Chad sat in a classroom waiting for the next period to begin. His second class of the day was Drawing Basics. This was an elective course but he thought the term “elective” was didn't suit it. The school required that all students needed an art credit. There was no getting out of it. Most people just did a year of band or choir to meet the requirement, but Chad found being a part of any sort of group tedious. The other option was to take some sort of art course. There was painting, sculpting, pottery and some others. He skimmed over the course list when deciding and chose the course that he thought would be the easiest.
In Drawing Basics, all that’s required is a pencil and paper. The other art courses seemed to require elements that were a bit out of the ordinary like clay for pottery or wood for sculpting. Even paint would have been too drastic of a change. Drawing was simply writing with a pencil on a piece of paper. Chad was already doing that for three other classes so he should already be pretty good at it. Not that he cared to be good at drawing.
The art classroom was a bit different than the other classrooms. It was first of all bigger. This was the same classroom that the sculpting and pottery classes used after all. They needed space for that equipment which was currently placed at the back of the classroom.
Another difference was where the students sat. Unlike the desks of the other classrooms, the art classroom had nine large tables in a three by three grid. Each with stools instead of chairs. Two students could sit at each table. In Drawing Basics there were only seventeen students. By the grace of God, Chad was assigned his own table in the back right corner. Not all classes did assigned seating and the ones that did he usually dreaded. This one allowed him to avoid any unwanted interactions with his peers.
He glanced at the clock on the wall. According to the adjusted schedule, class should be starting in under a minute. About half the students were present with the teacher nowhere in sight.
A minute later and the bell signifying the start of the second period range.
I wonder if Peter made it to his next class on time?
Chad had gone directly to this class after dropping off his math textbook at his locker. Even with doing so, he didn’t have all that much time to spare between classes. This adjusted schedule was quite the pain. With how empty the classroom was, it seemed like the shortened passing periods were going to take some time to get used to.
“Sorry I’m late everyone… or half of everyone.”
Mrs. Wenwir walked into the classroom about a minute after the bell. Her thick curly red hair matched her outgoing and energetic personality. The clothes she wore were all different shades of bright colors that made Chad squint whenever he looked at her. When she spoke to the class her arms would talk along with her mouth, as if she was a conductor.
I guess I can’t get out of band class.
He smirked at his own witty (not really) comment he made in his head.
“I guess we all have to get used to the new schedule,” Mrs. Wenwir turned on the projector in the room, “Well, as we wait for my fellow time oblivious compatriots, you all can move to your new seats!”
What! New seats?
She gestured to the projector screen like a magician after a trick. Her large looping earrings jingled with the joy she was emanating.
“Since the school is trying something new and fresh, we should too. Changing your environment is a great way to get your creative juices flowing!” she let out a small giggle, “Now move to your new seats. It looks like everyone isn’t here yet, so pull out your assignments from last weekend and discuss them with your table partner as they show up.”
Chad looked to the front of the classroom in complete horror. Why? This day was already going to be a hard one with many changes, so why did this also have to happen?
All seventeen student’s head portraits from their freshmen year were shown on the screen with their names underneath. Chad’s was blank since he transferred this year so he never had a freshmen portrait at Manha. Each of the head portraits were in groups of two and were placed similarly to how the tables in the room were spaced.
His vision immediately went to the outlier, the seventeenth person who would have their own table. The lucky one. The position he has… or had. There was a person assigned to the back right corner table… and it wasn’t him. That meant he would have to share a table with someone.
His vision went from row to row, making his way towards the top of the screen which equated to the front of the room. There he was! His empty portrait was in the front row directly in front of Mrs. Wenwir’s desk.
With his head slumped, he walked slowly to the front of the room with his backpack. He sat in his assigned seat while looking longingly back at his previous spot.
“I thought you were getting lonely back there so I brought you right by me!” Mrs. Wenwir said, sitting at her desk in the front.
“Oh.”
He couldn’t find it in himself to give an actual reply. That was all he could muster forth. She should just be glad he wasn’t the type of person to lash out at people who crossed him. How dare she switch seating assignments and mess with his perfect spot alone in the back.
