Work of Art

Chapter 10

After their hard work the night prior, Alice and Nick had decided to finalize their work the following day. Not needing to complete much more, they opted to work within the confines of the school day.

Nick settled at the cafeteria table with a huff.

"Good there Nicky?" Henry joked.

Nick rolled her eyes. "Must you be so persistent with the nicknames?"

"My sincere apologies, my dear Nicole," Henry countered, annunciating his words like some form of royalty.

"Much better," Nick laughed as she shoved his shoulder.

"Break it up you two," Maggie pretend scolded as she joined the table.

Both Jonah and Nick shot her a smile as she took her spot on the other side of Nick.

Before long, the group of five had settled into their lunchtime conversations. Nick watched bemused as Nora entered a heated debate with Henry over the content of one of their classes. Henry was always one to instigate, but the four had long since grown used to his playful antics, knowing that he never truly meant harm.

Lost in thought as she listened to the pair exchange words, she was startled out of her trance as she heard Nora greet a familair name: "Alice!"

Alice waved at Nora, offering her a friendly greeting before turning towards Nick.

Nick gasped as she remembered her and Alice's plan to meet during lunch.

Nick turns to her friends, "I completely forgot but Alice and I need to work on our ceramics project."

Nora rolled her eyes. "You all are insane, I haven't even started it yet."

Alice laughed while Nick looked wounded by her friend's lack of concern.

Nora grinned at her put-out look and Henry scotched over on the bench, making room for Alice. "You can both just work here," he offered.

Alice agreed with a smile and sat down amidst the five friends. He turned to glare at her siblings who she could feel staring at her. She sent a strongly worded mental message to Edward who abruptly stopped staring and distracted the rest of the family from Alice's table.

Soon the pair got to work, but not before Nick made Nora swear that she wouldn't use any of their ideas.

The group all grinned at Nick's paranoia, well used to her originality. They'd never dream of stealing her ideas. A poor boy had tried to back in elementary school, which only ended with a black eye and severe disciplinary measures on Nick's part. A young Maggie had found the whole ordeal absolutely hilarious, and thus their long term friendship was formed.

Alice looked around at the group confused as to why they all found Nick's request hilarious and Maggie wanted no time telling Alice all about Nick's delinquent elementary past.

A laugh left Alice's lips as Maggie finished recounting the story. "Remind me not to get on your bad side," Alice quipped.

Nick groaned. "That was like 9 years ago for fucks sake," she complained. "Are you ever going to let me live that down?" she asked exasperated.

The table of friends all shared a glance. "No," they all chorused.

Alice loudly laughed at the group. They reminded her much of her own family, although much more profane.

Still grumbling, Nick pulled Alice's attention to begin finalizing their design while the other four at the table continued to happily chat.

By the time they had finished, Alice left with a promise to see Nick soon in ceramics and an invitation to sit with their lunch group any time she'd like. She graciously accepted with a promise that she wouldn't be a stranger, news the group happily took.