Hazel wasn't sure how long the art period lasted. It seemed like forever, considering she was hyper-aware of Sebastian Reid next to her, and both of their cautious brushstrokes. She had no idea what she was even painting: right now, it just looked like a bunch of colorful blobs against a red canvas.
She decided to sneak a peek at Reid's, trying to make herself feel better about her ugly art and–
Wow.
Clearly, looking at Reid's art wasn't going to make her feel any better about herself because his art was gorgeous. It was still only in its preliminary stages, but she could tell it was going to be beautiful. The paint formed the shape of a man's face, and for a second, Hazel wondered if it was going to be Reid himself, which would have been a little egoistic. But then she realized that the paint color was darker than Reid's skin, and as Reid started to paint the hair, she finally realized what he was painting.
His dad.
"It's my dad that looks just like me," Reid said jokingly. Hazel flinched–she hadn't realized that Reid had already caught her staring.
She moved closer to this canvas, abandoning her own mess of a painting completely. "Yeah, yeah, let's just let that go."
"So you're not going to tell me why you three were talking about me in the boy's locker room?"
Hazel grinned. "No, probably never. So you can stop worrying about it."
Reid shrugged. "Alright then."
Hazel looked back at the painting. Reid was adding such miniscule details that Hazel was almost surprised that such a rough guy like him could pay such close attention to it. "That's… your painting is really good."
"Surprised?" He bent down to start on the neck of the painting.
"I mean, a little. Wouldn't have pegged you as a painter," Hazel admitted.
"I might've thought you were an artist if it weren't for your canvas over there," Reid said, pointing with his paintbrush.
Hazel chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not too hot at painting."
"It's alright, just slap some deep meaning on it and Mr. G will love it," Reid laughed, straightening up. The two shared a smile.
"So—" Hazel started.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" A nasally voice interrupted their conversation.
Hazel looked up and—god, there it was. The reason why she was so hesitant to attend the school in the first place and why she was worried when she met Alex.
To be honest, Ravenwood was never her top choice. She had wanted to go to a school on the other side of the country, but concern for her mom made her decide to stay closer rather than further. She knew her mom worked really hard, and she wanted to make sure she was around to check that she wasn't overworking herself. The reviews left on Ravenwood were pleasant, but when she dug deeper, she found that many people thought that the environment was toxic, due to all of the rich parents who sent their kids here that were arrogant and snobby. One review described it as "more of a fashion show and a race to show off your money than a place for learning." But one look at her mom, and Hazel knew she couldn't go anywhere else.
So she had expected everyone here to be snobby and annoying. Noah and Alex were the welcome exception, and Hazel was insanely thankful that she was Alex's roommate. She hadn't seen very many other people, but those she had seen were reserved and prideful around her, seeming not to want to talk to her or even look at her. She could deal with that because Noah and Alex were so kind, but right now, Noah and Alex weren't here.
The girl in front of her was the very epitome of all the bad things Hazel thought about the school. She looked like she was minutes away from squashing Hazel like a fly.
Flanking her were two other girls, all glaring at her. Her two friends were most definitely twins, with the same sculptured face and brown hair, though one had their hair up and the other had it down. The middle girl, the one who had shouted, was insanely pretty, resembling an ice princess. She had long blonde, almost white, hair that tumbled down to her stomach, clipped back with a diamond hair clip. Her face would have been perfect, without a hair out of place if it weren't for the ugly sneer fixed on her face.
"Hi," Hazel ventured. "I'm Hazel. Sorry, do I know you?"
"Kayla–" Reid sighed, but Kayla cut him off.
"Hazel, sweetie, Sebastian over here is my boyfriend. I just thought you should know before doing… anything," Kayla said, her voice obnoxiously loud. It was a miracle that they hadn't attracted the attention of Mr. G who was busy in the back of the room.
"We're not dating," Reid said in a low voice, obviously trying to save Kayla the embarrassment. "I broke up with you months ago. Are you going around and telling people that we're still together? Seriously, Kayla?"
