IN THE PLAYGROUND, ON THE SWING SET, 4: 07 p.m.:
EMILIA: So, Grant and you?
ME: Um, yeah.
EMILIA: That's great. You two are cute.
Her auburn hair is healthier and her eyes are bright once again. She is not wearing any makeup except for a light coating of mascara. She has freckles, which I did not know before because of the foundation she always had on.
She is pretty, but she is also healthy. And that is the best thing someone can be.
--
ART STUDIO, SOMETIME IN THE AFTERNOON:
ETHAN: Ezra is joining this art class next term.
He sounds excited, and I can't help but smile.
ME: That's great.
ETHAN: Um, I heard you and Grant are going out.
ME: Yeah. We started two days ago.
ETHAN: That's great. He's been wanting to ask you out for a couple months already.
ME, mildly surprised: Really? Did he tell you?
ETHAN:
ETHAN: Nah. I'm a guy too, I would know when I wanted to ask someone out.
ME: Oh.
ETHAN: Oh, yeah, I'm heading to the art store this weekend, to pick up some acrylics.
Ethan works mostly in acrylics. His palette is dotted with dried-up stains of acrylic paint, from his favorite shade of pthalo blue to white and black. His art is amazing, the colours resonating with each other in harmonious disorganisation. He uses many shades of paint all ranging from cool to warm, and each brushstroke is like a conductor's wave of the baton- smooth, some jagged and rough, but resulting in perfect symphony.
ME: Hey, me, too. I need to get new inks.
I work in many mediums, but mostly pen and ink and watercolours. I upgraded last year from Speedball to Windsor and Newton. Of course, the price or quality of art materials do not make an artist better or worse, but I do think the W&N inks fare better for artworks I want to hold on to.
I don't specialise in anything, but I do love using cross-hatching to shade, instead of dots or regular blending. Grant thinks it's my signature look. My teacher says I prefer this because I lean towards shading with more precise strokes, but maybe, I think, I just like crossing things out.

YOU ARE READING
If You Will
Teen Fiction"every night, she would look up at the stars she could see, and pick the brightest star and give it a name. meanwhile, he would observe every single one of them, and give the brightest a name; her name." - anonymous.