A man walked inside the school, and as usual, people surrounded him every day and everywhere. It was every person's dream to be surrounded by people because of fame, and the man who just walked in was Shevonne, a famous figure skater at the age of 19.
While he was surrounded by people, he saw one person who didn't approach the crowd, as if the person wasn't interested in him at all. Shevonne raised an eyebrow and was confused because she was the only one who didn't approach him at all. The girl's name was Ehvermaia. Ehvermaia was an artist, but she was not famous for it. She was like a copy machine—whatever she saw, she could draw or paint it, but she clearly wasn't famous for her talent at all.
On the other hand, Ehvermaia already knew who Shevonne was, but she wasn't really interested in him at all, as if she just looked at him as a normal person. Ehvermaia went to her locker to get some of her canvases. As she looked at her art materials inside her locker, she saw some paint that was almost gone and thought in her head, "Why is this paint killing me? Stop torturing me. Just because you know I can't afford it doesn't mean you're going to make me suffer and buy it again."
Shevonne managed to get through the crowd of people and began walking towards Ehvermaia. The people surrounding him were curious about why he was approaching the artist girl.
As Shevonne was approaching Ehvermaia, he saw her getting some art supplies and some canvases, so he called out and said, "Hey, you make art?"
Ehvermaia was stunned by his sudden call as she closed her locker while carrying some canvases and art supplies. She then responded while struggling with the things she was holding, "Yes, I do, why?"
Shevonne looked at the art supplies in her hands and took some from her to help. Ehvermaia was confused about why he was helping her and glanced at the people who had surrounded him earlier. Shevonne responded to her unspoken question while carrying some of her materials, "Well, I'm interested in having you draw me."
Ehvermaia was stunned as the bell rang and the people who had surrounded him went to their classrooms. She looked away and started walking towards her classroom, with Shevonne following. As they arrived at her room, the students looked at both of them and suddenly stood up excitedly, taking pictures of Shevonne and asking many questions. Ehvermaia was frustrated because they were bumping into her, but Shevonne ignored them and put the materials on Ehvermaia's desk. He looked at her and said, "Can you paint me?"
Ehvermaia scratched her head as she looked at her art supplies, knowing she didn't have any paint and couldn't afford to buy more. She hesitated for a moment, "Well, do you want some reference?"
Shevonne thought for a moment, considering whether he should send her a reference or if she should draw from her imagination. "I'll send you a picture later for reference. Do you want the money now or when you're done painting?"
Ehvermaia turned away, embarrassed and hesitant to answer his question. She then told him, "I might need the money now. I need to buy art supplies."
Shevonne chuckled at what Ehvermaia said, looking at her as he walked away. Before leaving her classroom, he turned around and looked at her, "Alright, I'll give it to you later," and then he left.
The students were stunned as they looked at Ehvermaia and completely surrounded her, asking questions. One asked, "Why was he carrying your stuff??" Another said, "I'm so jealous."
As the math teacher arrived in the room, they sat down, rolling their eyes in jealousy. While Ehvermaia sat at her desk, her friend Ehrie suddenly whispered excitedly, "I'm so jealous, why was he here?"
Ehvermaia let out a sigh as she put her art materials inside her desk, "Stop being jealous. He was just asking me to paint him."
As Ehrie listened, she looked at the board and saw a math problem. She scratched her head in disbelief, "Math is so hard and complicated. I'm going to die just looking at that problem."
Ehvermaia looked at the board, resting her chin in her hands, "Math is only hard because humans made it up to torture themselves. You ever seen a dog stressed over calculus? I didn't think so."
Ehrie laughed at Ehvermaia's remark, "That was so sarcastic, but I'll rate it 10 out of 10."
A while later, while they were solving the math problem, the teacher was called outside. As the math teacher left the room, someone yelled from inside the classroom in an irritated voice, "School is so boring. They keep teaching us math. What does math have to do with art and my future job as an artist? Ugh."
Ehvermaia looked at the person and said without thinking, "Oh, definitely. Because calculating canvas sizes, pricing commissions, and managing budgets for art supplies will never require any math skills whatsoever."
The students were stunned when they heard Ehvermaia and started laughing. Some rolled their eyes and looked at her.
Hours passed, the bell rang, and it was time for lunch. Some people stood up to go to the cafeteria; Ehvermaia's friend Ehrie invited her to eat lunch with her, but Ehvermaia headed to the rooftop instead. Before going up, she grabbed some art materials and a canvas from the art room, borrowing an easel. She struggled with carrying everything up the stairs but managed to reach the rooftop without dropping anything. As she approached the rooftop door, someone opened it from behind. Ehvermaia looked back and saw Shevonne. "Oh, it's just you."
"Just me? I'm so hurt by hearing that." Shevonne held the door open for Ehvermaia. She heard what he said but looked away as she entered. Outside, the sun was bright, and a warm breeze greeted her as she set up the easel, canvas, and her art materials.
Shevonne handed her some new art supplies, including brushes and other materials. "These are brand new; take care of them. They were expensive, though I didn't buy them myself, it's still my money."
Ehvermaia looked at him as she sat down on a chair, taking the materials from his hands and placing them aside. Shevonne seemed stunned that she didn't thank him for buying her expensive supplies, but he didn't seem bothered. "What are you doing here anyway?"
