Street Artist

Chapter 9

I'm an awful human being, leaving you guys hanging like thAT~ but hey, I'm updating it now aren't i? You're welcome.  BTW: i'm not posting the next chapter until i get at least 2 new comments on one of the last few chapters.  here's how it works: the more comments the story gets, the more i write for each new chapter (meaning more than 2 pgs per chapter); when you comment things that i should fix or improve or things you want to see happen later in the story, i update sooner.  More comments, longer chapters; more elaborate/critical comments, faster updates. Capiche?
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I can't think of many things that beat the feeling you get when you've finished working on a sketch or a painting that took hours or days to complete and it turns out perfect. It's hard to accomplish that moment of content- when there isn't a single thing you want to change. Especially if you're a perfectionist, like me. and yet, here I am, sitting backstage in the school auditorium, staring at one of those perfectly finished sketches.

I came here to think during my free period between English and Math, and ended up finishing this sketch. I had started it ages ago, but it was never quite right.

The sketch shows a view of the large greenhouse behind the school, from my point of view from the tallest window I could find in the building.

The garden is centered around a beautiful weeping cherry willow, with a small stone branch on each side and flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors surrounding the tree.

The sketch also depicts a boy sitting on one bench, arms crossed and head bent toward his chest. A girl is sitting on the opposite side of the tree. She lies down on the bench, legs dangling over the edge, hair tumbling down reaching just above the ground in length. Both the girl and the boy are completely oblivious to the other, for completely different reasons.

The problem had been that I could never get their facial expressions or body language right, until now that is. Either way, I'm satisfied with the end result...

"It's lovely, but why don't you take art classes here?"

The most secure place in the damn school, and still Ms. Solandy, the most stubborn art teacher I've ever met- along with the other two art teachers here, manages to find me.

"How do you know I don't take classes here?"

"Darling, I think I would have noticed a talent like yours if you were taking a class."

Her voice is soft and breathy, as is everything else about her. She always wears gypsy skirts that flow to her ankles and colorful scarves that are usually stained with so much paint you can no longer tell what color they were originally.

She reaches for my sketchbook, which I snatch away from her grasp at the last possible second. I can't allow her to look at my sketches. not only would it be a dead giveaway of what I do in my spare time, but those drawing are like my diary. every thought and pent up emotion I have is stored in the pages of my many, many sketchbooks. It's not something I'm willing to share, not with a complete stranger at least..


Ms. Solandy pouts- she actually freaking pouts- and steps back; I release the breath I'm holding in. 

"Very well then."

She stiffly walks away, leaving me wandering why on earth she took that so personally...  This woman will never be the 'mentor' person in my life... 

I look back down at my sketchbook and find a mistake.  NONONO- damn woman messed it up!!  I fix the mistake and get up, stretching my muscles that were stiff from sitting hunched over in the same position for soo long.

***

Walking out into the main building of the massive school, I run into the devil and his harlot, excuse me, ex-whore is probably more accurate.  You guessed it, Seth and Courtney.

"Move, bitch," Courtney kindly greets before shoving me out of the way and storming past, knocking me over in the process. F*ck!  [My overly-dramatized version of the events that occured after Courtney left are now described...]  My sketchbook plummets to the ground in slow motion, landing face up and open to a random page.  Seth grabs at it and my eyes widen to a disproportionate and unrealistic size, very much like those of a cartoon character.  I hurl myself toward the sketchbook, blocking a magnificent sketch from his blazing eyes.  He looks at me weirdly.  I'm sure he is thinking something along the lines of 'Wow, either she is extremely shy and modest or a really crappy artist.'  I don't care.  I lunge at the sketchbook and grab it from the floor, quickly slamming it shut and turning to walk away.

"Wait."

I cringe.  I really hope he didn't see the sketch and make a connection  between me and, well, me.

"You forgot your, uh, glasses."  Huh... I hadn't even noticed they had fallen off.

"You can't see without them right?"  Slowly, I nod.  Liar.

I turn around stiffly.

Please don't let him recognize me, please don't let him recognize me, please please please, God, don't let this sexy boy recognize me!!

Ah, shit, now I'm acknowledging his attractive looks...  Thta's never a good sign.  Plus, he isn't acting like a jerk and he isn't making that 'I'm going to dig into your private business' face that he made the first time that I met him as 'K'.

"Here." He hands me the chunky glasses, and I continue to stare at the ground, afraid that he might recognize me or, worse than that, that I might find him attractive again- God forbid.  I know it seems unrealistic, the whole 'oh shit this one article of clothing will give away my secret identity' thing, but me and my glasses is basically the exact same situation as Clark Kent and I bet you don't question him.

"Well, bye."

He didn't recognize me! Yesss!!!

"Oh, and Katie?" He turns around and smirks, finally looking like himself and not the guy from a second ago who was actually decent.

"You look better without them. The glasses, I mean."

With that, he turns and walks away.

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Hai there!!! So hey, I finally wrote some more stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   953 words of stuff (plus however much that last sentence was...) but yay! i reeeeeaaaalllllly hope i still have one or two readers who didn't get sick of waiting for my lazy self to update xD

also, i changed casting for Seth, but i'm still kind of iffy about who to cast for all of the characters so i'm open to suggestions.

BTW, i don't want Seth to discover that Katie and K are the same person for at least another 3 chapters (that is, if he doesn't already know +mischievous grin+)  and i don't want y'all to see too many significant romantic developments between Seth and Katie for at least another 5 chapters after that.  I plan on stretching this out for as long as possible so fair warning to those who bothered reading this<3

XOXO here's hoping i post the next chapter soon right? comment what you think! BAI!!