Boy in Pink

Chapter 8

I twisted and turned, swerving through the large crowds of students on my way to Art. Since my old school was smaller and only had about 100 kids in it, I wasn’t used to this. Unfortunately, I stepped in the room right after the bell rang. I sighed and looked around. I saw lots of kids working with clay, and I wondered what they were working on. Just then, a short, blonde girl walked up to me.

“Hello and welcome to the art room! You must be Rory, correct?” I was shocked, but I nodded. “Good. I’m Mrs. Perry, your art teacher.” I was shocked yet again. This short, almost student looking person was a teacher!?

“Right, Mrs. Perry. Sorry I was late.”
“It’s okay, Rory. We’ve already started our clay lantern project. If you want me to show you how to make one, I can teach you, if that's something you’re interested in,” she told me but I politely declined.

“I have a drawing I need to work on.” She nodded and walked to the back of the class, and I followed her.

“These are the colors if you need them and whatnot. I also don't have any assigned seats, so feel free to sit wherever you’d like,” she told me and I nodded.

“Okay, thank you.” She smiled and walked off to help another student. I then sat down at a somewhat empty table. Sitting there was a student carving something onto their arm. “Hello!” I said. The kid jumped in their seat and threw whatever they were drawing with at me. I quickly dodged it, but it hit a girl in the back of the head, and she let out a shriek. She then quickly whipped her head around to face us. She did this so quickly that I thought her head was going to fall off.

“You little-” The girl yelled. Mrs. Perry then escorted the girl out. The student just laughed.

“Deserved,”  The kid said, before looking back at me. “You okay, newbie?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” The kid nodded and walked back over to retrieve whatever it was they were using to draw on theirself with.

“Whatcha drawing?” I asked as they walked back over to me. “I usually draw flowers on myself,” they told me as they showed me their drawn - flower covered arm.

“Wow, those are good!” They smiled and pulled their sleeves down before sitting back down.

“So, what’s your name?” I asked, and they just smiled softly.

“Arrow, and my pronouns are they/them. What about you?” They asked.

I actually -surprisingly- felt comfortable saying it, so I said, “Rory, and my pronouns are he/him.” Arrow nodded and started drawing on their hand. I smiled and took out my drawing.

“You workin’ on somethin’?” They asked and I nodded.

“Just a drawing of me and my friends,” I told them as they moved to the seat next to me. They watched silently as I drew myself.
“You're good at drawing hands,” they told me, and I smiled.

“Thanks.” I kept sketching until the bell rang.

“Whatcha have next?” Arrow asked me as we packed our things up.

“Study hall. What about you?” I asked.
“Orchestra.” I nodded as they talked about some kids in their orchestra. They finished packing up everything and we walked out the door.

“Welp, seeya Rors!” They called as they sprinted down the hallway.

“Rors… I like it.” I smiled softly, thankful for the actual nice nickname, and started walking to Study Hall.