Sophomore Status

Chapter 5: Art Project

Early Sunday morning, I snuck out to walk over to the store, to buy Jason a birthday gift. The Lake Pines General Market was a block away, so it wasn't much of a walk. I ended up getting him a new sketch book, because Jason was into sketching crazy dark pictures that only a teenage boy would understand. I also bought him some Carmel cremes and a cute bag to put everything in. It was the perfect gift for him.

When I got home, Dad and Jason were still asleep because it was only about eleven thirty. I went in my room and stayed there all day, with the exceptions of my snack breaks. A few of the times I just brought the snack in my room.

I fell asleep re-reading Under The Bridge and ended up drooling on page one hundred and four. I realized this when I woke up a few hours passed midnight. I turned my lamp off, put the book away, and then fell back to sleep.
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It felt like I had just gone back to sleep when my alarm clock awoke me on Monday morning. I slowly stood up from my bed and threw a pair of jeans and a solid blue teeshirt on, and walked out into the kitchen. Every morning, I had to be as silent as a mouse because Jason's school still hadn't started so he slept in every morning. However, the county announced that they would open up his middle school the next Monday.

I stuffed a price of cold, cooked bacon from yesterday in my mouth as I pulled my sweatshirt over my face. I was wearing a gray Montana Mountain Range sweatshirt that Dad bought me when we went to the hiking trail gift shop.

I finished getting ready and I walked outside to wait for the bus to come. Sure enough, the bus came ten minutes late. When I stepped up the steep stairs to get on the bus. An unfamiliar face had stopped my from continuing to the seat that I usually say at. The old bus driver was gone. Instead, there was an old stout man with a smile on his face sitting in the seat that the old, purple haired bus driver with the beetle tattoo once sat in.

"Hello," the old man said to me, "My name is Mr. Spade. I'm your new bus driver."

If I were to close my eyes at that moment, I would think that I was talking to Happy from Snow White. It was weird hearing him talk because usually, bus drivers don't ever talk to the students, they just observe, and drive.

"Hello." I said back, which was all I needed to say.

I avoided making conversation with the bus driver and walked as quickly as I could to the fifth seat on the right side, which was wear I sat the past week. I could hear the seniors yelling in the back of the bus. I even heard one of them say that the bus driver got arrested. For a second, I had no clue why, until I glanced at the front on the bus. In the corner of my eye, I saw a no smoking sign. It reminded me that the old bus driver was constantly smoking while she was driving, which I had guessed was the reason that she was arrested. That was, if she actually was arrested.

The bus arrived to school, and once again, the students spilled out of the bus and into the main hallway. I followed. When I reached my locker, Alyss Banks stood, leaning against it as if she were waiting for me. I started to slow down and wait for her to move. When she saw me looking at her, her eyes opened in surprise and she took a step to the side.

"What's up Kat?"She asked.

I took it as a rhetorical question and gave her a fake smile and nodded.
I began to dial in my locker combination as she continued to talk to me.

"I heard that Mrs. Shrider is going to assign us a big project today. One of the juniors told me that they did the exact same thing in the second week of school last year." Alyss continued as I opened my locker to gather my books. "He said that its due at the end of the semester!" She didn't seem too exited about the due date, which probably meant that it was going to be a hard project.

"Wow. That's a long time." I said surprised. "I wonder if it's a partner assignment." If it were a parters, the only person I knew in the class was Alyss, so I would be glad if she was my partner.

" I don't know. My friend didn't tell me anymore." She answered.

I couldn't help but notice a large, brown birthmark on the side of her face. It stuck out, especially then, because she was turned to the side. However, even one birthmark couldn't spoil her perfect look. I hadn't noticed t much until then, but Alyss was very beautiful. She was thin and her hair was very shiny like silk. It even made me a little bit jealous, not of Alyss, but of her appearance.

I finally snapped out my my thinking trans and replied to her.
"Well at least we know something!"

Alyss smiled at me and walked towards her locker.

By the time we reached third period, Mrs. Shrider already had the project on the whiteboard in the front of the room. It said American Art History Project due December 10th. It was written in cursive which made it a bit hard to read. Everyone sat down in the same seats as last week, and began to murmur about the project.

"Good morning everyone. I know that you are probably wondering what is written on the board. Please give me time to explain." Mrs. Shrider grabbed a stack of papers off of her desk and started to pass them out to the class.

"This is your partner assignment for the next four months. I know, that's a very long time, but it will be graded as your semester exam."

I wasn't sure what to think. It was a good thing that there wasn't going to be an exam, but if I were to get a bad grade, there goes my grade for the whole semester. Mrs. Shrider continued explaining the project.

When she finished telling us about the project, she assigned us partners. Mrs. Shrider pulled her glasses to her nose and began reading from a list.

"Julia, you are with Heather. Nora, you are with Jackie. Steven, you are with James. Alyss, you are with Kathleen. And lastly, Ricky, you are with Sarah you are with Jackson."

At this, a girl in the front of the room let out a loud groan. It was the same girl from PE, the one that gave me a mean look. Her name was Sarah. She was probably unhappy that she was paired with a boy.

I was looking at Sarah, when I felt the glare from Alyss. I looked over at her and she was smiling at me. It was because we were partners. I was glad that we were partners, because that would finally give me a chance to get to know more about Alyss. To me, she was like a giant safe with a lock on the door, impossible to crack the code.