Raven & Josie – Chapter 2

Raven & Josie arrive in the city and have a little spat.

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Edited by Amber Collins

In some gloomy alley decked with putrid, reeking dumpsters swooshed something in midair, disturbing the woven structure of existence. Not a flash later, a young girl with dark hair materialized out of thin air, her sneakers skidding to a halt.

"I won," Raven said while sprucing up her due-to-wind-disarranged-hairdo.

CLANG!

Josie, slightly less subtle in her movements, bashed a dumpster when she landed – severely denting it.

"You cheated!" Josie whined while uncorking herself from the irreparably damaged garbage container. Unlike the poor dumpster, Josie did not have much to complain about. She was unscathed and the impact felt barely more than a tickle to her invulnerable body.

"Me?! You're the one who blasted off with a false start!" Raven replied.

"But you're the one who rocket-passed me!"

"And isn't that the whole purpose of a race? To overtake one another?"

"Not when you're competing with me! You know losing vexes me."

"Then that's your problem." Raven crossed her arms and turned her nose up.

Josie raised her hand and produced an arc of electricity sparkle-jumping from finger to finger, creating crackling sounds. "I could make it yours if you like," she smiled mischievously.

Raven snorted, "I knew I shouldn't bring you along w–"

"Anyone there?" A deep male voice echoed through the alleyway from around a corner.

"Someone's coming! Quick! Here!" Raven yanked Josie's arm in a flash and pulled her behind some dumpsters.

"Why are we hiding exactly? We're superpowered." Josie whispered in Raven's ears. The latter shushed her to silence.

Footsteps echoed in the cramped alley, stepping gradually louder. A burly guy with a swollen head, a cigarette in his hand and a triple chin dangling in front of his neck waddled around the corner. It looked like some cook of a restaurant. The chef whites he wore were painfully tight wrapped around his unhealthy-looking, inflated belly. It appeared a miracle that the buttons could hold everything in place.

"Hello?" His grumbling voice rumbled.

"He looks disgusting!" Josie whispered in Raven's ear, who sat haunched while peeking through a narrow opening between two dumpsters. "Can I incinerate him?"

"No!" Raven hissed as loud as a whispering voice allowed.

"I'll clean up the mess. I promise."

"You will not do such a thing!"

"Won't I?" Josie said, jolting her brows. She turned her gaze towards the fat cook. A crimson hue lit up Josie's eyes – becoming quickly brighter, illuminating the walls of their hiding place. A pool of unmeasurable destructive power brimmed fervently beyond the cornea, churning violently, waiting impatiently for the gates to open.

"Cease this at once! Or you and I are going to have a major problem!" Raven threatened.

Josie turned her head and stared at her sister, eyes still brimming with sickening power. A sinister smile crept on the youths' lips.

Raven narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. An azure halo surrounded her, permeating her dark tresses and causing them to flutter like they swayed under a gentle breeze. She was powering up.

Both sisters looked at each other in an intense stare-down.

Josie's eyes flashed back to normal. "I'm just fuckin with ya. Come, the bloke's gone."

"Blasted terror!" Raven gritted her teeth as she watched Josie ambling off, whistling, turning around a corner to make her way to the city's streets.

"I've never been into these parts of the city before." Josie took a lick of her strawberry ice cream as her eyes gobbled up the surroundings. "These buildings are sooo tall. It's like they are scraping the sky."

Raven chortled, licking her chocolate ice cream. "That's the whole reason why they are called skyscrapers, silly."

"I know," Josie said.

"No, you didn't," Raven replied.

"Oh. My. God." Josie dropped her ice cream and legged off (But not in a superpowered way). Her sneakers screeched to a stop as she glued her hands against the glass façade of a boutique store while slobbering all over what she saw there.

"That dress is gorgeous …" Josie said dreamily.

Raven chuckled as she came ambling up. "Your body is way too underdeveloped for something that classy."

Josie stared daggers. "And yours isn't?!" Her eyes took a swift glance of envy at Raven's bosom, which appeared far more voluminous than her own still-developing bee stings.

"But you're right. That dress really is something." Raven gaped, hypnotized at an emerald-colored floral mini-dress draped over a mannequin. Its design had a deep V-neck, coercing its wearer to show off quite some skin.

"Dad gave you some money, right?" Josie beamed.

"Which was not meant for something like this. And besides, this dress costs way more coin than I have in my pocket." Raven replied.

"Aaargh! That just creams my corn! I never get anything I want!" When Josie stomped her foot on the ground, she unintentionally caused a few paving stones to crack and a slight tremor to ripple outward from the epicenter of her sneaker, setting off car alarms and making dozens of pedestrians look up nervously.

