...Is Virgil (Analogical)

6

Super sorry about the late update! I've been trying to finish this chapter for a while, but keep getting hit with a writer's block. Chapter 7 is already in process though, so hopefully I'll be able to get it out soon! -Author

Virgil

"Watch it, Virgin!" Some kid yells as he pushes me out of the doorway so he can walk in. I huff, walking in after him. When I look up, I notice D sitting in the seat next to mine. I just shrug and go sit down in my normal seat, managing to get past without being tripped or teased again.

"'Sup, D? Never noticed you in this class before." I mention, grabbing my notebook out of my backpack. "I spent most of this week to myself at the other side of the classroom. You usually walk with your head down, so there would be no way that you could notice me, V."

"That's fair" is all I say before starting to doodle on a blank sheet of paper. I can hardly get an outline before the teacher starts talking.

I could care less though. I keep sketching. It is art class after all.

I manage to get a full outline and start to add pencil for shading, but the word 'project' gets my attention and I look up. A project? How can we already have a project so early in our school year? This is bullshit.

"For your project you will get to choose your partners. You are getting time in class to complete this and if you do not complete it then you will have to find time on your own to finish it. You're going to be choosing somebody to create a portrait of in your very own art style. Color is not mandatory, but appreciated and it has to be a person. So no drawing your partner as an animal. I'm going to be quiet now so you have time to select your partner and begin your project. Go."

Everybody else, except for me and D, get up and start going to their friends. I just turn to D. "So, everyone else in this room and I have a mutual hatred of each other and I consider you a friend now... Partners?" 

It feels like eternity before D responds with a "Yeah, sure". My anxious ass just nods. 

"Are you sure that I am the best choice though? I can only assume that I will be incredibly difficult to draw." he adds. It takes me a moment to realize that he's talking about his scars. I take a moment to think. "I'll find a way around it, I'll be right back." 

I get up, looking around for the teacher and then walking over to her, looking down so that I can avoid being tripped again. I can't bring myself to say anything when I get there though since she's talking to another student, so I just wait until she turns around and notices me, asking me if she can help me.

"Um.. so you said that we have to draw our partners as human, but c-can we add things to the picture of them? Like.. to the person them-self?..." While talking I become more and more anxious because I'm interacting with someone new and because I can hear the kids she was talking to before making comments like 'he actually got a partner?' and 'who the hell would want to look at him for a long time?'. 

I resist the urge to just go immediately back to the table because I need an answer from the teacher. "As long as I can tell who it is and that the original is a person, then yes. And if you're adding anything to the face, then it can't cover the entire face." I nod, thank the teacher, and walk back to the table. 

As soon as I sit back down, I can hear the assholes from the table I was just at saying 'Oh! Of course the freaks would be working together!' 

Instead of going over and punching them in the face, like I really want to, I just hide in my hood more than I already was. D, unfortunately, also heard them and stands up. "I am so sorry that you feel so insignificant about yourself that you feel the need to make jokes at the expense of people who have no control over the things you are making fun of them for. I truly am so sorry. Dick." 

The teacher says something to D about what he said while we're all sitting here completely stunned. None of us expected him to say that. 

He sits back down, ignoring the teacher. "So. How about I go to your house after school so we can finish this project?"