Bloody Paintbrush

Chapter 10

Two months has passed, and it's a week before the projects are due.

"Good Morning, class." Mrs. Johnson greeted her students.

"Just reminding you all if you forgot your projects are due next week. I don't want to hear any excuses; you had two months." Mrs. Johnson explained.

Shit! Eri thought to herself while biting her lip.

"You're all going to work on finishing your projects. If you finished the project you're allowed to finish homework from other classes. Get to work." Mrs. Johnson finished.

Ugh!  Eri thought while rummaging through her bag.

Eri placed her ideas for the project and laid them out on her desk.

"Which of these ideas express me the most?" Eri asked herself quietly.

Tallie glanced at Eri and noticed how uneasy she looked. She approached Eri's desk and asked

"Woah, what's got you so on edge?"

"I forgot to do the project." Eri answered.

"Don't panic too much. It's due until next week." Tallie said, trying to calm Eri down.

"You're also very creative! You'll probably get it done by today easy." Tallie added on.

"Thank you." Eri said, with an alleviated sigh.

"No problem." Tallie said.

Pulling out numerous artistic ideas for the project Eri sat and examined all of them thoroughly.

The ending of class approached almost time for lunch. Once the bell rang, Eri gathered all her belongings and made her way to her normal spot for lunch.

Upon her arrival, an unpleasant sight awaited her.
It was Silas and the girl from before.

Eri squinted her eyebrows and pinched her bottom lip with her teeth hard.

She tried to ignore them and get her work done. She was focused, but not on what she needed to focus on.

She noticed them laughing and having fun.
"What could possibly be so funny?!" Eri scoffed.

Eri didn't do such a good job at hiding her emotions and Silas noticed that something seemed to be bothering her.

"Hey, I gotta take care of something real quick. I'll be back." Silas said.

Feeling uncomfortable, Eri packed her belongings preparing to take her leave.

Suddenly Eri felt a grip on her arm.
"Hey, you okay?" Silas asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Eri answered putting her head down looking away.

"You sure? You seem out of it."

"Yes, I'm just a little stressed out with class work." Eri slightly glanced up at Silas making eye contact for a minute.

"Thank you." She said using her hair to cover her blush.

Without giving Silas a chance to react, Eri fled the scene.

Rushing away, Eri leaned against a wall and let out a heavy sigh. She placed her hand on her chest feeling her heart rate.

Gosh.

School ended, and Eri made her way to her bus stop.
She spotted Tallie and made her way to her.

"Hey," Eri greeted Tallie. "Hey." Tallie said.

A few minutes pasted, and they just stood there.
...

"You have any plans?" Tallie asked breaking the silence.
"Other than to finish my project, no." Eri said.

"I'm going to the library to do some studies. You wanna tag along with me? I finished the project so I could help if you wanted."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Hold on."

Recalling what happened last time Eri made sure to contact Jennet and inform her.

"Alright, Let's go."