Chad looked at the person sitting to his right. This was the person he would have the highest probability of conversing with. It was a small girl. Her legs dangled from her stool and she wore a purple sweater that encompassed her entire being. Her sleeves went well past her hands. He thought she could get away downsizing her sweater by at least three sizes or so. She must be a freshman. Electives like this class could have students from any grade in them. Most other core classes were grade exclusive.
Natural curiosity sparked in Chad and he looked back at the projector screen. The portrait next to his was of a girl with bright yellow hair cut as short as a guys. The name under it said “Kobani Schuster”.
Chad looked back at the girl seated next to him. She had long brown hair that flowed all the way down her back. She was clearly in the wrong spot. This must’ve been her old spot.
He thought he should be generous and let her know.
“Um, we have a new seating chart.”
The girl looked up at him with watery green eyes. She looked as if she was about to cry.
“Oh yea, it's to get our creative juices flowing or something like that.”
The girl’s voice was soft. He could barely make it out over the chatting of his classmates behind him.
“I should probably introduce myself to you,” The girl swiveled in her stool and faced him, “I’m Kobani Schuster. Nice to meet you.”
He looked at the girl in front of him then back to the portrait on the projector screen. The two were complete opposites. The girl in front of him was soft and gentle. It seemed like if he spoke too loud she would crumble onto the ground. The girl in the picture seemed aggressive and loud like she would yell at him for looking at her the wrong way.
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“Oh that,” She gestured to her picture that he was looking at, “Yea that was a bit of a phase.”
Must’ve been a quick one.
Freshmen got their pictures taken just before school started. In a few short weeks this girl had completely flipped her appearance.
Wait…
In the picture from the start of the semester, Kobani had hair even shorter than Chad’s. A mere handful of weeks later, she was sitting next to him with hair all the way down her back.
Could she not be a freshman?
There’s no reason for her having to be a freshman. He just assumed as much because of how small she was. Her face also looked a lot younger. Maybe she's just one of those people who looks a lot younger than they actually are.
Without thinking, Chad replied to her earlier comment.
“Must’ve been quite the phase.”
Kobani gave a tentative laugh, “Yea, people can change a lot in three years.”
Three years?!?
His eyes snapped back at Kobani sitting next to him. She was an upperclassman. No, she was not only an upperclassman, she was a senior. She would legally be an adult within the year if she wasn’t already.
“Y-you’re a senior?”
“Mhmm,” Kobani rocked back and forth in her stool, “Don’t worry, people are often surprised when they find out. I know I don’t really look it but it's my fourth year here..”
You can say that again.
“Hey you two,” Mrs. Wenwir leaned onto the table, “Good discussion, but can you guys now start discussing your assignment from last weekend?”
““Sorry.””
Mrs. Wenwir never got mad at her students, but both of them immediately felt bad for not doing as she asked earlier.
Chad leaned over and reached into his bag that was sitting on the floor. Their weekend assignment was to draw something that represented how they were currently feeling. He had done this assignment during the pep rally last Friday. At the pep rally he felt overstimulated and cramped, so his drawing represented such.
At a glance, the paper sitting in front of him looked like a mess. There were random lines and shapes sporadically tossed in any place on the paper without rhyme or reason. Maybe Chad had a secret baby sister who had switched his drawing out for hers. A toddler could probably do better than what he produced.
Even with the objective mess of pencil strokes, he had found that as long as he could argue that he followed the assignment instructions, his grade would be fine. He wasn’t going to be some sort of star student but he was ok with that. He just needed to take this class to fulfill his art credit. Any half decent grade he received would be sufficient as long as he didn’t flunk.
“Wow, that's really good.”
What’d she say?
Kobani leaned over close to him and inspected his drawing. Her long hair was flowing on top of his arm.
How about some personal space?
After a few more seconds of Kobani inspecting his drawing, she returned to sitting normally in her stool. Her feet kicked back and forth under her.
“You’re a really good artist.”
“Really?” He didn’t sense any sarcasm in her voice.
“Yes!,” she became enthusiastic, “I can feel the chaos and pandemonium in your life solely through your drawing.”
Chad hesitated, “T-that’s what I was going for, I guess.”
“Well you did a great job at doing so. I could feel the emotions coming from the paper. You must have a lot of bedlam in your life.”
Does this girl… get me?
