A World Apart

Thanks to Maggot23 and Kylee for their reviews. Now we\'re finally getting to what I like to call the "climax" (hehe!!) of the story. It\'s very angsty and emotional--just like I like it!



Chapter 24



Although the people weren’t standing in the middle of the doorway, like I had expected, they had interestingly glanced in our direction, wanting more information. Logan snapped and pointed towards one of the boys, a little younger than ourselves, who was on his left.



"Jake, who told you about us?" He asked in a firm voice.



"Is it true, Logan? That\'s the talk of the school!" Jake said with big eyes.



Logan shook his head, annoyed, “Answer the question."



"Well, I heard it from Emily Weathers. I don\'t know who she heard it from though. So, are you two together? I heard he was straight, but then the rumors started and everyone already knows you\'re gay, so-"



"Can\'t anyone get a little privacy around here?" Logan said suddenly with outstretched hands and an angry expression, “I\'d think the students of our school should be a little more respectful and a little less prying."



I noticed the group of about five cats got a little guilty looking and finally moved out of the way. Logan was walking fast and I had to jog a bit to catch up with him.



"Where are you going?" I whispered loudly.



"You were right, Rave," He said, finally turning to look at me, “Robin\'s going to be hurt so much. You need to explain it to him. He\'s going to be mad at me too, you know."



"But, what am I supposed to say? I need time to think about this! How am I supposed to tell him?" I asked in a hurry.



Logan grabbed my wrist and dragged me out the cafeteria doors, “It\'s all about telling him the truth. Don\'t beat around the bush, either. He\'s not going to appreciate it. Ren may have told him, already. Hard telling."



"Let go of me. I don\'t need you to tell me how to do this!"



"Well, you just asked only five seconds ago," He said, looking out over the sunny, grassy campus, “Look. There they are."



I glanced out, finding my three brothers talking to Sadie and Beth. Great. Just what I needed. Their eyes turned to me just moments later. The three sets of blue eyes of my brothers bore into me, searching for the truth. I finally pulled out of Logan\'s grasp and stood before them.



"There\'s no way that\'s true," Rhea said, mostly to me.



I didn\'t say anything, but noticed Ren was shaking his head again and looking quite pissed. His arms were crossed across his chest. Robin looked utterly confused. I think he couldn\'t comprehend the idea of me being gay...but then again, either could I.



I looked back at Logan, not exchanging words, but giving him a pleading glance. Maybe he would help me. He shook his head, wanting me to do this by myself. I had just dug myself a grave.



"Why do they think you\'re sleeping with him?" Robin asked, taking a few steps towards me.



"That\'s definitely not true," I said softly, trying not to catch his eyes.



"Well we know that! Who started this rumor...and why? You\'re as straight as a yard stick," Rhea said, managing to add a joke to it in the process.



However, it didn\'t humor me.



"I have my guesses on who started the rumor," I said quietly.



"I thought you said you didn\'t know," Logan said from behind me.



"Last night I thought I saw somebody. It was my neighbor, Sasha. She likes me for some reason and I think she saw us last night," I explained.



"Saw you?" Robin asked, looking back and fourth between the two of us, "Saw you doing what?"



"She saw...us. She saw me and Logan at the park last night," I said.



I heard Ren, who had been quiet the whole time, gave a little "hmph" and shake his head again. I shot a warning glance in his direction and he only shrugged his shoulders.



"Why would she start a rumor like that, though?" Robin asked again with a frown, “It\'s mean."



"I don\'t know why," I replied.



"I know why and so do you," Ren muttered.



"Shut up Ren," I snapped.



"Ren, you know? Then why won\'t you just tell us, Rave? It can\'t be that bad," Rhea said with arms crossed in front of him.



I stood there staring at the three young men in front of me. My brothers. I had to tell them the truth. I couldn’t keep it to myself. They needed to know. But what would they say? Each and every one would be angry with me. I didn\'t want that. My tail hung straight down to the ground, lacking its usual spring. My ears drooped a little. I didn\'t want to tell them the truth. I didn\'t want them to know my secret.



"What\'s wrong, Rave?" Rhea asked, noticing my depressed form.



I felt Logan place a hand on the small of my back and he stood close to me. Close enough for my brothers to figure it out.



"Just tell them," Was the whisper I heard from him.



I glanced warily towards my boyfriend and he nodded with a small smile. I wrung my hands together, wanting to just disappear.



"Me and Logan. W-we\'re together," I said softly.



Two utterly shocked expressions covered my brother\'s faces. I noticed Robin\'s confused, to hurt, to angry features change right away.



"You\'re together? What are you trying to tell us, Rave?" Rhea spat out.



