Picture Perfect [ WILL BE EDITED 2015 ]

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Em’s POV

“So Em, what exams are you doing this year?” Karen asked after I’d chewed on a piece of her lasagne, it was quite nice actually, not as good as mum’s veggie lasagne but pretty close. I coughed and felt my insides twisting in a horrible knot that I now linked to stress.

“I’ve done Art and French.” I said nodding, I felt uncomfortable when all the attention was on me, Christy wasn’t talking to Nate and looking at her massive grin and how she had acted earlier she was a talker.

“What were you promised?” Karen asked, Jase coughed dramatically next to me and I knew he was trying to get his mother’s attention. It was quite funny that she was totally ignoring him.

“An A star in Art and an A in French.” I said looking down at my food which was becoming less and less appetizing as the conversation continued.

“Jase was too, in Art I mean.” At my side I felt Jase freeze, why? Wasn’t he comfortable discussing his gift in front of his family or did his brother tease him?

“Jase did Art?” Christy asked across the table, he squirmed. So that was the reason. “Are you good Jase?” next to me Jase didn’t thaw so he couldn’t respond, his reaction would have made me laugh a month ago, now it just hurt me that he was acting this way. I put my knife down and reached under the table for his knee, he thawed just enough to put his hand on top of mine. “Have you seen his art work Em?” I looked up wide eyed like I didn’t understand what was going on; Christy’s eyes were on me. I knew she wasn’t nasty; she was interested; she might have known Jase for years and not known this key piece of information. I nodded reluctantly; I wasn’t going to deny the minor fact that I had seen his work. Christy grinned easily like she hadn’t noticed the tension in the air, she must have, it was literally coiling like rope in front of my eyes. “Is he the next Picasso?”

“I’m not an art critic, so I can’t judge.” I said trying to joke it off, Karen was watching the two of us with cool eyes but I could tell that she was coiled up with anger and I was just trying to diffuse the tension.

“Is that a way of saying ‘no’?” she asked pulling us back two steps, I did like the girl but she had a talent for digging herself in, maybe she should be a quarry miner, there were quarries all around this part of Wales.

“No, no he’s great.” I said quickly trying to diffuse it all over again. “Do you want to see one?” I felt Jase’s grip tighten on my hand trying to tell me ‘no’ but I needed to do this. I leaned in “Trust me.” I whispered into his ear, his grip loosened and he nodded a tiny, stiff nod. “Is it okay if I...” I asked addressing Karen, she nodded once and I took it as quickly as I could and fled the room.

Outside I sighed and waited in the hall for a second just to calm myself down. It was just mum and I in our house so there weren’t ever any hot headed awkward discussions to witness. That was one thing I wasn’t ready for in the big world and maybe this family could teach me how to cooperate and deal with them.

I started up the stairs slowly and quietly and went into Jase’s room. His room was amazing, I thought mine was amazing but his was just... great. The bottom of his room was so tidy that I felt ashamed that mine was a tip at the moment; It seemed to get messy when it came to exams but it was just easier to have everything laid out for me. I got onto his bed which was crumpled from getting up and down from earlier and opened up the hatch, I felt like a burglar or intruder doing this, it wasn’t right. This was Jase’s place and only he should go up there and if he wanted company then he could have it, but going in on my own it was kind of spooky.

I pulled myself up and sat with my legs hanging over the edge, I got up by doing a weird crab on the spot and straightened. I went to the burgundy wall that I had spotted my drawing earlier and pulled it down putting the drawing pin on top of a stationery box that was bolted into the wall. Why he had my little drawing I didn’t know, it had ink all over it so I decided it wasn’t worth it and chucked it into my bag for when I found a bin and remembered.