Words [Riley Matthews]

31 ~ last painting

Time went by and luckily, Harper was able to stay and teach. The entire class was happy that Harper is going to continue teaching them. 

Gabriel, Riley, Maya, Lucas, and Farkle sat in their seats in their arts class. 

"I'm better than you now," Riley said, "I am Riley, the artist, and you are Maya, the artist's best friend."

Ms. Kossal, the art teacher, walked over to Maya and looked at her painting.

"Thank you for working on light and shadow, Maya," Ms. Kossal said.

"Yeah, I look around outside now," Maya said. "I watch the light move during the day. Thank you for teaching me that, Ms. Kossal. Hey, are you okay?"

"I get emotional when I'm around talent," Ms. Kossal said. She looked at Riley's painting. "And now I'm fine."

"Come on!" Riley said.

"What did I tell you about only using purple?" Ms. Kossal asked.

"Are we gonna do this again?" Riley asked. 

Gabriel looked over at Riley and Maya. He was hearing everything.

"Why is everything purple?" she asked.

Gabriel smiled and looked down at his work. It was already

"Because you hide the purple from me and I find it!"

"Are you finger painting?" Ms. Kossal asked.

"I believe you favor Maya and Gabe over me," Riley said.

"Oh, yeah Well, let's explore that," Ms. Kossal said. "Let's see if I have unfairly judged you. Today's assignment..."

"Uh - huh," Riley said. 

"... was the doorways of New York," Ms. Kossal continued. 

"Yep," Riley confirmed.

"You were asked to specifically focus on..." Ms. Kossal said.

"Unique doorknobs," Riley said. "Uh-huh. Yeah."

":...and paint it from memory," Ms. Kossal continued.

"I did," Riley said.

Gabriel chuckled to himself and focused on his painting. It wasn't as good Maya's, but he thought it turned out pretty good.

"It's a door," Riley said.

"You painted a cat," Ms. Kossal said.

"The whole thing's a door," Riley said, pretending to open painting like it's a door. "Anybody home? Okay, I'll come back later," she closed the door. "Don't let the cat out."

"Maya has something very special, Riley. She paints from a place that few of us are able to reach," Ms. Kossal said. 

"That's because she has an awful life," Riley said. 

"I love it when I'm reminded," Maya said, unenthusiastically.

"Take a look at Maya's work," Ms. Kossal said.

"I want to know what's behind that door," Riley said.

"So does the artist... Because I think it's been closed to her up until now." Ms. Kossal said. 

"I'm gonna get you in that door, Maya," Riley said.

"Oh, I know you are, Riley," Maya said.

"Good," Ms. Kossal said. "Because it's Maya's last painting."

"W-wait, why is it my last painting?" Maya said.

This fully caught Gabriel's attention.

"Well, it's your last one for me, you beautiful girl."

"What's going on?" Gabriel asked his teacher.

"Our school is running out of money," she explained. "They're cutting art and music classes, effective after the next school board meeting."

"What? How will Maya learn?" Riley asked. "What comes after light and shadow?"

"What about you, Riley?" Ms. Kossal asked. 

"Who cares about me? I stink," Riley said."What about Maya?"

"What about drama?" Farkle asked. "My one-year suspension from not being able to audition for any of the plays ends on Tuesday. I'm gonna be Pippin!"

"They're not putting on 'Pippin,'" Gabriel said.

"I'm gonna be Pippin in whatever they're doing," Farkle said.

"Nobody better cut my ballet," Zay said. "Yeah, that's right, ballet. That's why I'm so sinewy."

"Sinewy?" Caleb repeated.

"Hey, you spend your time throwing basketballs, I spend my time lifting beautiful girls," Zay responded. "Ms. Hart? Shall we dance?"

Maya didn't respond. She just gave him a look, which him his answer. 

"We shall note," he said.

"Ballet - gone. Art, music... drama, dance, all of it - gone," Ms. Kossal said. "Even those writing competitions they hold every year."

"What?" Gabriel said in shock. 

Gabriel always looked forward to the writing competitions every year. It's one of the few things he liked about this school. Since his mothers passing, he wrote more often. It helped him escape and writing for the competition gave him another reason to continue. He writes for himself mainly, but he really enjoys writing for competitions as well. 

"Yeah."

"Maya?" Riley said.

"It's okay, Riles," Maya assured her best friend. "Just another door closed."