Homestuck Fanfic

II - Tess

The girl with the green coat turns out to be a huge cat lover. Her name's Nepeta, and she's in my English class as well as homebase. Turns out this friend-making thing isn't nearly as hard as everyone makes it out to be. We both have art next, so after asking for directions from a couple of seniors, we make our way down to the basement.
"Tell me about your third kitty meow!" she urges me. I've learned that Nepeta tends to make accidental cat puns about once a minute, and once you spend enough time with her, it starts to catch on.
"Well, he's only a kitten, but he makes more trouble than the other two combined. Just yesterday he knocked down the lamp in the living room again. My aunt is worried about what will happen if he ever gets into the workshop. Oh, is this it?"
We take a couple steps inside. Nepeta waves enthusiastically at a boy with black hair and glasses that almost match mine. "Hi, John! Is this the art classroom?"
"Yeah. Nice to see you, Nep." He turns to me. "I'm John Egbert." He extends a hand sincerely.
I shake it automatically. "Tess Jacobs. Nice to meet you."
"Oh, you're British, eh? Say, that reminds me, Nepeta, have you seen Jake? He told me he would show me around."
While they talk, I sit on one of the stools and look around. Laminated images of famous painting cover the walls, from the Mona Lisa to Starry Night to Warhol's soup can. But what really fascinated me are a series of black and white sketches on the wall across from me. The first one depicts an endless waterfall. I look closer and see that the water seems to flow downwards until it reaches the top of the page, and then switches and falls back to the top. Or bottom? I'm not sure. I move on to the the next one, which shows a hand holding a pencil. It's drawing another hand on a piece of paper, but that hand gradually peels away from the paper until you find that it's holding its own pencil and drawing the first hand. My head spinning, I peer at the name at the bottom of all of the drawings. M. C. Escher. Man, with people as amazing as this in the world, I may as well give up on art for good. This stuff is amazing.
"Hi, Tess." A soft voice speaks from behind me. I turn and see Laarai standing with her backpack hitched up on her shoulders.
"Oh, hey! Do you wanna put your bag down and come sit here? It looks really heavy."
Laarai heaves it down with a sigh of relief and settles onto a stool. She still looks a little anxious, but there's something different about her expression. She actually seems eager to begin class.
A young troll woman, maybe 25 or so, enters the room. She has a messy ponytail of soft black hair, and her horns are small and rounded. You can almost see the rays of smile shining out of her eyes as she reaches the front of the class.
"Hello, hello, hello! I'm Ms. Ashuto, and I'm really excited to meet you all and get started making some beautiful art! Today we don't have any specific project yet. I just want to see what you can do. A free draw, if you will. Now, there's thin and thick paper right here, and all the supplies you need are in that closet. Go for it!"
Everyone leaps up and a mob forms around the paper tray. Laarai makes a little squeal and I see that she's huddled up again. "Here, I'll get you some," I offer. "Do you want thick or thin?"
"Thick, please," she whispers. I stand,  shoulder my way through the clump of students, and return with two sheets of paper. The closet Ms. Ashuto mentioned is directly behind us, and when I open it, I automatically take a step back. The whole closet is completely filled to the brim. She wasn't joking when she said all the supplies we would need. I gingerly reach my hand out so as not to knock into anything and send the whole contents tumbling to the floor, and grab a handful pencils, which I drop in the the center of our table.
I've been really excited for art class, but with the pencil in my hand and a blank paper waiting for me, I have no idea what to draw. I glance over at Laarai and for a moment I think she's switched tables with someone. She's relaxed, she's smiling, and her pencil is flying across the paper. I can't quite make out what she's drawing, though.
"Er, Laarai?" Suddenly I feel a bit anxious myself. Maybe now that she's more comfortable, Laarai will think I'm stupid or annoying and won't want to talk to me. Before my brain can terrify me further, she looks up.
"Yes?"
"Well, I, er, was wondering if you could give me any ideas of what to draw."
She looks at me with bright, curious eyes. "Really? Why would you want me to help you?"
I look at her, a little shocked. "Well, because you clearly know what you're doing. Why, is it surprising?"
She looks down, blushing furiously. "I'm not actually that good at art. I just enjoy it. There's a difference."
"Not actually that good? Are you kidding me? You're like... Van Gogh, or something. Seriously, that's amazing." I point to her drawing. It's still partly obscured, but I can see a pair of neatly drawn shoes that give the impression that whoever they belong to is stepping right out of the page. "I take it back. You're better than Van Gogh."
"I'm not. I mean, thank you, but no, I'm really not. Not even close."
I laugh. "Okay, I'm not even quite sure what Van Gogh paints like. My point is, you're fantastic."
"Thanks I guess..." Laarai smiles a little but doesn't seem convinced. "So what do you normally draw?"
I pick up a pencil and absentmindedly begin doodling little cartoon cats. "Well, mostly these. I'm not so good at dogs, but I can do most animals. I'm mostly rubbish at drawing, though."
Her eyes widen a bit. "Are you kidding? I couldn't draw like that to save my life! Animal anatomy is so hard. This is the best I can do." She takes another piece of paper and draws a small stick figure cat on it.
"Aw, it's cute. And at least you can draw people." I hesitate. "Do you mind if I take a look at it?"
"Well, it's not done yet, but if you want to... I hope you like it." She moves her arm and spins her paper to face me. On it is a drawing of me. It's correct in every detail: my shirt, my glasses, even the tips of her hair are shaded lightly to show that it's dyed. I look up at Laarai in amazement.
"It's so good!" It actually looks better than I do in real life. I run my finger along the lines gently. "Wow," I whisper to myself. I'm actually really touched that she drew me. In a sudden burst of confidence, I pull my little cat out of my pocket and set it on the table. The little cat sits with its back paws tucked under it and its tail wrapped around the front paws, just as it has sat for 5 years. Its creamy wood shines in the fluorescent light, worn smooth by years of me rubbing it constantly.
Laarai gazes at it, wonder in her eyes. "Did you carve this? That's amazing!"
I can feel my face flush. "Sorry, it's not great. It's the first one I ever did."
"That's the first? Then how good are the ones you do now?"
"I have hundreds at home. Do you want me to bring some in?" I don't want to admit it, but I would be thrilled to be able to show them to somebody. "They're pretty dull, though. Not nearly as interesting as your drawings, especially once you add color."
"Would you show me some? I would love to see them. And what do you mean my drawings are more interesting? They all look pretty much the same."
"So do mine, if you don't look closely. They're just big hunks of wood."
"Better than pencil strokes on paper." She laughs. "I'd really like to see some of your carvings."
"Okay, I guess I can--" I suddenly have an idea. "Laarai, do you paint as well?"
"Yes, but I'm even worse at that than I am at drawing."
"Your bad is everyone else's amazing, so that doesn't worry me. Do you-- that is, would you like to try painting one or two of my carvings?"
Her eyes shine as she looks up at me. "Really? I would love to! I- thank you. Thank you!"
I let my grin spread across my whole face. I've tried painting them before, but it always ends up making them look even worse than before. Plus, I'm really glad to see my new friend so happy. I can't wait for tomorrow.