An Artist in Love

Chapter 7: Scheduled

Dan's POV:

"Lex," I called out as I saw her by her locker early in the morning. She wore the usual uniform with a red scarf and an orange beanie. "Hm?" "I'll be tutoring you today, okay?" I told her. "Oh, yay! Okay, sure. What time?" "Right after class? Or do you want to have it in some café?" "After class would be fine. Library." I nodded my head. I entered the room, sat on my chair, and started sketching. Today was a pale day. The sun hid behind the clouds of snow and all around there was a thick layer of snow on the grounds. The wind whistled across the open fields, releasing a soft melody, a tune to listen to early in the morning.

I sketched the soccer field and gave it the feeling that it was cold and pale. I drew someone in the middle of that field, taking a stroll while wearing a scarf and a beanie. I imagined it to have been a red scarf and an orange beanie. Hands in her pocket, she stared up at the cloudy sky and the falling snowflakes, probably curious how it was possible that snow fell from those clouds. There were also the arena-like seats at the side and the main building as the background. "Wow, that's so beautiful," Lex said. I was slightly surprised and looked up. "It really is. How do you achieve this much feeling even with just black and white?" she asked, taking a closer look at the sketch on my desk. I chuckled and she looked at me then asked, "What?" "Nothing." "What is it?!" she chuckled as well. I shook my head and added my signature on the paper, along with the date.

A little while after, people started coming in. Lexi, being her usual self, greeted everyone with a smile and a cheerful 'good morning.' I could only manage to smile at them if they looked at me. "Dan!" Beatrice called. I looked up and smiled at her. She skipped towards my seat and said, "Can you please help me with math?" I nodded and asked, "What topic?" "The most recent one. I just can't seem to get it." "Okay. Math notebook?" "I was actually hoping if you could teach me later after class," she said and smiled sweetly. Yes, she was beautiful. "Actually I --" I was saying before she cut me off. "Great! Thanks, Dan!" she said as she hugged me from the side.

I was quite stunned with what she did. "Dan, did you just turn into an owl? Haha!" Lex laughed. I blinked and snapped out of it. "Lex, it's okay if I teach you both at the same time, right?" "Mmm... yeah! But if you want, you can just teach her first today, we'll just have the session some other time," Lexi smiled. "But --" "I'm serious, it's fine." But I want you there... Lexi was about to say something when Jake called her. "Yeah?" she responded. Jake wrapped an arm around her shoulders. I felt my system heat up in annoyance. "English class, help me out?" "Which topic?" "All? Haha! Would that be fine?" "Yeah, I guess. When?" "After class? At a café?" "Sure. Let's go together or meet up?" "Let's go together and call it a date!" DATE?! WHO DOES THIS GUY THINK HE IS?! "Date?" Lex jokingly asked.

"Uhh... I-I mean, study date. Yeah," Jake replied with a smile. I couldn't take it anymore. I stormed out of the room and went directly to the bathroom.

Lexi's POV:

Dan suddenly stormed out again while Jake was talking to me. "Okay, yeah sure," I told Jake. "Great, love you, Lex!" Jake said, messing up my hair and running back to his friends. Love you, Lex? Hm... well I guess he meant it as a friend. I mean he did say it in a joking manner, right? I sat back down on my chair. Ten minutes to go and classes would begin. Chan Min came in and took his seat which was next to mine. "Where's Dan?" "I don't know. He just suddenly stormed out earlier."

"Probably the bathroom, huh?" "Mm, I guess so. Why'd he --" "I don't know either. I was just talking to Jake then he-" "You were talking to Jake?!" "Mhm, well more like he talked to me first but yeah." "Why were you talking to Jake?!" "Calm down Chan Min," I chuckled, "He was just asking for help regarding the topics in English class." "How was he talking to you?" "What?" "As in his tone, his gestures." "Nothing out of the ordinary." "Specifically?" "He used his usual jolly tone and his arm was on my shoulders BUT it was the usual friendly thing!" "Arms?! Shoulders?! What?!" "It's normal, Chan Min." "For guys to guys and girls to girls!" "Not just that! It can be guys to girls too you know. Besides, what does this have to do with Dan storming off?"

Chan Min was about to speak when Dan came back. "You okay? What's wrong?" I asked. He shook his head, looking down at his desk. "Right. Like THAT is nothing. Come on, just tell me!" He looked up and looked into my eyes then shook his head again. "Is it because of the tutor thing? Look, Beatrice is asking for help too and I think it'll be a lot easier with just one student." He didn't say anything. I was starting to get annoyed. "I promise we'll do it some other time. Maybe tomorrow, right after class, okay?" He said nothing again. I just nodded my head and muttered, "Fine." What's wrong with him! Not like he didn't accept Beatrice's plead for help in Math!

Chan Min just sat there and as soon as I sat back down, he gave me a gentle pat on the back and said, "It's okay, it's okay." I nodded and smiled, pretending like everything WAS indeed okay with me. Well, there's nothing left to do now, everything's been scheduled for our day.

Jake's POV:

It's just the beginning of the day and I'm already waiting for it to end. "Has the school jock finally found someone to love?" my friend asked with a stupid-looking grin on his face. My other friends started whistling and saying 'yieeeeee' while I was trying to shut them up. "Ssshhh! Guys, please! And I just like her, not love yet." "HAH!" the same friend of mine exclaimed, "You already told her yourself, pretty boy." "I-I know..." My cheeks felt slightly hotter. I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away from them. They began doing what they were doing earlier again when suddenly, the teacher entered. We all scrambled back to our seats and kept quiet. I looked back and saw Lexi, she seemed... sad? No, annoyed? I don't know. I gotta cheer her up somehow.

=After 30 minutes=

We were group mates for the activity in History class. She seemed quieter than usual, although she still did smile but not her happy one. During the group discussion, I tried my best to make her laugh and smile. Lucky me, I successfully did! This was through humiliation such as tripping or getting tongue-twisted with some words. Our group was probably the noisiest one inside the room, but no one cared for a moment because the teacher had left something in the faculty room and went back to get it. In a span of about 10 minutes, I was able to get her back to her usual self. One goal achieved, Jake. Now there's only one left: win her heart...

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