Cherry Ann

Chapter 2.1 Art

Monday October 17, 1999

Ugh! Monday! We should only have to go to school once a week. Five days is just too much of people that bug me. I hadn't seen him all weekend. That was the only reason I wanted to go to school today. I had to see him, it was like I was not complete without him anymore. But that wasn't the case I hadn't seen him all day. I worked the store at lunch, my usual routine.

"Hey Cherry, Still intact?" one of the kids in my class teased. "I bet so. But you know, I could help you with that."

"Does that line really work? You have got to be kidding." I scoffed

He laughed and walked out of the store. I really hated my name sometimes.

"Hey Cherry!" Rachel said. But I was too busy thinking about him to notice. "That is it, Cherry. What is your problem? You have been acting like a zombie all day and you were acting weird Friday too."

"I have? Sorry nothing is wrong... I guess I have just been zoning off."

"No there is something different about you." She looked me up and down. "Have you met someone?"

"No." I technically wasn't lying I hadn't met him yet.

"Hmm is there someone you have your eye on?" I looked away. Rachel could read me like a picture book. "I knew it! Who is he?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? How can you not know?"

"I don't know who he is, I have never seen him before and I have only seen him twice."

"Aw that is so cute. What did he look like?" She hopped up on the counter to sit.

There was no one around so I didn't have a way out of this one.

"Okay, he looked taller than me but with pale skin, long dark hair, and the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen."

"Oh my god he sounds perfect for you."

"Well I haven't seen him since Friday at the mall."

"Have you seen him around school?"

"No I haven't seen anyone like that, but I also haven't been looking but I will tell you if I find anything out. Well there is the bell I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

I closed up the store and walked to my next class. I looked for him during the rest of the day. Now it was the last class of the day Art and I still hadn't seen him. This obsession with him was going to drive me insane. I walked into class and froze. There he was: he was sitting at the table across the room. He had a large canvas in front of him working very fast. Again no one around him seemed to even know he was there.

"Cherry what are you doing? Cherry? Cherry!" Mrs. Tipple asked.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, Sorry."

I didn't realize I hadn't sat down. I still had my bag in my hands. I could feel my face turning red I could only imagine how stupid I looked standing in the doorway of the classroom probably with my mouth hanging open. I took my seat fast thank goodness no one really was paying any attention they were all in there 'inspiration bubbles' as Mrs. Tipple put it. So no one gave me a funny look or even cared. I took another look at him he was just putting his head down and getting back to his piece. He must have noticed it looked like he was hiding a smile. I don't know if he was looking at me but I hope he was but then hoped he wasn't. I pulled out my canvas so I could continue working on my piece for the Halloween art show coming up but today was the last day we could work on them and we were to start working on our display area for our pieces. Mrs. Tipple was cool she wanted scary pieces for the Halloween art show and there were some pretty scary pieces of work. Tony is very talented his piece was of a werewolf attacking a young pretty girl. Derik was very good at skulls and tombstones. Michelle awesome at drawing ghosts. All the pieces were very good I mean this is AP Art, so you couldn't get in the class without being good. I was done with mine I don't think there was anything I wanted to add, it was a portrait of a sad girl with bright green eyes and long blown black hair that flowed around to her waist, it was blowing in a breeze. She looked like a porcelain doll but kind of like me. I hadn't meant for her to look like me but she did in a weird way. Behind her was a tall old haunted looking house with a round tower, dead trees and flowers. Mrs. Tipple wanted to know where our inspiration came from for our pieces and I really didn't know. It was like a memory or a dream. I put my canvas away and walked over to the table assigned for my display it was close to him but he had his back to me. Mrs. Tipple came over to check on his work.

"I'm glad to see that you didn't wait to start on your project today and worked this weekend. Let's see what you have done." He held it up for her I peeked over my shoulder to see what he was working on. His was so lifelike; it looked like an old black and white photograph. It was about a dozen dead roses on a shattered mirror.

Mrs. Tipple loved it, and I did too. "Very good work." Mrs. Tipple said, and he nodded his thanks. But she didn't say his name. I was so mad. Why didn't she say his name? I wanted to know his name.

I stomped my foot in frustration. He looked over at me, I'm sure my mouth was hanging rather unattractively open again, so I turned quickly back to my display. I took a few deep breaths and peeked over my shoulder again. He was still looking at me and I could have sworn he had a grin on his face. I fumbled with my display for the rest of the class. The bell rang and Miss Tipple dismissed everyone. I had hoped that he would stay behind like I do after school. When I turned around he was gone.

Since I have a car, Mrs Tipple lets me stay late and work on my piece. My mysterious guy had his canvas up on his display. He had brought in a black lacy tablecloth and some black roses to go with his picture. He even covered his piece with black lace. I waited until everyone had left and pulled it up so I could peek at his work. He had some color in it. It looked red or a deep purple maybe. I looked closer to his piece I saw that there was some sort of cherry fabric drawn in the background reflecting in the broken mirror. I looked at the other pieces of glass drawn. It was my cherry dress that I had bought last Friday. There was a girl standing in my dress. I looked even closer and noticed that he had drawn the girl's arm. She was holding something in her hand. It looked like one of the roses and around her wrist was... my bracelet. The bracelet I wear almost every day. It was my grandmothers you could just see up to the girl's neck, on it was a small chain necklace with a cherry charm just like the one he had bought at the mall the other day.

I covered his piece and gathered up my things. It freaked me out was he obsessed with me or was it all just a coincidence. What was he doing drawing my bracelet and dress? Was it me in the picture? I was starting to get a little scared, I knew that I needed to talk to him tomorrow. What was the connection between us, why did he draw me in his picture? Why did I feel like I was incomplete when he was not in eyesight? I had so many questions and he had all the answers. At least I hoped he did.

"Hey Cherry."

Great that was just the person I needed to see Rachel.

"Hi Rachel." I tried to say normally.

"So did you find out who your mystery man is?"

"No, but he is in my Art class, so, I will find out who he is soon. I'm sure."

"What's wrong Cherry? You know I can read you like a picture book. You look a little freaked out."

"No I am not freaked out, it's just bugging me that's all."

"Well I hope you find out soon." She said getting into my car, I guess I was driving her home. I rolled my eyes and got in. "You are so out of it."

"Sorry I have different classes tomorrow so I will see if he is any of my other classes."

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Thanks Reddragon225 for editing! ~TukiYuki