The High School Titans, Part 2

A/N: Welcome back to the tales of our dear high school Titans! Part 2 picks up almost exactly where part 1 ended, so if you can't remember what happened, here's a recap:

The kids were at Jinx's house for the party after homecoming. They acted super crazy and pretty much everyone paired off. Then people's parents came to pick them up. Raven and Garfield had a private word in the basement, where Gar asked Raven to be his girlfriend. Everyone go aww…

This story starts the morning after the party. Raven, Kori, and Bea all slept over Jinx's house, and (I wonder if you remember this) Raven's dad was kinda ticked that she was going to a party. So she promised to be home at 9 in the morning. Let's see how that turns out…

PS. This is the chapter where all the fun angst starts… (sarcasm)

Raven awoke on Sunday morning to the sun streaming through Jinx's bedroom window. She stretched and yawned, feeling the smooth sleeping bag material against her feet. She opened her eyes into a squint; the sunlight was streaming right into her eyes.

Jinx's alarm clock, which went off every hour, louder during the day and quieter at night, began beeping. Raven frowned. It was an awfully loud beep for the morning.

Still squinting, Raven extracted herself from her sleeping bag and walked over to look at the clock. It read, '11:00'

"Oh no!" Raven whispered, for everyone else was still sleeping. "I knew I shouldn't have stayed up until three in the morning talking! I'm gonna be in so much trouble!"

She hastily located her overnight bag, and, without even bothering to change out of her pajamas, she stuffed her sleeping bag into her bag. She strained with all her might to zip it shut, and, having finally succeeded, she grabbed it by the handles and dashed down the stairs and out the door, just barely remembering to put shoes on.

Raven dashed across the street, ignoring the fact that she must look strange wearing pajamas and running across the street, but she knew that that were nothing compared to what could happen inside her own house.

Feeling slightly relieved at the fact that the door was unlocked, Raven turned the handle and entered her house. She began sprinting up the stairs. Maybe, if she was lucky, her father had not noticed that she was not home yet, and if she could just get to her room…

"Raven!"

She froze halfway up the stairs. She set her bag down carefully and began walking back down the stairs and into the kitchen where her father sat.

"Yes?" she asked, barely daring to look up into his face.

Her father, Talmon, wore a nasty frown on his face. Raven was used to these frowns; she was on the receiving end of one of them every day. But this time his eyes were colder and more distant than they had ever been, and his eyebrows were furrowed even lower and closer together on his brow.

"What do you mean by coming back this time of day?" his voice was calm, but Raven knew that he was just saving his energy for when he was ready to scream at her. "I remember you telling me that you would be home by nine o'clock."

"I'm sorry," Raven hung her head. She would not usually be so docile, but as she was still rather sleepy, and she wanted to keep her father in as good a mood as possible, she decided that the less arguing she did the better.

"Well, unfortunately, Raven, 'sorry' won't save you," he said in the same calm voice.

"Save me?" Raven asked timidly. "From what?"

She had barely uttered that sentence when her father slapped her across the face. She was so surprised by this action that she did not even cry out. She simply placed a hand up to her cheek, where she knew a red handprint was surely forming. She backed away, her head slightly bowed.

But Talmon was not finished with her. He stood up and advanced upon her, his eyes boring into her like daggers. He slapped her across the face again, this time sending her crashing to the floor.

'Please let Mom be home,' Raven thought desperately. 'Please.' Talmon hit his daughter again, this time with such force that she was knocked out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

"Please, stop," Raven whimpered, holding up her hands as she crouched on the ground. "Please." Her mother had obviously gone to church that morning as she normally did, and since Raven had not come home in time for mass, she had gone without her.

Ignoring Raven's pleas, Talmon struck her again. Tears were soon streaming down her face, stinging the cuts that had grazed her cheeks. Large, dark spots of blood had formed on her pajamas, and she collapsed to the floor, shaking.

Talmon kicked her shaking form, then, as if nothing had happened, turned to go back into the kitchen.

"I hope you're happy," Talmon said in a calm yet menacing voice. "You deserved that."

"No," Raven's voice was hoarse. The instant she said it, she regretted it. Talmon turned, his anger blazing.

"No?" he shouted. "Was that not enough for you?"

Limbs shaking, Raven stood. She placed one hand on the wall to steady herself.

"No," she said firmly, despite the tears that still streamed down her face. "I did nothing to deserve that. Neither did Mom. She deserves better than what you've given her. She deserves a man who will treat her like a goddess, not a punching bag."

Talmon advanced on Raven again, but before he could strike her, Raven kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. She had not taken off her shoes, so the hard material collided with Talmon's bone. He stumbled, but kept walking.

Not wanting to stick around to see what he would do to her, Raven ran for it.

She ran out the door, and made to go back to Jinx's house, but stopped. Jinx's family all went to the same church service that she and her mom did. Jinx's parents and little sister had most likely gone to mass and left the house occupied only by sleeping girls. Raven turned, knowing that Jinx's house would not be safe.

Raven began limping as she kept running. Talmon had never before raised a hand against her. He had abused her verbally, kept her locked in the house for days at a time, and struck Angela if she tried to intervene, but he had never hit Raven before.

One of her neighbors, Mr. Rodriguez, was outside watering his garden. He was a rather short and pudgy middle-aged man with a bald spot in the middle of his head. He was an immigrant from Mexico, as was his wife Gloria, and the two of them had always been kind neighbors. Raven hurried over to him, praying that he would help.

"Please, Mr. Rodriguez, I need help," Raven panted as she limped into his driveway. Mr. Rodriguez looked startled, but, seeing her limping, immediately dropped his watering can and rushed over to her.

"Dear me, Raven!" he exclaimed in a heavy Spanish accent. "What has happened to you?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "Please, come inside. My wife and I will help you."

"Thank you so much," Raven said in barely more than a whisper. She looked behind her, expecting to see her father standing there, but, to her relief, the street was deserted.