Greyscale [✓]

Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Hannah stood against the door for a while, hesitant to reveal more of herself to the school. A keen interest in software programming and web development was a part of her that nobody other than Cameron knew about – the way she released her pent up frustrations.

Her mother had never let her go near a computer as a child, something Hannah had never quite understood. But the determination to push her away from it only brought her closer to the one thing she was actually brilliant at. Mr Harris had spent so much of his time trying to convince her to join Advanced ICT and now she was finally about to do it.

Advanced.

The only other Advanced level classes she was in were English and Biology and she was astounded that she was even good enough to be considered. It was such an honour really and although she had previously always declined in fear of what her friends would say, she was way past the point of caring.

The previous encounter with Gabriel and Ashlyn caused her to clench her teeth in anger, her still slightly throbbing fist a reminder. She should have listened to her instincts about them at Jakub's party, they were far too familiar with each other.

How long had Gabe been cheating on her with Ash?

She was furious but most of her anger was directed to herself. She had always trusted them both so much that she hadn't thought they would ever stoop so low as to cheat on her. And definitely not announce her virginity and shitty family life to the entire student body! How naïve of her.

With a shake of her body to try to lessen her skin crawling as she remembered the way they smirked at her, she lightly knocked on the door. Before she would wimp out of her decision, she strode in, flicking her hair back as she did so. She could feel the eyes on her from where her future classmates were sitting behind the computers but for a change, the curious stares didn't bother her.

"Good morning Hannah, is there something I can do for you?" Miss Hale enquired.

Hannah only smiled politely and handed the teacher the letter clutched in her hand. After leaving the nurses office, she had made up her mind and went to find Mr Harris to tell him her decision. He had been ecstatic and written her a letter to show Miss Hale, praising her work ethic and skills with a promise she would excel.

She couldn't remember the last time someone had believed in her.

"Very well Hannah, I would like to put you on a trial period for a week or two to see the quality of your work. If your form teacher's words are anything to go by, I'll be delighted to be your teacher for the rest of the year," Miss Hale smiled, obviously somewhat impressed.

Hannah beamed, relieved she had been given a chance to prove herself. Despite the hippy like hair and casual clothing, Miss Hale was an incredibly strict teacher and Hannah hadn't been so sure of her reaction. Mumbling a quick thanks, Hannah turned around to find a seat.

Everyone was gaping at her, in complete shock. With a nervous wringing of her hands, Hannah went to sit down beside a quiet-looking black boy with glasses in the third row. He looked somewhat terrified to be in such close proximity with her, which made her grin.

"Well, okay everyone. Like I was explaining, this module is our web development unit. Half of your grade accounts for what you produce in this class. The assignment brief explains it all but in summary, you will all make an e-commerce website this year. For today we're only focusing on basics and will analyse other online shopping websites as well as picking a colour palette or theme. As I said last week, you're working in pairs with the person beside you for most of the course."

There was a moment of silence, students pondering over the printout of the assignment brief, before the chattering began. Hannah could hear everyone starting up the iMac's and the clicking of keyboards as she turned slightly to face her partner. His bronze skin paled slightly and she couldn't help chuckling faintly. "You don't need to be that scared of me."

He just stared at her for a minute and just as she was thinking she probably should have only said hello, he ran a hand through his curls and answered. "Er, hi, I'm Carter. Do you have any ideas of what you'd wanna do? A clothing store?"

Hannah suppressed the urge to snort and instead shook her head, her sleek hair bouncing against her shoulders. There was no way she was creating a clothes shop, even if it was imaginary. She wasn't her mother.

"Nah, too overrated. How about something a bit more unique, that nobody would do?"

Carter nodded, his thick-framed glasses sliding down the arch of his nose. They bounced a few ideas back and forth until Hannah bit her lip with an idea. It was a bit random but it could work. "How about home décor?"

With a slight furrow of his dark eyebrows, Carter considered the idea. "Like cushions and lamps?"

"Yeah and maybe fancy ornaments and artwork and other stuff like that."

He nodded thoughtfully before a shy smile spread across his face. "Sounds cool."

She grinned back and they began working, drawing a basic outline of their web layout on a spare bit of paper. Carter opened up multiple tabs on his computer, scanning through various websites to get a feel of what was popular online and what was not. Hannah helped him out, writing a list of all the features they needed to add, doodling small flowers in the border when they could no longer think of anything else.

"How about social media buttons too?" she suggested, leaning closer to the computer to analyse the small icons. As he nodded in agreement, he opened up Photoshop and created a new document, forming an outline of the layout they would create.

"What colours should we do the colour scheme?" Hannah asked, as she opened up her own Photoshop and opened the colour tool. Carter only shrugged and let her decide, he was more concerned about the practical aspect of it. With a random flicking through various shades of purples and blues, Hannah paused on the green. She wasn't paying much attention as she moved the cursor around, selecting shades on a whim. She always found her best work was when she wasn't paying too much attention; almost as though it came naturally that way.

After a short while, she heard Miss Hale come up behind them to see how far they had progressed, making her jump out of her faze. The teacher raised her eyebrows critically at their computer screens before smiling at them. "That's great, kids!" she commented, before moving onto the next pair. Carter nodded enthusiastically at the five shades she had picked out as he instinctively pressed command and S to save his own work.

Hannah grinned in reply but as she looked back at her iMac screen, the smile faded from her face as quickly as it had appeared. Sharp swirls of jade and emerald covered her screen, a small flick of peppermint beside an emerging golden colour in two different shades. The warmth of the gold contrasting deeply with the coolness of the greens.

She shook her head in confusion, tuning out from the chattering around her as she stared at her window critically. Hannah tried to convince herself that it was completely randomised but there was a nagging voice in the back of her head that rose against her thoughts, like smoke dancing in the air. She had subconsciously drawn the colours in Rayne's eyes when he had looked at in her awe at the moment of the Ashlyn and Gabriel drama earlier.

'What the hell did I just do?'