Of Blood And Bracelets

SIX-Art & Allies

Chapter - Six | Art and Allies

October 10th, 2014.
Vernal High School,
Woodford.
•Elizabeth•

A single horse hair brush was raised with its tip dripping red, waiting for its wielder to put the final touches on the beautiful, glistening apple that sat snug in between a bunch of grapes. The purple sacks of sweetness were tainted a bit on the darker side. And it seemed as if the angels had injected the little sacks with the sweet juice almost to the point of bursting.

The brush hovered just above the canvas, the aspiring Picasso wondering whether to add another layer or not. For a moment it seemed that the painter would withdraw the brush and declare the painting finished. But as if acting on its own, the brush pushed forward, the tip finally finding its mark. The young painter withdrew the brush after adding a few more strokes to the luscious looking apple and leaned back a little to observe her work. It was a painting worthy to be put on display in the galleries of Lourve but the art room of Vernal High would have to do for now.

She sighed and signed at the bottom of the painting, adding a little flourish to the tail of the "h" at the end. Hearing a clap ring loud above the chatter of the brightly painted room, Elizabeth looked up to see Mrs. Aria Alcott. The art teacher was standing in front of her desk and was trying to get the attention of her students.

Elizabeth smiled as Mrs. Aria caught her eye and winked. As the chatter finally died down the teacher said, "Okay class, you have about twenty more minutes before the bell rings. So be sure to submit your marvelous masterpieces before then."

With this declaration it seemed that all the students went into overdrive. Everyone trying to finish their work before the bell rang.

Elizabeth had already completed her painting so she started packing up her supplies. As she washed the paint off of her paint brushes, Mrs. Aria came up to stand behind her.

"All finished Elizabeth?" asked the teacher smiling.

"Yes ma'am," said Elizabeth gazing up at Mrs. Aria. She was Elizabeth's favourite teacher because she never forced them to do something that they did not want to. She always said that true skill cannot be forced to show itself and neither can it be faked, it needs to be coaxed out and then nurtured so that it can one day blossom into something amazing.

She had an amazing sense of style too. Even though she was only in her late thirties she had a certain class of her own; she did not try to act young and wear clothes fit for a twelve year old. She was always dressed impeccably and never had even a single hair out of place.

Mrs. Aria had a daughter named Beatrice, who was Elizabeth's junior by almost five years. She was pretty but also shy, the exact opposite in personality to her cousin Charlotte. Mrs. Aria was Charlotte's maternal Aunt. Even though most members of Charlotte's family were great artists, including her mother, it seemed that the gene had skipped Char. Ask Char to draw a building and she would make you a blue print of a world class mall. But ask her to do a potrait and you would most probably get a painting of a face with way too many angular lines to even consider it a human.

Remembering her friend and the fact that she still didn't know where they were made Elizabeth's heart ache but she tried her best to hide it.

As things forgotten,

Friendship survives.

Her grandmother's words echoed in her head and she tried to draw courage from them. Taking a deep breathe she tried to focus on what Mrs. Aria was saying. As far as she could make out, the teacher was complementing her on the painting and saying that she had captured the essence of the scene perfectly.