"He looked at her, paint and blood stained fingertips holding her face gently. Just looking, as if she was the entire world. As if he looked away, she would disappear.
Maybe he had a right to think that.
But still, he held her. Against everything...
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The next day, Aria had her first class with Ms. Thornhill, heading to the conservatory with a small bounce in her step. She loved plants, and was more than excited to study them.
She walked in to see Wednesday scolding Thing from behind a venus flytrap. She couldn't hear what she was saying, but she noticed Bianca and her friends staring at her.
"I see you've made a friend. Even if it's a plant." Bianca looks at her in disgust. Aria walks behind Wednesday, glaring, but not intervening yet.
"I go for quality over quantity." She retorts, earning an intense eye roll from Bianca, but a snicker from Aria.
She walks further down the row, taking an empty seat next to Xavier. "Hope no one was sitting here."
"All yours." He looks up from his sketchbook, grinning. Aria doesn't miss the looks Bianca keeps giving her from across the classroom.
He shows Aria the sketch he's working on, placing his hand over it. She watches intently as the spider crawls off the page and into her palm. She lifts it to her eyes, examining it with awe. Aria had never seen art come to life like that, and it was something she could never get bored of.
"I doubt Aria is impressed by your tricks, Mr. Thorpe." Ms. Thornhill scolds from the front of the class, drawing even more attention to the pair.
"Oh I definitely am." Aria replies, letting the spider crawl from one hand to the other, a wide smile on her face. Preoccupied with the graphite creature, she misses Xavier's flushed face. Bianca however, doesn't.
Some of the class giggles as the spider implodes into dust, causing Aria's face to fall dramatically. She was brought up surrounded by normies, so this was just another thing she'd have to get used to.
"I'll make you a new one." Xavier whispered to her as Ms. Thornhill began her lecture. Aria smiled back at him, snapping back to the class when she heard her name.
"Wednesday, Aria, we're thrilled to have you join us on our journey into the world of carnivorous plants." Xavier doesn't miss how Aria sits up straighter, eyes flickering over the different trees and flowers all over the room.
"Now, who can tell me the name of this beauty?" Ms Thornhill points to a white flower encased in a glass jar on her desk.
Bianca raises her hand cockily, but Wednesday beats her to speaking. "Dendrophylax Lindenii."
"Otherwise known as-" Bianca tries to say.
"-the ghost orchid." Aria cuts her off, an amused smile tinted on her lips, immediately seeing what Wednesday was doing.
"First discovered on the Isle of Wight in 1854." Wednesday interrupts again, her glare set at Bianca.
A silence takes over the classroom, but Aria breaks it, confused how the teacher in front of her was able to find such a flower.
