Starbird

Chapter 15

And then it was Monday again. That dreaded, terrible day. I wasn’t especially looking forward to it after all, I mean, Mondays meant a few things.

1) It meant getting up early and going to school.

2) It meant interacting with Rowan, the overly excited puppy who wanted to meet my brother and

3) Mondays meant dealing with the extremely social butterfly aka Jace.

I arrived at class a bit early to make up for being late the week before and at least this time I had an entire portfolio of work that I could use if necessary. Being the first one there, even before Ms. Norris, I decided I could get another drawing in. I pulled out a piece of paper and a black pen, tracing long, thick lines across the paper, flicking it up for wisps. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was drawing; just doodles I suppose. Each line was different from the last, whether it was thicker or longer or wispier and it created a fabulous illusion on my paper. I heard the door open and someone enter, however I paid them no attention. They set their stuff down and settled in the chair next to me and I could feel them looking over my shoulder.

“Stop,” I said without glancing up.

“Sorry, it’s just that... that’s really good.” I looked up in surprise when I heard who it was. Jace was looking right at me, his expression blank.

“Oh. Well. Thank you,” I said and he simply nodded in reply and pulled out his own work. I was then curious. What did his artwork look like? Craning my neck, I attempted to see what he was working on. For the most part, I just saw lots of shading and lots of scraggly, creepy lines. I frowned at his drawing, trying to figure out what exactly it was. It looked so awful and terrifying, what on earth could it be?

“If you want a look,” Jace began, turning slightly towards me, “you could always ask.” I looked aside guiltily, but then turned back.

“I do want to look.” He looked at me in surprise, probably thinking I was going to back off, but then he slid his arm away and pushed the drawing towards me.

It was dark and depressing. Narrow, weathered trees took up the foreground with an eerie looking moon in the distance, hovering over tall mountains. A creature, I’m not sure what, stood hunched in the corner of the picture. However, despite the darkness of the picture it was incredibly well done. 

“Wow,” was all I could manage to say. He reached back over and took back his drawing, quickly putting his folder over it to skew my view.

“Good morning everyone!” I looked over to see Rowan entering the room, her arm flying out above her as she made an elaborate entrance. 

“Hi?” I asked as she practically danced into the room, flopping down in the chair next to Jace.

“How are you this morning, Jace? Same ol’ dark and gloomy attitude?” She dropped her arm over his shoulder and he shook his head and rolled his eyes as if this was a common thing to happen. When he didn’t reply, she shrugged and removed her arm saying, “I suppose so.” She reached down into her bag, pulling out her folder of work. “And you, Camille? How are you this wonderful morning?”

Before I could answer, Jace huffed and looked over at her, annoyance clearly plastered across his face. “Did you eat unicorns and rainbows this morning or something? Seriously, how are you this happy?”

“I had Lucky Charms, so yes, I did eat unicorns and rainbows. You could use a bowl or two yourself,” she retorted, crossing her arms.

“To your earlier question, I’m good.” I thumbs-upped and turned away.