Arbitrium

Choice 1

Time is continually moving. I've been bored out of my mind before, but I'm here now. Boredom is temporary in time like everything else, but you are just aware of it. Soon I would leave art fundamentals, forgetting this moment. It's not like there is such thing as "this moment" anyway because it is already over, and so is the next.

Time is so weird to think about.

"So, does anyone know what the difference between values and hues are?" Mrs. Jones asked the class.

We made eye contact so I immediately scrunched up my mouth and widened my eyes a bit as if to tell her that I had no clue and it would be no use to call on me.

This was one of my specialties. To make it look like I was thinking of an answer, but not understanding, so I wouldn't have to speak in front of the class. But my all-time favorite skill: answer management. Everyone knows that if you don't talk at all, it is inevitable that you will get called on eventually, no matter how clueless you look. Therefore it is best to manage your answers and try and get all of the easy questions so it looks like you're participating.

I had already told Mrs. Jones what the date was when she asked and said what the three primary colors are. That should be enough to get me through class.

"Chase?" She asked. My eyes followed hers to a musty looking freshman. I just knew he smelled like wet dog if that makes sense.

"Uhm. . . values are like shades and hue is color," he replied after some deliberation.

I shifted my attention back to my desk and completely shut out the boring discussion. Who cared? It's not like any of us were going to be artists one day. I didn't get why at least one semester of this class was required.

Her room was cold, making me jolt in shivers every once and a while. It was in the basement next to the locker rooms so guess that was why. Could she not get a space heater or something?

I never got how teachers never seemed to get cold. They always wore pants with a collared shirt or maybe a blouse, but never a jacket. They would just sit there with bare arms, unaffected by the constant freezing temperature of the school.

The door creaked open. It was probably a staff member coming to get a student, but the classroom was quiet.

My eyes lifted up to see the figure in the door. My mouth dropped when I saw him.

He had fluffy black hair that covered his forehead and a dangly earring hanging from one ear. He wore a white T-shirt with a brown oversized button-up. A chain and a lock necklace accented his perfect neck. And finally, baggy jeans with black vans.

"Ah, you must be Ruben. . . um . . . 'exionge?'"

"Xióng," he replied, giving me bad butterflies.

His voice was deep but smooth, like honey dripping from a needle.

"Right, I'm sorry-" Mrs. Jones began. She looked a little embarrassed.

"No, you're good. I get it a lot."

"Uh. . ." she started, scanning the class, "you can just take a seat right there." She pointed exactly in my direction, instantly making my face go red. My heart stopped as his eyes followed her arm, eventually landing on me.

Mrs. Jones looked back to the board in slow motion. Time warped as he started towards me. I looked down at my notes, desperately trying to seem busy, but a couple of seconds passed, and he still hadn't sat down.

I glanced up to find him, but he wasn't walking anymore. Instead, he was seated at the table in front of me with a couple of seniors.

My face dropped in embarrassment. I didn't even do anything that he would notice but my own head was judging me.

I had actually thought that he was going to sit next to me. There was no one else at my table and I was probably just staring at him, so yeah of course he didn't sit down with me.

Maybe he knew those seniors. Was he a senior? Would he go for a junior?

The rest of the class was almost unbearably slow. Mrs. Jones was notorious for over-explaining everything. I hate teachers like that.

When the bell finally rang, I packed everything into my bag, ready to escape. I was kind of excited to tell my friends about the new guy. I was sure they would be excited.

I darted out of my seat, ready to meet Josie in the commons, but when I was halfway out the door, Mrs. Jones called my name.

Dammit lady, just let me leave.

I turned around to face her, and Ruben was leaning up against a table beside her desk. He was seriously hot. His eyes drooped a little with either boredom or sadness, and his lips look so soft.

Butterflies entered my lower abdomen again as I imagined kissing him.

"Do you mind showing Ruben where to commons are. You're the only other Junior in this class," she explained.

I think I stopped breathing, but how could I know because I stopping thinking at all.

This was not good. My social anxiety could not handle walking next to him. Feeling the familiar jolt spread throughout my body, I nervously ticked my head to the side.

Shit. He probably thought I had Tourettes or something.

"Yeah of course," I smiled nervously. We made eye contact and he just sucked on his lips, not smiling back. He propped himself up and walked to me. Utterly unable to just keep standing there awkwardly, I turned around, shouting 'thank you' at Mrs. Jones.

I could feel him walking behind me out of the door into the hallway. The basement was never crowded so it felt like I was alone with him. I kind of was.

I slowed my pace to walk beside him, a sudden burst of confidence showing through.

He's the new kid. I'm the intimidating one. This is my school, I kept affirming in my head.

"I'm Coral," I said, strangely casually. Our eyes met for a second before I had to pull them back to the floor.

"Nice to meet you," he said, dully.

"So, where'd you come from?"

"New York actually."

That made me smile in familiarity. "Oh, I've been there a couple of times."

"Everyone has," he said, instantly killing my excitement. That was kind of a dickish thing to say.

"Yeah," I replied, smiling again.

His personality was probably shit. Why couldn't anyone look like him and be nice. Does it always have to be one or the other?

"Where are we going?" He asked. As soon as he spoke, it was like I was meeting him all over again. Who cared if he was a shit person?

"Oh, uhm, the commons. It's kind of like a break room for-"

"Ok got it," he interrupted.

Wow, ok.

My eyes pulled up to see if I was going to run into anything, but they met with the brown-haired Junior, Kai.

You know what? Take what I said about a guy either only looking good or having a personality back. Kai had both. But that also meant there was hella competition. I mean hella.

He stood in the doorway between us and the back door to the commons, smiling at me. We talked sometimes, but he had a lot of closer girl-friends than me and him. I've had a crush on him since freshman year.

"Hey, Coral! Can I talk to you real quick?" He asked, making my heart flutter.

I think my nervous system was going to shut down. This was too fucking much for one hour.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Keep walking with Ruben . . . . . . Choice 2

See what Kai has to say

*Also don't stress about your choice. It wont affect the entire story. For example if u choose Ruben now you can always have another chance to talk to Kai.