Bates & Landon [Wattys2015]

LANDON

Landon

"I can't believe I did that!" My face felt hot, yet I was proud of myself. "That was so embarrassing!" I sighed. I can't believe that I had done that. I felt good though, my heart was racing and I felt like I was walking on the clouds. I felt really mirthful, and I was glad.

Alice and I stood at my locker. She looked up from her nails, her nails looking perfect as always. "Honey, it didn't look that bad. Also, he looked like he was kinda having an okay time. So, calm yourself, it wasn't that bad, okay?"

"It was for me," I put my forehead to the lockers, feeling the coldness against my head. It felt nice, I was sweating even if I was feeling nice. By nice, I mean a satisfying and suffocating way.

She patted me on the back. "Well, at least you did it. Most girls couldn't do that. I just had to push you a little bit." She walked with me, her long and skinny legs moving with my not-so-thin legs compared to hers. I had always envied her complexion... blonde hair with amazingly beautiful blue eyes with a tall frame and a small figure. But I, Landon, was a short girl with brown hair with light colored eyes that, sometimes, changed. Sounds pretty right? Not when the only color your eyes ever are is a dull brown and -- on rare occasion -- they turned to a green color. I was a girl with pure nervousness from just being around people at times and stuttered a lot when my nerves went berserk. "Yes, in my case, it was awfully awkward. I'll never do that again!"

"Um, hey." I looked to my side to see Bates. Holy crap. What did he want? What was he doing here? Obviously, at school. My mind sneered. What I mean was, why with me. He looked at me. "I don't know where room 208 is, could you help me find it? I have no idea where it is actually at." His voice was low, nervous sounding. Did he hear us talking about him? Oh, I hoped he didn't!

My throat was dry, too dry. I wet my lips. "Um, yeah. Sure, let's go. You said room 208 right-- Mrs. Ellie's art cl-class?" My voice was shaky and tight. And I stuttered.

"Uh, yes. Yeah it is," he answered as we both walked to the room. Alice was following us, huge smile on her face. Luckily, he didn't notice.

"Well, we both have the same class," I told him, regret filling my bones. I sucked at art, yet Alice used her charm of speaking and made me want to sign up for this class. Little did I know, I'd make a complete fool of myself for the lack of artist ability.

Bates didn't say anything. When we walked in, he sat right beside me while Alice sat on the other side. Great. Just great. I was going to embarrass myself so bad.

We didn't talk much. What was I supposed to say? Hi again? Mainly, he read a book to pass the time. I didn't get to see the cover, but he was reading.

"Hello," Mrs. Ellie welcomed all the students. "I'd like for everyone to just paint. Let your mind at ease today. Today, be free with your work. Let your mind draw, not you. Let all the inspiration become something like, a memory or a person or a thought or a favorite moment in your life. It doesn't matter; let your body at ease. Use your mind." Alice smiled after she stopped talking and I frowned. I didn't wanna embarrass myself.

Oh my, what a lovely time I'll have. Students began grabbing paint to draw on their canvas. She didn't need to tell us what to do, we already knew what the procedures we were to do.

"Remember, let your mind paint. Not you." Mrs. Ellie reminded us, her voice loud as she went to her desk to sit down and began working.

I grabbed some red, black, and white paint. I was vaguely aware of Bates beside me or Alice. I let my mind take over, my thoughts focusing on..... Of course, it was Bates. His distance from everyone, his cool and collected self, his quietness. Simply everything about him and nothing. The queasiness and the nervousness when I was around him, the shaky feeling inside me, and my awkwardness around him. I thought of exactly why I was so suddenly crazy about him. I didn't know much about him, except his name, and I just thought he was attractive. Yet I wanted to talk to him more, hang with him, just be around him. So that meant something? Right?

"Landon," Alice said a she brought me back to my thoughts. My hands stopped automatically, thoughts falling away and my hands dropped the paintbrush to look at her. "What are you doing??"

I looked at her, her blue eyes were staring at my canvas. I looked down. It was full of nothing but black paint with few strokes of red and white. If a person good at painting had done it, it would've been exquisite. But mine . . . It looked like an ugly mixture of colors, a huge blob of colors. I sighed, I wasn't even good at painting. Or, rarely, anything else. Like I said, I sucked at painting. Hers was pretty. It had small, blue strokes with globs of gold, and sprinkles of green.

"Eh, it's not as bad as the one you did last week." She joked, a small curve of her lips. Last week, we had to draw an apple sitting on a table. We had to make the shadows just right. Alice's was good, but mine looked like a lop- sided circle that was too big with it half shaded poorly. It was awful and embarrassing. Mrs. Ellie tried to stay positive, but I could tell she was lying when she complimented me on my "unique style of painting..." As if. There was no positive side of my work. It was awful.

Sighing, I put the paintbrushes up. When I came back, I looked at Bates. His eyes were wide open, staring unblinkingly at the canvas with his lips in a tight line, eyebrows scrunched together, and his hands were stroking the canvas with fast movements, his hands seem to have a mind of his own. He was lost in his thoughts, no doubt, and I pondered over what he was thinking.

Overall, He looked handsome as ever. Eyes skimming past his hands, I saw the clothes he wore. A dark short sleeve, old converse, and jeans. Then, my eyes went to what he was painting. Alice, watching me, glanced at the canvas too.

"Oh, my," she says, "it's amazing."

"Yes," I breathe, astonished, "it is."