Simplicity

Chapter 4

School had ended and Alex had dropped me home. We hadn’t spoken in the car at all, which isn’t unusual but he just seemed more zoned out than he normally was. I’d spent about an hour of doing nothing at home before I decided to come down to the local park two blocks away. I set up my easel and now greens and reds were flying on to the pale white canvas, transforming it’s empty surface into a garden. My fingers were numb from the cold and my body was shaking. 

    “Yo.” Alex came up from behind me, holding two steaming cups of coffee “Figured you’d appreciate it.” He smiled at me and handed over the paper cup. I put my pallet down and  we walked over to the park bench  together. 

  “What’s up? You seem a little down.” I looked at his tired face, he was slightly pale and there were dark bruises under his eyes.

  “Nothing’s up, I’m fine.” He smiled half-heartedly and took a sip of his coffee, swearing when the hot liquid scalded his tongue.

  “Whatever you say” I sighed and stood up, placing my cup on the shelf of my easel “Mind if I paint you?” I asked him, pulling the easel in front of the bench and perching myself on the stool.

  “It’s cold out here, Isla. Let’s go to my place, you can paint me there.”

 There was something bothering him and I wanted to know. Normally he’d just tell me anything but today he was being kind of odd.

  “Hey, stop looking at me like that. I told you I was fine didn’t I?” 

Maybe he was just tired; he did say he’d been up late last night.

  “How was school?” I smiled at him as I began packing up my things.

  “It was fine, I guess. A lot of student council meetings have been on recently and they’re eating away at my brain.” He let out a long sigh and continued “There’s an Art Exhibition held by that scholarship group next month, thought you’d want to know.” I perked up at that and just stared at him with a massive grin on my face. He laughed at me and said “You like a child on Christmas morning.”

  “I’m just happy that I can finally show my stuff.” I giggled and stood up; portfolio hanging from my shoulder.

This could be something to work for. My art project is due next week so once that’s out of the way I can work on something for the Art Exhibition.  At times like these I loved the fact I attended New York Arts Academy (NYAA). Scholarship programmes held events like these every so often, and it was the perfect chance to show off my art work. 

  “I’m going to have to plan and think, and oh I’m just going to love this!”

The entire way home I rambled on about my ideas and how much I was looking forward to this, the words just flying out everywhere and filling the silence of the streets.

  “Calm down, you’ve got an entire month to plan. Why did I tell you now? You’re going to make the next few hours a living hell, aren’t you?” Alex ruffles my hair and pulled it all towards the left, dropping it over my shoulder in a fuzzy heap. I glared at him through the curtain of hair. At this point we’d reached the apartment complex where Alex and I lived which consists of four buildings marked A1-4. I live in A3 and Alex lives in A1.

  “You go on ahead; I’ll meet you at my place.” Alex handed me his keys and jogged towards the small shop at the base of A2. There was a figure there, leaning against the wall. I looked closer, trying to work out who it was in the dark. From the person’s shape you could tell that it was a girl.  Alex stood beside her and she was up to his chin. Her hair was in a braid and falling over her right shoulder. I couldn’t tell what colour it was or see much of her face since it was dark out.  She reached for his collar and pulled him in for a kiss. Right, so I guess she’s one of his many girlfriends. I walked over to the apartment and found another figure leaning against a wall.