Lavender

4

The bell finally rings and we all make our way to art class. Sitting down in the second-to-last row, Sage follows behind and takes his spot next to me.

I usually sit next to Harper any chance I get but on the first day, Sage knew Art was my best subject and he wanted to cheat off me so he took the first chance he got and practically pushed her out of the way.

"Good Afternoon, class. A few of you already brought in your money and permission slips for the Paris trip next month. Remember, you have two weeks minimum," Mr. Thomas began. "Today, we're going to do something basic and make some Pop Art Cubes. I'm gonna judge and the winner gets-" he starts to dig through his pockets-"$5!"

He holds up the money and everyone claps. He continues to talk about what to do as he pulls up an example image on his computer to project it onto the board.

I pick at my black lace tights before I hear my name called. I look up to find the teacher staring at me and holding a stack of papers. When I don't move, he speaks up, "Come pass these out, please."

I nod and stand to walk over and grab the cube template. When I take it from his hand, he smiles at me and whispers, "Thanks, doll."

I nod once again as I unintentionally look him up and down. I meet his eyes and feel my face heat up so I walk away to pass out the papers to everyone.

Okay, what is happening? Why do all of a sudden I have the hots for everyone? I hate this, it makes zero sense.

I get to Elijah's table and get stopped when his table partner, Theo, softly says my name.

Theo is such a sweet boy. He's one of those kids who minds their business and rarely speaks unless spoken to or if he's completely comfortable with you. He's cute too, especially with his little dreadlocks.

"What's up, Theo?" I question.

"I was wondering if I could maybe get your number? I think I've been stalking you on insta long enough," he jokes and I let out a genuine smile.

"Sure," I laugh as he gives me his phone and I type in my number.

"Can I get my paper now, please?" Elijah grumbles.

I continue typing my name for my contact and mumble back to him, "You'll get it when I give it to you."

I give Theo his phone back and smile. "I'll text you," he claims.

I continue grinning but when I look over and take a step toward Elijah, my face drops. I lean an inch forward on the table and keep his eye contact, sliding him the paper. "Here you go," I annunciated.

He makes a point by staring at my lips as I speak. Elijah meets my eyes again and gives me a sarcastic smile. "Thank you."

I realize what he just did, I glare at him before moving on to give everyone else their paper.

I finish passing the worksheets out and sit back in my seat. Mr. Thomas gives us permission to move around and talk as long as we finish the assignment before his thirty-minute timer.

Since Harper sits in front of me, she just turns her chair stool around and scoots forward.

"You guys have like- attachment issues," Sage scoffs.

"Yes, I do," Harper reaches over and grabs my hand to squeeze it.

"At least I have a friend, where's yours?" I brag.

"Up your ass," he replies.

I roll my eyes as I grab a marker to color in my template.

"You know what?" he says, and I can practically hear the smirk in his sentence. "Elijah."

I jolt my head towards him. "Sage, I swear— Don't you dare."

He flashes me his teeth and turns his head over to Elijah. He waves him over and he obliges and pulls up a chair, opposite of Sage and next to Harper.

I don't look at either of them and continue coloring.

"Elijah, you would say we're friends right?" my brother begins.

"Yeah, of course," Elijah answers back.

I can feel Sage shift his body towards me, "See Lav? I do have friends."

As he's talking to me, my middle finger waves around in his face but my eyes never leave my paper.

That earns me a kick in my shin and I let out a painful gasp. Dropping my marker, I reach down to hold my leg. "Dammit, Sage, you know I bruise easily!"

He just shrugs and I punch him in the arm. He lets out the same painful gasp I did and rubs the spot where I punched him. "You know you punch hard, why do you do that!"

"Because you're stupid."

Harper quickly stands up, "Okay then! Lavender, switch seats with me."

I quietly groan and throw my head back. Standing up with my paper, I walk to the opposite side of the table and take a seat next to Elijah.

Mr. Know-it-all stares me down as I grab my marker again. "What?" I snap.

He shakes his head but I see that stupid sly smile on his face appear before turning his head back to his assignment.

-
Mr. Thomas finally walks over to our table to see our progress so far. He checks Sage, Harper, and Elijah's papers and gives them each a compliment.

When he gets to me, he places a hand on my forearm and squeezes it. "Good job, Ms. Quinn. Very detailed."

I look up at him from where I'm sitting and smile. "Thank you, mister."

The left corner of his mouth lifts up as he gives me a nod and one last squeeze before walking away.

I look back at the table to see all three of them looking at me weirdly. "What?" I snap, once again.

They quickly shake their head and go back to coloring, except for one.

I sigh and look at Elijah, "Yes?"

"He definitely wants to sleep with you," he taunts.

"Excuse me?" I look at him weirdly, "What are you even talking about."

"The way he touched your arm. That's what people do when they wanna fuck someone." He looks down at his paper and continues to sketch his patterns.

What? I thought it was just fun humorous flirting. No way he actually wants to do things, right? That's illegal.

I get an idea and scoot my chair closer to his. I lean forward and bring my lips up to his ear, very gently.

"Well, that's what you do." He snaps his head towards me like he knows what I'm going to say next. "Do you wanna fuck me?" I whisper, making sure to look at him in awe. I hope it has an even better effect since our faces are closer.

He opens his mouth to say something but hesitates. His eyes are switching between mine. When he finally releases my eye contact, he pushes my chair back to where it was before with his foot.

"You are such a smart-ass. Would it hurt to swallow your ego for two seconds? Not everything's about you," he argues, trying to cover up how flustered he is.

"Maybe. I mean- I've swallowed worse," I shrug with a petty smile.

"Lavender!" both Harper and Sage say in unison.

***