"Easy with the fury, sis!" Raven sang.

"Sorry," Josie's lips formed inaudible.

Josie brought her attention back to the dress and took a thinking pose. "Hey! I have an idea!"

"And what might that be?" Raven asked, finishing the last piece of her ice-cream.

"Simple!"

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

"Tada!" Josie now wore the same dress as the one that hung behind the boutique store's glass façade. She made a pirouette of joy, making the dress flutter through the air so that her slender upper legs became visible. A saleslady of the boutique store gave her an askance look.

"Don't tell me you just bluntly stole that dress while using your powers?" Raven placed her hands on her hips while scowling at her kid sister.

"Who said anything about stealing?" Josie admired the dress while looking into the reflection of a nearby bus shelter. "Not me. I'm just borrowing it."

"Borrowing, mmm?" Raven cocked an eyebrow while crossing her arms.

"Mmm," Josie acknowledged. "We're going to a party, is what you said, right? We might as well get dressed for the occasion."

"We?! I'm going to a party! Me and my friends. And you're not invited."

"But what am I supposed to do?" Josie looked crestfallen.

Raven shrugged. "I don't give a toss. You can fly back home and play Yahtzee with Dad all night for all I care."

"You're really not being a nice sister now."

"I don't give a fuck about that either. You've been nothing but a pain in the ass since we got here."

"But. But I love you, sis." Tears began to well up in Josie's eyes. "I just wanted to have some fun with my older and wiser sister I look up to instead of getting bored out of my mind on that god's forsaken mountain chalet with three goats and a crippled dog."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere with me," Raven heaved her nose.

Then Josie began to blubber uncontrollably, rubbing her knuckles in her eyes. She instantly drew the attention of several bystanders with her noisy crying.

"Josie! Stop these theatrics this instance!" Raven hissed. Some people attempted to walk up to the girls to see if they could provide some aid.

"Everything alright, dear?" An old lady asked.

"Noooo!” Josie cried between sniveling tears.

Fueled by the urge to quench these feelings of vicarious embarrassment, Raven walked up to Josie and laid her hand on her sister's shoulder. With deep reluctance, she spoke the following words: "You can come along if you like."

"Y-you mean it?" Josie blubbered as her watery eyes peeked over her hands.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Raven said, placing her hand on her heart.

Josie dashed up to Raven and embraced her in a squeezing tight hug. "I love you, sis!"

Raven gave a consoling pat on her sister's back. "There, there. Okay, you can let go of me now," Raven said as soon as she saw people leaving when they saw everything was alright.

Josie dried her tears. "So now what?"

Raven looked from Josie's splendid dress to her own insipid denim garment. She eyed the dress in the boutique store. "Well, I can't let you look flossier than me, that's for sure. You know what? Fuck it!"

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

"Red?!" Josie chuckled when, in a flash, her sister was cladded in the same dress as her, only red.

Raven nodded proudly while placing a hand on her hip." It's a color that matches perfectly with my fiery attitude, don't you agree?"

"You'll get no argument from me there!" Josie gleamed.

Raven checked her footwear and turned her nose up. "Come, let us score something classy for our feet."

"Now you're being the fun-sis again!" Josie smiled.

A few minutes – and a few borrowed sandals, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, scarves, and designer sunglasses – later, the girls were enjoying a quick bite of McDonalds (also borrowed, for they would pay twice the amount during their next visit. Or so they said to themselves) on the rooftop of one of the city's many skyscrapers.

"What time is it?" Raven asked while devouring a not-so-small burger in a not-so-ladylike manner.

Josie checked her watch – a Rolex, also borrowed. "It's 7.11 pm." She slurped on an oversized cup of Sprite.

Raven grabbed a napkin to clean her hands and mouth. "We'll hit the elevator in a few minutes. My friends expect me in front of the library in twenty minutes. And no flying, got that!"

Josie nodded and ambled up to the edge of the building, where she crouched to peer at the stretched-out metropolis below, where a cacophony of vibrant city life swirled with the wind.

Josie chuckled.

Raven looked up, cocking her brow. "Something funny?"

"I was just thinking about them." Josie nodded at all the people teeming about below in the bustling streets, looking like ants from up this height. "They haven't got a clue as to who we are. Well, guess they will learn soon enough."

"We're not special, Josie," Raven scowled.

"But we have powers, and they don't," Josie replied.

"Yeah, so?" Raven said.

Josie slurped her cup of Sprite empty, let out a small burp, and threw it over the edge, where it spiraled along with the wind. She stood up and clapped her hands clean. "Come, I'm eager to meet your friends."