Loyalty

Chapter One: Somewhere to Start

I ran towards the light grey building, nearly slamming into someone who glared at me angrily. I entered the building, slamming the glass doors open, making me recieve an annoyed glare from the receptionist. I made my way towards the slightly beat up elevator, and tapping my fingers on the buttons on the wall, sighing in frustration as i waited. Jeez, i was going to be late to class again, the professor is going to be pissed at me. I closed my eyes and waited for the familiar pinging sound.

I heard the doors sliding open slowly, screeching slightly before opening fully. I stepped in, relief washing over me as i felt the familiar hot air blowing around me. The inside was slightly better than the outside, i noted as i stepped inside, quickly punching in the number 6, and waited for the elevator doors to close. They began sliding close, annoyingly slow, however, right before they closed, a guy walked in and the doors hesitated. Thankfully he stepped in quickly, allowing the silver elevator doors to slide closed. He quickly punched in the number 5, and leant against the elevator wall, staring intently down at his phone.

I sighed in frustration, clearly louder than i expected as i earned a slightly concerned look from the guy who managed to glance up from his phone for a couple of seconds before looking back down. I glanced down at my phone; 8:57. Crap. I was going to be late, again. I guess i looked slightly panicked, as the guy beside me sent me another concerned glance. I allowed myself to send a sidewards glance to the guy next to me.

Oh God, he was hot, and looked way too old to be in my year. I guessed that he was probably in third year, definitely not doing art. He did not look arty in the slightest. I looked at his hair, which was a dusty brown colour, brushed neatly. His eyes, from what i could see were a mystical stormy grey colour, and he we fairly tall, and dreamy, and i could go on but he looked up, straight at me. Dead in the eye. We made eye contact, as i was checking him out, i immediately dropped my eyes to the floor.

I was very glad when the elevator halted with a screech on floor 5, and the guy walked off quickly disappearing from view as he turned a corner, a black bag slung over his shoulder. I was slightly relieved as the doors once again slis shut, concealing me in form the outside world and the elevator climbed the last floor, until they opened.

I glanced down at my phone, the time now being 9:04. 4 minutes late so far and i still had to get to the classroom. I stepped out of the elevator and ran a little way down the hallway before turning left and nearly falling over before continuing running down the hall.

I skidded to a halt just before the blue double doors that lead into my class. I pushed the heavy doors open and let out a sigh of relief as i noticed the teacher wasn't in the class yet. Which was odd seeings as our teacher was never late, maybe something held him up.

I made my way to my seat, near the back next to a large window and chucked my bag onto the floor and slumped into my chair before looking at my phone once more. 9:06. Not too bad. I looked around again and saw my professor walk in, looking slightly flustered. He was about middle ages with black, but slightly greying hair, and was an absolute pain in the ass.

~~~

"Hey V late again." My friend joked, his light blue eyes laughing at me as i turned to face him, a smile etching onto my face. I punched him in the arm and he fell off his chair, dramatically cradling his arm.

"I just can't help it can I, I just attract traffic wherever I go." I smiled in return, making eye contact with him, taking in his light blue eyes. They looked really nice right now. Not that I like him. I don't. His brown, messy hair covered most of them anyway.

"Ivy. Liam. Stop talking please." We fell silent as our professor, who looked like he aged about 50 years since seeing him in the elevator, was stood at the front of the room glaring at us.

"Thank you. Now in today's lesson we will be learning about realism drawing. We are being visited by a model, who you will draw. So all take out your sketchbooks and we can get started." How can a professor, in one sentence get more of a reaction then one of my amazing jokes. I don't get it.

I sighed in frustration, i hated realism or anything that involved drawing something that was in front of me. I liked to draw things out of my mind, and i loved to create things. Liam on the other hand, i have no clue why he went to art school, he belongs somewhere to do with drama, not art. He can't draw to save his life but he enjoys it so oh well, each to their own i guess.

Liam caught my eye and rolled his eyes over dramatically, i giggled slightly, earning another stern stare from the professor. I hated my professor, he always found some way to yell at me Liam for, literally every day. I mean, yes, i was usually late, but not always.

In all honesty, i don't think anyone likes their professor, unless they're like really hot, but that's rarely the case. Besides, the model walked in and thankfully we were doing a clothed drawing, i could not cope with drawing a random persons naked body at the moment.

I attempted to get her features right, long strawberry blonde hair that waved slightly at the end, and her bright stormy grey eyes. The hands were a little skew-whiff on my compared to the elegantly placed hands in reality, along with the fairly odd looking tree stumps for legs. But, hey, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever drawn.

~~~

We got about halfway through the lesson when a red warning light flashed on the screen, just seconds before a loud bang echoed across the city, it felt like it could be heard for miles, probably could. Alarms and sirens could be heard all over the city, rushing and making their way towards where the explosion happened.

Either it was an act of terrorism, which wasn't too uncommon, or it was a bomb, from another country. I preferred the first option. I noticed the model had grabbed her things and left, in the panic leaving the stool solitary in the middle of the bewildered class.

A large cloud of smoke was rising through the air, smothering the city in darkness, Britt red flashes could be seen lighting up the area every few minutes as they hit the ground. Rubble was sent flying through the air, landing in unorganised heaps on the floor, hitting people as they fell.

Screams were now echoing through the streets, the only things that could be heard as well as the sirens that were wailing in the distance. Gradually growing closer and closer to where bright flames were licking at the sides of buildings.

I slowed down and allowed myself to look around my class, the professor looked concerned, more so than when he was in the elevator. Most of my classmates looked terrified as they were trying to get service to ring their parents. Somewhere smart and we're gathering their things to get out of the building.

I guess I wasn't any of them. I just sort of sat there, watching the chaos happen around me like I was in some sort of bubble. Which to clarify I was not. And, I may add, that I was not being very lucky that day.

Another bomb fell, lighting the darkened sky and rattling the ground, I finally sprung into action. I jumped off my chair and grabbed Liam's hand before running towards the door. I stumbled slightly as more bombs hit the ground, nearly tripping over a desk as i kept running towards the door, now i guess being at the back of the class wasn't too great.

I heard Liam panting beside me, ranting on about something that had no relevance to the situation. "So, plan is, we get out of the building, get out of the city, then get out of the country, move to somewhere really..." I lost track of what he was saying as another bomb hit the ground, much closer than the last one.

I fell forwards, losing my balance and went flying into the floor, i could faintly hear Liam calling my name as i fell.

I felt a locker fall, well I heard it. It slammed straight into the back of my head as my vision went red then slowly faded to black, it might have been blood. Or fire. Maybe both. I don't really know.

But like I said, today I was very unlucky.