jordan.

8/22/21, 7:47 a.m.

a car door slammed. loudly. which, of course, woke jordan.

she rolled over on her bed, groaning as she looked at the black alarm clock on the nightstand next to her bed. 7:48 a.m.

really? jordan thought. this early? on a saturday?

jordan dragged themself from their bed and groggily walked to the window. wiping her tired eyes, she looked out to see who had slammed the car door. they had left their window open overnight, and voices trailed out from the street.

jordan nudged her curtains over, and there they were: the heinous perpetrator. the person who had slammed the car door, responsible for jordan's rude awakening.

a girl with flaming red hair. she looked up at where jordan was standing in the window. jordan moved away, hastily closing their curtains.

after a few heartbeats, jordan moved back over to the window. a giant, white moving truck stood nearby, and a man and woman were lifting a couch out of it. jordan watched as the two carried the couch into the house next to hers.

hmm. so the girl's a new neighbor.

jordan wondered if the new neighbor will go to their school. maybe she'll see her there? is the girl in jordan's grade? she looked about sixteen, so maybe?

maybe.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

8/24/21, 7:12 a.m.

the weekend came and went, and monday approached like a sledgehammer to a concrete slab.

jordan got up for yet another day of school. well, it was technically only her second week of school for the school year, but she had been attending school her whole life. that's way too much school, they thought.

maybe she'll take a gap year one she gets out of high school.

maybe.

after getting dressed, they went to the kitchen.

it's family requirement to always eat breakfast together, every day. jordan's mom says that it's a good way to stay connected before everyone goes off out of the house. jordan's sister calls bullshit.

"mama, hailey's here to pick me up! i can't keep her waiting," jordan's sister, amelia, complains. amelia's got her backpack on and everything, trying to play it up so she can just leave and hang out with her friends.

jordan snorts. "mama's not gonna let you leave until we eat," she says, briefly patting her sister's head in greeting. amelia glared at them, then rolled her eyes.

as a high school freshman, amelia thinks she's suddenly an adult and can do whatever she wants. obviously, jordan knows better, but she's going to let amelia figure that out on her own. that is, unless amelia becomes super annoying about it.

mama shakes her head at amelia, and lectures her, "no. you are staying right here until we eat the breakfast burritos that i worked so hard to make this morning. hailey," she paused for emphasis, "can wait."

"ugh. fine," amelia grabbed a breakfast burrito and sat down at their dining table, peeling back the hot foil wrapping it. jordan grabbed one too, sitting in the chair opposite of their sister.

after she finished, jordan left with a "goodbye, mama," and a kiss on her mother's cheek. they started their car, noticing hailey's white jeep parked on the curb. a second later, amelia ran out and climbed into the jeep, which took off with a swerve that almost hit jordan's car.

hailey was in the year under jordan, and had just gotten her license. jordan wouldn't be surprised if she got a DUI with all the parties she and amelia go to.

as jordan pulled out of the driveway and left, she noticed a spark of flaming red hair in her rearview mirror.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

8/24/21, 11:49 a.m.

jordan tapped their pen on their desk, bored. this math class was way too easy for her, so every class she wound up bored. their teacher droned on and on about functions and trigonometry.

maybe she should take a better math class.

maybe.

finian sat across the room from them, looking just as bored as jordan felt. he locked eyes with her, then typed on his phone, hidden from the teacher beneath his desk. jordan's phone vibrated a second after he stopped typing.

finny

this class is so fucjing boring

me

ikr i can't believe he's just talked ab the samw question for 30 minutes

finny

just 10 minutes and it'll be over

me

yayy can't wait

wait dude don't look now but i think that football player's staring at you

finny

wait

HE WAS

me

well he's not looking at you now

finny

that's cause we did that awkward lock-eyes-look-away thing

me

oooooh

finny

no don't say it

me

i won't

but you know what i'm thinking

finny

no. i refuse

"ms. greaves, care to join the class?" mr. greyson's booming voice said, making jordan jump and look up from her phone to see the whole class looking at her. well, the whole class minus fin, who was sneaking glances at the cute football player.

mr. greyson asked jordan a question about their textbook, which they answered quickly as to avoid too much attention. right as jordan finished answering, the bell rang, so loud that it hurt jordan's ears.

finally, jordan thought, lunchtime.

—raven speaks !

(0.8k words)

yay first chapter ! sorry this took so long. in between school starting and everything, i've had trouble with writing. i promise i'll update this more regularly !

i really love fin's character sm, he's my fave. i hope you liked this chapter <3