Muse

Chapter 2

All of a sudden everyone around me is rushing past and excited chatter fills in the once quite room. I look up to see the professor cleaning up her things and quickly realize that class is over. I must have gotten too absorbed in my painting to realize how much time has actually gone by. I swear it only feels like it's been twenty minutes.

Now I have to clean up all of this paint I got out and I still don't even know where my next class is. Great. Frantically I start trying to shove my sketchbook into my overstuffed back pack. Of course, me being the klutz I am, I knock over two paintbrushes and my water cup onto the floor in the process.

"Shit" I mumble under my breath. I practically sprint to grab paper towels to try and clean up this mixture of paint and water off of the floor. I get on my hands and knees not really caring about keeping my outfit looking nice anymore. As I start mopping up the water, a dark shadow abruptly darkens everything around me. The faint aroma of cologne and mint gum engulf me as I glance my eyes up just enough to see a pair of worn brown boots standing directly in front of me.

This person bends down and wraps their long tattooed hand around my two paintbrushes. I slowly stand up to try and see who this person is. My petite frame of 5'2 requires me to crane my neck upwards to see this person. I am met by the tall dark, curly haired boy who was scribbling away earlier.

For the third time today I am blushing from embarrassment. His bright green eyes are such a contrast to his overall dark demeanor. His eyes have that glimmer as if they are laughing at me. A smirk plasters his face showing off his dimples, he gently hands me the paintbrushes, "I think you dropped these".

His voice is much deeper than I had expected and honestly it only made him that much more attractive. His shirt was pulling across his toned chest as he laughed at my embarrassment. "Yeah, it seems I did. Thanks for picking them up" I give him a friendly smile as I take my brushes from him and bend down to pick up my bag. By the time I've gotten my bag onto my shoulder, the boy is already walking out of the door.

I look down at my schedule and see that I have creative writing next. My teacher is leaning against her desk sipping on a glass of tea looking deep in thought. I don't really want to disturb her, but I'm not sure where my next class is and there's nobody else in the room to help me so she's my only option.

Trying to be cautious and polite, I walk up to her.

"Excuse me,Professor-"

I am cut off by her sharp voice "Debra. Please call me Debra."

"Oh, sorry." I stumble over my words. "I was just wondering if you would be able to help direct me in the way of my next class?"

She gives me a skeptical look, but there is respect for me in her eyes. Most of the other kids in this class were far too intimidated by her to even say hi to her, let alone ask for her help. "Well I don't see why not. What's your next class exactly?"

"I have Creative Writing. It says it's over in-"

Again I am cut off, but in a far nicer tone. "Oh I know exactly where that is!" She kindly explains to me the directions and has me repeat them back to her just so she knows that I won't get lost.

Thanking her, I turn and make my way to the door.

"Oh, and Olivia."

I turn around, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I see a lot of potential in you. Not only in your attitude, but in your work as well. I walked around glancing at everyone's work and you were so wrapped up in yours you must not have noticed. I am quite impressed by what I have seen so far."

I can tell that this is not a lady who gives out compliments very often. "Thank you very much" I give her a polite nod and make my way through the doors.

There is a faint breeze that meets me when I step outside. I pull out my phone as I start making my way to my next class, being sure to follow her directions carefully. Glancing at my phone I have a new message:

*Niall: Want to meet up for lunch?*

I quickly type up a reply:

*Me: Sounds great. Where do you want to eat at?*

*Niall: Panera at 1:00 okay?*

*Me: Perfect, see you there!*

Writing has always been something I've been in love with, so to say that I'm excited about this class is a major understatement. As I walk in I can't believe how many people are in this class. My art class had roughly 50 students. This one has to have about 250 students, nearly all of the seats are full. Baffled I shuffle into one of the nearest seats and pull out a notebook. Just as I start writing a voice interrupts my train of thought.

"Your outfit is so cute. Where did you get it?"

I turn to see a pretty girl with long jet black hair giving me an extremely friendly smile. She seems to be one of those sorority types, but hopefully not one of the bitchy ones.

"I got the top at Forever 21 and my pants at H&M"

"Oh my god. I swear if there were two stores that I could live in it would be those two." A smile spreads across her face, "My names Lacy by the way".

Her bubbly attitude is contagious and I can't help but start to like her. She seems genuinely nice and not like she's trying too hard. I give her a smile, "My name's Olivia."

"Where are you from Olivia? Because with a tan like that it's certainly not from around here"

"I just came from California actually"

"No way" she looks at me with awe, "I've always wanted to go there, but I've never really left the state of New York." She pauses and gets a questioning look,"Why did you decide to leave California?"

Don't talk about what happened back home, Olivia. "Well I'm an art major, so what better place to learn about art than here?"

Lacy giggles and starts to reply but is cut off by the start of our teachers lecture. Thank god I was able to avoid bringing up that situation. The less people know about that, the better.

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So what did you guys think? What do you think is Olivia's secret? Thank you so much for all of the nice comments about this so far and keep the votes and comments coming please they really do mean a lot.