I sit outside at a picnic table all alone for lunch. I don't eat at school. My sister Katie comes after school with food. I just sit and draw in my notebook. I tell Favain to sit on the ground. He sits down with one leg fully on the ground and his other knee bent with his foot on the ground. I tell him to look out in the distance. He places his arm on his knee, looking out at the far side of the school at a field of grass.
I can't help it but find myself staring at him for a while. The way the sun hits his body, his suit in place, his tie not touching the ground. How the light makes highlights in his dark brown hair. How his glasses perfectly sits on his face.
A girl in one of my classes comes up to me. She doesn't warn me before hand and makes herself comfortable in a spot next to me. She looks down at my drawing book.
"What'cha working on?"
I snap out of my observant state. Panicked I close my book.
"I was just admiring the view."
"What view? All I see is a concrete sidewalk and grass." She gives a disgusted look.
I try to think of something quick.
"You see how the sun's light hits the grass? How the different colors of green pop out? Like, see here. The parts that the sun doesn't touch is a darker color than the parts that the sun do touch."
"Okay?"
"And it isn't just grass if you look at it closely. There is clover and weeds as well. But the clover and weeds have flowers that are special colors too. The clover have a purple flower with four petals and the weeds have a yellow flower with very small and collected petals."
"So you could take something boring like weeds, clover and grass and change it to something beautiful."
"Or use a little imagination and add a few things in there as well." I suggest.
She gives me an interested look. "Like what?"
"Like this." I pick up my pencil and look at Favain another time before I start to sketch.
All the little details start to come together like a puzzle. Eventually a black and white sketch of a handsome man sitting in the grass staring off into the distance appears on the page. The girl next to me is amazed with my skills. She tells me that I need to take an art class and show off my talent, but I refuse. I was surprised I even showed her.
I don't typically show other's my artwork. Nor do I share my writing. Sometimes it just gets too dark to the point where people get concerned when they don't need to.
School was almost over and I longed for that last and final bell to ring. I wanted Katie to come get me. I wanted to go home. I'm done. I am sooo done.
"I know you want to get out of here very bad." I heard that familiar female voice behind me.
I write down in one of my composition notebooks what I wanted to tell her back. "Avi. Why? School is almost over. You should have been here earlier. You usually are."
She looks down at my notebook while my Composition teacher had his back to the class, writing on the chalkboard. Avilasa giggled.
"I was here earlier. You just didn't see me. I was hiding in a corner watching you stare at Favain intently. He did look pretty handsome if I say so myself. I'd die if he asked me to go steady with him."
"You like him in that way?" I write.
"Oh, sweetheart, you saw him. Anyone with a beating heart in their chest would fall in love with a devil like him."
I almost laughed out loud. I pressed a hand over my face. My teacher turned around. He looked at me with hell fire in his eyes.
"Is there something funny?" He looks dead at me through his thin wired glasses.
I feel the heat rising in my face. "No, sir." I say softly with shame.
"Then why are you giggling?"
I don't say a word. I just look at him with fear in my eyes. I feel the stares piercing me like knives from all the students in the class.
"I don't have time to play your stupid game. You're staying after school to discuss this." The hell fire doesn't leave when he turns back around continuing to teach.
"What the hell is his problem!" Avilasa puts her hand on her hip, giving my teacher a bitter face.
I give her a face saying "what the fuck" all over it.
"What? I mean he is cute but like, he doesn't need the attitude. He can drop that down the well of hate. God damn!"
I roll my eyes. I just want her to leave now. She got me in trouble and now I have to stay after the bell. How the hell am I supposed to explain this? No one needs to know about her or any other person in my life.
My teacher explains the homework and has us all write it down in our notebooks. The bell rings right on schedule. I put my books in my bag, but don't move from my seat while everyone else dismisses themselves from the room. He takes a few steps, sitting on the desk table in front of me.
"Now tell me." He starts out with forceful words and dominant male voice. "Why did you rudely interrupt my class?" He folds his hands together and places them on the knee closest to me.
"Sir, I-I"
"You were giggling. I know. Now explain yourself." He cocks his head to the side, continuing to hold his stare.
"I don't know how to explain it, sir."
"Why?"
"I just can't, sir."
"The longer you procrastinate on telling me the longer we will sit here, and the more force I will use. Now, I'm sure you don't want to be here any longer. I know I don't, so why don't you just explain yourself so we can go home faster. Another benefit is that I won't have to use force."
"Sir, I dazed off and I was thinking of something that made me laugh. Alright?" I tried to sound as convincing as possible.
He looked at me with suspicion. "Mmhm. Sure. You think I would really believe that crap?"
"But it's the truth, even though it just sounds stupid."
"So you're admitting to the fact that it does sound stupid."
"Yes, sir."
He pauses for a minute. "I'll figure out what to do with you later. Get out of here. You're dismissed."
Finally I'm allowed to leave. I don't know how I managed to slip out of that one but damn, I finally get to leave.
I slip on my backpack and leave quietly.