sleep, with the same amount of trees repeating after every few seconds. Raven was fast asleep before her eyes could wander off any further.

“Ae yuu asliep? ” Valerie was checking on Raven.

“Gues’ she iz asliep‘ Valerie flashes a sly smile as she paints some scenario inside her head.

---Few hours later---

“Vake up, vake up”, Valerie gently shakes Raven’s shoulder as she attempts to wake her up.

‘Vake up now garl, cmon’ she continues shaking her inorder to bring Raven back into her conscious self.

“Wha..What is it..??” Raven questions, with her half-shut eyes and guess slept through the whole journey.

“We ah hea, look!!!” Valerie announced excitedly aiming at the sign.

“ WELCOME TO "THE CAMP" it said, with letters huge enough to fill the entire board.. There wasn’t anything interesting about the way it was painted. It looked very normal and mundane, neither Valerie nor Raven felt sceptical about it.

Raven and Valerie step out of the jeep and take a deep breath as they stretch out. Both of them sighed at the same time.

“Hous of driving and we ah finally avivved”, Valerie exclaimed while still stretching her arms!!

"Who quotes "The camp" specifically?! ", Raven still seemed a bit annoyed from their previous interaction during the drive.

"Chill garl, gimme a hug befoe we gou in" Valerie went in to hug Raven to remove the little tension lingering in the air.

Raven hugged Valerie back but her eyes wandered around in search of some assurance, " was it the right choice?".

There were other campers who had already arrived and were gathered while eagerly waiting on the site right in front of the entrance. And for some reason, the crowd assured Raven a little as if she wasn't the only one who chose a camp for her summer break or specifically “The camp”.

This was it, they were standing in front of the main entrance of "the camp".

To be continued…