I had never seen him so angry. He wasn\'t the perky, happy brother I had known.



"I\'m trying to tell you that we\'re dating. Sasha saw us in the park...together," I said in a whisper, not able to bring myself to say kissing, "I\'m guessing she got jealous."



Robin had been quiet. He was staring at me like I had injured him.



"How could you?" He said suddenly.



I looked up to see a flicker of anger flash over his ocean blue eyes, “How could you do this to me? All this time...and you\'ve been with him? What about at the club the other night? Were you together then? And what about all these times at school and at home? You\'d comment on how \'disgusting\' it was for me to be with Justin. You\'re such a hypocrite Raven! How could you do this to me? I never did anything to you!"



"Robin, I-"



"And you!" Rhea said, shoving an accusing index finger towards Logan, “Did you force him into this? Because he\'d never agree to it! He\'s not gay!"



I saw Logan\'s mouth open, but I decided this really was my problem. I shouldn\'t let them blame Logan.



"I did agree to it, Rhea, but not for the reasons you think. It wasn\'t because he made me or forced me into it. It wasn\'t any kind of \'deal\'. It\'s real. We have a real relationship. I had never meant for it to happen. I...I had never meant to like him, but it just kind of happened," I said, turning to Robin, hoping he\'d understand what I was going through.



What I saw made my stomach churn. My little brother had tears running down his face. His eyes were red and he was sniffling.



"If you h-hadn\'t acted so horrible to me, then it w-wouldn\'t be so bad. But, Rave. You hurt me! You made me think you hated me, all b-because you thought what I was doing was wrong! Why did you make me feel this way? Why did you have to make me feel this way?"



"I didn\'t mean to, Robby. I just wanted to protect you. I didn\'t want him to hurt you. I didn\'t realize that I had any feelings for Logan at all when I said that stuff to you-"



"It\'s not an excuse, Rave. That is most definitely not any excuse. Are you doing this to win over our affection? Because it\'s not going to happen," Rhea said with a sharp tongue.



I stared at him with disbelief. Out of all my brothers, he was the one I thought would have supported me the most. We had been close. Rhea and I had been born close and raised together. As children as had been inseparable. But now...now there was no one. Robin just couldn\'t understand, Ren was trying to stay out of the conversation all together, and Rhea had totally taken me by surprise. I knew this would be difficult, but why this much so?



I had never meant to do what I did, but I left. I stared at them for the last time and turned around, running as fast away from there as possible. Out of all the times I had been in Kingsdale, now was the time I wanted to get away. I wanted my normal life back. I wanted my family back, my job back. I wished I had never gotten beat up and ended up here. I wished none of this had happened. Why does this always happen to me?



I ran down the sidewalk and knew I was crying. My eyes began tearing up and I ran a shaky, embarrassed hand across my face. I had nothing left. I followed the concrete until it led me to the park I had been in last night. I placed my hand on the white picket fence and walked inside. It was early and empty. I thought about last night and ended up in the corner where Logan and I had been.



It was there that I collapsed to the ground, burying my tired face in my hands. I let all the stress - all the build up tension release in a loud sob. My body shook from the release. I felt so lonely, like I had never felt before. The ground was still damp from the early morning dew and I could feel it seeping into the seat of my pants. I was unaware of my surroundings and tried to get my body to relax, but I only cried.



I felt a warm hand on my shoulder a few minutes later. I didn\'t even bother to look up. I already knew who it was. I felt him sit down next to me and wrap his arms around my waist and buried his head in my shoulder. He placed a chasten, gentle kiss against my cheek. He was running a hand through my hair and whispering to me.



"Shh...it\'s going to be all right, Love," He said tenderly.



His words were oddly comforting. I was a little shocked to hear that he already had a little pet name picked out for me. However, for the time being, it seemed right and contented me. I let my body dissolve into his warm arms.



"I n-need to g-get away f-from here for a little w-while," I said through tears, letting my head fall back against his shoulder, “I j-just can\'t handle all this r-right now...it\'s too much!"



We sat together in silence, letting the warm morning sun warm us. I finally got up on shaky limbs and faced him with a tear streaked face. He got up slowly from behind me and offered a small, concerned smile. He came closer and gently ran his thumbs over my lower eyes, trying to get my tears to disappear.



I put my front down completely for the very first time and latched onto him. He was startled at first, but wrapped his arms around me in a comforting gesture. I rubbed my ears against his head in a loving manner.



"If you want to go somewhere. I\'m going with you," He murmured.



I looked up at him through misty eyes and saw nothing but love and concern in his trusting brown eyes. I nodded and we began walking away from the park - hand in hand.