Work of Art

Chapter 8

After lunch came literature and precalculus, both classes that Nick would rather have not taken. While she liked reading and writing, doing so for school always took the pleasure out of the stories. So as the bell rang once more, she was more than happy to be on her way to her third art class of the day, ceramics.

Unlike her other higher level art classes that were populated with seniors and the occasional junior, her ceramics class was introductory and filled with students of all ages. Nick knew that Nora was signed up for ceramics too but was disappointed to see they were in different periods when they had compared their schedules during lunch.

While Nick didn't necessarily dislike the majority of the sophomore class, she found herself hoping that Nora's absence from her period meant all sophomores were in the other class.

Her hopes were dispelled when she stepped foot in the room. Near the entrance was a boy who looked to be too young to even be in high school. Walking past him with a polite smile, Nick scanned the rest of the room.

The only familiar face was the pixie-like girl who was sitting off by herself in the corner. Not knowing where else to go, Nick made her way over towards the open seat beside the girl.

"Hey Alice," she greeted, "Mind if I sit here?"

Alice looked up at the sound of Nick's voice and a smile stretched across her face. "Of course not," she invited with a grin. She gestured to the seat next to her and Nick sat down.

There were a few awkward moments of silence before Nick spoke up; she was never one to let uncomfortable silences stretch. "So, have you ever taken ceramics before?"

Alice shook her head. "I've never really taken art classes before. Usually the five of us," she paused, interrupting herself, "Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and me. I'm not sure if you've met them all yet." She looked over towards Nick for her reaction and saw a slight shake of her head before continuing. "I'll have to introduce you later. Anyways, we usually take all the same classes, weird habit I guess, but we mostly stick to core classes, they're not much into art. But I decided to try out ceramics." Nick smiled at the girl as she continued to chatter on. She had no doubt the girl could keep talking for the rest of the period with minimal input from Nick, and she talked so fast it was like she didn't even have to breathe. "I've never really taken an art class before, you know besides the required introductory ones of course, I mean I draw at home sometimes but never like this-"

Alice's excited monologue was cut off by the bell ringing. She looked ready to continue talking after the noise died down until the teacher stepped towards the front of the class.

Nick spent most of her art classes with Mrs. Cottan, so Mr. Diggle was a more unfamiliar face than she was used to in her world of art. Nonetheless, she decided she liked the man as he dived straight into explaining how to wedge clay after he took attendance.

After a thorough demonstration over at the wedging table, each student was given a ball of clay to practice. It was frustrating to say the least. Nick found it nearly impossible to remove all of the air bubbles, the motions just didn't make sense and the class was so stiff to work with.

She looked over towards Alice next to her to see if she was having the same troubles, but her clay looked pristinely smooth. Nick gaped at her. "How'd you do that? Do you have like super-human strength or something?" she joked.

Alice laughed at Nick's obvious teasing but turned her head away so Nick couldn't see the panicked glint she was sure was in her eye. After pausing to collect herself, she faced Nick again playfully. "I think you're just weak," she teased.

Nick was about to defend her strength, when Mr. Diggle called out for the class to put their balls of clay away and return to their seats at the table.