Prep School

Chapter 18

Mrs. Nayes is standing at the front of the class, holding a crate of sketchbooks. She starts talking as we all sit down.
"Class, I want to do a quick gallery walk before we start today's activity. I'm going to call some names and I want those people to come up to the front."
She calls a series of names; I'm not really paying attention.
"Aria Black."
I give a jump of surprise at the sound of my name and go up to the front.
"These seven people showed some serious talent last class, and I want to put their work on display,"
Mrs. Nayes says to the class.
She opens our sketchbooks and places them one at time in front of a projector.
Then she asks us about our technique. When it's my turn, I look out at the class first. I spot Gianna who grins at me and shoots me a thumbs up. I see Zane next, his face cupped in his hands, smiling. Rocky sits next to him and smiles. Sofia grins at me and sends me a wink.
I look around again, and I see Lilo. Her scowl and glare puts me off balance.
Ok, this girl is starting to freak me out.
"So Aria, how did you get these results?" Mrs. Nayes looks at me expectantly.
"I practiced on a different page."
I flipped the sketchbook page over, showing some practice sketches.
"Interesting," Mrs. Nayes said, winking at me. "You may sit down."
I go back to my seat, smiling.
"Way to go!" Gianna tells me when I sit down.
"Thanks."
Mrs. Nayes passes out our sketchbooks and tells us to draw something we see and to use the artists' techniques we studied. We're going to have a gallery walk at the end of class.

I just concentrate on my drawing of a pencil holder, barely noticing anything else.
After what seems to be a few minutes, Mrs. Nayes rings a bell on her desk.
"Ok, gallery walk!"
We all get up and push our chairs in. We walk with our friends and look at the art work.
Gianna drew the ceramic apple on Mrs.Nayes' desk. Sofia drew the back of Zane's head (Gianna and I both rolled our eyes). Zane drew a picture of a painting hanging at the front of the room. Rocky drew a picture of Zane's picture (Gianna snickers and I roll my eyes).
After we all sit down, the bell rings.
I grab my stuff and head to my locker to put my stuff away.
Gianna goes outside to meet her sister.
"See ya!" She waves at me.
I wave back. "Bye!"
I pull out my phone and text my mom.
I'm staying for art
K, have fun.
I grin and head back to the art room, holding my sketchbook.
"Hey, Mrs. Nayes!"
I call out to her as I walk in.
"Hey Aria. Glad to see you could make it!"
Her fire red hair is pulled back behind a bandanna.
"Come in and see what I'm working on!" She beckons me inside. I grin and follow her into the back room.
Some other kids are sitting at the tables, talking and drawing.
The back is filled with light that's streaming in through three, large windows. She leads me to the center, where there's an easel and a canvas set up. On the canvas, there's a stunning picture of an apple tree. The apples are dark red and the leaves are the perfect green. The texture of the tree's trunk is realistic and the grass at the base looks like it's moving in the wind. I feel my eyes widen as I take it all in.
Mrs. Nayes grins at me.
"I worked really hard on it, but I feel like there's something missing. D'you think you could help me out with it? One artist to another?"
"Sure!" I flip open my sketchbook and look at one of my drawings.
"Maybe you could blur a background in, to make the tree stand out."
I show her one of my drawings of a purple-haired girl and the blurred blue in the background, making the girl pop.
"Huh, good idea! And call me Rose, the special ones do," she winks at me.
"Why don't you grab some Prismacolors and start drawing?"
"Ok, cool."
I get some colored pencils and sketch out a girl's face.
I look at Mrs. Nay- Rose's fire hair and grab some reds. I sketch out the girls hair sticking up and sketch out some bangs.
Then I grab a red, some oranges, and a yellow, and create an ombré effect. Dark red starting at her bangs and yellow/ orange near the top.
I shade in the girl's skin, a light tan and sign the picture.  The girl looks like she has flames rising straight out of her head.
Awesome!
Rose comes up behind me and looks over my shoulder.
She whistles appreciatively. "Wow, you have a gift."
"You think so?"
"Just look at this drawing! Do you mind if I scan it? I want to send it to my husband."
"Ok, sure!"
She takes my sketchbook to her desk.
In a few minutes, she's back and she tells me," Well, be sure to come back next time, ok?" She looks up at the clock and points. " Its time to leave."
I pack up my supplies and go to get my backpack from my locker.
As I'm putting everything away, my sketchbook and colored pencils slip out of my hands.
"Crap," I mutter.
"You want me to help you?"
I look up to see Zane's face.
"Huh? Yeah."
He bends down and helps me with my pencils. My sketchbook is open to my drawing and Zane spots it. He picks it up before I can get it.
His eyes widen and he looks at me.
"You drew this?"
I nod.
"Damn, you're awesome! You should enter competitions! You'd totally win!"
I blush and look at my Converses.
"I'm serious."
I look back at him and he looks away.
"Hey, um, how about I drop you off at your house?"
"Sure, if it's not a problem," I say, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
As we walk out to his car, he looks back at me.
"I should warn you, my little brother's in the car. He can get.... Excited."
I smile. "It's fine. I like kids. Except Riel. Riel's a butt."
Zane laughs and pulls out his keys.
As I sit down, I hear someone gasp.
I turn around to see a boy maybe 11 or 12 staring at me, his eyes wide. His black hair is messy, just like Zane's, but his blue eyes are light, not like Zane's dark blue.
"Hi!" I smile at the kid.
The boy's jaw drops and he turns to look at Zane.
"You have a girlfriend?!"
Both me and Zane blush beet red.
"No!" We both say.
The boy starts to stand up, and Zane snaps at him," Sit down Viktor! Honestly!" Zane rolls his eyes and smiles at me, embarrassed. I grin back and turn to talk to Viktor.
"So. Why grade are you in, Viktor?"
"Sixth. And you can call me Viky, everyone does."
"Ok, Viky. What do you like to do?"
"Sports! Zane's always takes me to a field after school and we play soccer and football."
"Wow, that's cool of him."
Zane looks over at me, his gaze soft. I pretend not to notice, in case I die of blushing too hard. (Oh God. I can already feel my face heating up.)
"What do you like to do?," Viky asks me. "Zane says you like to draw."
"Yeah, I do. You wanna see some of my drawings?"
"Yeah!" Viky lights up.
I pull my sketchbook out of my backpack and hand it to him.
"Hey," Zane whines. "I haven't gotten a sketchbook tour yet!"
I roll my eyes and grin. "Don't worry, hotshot. You will."
"I like that name. Hotshot. Do you think it'll stick?" Zane grins over at me.
I roll my eyes again," Yeah... No."
Zane pouts," Awwww....."
Viky pipes up,"Woah, this is so cool!" He looks up at me, his face earnest. "Can you teach me?"
I smile. "Sure."
He pumps his fists into the air, "Yes!"
Zane laughs then says," Ok Aria, we're here." 
I pack up my sketchbook and get out of the car.
"Thanks for the ride."
Zane grins." No problem."
As I walk up to my house, I hear Viky ask Zane,"Are you sure she's not your girlfriend?"
"Yes. But you wanna know a secret?"
Zane's voice drops to a whisper," I hope she will be." Viky giggles.
I smile as I open up the front door.