Artwork [h.s]

three

"Do you want to revise for the maths test with me during lunch? I think I'll definitely need it" Ella said while walking next to me in one of her usual dresses.

"Uh, I don't think I can today, I'm sorry" I replied as we entered the cafeteria.

"What? Why's that?" She asked, half-outraged by the fact that I was telling her no, since it happened rarely.

"I'm busy with some friends?" I said, a hint of hesitation in my voice, not wanting to tell her the truth. Most of all, because I was quite sure she would ask to come with, and given the already embarrassing situation, I didn't want anyone to come witness my awkwardness.

She gave me a weird glance. "You don't have any friends besides me, Sierra."

I sighed. "Alright. I was paired up with a partner for an art project, I need to take some pictures of him. That's just it."

"Oh, it's a him?" She asked excitedly, "Is he hot?"

I rolled my eyes at her words, hesitating a bit before replying. "He's Harry Styles."

"Holy mother of god" she replied, "No fucking way you got paired with the Harry Styles. Well good luck with him, he's a prick. And before you start begging me to come with you, no, I won't do it. I've had my fair share of assholes for this week."

"Okay" I said, trying to feign at least a little bit of sadness at her words. "I will go now, I guess."

"Where did you ask him to meet?" She asked, already supposing he hadn't said anything to me in the first place.

"In the courtyard- oh." The school courtyard was enormous. And I was officially screwed.

She sighed. "Just go stand in front of the main door or something, he'll have to get out anyway, won't he?"

"I certainly hope so" I replied before parting ways with her and reaching the entrance of the school, sitting on the small wall next to the door.

I waited for a few minutes, but he didn't get out. Resorting to thinking that he wouldn't come, I took out my notepad and started sketching. Why would he come anyway? I was not part of his clique, I was nowhere near it to be honest. It just made sense for him not to spend his lunch break out here with me. It would be better if I looked for him again and asked him to meet in another moment. The simple thought froze me to my bones. He didn't even want to spend ten minutes with me during school, why would he agree to wasting his precious time outside school with me?

I looked in front of me, to the tree on the school ground. I had never been good at drawing anything that wasn't people, to be honest, and fairly, I had close to no interest in facing my failure again. But it would be even harsher to face another kind of failure and go back into the school, admitting my defeat for Ella to laugh at.

I sighed, drawing the straight line of the trunk of the tree in front of me. First of all, the basics, I told myself. I had never been a fan of drawing through shapes— that was mostly why I sucked majorly at sketching anything that wasn't people. So I sketched the trunk, leaving it to be shaded for later, before adding the outline of branches.

How do I even draw leaves? I'd always had a hard time in drawing what people would define the easiest things, because I had an interest, almost borderline obsession, in realism. Everything that came out of my pencil had to be as close to reality as possible, or else I wouldn't be happy with it.

All of a sudden I looked up, just to discover that I wasn't as alone as I'd thought I was.

He was leaning against the frame of the main door, sheltered in the shadow of the building, watching me just as impassively as before.