She is not bad

Chapter 35 : The drawing

The last week of the school year had already well begun. Will and Jane were at their last art class of the year. The teacher was going to give them back their works, but Jane was a little bit stressing about hers, and Will noticed it. He didn't know a mark could worry her so much. She didn't seem to have really cared before. Maybe she was loving art so much that she wanted to be the best at it. It was not her kind. He wasn't knowing her well, but Jane worked enough to have the average, never to have more. He didn't talk to her anyway. She was still not his friend, even if he wasn't hating her anymore. But he understood better why Jane was stressing when the teacher asked her to stay after the class to talk to her. It seemed serious, Jane didn't answer, she just nodded.

At the end of the class, Jane waited for everyone to leave before standing from her chair. She knew why the teacher wanted to see her. She hesitated between many drawings, but she chose one which was less scary than the others. It was scary enough to worry her teacher.

- "Hey, Jane," the teacher smiled. "Can we talk about your drawing? I'm not saying it's not good, you've the best mark, but...I was wondering if everything was fine in your life."

Jane took a deep breathing and loudly sighed, not really knowing what to answer. This woman couldn't do anything anyway.

- "If you need to talk, there is a psychologist in this school, or you can talk to me if you want."

- "It's just a drawing," Jane coldly answered.

- "A drawing about how you feel every day. I'm just...worried about it."

- "I've drawn worse things."

Jane quickly grabbed her drawing and left the classroom, not wanting to talk about it. She walked in the almost empty halls, crumpled her drawing, and threw it in a bin. But not far from her, Will was standing at his locker and saw the scene. He let his curiosity guide him and waited for Jane to be far before searching the bin and taking the drawing. He understood better why the teacher wanted to talk to her. She probably proposed her to see a psychologist or something like that. Jane was really...disturbed. The drawing gave him a bad shiver. He put it in his bag, not wanting someone with bad intentions to find it, and left the school, in direction of the parking lot. When he arrived at his car, Joyce was already there.

- "Hey mom," he said, sitting next to her.

- "Hey. How was art class?" the woman smiled, starting the car.

- "Cool, cool. She gave us our works. I have 18 out of 20."

- "Oh, Will! You're really the best!"

Joyce happily took her son in her arms and kissed his cheek, proud of him. The boy lightly grumbled but was more amused by her reaction than annoyed.

- "Did you have the best mark?"

- "Nope," Will answered, showing the back of Jane's drawing with a big 20 out of 20.

- "...Um, why do you have their drawing? And whose drawing is it?"

- "It's Jane's. She threw it."

- "You searched in the bin?"

- "Mom, this drawing is scary! The teacher wanted to see her after class, and Jane was furious so...yeah, I searched the bin. She is not my friend, and I'm uncomfortable around her, but Bev, Clara, and Gabrielle really like her so, I just wanna be sure if it could be just a drawing or something deeper."

- "Show me."

Will shyly gave the paper, fearing his mother's reaction. Joyce looked closely at the drawing, trying to not show any emotion. The drawing was Jane herself under water, trying to reach the surface, but different hands seemed to prevent her from doing it. Jane was holding out her hand in direction of another hand. Joyce recognized Cassandra. The woman wasn't feeling reassured with this drawing. Maybe Jane tried to convey a message or to cry for help.