Sticks and Stones

Chapter Six

“Where are we going?” I asked from the passenger seat, gripping the armrest tightly—this is not  what I had in plan for him to pay me back. We drove down the road,  Malakai glancing ever so often at the GPS to my left. The early morning air splashed on my face from the open window, blowing my hair around me. I hadn’t been in a car in a few weeks, but I definitely knew that Kai was exceeding the speed limit. The speedometer reached almost 70 miles per hour, and I prayed silently to myself.

            I glanced around Malakai Lockhart’s car. It was a nice, white Hummer H2—nothing that has ever been near my price range. It was surprisingly clean, for a boys car, I mean.

            But, despite the awkward tension in the air, I was taking advantage of the moment. Glancing over at Kai, he grinned. I had been so lost when he woke me up at seven in the morning, telling me to jump into my most summer-like clothes I had. Of course, Stacie helped me into my outfit, which was a bright red tank top and her favorite white shorts. He grinned wildly in the seat beside me while I moped, trying to look for any clue that would tell me where we were going. Had this not been planned ahead with my father and Stacie, I would’ve cleverly have “slept in” or “couldn’t go”—but with human alarm clocks right next to my bedroom door, it was a hopeless try. My head still throbbed from a few nights ago at Malakai’s party, and so did my nose, but I wasn’t down for good. I was only hoping that they did start to hurt, if I needed an escape for later.

            “Are we close?” I asked impatiently, holding my knees against my chest in his car. He nodded at me, turning on the radio and suddenly beginning to belch out an out of tune song, so tarnished with his voice that I couldn’t recognize it. I laughed out loud and he looked over at me, making eye contact with me for the first time today. His eyes were a bright, emerald green again, sparkling with laughter. I began to tell him something—I’m not even sure what—just as he pulled into a parking lot and turned off the car. In front of us sat a small, rusty building. Its doors stained brown and it looked abandoned. Malakai smiled and got out, opening the trunk and grabbing a bag of towels and brushes.

            I got out and walked up to Kai, a puzzled look on my face. He had woken me up at seven in the morning for this? I just shrugged and closed the trunk, walking up to the door with him, following like a lost puppy dog. When we entered the room, I waited awkwardly in the doorframe of the dark room until I heard a faint click, and light flooded every nook and cranny in sight.

            The walls were surprisingly white, without one stain. Bleachers covered in grime and gum laid against each wall. In the middle of the room was a large, white canvas. I looked over at Kai and he looked back at me—I waited for an explanation.

            “Remember that thing you said, that you’d make it up to me for a bad first night in Florida?” I cautiously said, the words jumbling in my mouth.

            “Yeah …” He said, putting down the bags.

            “Well, please tell me that this isn’t it.”  I said, and he threw me a smock and a brush. He started to move, tying his smock on his body. 

            “Well, my parents and your father and Stacie thought that it would be a good idea to get you involved in the activities around here. And by that, they meant signing us up to paint a giant portrait of inspiring and fun things for the local orphanage.”  He opened the bag again and started to pull out small cans of paint in different colors. Kai was staring at me expectantly, as if the what I was supposed to be doing was obvious. I picked up my brush and paint, and walked over to the giant canvas.

            The canvas was probably around fifty feet high, and one hundred feet wide, at least. It was smooth to the touch and cold, ready to be painted. I saw a faint pencil line running down the very center of the canvas, and I realized that that symbolized his and mine half of the board.

            The thing was, I had never been a good artist. I always just did what I could in art class, not drawing attention to myself so that the indecency of my artwork wouldn’t be known to more than the teacher when she graded it.

            “Tyler—it’s really easy. Just … paint what you know. Your separated parents, your favorite hobbies, things that make you smile. Anything, even the bad parts. It helps the orphans to know that they aren’t the only ones who have things to fear.” Kai left me with this, popping in his ear plugs and beginning to paint. I tried to look at his side, but instantly he threw a towel at my head and motioned for me to turn around. Apparently, our sides were secret until the end.

            I began with something small and bright. In the bottom most corner, I painted a small, but very vibrant sun flower. I gave it’s yellow petals bright orange highlights, and put a small lady bug on the leaf. I took a step back and looked at my work. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Pretending to be busy, I took the chance of peeking at Kai from the corner of my eyes. Thankfully, he didn’t notice.

I watched Kai as he worked. He gently pulled the brush against the white canvas, smiling as he thought of the happy times that he’s had. I saw the faint smile on his face, and the glossed over look in his eyes. I knew no matter how much I tried, he wouldn’t let me see the finished product, not yet. But, he had an entire summer, and half of a canvas. This was only just the beginning, not even near the end.