Ehvermaia placed the canvas on the easel and took the paints and brushes Shevonne had given her. "Don't get me wrong; I'm just here to paint you. I won't thank you for the art materials because they're equivalent to your payment."
"You are something, aren't you?" Shevonne sat down and watched her. Ehvermaia was confused because he had mentioned giving her a picture for reference but hadn't done so. "So, you prefer to be drawn now rather than from a picture? It's so hot here; you're going to burn."
"Oh my, I'm not a Disney prince; I'm not worried about getting tan. The sun is not my enemy." Shevonne smiled as Ehvermaia began painting him. The strong smell of paint made them both make a weird face for a second.
"Do you mind if I turn on my chatterbox mode?" Ehvermaia looked at Shevonne seriously as she painted. Shevonne was confused but also intrigued. "So, you're a chatterbox, huh? You can talk as much as you like, young lady."
Ehvermaia started asking questions, which was unusual for Shevonne to see a girl with such a serious expression asking so many questions. "Is figure skating related to ballet?"
Shevonne smiled as he looked at her. "It is, but figure skating is on ice, and ballet is not. That's the only difference."
Ehvermaia was intrigued to hear that ballet was similar to figure skating. "What if a ballerina tried ice skating for the first time? Would it be hard for her to balance?"
Shevonne stared at her for a moment, thinking. "How can you keep such a straight face while asking these questions? It depends; when I first stepped on the ice, it was challenging."
Ehvermaia smiled as she continued painting, then looked back at Shevonne with a serious expression. Shevonne was puzzled but chuckled softly. "Make sure I look handsome in that painting."
Ehvermaia rolled her eyes, responding without hesitation, and sarcasm "Sure, I'll make you look as handsome in the painting as you 'think' you look in real life."
Shevonne was stunned by her response, wondering if it was a compliment or not. He didn't mind either way. "If you were my fan and you said that to me, their knees would be shaking," he laughed, looking at Ehvermaia, who stared at him in disbelief and confusion.
"I'm not some dumbass to shake my legs for some weird reason," Ehvermaia replied, looking at her painting and then back at Shevonne. "Show me your hands. I don't want to mess up this 'handsome' painting of yours that only you see."
Shevonne showed her his hands in confusion. "You can stop being mean to me. Besides, it's not my fault that I look so handsome," he said in a teasing tone.
"Oh, definitely. It's such a burden being so handsome, and it's clearly everyone else's fault for not appreciating it properly," Ehvermaia rolled her eyes, annoyed. She continued painting, and after two hours, she was done. She sighed, "It's clearly hard to paint some non-existing persons beauty." She showed Shevonne the painting, and he was stunned. It depicted him ice skating, doing an upright spin, and it looked so real. His face was exactly the same, and he couldn't say anything, mesmerized by the beautiful painting.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break. Shevonne watched as Ehvermaia packed up the art supplies and carried the easel. "You don't need to pay for it. The paint was quite expensive just by looking at it, and there's still a lot left," she said as she walked away carrying her stuff.
Shevonne was still stunned, looking at the painting, and curious about how she knew what an upright spin looked like. He quickly realized he hadn't got her name, so he chased after her with the canvas in his hands. "Hey, wait, what's your name?"
As Ehvermaia was walking down the stairs, she looked back and saw Shevonne asking for her name. "Ehvermaia," she said while staring at Shevonne.
"That sure is a long name. Can I call you Ehve instead?" he asked, looking down at her.
"Why? This is our last time talking. I don't want us to be close," Ehvermaia replied and then walked away.
Hours passed, and the school day ended. Students packed their things and left. Shevonne was in a car heading to the ice skating rink for practice. While sitting in the back, he suddenly remembered what Ehvermaia had said and grew curious. "What did she mean by 'last time talking'? She is really something," he thought.
His coach, who was driving, looked in the rearview mirror and saw Shevonne deep in thought. "What are you thinking about? Make sure it doesn't distract you during practice."
Shevonne looked at his coach. "There's this girl..."
"Oh, a girl? Do you like her?" the coach asked teasingly.
"Heck no, she's just different. She doesn't even seem to care that I'm famous. People were surrounding me earlier, and she was just there, minding her own business, getting supplies from her locker. It's so annoying."
His coach laughed at his perspective as they arrived at the rink. As they walked toward the ice rink, his coach noticed the painting in Shevonne's hands. "What's with that painting? And who's this girl you mentioned earlier anyway?"
"Her name is Ehvermaia, right. That's it," Shevonne said as he sat down to put on his figure skating shoes. His coach took the painting to look at it. "She painted this?"
Shevonne looked at his coach, pausing while putting on his shoes. "She did. She's a great artist, but she said she isn't famous for it," he said as he continued putting on his other shoe.
"I didn't know Ehvermaia could paint," his coach said, looking at the painting with a shocked and amazed expression.
Shevonne looked at his coach curiously after finishing with his shoes. He stood up and took some training clothes out of his bag to change into. "You know her? How so?"
His coach, putting on his own ice skating shoes, replied as they both headed to the rink, where Shevonne's partner was already waiting. "Ehvermaia was a ballet dancer before. I was her trainer, but she had to stop because she could no longer afford it. She's a sarcastic woman, but don't mind her words. That's just how she is."
The coach giggled, reminiscing.