“Yes I do. With transferring schools earlier this year, I had to adjust to a lot of changes. Being in a new school changes a lot, but this was also the first time in my life I had moved. A new house, a new town, a new school and a new schedule. There was so much change. Then as soon as I was getting acclimated to my new routine, the school had to go along and ruin that with a schedule change. Plus I recently was forced to join-”
He stopped his ranting. He didn’t want to bore her too much over his problems, plus this was the most he had talked in a while.
When he looked back at Kobani, she seemed completely enthralled with his rambling. Her big green eyes looked at him with curiosity and admiration. It was almost as if a child was looking at their idol.
He felt that he could continue with no complaints, but he didn’t want to be the only one talking. Even being disinterested with small talk, he still knew that conversations needed a balance. Both parties needed to contribute and one person shouldn’t dominate the conversation.
“Uh, so what did you draw?”
Chad looked at the table space in front of her. It was empty. Maybe she had forgotten to do the assignment?
Kobani began pivoting back and forth in her chair and muttered to herself.
“Oh it’s nothing special. I couldn’t quite get the shading correct. I’m not all that good.”
There was a sketchbook on her lap under her oversized sleeves. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with Chad.
I won’t pry.
He wasn’t the type of person to force people to do something they obviously didn’t want to.
Chad looked back at his drawing. Did this bundle of random lines of graphite really portray his emotions? Is this… what art is? He wasn’t sure, maybe she had just gotten lucky and guessed correctly. Either way, it seemed like she understood the struggles he went through in his life and empathized with him.
“Kobani, where’s your drawing?”
Mrs. Wenwir was still doing her rounds about the classroom, checking in on each table and making sure they stayed on task.
“I-it’s right here.”
She lifted her sketchbook but kept her drawing on the other side hidden.
“Kobani, please show your drawing to your table partner. Discussing your art with someone is part of the assignment. There’s no reason to be afraid, this is a judgment free environment.”
“B-but it’s terrible.”
“Then I’ll just have to give you a zero on this assignment.”
“Ok I’ll show it!”
She threw her sketchbook onto the table. Once it had stopped moving from the force she threw it with, Chad’s eyes focused on the drawing.
It was a kitten. Simple, but in Chad’s opinion it was extraordinarily good. It was hyper-realistic. The fur looked so soft that he almost reached out to begin petting it. Its whiskers were pushed forwards with cute eyes looking playfully back at the viewer. It was adorable, no other way of putting it. Kobani had somehow drawn the joy and life that a kitten exudes with nothing but a pencil. If it were real kitten, he would beg his mom to adopt it.
“So Kobani,” Mrs. Wenwir pointed at the drawing, “What emotions does this convey?”
“Uh…”
Her green eyes became even more watery. She would try to start a thought but couldn’t even finish the first word. Her body began to tremble as Mrs. Wenwire looked down at her.
“I think it shows playfulness.” Chad said, responding to the question intended for her.
The words came out of his mouth before his mind could process what he was doing.
“How so?” Mrs. Wenwir asked.
“Well, kittens tend to be a lot more playful and energetic than an adult cat. Also, this cat’s whiskers are pushed forward. This usually means it's in a playful mood.”
He wasn’t sure if that last statement was actually true. He had just heard it from somewhere and pulled it from the depths of his mind. Hopefully she would buy this claim he had thrown out.
“Hmmm,” she looked back at Kobani, “Is this the emotion you tried to portray in this drawing?”
“No,” Kobani looked down, her voice starting to crack, “I-I just drew it because I thought it was cute.”
Gah-
All she had to do was agree to what he said. How was the teacher supposed to tell what emotion Kobani drew that picture with? Chad thought he had done something generous and saved her from a tough situation, but it seemed like she was purposely trying to get a zero on the assignment.
“I see.”
Mrs. Wenwir walked to the front of the class and formally began the lesson for the day.
The rest of the class went smoothly. Mrs. Wenwir lectured from slides about artistic styles and strategies. Chad wasn’t too interested in the topics, but he wrote some notes down so he could still do well in the class.
What is she doing?
Kobani had yet to move from her earlier interaction with the teacher. She stared straight down at her drawing. No pencil was out for her to take any notes, it didn’t even seem like she was paying attention to the lecture.
He thought she was a bit odd, but she wasn’t the worst person to sit next to. At least he didn’t have to sit next to that girl from Calculus, Hunt or whatever her name was.