All For Not

Page 86

"You're here," I nod as he keeps the door open just enough for me to see him in his entirety, "you requested help," I hold up the bag in my hand, "I assume you didn't have clay, forgive me if I've overstepped somehow."

He smiles down at me as I meet his eyes, "you didn't, thanks, I probably should've grabbed some beforehand, guess I didn't think you'd actually showed up..." My head tilted to the side in confusion as my brows furrowed, "why would I not come?"

"Yeah Thorpe, why wouldn't she?" The smile drops quickly from his face as Kent leans over grinning at him as his arms slings over my shoulders, almost hugging me from behind, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd tag along," Kent stood straight while being friendly with words towards the other teen, however over my shoulder was a deep scowl and a smirk to pair it with, "I thought it was pretty clear I meant just me and her fish boy."

"What's the harm in one more student?" Xavier's face was in complete disbelief as he looked at the other boy, "you have divine ceramics as a class, you don't need a teacher." I looked around, quite uncomfortable as my arm was becoming tired holding the clay up, their bickering making me re-evaluate holding the bag up for so long, "yeah, but ceramics is different than sculpting, vision boy."

My arm dropped as I realized I would be holding it indefinitely, or at least until they were done, "so, can we come inside, or are you gonna make us wait out here in the beginning of winter? I mean with all this dry air, it'd be a shame if a small forest fire started. I wonder what Weems would say?"

Xavier looked down at me for a second, "of course, we wouldn't want your scales to dry out now would we?" He grinned, opening the door wider and stepping out of the way for us to pass.

Walking inside I was oblivious to the way Kent stopped next to Xavier, patting his shoulder almost aggressively as he spoke, "oh? Don't worry about me, I've got moisturizer on. Maybe you should try it some time, looking a little dry yourself Thorpe."

Setting the clay down on a cleared table I turned, clasping my hands together just as Xavier closed the door with a grunt. Kent smiled at me as his hands were shoved into his pockets, his shoes clicking across the floor boards as he walked towards me.

"So, where do we start, my little bird?" He stopped before me, leaning over till our foreheads touched. I became flustered almost instantly, a phantom feeling coursing over me as if my feathers all fluffed up.

Hands appeared on his shoulder, but they weren't mine and I certainly didn't pull him or push him away from me. Xavier clasped onto him, pulling him back with a grin, clearly gripping Kent's shoulders harshly, "so what's first?"

"Mmm," I nod without a word, turning to the clay to untie it as they moved to my sides, "have you ever worked with clay before?" I look up to Xavier, he's already got his head turned to me but he's looking above me, right at Kent, "he only paints, refused to even get near the clay in our art class last year."

A thought crosses my mind as Kent's hands move to help mine, unraveling the plastic around the clay block, clearly looking at our hands instead of Xavier. Finishing within seconds I pull my bag off my shoulders and set it on the back of the table just as I freeze, Xavier's arm hanging over my shoulders as he leans forward looking at the clay.

The action wasn't what had me pausing, it was the clicking noise in my ear, "is there something you two would like to talk about? You both seem very hostile when I'm around..."

My words are what makes them pause in turn, both pulling away, "I can leave if you'd like."

"What?"

"I said I can-" Kent's arms wrapped around me as I turned to Xavier, his action had my words stopping before I could finish as I tilted my head back to look at his silvery eyes, a small smirk on his face as he spoke to Xavier, parroting my words in a different manor, "yeah, we can leave if you'd like Thorpe..."