St. Văduva's School for Prestigious Girls

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕰𝖑𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

"If you've never painted with acrylic before, it can be murder on your brushes if it dries all the way down. And I bought these all myself, so do wash them all the way through, yeah?" Florida instructed. Temperance stood at the back of the room, arms crossed. Her mood was beyond sour, but she still made herself keep the reins on her temper so she could get through her classes.

Today was a two-class day, so she was only required to go to her Painting class and her English class. She would have been thrilled to go about her day as headstrong as she had been this morning, but the hallucination, paired with an ice-cold shower, dampened her mood. Her head still felt good, her entire body pain-free. But now she was on edge, waiting for a hallucination to come around the corner at any given moment. She would kill for a cigarette right now. With all of the events of the past few days, her stressed-out body was craving the sweet inhalation of toxic chemicals.

She nibbled on her thumbnail, eager to have something in her mouth.

"Psst," a voice sounded from her left.

Temperance turned her glare over to the person standing there. The woman leaned against the wall, her coily hair natural and voluminous, her round face with a warm, deep complexion. She wore a gray sweater vest, paired with plaid slacks. In her ear, a small device sat, connected to a wire that disappeared somewhere in her hair. She held out a hand, a toothpick between her fingers.

"Need somethin' to chew on?" she asked. She sounded like she was from the southern part of the US, the way she drawled her words. 

Temperance stared at the sliver of wood for only a while longer before folding and taking it, tucking it between her teeth and feeling a sense of comfort as the wood filled the emptiness between her lips. It was not completely satisfying, but it was good enough.

"Thanks," she muttered, keeping her mouth in view in case the earring aid did not pick it up.

"No problem. I'm JJ. My wife met you yesterday. Helped you to the nurse."

Zhanna. "Ah. Well then, tell her I said thank you."

There was a small lull in the conversation as Florida instructed the students to set their easels up and place the canvas in the middle. It was a small canvas — 12 inches by 16 inches.

"Paint whatever you want for the next ten minutes, and then you will get into groups and begin the critiques," Florida said with a prideful smile. "Remember, we're to be kind about this, constructive only. And... start!"

Temperance set her old easel up, noting how the other students had glossier, newer ones. A few cast glances her way, checking out her equipment. Sure, it was old. It also had been in a shed for years, collecting dust and spiders and probably mold. But it was hers, and she loved it. It still served its purpose, and no one could fault it for that.

"You a smoker?" JJ asked, setting her paints up in the palette.

"Yeah," Temperance answered honestly, tongue fiddling with the toothpick. "Didn't bring any smokes with me."

"Good thing, too. St. V's doesn't accept 'em. Even if you go outside of the school grounds, they get real bitchy 'bout it."

Temperance sneered at her canvas. "Ugh. good to know. You smoke?"

"Nah. Just remember readin' it in the pamphlet and hearing a few others talkin' about it my first year. I just knew the signs of nicotine withdrawal. My mama's a smoker."

Temperance nodded thoughtfully. She had not read the pamphlet. Honestly, she had no clue about what the school's history or rules were, as she figured she would be dead within a few weeks of starting. 

She placed a few select paints on the palette — titanium white, black, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, and phthalo blue. They were basic colors, but she could work well with them. Her canvas was pre-stretched and prepped, making this a hell of a lot easier. She dipped a wide, flat brush into the cup of water on the table beside her, coating the canvas to make it easier to allow the paint to spread easier.

"You look like you know what you're doing," JJ remarked, peeking over at the way Temperance took the tail end of her paints to mix together into new, exciting colors.

"Been painting since I was ten. You?"

"Second year tryin' it. I'm better with hair than I am paintin', but Zhanna acts like I created the sun and the moon with my brush."

That earned a soft chuckle from Temperance. "My sister's the same way. Acts like I'm Leonardo DaVinci himself."

JJ snickered. "Family really hype you up, don't they? Zhanna knows almost nothing about art, but she's all too eager to hang up my paintings in our dorm and take Art History to keep herself educated."

"What's her major?" Temperance applied her paints on the canvas, the image of water coming to mind. She liked water scenes, they always calmed her when she would look at them at museums as a child, her grandmother holding Constance on her hip while Temperance held her hand.

"Tech. She's interested in designin' video games and computer programing. Got in on a scholarship few years back, like you."

Temperance nodded, taking in the info. She did not know why she was so interested in hearing of this woman and her wife, but she was just thankful that the talking distracted her from the mess going on in her head.

"And I'm guessing that since you said you like doing hair, you're in the cosmetology course?"

"Yup. Been doing makeup and hair since I was five. I'm also planning on getting an associate's in business. I plan on having my own salon someday. And you? What do you want to do with your painting, assuming that's your major?"

Temperance's brush faltered. She had no prospects of living past a few more months. She panicked briefly before dredging up an old aspiration she could use instead. "I always wanted to hang my art in a gallery, but starting small, I want to work in an art museum. It's a small desire, but I like the idea of showing people new pieces of art they have never seen before."

JJ smiled, accepting that answer. "What an admirable dream."

Once the starting work was over, Temperance looked upon her water scene. Lilies under the curtain of willow branches as they sweep over the surface of the water like fingers. It was not all the way finished, some highlights were missing, and certain parts of the canvas still showing beneath the crosshatching of paints slathered together, but she was pleased with it. Before she traded spots to critique, she etched her initials in the corner of the canvas with the palette knife. She probably would have preferred to work with JJ, but Florida had a different partner in mind. They were not awful, both in temperament and in art, which she was grateful for. 

Luckily, the class flew by, and Temperance left her main assignment to dry on the back table. It was far from finished, barely past the sketching phase and only a fraction of it was painted — an oil painting this time instead of her usual acrylic. Florida encouraged her to branch out with her medium, as well as her subject. She had sat in front of her easel, drawing a complete blank, until the man with the blue eyes that had saved her in the stairwell came to mind. And the seed was planted, the idea of still doing a landscape piece, but in a way that nature would also double as a portrait, formed by cliff faces and wild green shrubbery. She planned on using the wild blue skyline as breakthrough points through tree roots to mimic those piercing icy eyes.

She washed her palette thoroughly in the paint-stained sink, grabbed her easel awkwardly, and headed back to her dorm to put it away.

"Hey," JJ called after her.

She turned with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah?"

"Tomorrow night is movie night in the auditorium downstairs. Wanna join me and Zhanna?"

Temperance hesitated. She had not wanted to make friends, intending on skirting by her classes and peers, but as JJ smiled at her with such warmth, she found her mouth moving before she could think about it.

"Sure, I'd love to."