"Whatever the case is, I'm not doing anything. You have nothing to worry about. I was just looking at his art," Hazel quickly intervened. She had no desire to get in between a catty fight about relationships.
"I'm warning you now," Kayla said threateningly. "I'm letting you off with a warning this time, but next time, it'll be much worse."
"Yeah, whatever, there won't be a next time. I'm not interested in him," Hazel rolled her eyes, turning back to her canvas and trying to focus on her work without getting in between the fight that was bound to ensue with Reid and Kayla. When she noticed that Kalya still hadn't moved, she looked up—and gasped.
"What are you doing?" Reid demanded. "Put that down."
With a gasp, she realized Kayla had taken the paint can from the side of Hazel's workspace—deep red paint—and held it over herself, poised to tip.
"What—?"
"Your warning," Kayla repeated. She smiled innocently at her—then proceeded to dump the contents of the can onto her pristine outfit, the contents splattering all over the surrounding canvas as she did. She squealed, causing everyone to look around at them.
"My goodness, what happened?" Mr. G hurried towards them, looking shocked at the sudden mess.
"She did!" Kayla cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Hazel before she could say anything. "Oh my god, Mr. G! I was just giving her some constructive critiques about her work, and she just dumped the entire paint can on me!"
"What?" Hazel repeated, totally in shock by the clear lie that Kayla had just said. "That's such a lie! I literally don't even know her, why would I do that?"
"It is the color of your painting, Miss Torres," Mr. G said doubtfully. "Mr. Reid, did you happen to see anything?"
Hazel turned hopefully towards Reid. He knew exactly what had happened. He could tell Mr. G!
Reid, though, was just staring at his painting in what looked like to be detached shock. "My painting," he murmured. It was completely ruined, covered by unflattering splotches of dark paint. In fact, Hazel noticed with unease, it made it look like the canvas was portraying Mr. Reid with blood all over his face. With a sudden movement, Reid started and grabbed his painting, walking right out of class, his face a blend of strange emotions.
"Mr. Reid!" Mr. G called, but he didn't come back. With a sympathetic look, he turned back to them. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"She dumped paint on me, and she probably made sure it ruined Sebastian's painting, too! She probably wanted to get his attention!" Kayla screeched, her voice distraught but her eyes smug.
"Miss Torres, is this true?"
"What? No way! She dumped it on herself to get me in trouble or something, I don't know!" Hazel defended. "Why would I even do that to her?"
"Well, sometimes peers can be hurt by constructive criticism, and—" Mr. G started kindly.
"No, I didn't do it!" Hazel interrupted, aghast at the injustice of it all.
One of the twins chimed in with a sweet smile on her face. "She's lying, Mr. G, I totally saw her do it."
Hazel's mouth hung open in shock. "What!? They're lying!"
Mr. G turned and looked apologetically at Hazel. "I'm sorry, Hazel, but you're outnumbered so I'm afraid I must believe them. Since you're new, I'll only ask that you do one detention today, after class is over, cleaning the spilt paint."
Hazel just stood there, open-mouthed. She had gotten detention for something she didn't even do!?
"Miss Lopez, please clean yourself up," he addressed Kayla. "Class will be over soon anyways. Everyone, go back to your workspaces and start cleaning up!"
The students slowly dispersed, but not without Kayla throwing a smirk in her direction. Mr. G turned towards her, lowering his voice so they could talk privately.
"Being a new student is hard," Mr. G said. "I don't expect you to be able to fit in right away. Just try not to throw paint on anyone else."
"But I didn't do it!" Hazel repeated, aware she was starting to sound like a broken record.
From Mr. G's expression, it was very clear that he didn't believe her, but instead of arguing with her, he turned towards her painting, which was also splattered with red.
"What was the inspiration behind this piece?" Mr. G said, trying to be friendly.
Hazel stared at her piece, the faint humming of anger in her veins becoming louder the longer she stared into the deep red of her canvas. She parted her mouth just as a plan started hatching in her mind, and she said one word.
"Revenge."