Rebecca "Raven" Stuart had felt like an outcast almost her entire life. Early in middle school, she started to head down the path towards the gothic culture, and by the time she hit high school, she was a full-fledged Goth girl - black hair, pale skin, black make-up, piercings, tattoos, spiked collar, and a preference for wearing black vinyl or leather (but it always had to be something black). She only had one friend - Danny Finch, who was also a Goth, but she had no interest in him. That was another thing that set her apart. She was a lesbian. And she never really hid it. So yeah, she was the ultimate outcast - a Goth lesbian.
Her parents had tried over and over again to "help" her, but she didn't want their help. She just wanted their understanding. Their support. Not their homophobia and ridicule. With how she was treated at school, she was getting that sort of thing at least twice over, or more. That was the downside to living in a conservative church-going town. Sometimes she thought about leaving town. But she knew that she wouldn't last one minute on her own. Not unless she got some money to live on. No, for the moment, she wasn't going anywhere.
But her mood was brightened considerably when she found the Changer Crystal. Being casually interested in the occult, Raven knew what it was the moment she saw it. Grasping the blue-green tennis ball-sized crystal, her black-painted lips turned from a frown to a smile. Oh, her life was going to be so much better now. There were so many things she could do with this. She could make her parents pro-gay. She could turn Suzie Wright (the head cheerleader, and a total hottie!) into her lesbian girlfriend. She could turn all this town's church-going prudes into sexy Goths.
Oh, the possibilities were endless!
But first, she decided to ...
